Dance with the Devil: Chapter 23

When Todd and Blair reached the room, Todd hesitated for a minute. He remembered their conversation from earlier in the evening about dressing and undressing and became unsure. He had often been unsure of himself in the past, but now, with his condition, he was even more so.


Blair picked up on his mood after she went to check in on Sam. She did truly know this man. “Hey, we don’t have to rush into anything,” she said.


He looked up at her. “I want to,” he said. “Every time I see you, I want you.” As she leaned down to him, he captured her lips with his. She returned the kiss as she eased down into his lap. His hands moved over her shoulders and down to her back. The zipper of the dress moved downward as she tried to remove his suit jacket. He stopped the zipper to shrug off the jacket, then pulled his mouth away from hers. “Ah, if we’re going to, um, maybe we should take this…” he said as he pointed to their bedroom. Blair smiled as she began to stand up, but he captured her wrist with his hand. “No, stay right there. I haven’t taken you for a ride in a long time.” With that, he wheeled them into the bedroom.


As their hands explored each other as if for the first time, Todd’s lips moved to Blair’s neck. That was always the sweet spot for him. Her hands undid the buttons of his shirt, which was off his body a minute later. The dress’s zipper was down completely and Blair stepped out of it, standing before him in a black lace bra and panties. She straddled his lap and their lips met again. As the passion swelled, Todd reached around her back and separated the hooks of her bra, allowing it to fall to the floor. He moved his lips down to the sweet spot again and onto her breasts. She arched her back and closed her eyes, reveling in his touch. His lips continued down her stomach and he looped his fingers in the sides of the panties, tugging them down. As he worked at them, her hands moved to his belt, which was undone, followed by his zipper.


Todd then stopped abruptly. He looked down then back at her. She knew instantly something was wrong. Tears sprang to her eyes as she rested her head against his. They stayed there, wordless, until Todd rolled himself back. Blair looked at him and moved to the bathroom, coming back out it a blue chemise. By then, Todd had gotten himself onto the bed and Blair had pulled his pants off the rest of the way. He was under the covers and had turned away from her. “I’m sorry,” he choked out.


She moved next to him in the bed and kiss his shoulder. “Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. It’s not a surprise,” she said as he shifted his body to face her. “The severity of your injuries…” She really didn’t know what to say, but in a way, it was in keeping with Todd’s history.


Ever since Marty, sex was an aspect of Todd that he always played close to the vest. Even when they were together, he was almost reluctant to engage in it. She remembered back to their first time, that Christmas, when he had expressed his fear of hurting her. That attitude hadn’t even changed when they were married three times. In fact, the only time she had noticed any marked change in him was the night of the premiere. She was so shocked when he kissed her before being led off, she could hardly breathe. Now, with the bullet preventing him from walking and, obviously doing other things, she could see the Todd of a decade ago coming back.


She moved closer to him and kissed his eyes as he closed them. She then snuggled into his side as he moved an arm around her, holding her close. “Look at it this way, it’s something else we can work on together, in therapy,” she said, gazing up into his eyes. “Just so long as I’m your therapist.”


He gave her a smirk. “I wouldn’t even think of asking Carly to help with that,” he replied.


As they fell off to sleep together, at the Haunted Star, Jack, Sarah and Star were hanging out at one of the Teen Nights the club held. As they sat there chatting, Starr noticed Michael and his sister Kristina approaching. Michael gave Starr a smile as Kristina threw a nasty look at her brother’s friend. After whispering something in Starr’s ear, she and Michael moved off to the quiet of the deck outside. “Any news?” he asked


“John said that they were going to work on the tape, but I haven’t heard anything yet,” she said as she put her hands on the sides of her face. “I still can’t believe it’s even possible! And if it’s true…”


Michael looked a bit confused. “What’s wrong? I mean, it’s a good thing. It would exonerate your dad completely.”


Starr shook her head. “You don’t understand.” She sat down on a chair as she explained, “Before my dad came back, everyone thought Victor was my dad, that he was Todd Manning. Then, a man with my dad’s face started lurking around Llanview and later revealed himself, claiming he was Todd Manning and that the other guy was an imposter who may or may not have been behind my dad’s kidnapping. Two DNA tests resulted in a positive match for both of them. It was a few days later that we learned that my grandmother had given birth to twins and hid the other one, my Uncle Victor, for years. Then there’s my grandfather’s will,” she said, taking a breath. “It left a trust fund that was estimated at thirty million dollars. But it was left to the ‘male heir’, with no one in particular stated. That was one of the main worries in our family last year before Victor…” Her voice trailed off.


Michael could see what she was saying. “Both your dad and uncle could have equal claim to the inheritance,” he finished.


Starr nodded grimly. “Just after everything that happened with Victor, my grandmother tried to kill us to get the inheritance for herself. Seems my Uncle Victor left her everything in his will. What made it really weird was that we all believed that she was dead for the last thirty years. But just after she ‘came back to life’ she was killed by my dad, in self defense and her estate, along with my uncle’s, went to my Aunt Tina and my dad was ready to go to court to get back what he saw as rightfully his.” She looked embarrassed. “My dad doesn’t really share well.”


“What wound up happening?” Michael asked.


“My Aunt Tina, deciding between the love of her life, my Uncle Cord and the millions left to her from the wills, actually chose love. She gave everything back to my dad and she and Cord eventually got remarried,” Starr said with a laugh. “Both my dad and Aunt Viki were stunned to say the least.” She looked back at the club. “We better get back inside,” she said as she moved to the door.


As they went in, Starr and Michael could hear raised voices even over the music. They found Kristina in the face of Sarah, who was standing in front of Jack. “You really want to throw my family history in my face, chick,” she heard Sarah say.


“Look, it’s well known around town now what Todd Manning is. A psycho, a rapist and a murderer. But, look at who his family was,” Kristina shouted back at Sarah.


“Oh, you really want to go there, do you? This coming from a mobster’s daughter?” came Sarah’s response. It was met by a fist shooting towards he face. When Sarah hit the ground, Michael ran to hold back his sister as Starr went to her cousin.


Jack moved to help his sister and cousin, giving Kristina a dirty look. As they moved out of the club, Jack shouted at Sonny’s daughter, “At least my father has owned up to his crimes and actually done time, unlike Port Charles’ answer to John Gotti.”


They eventually got back to Starr’s apartment and Starr went to get a cold compress for Sarah’s cheek. When she got back she looked at both of them in askance, “What the hell happened back there?”


Sarah looked slightly embarrassed. “That bitch started in on Jack about Uncle Todd and brought up Marty Saybrooke. Asked if the apple fell far from the tree. I just thought I should set the record straight, since I’ve been around for most of it.” Sarah grabbed her bag and looked for her compact. Opening it, she winced at her face. “That’ll be fun to explain to everyone.”


“Trust me, I’ve been having issues with her since I decided to stay in town. She had a reality show made about herself called ‘Mob Princess’ just to get back at her dad for getting her into Yale or something,” Starr said. “It doesn’t help matters that her nephew was the one that Dad switched with Tea’s baby.”


“What right does she have to talk about Dad like that anyway, huh?” Jack finally asked. “At least Dad has tried to avoid crime.”


Starr smiled at her brother. It was rare indeed that Jack defended Todd Manning. She was about to say something to that affect when each of their cellphones went off, indicating a text message.


“John says he has a break in the case and he wants us all at the hotel tomorrow,” Starr said.


“Mine just asks for all of us to be there tomorrow for an update,” Sarah said as she noticed her cousins’ looks. “There’s something else going on isn’t there?”


Jack looked at his sister and then at Sarah, explaining the incident at the park with Molly. “Look, John was going to look into it for us, but it really seems too far-fetched to believe,” he concluded.


“Yeah, from what I heard, there was a body, a funeral. How could he have survived all that?” Sarah asked.


“We don’t know, Starr said. “But I pray to God it’s true, especially for Tea’s sake. Even if this thing she was told about the baby turns out to be a hoax, if Uncle Victor is alive, she’ll at least have something.”


As Starr was saying that, Tea was lifting her suitcase into the trunk of her car. The message indicator for her phone went off and she saw it was from John McBain. It stated simply, “BREAK IN CASE. MEET AT METROCOURT TOMORROW 9AM.”


Tea let out a sigh. “John, I really could care less about Todd Manning’s shooting. I’m tired and I’m lonely. I’ve lost just about everything I have and I just want to go home to my daughter.” She moved to the driver’s side of the car and got in, starting the ignition. “I’m going home to Llanview. There’s nothing left for me in Port Charles, New York.”


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