Kingdom Come

Chapter Nine:

Twice in one night, Clayton made love to her.
Twice she saw stars and it was amazing. He was so gentle, so patient and Alice easily melted against him with each passing second.

In between sex and the little sleep they had, they talked and laughed about anything and everything.

Clayton opened up and told her more stories of his life. His German-born mom, Jennifer, beat breast cancer, his father - hard as nails, but completely devoted to his family. How he was raised Baptist, his favorite book was The Shinning. Hated avocado and olives. His favorite store, Home Depot - Alice couldn't keep a straight face when he mentioned that. He had a family dog, Duke, growing up. In his childhood, he hunted with his father and grandfather, shooting his first stag at fourteen years old. Even saved his older sister, Emily, from the bullies at school when he was even younger, thirteen years old.

Alice was mesmerized, taking everything in.

She felt sore as she woke up, a smile forming already as she laid in bed, her arms resting above her head.

Alice felt...a good sore.

The bed was empty beside her, Clayton was not next to her as she stretched out for the second time, but she heard the TV on downstairs and could smell bacon. June was going to be ok, Kevin had called her early in the morning and said she was stable but still asleep, expect to be awake by Monday.

Rolling out of bed, Alice looked down at the sheets, a few smears of blood reminded her that she was no longer a virgin.

Alice threw the covers up in a single motion, making a mental note to wash the sheets tomorrow. She then gathered some old clothes from her draws and walked into the bathroom by the stairs.

She undressed, removing the makeup from her face and placed all her jewellery on the sink beside her.

The hot water felt good against her skin.

Alice felt different today. She felt like a woman

She looked better with jeans and a blue top, loose and long sleeved. Her long hair floated perfectly around her shoulders and down her back.

Alice walked out of the bathroom and back to her bedroom, but while placing the towel down on the chair at her desk, Clayton's leather bag knocked over, spilling a yellow file onto the floor.

Shit! Alice thought until she saw her name on one of the papers in bold letters: Alison Jade Clarke.

Alice grabbed the file, sitting on the bed, she opened it. It had hundreds of photos of her; when she was a child, as she stood, dressed in black, beside her mother's wooden coffin that was draped in red roses, while Alice was with Celia, her dates with both Ethan and Hunter, with Yolande and even at work, all sour faced.

Alice flicked through the photos one more time, finding even more that he had taken when she met the three foster families' for the first time, suitcase in tow, as the sombre, pant-suit wearing, social worker, Jeanne, followed behind her.

IT HAD EVERYTHING!

She flicked through pages again, studying the indents of his handwriting, every little note he had made about her. It had her bank account information, the languages she spoke, a family tree, her Political Affiliation (not that she had any), a copy of her birth certificate, copies of her passports, police reports, Yolande's session notes on her, school grades, her driver's license and even her Social Security number!

Fuck he even knew she was allergic to penicillin. Clayton fucking knew anything about her already!

He fucking lied to her!