It was the break in his voice, the catch, that hit me. He sounded as if he was in the same agony I was sinking into.
“I want the truth.”
“I swear I’ll give it to you. I’ll tell you everything about Abigail Price.” He smiled sadly. “It’s only fair. She knows everything about you.”
I sat up, roughly rubbing my hands over my face. I missed the gentle swipe of his fingers, but I needed the distance.
“How?” I asked. “How does she know about me?”
He regarded me in silence. “We were both sent to that place by our families. She was one of the few females there. We became close friends.” He emphasized that word. “Just friends. When I finally left and got my hands on my money, I got her out. She’s been my right-hand ever since.”
I frowned. She was his business associate?
“I have Abby’s permission to tell you about her past, Sunny. As long as you promise to listen, I’ll tell you.”
I shivered, shifting closer to the dying fire. Linc cursed and pulled off his jacket, draping it around my shoulders. Then, as if he had only done it yesterday and not ten years ago, he reached behind him and grabbed more wood, adding it to the fire. He poked at the burning wood until he was satisfied with the flames.
“Will you listen?” he asked, sitting back beside me.
I thought of the endless hours of conversations that had happened in this spot. The plans we made, the dreams we shared. The years I spent sitting here, alone, always wondering, always wishing for another night of him here beside me. Then the broken hitch to his voice echoed in my head, and I knew I had to try.
“Yes, Linc. I’ll listen.”
11
Linc
When I couldn’t find Sunny at her apartment, I sat in my car, swearing under my breath. I cursed Abby’s mother. I wished death—a long, slow one—on Carl. On both of them. I called the lawyer I kept on retainer for anything to do with Abby and filled him in on the situation.
“Get his parole revoked, Milo. Put a tail on him. Keep him the hell away from Abby. Her mother too.”
“On it.” He hung up.
Then I calmed myself, centering my thoughts the way I had learned, and concentrated on finding Sunny.
The cliff—the place Sunny and I used to hide—came to mind. I had purposely never developed the land around that area, even though I owned all of it. I had never planned on going there again, but I wanted to know that somehow, some small part of us still existed.
Would she go there?
There was only one way to find out.
I started the car and headed toward that end of town.
* * *
I was relieved to have found her, grateful she agreed to listen to me, and cursed myself for not thinking of bringing an extra jacket or a blanket. Her tears gutted me, and I wanted to hold her, but I knew she didn’t want that. I had to wait until she heard my story.
I stared out over the dark water, feeling the heat of the flames at my feet. My shirt didn’t offer me much protection from the cold, but with Sunny beside me, I was fine. I was happier knowing she was warm and protected. I gathered my thoughts, then spoke.
“Abby arrived one day about six months after I had been sent to Toblacove.”
“That was the town?”
“No, the name of the”—I held up my fingers in quotations— “‘establishment’ where I was held. It was really a prison—a place rich people sent their kids they gave up on and washed their hands of. They spoke of rehabilitation, but it was a holding cell, to be honest. We were fed, sheltered, and ‘taught,’ for lack of a better word. If you call grueling workouts, constant lectures on what ungrateful people we were, military-type discipline ‘teaching.’”
“Oh, Linc,” she whispered.
I kept talking. “The institution, because that is what it really was, was outside a small village.” I frowned as memories hit me. “No one spoke a word of English outside the compound, and very few of the, ah, students, as we were referred to, were allowed to go to the village. Some who had been there for a long time, or had proven their trustworthiness, were allowed a day every month or so. Never announced, so no plans could be made. I was never allowed, as per my father’s instructions. No matter what age you went in at—you didn’t leave until you were nineteen, unless your parents got you.” I paused. “That rarely happened. We were sent there and forgotten about.”
“Oh.” Sunny made a low noise in the back of her throat. “Were there a lot of girls?”
“No. Very few and they mostly kept to themselves. Everyone did. Friendships were not encouraged. The rest of us kept our interactions to a minimum so not to draw notice. We did as we were told. Studies, gym, chores, meals. There was very little free time.”
“I see. But you became friends with Abby.”
“I learned how to get around some of the rules. Where to go to get away from the cameras. Whom to trust. You had to in order to survive. In order not to completely fall apart.” Turning my head, I met her gaze. “To make sure they didn’t drum everything remotely real and human out of you. I refused to become one of their robotic zombies. I simply let them think I was.”
Her eyes shut, and when they blinked open, I saw the glimmer of fresh tears in them. I didn’t think as I leaned toward her and brushed them away this time. She let me touch her, which was enough—for now. I cleared my throat and continued.
“She arrived the way I did. Unconscious and drugged out of her mind. I saw her wandering the halls, confused, disoriented, and scared. Something about her reminded me of you. Maybe the light hair or the vulnerability I saw in her eyes. She was two years younger than me, and she didn’t deserve to be there any more than I did. I tried to show her the ropes. Where to eat, where things were, who to avoid, all those things.”
“Was everyone drugged?”
“No, some kids came willingly. I think given the choice of what they had at home compared to what this place offered, they took it. I always assumed their life before the institution was hell. They were the ones with a little more freedom.”
“I see. So, you became Abby’s protector.”
I lifted my shoulder, shifting on the cold ground. “I suppose. Keith, the one guy I trusted, had done the same for me. I was passing it on.” I drew up my knees, wrapping my hands around them. “Her chamber was right across from mine. She had nightmares at first, and she screamed. A lot.” I shut my eyes, remembering the screams.
Sunny’s hand folded over mine. “Oh, Linc.”
“Abby was a wild child. Her mother was a head case, and she got involved with a long list of men. Rich men. Sometimes they married her, sometimes not. Abby was ignored for the most part, sent away to boarding school, and only brought home on occasion.” I cleared my throat. “She, ah, started looking for affection in the wrong places. She got pregnant and had an abortion at fifteen.”
“She was desperate to be loved,” Sunny stated. I squeezed her hand, hearing the sympathy in her voice.
“The abortion was botched, and Abby got really ill. Septic. She ended up having emergency surgery and a full hysterectomy.”
“Oh god. That poor girl.”
“She was sent home—a fact that her mother wasn’t happy about. She had remarried for the fourth or fifth time, and she felt Abby was interfering with her life.”
“But it was her daughter,” Sunny protested.
“Like I said, her mother was a head case. Narcissistic. Self-absorbed.” I exhaled hard. “Abby’s latest stepfather was much the same. He was a real bastard, and he decided that Abby was part of the whole marriage deal. He tried to rape her.”
“No, no, no,” Sunny breathed out.
“She fought him off and told her mother. Her stepfather said she came on to him. She had scratched him when fighting him off, and he told her mother she attacked him when he said no. It got ugly. Abby said she was going to the police. Two days later, Abby woke up at the compound.”
I turned and faced Sunny. “She
was still recovering from everything else that had happened to her when she arrived at Toblacove. She was lost, Sunny. Alone. She had no idea what it was like for someone to care about her. At least I’d had you. Your mom and your sisters. My mom when I was little. I knew what it was like to feel love. She only knew rejection and being invisible. We became friends. Eventually, she told me her story, after I had told her mine. She knew all about my life. My father. You.” I risked a glance at her. “I talked about you a lot. She knew our whole story and the fact that I was still in love with you. She listened. I understood her pain as well. Having a parent hate you. Blame you for everything. Deny you their love.” My voice became thick. “Dump you and forget about you. Pretend you didn’t exist.”
“Linc…” she murmured.
“I protected her the way I did you. She became my shadow. Everything I learned, I taught her. Things she understood that I couldn’t, she became my teacher. I taught her self-defense. Made sure she followed the rules. Kept her under the radar.” I poked at the fire with a long stick. “As my plans grew, I shared with her. All about the business I planned on concentrating on when I got out. My strategy to destroy my father. All the things I wanted to accomplish.”
“You trusted her.”
“Completely.”
Her voice dropped. “You love her like a sister?”
I grabbed her hands. “Yes. Like I loved Emily and Hayley. And she loves me like a brother. Nothing more, I swear to you.” I met her eyes, mine blazing in truth. “Not the way I loved you.”
“How did she get out?”
“The day I left, I was called to the office and told to get my stuff. I had ten minutes and I had to be gone. I refused to leave without telling her. I had already done that to you, and I wasn’t doing it again. I left my stuff behind, and I found her instead. I swore I would get her out. I made her promise to be strong. Keep her nose down and act like it didn’t matter.” I rubbed a hand over my eyes, remembering the panic in her eyes and the fear she tried not to show. “The first thing I did when I got my money was to get her out. She had fooled them so well, she got to go to the village on occasion. I had someone waiting, and the first time she left the compound, I had her brought here. It took two months of me waiting, anxious and worried, but I kept my promise. The second thing I did was get that place closed down. I gave all the information I had gathered to my lawyer, and he got it to the right people. It took years, but it no longer exists.”
“Good.” Sunny inched closer. “What about her stepfather?”
“He went too far with a housekeeper. She pressed charges. Someone else came forward with her story. He went to jail. Her mother refused to testify against him, thanks to a huge payoff from him. I assume, given her visit to Abby, the money has run out and now she’s looking for more.” I snorted. “Too bad she isn’t gonna get it.”
I shivered a little, and Sunny gasped. “Linc, oh my god, you must be frozen! We need to go.”
I shook my head. “I’m not finished.”
She stood, kicking at the dying fire. “I’ve heard enough that we can go somewhere warm and finish this conversation.”
I peered up at her in the darkness. “Do you believe me?”
She held out her hand. “Yes.”
* * *
In the car, I cranked up the heat and hit the button for the seat warmers. Once I had that done, I turned to Sunny. She was looking at me, worried. I needed to finish my story now.
“Abby’s stepfather got out, and now she’s terrified he’ll come after her. Her mother basically threatened to tell him where she is unless Abby gives her money.”
Sunny gasped.
“That’s what you saw, Sunny. Me comforting her, promising her I would help. I will never let that lowlife near her. I can’t.” I wrapped my hands around the steering wheel, holding tight. “I want you in my life, Sunny. I want to explore this with you. To see if we can get past what happened and have a future with each other. But my world contains Abby, and I won’t walk away from her. Or desert her. Everyone else in her life has done that.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.”
I relaxed at her words.
“Where is Abby now?”
“Locked in my hotel room. Probably asleep. She was exhausted.” When her eyebrows rose in surprise, I explained. “I’ll sleep on the sofa. Every room in the hotel was booked other than mine for the next few nights.”
“It is the long weekend.”
“Yeah, I forgot. I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Meanwhile, she’s safe, and I have someone stationed outside the door, just to make sure of it.”
“You’re a good man, Linc.”
I turned, fully facing her. “Will that force me from your life, Sunny? The presence of another woman equally important to me, yet in a totally different way?”
“No, Linc. As long as I understand what she is to you. It hit me hard this afternoon.”
I ran my knuckles over her cheek, felt the dampness of her tears and the cold of the wind lingering on her skin. “We both have a lot to learn about the other person. So many years to hear about.”
She caught my hand in hers. “I missed you, Linc. I felt as if a part of me was gone.” She swallowed. “But I had my family. I wasn’t locked away somewhere alone. I’m glad-I’m glad you had Abby.”
“She’s family to me, Sunny. Part of my past and my present. I want you to be that and my future.”
“I want that too.”
“I think you’ll like each other. I really do. You’re actually a lot alike.”
“I look forward to meeting her.”
“Good. We’ll make that happen tomorrow.” I paused. “Michael—this afternoon. I sensed how close you two were.”
She shook her head. “We’re friends as well, Linc. I miss Molly. I promised her I would look after all of them. That’s all you saw—friendship. I’m godmother to both of their kids.”
A sigh of relief left my lips. “Okay. Thank you for telling me.”
I glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “It’s late. I know you’re up early, so I should take you home.”
“Are you heading back to Toronto soon?”
“No, I’m staying close to you. I’ll be at the hotel for the next while. I’ll work at the house with Abby and watch over her and be able to see you. If that’s okay.”
“It is.”
I smiled and dared to lean over and brush a kiss to her cheek. “Good. I’ll drive you home.”
“Will you come up, get something to eat and have coffee?”
My smile grew wider. “I thought you’d never ask.”
* * *
I followed Sunny up the stairs and into her cozy apartment. Inside, I inhaled with appreciation. It smelled like her—warm, sweet, and lovely. She ducked into the kitchen to make coffee, and I looked around, picking up the pictures she had scattered around. Smiling as I recognized Emily and Hayley—now all grown-up and at university. I felt sad as I looked at pictures of her mom, progressing from the woman I remembered to a frailer, older version. Sunny was in a few of them, and I could see her change from the girl I loved to the woman I met again yesterday. Growing up, her full cheeks slimming out, her body changing from angles to womanly curves, her smile sadder than I remembered, her eyes more haunted.
My gaze was drawn to one photo. High on a shelf and tucked away. My hand shook as I plucked it from the corner. Me, lying in the sun, my chest bare, sunglasses on, my head tilted back as I enjoyed the warmth of the rays on my skin.
“That was at the camp,” she offered as she came into the room, carrying a tray.
“I had no idea you had taken this.”
“I used the phone you bought me. You were alone by the water, relaxing. I saw you and had to take the picture.” She smiled sadly and took it from my hand. “It’s how I always remembered you from that summer. Smiling and happy. In the sun—loving the summer.” She didn’t meet my eyes. “And me.” She slipped it back on the shelf and faced me. “The summer of
us.”
I stepped close and slid my arms around her, drawing her close.
“There is more for us, Sunny. If you want it.” I pressed my mouth to her hair, feeling the silkiness of the strands on my lips. “I know I do.”
She fit so well against me, even after all these years. She still nestled under my chin as if she belonged there. Her softness melded with my harder angles exactly the way I remembered. I never wanted to let her go.
She tilted her head back. Her dark brown eyes were filled with emotion. Her hair fell in waves down her back and over my hands. The urge to wrap my fists around the strands made my fingers flex. The desire to kiss her was strong. Her pupils dilated and her breathing picked up, her gaze focused on my mouth. I bent and brushed my lips over hers, a small whimper escaping her mouth.
“I want to, Sunny,” I whispered against her lips. “I want to kiss you. Taste you. Everywhere—for hours. Reacquaint myself with every inch of you. But I don’t want any unanswered questions between us. I want us both to go into this trusting and believing in the other person.” I touched my mouth to hers one more time. “Because this time, come hell or high water, I won’t be able to let you go. I will fight anything and anyone that comes between us. Do you understand me? Once I make you mine again, I will never let you go. Ever.”
Her response was perfect. She pulled my head down to hers, and she kissed me. She swept her tongue into my mouth and stroked it along mine possessively. She tugged on my hair, keeping me close. She licked at me endlessly, then dragged her mouth along my jaw and over to my ear. “Me either, Linc. Me either.”
Then with a final press of her lips to mine, she stepped back and grinned at me.
“Biscuit?”
12
Linc
The Summer of Us Page 10
