Battered Hearts - Open

‘…control of Thorson Publishing will be given to my stepdaughter, Paige Elizabeth Thorson, who I loved and raised from a small child like she was my own…’ Those handful of words had sealed her fate to a confrontation with someone she had been avoiding for countless years. Paige’s mother had met Eric Thorson when Paige was 4 years old. At such a young age she bore the brunt of painful memories of an abusive father with a drug habit that eventually killed him. The nightmares still plagued her sometimes when she was under heavy stress. It took a lot of effort on his part but she came to trust Eric. The only problem she had was with his son, Viktor. He was three years older than her and was holding on to a lot of anger. He tried scaring them away with pranks and causing a ruckus but there was no shaking it. Eric was in love with her mother and they married two years after they met.

As the years went on, Viktor’s animosity turned towards Paige. She avoided him as much as she could but sometimes there was nothing she could do. There would be some kind of altercation where she would end up in tears. One of the staff would see and tell Eric. Paige never tattled to her stepfather but that wasn’t what Viktor thought. It was like a constant competition for attention. Paige was always trying to keep the peace because despite Viktor’s machinations, she was honestly happy with Eric as her stepfather and had grown to love him. When they had become teenagers it got worse because Paige realized a growing attraction to her stepbrother that was likely to get her heart broken. Right away she learned to bury her feelings. She focused on her studies and eventually graduated high school as the valedictorian. Then there was that one incident when she was 19 years old and went on a date with one of Viktor’s friends, Evan. Everything had been fine until they got back to the car after dinner. In no uncertain terms Evan tried to take what he thought she owed him for showing her a good time. It shocked her when it was Viktor of all people that pulled him off of her. He had followed them to the restaurant. They never spoke about what happened that night. He just took her home and never brought it up again.

After college Eric took her on as a trainee in the publishing business. Books had been her obsession ever since she could remember. They had been the escape she needed when her life was just too much to deal with. Viktor hadn’t liked the idea of her in the family business and was very vocal about keeping it just in the family. He had never considered her anything but a nuisance which hurt. They worked together for years, arguing and putting together projects for their authors. Paige was 26 when Eric started having heart problems. The fear that she might lose the only father she ever knew was so hard to take. Her mother practically hovered over him, trying to get him to take it easy but Eric hated NOT having something to do. He had worked all his life to establish himself in the publishing business and it was just unnatural for him. Ne late night Viktor found him on the floor of his office, his face a sickly gray. It had been a heart attack that finally took him from them.

The night he died Viktor had left and Paige got a call from a local bar. Apparently her stepbrother had gotten stinking drunk and started a fight with another patron. Despite her own grief, Paige went down there and got him to come home with her. It had been the only time she had ever seen tears in his eyes. It killed her to see him in that kind of pain. Instead of taking him to his place on the other side of town, she brought him to her apartment. There was a guestroom for when her best friend was visiting from Atlanta. She laid him there and made sure he would be comfortable. He was barely conscious but awake enough so that she hadn’t had to carry him in there. Thank God. She had to face facts. She was in love with him. He had hated her since they were children and she was in love with him. Fate was almost cruel in a way because she knew he would never love her back.

At the reading of the will, Paige hadn’t expected much. Didn’t need anything really since she had refused any financial help from Eric when she went to college or got her first apartment. When the executor read those words, her heart dropped into her stomach. Paige had no idea why Eric did what he did but there was going to be a major collision between her and Viktor. There was no way he was going to let this be. Paige sat there, a week later,in her old room where she had grown up just waiting. When that door swung open, she knew exactly who it was and why he was there. Her shields instantly went up. Time for battle.

Victor

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Victor

post duplicated

"So that's that. The business is yours."

Viktor leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms in front of his chest, if looks could kill, Paige was sure to have wilted and die like a flower.

"After all the work that have been put into it by us both, you're the sole proprietor. What did you do? Bewitch him? Or did you do more?"

The words was blunt, accusational and aimed to hurt, he knew of her past, before she and her mother invaded his life. He was happy, content and it all got ripped from him and now even his future was uncertain and he lashed out to the nearest person...unfortunately that was Paige, but right then he didn't care, he was ready to give her hell for taking what should be his and not even try to talk partnership or even shares with him in the past week. This infuriated him even more, she so smugly accepted it and didn't even think about him, some supposedly family she was, the thought even made him scoff loudly.

Paige had braced herself for the anger she knew was coming but the blow was still hard to take. It broke her heart to have him look at her that way, like he could barely stand the sight of her. The tears in her eyes came suddenly but she fought them back. He could not see the emotions he invoked in her or her secret would be out. “I had no idea about any of this. I am not equipped to run a company.” Moments before, the executor came to her, saying that there was an added codicil with the will, something pertaining to the two them. As Paige had read it, she knew that this was going to mean trouble.

Paige walked up to Viktor, her eyes sad. The grief in her show more now than any other moment. As a child, any kind of emotional outburst got her a beating from her birth father. “I have no idea what Papa was thinking. He left a codicil to the will that mainly about the two of us. I haven’t decided on anything. I wanted you to see it.” She handed him the document, praying he would not agree to this. She wanted circumstances to be different and for him to come to her because he felt the same a she did about him.

She watched as he sat down on one of the leather chairs to read. Paige knew word for word what that document said:

Ownership and control of Thorson Publishing will be retained by Paige Thorson unless she and my son happen to marry. At that point, ownership and control will be halved between my son and Paige, his wife.

The rest goes on as the usual legal jargon. Paige tried to read his face, to know what he may be thinking but Viktor’s poker face was always first rate. This whole situation was making her very nervous. She knew how much his heritage meant to him. Despite his disapproval of her mother and Paige, Viktor loved his father very much. That had always been obvious. Paige sat in another leather chair next to his where she had been drinking tea when he came in. “Of course marriage between us would never work. You can barely stay in a room with me for five minutes without trying to start some kind of argument.” He looked back up at her and she got very worried. “Don’t tell me you’re considering this?”

Viktor

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He read through every word, first he was at a loss for words at how airtight his father had made this, there was no wiggle room, no way to take this on legally. Of course her words made sense, he couldn't stand her, just like he couldn't stand her mother...he leaned back into the chair, his eyes still locked onto the page. Yet her mother, his stepmom have been nothing but good and kind to him, she had supported his father, stayed with him during his sick bed and not once did she ask anything in return. Only love and acceptance and then there was Paige, he had always feared that she would take his place in his father's eyes and heart and from the look of things, she had. Of course he received estate and some stocks, but the thing that should be his, not just by birthright, but also as he had worked just as hard as he could to help build the company...it was given to Paige and the only way he could even get a chance to be certain of his own future would be to bind himself to her.

This angered him, it angered him very much, he felt like tearing the papers to pieces and tossing it all in her face. Instead he tossed the page onto the coffee table and glared at her,

"Consider it? Why? To give you the satisfaction to reject me?"

His voice was as cold as the words,

"Not only did you come into my life and stole my father away, you now stole my future, my life away as well."

He rose to his feet, anger radiating from him,

"At least one thing you can not take from me is the house and grounds, that is mine."

He motioned at the papers,

"I don't care what that says, the moment you fail the company, I will have your head on the table."

He moved to the door and paused for a moment, looking back at her,

"Well played, I hope it makes you happy."

Out of sheer spitefulness, he slammed the door close behind him, stomping down the hallway on his way to the front door and his car.

There was no leaving things like this. Paige followed after him, got into the passenger side before he could leave. There was a sadness in her and a lot of anger. She had done nothing to Viktor that deserved the way he treated her. “I did not steal a damn thing. I was 4 years old when this went down. Forgive me if Papa took an interest in me but considering the nightmare parent I just came from. I guess he wanted to show me that all men are not violet drunks who try to smother their only child in the middle of the night because she left her crayon on the living room floor. That man spawned me and he wanted me dead because he thought my birth was the reason my mother wouldn’t sleep with him anymore.” The tears spilled down her face. She couldn’t take this anymore. The animosity that flared up at her everytime she came around. “Papa was like a dream. Someone who did exactly what a father is supposed to. You think you’re the only who lost him? I cherished that man. I never felt safe anywhere until he came along. I was never trying to steal him from you. I don’t understand why you insist to see me in such a bad light.”

Paige was even sure he was listening to her. “After everything I still don’t see you that way.” Her face got a little red. “I think you would be surprised if you knew how I felt about you.” That was all she could say about the subject or he might get too aware of what she was hiding. “I don’t want to run this company. I know what I am capable of and what I am not. I’m realistic that way and I know I couldn’t do that place any justice. Papa did train me but I would rather be working smaller projects like before. I have been trying to get out of it. I even called Dad’s lawyer about this and that was when he told me about the codicil. I asked him if Papa said anything about why he would do this. He told me that Papa that he viewed it as giving both of us what we needed. You wanted the company and I want y…..” Oh that was almost a slip.

“I’ve said my peace. You want to hate me? Go ahead.” Paige got out of the car and walked back to her old room, not caring to look back at Viktor. Once the doors were closed, she let the tears fall. All the pain of his constant rejection and of losing the only father she ever had. It was so potent that it was almost a physical pain tearing at the insides of her body. She sat on the bed and cuddle Annie, a little ragdoll her Papa had won her at a carnival. It was one of her prized possessions and it always lay on the pillows of her bed. She looked out the window at the stars. “Papa, I wish I knew why you did the things you did. Viktor is more capable to run that place. I’m not you.”

It was the first time she actually went into an attacking mode, if you can call following him and stating her side before leaving an attack. He sat there in the car, of course he knew of her dad, but there was something she said, it repeated itself over and over as he thought about it,

You wanted the company and I wanted y..."

The deliberate pause, the change of subject, even the blush which came to her face...could it be? He shook his head, it couldn't be, but still...he thought back all she did for him, how she looked after him not only once but twice, when he had a nasty spill on his old motorbike, she actually looked after him. Of course when he was strong enough he pushed her away, thinking it was her way to soften him up.

He ran a hand over his face, he know that ever since then she became an interest to him despite his mis-givings, he watched over her, helped in the background, his mind rationalising that it wasn't him helping her if he did it without her knowledge and in the background. His mind was in turmoil, the loss of his father, the will and now Paige...his hand moved to the doorhandle and he got out.

He tried the room's door, it was unlocked, he pushed it open and found her crying, holding onto a doll his father had won her at the fair, he waited for her to realize he was there and faced him,

"How long?"

He could see the question puzzled her,

"How long have you felt this way about me?"

Paige heard the door open and held her breath. She smelled Viktor’s cologne and wondered what had compelled to come after her. How long?” She looked back at him, a little confused. “How long have you felt this way about me?” Paige took a moment to take a deep breath. So the cat was finally out of the bag. Best to own it then to lie. “Since I was 14 years old. I never said anything because it always seemed like you hated me.” There was a dip in the mattress of the bed. Her heart began to thump in her chest. The way he was looking at her, like he had never seem her before. She ached for him to touch her.

Paige reached out with her hand to touch his face. “Odd that you always thought I was out to take everything from you when I really wanted was the one thing I thought I could never have.” That simple touch was like heaven to her and she wanted more, to feel more of him. Her hand dropped from his face and she looked away. Was this what Eric really wanted? For the two of them make peace. He had always known how she felt about Viktor. She still remembered the day he pulled her aside to the library to talk to her.

“Papa, what’s wrong? Did you and Moma have a disagreement? You look pale.” There was something wrong alright. It was summer and Viktor had invited his friends to swim in the pool. Eric had seem his 15 year old daughter looking at Viktor with love in her eyes. He had known because her mother looked at him the same way. “Babygirl, everything with your mother and me is alright.” That relieved look on her face almost made his eyes tear up. That child bore the scars physically and mentally from what her birth father had done to her. It had taken a lot to get her to trust him, including time that ended up being taken away from their usual with his son and the boy showed a sick anger at these two females. “I saw how you were looking at Viktor earlier at the swim party.”
Paige gasped and turn a very dark shade of red. He finally spoke again when he say those pretty eyes start to tear up. “Baby, there is nothing to be upset about. You always have had a very loving personality. I just never expected you to feel that way about Viktor given how he’s treated you.” He dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief he always kept his pocket. “Much better.” She smiled up at him with a warmth that most children would be missing given her history. “You have to consider that if I could see it than Viktor might one day too. I think we should keep this between us for now. Viktor is very confused about who is friend and who is enemy. I don’t want to risk him hurting you.”

That day was the day she chose to hide her deepest feelings but that was more than a decade ago and things had changed. Paige took a breath and straddled his lap, looking him in the eye. Papa had always said that he trusted someone that looked him in the eye. “Papa knew. Always thought the man had psychic powers. There was no keeping anything from him and he had seen me looking at you during of your parties.” She loved the scent drifted from him, masculine, clean and sensual. She want roll in that scent, to keep a part of him with her. “I tried, really tried to change your opinion of me. God, every time you looked at that way, like an enemy with hate in you, it hurt because all I ever wanted for you to see me for what I am.”

She knew what she wanted but wasn’t sure if she could do it. Paige leaned in, taking his face in both her hands and kissed him softly. In a low whisper she spoke, “I love you, Viktor Thorson.” She began to climb off of him, hoping he understand her. As usual, her shoes did a disappearing act. She looked around the room while Viktor still sat in the same spot, whether it was in anger or shock she had no idea.

Her confession shocked him, shocked him down to the core, but her soft touch...it was warm, soft and tender...then she straddled him, a kiss so gentle he loathed when she pulled away, he could still feel the soft touch, like her lips were burned onto his. He looked at the floor when she slipped from his lap, a part of his mind settled down, it was all explained to him in no uncertain terms. He took a deep breath and looked up at her,

"I...I was wrong..."

His voice faltered and he cleared his throat, the scent of her hair still wafting through his mind, the soft feel of her body as she had stradled him, kissing him...he looked out of the window as he continued,

"I was wrong, in hating you and your mother."

He sighed,

"Since my mother passed, I had known only one love. That of my father. I...well the truth is that I was scared. Scared to lose his love, to be pushed away."

He glanced at her, then closed his eyes, lowering his head,

"I wanted to push your mother away from him, to keep his love. But it didn't work, she loved him and he loved her, he also loved you as his own daughter..."

He drew a shaky breath, the hurt and resentment of years gone coming back, how silly and pointless it was,

"I knew I could not push you away from him, I resented...no...I hated you for the attention he gave you. It took years, long long years to understand that father loved us both, that his heart was so big and carried so much love...more love than my actions deserved."

He shook his head, a tear slowly slipping from one eye, he wiped it away, almost angrily,

"It took me until one evening to realize how I felt towards you. When a friend of Evan's told me of what he had planned."

Viktor sighed and finally opened his eyes, blinking away the tears,

"I knew back then that at some stage your kind and generous personality had gotten under my skin. That is when I really got upset."

He gave a soft chuckle,

"God, I've been such an angry brat."

He looked out of the window again,

"And now I have lost my father...you and your mother is all that remains, which used to be a constant in my life."

Another slight shake of his head followed,

"Even she accepted so much of my animosity, given me more love and understanding than I deserved."

He sighed and looked back at Paige, getting to his feet, slowly moving to her as he spoke,

"How you kept up with me I do not know. And now this, a choice. Can you forgive my past Paige? Forgive and forget what I have done? What I have said? Can we forget our cruel words and build a different relationship? Can you chance it?"

Paige sighed and came back to him. “I forgave you a long time ago.” Those tears in his eyes were breaking her heart. “I could never hate you.” Again she straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around him, holding him. The cruel words of the past were still in her memory but she knew there was another side to him, that what he had done had been out of fear. “I am willing to take a chance on this.” Even if it didn’t work out, at least she had had him for a little while instead of not at all. Her hand cupped his cheek, wishing she could banish the sadness she saw there. His closeness was having an effect on her body that she couldn’t control even if the timing was a bit off. She just hoped he didn’t notice.

Paige never knew much about comforting a man. It was always her mother that needed the extra emotional support because of what her birth father had done to the both of them. Touching a man had always made her nervous but it wasn’t the same with Viktor. It all felt so natural like it was where she was supposed to be. Her body did ache for more of him but she didn’t intend to push things while they were both still grieving. Her heart was heavy with emotional from what had happened in the last few days. They had both lost a lot by losing Eric Thorson.

It surprised her when she felt those strong arms around her as well. Paige hadn’t noticed her own tears fall soundlessly down her face. Nothing had ever felt so good and so safe. She couldn’t take anymore. “I can’t help this.” The kiss wasn’t like the first. It was told of her need for him. Her tongue coaxed open his mouth while her hands undid the top few buttons of his shirt. She wanted to feel him and slipped a hand inside to run it over his bare chest. Her heart was beating so fast that it banged against her rib cage. Viktor was the only man that ever did that to her. Paige switched her position so that she was sitting in his lap with her legs wrapped around him.

“Make love to me, Vik.”It was a plea of helpless need. “I need you to touch me. I’ve been dreaming about you for so long.” Paige pulled off the blouse she was wearing, the barely there lace bra doing nothing to hide the rock hard nipples below it. All she could think of was his mouth on her, suckling her breasts. “I love you so much.” It felt so good to say that out loud to him. She didn’t want to run a company, she wanted to take care of this man, wanted to be with him.

Her soft words meant the world to him, her passionate kiss robbed his mind of coherent thought. His held her close, feeling her hand sliding into his shirt, touching his skin, her soft caress and warm kiss catching him up into the moment. Then she pulled back and for a moment he thought that he had done something wrong, but she slipped off her blouse, exposing her silk bra underneath, her breathy words an admission and permission of sorts to him.

His lips found her neck, brushing her hair aside as he kissed the slender line of her neck, his hands slowly stroking over the silky skin of her back, meeting the material of her bra, opening the clasp, his hands keep their way up her back, sliding under her hair. His lips kept his gentle kisses up her neck, capturing her lips, his tongue meeting her own as he slid the straps of her bra from her shoulders, his hands sliding along her arms to gently cup her breasts.

He slowly ran his fingers over the soft flesh, his thumbs meeting the hard nubs of her nipples, slowly rubbing over them as they kissed. He kissed down her neck again, lower down her body, his lips meeting the rise of her breasts, he kissed his way over her left breast, his tongue snaking out to lightly rub over the hard nub of her nipple, like taking a taste of her skin.

Paige sighed at the sensation of his mouth on her skin. She had been waiting for this for so long and now that she had him, it felt like heaven. She suckled on his earlobe as those big hand explored her back. The feel of the clasp bra being opened made her smile. He didn’t waste any time, did he? A storm kicked up outside, lightning streaked across the window. When those lips came to her again, she ate at his mouth, almost starved for the taste of him. “Mmmmmmmm….I love your hands.” Paige touched his hand where they touched her breasts, lightly caressing over them.

Should I tell him I’m a virgin? That thought was long forgotten in the midst of the passion. Paige’s nipples were very sensitive and she could feel the dampness on her panties. She gasped and arched into his touch, wanting more. Paige whimpered loudly, in pure heaven when his mouth began to torture her nipples. “I love how you touch me.” He was wearing way too many clothes. Paige pulled his shirt until the buttons popped off. Viktor always had a nice body and had haunted her dreams. There were times she woke up sweating and aching so bad that she had to bring out her BOB (battery operated boyfriend) to just have some relief.

Her hand rubbed at his cock through his pants, noticing the very well made and hard erection. “Damn.” That was all she said about it and it was enough. Paige pushed back onto the bed, kissing him, then his neck and then chest. She let her hair down from the French twist she had it in and it fell past her shoulders. She undid the zipper on her pants and very slowly peeled them off. Paige had always been told that she was built like a dancer, long legs that seemed to go on forever. Paige straddled his body, wanting him to be the one to finish the job.

“God, you have a nice body. When you used to have those parties by the pool, I would sit near the window to get a peek at you.” She wondered how sensitive he was. She leaned down began licking at his nipple, wrapping her plump pink lips around it. Her hand inched lower and unzipped his pant, allowing her to wrap her fingers around his cock. “I can’t wait to feel you inside me.” Her hand began to pump at his erection, using two fingers to massage the underside of his cock and that sensitive area under the head. Paige knew now that this could be highly addictive with him but wasn’t that how it was supposed to be when it was right?

He smiled up at her as she straddled him,

"And here I thought you had eyes for the other guys."

Her soft touch on his cock made it twitch in anticipation, it throbbed gently as she handled it with a firm touch. He cupped her breasts again, rubbing his thumbs over the sensitive nipples, his fingers gently squeezing her breasts. He leaned forward, forcing her into a more upright position, kissing her deeply as his hands slipped to her naked back, pulling her towards him. He pulled back from the kiss,

"Too much clothes."

He slid her from his lap so that she could stand, he got off of the bed and slid off his pants and underwear, his shoes and socks following quickly after that. He hooked his fingers into the elastic of her panties and slid them down her long legs. He stood up and pulled her naked body to his, kissing her hungrily as his hands slowly explored her naked back, cupping her buttocks and pulling her firmer against his erection. He slowly inched her back to the bed, laying her down, the action breaking the kiss.

He ran his hands down her sides and over her hips, with a smile he started kissing his way down her body, with a slight nudge from his hands he opened her thighs and lowered his mouth to her wet lips, running his tongue over them, taking in her taste and smell. He slipped her legs over his shoulders as he slowly started to lick her lips, his lips closing around her clit, gently sucking at it as his tongue wiggled over and around it, teasing it. He alternated between lapping up her juices, slipping his tongue into her wet entrance and licking her clit. One hand rested on her thigh, the other reached up, rubbing and gently squeezing her breasts, alternating from one to the other.