Beard Up

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I sighed.

  “And they decided you were useful, and requested you to help them in some way,” I groaned.

  “Yep,” she said.

  I’d been getting that for the last five years. Calls to ‘check on my welfare’ that were also requests for me to come work for them at their company.

  One drunken night, over a bottle of wine and some pizza, Audrey and I had compared stories, and then we’d questioned why a company that specialized in electronics would need a nurse at all. We’d come up with the fact that the parents were just trying to look out for us.

  Now, I didn’t have such tame ideas. More likely it was due to them being into something they shouldn’t be, and needing a medical professional to help them or someone who worked for them if shit hit the fan.

  “So what happened then?” I questioned.

  “Then I told them no and drove home. After I arrived back home and got unpacked, I was woken in the middle of the night. When I went to investigate the noise, it was to find the guy who I helped breaking into my house.”

  “What?” I screeched.

  She started to laugh.

  “I shot someone.”

  “What?” I screeched again.

  “Yep,” she confirmed. “I did. But the guy was wearing one of those vest thingies, and he ran away before I could get another shot off at him.”

  “And?” I pushed.

  “And now I’m packing all of my shit, and moving the hell away from here without giving two weeks notice on my job because my parents want me to do their bidding, and I don’t want to.”

  Audrey wasn’t moving with her parents. She was moving away from them.

  I was sure she didn’t even realize that her parents were moving, too, or she might not be bothering.

  But I wanted her here. Tunnel wanted her here.

  So that was what I did.

  “I have a suggestion” I said, diverting from the plan. “How about I send out some help, and you come here?”

  I heard her inhale. “That’s where I was going anyway, but I’m glad to officially have an invite.”

  I started to chuckle. “I’ll send some muscle. You pack the small stuff, and leave the big shit for him.”

  “Him?”

  Now she sounded nervous.

  “Him,” I confirmed. “He’s a sweetie.”

  And he was. Fender was great and he was very personable. He had that good ol’ boy demeanor that made him come off like a man who would do just about anything to make you comfortable. And hopefully that continued to hold true with Audrey.

  “Okay,” she said. “But just make sure he’s not cute.”

  I snorted. “I’ll see what I can do. But the men down here aren’t ugly, that’s for sure.”

  Tommy snorted at my side.

  I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Don’t you have anything else to do?” I suggested.

  He shook his head. “Nope. This place is q…”

  “Don’t you dare.”

  You don’t say ‘quiet’ in a hospital. It’s just not done. And Tommy damn well knew it.

  He held up his hands. “I gotta go, girl. If you need anything, let me know. Otherwise,” I paused, and covered the phone.

  “What’s Fender’s real name?” I asked.

  If Audrey knew that Fender was a biker, she might very well freak out.

  She could handle professional looking men—men like Josh – had he not had that undercurrent of assholeishness to him. He at least looked normal.

  A man like Fender, well, he just looked rough. Like a biker.

  He had tattoos. He wore a motorcycle cut. He was just a typical biker in all ways.

  And Audrey couldn’t control them, which made her nervous around them.

  Hence the reason for the lie.

  Tommy Tom looked at me. “Tobias.”

  I uncovered the phone. “…Tobias will be there tomorrow.”

  If not tonight, I thought.

  However, Audrey didn’t need to know that part. She just needed to think this was me helping her out, not Tunnel protecting her.

  Plus, I thought it would be better for Tunnel to explain to his sister himself why he had to die. That wasn’t something that you allowed someone else to share for you.

  And Tunnel knew it.

  He just didn’t want to deal with his sister’s anger, which he wholly deserved.

  He got off lucky with me.

  When I’d made those promises late at night, it was a vow between me and the universe. Something I wouldn’t break.

  Audrey hadn’t made those vows. She needed to yell and scream at him for the both of us.

  My smile grew.

  My husband was in for it, that was for sure.

  Chapter 21

  My momma didn’t raise no fool. A psycho, yes, but not a fool.

  -Ghost’s secret thoughts

  Ghost

  It took my sister and Fender two and a half days to get to Mooresville, and the entire time, I was waiting for the next shoe to drop.

  My parents would realize rather quickly that Audrey was no longer there.

  Fender had taken his time getting Audrey here due to the massive amount of shit she needed to pack, and I’d spent the last two days worrying.

  How the hell was I going to tell my sister that I was alive? That, all this time, I’d just been in hiding because our parents were assholes.

  Audrey had been through too much. She’d experienced way more than what was fair. She was all sunshine and happiness before my parents used her so viciously for their own sick purposes.

  Should I tell her that they were the ones behind her rape? Because they were. Agonizingly so.

  I didn’t have the guy that did it. But I knew that the guy was a part of my parents’ organization. I’d never been able to nail down his identity, and it wasn’t for my lack of trying.

  “You’re wearing a hole in the carpet,” Mina sighed from the couch.

  “There isn’t carpet in here,” I pointed out. “It’s concrete.”

  She gave me a solid glare, and my lips twitched in reaction to her fierceness.

  “Ghost, can you help me with my math homework?”

  “I thought school was out for the summer?” I asked, walking to the kitchen table where Sienna was sitting.

  She had math papers surrounding her, and there was a bunch of what looked like gibberish scribbled on the pages.

  I frowned.

  “I have a tutor,” Sienna said by way of explanation. “I’m not very good at it, and my teachers thought it was best if I continued to study over the summer to help me next year.”

  I looked at Mina, who was watching the two of us with a small smile.

  “Sienna was barely passing her math classes before she finished second grade,” Mina answered my silent question. “Her teacher suggested that she continue through summer school, despite having passed the class. But since we moved, I thought taking her to a tutor might be better. She started tonight.”

  “What kind of tutor?” I asked, somewhat alarmed that she would trust just anybody with our daughter.

  “The kind of tutor that’s a licensed, reputable business,” Mina said reading my worry and moving to soothe it before it got out of control. “She goes to that place in the Heritage Shopping Center. I had Silas check them out.”

  My lips quirked.

  “That’s good to know,” I rumbled, then pulled out a chair. “Tell me where you need help.”

  Sienna pointed to a problem.

  “That’s easy,” I said. “What did the teachers tell you to do for this?”

  It was a simple addition problem. The problem was that it had four numbers that she needed to add instead of just two.

  “I just get flustered when I have to add up this many numbers,” Sienna said.

  I took the pencil from her hand, and then split the problem in half.

  “Add t
hese two, and then add these two,” I instructed, pointing at each problem with the pencil. “Then, once you have the answer, take the answers and add those two up.”

  I saw the moment it clicked, and her excited eyes turned to me.

  “You are so smart!” she declared jubilantly.

  I grinned.

  “No, not smart. Just practiced. You’ll get there, baby,” I said, cupping her cheek with my hand. “Do those, and then call me back over here so I can check your work, okay?”

  She nodded enthusiastically, and then dropped her head and started writing, adding numbers furiously.

  “I’m fairly sure she needs glasses,” Mina said. “I’m going to have to take her to the eye doctor in the next couple of weeks, just to make sure.”

  “Aunt Audrey!” Sienna cried, throwing her pencil down and running for the door.

  The pencil rolled off the table, and then into my lap, as I watched Sienna hit Audrey with such force that it rocked my sister back on her heels.

  “Gosh, you act like you didn’t just see me,” she teased. “It’s only been a few weeks!”

  Sienna leaned her head back. “It’s been too long. Are you moving in?”

  Audrey’s eyes went from Sienna to Mina’s.

  “No, honey bunches of oats. I’m not.” She shook her head and dropped her gaze back down to my daughter’s. “I’ll be in town, though. You can come see me any time you want…”

  Her voice trailed off as her gaze finally settled on me.

  Her brows furrowed, and her eyes narrowed.

  “Who…”

  Then she froze as I stood.

  Her purse, that was clenched in her hand, fell to the floor.

  Fender came up behind her.

  “Remember what I said when I told you there was more to this than you know?” Fender asked her casually. “Well, here is where you need to listen to everything and not interrupt until you know the entire story.”

  Audrey’s gaze never left mine.

  I knew she couldn’t figure out that she knew me. I didn’t look the same.

  “I’d know that curly hair anywhere,” she whispered.

  I frowned.

  She knew me by my hair?

  “You’re dead,” she whispered.

  I shook my head. “Not dead. Our parents…”

  I started to say, and she held her hand up.

  “Did they have you all this time?”

  I shook my head. “No. The first year, yes. After that, no.”

  “So you’ve been free of them for five years?” she asked carefully.

  “Essentially,” I said. “But there’s more…”

  Her hand cracked where it made contact with my face, and I heard Sienna cry out in surprise.

  “Hitting isn’t nice, Aunt Audrey!” Sienna said, insinuating herself in between me and her aunt.

  Mina was there in a flash, pulling her away, and saying something so softly to her that I couldn’t tell exactly what was said.

  Sienna disappeared after she’d asked her to go to her room for a little bit.

  Thank God.

  This was about to get ugly.

  “All this time, Tunnel,” Audrey’s voice cracked. “We thought you were dead.”

  I lifted my hand, and she batted it away before it could touch her.

  Then she abruptly turned, and glared at the man at her side. “You promised me I would be happy.”

  My brows lifted, as did Fender’s.

  “You’re not happy that your brother is alive?” he asked carefully.

  Her jaw ticked.

  “I’d be happier had he told me when it first happened that he wasn’t dead…” she pointed out to him.

  I looked over at Mina.

  She nodded her head.

  Then I started to explain my actions. Why I did what I did.

  And by the time I was done, she was looking at me like I was a broken doll.

  “Oh, Tunnel,” she whispered brokenly. “There’s more, isn’t there?”

  I debated whether to tell her what else I knew, but I decided that right now wasn’t the best time.

  Not when she just found out that I was alive.

  Maybe when she was settled and this thing with our parents was over, then I’d give her the rest of the details.

  But right now, knowing that she was worried about me, and for me, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring any more sadness to her at that point.

  “There’s more,” I agreed. “But I’m not ready to talk about it right now.”

  What I had told her was enough, it was enough to break any man. But it wasn’t everything. Hell, there was probably more that my parents had done that even I didn’t know about. They were just that awful.

  It took her a few long seconds to process it and come to a decision, but as soon as she did, she launched herself at me.

  “I missed you so freakin’ much,” she cried softly into my shoulder. “I’m sorry for hitting you.”

  I pulled her into my arms and held her tighter.

  We stayed like this for a long time. So long, in fact, that when I looked around the room, it was empty of both Fender and Mina.

  “I think Fender’s eating my tamales,” I whispered into my sister’s hair. “Do you want to go see?”

  She started to chuckle and then slowly extricated herself from my arms.

  “The tamales were always your favorite, not mine,” she told me. “My favorite is still her tortillas.”

  I grinned. “I think she’s making fajitas. You’re in luck. The tamales were just for me.”

  She rolled her eyes and led the way into the kitchen.

  I found Fender at my kitchen table. Luckily, not eating my tamales.

  “These are the best tortillas I’ve ever had in my…” Audrey snatched the still-warm tortilla straight out of his hand.

  “That’s mine,” Fender grumbled.

  I could do nothing but laugh.

  “Where’s Sienna?” I asked Mina as I sidled up to her side.

  She looked up at me.

  “I gave her my iPad and let her do what she really wanted to do all along,” she answered. “She’s in my bed watching Monster High.”

  I took the opportunity to pull her into my arms.

  “I think I missed this most of all,” I whispered into her ear.

  She raised a brow at me in question.

  “This. Having you here. Sienna. Audrey. Even Fender. It feels like I’m finally home.”

  She raised her hand to cup my cheek. “You are finally home.”

  I leaned down and took her mouth.

  She was right. I was.

  Chapter 22

  I love all of you. Except you. You know who you are, douche.

  -Meme

  Mina

  “No. You’re not getting that,” I heard Ghost talking to someone.

  I peeked around the corner and stared at him where he was standing in the middle of the room.

  “Because it looks like it says ‘I sharted’ and not ‘Is loved.’”

  “Because there’s a heart in the middle of it. Seriously. IS<3ED. Plus, I don’t think you can get special characters on a license plate.”

  Audrey was down at the DMV getting her car registered in Alabama, and she’d called him to, I assume, ask his opinion on a license plate.

  “It’s best to stick with something non-descript,” Tunnel suggested. “You’re trying to blend in, not stick out. Saul will help you. Just make sure you go to him, because he’s the one helping us get you into the system without setting off any warnings. If you go to one of the other ladies, they’ll ask for your ID…yes, I know that I already told this to you. But I said it thinking you’d realize you needed to get a regular license plate, not a vanity plate or one of those fuckin’ pink ones,” he growled. “Audrey, I swear to God.”

  I started to giggle.

  Tunnel’s eyes locked on mine, but
I knew he knew that I was here way before he looked at me. The man didn’t miss anything.

  “All right, Audrey,” Tunnel grunted. “I gotta go to work. I have a meeting in about five hours in Benton, and it takes me six to get there.”

  I started to snicker, and Tunnel’s eyes shot to my mouth.

  “Bye, girl.” He placed the phone on the counter next to his hand and then started stalking toward me.

  I started backing away, and his eyes flared with heat.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, looking at him worriedly.

  “I’m saying goodbye so I can leave like I should’ve done an hour ago before everyone kept asking me about stupid stuff like pink license plates and shit.”

  My lips twitched as I hit the wall, unable to move any further. “I asked you about cars because I want a new one. The one I have is seven years old, and I have to make room.”

  “Make room?” he asked.

  I nodded.

  “Make room.”

  “For what?” he pushed.

  I bit my lip.

  I wasn’t sure yet. Not one hundred percent anyway, but I was ninety nine percent sure.

  “For your babies.”

  His hand froze halfway to me.

  “It’s been two weeks,” he rasped, his eyes serious and hot on mine.

  I swallowed, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s enough time.”

  “What makes you so sure?” he asked. “Did you take a test?”

  I shook my head.

  “No,” I said. “But my breasts are so sensitive today. Yesterday they were sensitive, too, but today they’re crazy responsive. Even to my t-shirt.”

  I shrugged the sweatshirt I was wearing off and tossed it to the floor.

  Tunnel’s eyes zeroed in on my breasts, and he bit his lip as he got his first look at the tight beads of my nipples.

  His hand rose, and he trailed just a single finger down the perky tip.

  I shivered as wetness started to gather between my legs.

  “I’ve had some spotting and cramping,” I continued, a little more breathlessly this time. “And I’m so horny.”