by Hamel, B. B.
I stare at her, not able to move. I feel like I’m locked in place. Jessamine’s eyes are wide, staring into mine, almost laughing, but frightfully serious.
“Run!” she barks at me.
I can’t help myself.
I do what she asks.
I run past her, out to the door. My heart’s beating wildly out of control.
Killers, murderers, psychos.
Missing children, dead wives, dead fathers.
Case and Jessamine, living here with creepy Fox.
Everything is terrifying as I run. The whole house is reaching out to suffocate me. I hurry and I swear I can hear the ghosts of young girls, urging me on, telling me to keep running, not to look back.
I burst downstairs. I run through the front door.
I get in my car and I drive as fast as I can, and the terror doesn’t leave me until I’m back home, back in my bed, trying to understand what the hell just happened.
12
Case
I hate that I’m not there to greet Eden this morning, but there’s nothing else I can do.
Some stupid little emergency pulled me away to the mill bright and early. I spent most of the day dealing with human resources correcting paperwork errors that weren’t my problem but can only be resolved by the owner. Frustrating, petty shit, and I’m tempted to fire someone over it.
But of course, I’m not going to. I’m not a monster.
I head home after lunch, frustrated and tired, but looking forward to seeing Eden at least. I can’t stop thinking about her, trying to decide what the hell I want from her, why I can’t stop touching her.
It’s obvious, I know. I just can’t admit it to myself, not yet at least.
I park in the back and head up to the house. I’m practically whistling to myself as I skip inside.
Jessamine is in the kitchen, making her lunch. She’s smiling to herself, which isn’t like her. I drop my briefcase on the table.
“What’s up with you?” I ask my sister.
Jessa looks back at me. “Nothing,” she says, smiling.
“Nothing? I haven’t seen you smile like that in a while.”
She shrugs. “I just had some fun earlier and now I’m happy.”
My blood runs cold.
“Some fun?”
She nods, grinning huge. “Oh, Case. You should’ve seen her face. Seriously, it was beautiful.”
I step toward my sister, anger and horror rising. “What did you do?”
“It was lovely. Fox had her cleaning mom’s old dance studio, and I went in there—”
I cross the room, grabbing her by the throat. She looks surprised as I slam her back against the counter.
“What. Did. You. Do?”
Her smile gets even bigger.
“I just scared her, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
I tighten my grip. Her smile turns into a grin. There’s genuine glee in her expression.
She loves this. I know she does. She wants to get me angry. She wants to make me hurt her.
Jessamine wants nothing more than to make my demons roar.
“Stay away from her,” I whisper and let her go.
Jessa coughs and laughs at the same time. “I only scared her, don’t worry,” she says. “But I told her the truth about us, brother.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her we’re killers. What else? She needs to know.”
I stare at my sister, tempted to choke her again, but no. That’s not the man I am. I won’t let myself go down that path.
“I hope you didn’t do something stupid,” I say.
“I’m bored, Case! You can’t keep me locked up in here!”
“I can and I will,” I say.
“You can’t!” Suddenly, her joy turns to rage. “You can’t! You fucking can’t!”
I step toward her and she stops. Her smile comes back.
“Please, Case. You know I won’t do it again. I won’t. I’m trying to be like you.”
I stare at her, and I know she’s a liar. A very good liar, but a liar.
And a goddamn killer.
“Fox will look after you while I’m gone,” I tell her. “We’re not done talking yet.”
“Case!” she screams after me, but I’m already leaving the house. “Fuck you, fucking piece of shit! You can’t keep me locked in here forever!”
As I head outside and get into my car, I know she’s right. That’s the most terrifying thing right now.
I know she’s right.
Sooner or later, I have to do something about Jessamine. It won’t ever be easy or pretty, but I can’t put it off forever.
The girl is dangerous. Very, very dangerous. I remember the first day I realized it, back when she was only ten years old.
I found her out back beating our old pet dog to death with a stick.
Poor, broken Jessamine. It’s horrible that she’s so beautiful. It draws men to her, gives her easy targets.
It took me a while to figure out what she was doing, but when I did, I took steps. I locked her away, kept her locked in a room for an entire year before finally letting her out.
We made a deal. She stays in the house, doesn’t stray, and I don’t lock her away again.
That deal’s been good for years now, but she’s starting to push back. Sooner or later, she’s going to get away.
And she’s going to do something very, very bad.
I sigh and drive. That’s a problem for another day.
Right now, I have to find Eden, and I have to make her understand.
* * *
Eden’s mother answers the door, looking tired. I give her my best smile. “Hi, Lorie. Can I speak with Eden?”
Lorie sighs. “She’s up in her room. Wouldn’t talk to me when she came in. Looked spooked. Something happen at work?”
I shake my head. “That’s why I’m here, honestly. I’ve been away all morning.”
She nods, expression tight. “Stay here. I’ll see if she wants to talk to you.”
I nod and step back. The door shuts and I wait almost ten minutes before Eden finally appears at the door.
She looks out at me, and for a second, it breaks my heart.
Because she looks afraid of me.
“What do you want?” she asks.
I raise an eyebrow. “I want you to do your job, but here you are, hiding away instead.”
That annoys her, like I knew it would. “Did you talk to your sister?”
“I did.”
“So, you know what she… what she said.”
“I know.”
“Then…” She trails off, looking for the words.
“Come outside,” I say softly. “Come for a walk with me. We can talk.”
She stares at me for a second. “I don’t know.”
“Eden, please. Jessamine is a little… difficult. I’m sorry she was messing with you.”
She takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. “Okay,” she says finally. “Let’s go for a walk.”
She comes outside a minute later dressed in jeans, a sweater, and white sneakers.
“Come on,” she says, hopping lightly down the front steps and walking down the driveway.
I catch up with her and we walk side by side down the street. Up ahead, there’s an entrance at the dead end that leads into the woods.
“What was all that crap about being a psycho?” Eden finally asks me.
I walk silently next to her. I steal a glance in her direction, and for once in my life, I want to tell the truth.
It hurts so fucking much keeping my family’s secrets. I hate them, hate them so fucking much. The things I’ve seen would’ve broken any other person, but I’ve had to be strong. I didn’t have any other choice.
First, it was my father. Then it was Jessamine. And now I’m keeping it together for the whole fucking town, because without the Hammett family, half the people in Pine Grove lose their jobs.
“What exactly did she tell you?�
� I ask finally.
“She says you’re a killer. She says you’re both psychopaths.”
I grunt a little. “Not entirely true,” I say.
“Entirely?” She gapes at me.
“I’m not a killer,” I say quickly. “But you have to understand that there is something of a darkness in the Hammett family line.”
She sighs. We step through the guardrail barrier at the end of the street and into the woods. There’s a well-worn path that leads into the forest and we walk together, slowing down now and then to step over roots and holes in the muddy ground.
“I know the rumors. I just always thought they were bullshit.”
“They are… mostly.”
She shakes her head. “You’re not making me feel better.”
“I know. I’ve never had to tell anyone this before. I’ve never wanted to.”
Eden glances at me. “So why are you here?”
“Because you…” I trail off and stop. She turns to me, eyes a little wide. “Because you make me want to finally get out of the hole I feel myself in. Do you understand that?”
She nods slightly. “I think so.”
“But the things about my family… I don’t know if I can tell you. I’m afraid of what you’ll do.”
“What are you talking about? What did they do?”
I breathe in and slowly out. “A long time ago, right after Jessa was born, my father killed my mother.”
Eden stares at me, shock clear in her expression.
“I was five at the time,” I tell her, “barely old enough to understand anything going on around me. I was so young, I just didn’t know what my father was. I mean, he was my father, and I loved him”
“How did he kill her?” she asks softly.
“I don’t know,” I admit. “I have dreams… I think he choked her. I was so young.”
“You… saw it?”
I shrug. “Fox says I walked in when it was happening. I don’t really remember.”
She bites her lip. “That’s insane. Did he go to prison?”
I laugh bitterly. “Not at all. No, he got away with it, of course. Fox helped him cover it up, or at least I learned that years later.”
“Fox did?” Her eyes go wide. “Fox is a killer?”
“Not exactly. He was loyal to my father. I think he regrets the things he helped cover up now… anyway, Fox isn’t the issue.”
We keep walking down the path, our feet crunching over leaves and twigs. The houses disappear through the forest, blocked out by the trees, and we’re alone, very alone.
“My father kept killing,” I say finally. “It took me a long time before I caught on. I think Jessa knew even before I did, which probably explains a lot about her.”
“The rumors are true then,” she whispers.
“Somewhat. He didn’t kill little girls. That wasn’t him.”
“That wasn’t…” She trails off. “So, you’re telling me there was another serial killer in Pine Grove?”
“Eden, there’s a lot hiding beneath the surface of this broken old town. Pine Grove is a festering wound. Maybe you can’t see it right away, but the infection is there, and getting worse all the time.” I take a deep breath and let it out. “I’ve been trying to keep this place together, trying not to let that… darkness claim it. But I don’t know if I can do it for much longer.”
“What darkness?” She stops suddenly. “What the hell are you saying?”
I face her. “Bad people come to Pine Grove,” I say. “I don’t know why, but it’s always been that way. They’re attracted to this place. Maybe it’s because we’re a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, so they think they can escape their past, but who knows. All I can say is, they’re here. Some of them are quiet and living normal lives, but some of them…” I shake my head.
She stares at me, at a total loss.
“Do you want me to keep going, or do you think I’m a monster?” I ask her, stepping close.
She bites her lip. “I don’t know,” she admits.
“I’m not like my father,” I tell her softly. “I don’t kill like him. I don’t kill at all. I think I have more of my mother in me than I have of him.”
She bites her lip. “Not according to Jessamine.”
“She was just trying to mess with you. Jessa hates me, and for a good reason. But that’s not what’s important. You need to understand what I did all those years ago.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t want to know,” she says suddenly. “I don’t. This is too much, Case.”
I step closer to her, forcing her to step back. She stumbles over a root and presses up against a tree, regaining her balance. When she looks up, I’m there, inches from her.
“You have to know,” I whisper. I take her by the hair, pulling her chin up. I can feel her heart beating fast as I press my body against hers. “You need to know what kind of man I am.”
“Tell me,” she says, half a startled groan.
“He killed for almost ten years. Drifters mostly, men that came into Pine Grove looking to start over, running from their past crimes. Instead, they found my father, and they disappeared.
“He did it over and over. Sometimes he stopped, but he always started over again. He was quiet and distant, and the only person that ever knew the full extent of his evil was Fox. Around my tenth birthday, I caught my father in the back yard, digging a grave, covered in blood. When I was twelve, I found a severed arm in a shed behind our house. Two months later, I found the body it belonged to, mutilated and mangled beyond recognition.”
I have to pause for a moment as the memories threaten to overwhelm me. It’s so vivid, so horrible, and I hate to remember. I hate to think about what the bastard did to all those poor people.
“He didn’t kill locals, or at least he tried not to,” I say softly. “That kept him off the radar. Until one day, around the time I was fifteen, I came home to find Fox in the kitchen, crying to himself. He wouldn’t say what was wrong, but I knew what had happened. I knew my father did it again.
“What I didn’t know was that my father finally went too far. I found him out in the garage, humming softly to himself as he sharpened some old kitchen knives. Lying in the corner was my sister’s fifth grade teacher, strangled to death.”
I close my eyes. I can still see the woman’s face staring up at me.
“Oh, god,” Eden whispers.
“I lost it,” I say. “I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed one of the knives he was sharpening, and I stabbed him in the back. He screamed, surprised, and I pulled it out. I stabbed him again, and again, until my arm was too tired to go on.”
“You killed your father,” she says.
“I killed a serial killer. I saved countless lives. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. I wasn’t strong enough. I was only a kid.”
“You were only a kid,” she repeated.
“Fox helped me get rid of him. Fox helped me cover it up. I thought it was all over. I became the head of the Hammett family, took over the finances. Fox got me through those early years, never left my side, I think out of regret for not being able to do what I did.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t believe you,” she says. “That’s too insane.”
“You don’t have to believe me. It’s the truth. My father was a killer and I was the one who stopped him. That’s what Jessamine means. She hates me for what I did to our father.”
“But he was a serial killer.”
“Jessa doesn’t care. All she knows is I took her father away. She doesn’t care if he killed people for pleasure.” I spit out that last bit like bile.
Eden reaches up and touches my face. The pain inside of me is so intense, so wrenching, I feel like I might get sick. But she pulls me back, tugs my face toward her, and before I realize what’s happening, she kisses me.
I’ve never told that story to anyone else. It’s my biggest, darkest secret, my deepest shame. I killed my own father, and even though he was sick,
disgusting, a bastard, a murderer, a dangerous animal, I still hate myself for it. I still despise what I am.
But I stayed in Pine Grove. I took Jessa in. I controlled her, tried to save her. I’m still trying to save her.
I can’t make my past mistakes. I won’t let this family die out, burned to the ground. I have to be better.
I have to atone for my father’s sins by helping Pine Grove, and I have to atone for my own sins by saving my sister the way that I couldn’t save my father.
Eden’s kiss pulls me away from all that. It drives away the demons even while awakening the demon inside of me, the demon that craves her so badly it hurts.
I grab her hair and kiss her back. My free hand roams her body and I suddenly don’t care where we are. I need her right now, right here. I’m so hard I can barely breathe.
Eden is the only good thing in my life. She’s the only light I’ve ever seen, the only light that’s ever seen me. She can save me, I know it. If she can let herself, if I can let myself, I can be saved.
I unbutton her jeans and slide my hand down the front of her panties. I find her pussy, already wet, soaking wet under my fingers. “Fuck, Eden,” I whisper. “Are you wet from that story?”
“No,” she groans as I tease her.
“I think you are. I think hearing about murder excites you.”
“No,” she moans.
“Liar.” I laugh softly and bite her lip. “You are more like me than you know, aren’t you?”
“Never.”
I press my fingers inside of her and she moans. That’s all the answer I really need.
I fuck her pussy with my fingers, moving fast and deep, making her gasp and groan. She rolls her hips and this time, I know I’m not making it last, but I’m also not holding back.
I turn her, bending her over against the tree. She puts her hands against the trunk, and I pull down her jeans and panties, down around her knees.
I drop down behind her and spread open her ass. I lick her, top to button, tasting her tight ass. I lick her down to her pussy and back up, cock pulsing, throbbing, needing her tasty spot.
I stand back up and spank her, pull her hair. She kisses me over her shoulder as I unbuckle my jeans and slowly pull my hard cock out from my pants.
