Love With A Younger Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

me? I have a new life now. Can’t you just go and leave me alone?”
    “You know I couldn’t do that.”
    I knew my father always had a nose for greed. Somehow, I had to play on that and get him to go away. I opened my purse and took out my checkbook. “Here’s the hundred dollars.”
    “That’s piss money compared to what you’re worth.”
    I decided to be blunt. “What will it take to make you go away?”
    He scratched the two-day growth of salt-and-pepper beard on his round face. “Hmm, I’d say…a million.”
    “Are you crazy? I don’t have that kind of money.”
    “A smart girl like you can find a way to get it.”
    “And if I can’t?”
    “You can always work it off—”
    “I won’t trick for you.”
    He shrugged. “Then perhaps you can make some money off the pictures. I can give you a good price for them.”
    I could taste acid from my stomach. “You know, you’re a real bastard.”
    “Tsk, tsk. So fresh. Obviously, you didn’t get enough of my spankings.”
    A visual of having me get naked and lie down across his knees as he slapped me with one hand and beat his own meat with the other flashed in front of my eyes. I nearly threw up. I forced the bile back down my esophagus. “You’ve got to give me some time to raise the money.”
    “Of course. I’m not as heartless as you make me out to be. Two days.”
    “Two days? I need more time than that.”
    “Two days,” he repeated, “or else I tell your boss what a fine catch you really are.”
    I watched him walk away, wishing the ground would open up and reclaim him. The Devil must be missing him by now. The tears I’d been holding back slipped silently down my face. I brushed them away quickly as I walked outside to the coffee wagon. I needed something stronger, but a cup of coffee would have to do. I couldn’t allow Eve to see me in the state I was in. Therefore, I paid for a large coffee and took it over to the bench at the bus stop and sat down.
    I thought about the predicament I was in. Like a house of cards, my entire world had just collapsed. I had been given little choice. Even if I were able to come up with the money, my father would never let me off the hook. A shark smelling blood, he’d be back for more. This left me with only one choice.
    I had to run away again. A great deal of planning could take place in the wiggle time he’d given me. To tell the truth, I was surprised he’d given me that much time. Perhaps he felt I wouldn’t want to throw away the life I’d made for myself here and thought he’d have a sweet thing going for him. He was right about me not wanting to lose the life I’d made for myself. But he was misjudging me. I now had pride and respect for myself.
    I didn’t want to leave Richard. I loved him with all my heart and soul. However, I couldn’t tell him about my past. I doubt if he’d ever understand, let alone accept it. There had to be a clean break between us. Despite the fact that I didn’t want to hurt him, like a coward, I intended to run away without saying a word. There seemed to be no other way I’d be able to pull it off. I already knew what would happen if I told him to his face. Tears filled my eyes just thinking about him.
    Suddenly, a wave of raw fury passed over me and the desire to hunt my father down like the dog he was and kill him crossed my mind. But, I’d be damned before I went to jail for killing him.
    And Eve…how could I just walk out on her? Especially after all she’d done for me? I wanted to die. It would certainly be a great deal easier than leaving the two people I loved most in the world. Where was the fairness in all of this? Why allow me to pull myself out of the mire and achieve everything I’d wished for and more, only to cruelly rip it from me?
    I cancelled my afternoon appointments and went home to plan my escape.
     
    ***
     
    Luckily, Richard was preparing a brief for an important case and wouldn’t be around. That gave me ample time to create a