by Stacy-Deanne
She closed her eyes. Maybe if she didn’t look at him she could forget how much she still cared.
“Hi.” He extended the rose.
“What are you doing here?”
“You look so beautiful.”
“What are you doing here, Bruce?”
“I just…” He looked at the garden. “I just came to say I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“Is this a joke?”
“I am sorry. Please take the rose.”
She did. “So you just go around snatching roses out of people’s garden’s now?”
“It’s the thought that counts.”
“I want you to leave.” She blocked the sun with her hand. “Now.”
“Don’t do this.” He touched her arm.
“Get out or I’ll get my family to throw you out.”
“They already did that but I came back. I wasn’t leaving without seeing you.”
“Always has to be your way with things doesn’t it?” She moved her hand across the rose bush.
“Careful.” He held her wrist. “You’ll stick yourself on the thorns.”
“The only thorn I need to stay away from is you. Leave.”
“No. You know you don’t really want me to.”
“I don’t know where you get that from. I told you I didn’t wanna see you the other day when you showed up unannounced. Now you pop up here after Mom’s funeral? How dare you? You’re the last person anyone wants to see here. And you can take this rose.” She threw it at him. “You didn’t care about my mother.”
“But I care about you and I wouldn’t wish anything like this on you.”
He reached for her.
“Get away from me.”
“Let me hold you.”
“No. That’s where it all started, with you holding me. Everything was fine before I met you. I wish I never had.”
“You don’t mean that. You’re talking like that because you’re feeling guilty about Nadia. You still love me. I can tell.”
“I don’t have time for you. I just buried my mother. Do you know how that feels?”
“I think I do.”
She cursed under her breath. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Dylan. I don’t know why but I can’t stop loving you. I’ve tried so many times. I can’t stay away.” He kissed her hand.
“I won’t. You know I’ve never loved anyone like I have you.”
“Stop it.” She pushed his hand from her waist. “It’s over. Let it stay that way.”
“It’ll never be over between us. Something keeps bringing us together for a reason.”
“And that same thing keeps breaking us apart. Anyway I got enough to deal with. How can you expect me to think about us right now?”
He stroked her shoulders and sniffed her hair. “Don’t turn me away.” He lifted her chin. “I need you now more than I ever did. I’m so alone.”
“Bruce.”
“I was never happy before you came into my life. I had nobody. I was nothing without you.”
“We don’t belong together.” She fought the urge to kiss him. “We gotta realize that.”
“I’ll never accept that because it isn’t true.” He held her. “We can make it work this time, Dylan. We just gotta keep others out of our way.”
She put her hands on his. “Let go.”
“I want you back.”
“Let…go.”
“And you want me too.”
“Just leave me alone. I never want to see you again.”
“Well you’re going to. I’m not giving up until we’re together.”
“It’s always about what you want, Bruce. You don’t care what else is going on or that I got more important things to think about than you right now.”
“You can make time for me.” He stood so close her nose touched his chest. “You could always see the true me even when others tried to tell you what I was. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. Give me the chance to prove it.”
“I’m going back in now.”
He stooped over her.
“What are you doing?”
“Give me a kiss first.”
“No.” She turned her face to the side.
“Come on.” His hand went down the back of her dress. “You know you want to.”
She didn’t stop him because she didn’t want to kiss him. She wanted to too much.
“My family’s right in there.” She perched her hands on his wide shoulders. “I don’t need the drama if they catch you out here. Please respect my wishes on this day.”
He let go. “Okay but we need to talk alone. I’m tired of you avoiding me. I’ll be at the garage tonight.”
“So?”
“I want you to come by.”
“If you plan to wait on me then don’t waste your time.”
He kissed her forehead. “I would never consider it a waste of time.”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Ohh!” Zoë bumped face-to-chest into Steven in Jasmine’s upstairs hallway.
“Whoa!” Steven fell against the wall.
“I’m so sorry!” She helped him up. “I didn’t see you.”
“Yeah well. Ahh.” He dusted his pants. “You need headlights when you come down the hall. Fast as you were flying.”
“Ha, ha, ha! I’m sorry, Detective.”
Staring into her eyes made up for her clumsiness. After all, having a beautiful woman fall on top of him was a luxury he didn’t mind one bit. She seemed to welcome his attention. A woman like her had to be use to it from any man.
“So.” He let go of her hand when he realized he’d been caressing her fingers.
“I’m sorry again. I’ve been running all over the place.”
“Yeah you have. No one can keep up with you. Every time I look for you, you’re in another room.”
“You’ve been looking for me?”
“Uh.” He fidgeted. “I meant, every time someone looks for you. You uh, seem to be gone.”
“Uh huh.” She walked past him with a furtive smirk. “I think you meant what you said the first time, Detective.”
“I wasn’t looking for you. Why would I be looking for you?”
“Whatever you say.” She headed downstairs.
“Hey I did need to ask you something.” He checked out her “backdoor” as he followed.
He bumped into her when they got off the stairs. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Oh god it’s hot.” She fanned. “Must be all this runnin’ I’m doing.” She stuck her fingers down her cleavage, leading his eyes to the lines of sweat on her breasts.
“Uh…” He wobbled.
“Detective? You okay?”
“Uh. Yeah uh it’s just hot. Like you said.”
“I think we need to turn the heat down.”
You got that right.
“What did you need to ask me?”
“Well since you’re close to Dylan you might know something about Nadia that could help.”
“I’m sure I don’t know anything more than Dylan does.”
“You might know something that you don’t know, you know.”
Her tits bounced when she laughed. “What?”
Steven rubbed the back of his neck. “Just wondering if you need to uh…”
She stood against him. “What is it you’re trying to say exactly?”
“If you need to talk about Nadia or something you feel might help, please call me okay?”
“Yeah.” She licked her lips. “I think I understand.”
One of Dylan’s cousins bumped into Zoë as he turned the corner.
“Whoa!” The man’s hands landed all over her.
“Oh!” She laughed. “Easy, there.”
Steven’s blood burned. Surely he wasn’t jealous. Could you be jealous over a woman you barely knew? If so why?
The man apologized and ran upstairs.
“I uh do appreciate the offer, Detective Kemp. I might need to
talk to you about some things. I usually talk to Dylan but I don’t wanna burden her, especially if it’s something about Nadia. It would be awkward.”
“I understand.”
She smiled.
“You can trust me all right?” He gave her his card. “You can call the station or my cell anytime. Don’t worry it doesn’t have to be official.”
“No?”
“No if you just need a friend you can call me.”
Lame ass line.
She stuck the card between her breasts. “Get out your phone.”
“Uh okay.” He got it out of his side pocket. She recited her number and he saved it.
“Detective?”
“Yeah?” He read over the number.
“The same thing applies to you. Call me anytime you want to.”
She twisted away with her sumptuous ass pinned underneath that rigid dress.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The sound of footsteps threw Bruce off count that night. He laid the bolts by the tool chest. Soft perfume overtook the smell of gas and sweat.
“You came.”
CRRRRAAAAACCCCK!
He spun around on his knees. She stooped inside the garage. Rain seeped down her long coat. The bottom of her pants and boots were soaked in mud and rain. Dirty-blond ringlets sheltered her face. Pieces of the broken Jim Beam bottle sprinkled her feet.
“Bruuuuuccccceeeee!” She drooled down her chin. “Damn you, Bruce!”
“Shannon?” He stood.
“Don’t come near me.” She slipped on glass and oil. “You motherfucker.”
Mascara ran down her face. More lipstick was on her chin than mouth.
“I don’t have time for your shit. Get your drunk ass outta here.”
“You asshole. I know.” She punched the wall. “I know!”
“Get outta here!”
“You killed her. Ahhhh!” She swung her fists. “I know you did. You can lie about it all you want but I know you did it. I knew you hated her but I didn’t think you’d actually kill her. I loved her.”
“I didn’t kill Nadia.”
“Bullshit.” She spit on the floor.
“I was out of town when she was killed.”
“No you weren’t!” She sucked in tears. “You’d come back.”
“No I didn’t. What are you talking about?”
She stumbled. “Antwan told me he saw you buying beer by your house the night Nadia was killed. You were back in town.”
“Antwan doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. I hadn’t made it back in town until the next day. You can ask Swag.”
“Fuck Swag. He ain’t nothing but your puppet. He do all you tell him to.”
“If I killed someone you think Swag would hide that? Huh? Antwan made a mistake. He didn’t see me.”
Her head rolled to the side. “Ya’ think I’m stupid, Bruce? You think I don’t know how much you hated her? And you just walkin’ around…” She danced with her arms spread. “Just walkin’ around like you own the place. Like you gon’ get away with it like you got away with everything else.”
“What have I gotten away with huh?” He beat his chest. “I’m sick of you fuck ups throwing my past up in my face. I’m sick of all of you.” He reached the counter.
“You stay away from me!”
“You only know the lies Nadia told you.”
“No I know the truth. Everybody else is scared of you but I’m not.”
“Listen, Shannon.”
“Nadia wasn’t scared of you either. But I bet you made sure she was when she died didn’t you?”
“I didn’t kill her.”
“Get on the phone and call nine-one-one.”
“What?”
“Get on the goddamn phone! You’re gonna turn yourself in.”
“Shannon how much you been drinking?”
“Do it!”
“Fuck you, bitch. I’m not calling anyone.”
“Oh yes you will.” She pulled out a gun.
Bruce stood back with his hands up. “I knew you were crazy but I didn’t know you’d be this crazy.”
“It ain’t like you never seen a gun before. Now get on that fuckin’ phone. I’m not playing with you.”
“You ever shoot a gun before huh?”
“Does it matter?”
“If you kill me, where you think you’ll end up? You’d throw away your freedom and future for me, Shannon? You’re making a big mistake.”
“My mistake was not protecting Nadia from you. She told me everything. Things she didn’t tell anyone else. She loved Dylan so much. She’d do anything to keep her from you because she knew you’d ruin her life.”
“Yeah well it sure is funny that Nadia was the one Dylan had the falling out with isn’t it?”
“Nadia was just so desperate. Secrets can change everything.”
“Do you know why Nadia was killed?”
“Stop fucking with me. You killed her because you hated her. Get on the phone or I’ll shoot. I swear I will, Bruce!”
“You don’t wanna do this.”
“Yeah, yeah beg me just like I bet Nadia did when you stabbed her. What did she say? What did she do?”
“Shannon you are dead wrong.”
“When you were slicing Nadia up did you think about Dylan at all huh? Did you?” She caressed the gun. “What would Dylan think if she ever found out what happened hmm? When she visited New York City last year.”
“Shut up!” He raised his hand. “She won’t ever find out. The worse mistake I made in my life.”
She wobbled when she turned. The counter broke her fall. “You weren’t saying that then were you? You enjoyed every minute of it.”
“Dylan’s never gonna find out about that. You understand me?”
“I’ll tell her. Let’s see how much she thinks you love her then.”
“And who would believe some pathetic ass drunk like you?”
“Bet it made you hard to kill Nadia didn’t it? Bet you got off on it. Come on, tough guy. Admit it. It had to feel good.”
“Why not just go to the police yourself and tell them your warped theory? Why come here and do this?”
She cocked the gun. “I want you to confess.”
“Bullshit. You didn’t go to the cops because you’re afraid they might think you did it.”
“I’d never hurt Nadia.”
“It’s the perfect motive isn’t it? I mean who would blame you, Shannon? You had to be hurt and embarrassed to put so much love into Nadia, give her your all only to have her turn around and drop you like the sack of worthless shit you are.”
“Shut up!”
“Man you must be dumber than I thought. You actually thought Nadia loved you? All she wanted was sex. Everyone knew it but you.”
“Motherfucker!” She smacked his nose with the gun.
“Ahh!” He bent over. Blood dribbled on his shirt. “You, bitch! Aww!”
She steadied the gun on him. “Call the police.”
“And tell them a crazy whore is holding me at gun point and making stupid accusations? Gladly!”
“You tell them the truth, Bruce.”
“Fuck you!” He grabbed the gun and pushed her over.
“Stay away from me!” She got up and ran into the yard.
“Come back here, Shannon!”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Oh.” She stumbled on gravel. Her foot caught in a tire. She fell over scattered car parts in the grass.
“Shannon!” Bruce ran out of the garage.
She ducked behind a rusted yellow car. She couldn’t see him but heard his footsteps crunching the weeds in the distance.
“Shannon!”
She zipped behind another car.
“Shannon! Get out here!”
Her head felt hollow. Her stomach spun from nausea. She got dizzy. She tried to stand but fell back into the weeds. She got on all fours. She threw up before she could stop herself.
“Shannon!”
“Ahh.” Vomit dripped from her mouth. “Ooh.” She leaned against the car to steady herself.
How would she see Bruce when she couldn’t see inches in front of her? Each car had a twin or triplet.
She stared at the light from the garage entrance. The crickets’ singing resembled a base drum in her head. Every image multiplied. Every sound seemed a million decibels higher than normal.
She raced to her truck and ripped her keys from her coat pocket. She stumbled on the uneven payment, kicking up loose pebbles.
She pushed her key into the truck door.
A hand gripped her waist and another covered her mouth.
“Mmm! Mmmm!” She flapped her arms.
“Can’t let you go, Shannon!”
She felt the gun in her back.
“Mmm! No!” She gurgled under his hand. “Let me go!”
Bruce pulled her up the driveway from behind. His arm felt like a metal gate. If he squeezed any tighter he’d crush her guts.
“Mmm!”
“Shut up!”
He flung her side to side like a rag doll. Her heel broke off her boot. “I can’t let you go to the police, Shannon.”
She rammed her elbow into his side.
“Ahh!” He dropped the gun when he stooped over.
She snatched it up. “Get out of my way.”
“Settle down!” He limped, reaching for her. “Can’t let you leave.”
“You stay away from me!” She bent down from nausea. “Just…” She saw ten of him.
“Give me the gun!”
“Leave me alone!” She swung. “Let me leave!”
“Give me that gun!” He snatched it.
“No!”
“Listen to me all right? Just listen to me.”
“Leave me alone!” She ran behind the garage. “Someone help me!”
“Shannon!”
She slipped on an oily patch. “Oh!” Her face hit the gravel. “Uh!”
Pain rippled through her. Her ankle throbbed. Perhaps she’d twisted or broken it.
“I can’t let you go to the police.” His shadow loomed over her. Gun in hand.
She’d never felt this sick in her life. Never been in this much pain.
But that didn’t concern her as much as the man standing over her.
And what he intended to do.
CHAPTER NINE
“Drowning. I feel like I’m drowning. I can take the ones I love down with me or I can lie to them forever. I feel so selfish. I don’t know what to do. Being right isn’t always best. If it weren’t for Dylan, I could just go away. But I couldn’t live a day without her.
