by Alexa Davis
“Welcome to Lago Colina,” Hannah called out with an easy smile.
I couldn’t speak, I was so overcome by how much I’d missed them. Freddie was wearing a gorgeous, yellow pantsuit that accentuated the bronze in her dark skin, and Tracy was, in her usual fashion, still wearing her pajamas.
“You don’t mind if I get ready here, do you Ray?” she asked. I laughed and shook my head. I ran down the stairs and hugged them each in turn, and Tracy held me out at arms’ length to get a better look at me. “I have to say, I couldn’t have done better. You look lovely, and you have to tell me who has you all glow-y and soft,” she added in a murmur. “We haven’t’ seen you like that in quite some time.”
Freddie arched an eyebrow at me as I blushed. I waved to Hannah and Patty, picked up one of the bags, and showed my friends to my cabin. I let them know that I planned on them each having their own room for the night and explained my decision to spend the night with Daniel if he would have me. I told them I’d slept there the night before, so I figured he wouldn’t mind.
Freddie and I caught up as Tracy got ready in the guestroom, and it only took me three or four obvious gestures from Fredericka to notice the humungous stone on her ring finger. I hugged her so hard I wrinkled my dress, and made her promise we could toast it with champagne once we were at the party.
Tracy was nothing if not efficient, and within minutes, I was escorting my two beautiful friends to the garden terrace to meet Daniel and the rest of the Hargraves in residence. When we walked to the back, my mother and father had arrived with Caleb and were chatting happily with Jackson and Mr. Hargrave. I introduced my friends and was looking for Daniel when I saw someone I hadn’t expected.
I gasped, and Tracy followed my gaze. Talking to a wealthy couple was Sara Abbott. She and the woman were obviously of a kind, with bottle-blonde hair coiffed high and ornate, as could only be accomplished by a professional. She wore a tight, short dress that showed off her curves and left little to the imagination, and she wore it well. I looked at Tracy and shook my head as she grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.
“You know that twat I told you about, the one who insulted me to my face a few weeks ago?” I asked her. I tried to control my breathing and I felt my first panic attack in weeks, rearing its ugly head.
Sara saw me and said something to her companions, then walked toward us. All of the sudden, I felt frumpy and underdressed. She stalked towards us with confidence, a mountain lion about to catch easy prey.
She smiled broadly as she approached and my unease grew at a fever pitch, every nerve screaming at me to get away from her as fast as I could. I felt Tracy move up behind me, her body a wall of heat at my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Freddie and Mr. Hargrave had both turned their attention to us.
“Well, you’re still here,” Sara sneered. “I’d heard that you were about to be fired. But, I guess it must be awfully convenient for Daniel to have you at his beck and call.”
Hot rage filled me up and brought bile to my throat. I wanted nothing more than to punch her in her stupid, surgically-altered face. “I don’t know where you get your gossip from, Sara. Should I say that I’m sorry to disappoint you?” I ground the words out through my clenched teeth.
“Yes,” said a voice behind me. “You really need to check your sources in the future.” It was Mr. Hargrave. I was mortified that he’d heard Sara suggest I was only here because I was a whore. “As a matter of fact, this party is for our Rachel,” he informed her cheerfully. “She’s is an amazing and bright young woman. I can’t think if anyone I’d rather see my son be friends with.” He lifted his beer bottle in a toast and patted me on the shoulder before moving away.
“Was that true?” Tracy asked while Sara silently raged. I could see the gears moving in her head, and I could’ve sworn steam was escaping her ears.
“Was what true?” I asked, still watching Sara like I’d watch a rattler in my path.
“Are you the guest of honor for this little gathering of hundreds of people?” she inquired, obviously enjoying the other woman’s consternation.
“Well, not just me. My old stable-neighbor from California, the actress, Miss Vale? She brought my Texas Tango out here to sell to the Hargraves. I set them up, and they love him. She was just going to stud him to us, but, she fell in love with Lago Colina and decided to let him stay.” I pointedly ignored Sara and took Tracy by the arm to lead her away. “I certainly don’t mind sharing the honor with a celebrity, though.” I raised my voice as we walked away to make sure Sara could still hear me. Tracy walked with me through the garden as I fumed and ranted.
“They wouldn’t have invited her, would they?” she asked on our third circuit of the garden path.
“No, she heard about it through the gossip tree. Hannah warned me that uninvited people always show up, and they tend to cause trouble. It’s just not the Texas way to hire security and lock down a barbecue, right?” I queried.
“No, you’re right,” Tracy agreed. “Which reminds me. I don’t want to worry you, but as we’ve been walking, I noticed a car getting parked over there.” She nodded toward the field right next to the gardens. “It looked like Jason’s, and I couldn’t help but have the thought that of all nights…” Her voice trailed off as I stared at her.
“Well, sheep-shit,” I cursed. “Jason called the other day to remind me how pointless I was. He told me then that he and Sara were dating.” I sighed and let my shoulders sag. “He totally brought her tonight, didn’t he?” I made the question sound like a statement.
“You never know, Hon. It could be a coincidence.” I looked at her with utter skepticism. “Yeah, you’re right. He’s around somewhere. But, at least he hasn’t found you yet.” I sighed again, deeper than before.
“Oh, he’s going to find me sooner or later. We should probably go to him and get it over with.” Tracy agreed and we headed back towards the terrace, but the magic of the strings of lights and mariachi music was lost to me now.
We found Jason exactly where I expected him to be: next to the bar, chatting up the pretty bartender while he knocked back beers like it was going out of season soon. When he saw me walk up, his face was at first appreciative, then as I got closer and the scars on my right arm became more visible to him, he registered disgust and annoyance.
“Well, I figured you’d come find me sooner or later. You just never give up, do you?” he preened while I struggled not to vomit on him. Tracy lunged at him, but I held her back. “Hey!” he exclaimed in alarm. “Call off your dog, Rachel.” Tracy made a gurgling sound of hatred and disgust behind me, but stayed back.
“You weren’t invited, Jason,” I coolly reminded him. “You should leave before you get so drunk you get someone hurt.” He started to retort, but I held up a hand to silence him. “These are my friends, Jason, not yours. This is their home, and their party, and I won’t have you ruining this night for them because you’re a drunk. Leave now.”
I turned to the bartender and held up my arm so she could see the scars that trailed down to my wrist. “He’s done drinking. He has caused accidents driving drunk in the past.” The bartender nodded, a nervous look on her face.
Tracy and I walked away without another word. I didn’t see Sara or Jason for the remainder of the evening, which was so nice it almost made up for the fact that I couldn’t find Daniel, either. The evening passed in a blur of congratulations and toasts to myself and to Texas Tango, the newest members of the Lago Colina family.
When my social anxiety got to be more than I could bear, I left my two extroverted friends to enjoy themselves and snuck away through the garden to my quarters. As I reached the benches just outside the cabin, I heard voices speaking softly and saw two shadowy figures sitting close together in the dark. I crept closer and as I recognized Daniel’s voice, my stomach wrenched. Sitting next to him, her hands on his face, was Sara.
I wanted to run away, but my legs wouldn’t work, and I stood still, looking like a fool, as I heard S
ara tell Daniel of my many imagined flaws. She accused me of lying to the Hargraves about my injuries and the car accident, greatly exaggerating to get attention, and suggesting that I was pretending to want to learn about animal husbandry just to get close to his fortune. I was in shock, tears streaming down my face as I watched him listen to every word she said without defending me. Just as my need to leave overrode the panic that paralyzed me, Daniel finally spoke.
“Well, that’s all very interesting, Sara.” His tone felt off to me, so I listened for just one more hopeful moment. “I can’t help but wonder, though, if you could have put a little more time into it. Checked your facts more, maybe? What I do know, is that I didn’t invite you to this party and neither did anyone else. You should leave now. Probably best if you don’t come back. Or text me. In fact, I’d really appreciate it if you lost my number.”
He stood up and walked away from Sara towards me, but I still couldn’t move. I stared at him, like a deer in headlights. He finally saw me when he was almost on top of me and he jumped back with a curse.
“Rachel, what on earth are you doing here?” he exclaimed, gripping his chest as though I’d caused him to have a heart attack.
“I… I…I just wanted to go to bed; I was having trouble with all the people…” I felt my voice trail off as he glanced behind him where Sara had been sitting, but the bench was empty. “I’m pretty tired, Daniel. I didn’t mean to intrude. I just didn’t know how to get past you two. You could’ve chosen a better spot if you’d wanted privacy.” I held my aching stomach and tried to step past him to my door. Daniel side-stepped and blocked my path.
“Sara had some interesting things to say about you,” he muttered angrily, grabbing my arm. Tears stung my eyes as I fought him off.
“If you believed one word that she said…” I broke off angrily. I wrenched my arm out of his grasp and ducked around him. Just as I was feeling like I won, the heel broke on my new shoe in the dark. His hand whipped out to catch me as I fell and the tears I’d been holding back poured over my eyelids and down my cheeks in wet streaks.
“Of course I didn’t believe her, you little twit,” he hissed at me, dragging me into his chest. “But now I know there’s something you aren’t telling me. About your ex-boyfriend, whom I had the misfortune of meeting tonight when he drunkenly accosted me, and about the car accident you were in.” His other hand went to the back of my neck and he leaned in so close, all I could see in was the moonlight in his eyes. “Because I’m going to have my hands all over you, and from now on, no scar is big enough to stop me from having all of you, do you understand?”
I couldn’t speak to agree or to complain when he picked me up like a new bride and carried me to my quarters. He shoved the door in with one foot and slammed it closed behind him the same way, not setting me down until he dumped me unceremoniously on the bed. He pulled his shirt off over his head while I watched, mesmerized.
“I’m going to take your clothes off and make love to you now,” he whispered as he tugged the belt from his pants and let them fall to the floor. I licked my lips and gazed at his bare skin, almost as dark as my own. It hadn’t occurred to me that he worked shirtless, but now I could hardly wait to slide my hands over his thick pecs and flat stomach. He didn’t have the washboard abs of some narcissistic gym-boy, but the natural strength and fit body of a man who worked hard and lived by the work he did. He looked at me and smiled.
“Now, I love seeing you watch me with that look in your eyes, but don’t you think it would be easier with your shoes off?” he teased. I looked down at my fully clothed body with a frown.
“Well, damn. I knew something wasn’t right here,” I declared. “Let me remedy that right now. I kicked one shoe off with a thud, and there was an echoing thump on the door of the cabin. I raised an eyebrow and did the same with the other, and there was another answering thump on the front door. This time, there was a voice with it, Pete was banging on the door as if to wake the dead.
“Daniel, come quick! There’s been an accident!” Pete yelled through the slightly open front window. I jumped off the bed and ran to the front door with no shoes on, while Daniel struggled back into some clothes. We ran to the front driveway, where there was already a crowd gathered as police took statements. When Tracy and Freddie saw me, they gestured a cop over with them and approached me.
Tracy’s face filled me with sickening dread. The last time I’d seen this many patrolmen, it was between bouts of unconsciousness after the accident and before I woke up from a medically-induced coma in the hospital.
“Rachel, you might need to sit down, but this officer needs to talk to you,” she began carefully. I shook my head and began to hyperventilate.
“Where are my parents?” I asked, my voice high and thin. “Where’s Caleb?” I backed away until I felt Daniel’s warm chest behind me.
“Your parents are inside with mine. See Rachel?” he said softly, turning my head so I could see the figures inside the lit windows of the library. I started to shake and he held me up, putting his arms around my waist to hold my weight.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Martinez,” the officer began. “I’m afraid I have to ask you about your relationship with Mr. Jason Steed?”
“He’s my ex-boyfriend. We broke up a couple of years ago. I hadn’t seen him for months, until he showed up tonight with another woman. They had a fight, but I don’t know where she went. He was drunk and belligerent, I told the bartenders to cut him off so he couldn’t hurt anyone,” I explained. The cop nodded.
“I’m sure you did your best,” he replied. “Mr. Steed is on his way to the hospital now, if you need to see him. We will get his information to his next of kin.”
“That would be his mother, Tiffany Caruso,” I offered. “I’m sorry, I no longer have her number, but she and her husband, Lonnie, live in Austin.” The officer thanked me and walked away.
“Ray, I know the party is definitely over, but Freddie and I are still gonna crash here tonight, if that’s okay,” Tracy asked. I nodded yes and vaguely heard Daniel say she could have my bed. I looked up at him with a frown.
“I don’t think I’m up to anything…fun anymore,” I muttered. I felt every scar on my body as though they carried electrical impulses. The last thing I wanted was for him to be party to the nightmares I was about to have.
“You’re staying with me, even if I have to carry you again,” he ordered. I looked down at my bruised, bare feet. “Oh. I guess that would be a pretty good idea, huh.” He picked me up and carried me back to the cottage without speaking.
“I can’t do questions right now, okay?” I asked him when he gently set me on his bed. He nodded without speaking and gingerly undid the back of my dress. He slid the straps down my arms, barely brushing my skin with his hands. I waited for him to push me, to try to take things down that path again, but he simply tugged the dress off my body and tucked me in under the covers.
I heard him lock the door, and he returned and turned out the light. I felt the bed give as he climbed in next to me, and leaned back against his warm, smooth skin when he wrapped his arms around me.
“Tomorrow we can deal with today,” he said in my hair as I lay there, eyes closed. “Tonight, I got you. Just relax and know you aren’t alone.” In his arms I felt safe and loved. I breathed and let myself relax, all the while praying that tonight, my sleep would be as dreamless and safe as his embrace.
Chapter Twelve
Daniel
The sun shone through the window by the time I roused enough to realize it was morning. I turned over to see Rachel sleeping peacefully beside me, finally ridding herself of whatever was causing her nightmares the night before. She looked almost childlike, with her hands tucked up under her cheek as she lay on her side, curled up in a ball.
After she woke up screaming in the middle of the night, I’d finally made her tell me what had happened the night that she’d received the wounds that still painted her body and mind in indelible scars. At first, she�
��d refused, but after coaxing and arguing and refusing to let her leave until she told me, she relented.
My blood ran cold when she explained that Jason was often physical when he was angry and drunk, but she’d never seen herself as abused because it only happened when he was drunk. I held my tongue and let her continue, but if his abuse of her was the beginning of the story, I wasn’t sure I wanted her to continue.
His world wasn’t like hers. He came from money, and the glittering plastic people that moved in that world had always treated her like she was less, for while her family was by no means poor, she worked and earned her own way and the society kids like Jason had everything handed to them. Their cars, clothes, even horses and tournaments, were all just taken for granted. I understood Rachel’s discomfort with them; those entitled bastards made my skin crawl.
The last night they’d been together, he’d had too much to drink, (as usual, I suspected) and Rachel had tried to talk him out of driving. Apparently, the damage to her body from the car accident hid the bruises he’d given her just before, so she hadn’t bothered to mention it. She was more upset that he was still driving. His money guaranteed him minimal punishment for his crimes, and now, not only was he finally reaping his reward, but he’d hurt another driver.
I was disgusted and relieved she was no longer with him and horrified that he’d put her through the pain of it all over again the night before. When she explained to me that the scars she received had made her ugly to him, and that he’d broken up with her as she first awakened, it made me love her strength and grit even more. I swore to myself that he’d never get to hurt her again – not physically, not mentally.
