He had been dreading this moment. He was a man, strong and vigorous, and Eve dominated him and made him feel impotent. She had him undress her slowly, and then she undressed him and skillfully excited him to an erection.
“There you are, darling.” She got astride him and began slowly moving her hips. “Ah, that feels so good… You can’t have an orgasm, can you, poor baby? Do you know why? Because you’re a freak. You don’t like women, do you, George? You only enjoy hurting them. You’d like to hurt me, wouldn’t you? Tell me you’d like to hurt me.”
“I’d like to kill you.”
Eve laughed. “But you won’t, because you want to own the company as much as I do… You’ll never hurt me, George, be cause if anything ever happens to me, a friend of mine is holding a letter that will be delivered to the police.”
He did not believe her. “You’re bluffing.”
Eve raked a long, sharp nail down his naked chest. “There’s only one way you can find out, isn’t there?” she taunted.
And he suddenly knew she was telling the truth. He was never going to be able to get rid of her! She was always going to be there to taunt him, to enslave him. He could not bear the idea of being at this bitch’s mercy for the rest of his life. And something inside him exploded. A red film descended over his eyes, and from that moment on he had no idea what he was doing. It was as though someone outside himself was controlling him. Everything happened in slow motion. He remembered shoving Eve off him, pulling her legs apart and her cries of pain. He was battering at something over and over, and it was indescribably wonderful. The whole center of his being was racked with a long spasm of unbearable bliss, and then another, and another, and he thought, Oh, God! I’ve waited so long for this. From somewhere in the far distance, someone was screaming. The red film slowly started to clear, and he looked down. Eve was lying on the bed, covered with blood. Her nose was smashed in, her body was covered with bruises and cigarette burns and her eyes were swollen shut. Her jaw was broken, and she was whimpering out of the side of her mouth. “Stop it, stop it, stop it…”
George shook his head to clear it. As the reality of the situation hit him, he was filled with sudden panic. There was no way he could ever explain what he had done. He had thrown everything away. Everything!
He leaned over her. “Eve?”
She opened one swollen eye. “Doctor…Get…a…doc tor… “Each word was a drop of pain. “Harley…John Harley.”
All George Mellis said on the phone was, “Can you come right away? Eve Blackwell has had an accident.”
When Dr. John Harley walked into the room, he took one look at Eve and the blood-spattered bed and walls and said, “Oh, my God!” He felt Eve’s fluttering pulse, and turned to George. “Call the police. Tell them we need an ambulance.”
Through the mist of pain, Eve whispered, “John…”
John Harley leaned over the bed. “You’re going to be all right. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
She reached out and found his hand. “No police…”
“I have to report this. I—”
Her grip tightened. “No…police…”
He looked at her shattered cheekbone, her broken jaw and the cigarette burns on her body. “Don’t try to talk.”
The pain was excruciating, but Eve was fighting for her life. “Please…” It took a long time to get the words out. “Private…Gran would never…forgive me… No…police… Hit…run…accident…”
There was no time to argue. Dr. Harley walked over to the telephone and dialed. “This is Dr. Harley.” He gave Eve’s address. “I want an ambulance sent here immediately. Find Dr. Keith Webster and ask him to meet me at the hospital. Tell him it’s an emergency. Have a room prepared for surgery.” He listened a moment, then said, “A hit-and-run accident.” He slammed down the receiver.
“Thank you, Doctor,” George breathed.
Dr. Harley turned to look at Alexandra’s husband, his eyes filled with loathing. George’s clothes had been hastily donned, but his knuckles were raw, and his hands and face were still spattered with blood. “Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for the Blackwells. But on one condition. That you agree to see a psychiatrist.”