Liam's Secret

by Jadyn Chase

  “I’m not sure,” I told him. “Do you think four cords would get us through a winter here?”

  The man scratched the side of his head with the point of his pencil. Rob White. Liam said the hardware store owner’s name was Rob White. “Well, that depends on if you’re using any other form of heating.”

  “We aren’t,” I replied. “All we’ve got is a woodstove.”

  He glanced up at me. “Then I’d say go with six cords just to be safe.”

  The blood rushed to my cheeks. “I can’t afford six.”

  He bobbed his large head to one side. A fringe of grey hair surrounded the back of his bald pate. “All right. Four it is.”

  I opened my mouth. A braver woman would try to haggle with him to lower his price, but I didn’t. “When could you deliver it?”

  “Whenever you want,” he replied. “I get out of here at five every day. I can bring it anytime you say.”

  I fished in my pocket and brought out a bunch of crumpled bills. “Can I pay you now?”

  He sidled over to the register and punched a few buttons. I handed over the notes. He counted them before he put them in the drawer. “This is too much. You gave me four hundred. The price is only two hundred and fifty.”

  I looked down at the notecard in my hand. “The notice says a hundred per cord.”

  He shrugged and looked away. “It ain’t. It’s two-fifty for four cords.”

  I felt myself spiraling down into a whirlpool of confusion. He changed the price for me. I was certain of that. “Then how much for six cords?”

  “Four hundred.” He wouldn’t look at me.

  I swallowed hard. “All right. Let’s make it six, then.”

  He put the notes in the till and slammed the drawer. “I’ll deliver it the day after tomorrow, about six in the evening. Will that work?”

  I nodded. I tried to bite back a smile, but I wound up beaming at him in spite of myself. “Thanks. That’s perfect.”

  I got out of there as fast as I could. I guess word got around about Daddy and me. I discovered people I didn’t know being extra nice to me when I came into town for groceries, and now this.

  I breezed out of the hardware store and headed for the other end of town where the highway disappeared eastward. I left Daddy alone in his room and I had to get home before dark. I didn’t like doing that, but what choice did I have? I didn’t have a car to drive him anywhere and now I had to hitchhike home.

  I headed for the road and turned to stick out my thumb when something jerked me off my feet. A powerful force plucked me off the sidewalk and dragged me between two buildings.

  Before I realized what was happening, a meaty hand slammed against my throat and shoved me against the cruel brick wall. Dean Lynch hissed in my face. “What do you think you’re doing, giving me the slip all this time? Didn’t I tell you to check in with me every day?”

  I tried to answer. I tried to tell him I couldn’t exactly check in with him when I didn’t have a phone and or a car to come into town. This was the first time I came to town since my last terrifying encounter with him.

  I couldn’t speak with him crushing my throat. I tried to scratch his elbow off my neck, but I couldn’t budge his iron grip.

  “You heard what I said about that punk, didn’t you? Now’s the time. Do you hear me? Midnight tomorrow at the old tannery. Do you got that? Midnight tomorrow at the old tannery. If you’re not there to deliver, it’s your ass. Understand?”

  He jerked his arm away and the blessed air rushed into my lungs. I slammed down on the pavement and doubled over coughing and retching. I rubbed my throat, but the pain sapped my strength.

  Dean threw back his shoulders. “What did I just say?”

  I gagged and spat bile onto the ground. “Midnight tomorrow at the old tannery.” I didn’t even know where that was, but I couldn’t mistake what he meant. This was it. This was the moment he wanted me to deliver Liam Kelly to his destruction.

  He nodded down at me. “Be there or else.”

  He stalked out of the alley and vanished, but his odious presence still lingered. I had one day to find Liam and somehow induce him to come with me to the old tannery, wherever that was. Maybe he knew.

  I hadn’t seen him in a week since he finished working on the cabin. I didn’t expect him to come back after the way I threw myself at him. He slipped away while I busied myself with Daddy. He didn’t even say goodbye to me.

  Since that day, signs of him screamed at me from every corner of my house. Everywhere I looked, I saw him. The stove in the living room, the missing wall that made our new living room so much bigger, the post under the eaves—they all kept Liam in the forefront of my mind. I couldn’t escape him.

  Where was he right now? I had to find him. What if he didn’t come to town? I would have to go up Smokey Ridge to find him. Was he at the fishing hole? Could he be waiting for me there?

  My mind darted from one possibility to another. How could I convince him to take me to the tannery? As soon as I asked or even hinted at it, he would suspect something. I hooked up with him once. What possible reason could I have to get him to take me somewhere like that?

  I hugged my arms over my stomach. Fear and apprehension ate me up from the inside. I couldn’t let the Lynches do anything to Daddy or me. If I didn’t follow through on this, Daddy would be left alone in the world. He wouldn’t survive on his own if the Lynches didn’t kill him first, and I went to too much trouble to keep him safe.

  My stomach turned and I wanted to puke. My knees wobbled and I rested my fevered head against the cold brick. What was I going to do? Daddy would be waiting for me to return, but I dared not go home now. I had to find Liam. If I went home, I might not get back in time.

  I laced my fingers together, but I couldn’t stop my hands shaking. So many factors worked against me I didn’t know how to resolve them all. How could I ever hold up my end of the bargain and get the Lynches out of my life for good?

  I had to get moving. I had to get out of that alley. I spun around and rushed for the road. The sun-bright street spread out before me. Once I got out there and started walking, I would be able to clear my head.

  I got as far as the mouth of the alley when a familiar figure came around the corner. He couldn’t have just happened to walk in there. He rotated on his shoulder on the wall. He eyed me with a flashing glare, and he sure as hell didn’t smile.

  I retreated in surprise. “Liam!” I forgot all about trying to find him.

  “I heard you talking to Dean Lynch,” he growled. “I heard every blinkin’ word you said.”

  My blood ran cold. “I can explain.”

  He jerked his chin at me. “Go ahead. Let me hear you do it. Explain. By all means, explain.”

  I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I should ask him to come with me to…..My heart plummeted into my shoes. He heard Dean tell me to bring him to the tannery. I couldn’t ask Liam now.

  “I’m waiting,” he snapped. “What were you talking to Dean Lynch about? What’s going to happen at midnight tomorrow at the old tannery? Go on. Tell me.”

  I shrank in on myself. I couldn’t think of one decent thing to say to him. “I can explain.”

  He pushed himself off the wall and stalked toward me. His face hardened into a mask of thinly veiled fury. I never saw him so menacing before. He always presented a picture of casual indifference. Now his features smoldered with barely disguised rage and murderous hatred, not just for the Lynches but for me, too.

  Everyone in town knew about the blood feud between the Lynches and the Kellys. Liam didn’t have to tell me. I already knew he would lose his shit if he ever found out I was talking to Dean behind his back.

  He took one slow, deliberate step toward me followed by another. “You already said you could explain, Amy. Now let me hear this glorious explanation of yours. What were you talking to Dean Lynch about? What are they doing at the tannery tomorrow night? Tell me this minute or things will go worse for you.”
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br />   How many times had I heard that in the last three weeks? What could Liam possibly do to me that Dean didn’t already threaten to do? Still, I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth that Dean wanted me to lure Liam to the tannery so the Lynches could ambush him and kill him.

  I glanced right and left for any way to get out of this, but Liam blocked my path. He advanced another step, and I eased back to get away from him. His expression left no room for doubt that he meant business.

  I banged into the brick wall and he stopped in front of me. His eyes pierced me to the marrow, but I still couldn’t speak. His face wavered before my eyes and my heart flew into my mouth.

  He lowered his voice to a dangerous murmur. “You said you knew about me before we met at the fishing hole. Was it only coincidence that you happened to be swimming there when I showed up to fish? Do you know I’ve been going there every summer for the last twelve years and I have never seen another person there? I almost started to believe I was the only one who knew about that spot.”

  I tried to look away. His hand shot out and he seized me by the jaw. He wrenched my head around so he could look me in the eye. He snarled through gritted teeth. “You cried me a river about your poor old father and being too poor to afford a decent place to live. You got me to fix your house, and then you jumped my bones in your room. Was that a coincidence, too? Was it? Huh, Amy? I asked you a question.”

  He spat out the last words with vicious force, but I was too petrified to answer. I struggled against his hold, but I couldn’t break away.

  “You’re not going anywhere until I get some answers,” he barked. “I asked you a question. What were you talking to Dean about? What do the Lynches have planned for tomorrow night at the tannery? If you don’t tell me right now, I’ll have no choice but to think you’re working with them to trap me.”

  “I am!” I screamed out. All my fear and self-loathing came pouring out in a torrent. “I didn’t want to, Liam! I had to. You don’t know what it’s like when someone you love needs medicine to live and you don’t have the money to pay for it. I had nothing. I had nowhere to turn. I had no money and Daddy was in the hospital. I had to do something.”

  He glared down into my eyes. His fingernails dug into my cheeks. “So…..what did you do? You went to the Lynches?”

  “I had to!” I shrieked. “I needed money. Dean gave me all I needed for the oxygen and the bed and everything else. He even gave me enough to move into that house. Daddy would have been dead if I didn’t do it, and I would have been on the street. I had no choice, Liam. You have to believe me.”

  He yanked his hand away so hard it hurt. He straightened up and ran his fingers through his pale hair. He fixed me with a hard stare. “So they gave you money. What did you have to do in exchange?”

  I hung my head. I couldn’t look at him. “You’re right. It wasn’t a coincidence that I met you at the swimming hole. Dean said you went there all the time. He said you couldn’t resist a good-looking girl. He wanted me to seduce you. I had to. Don’t you see, Liam? I did it to save Daddy.”

  He gritted his teeth and looked away before he came back to scowling at me. “So that’s it? You did all this for the Lynches? You…. all that….in your room….it was all part of the plan, wasn’t it?”

  “No, Liam!” I cried. “Not that! I…. the more I got to know you, the more I liked you. When I said I wanted to do it for me, I was telling the truth. I wouldn’t have done it to lure you to…..”

  “Lure me where?” He snorted and shook his head at nothing. “To the tannery, right? He wanted you to lure me to the tannery so they can…..what? Slit my throat? Is that what they want to do?”

  I looked down at the ground. I couldn’t swallow down the lump in my throat. I couldn’t stand in front of him admitting all this. I wanted to disappear rather than have him look at me like that.

  “You filthy, lying witch!” he whispered. “To think I actually started to like you! Do you want to know something really stupid? I actually started thinking we might have a future together. That’s how much of a chump I am. I fell for a nice ass and a pretty smile. Dean was right about that much. All you had to do was wave your dripping, filthy cooz in front of me, and my brain turned to jelly. I wish I’d never laid eyes on you.”

  “Don’t say that, Liam,” I moaned. “Please don’t say that.”

  “Don’t worry,” he crooned. “Now that I know all the Lynches will be at the tannery tomorrow night, my Clan can ambush them instead. We’ll put them all in their graves for a change.”

  He turned on his heel to walk away, but I lunged forward to stop him. “Wait, Liam! Please forgive me. I never meant to hurt you and I actually started to like you, too. I didn’t know it would turn out like this between us. I only wanted to save Daddy. Don’t you understand?”

  He jerked his arm out of my grasp and whipped around spitting mad. “Don’t you dare touch me, you foul bitch! Don’t you ever touch me again. Get the fuck away from me!”

  He tore himself away hard enough to knock me back against the wall. I burst into tears. My chest ached. I couldn’t face him. For the first time in my life, I realized there really was something worse than losing Daddy.

  I couldn’t let Liam walk away thinking I betrayed him like this. I couldn’t stand him calling me all those nasty names, especially since he was right. That was the worst part of the whole catastrophe. I did betray him, and we both knew it.

  He stopped a few paces away with his back to me. He propped his hands on his hips and shook his head down at the ground. His hair waved back and forth over his eyes to conceal his features. I couldn’t bear to look at his face anyway.

  “Go on,” he croaked. “Tell me everything. Why do they want to kill me—I mean, why me in particular? I guess the Lynches killing any Kelly is no big deal, but why me?”

  I stared down at my palms. Those hands didn’t seem to belong to me. This body, the body he touched, the body he found so appealing and attractive—it wasn’t me. I dwelt somewhere separate from all of this.

  “Dean says you framed his brother Theo for murder,” I mumbled. “He says you seduced Marjorie Atchison when she was dating Theo. She turned up beaten to death in an abandoned shack five miles from the Lynches’ stronghold. Some anonymous tipper called the Police, so they found the body before the Lynches had a chance to clean up the mess. Theo took the blame even though the shack showed signs of forced entry and Theo had the key. The Lynches blame you. They think you killed Marjorie to cover up the affair and that you called the Police to shift the blame onto Theo. He went to prison and some rival……. Anyway, he died in prison. Some enemy of the Lynches killed him in his bed. They wanted to lure you there and kill you as payback.”

  He didn’t move or make a sound. He waited, and when I didn’t say anything else, he strode forward to the end of the alley. He would walk away now and leave me here to wallow in my misery. I would never see him again. He would never smile at me again. He would never look at me with those knowing eyes of his. He would take all my secrets and grind them under his heel. That’s all I was worth to him now.

  I couldn’t live with that. I couldn’t let him throw me out with the rest of the trash. I couldn’t lose that one scrap of hope that he brought into my life. I rushed him one more time. I tried to grab his arm again and wound up with a handful of his shirt.

  In a heartbeat, he whipped around and exploded to a monstrous size. He reared back and two gargantuan reptilian wings expanded from his back. His face morphed into a grotesque pointed arrow of teeth, glowing golden scales, and burning red eyes. His neck coiled back with a row of black spikes down his spine.

  He seethed out of his skin and a long tail whip-cracked to echo through the alley. I staggered to get away from him, but he was just too big. A huge dragon rose on his hind legs to claw the air with his forefeet. When he came down with a deafening thud, his head shot forward. He bellowed in my face with the voice of a thousand thunderclaps.

  My knees turned to water.
I crumbled to the ground cowering in terror and despair. Dean told me all about the Lynches and the Kellys being rival dragon Clans, but I never expected to have to look one of them in the eye.

  I convulsed on my knees with tears streaming down my face, but I couldn’t look away from his menacing visage. This was Liam, the real Liam—enraged, volatile, deadly. I wanted him and now I got him. I got him in spades.

  My whole being shook with sobs, thinking, I deserve this. I hoped he killed me then and there so I wouldn’t have to live with the shame and pain of having betrayed the one person who cared about me in this world.

  He opened his heart to me. He gave me his body and his help and his understanding, and I repaid him by stabbing him in the back. I deserved to die for that. I could think of no more fitting end than to fall victim to this ferocious beast that embodied all his outrage and fury.

  His voice shook my bones in their sockets. The ground under me vibrated with his ear-splitting roar. I waited for death, but it never came.

  The sound stopped. When I dared to peek up, the golden dragon collapsed in on itself. Its neck retracted and it folded its wings. It dwindled to a man standing a few feet away. His shoulders heaved and he gasped for breath through parted lips. His black eyes smoldered glaring down at me, but he barely spoke above a whisper. “I fell in love with you.”

  My heart contracted in an agonized fist, but I couldn’t speak to answer. He spun away on his heel and marched out of my life.

  7

  Liam

  I got as far away from the alley as I could. I didn’t trust myself to look at Amy. She betrayed me. She sold me out to the Lynches—the harlot!

  How could I be so stupid? How could I fall for a cheap whore like her? She never cared about me. She never wanted me. Fuck! Dean Lynch sure had my number. He knew exactly what bait to use to get me to bite that hook.

  I locked my teeth and refused to look right or left. I kept my eyes fixed on the points of my shoes sweeping in front of me. Right. Left. Right. Left. Nothing else mattered but putting as many miles between me and that slut as possible.