With that, she turned away from him and went back to her job. She felt his stare against her back and when the door opened and closed, she let out the breath she had been holding. Damn him for coming here and ruining her good flow. Damn him for making her feel things she didn’t want to feel. Tonight she’d drink until she was numb and, tomorrow, if the cops didn’t show up, she’d move on with her life. Just in case, she’d bring along her bug-out bag and find another town and another bar. Out of necessity, she’d learned quickly how to hide in plain sight. Bryce and his problems meant nothing to her.
* * * *
Stasia got into her little compact car and started the engine. She’d done the usual clean up after the bar closed. She helped Al count the till, cursed him out for not fixing the A/C and pocketed her tips. She had about a hundred and seventy dollars in tips which was a typical weekend. She could go back to her place, grab her things and head to Canada. That was her backup plan if things didn’t work out in Arizona. As she learned how to hide in plain sight, the last resort would be to cross the border and live out her life there. Maybe it shouldn’t have been plan B but her first choice. Then Bryce wouldn’t have found her. Stasia pulled out of the gravel parking lot and her mind wandered back to the past.
“Let’s do something fun,” Kim said.
Stasia always looked up to the flirty, vivacious young woman with blonde hair and happy blue eyes. As happy as they could be because sometimes Stasia could see turmoil beneath the façade of happiness that Kim showed the world. They were the three musketeers—Kim, Dani and Stasia. Kim and Dani were both older than her and she was thrilled when they accepted her into their close friendship.
“Like?” Stasia took a pull from the cigarette being passed around. She hated the taste and the smell but wanted to fit in.
“Score some beer and shit from the liquor store and then party up at Lake Norman.” Dani threw the idea out there.
We could be twins, Stasia thought as she looked at Dani. They wore their hair long and straight and had the same color skin and bone structure. But there was a callousness about Dani that sometimes scared the shit out of Stasia.
“Stasia, the guy at the liquor store is always looking at your chest. You can keep him occupied while we grab the stuff,” Dani continued.
“Yeah, I can do that,” Stasia mumbled. She really didn’t want to be part of that crap, but she had no other friends.
“Damn, here comes your brother.” Dani rolled her eyes, snuffed out the cigarette and threw it in the bushes. “Can we not hang out without him looking for you?”
Kim sighed. “Daddy probably sent him.”
The way Kim spoke made Stasia cringe. One time when Dani was away at a juvenile detention center, Kim had revealed what her father did and how no one in the family dared stop him. She’d had a crush on Bryce and wanted to tell him what Kim had told her but she’d decided against it because the McDowell name was known everywhere and she lived in the rundown Ruby Houses section of town. No one would ever believe her.
“Kim, Dad is looking for you,” Bryce said when he walked up.
“Daddy can wait till I get home,” Kim said stubbornly. “Girl time.”
“I wish you’d pick better friends,” Bryce said.
Dani laughed coldly. “Really, Bryce, insult us right to our faces? I can show you how much fun I really am.”
He barely glanced at Dani. “Yeah, I’ll pass. Stasia, you should be home, it’s after eleven.”
Stasia was thrilled he had even mentioned her name but played the part of the others. “My mama doesn’t worry about me, and neither should you.”
Bryce shrugged. “Whatever. Kim, you have an hour or he’s going to send me back and I have no time to play babysitter. I’m studying for my military exam.”
“I can show you better ways to spend your time,” Dani purred.
Bryce was walking away when he spoke. “Again, I’ll pass.”
The sound of a horn from a passing car brought her out of her reverie. She stuck her hand out the open window and gave the driver the finger. Stasia could recall how thrilled she was that he didn’t accept Dani’s come-ons. In her fantasies, Bryce was hers and only hers. That was before he looked at her with condemnation in his eyes.
“I hate this,” Stasia muttered under her breath.
Why would she want to go back to a place where everyone treated her like a leper? To clear her name meant she could go to school and get a business degree. Her exile took all of her dreams away, but that didn’t stop her from craving them. She was twenty-eight and could still own that little restaurant she dreamed of. But because of those damn charges, she lived under the grid, being paid under the table. Going back could finally give her the chance to move forward with her life.
Stasia took the turn to the apartment complex where she lived. It wasn’t the greatest area of town but, hell, it wasn’t like she could afford the Ritz anyway. It was clean, she had decent neighbors, and a maintenance guy who fixed everything quickly. She turned into the parking spot of her one-bedroom townhouse apartment. Her eyes widened in surprise when the headlights of her car rested on her front steps and the man sitting there. Bryce. She got out of the car and walked towards him.
“It seems I found you pretty quickly,” Bryce said.
“Oh, joy for you,” Stasia snapped. “I’m tired. Go bother someone else.”
“I only know you.” He smiled. “Invite me in?”
“Do not try to charm your way into my apartment. Why are you smiling at me? I don’t like you and you don’t like me,” she stated.
“Where did you get the idea that I don’t like you?” Bryce asked.
Stasia looked at him and gave a shocked laugh. “Um, let me see, twelve years ago you made it quite known that your sister hung out with trash, indicating that me and Dani were low class. Celeste Blackman told me you called me a whore and that I should be paid for sexual acts. That, and the various other times you basically spit on me in words tells me you don’t care for my type much.”
Bryce held up his hand. “First, I meant that Dani was low class. Come on, you know that.”
Stasia inclined her head. “I will agree to that since the bitch set me up.”
“Celeste was jealous of you and would make up anything. That’s why her lawyer husband dropped her like a hot stone and took up with his secretary,” Bryce explained.
“I feel so sorry for her.” Stasia’s voice was deadpan.
Bryce grinned and teased, “I can hear it in your voice. If you won’t come back with me, please at least tell me some places where Kim might have gone.”
“I haven’t been in Caldwell County in twelve years. Things change,” Stasia said in frustration. “Kim probably changed.”
“I found out what Dad was doing to her,” Bryce said suddenly. “After you left, I came home from base one day unexpectedly. She was twenty–two still living at home. She wanted to leave many times but he never let her, would say that Mom needed help since she was sick. I walked into her room to say hey and he was on top of her while she just stared up at the ceiling. It was like she wasn’t even there. The only way she could deal…” His words stopped as emotion took him over. He cleared his throat. “The drugs helped her cope. I kicked his ass and put him in jail since he had been doing it to her since she was a child. Mom got sicker and I tried to get Kim help. He broke her and I’m trying to fix her. Mom is useless and bakes pies while pretending that what happened didn’t and blaming Kim. I can’t fail her. They already did. I can’t.”
“Come inside. I’ll try and think of places she might be but I can’t promise anything,” Stasia said with a sigh. Damn it, she still had an emotional connection to Kim. Hearing the story put a crack in her shield.
“That’s all I ask.” Bryce waited patiently behind her as she unlocked the door and stepped inside. He looked around as she turned on the light. “Nice place.”
“Were you expecting crack pipes and drug vials?” Stasia asked. “I’m going t
o shower and get cleaned up. Grab a beer or something from the fridge if you’d like.”
She didn’t wait for a response. Stasia went upstairs to the bedroom to shower and change. All the while she was thinking about the man downstairs who brought her past right back to her doorstep. Why’d you go and run off Kim? Stasia dried off and got dressed in her usual sleepwear of shorts and a spaghetti strap shirt and went to face him. He was standing, leaning against the small bar area that separated her kitchen from the living room. He lowered the bottle of beer from his lips slowly when he saw her.
“You still look sixteen,” Bryce said.
“Yeah, well, trust me, the sixteen-year-old ideals are gone,” Stasia said and walked past him to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. She sat down on the black suede sofa and tucked her feet under her. “You can sit down if you like, but it’s after one and I need to get some sleep.”
“I figured you’d have some guy waiting for you,” he commented as he sat down.
“Oh, you mean my second job, lying on my back? That’s Mondays to Thursdays,” Stasia said sarcastically.
“Christ, Stasia, I meant a boyfriend,” he said.
She took a long drink from her water bottle. “I don’t have the patience to take care of someone else’s ego.”
“Are you into girls?” he asked.
Stasia laughed. “So because I don’t have a man I’m now gay? Wow, an uneducated, low class whore who likes girls? Boy, I’m batting high scores in your book.”
“Why do you change everything I say into an insult?” Bryce asked.
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Why do you insult me in everything you say? Anyway, Kim liked Lake Norman. You may want to try up there. She liked a little bed and breakfast by the water and always dreamed of buying it and running it on her own some day.”
“I never knew that,” he said softly.
“Yeah, you had a lot on your plate being the golden boy and all,” Stasia answered.
“You’re not going to let me live any of that down, are you?”
“Why should I? I knew what your father was doing long before you did,” Stasia retorted. “She felt she could confide in me and not you. For a while there I almost thought you were molesting her too. But how could I tell you, huh? You were the golden child of Mr. McDowell and if I told anyone, this Ruby House reject would have been tarred and feathered. I saw him that night the cops were looking for us. Kim tried to hide me and he found us. He was going to turn me in until she said she would tell on him and I never saw a man turn as white as he did. How do you think I got the money to run? Daddy McDowell gave it to me from the safe. Kim made him do it.”
“Then why won’t you come back and help me find her?” Bryce stood and grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her up from the sofa. “She had four years of abuse that went on after that. Did you ever think of her?”
“Every day.” Stasia met his eyes defiantly. “No one thought about me—if I was eating, had a place to sleep or even if I was safe. I was the fucking scapegoat and everyone, including my mama, was willing to bury me alive and forget my existence. No one questioned Dani, but she is the one who threatened to kill Kim that night if she said a word against her. So why would I go back there?”
“To find Kim and to show all of them you survived,” he answered.
“That would mean I give a shit what any of those pompous fuckers think, and I don’t,” Stasia said. “Let me see papers saying that I won’t be thrown in jail the first day I step into Caldwell and I’ll consider it. I want that shit off my name and on to Dani’s before I will consider a yes or no.”
“You’re so hard,” Bryce said. “We don’t have evidence or proof, only your word against hers.”
“I suggest you find some and then get back to me. That is what happens living hand to mouth for years. You learn to push all the hurt away and be hard.” Stasia lifted her head with pride. “I didn’t break then and I sure as hell won’t now.”
She didn’t expect what happened next. Bryce kissed her hard, long and deep. She struggled for only a moment until she fisted her hands in his hair and gave as good as she got. He pulled her against him roughly and she ground herself against the hardness in his jeans. The kiss went from hot to nuclear in seconds.
She tore her mouth away and shoved him. “What’s this part called, let me fuck her into submission?” Stasia tried to calm her breathing. “What are you playing at? Trying to do what you wanted twelve years ago—to have a taste of the girl from the wrong side of the tracks?”
“You were kissing me right back,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, but I feel nothing for you so I can do what I like,” Stasia boasted.
His blue eyes were fierce as he pulled her close again. “Then say yes and we can prove that point as a lie right now. I’ll have you begging and screaming my name a few times before dawn.”
Stasia looked at him and licked her lips, considering his offer for just a moment. It was sex, nothing more, just scratching an itch she’d had for a long time. She’d take her fill of him and send him away. Nothing he said could take away the past, but right now all she was thinking was how his cock would feel inside her.
“Yes.”
Her answer was barely out of her mouth before he had her in his arms again and was kissing her senseless. She wrapped her legs around his lean waist and he began walking towards the stairs. They never made it that far as he stopped and pressed her against the wall. Stasia was standing on one leg and the other he lifted around the back of his thigh as their tongues fought for dominance.
“I want you naked,” he growled softly.
“Then make it so. I won’t make this easy for you. Earn me,” Stasia said boldly.
“I didn’t expect you to,” Bryce answered. He grabbed the front of her thin shirt. “I’ll buy you a new one.”
“I can buy my own.”
“Stubborn.”
With one yank, the shirt ripped like it was paper. Her bra was a front clasp lacy piece that he unclipped easily and he filled his hands with her breasts. Stasia whimpered and bit her lip.
“You won’t deny me hearing you scream when I pleasure you,” Bryce said before he lowered his head to hers and their lips met again.
Stasia dug her fingers into his hair. She felt like she was trying to hold on to lightning in a bottle and it couldn’t be done. Instead, she immersed herself in everything that Bryce was making her feel and of how she wanted him for as long as she had known him. Every part of her tingled as she touched him and their tongues parried and played. The barrier of his shirt rubbed against her sensitive breasts. Stasia pressed her body closer to his, wanting to feel more. He trailed his mouth down her neck to her breasts and she cried out as his hot mouth closed over her nipple. He took the other smooth mound in his hand and rubbed the nipple between his thumb and forefinger until her pussy clenched in anticipation.
“There’s a sound I like,” Bryce said.
“What else you got?” she asked brazenly.
“Just you wait.”
He lowered himself on his knees in front of her and his breath was hot on her stomach as his tongue paved a path down her torso and dipped into her belly button. She felt his hands on her shorts and panties as he stripped them down her legs. He looked up at her with dark desire in his eyes. His eyes never left hers as he parted her legs and slid his finger between her wet slit. Stasia shuddered and undulated her hips towards his fingers. She wanted to feel more of the pleasure he offered. He gave her more than that—he bent his head and she felt the first flick of his tongue. Stasia whimpered and held his head to her, inviting him to taste her more thoroughly.
He gave a soft growl in the back of his throat, one that made her shiver with need. Bryce lifted one of her legs over his shoulder while she leaned back against the wall. At the first touch of his hot mouth pressed against the shaved skin of her pussy, Stasia bucked against him. Bryce’s tongue licked between the folds of flesh before he spread the lips of her pussy
with his fingers and sucked on her clit. She wanted to scream from the sheer pleasure coursing through her.
“Don’t you dare move. You wanted it and now you will take it all,” Bryce growled.
He went back to her sex and laved at it once more. Stasia felt his tongue penetrate her and then his fingers. She closed her eyes and let the sensations take her away. He fucked her with his fingers until she felt a wave of heat wash over her and she screamed as she came. Her orgasm only heightened her want and she was on him like a sleek cat and struggled with his shirt. Bryce moved away long enough to drag the shirt over his head and toss it aside. They were now on the steps leading up to the one bedroom she slept in.
“I want you completely naked,” she demanded. “You can’t fight dirty and not take your clothes off after.”
He got undressed quickly and she admired his muscled body. “Come get what you want.”
She ran her hand down his sculpted abs and cupped his balls. “I’m not in this alone, Bryce, your cock’s not hard for just some girl. It’s always been me you wanted.”
“Damn, I admit it, I’ve wanted you since you were in high school,” he said huskily and nipped at her lips. “And you wanted me too. I saw it in your eyes and the looks you gave me.”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.” Stasia bit his lip in return and ran her arms over his biceps. “But you found me now, so show me how much you wanted me.”
The next kiss they shared was a primal one and seared her senses. On the carpet they sat facing each other, their hands stroked and massaged until they were both craving more. She felt his hand delve between her legs and cup the mound of her pussy. His fingers stroked and teased between the wet slit before penetrating her and she moaned against his mouth.
Mistaken Identities Page 14
