Don't own The Young and the Restless nor these characters. Which is a shame really.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Prologue
It had always been easy to forget before.
Even though he was always there, in some form or another. Lurking around the halls at Newman Enterprises. Drinking coffee at Crimson Lights. Emerging sweaty and slightly flushed from a game of tennis at the club.
And she didn’t let it get to her, the way that he rarely looked her in the eye. She ignored his easy smile, the parade of woman in and out of his life. That was just who he was. Who he always had been.
That was Jack.
And it had nothing to do with her or her life. Not anymore. Not since Neil.
And that’s who she was now. Drucilla Winters. Newman executive, devoted wife and mother. Not that girl who cried so long and hard over her broken heart she destroyed her vocal cords and couldn’t speak for a week. That girl was gone--along with every part of her that loved him.
She’d locked it away.
Buried it so deep that years went by without her realizing it was still there inside.
And so it was easy to act as though she didn’t know every inch of his body as well as her own, every lilt of his laugh, each dream he’d put away. Drucilla Winters, wife and mother didn’t know those things. And again, that’s who she was now.
But then he kissed her.
And everything she’d locked away came tumbling to the surface. And now she thought of nothing else but his body. His laugh. His dreams. And she wondered how she could have been so blind.
Because deep inside she knew it was never really gone.
Just—locked away.
July 2008
“Jack.” His name was a primal moan torn from her throat. He was buried so deep it was like his body had become a part of her. She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist and tried to take him in deeper.
“Drucilla?”
His fingers were sandwiched between their bodies, rubbing furiously at her clit—hard the way she liked it. He always knew just how to touch her—when to be gentle and when she wanted him rough. Right now his hand gripped her thigh so tight she knew it would leave a mark. His thrusts were lifting her from the bed.
And she begged him for more.
“Jack.”
“Dru?”
“No!” She cried as she felt him slip away. “Please don’t leave me. Jack don’t—“
“Drucillla!” Dru’s eyes flew open at the harsh sound of her name. She rose in her bed, shoving her hand through the wild tangle of her hair that had slipped from her satin cap sometime during the night. She placed a hand over her chest and willed the rapid pounding to slow and her temperature to return to normal.
Shit. What did I say?
Neil lay in the bed propped up one elbow, his handsome face wrinkled with concern. “You were having a nightmare,” he said.
“Was I,” Dru replied. She couldn’t meet his eyes with the ghost of her dream still hovering in her conscious. “You know I don’t remember a thing.” Dru felt her stomach churn with the lie.
“Well it was a really bad one. You were moving all over the bed.” Neil paused and looked at her cautiously. “This has been happening a lot lately. Maybe you should see someone—“
“I’m fine Neil.” Dru pushed the covers from her body and placed her feet on the cool hardwood floor. She grabbed her robe and shoved her arms into the sleeves, her eyes closed in a silent prayer that Neil would drop the subject.
“Where are you going,” he asked.
“To get some water. I was sweating—you know—earlier. You need anything?”
“No,” Neil replied. She turned around and found him watching her, the concerned expression replaced with open suspicion.
“What,” she said. “What’s that look for?”
“Why do I feel like you’re not telling me something?”
Dru paused, the truth turning into a dull ache at the base of her neck. You can’t Dru. It’ll break his heart.
“I’ve just been stressed out at work. Apparently, that bullshit is following me home. Everything’s fine baby—don’t worry.” She leaned over and kissed him quickly and then rose to her feet. Dru had almost made it to the door when she paused at the sound of her husband’s voice.
“Hey Drucilla?”
“Yeah baby?”
“I love you.”
It’ll break his heart. “I love you too Neil.”
June 1990
Dru popped her pink Bubblicious spitefully in the face of her Aunt Mamie. The older woman’s lips tightened and she snapped her dish towel against the counter and pointed at Dru’s face with a long trembling finger.
“Now you listen to me young lady. If you are going to stay in this house you will abide by my and Mr. Abbott’s rules. That means no partying and carrying on. And you’ll start looking for a job first thing tomorrow.”
“Aunt Mamie, these people are loaded,” Dru said. She cocked her hip and placed a hand on her waist, the movement making her cropped jean jacket rise to reveal her bare stomach. “Why can’t they give me a job? I can mop floors or somethin’.”
Mamie’s face hardened. “Oh, is that what you came here for? To be some rich white family’s maid like me?”
Dru frowned, and straightened slightly. “I didn’t mean nothin’---“ Mamie grabbed her arm and Dru cried out at her painful grip. “Ow! You’re hurting me Aunt Mamie—
“Girl you listen to me. I am not going to let you get by in this world cleaning up other people’s trash and scrubbing their toilets. You are better than that. Do you hear me?” The last was said with a hard tug on her arm. Dru looked up at Mamie with wide eyes.
“Yes—yes ma’am.” Mamie released her arm and took a step back, lowering her eyes to the ground. Dru waited silently while she seemed to reign in her emotions, still stunned at her aunt’s outburst.
“Now,” Mamie said. “I will not allow you to take any more advantage of the Abbotts than you already have. They’ve allowed here to stay here rent free---“
“I know Aunt Mamie—“Dru interrupted. She hated when Mamie threw her free-loading status in her face--rubbing the fact that she could be back on the streets at any minute in deeper. Dru knew she wasn’t wanted—it was nothing new—she never had been before.
“Well, I hear they’re hiring sales clerks down at Fenmores---“
“Mamie! I thought I heard your lovely voice.” Jack Abbott glided into the room, his blue eyes twinkling at the sight of Mamie and Dru. Dru shifted her eyes to the ground, instantly unnerved by his appearance. She’d seen him twice before, and each time he’d had some young skinny blond draped across his lap. She’d found him too handsome, too charming and judging by the bright red Ferrari he’d driven at a rapid speed down the curved driveway after a long night of drinks and fucking, way too rich for his own good.
“Well hello Jack,” Mamie said, her voice instantly warm and inviting. Dru glared at her in disgust. How dare the woman lecture her about her life and goals when all she did was shuck and jive for this rich white family?
He placed his hand on Mamie’s shoulder and leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “Let me tell you, those meetings this morning were brutal. I forgot to grab breakfast—“
”Oh, don’t worry Jack. I’ll fix you something. Have a seat,” Mamie said, nudging him down to the kitchen table. Jack smiled that shit eating grin that she’d come to loathe and Dru rolled her eyes. She grabbed a banana from a large bowel and yanked the peel down in frustration.
“You’re Drucilla right?”
She paused mid peel. He knows my name? “Yeah,” she said. “That’s me.”
“I’m Jack Abbott,” he said, holding out his hand. “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
Dru hesitated and then accepted his hand, awkwardly moving it up and down in a tense greeting. Her small hand was swallowed in his larger one and his palm was warm against her fingers. Jack released her hand slowly, his fingers sliding over hers in way that hinted at a caress. Dru pushed it from her mind, certain she had imagined it.
“Drucilla Barber,” she said.
“Well it’s nice to finally meet you Drucilla. I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay here so far.”
Your stay here. As though the Abbott house were a hotel and she was a paying customer. Dru’s palm itched with the sudden urge to slap him across the face. She looked away, frowning at her violent reaction to his words.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Yeah, it’ been great,” she mumbled.
“That’s great. I hope you stay for a while. This stuffy old house could use a young spirit like yourself.”
Dru snorted with laughter, the words slipping from her lips before she could stop them. “Yeah--no shit if you folks say stuff like ‘young spirit.”
Jack’s smile faded and Mamie gasped, staring at her niece in horror. “Drucilla!”
Dru shifted from one foot to the other and shoved her hands deep into her pocket. “Oh—I—uh—“She jumped as Jack burst into laughter, his deep voice bouncing off the walls of the kitchen. Dru smiled as he gripped the table his face a bright shade of red.
“Fuck, did I really just say that,” he choked. Mamie’s lips tightened with disapproval. Dru ignored her, and plopped down in the chair next to Jack, propping her elbow on the kitchen table. She leaned in and spoke in a low conspiratorial voice. “Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.”
Jack looked at her, and she noticed the subtle shift of his gaze to the generous swell of her breasts visible under her t-shirt. He raised those shockingly blue eyes back up to her face and fixed her with a smile so warm Dru’s felt a knot of lust form deep inside her stomach.
“That’s good to know,” he said, his voice matching her low tone.
“Drucilla, could you help me with these dishes,” Mamie said. Jack leaned back and picked up the plate Mamie had sat in front of him and took a large bite of an elaborate ham sandwich.
“Thank you Mamie,” he said with a nod. He turned and winked at Dru before gliding out of the kitchen as arrogantly as he had entered. Dru watched him go, biting down on her lower lip.
“Don’t’,” Mamie snapped.
“What?” Dru turned to look at her in surprise.
“I see it in your eyes. That man is much too old for you—“
Dru rolled her eyes and waved at Mamie dismissively. “I’m not—“
“You stay away from him Drucilla,” Mamie snapped. “You hear me? He’s an Abbott. You’d do best to remember that fact.”
Dru turned away, glaring down at the table with resentment. He was an Abbott-- a very single, very rich Abbott who apparently had a thing for young black girls slumming in his daddy’s house.
“Oh, I won’t forget it Mamie,” she said. “I promise you that.”
July 2008
Drucilla walked into the club, tossing the silky dark fall of her hair over her shoulder. She tucked her purse firmly under her arm and scanned the room for her daughter, who’d she’d finally convinced to join her for lunch. Lily had been distant ever since Dru and Neil returned to New York. She didn’t know the details but had made it clear to Dru that she was well aware that her mother had done something to hurt her father deeply. They were making baby steps back to normal—hence the lunch invitation. But Dru was still deathly afraid Lily would see the truth in her eyes. She did do something to hurt Neil. And judging from the dreams that had kept her awake for the past few months, she was still doing it.
Dru touched the arm of a passing busboy, painting on her brightest smile. “Excuse, me I’m supposed to meet my daughter here. Her name is Lily Winters—beautiful African-American girl—about this tall?”
The man shrugged and shook his head. “Sorry, I haven’t seen her.”
Dru dropped her hand and let him pass, her smile instantly slipping from her face. “Shit,’ she snapped. “Okay, that girl has some nerve standing me up.” She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. Dru sighed deeply and lifted her eyes to the bar, her gaze settling on tall slim figure, hunched over a small glass of amber liquor. She snapped the telephone closed and stared at him, her wide with surprise.
He looked thinner—his hair shorter than before. There was a deep crease in the back of his suit and Dru wondered if it had been slept in, the thought making her throat close with sadness. His hands rested around the glass as though he still hadn’t decided whether or not to take a drink. He suddenly tensed as if he sensed some what was watching him.
You should go.
She started to turn and hesitated. His blue eyes locked with hers and she was rooted to the spot. The dream came rushing back and Dru lifted one trembling hand to smooth her hair, forcing the images from her mind.
She walked towards him, cursing the four inch heels she’d chosen because they matched her suit, her legs weaker than usual in his presence. Dru laid her purse down on the bar and slid onto the stool next to him, crossing her legs in one smooth motion. He shifted his eyes back down to his glass, picked it up with a sweep of his hand and took a long deep drink. Drucilla watched silent as he lowered the glass to the bar and motioned towards the bartender.
“Another,” he demanded.
Dru sighed and twisted on the stool so she faced forward. Her eyes met his in the long mirror behind the bar and a ghost of a smile crossed his lips. Dru’s shoulders relaxed slightly and she returned the smile as the bartender placed another drink at his fingertips.
“Welcome home Jack,” she said. I missed you.