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By Friday evening, she had finished. The storage room didn’t look any different, but Allee knew that she would be able to load up her car much quicker.
The weekend was uneventful, with Stuart continuing to be charming and sweet. There had been a moment on Sunday morning when she had awoken to Stuart's mouth kissing down past her navel; she had frozen, horror and disgust shuddering through her, and his fingers had tightened on her thighs.
“Is anything the matter, my love?” he had questioned. Allee feared that if she denied him, he would take it out on her body.
“No, sweetheart, that just felt so good,” she lied, revulsion making her skin crawl.
Apparently satisfied, Stuart continued to kiss his way down her body before flicking his tongue over her clit. Allee moaned, her body stirring in desire while her mind revolted, and Stuart continued his oral assault. He lifted her knees over his shoulders, parting her wide to his gaze, and then his tongue was licking and flicking, his fingers delving into Allee's body, and he brought her to a physical climax, although her mind screamed in self-loathing. Tears trickled from Allee's eyes as she felt nothing but disgust for her body and the man between her legs; Stuart saw the tears and misread them.
“You've missed me, haven't you, Allee? That felt so good, so right, didn't it, darling? Here, let me make it all better for you.” With that, Stuart pushed his hard cock into Allee's body and began to move. His fingers moved downwards as well, gently pinching and flicking her clitoris, and they both orgasmed together. Allee felt as though her body had betrayed her by enjoying the sex, but she also knew just how skilled a manipulator Stuart was.
To keep him off-guard, she would have to continue to behave as though she loved and desired him. Allee could only hope that she could keep up the act and that she'd be able to live with herself afterwards.
Late June, Last Year
Her heart pounding with adrenaline, Allee opened her eyes. Today was the day.
Unbeknownst to Stuart, yesterday had been Allee's last day at work. She'd given her notice to her boss, and although he had been sorry to receive her resignation, he was happy to accommodate her requests for her wages and pay-out to be transferred into a new bank account.
Ever since she moved in with Stuart, he had controlled all the money, and she had received a minimal allowance each week to buy groceries. It was only after an embarrassing afternoon with his mother, where Allee had not been able to pay for her coffee, that he had issued Allee with a credit card with a low limit; she was required to retain all the receipts so that he could keep track of her spending. Allee had only used the card when she was with Stuart's mother, and she knew that he paid the outstanding balance in full each week. She had managed to squirrel away some of her housekeeping money by purchasing store-brand items and putting them in name-brand packaging that she'd kept to one side so that Stuart wouldn’t notice.
The previous afternoon had been filled with goodbyes, Allee receiving a gorgeous flower arrangement as well as other gifts from the staff. She had hidden the card that came with the flowers and had told Stuart she had picked them up to give to his mother. Stuart hadn't been overly happy with this supposed extravagance, but as it was for his mother, he did not argue and reimbursed Allee for the flowers.
Stuart was in the en suite, his electric razor buzzing. Keeping up the pretence that she was still working, Allee got out of bed, pulling up the covers and smoothing the wrinkles away. It was a work of a moment, and the bed was made, and Allee hurried to the wardrobe. Once she was dressed, Allee made Stuart's breakfast of black coffee, toast with homemade marmalade, and sliced fruit. After it was on the table waiting for him, Allee poured a small amount of dry cat food into Piddle's bowl before making Stuart his lunch. He'd become concerned that he'd been putting on weight by eating out, so Allee had been given the task of providing him with a healthy alternative. Allee didn't mind, as this meant that Stuart was less likely to see her during the day as he would eat at his desk rather than go into Albury. As it was nearing the end of the financial year, Stuart had been kept busy as the Holden showroom tried to push the previous models out the door to make way for the new. This meant that Stuart was likely to be home later than usual.
Allee went through the motions of a typical morning, chatting with Stuart about plans for the weekend and meeting his mother in the afternoon. After telling Stuart that some of his favourite items were on special this week, he agreed to give her a bit extra for shopping. Allee had no intention of using that money for the shopping, but she simply smiled and thanked Stuart for his generosity.
As Allee typically left before Stuart, she had to walk down to her car and drive away before doubling back to park down the street from their apartment block. She had a nervous wait before she watched Stuart's Holden SV6 Commodore exit the garage and leave, and she made herself wait another five minutes before driving back into the garage, parking close to the storage room.
Allee grabbed a suitcase and travel cosmetics bag out of the storage room, then made her way back upstairs. She opened the door and went straight to the bedroom, speedily packing clothes, only taking those items she really liked and wanted to keep, not wanting to alert Stuart too quickly when he came home. After grabbing several pairs of shoes, she tossed them in a bag and then went into the bathroom. Toiletries and make-up, as well as a spare toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, were all shoved into a bag. Satisfied she had what she wanted, Allee closed the suitcase and headed back down the stairs, putting the suitcase on the back seat of her car. Now she’d got the ball rolling, Allee felt confident she was making the right choice.
An hour later, Allee had moved everything she wanted into the car. The only things left to do was to pack up Piddle and all her paraphernalia. Allee hoped Piddle wouldn't be too difficult. Astonishingly, when she called for the feline, Piddle came running out of the spare room and straight into the cat crate. Allee leaned down, closed the crate door, and did one last check of the apartment. There was nothing left that Allee could not bear to leave behind, so she picked up the crate and went back downstairs to her car. Allee carefully buckled Piddle into the car's front seat before taking an unsealed envelope from her handbag. She removed the gaudy solitaire engagement ring that Stuart had chosen to give her, dropped it in the envelope, sealed it, and then walked over to the storage room, leaving it sitting in the middle of the floor. Along with the ring, the envelope held a brief note, simply stating:
Stuart, it's over. Do not try to find me. Move on with your life and forget me.
It had been a long, anxious day.
Allee stopped at the bank to withdraw her allowance before bending the card in two and dropping it in the receipt bin. After filling up her car using the credit card before withdrawing the remaining available funds, she headed towards Sydney. Stopping at Narellan, Allee texted Stuart that she would be home late that evening to buy her some extra time. She turned off her phone and made her way to her parent's house in Richmond.
As she pulled into their driveway, a wave of relief flooded her. She had made it. Hopefully, now she and Piddle would be safe.
Chapter Fourteen
“Unfortunately, Stuart didn't leave me alone. He knew where my parents lived, and within a couple of weeks, he began harassing them. Driving by their house and calling at all hours.” Allee took another calming sip of her red wine before continuing. “I only spent one night at their house before I went and stayed with friends who Stuart didn't know. Even then, it was hard, and I only ended up staying there for a couple of weeks until my friend Cass drove me down to Melbourne. She was the only one besides myself and Piddle who knew what I had planned.” Allee swallowed her remaining wine to ease the dryness of her throat. “She was the one who convinced her cousin Antonio to find me a job, and it was her family who helped me with everything. My dad had to sell my car for me, and even now, they still have some of my stuff. I thought he'd lost track of me, that I was safe. I wasn't. He managed to find me in Melbourne, so I had to leave. Hence this move.”
Allee stopped talking, her trembling fingers twisting the bottom of her shirt nervously. Noah hadn't spoken for a long time. In fact, he had gone very still and was not looking at her either.
“Noah?” Allee asked, reaching out to touch his arm. Noah flinched, and Allee was cut to the core.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck Allee, how am I supposed to respond to that? Every time you've flinched at my touch, it's because you're thinking of him. Every time you've pulled away from me, it's because of him,” Noah’s shaking hands clenched. “You want to take it slow, I get that, but what if you can never bear for me to touch you like that?” Noah ended on a shout, throwing his hands up in the air in frustration.
Allee instinctively recoiled back, and Piddle flattened her ears against her head, an angry yowl in her throat.
“Fuck it all, Allee, I'd never hit you, yet you act as if I'd just done that. How can I even begin to prove to you I'm not like that?” Noah's voice was threaded with hurt, not just at Allee's reaction but also at Piddle's. Allee couldn't answer him, too choked up to say anything. She’d worried that this would happen, that her past would continue to poison her future. “Why now? Why did you decide to tell me this now? Why not before, or even later?”
“Charlie,” Allee swallowed back her tears. “It was because of Charlie. Because of what happened with her, I told her some of what had happened with me. I didn't think it right that she knew more about me than you did, so I decided to tell you everything.”
Noah shook his head, “Great, so the only reason I know is because Charlie knows.”
