Pink Lilies (Beautiful People Book 1)

by Lacee Hightower

  “Hi, Ms. Yates. It’s so nice to see you again.” Tyler turned and caught my eyes with an unsettled glare.

  “Oh, please, Alexa. If anything, call me Crystal. Ms. Yates makes me sound so old.”

  “Okay … Crystal.” I forced a small smile and looked at Tyler.

  He held out a hand and took my fingers between his and squeezed. Static electrified the room, just as it always did when we were within ten feet of each other.

  “Hungry, baby? Come on. Let’s get Mason. He’s out back with Bono.” My mind swirled with thoughts of how his mother would react if I moved in. Then, there was also my mom.

  And my dad.

  The patio doors swung open, a red-faced Mason running in with Bono on his heels. Mason held a Frisbee, while a tail-wagging Bono dropped his head into his water bowl. We all laughed.

  Mason glared at me with a teasing grin, and then Tyler, lifting his hand and giving us a thumbs-up. His huge smile was infectious, his expression clear and obvious. He knew just exactly where I’d come from and what we had been doing. Crap! How mortifying.

  My cheeks heated. “Mason. How are you?” Shit. I didn’t think. I asked him a question. I probably wasn’t supposed to do that, but I wasn’t going to get worked up over it. So happy to see him again, it was only my second time, but a part of me already felt like he was family. I wanted to be close to him.

  “I’ve been looking forward to this spicy fried rice all afternoon,” I said, looking toward Mason. God, he looked like Tyler. Their eyes were identical.

  “Okay, let’s do this. Seems like I’ve worked up an appetite,” Tyler said. My cheeks heated at his comment and he squeezed my hand again, grinning as we walked toward the kitchen table where the two sacks of food sat.

  “I love you, baby,” he said proudly. The words slid effortlessly from his lips, his small flashing smile making my head pound so hard, I was positive everyone else in the room could feel it. Every time his mouth curved into a smile, it was hard for me to think of anything else other than the hot-as-sin man that caused my body to light up each time he simply looked at me.

  Crystal beamed, her eyes sparkling with delight. “Okay then. Let’s eat.” She reached for Tyler and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then opened the food containers and spooned out some orange chicken and rice, handing it to Mason. He instantly reached for the egg rolls and soy sauce, then walked out of the room.

  “He’s pretty excited about the Lego set, Alexa. That was very kind of you.” I felt my face blush again. Tyler and I never got around to talking about them, but from the looks of things, he decided to give them to his brother.

  “Do you mind if I go eat with Mason?” I blinked up at Tyler. He nodded, flashing me another heart-stopping smile.

  “Sure. Go ahead, angel. Mom and I will stay in here.” Tyler leaned in for another small kiss and whispered in my ear, “By the way, I love that you smell like me.”

  Our gazes met and held for a few seconds, his eyes warm and bright as I blinked back emotional tears and walked into the living room where Mason stood eating. The box top for the Lego set rested on the back of the couch. Mason looked up. I shuddered at the resemblance between the two brothers.

  “Okay if I eat in here with you?” He nodded, gesturing to the couch.

  “I suck at Legos, but maybe I could watch you and get a couple of pointers.” He wiped his mouth across a napkin and set his food down.

  “Sure,” he said.

  My heart swirled in my chest. For the second time, he spoke to me. I set my uneaten plate of food down and watched as he laid all the building blocks out in order by size and color. He was amazing to watch.

  Blissfully in love with his brother, I was growing to care for Mason too.

  “Well, it looks like the building has begun.” Tyler walked in holding a beer in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. “You didn’t get anything to drink.” He sat the Ozarka bottle down beside my uneaten food, resting his arm against my lower back. “You’re gonna need it.” He winked, taking a quick swallow of his beer. “Watch my girlfriend for me, little brother. I have to go out for a while.” Mason nodded and handed a piece of chicken to Bono.

  “You’re leaving?” I frowned, suddenly missing him when he wasn’t even gone yet.

  “I have some business to take care of. I’ll be late getting in, but I want you here when I get home. And eat your dinner, Alexa. You haven’t touched it.” He kissed me gently on the top of my head.

  “Mason, sorry to run out on you like this. I have some unexpected business to tend to. Maybe you can come over again in a couple of days. I haven’t kicked your ass in basketball lately.”

  I’d seen the goal in the driveway, not giving it much thought. But now, watching the two brothers in a competitive game of basketball was something I was definitely going to have to see.

  Five minutes later, Tyler left and I went into the kitchen to help Crystal clear the food and paper plates.

  “He loves you.” Her tone was soft. She smiled, running her fingers through her straight hair. The small gesture reminded me of her son. “I never thought Tyler was going to find love, but I saw it in his face the first time I met you. I couldn’t be happier.”

  “I’m glad. I love your son very much.” I blinked away the sudden threat of tears.

  Her head dropped. “I’m sure he’s told you about our family.”

  I nodded.

  “Maybe you can convince him to see his dad this one last time. I don’t know why, but it just seems like the right thing to do … for all of us.” She gazed down again, twisting her arms around her waist. “I have the early shift at the hospital tomorrow. Maybe we can have lunch together soon.” She brushed a finger underneath her damp eye.

  “Sure. I’d like that.”

  ****

  It was already 9:30. Exhausted, I couldn’t figure out why Tyler had gone out unexpectedly. He’d never done that before, but I could only assume it had something to do with Venture or the clinic. I pulled my toothbrush from the small overnight bag and walked into Tyler’s bathroom. He’d taken a shower before he left and the room was still full of his smell. God, I loved his scent.

  On one side of the double vanity was a toothbrush, my favorite Redken hairspray, and an assortment of my skin care products. There was even a bottle of the coconut lotion I used. When did he put them out? I’d just been in here earlier. I smiled, wondering if Tyler had bought these things himself, or if Mrs. Leonard had done it at his request. I brushed my teeth and crawled into his bed. Bono instantly jumped up on the end and sighed before stretching out over the top of my feet.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Tyler

  “Tyler. I knew you couldn’t stay away.”

  Two years ago, I’d been in Katherine’s apartment on a regular basis. I knew where she kept most of her belongings. I also knew she didn’t keep her security cameras engaged. I didn’t intend on making this any longer than I absolutely had to.

  “Sit down. Let me pour us a drink. Scotch?” She walked toward the bar and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Ballantine’s, then sat down beside me, resting her hand on my thigh.

  I raised the glass and swallowed, reaching for the bottle and pouring myself a second. I was going to need more than a couple to get myself to the point I needed to be. A part of me knew the way I intended on handling this entire situation wasn’t the ethical way. Far from virtuous, from an outsider looking in, one may think I was getting a woman drunk to take advantage of her.

  Maybe there was some sense of truth to that concept.

  Yet, I was doing exactly what had to be done. Getting a confession.

  “I knew we’d find our way back to one another, Tyler. We never should have ended things. We were always so good together.”

  I nonchalantly glanced around the apartment. The purple stationery no longer sat on the bar. Katherine’s intense gaze lingered.

  “Don’t you agree, Tyler?”

  Silent, I lifted my glass an
d held it out to hers, the clinking of her drink against mine only nauseating me more. Yet, I raised it to my lips and swallowed. She did the same. Only a matter of time, and Katherine would be chirping like a fucking bird. One thing she couldn’t do was handle her alcohol.

  I drained my second scotch and poured us both a third, making them doubles.

  Becca’s death haunted me.

  And I promised Alexa I’d do what I could to get to the bottom of her mysterious suicide.

  Tonight, the truth would come out.

  “We were very good together, Katherine.”

  * * * *

  The sick taste of scotch still lingering on my lips, I’d done what I had to do to get Katherine to talk. She hadn’t confessed to being responsible for Becca’s death, but she was. She goddamned was.

  “Excuse me just a minute, Katherine.” I walked toward the bedroom and adjoining bathroom, closing the bathroom door so a drunken Katherine would assume I was taking a piss. I’d spent enough time here to know where she kept her personal belongings. I opened up the top drawer of her bedside table, quiet as I carefully rearranged a few sundry items. Underneath the Tahitian vanilla-scented massage oil she loved to have rubbed on her inner thighs, I found what I needed. Purple fucking stationary with white flowers. I took three photos and quietly returned the massage oil.

  Drunk and sprawled out on the couch when I returned, Katherine laughed when she admitted to harassing Becca for weeks before her death.

  She also knew I was onto her.

  I gave her twenty-four hours to come clean and turn herself in to the police. One fucking day and no longer. If she didn’t, I’d gladly do it for her.

  Katherine was guilty. She betrayed Becca. Betrayed me. Betrayed Alexa.

  Never bite the hand that feeds you the last words I’d spoken before leaving her apartment, now I’d betrayed a woman I once considered a friend. And I’d never wanted anything more in my life than giving Alexa the answers she deserved about her cousin’s death.

  Hungover, I’d kissed her on the cheek and told her to stay in bed a little longer when I got up at 6:00 AM to take a run and attempt to erase my mind from the clusterfuck of what I’d done just hours ago. And what I had ahead of me after giving in to my mother’s pleading.

  I was taking my mother and Mason to visit our father.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Tyler

  The center for Alzheimer’s was modern and comfortable. The dementia patients had the best care possible. I knew the place was the best there was. I paid the monthly fee.

  “May I help you?” The young man at the front desk gave us a forced smile as he looked up from a Sports Illustrated magazine. Even with his receding hairline, he couldn’t have been a day over twenty-five.

  What a goddamn depressing job.

  “I’m Crystal Yates. We’re here to see my husband.”

  He gestured to a corridor behind him.

  “He’s down the hall on the right. Room 114.”

  Willing my nerves to calm, I gave the young man a quick nod and reached for my mother’s hand, her other immediately reaching out for Mason.

  We walked in, a nagging silence between us as my mother’s cold hand tightly gripped both mine and my brother’s. Facing the window, gazing outside, he turned toward us with a stunned expression. No idea what he looked like after all this time, what I hadn’t planned was the bleak sight of the sixty-two-year-old man none of us had seen in over a decade. Lank and lethargic, the look behind his eyes seemed empty and haunting, the bluish-steel color matching the tint of his thinning hair. He looked nothing like the large, fit man I remembered.

  “My sons.” He reached out, his hands violently trembling. None of us moved. He looked at my mother and back at Mason, and then me. He studied the three of us for several long seconds, his eyes quickly shielding with tears. The word ‘pedophile’ filled my head, but I quickly ignored it, refusing to explore that thought.

  We were only here for one reason—my mother.

  Flashbacks filled my head. I was eighteen again. My father was abducting his own son.

  Fuck this! I wasn’t doing it. Not today. Or any other. All I could suddenly think about was pounding the shit out of somebody.

  “Mason. Mom. Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Abruptly, I walked toward the door while the two of them stood still. I had to get anywhere but here before I took his pathetic neck and snapped it in two.

  “Don’t you cry, Mason. Take it like a man.”

  A door with Prayer Room was ahead. I needed a few minutes. My head was aching. I needed a few fucking minutes. A large cross hung from the ceiling. Never a religious man, I questioned the whole scenario of God truly existing. No real proof that I knew of, if there was in fact a Heavenly Father, how did He make the decision to ruin a family? My sister. My brother. My mother. If you’re really there, take this misery from my family.

  I covered my eyes with the palms of my hands, my chest pounding with torment and remorse from my own unexpected cries. I’d never let myself break down like this. Choked with guilt, my heart ached for my brother. My sister. My mother. There hadn’t been one day that I hadn’t replayed the image of our own flesh and blood abusing my kid brother.

  A hand brushed my shoulder. My mother was behind me. I reached for her hand and she sat down beside me. For seconds, we were silent, though the sound of her uneven breathing almost seemed deafening. She was giving it her best to stay strong, just as she always had. I squeezed her hand.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom. Every day, I wish it had been me.”

  “Baby, no. Don’t ever say that.” A single tear slid down her cheek. “There was no way you could have known, Tyler. Please don’t blame yourself for this any longer. Let’s end this today. Can we all just let it go and live our lives?”

  “Mom.” I took her in my arms and leaned into her shoulder, falling apart over the painful memories eternally tainted in my character. Mason wasn’t the only one whose soul had shattered.

  We were all crippled over the past.

  “Mason! Where the fuck is Mason?” Surely, she hadn’t left him alone in the room with his dad. I stood straight up.

  Fucking hell!

  “Tyler. Sweetheart. He’s getting me something to drink. Your brother is fine, but I’ll go find him.”

  She stood and walked out the door. Makeup smeared underneath her eyes, she looked subdued and worn. Still a beautiful woman, she was also the strongest fucking female I’d ever met in my life. After a moment’s hesitation to go after her and apologize for my breakdown, I sat back down on the row of folding chairs and dropped my head between my hands. Tension pulled behind my temples.

  “If there’s a God, why would you do this? Why would you fucking do this?” I looked back up toward the cross hanging from the ceiling, staring for minutes. Wondering. Waiting. Waiting … for this God to give me an explanation to the question I’d asked a million times. The explanation that never came.

  Silent, my head throbbing, something pulled me from my thoughts. It was Mason. I swiped at the streak of emotion in the corners of my eyes before my little brother saw me.

  “Don’t be a pussy, Tyler.”

  “Here. Come sit down with me, little brother.” He nodded and took the seat beside me, lifting a Dr. Pepper bottle and taking a long swallow.

  “I owe you an apology, Mason.” I reached for my brother’s shoulder. “I should have been there for you. I should have stayed home more. I could have stopped it.” A sob tore from my throat.

  “I’m so goddamn sorry… I’m so…”

  I gently put my arms around both shoulders and brought him in for a hug. He was crying. I was crying.

  “It wasn’t your fault, Tyler. I’ve never blamed you.”

  Holy fuck!

  “Mason?”

  My stomach dropped, my breath wedged in my throat. I glared at the little brother that hadn’t spoken over a dozen words since I could remember. Tears streamed down his face, but he smiled.

&
nbsp; “Thank Christ!” Thank you wherever you are. I hugged the hell out of my little brother.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Mason said. “I hate this motherfucking place. Mom’s waiting outside.”

  I couldn’t stop staring at Mason. I didn’t even try playing thick-skinned and emotionless. I could only shake my head in disbelief.

  “Well fuck, Mason. You’ve finally caught me at a loss for words.”

  “He apologized, Tyler. But, I don’t ever want to see him again.” I swallowed back another pent-up sob.

  “He apologized. Well, how fucking noble of him to do that, Mason.”

  “It’s okay. Let’s just go. I’m hungry enough to eat the ass end out of a dead horse. How about you treat us to P.F. Chang’s?” He grinned.

  How the hell did he do that? How was he so cool and calm after looking into the eyes of the man who had taken his fucking childhood? Kept him from his dreams.

  It didn’t matter anymore. Suddenly, a feeling swept over me that everything was going to be okay. My family was going to survive after all. For the first time in long years, I felt at ease. And peaceful. The drumming pain inside my head was gone. This visit had been the right thing to do. Both the women in my life told me it would be. I slung an arm around my little brother’s shoulder and silently thanked … God.

  “Sure, Mason. P.F. Chang’s sounds pretty fucking amazing right now.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Alex

  Richard had a girlfriend. Renee was probably close to thirty. Tall and lean with shoulder-length dark brown hair, she had the most beautiful big brown eyes I’d ever seen. Plus, she seemed nice.

  They sat together in a small corner table, sharing Bryson’s mushrooms. Neither could take their eyes off the other. The restaurant was filling up quickly, yet Richard seemed oblivious.

  First time ever!

  “Anything else I can get you, ladies?” The woman and what looked like her mother, smiled as I delivered their salads.

  Dying for a chance to check my phone, today was the day Tyler had flown Mason and Crystal to see his dad in Kansas. A huge lump filled my throat as I raised my phone to see a text.