"It was you, wasn't it?" I demanded. "Lurking around my house? What the fuck, Nick?" I yelled, shoving him in the arm. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," Nick said, struggling. He reached out to yank against Rett's arms but Rett lifted his knee and shoved it into his stomach, driving the breath from his lungs. "Oof," Nick hissed. "I'm going to kill you, motherfucker."
"Likewise, asshole," Rett seethed. "What are you doing hanging around Brynn's house? Stalking her? A fucking stalker? Is that which you are? I should kill you for what you did to her! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't."
"I wasn't stalking her!" Nick wailed, all the bravado suddenly draining from his face. "I was just... I wanted to..."
My hand went to my mouth. "Nick," I said slowly, dangerously. I stepped forward and pressed my hand against Rett's arm. "Let him talk," I told him. "I want to hear what he has to say about this."
Rett gathered Nick's shirt tighter, then looked down at me. I nodded once. He loosened his grip, but he did not let go. "Talk," he said savagely.
Nick looked down, refusing to meet Rett's eye, but then he looked up at me imploringly. "We always had such a good time, you and me," he said to me. "And I always wondered, why didn't we hook up?"
"Because we were friends," I said carefully. "That's all."
"Yeah but, you were friends with McLame here too, and now you got this thing going on. Why wasn't it me?"
"Nick, you were with Amanda," I said. My heart thudded rapidly, every synapse in my brain firing all at once, danger, danger.
"She dumped me, that bitch," he said and I saw Rett's arm flex, pulling his shirt tighter. "Hey, cool it," Nick choked. "I'm talking, talking."
"Yeah, I know," I said coolly, and Rett didn't loosen his grip.
Nick choked a little, turning redder. "I figured you weren't with anyone, and I thought maybe you and I, we ought to..." He cocked his head meaningfully and my stomach clenched. "You know."
"And you thought that I'd want to go out with you if you were hanging outside of my house? Why didn't you pick up the fucking phone or something?" I snapped.
He gave me the sort of wounded look that would have melted my heart, before Rett. I wasn't like that anymore, now I knew what I wanted and what I wanted was for him to tell me just what the hell his plan was. "No, maybe I should have," he said as if the thought was just occurring to him. "But you did call me, right?" he said, perking up. "You called me and I came right over to help you with my squad car and everything."
"You absolutely corrupt asshole," Rett growled, having already put together the pieces before my brain could catch up. "You were pretending to be a prowler, because you knew that if she called the police, you'd be the one to answer the call. You were trying to exploit that, scare her so that you could swoop in and be her knight in shining armor." Rett spat on the ground and then snarled, and he suddenly had Nick by the throat.
"Rett," I called. "Stop it."
Rett looked behind me, his face red, and for a second I didn't think he'd heard me, but slowly, so slowly as to almost be incremental, he loosened his grip on Nick's throat.
Nick coughed, wild-eyed.
"I want you to hear this," I said, raising my voice and lifting my chin. "Because I'm not going to say it again. We were friends, Nick. That was all. I never want anything more from you. But now we're not even that. Friends don't do that to each other, and I want you to leave me the fuck alone. Do you hear me?"
"Why you got to be such a bitch about it?" Nick whined.
I stepped forward. "I'm not a bitch," I told him. "And I'm telling you this clearly so there are no mixed signals. And if you do come anywhere near me, I'm going to go to the precinct and tell them what you've done. You know my father is friends with half the force, right? They all drink for free at Reese's Pub. I’m sure they wouldn't want anything to put that perk in danger."
Nick looked at me with that little lost boy look, the one that I'd fallen for so many times in high school. We were friends, we did have a history. He'd been around during the worst part of my life. I'd always been nice to him before, and some instinct, some basic reflex inside of me wanted to be nice again, because of that history.
But I was a new girl, I was a new woman, I didn't need to be nice to get what I wanted.
All I had to do was ask for it.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Everett
"I thought we should try something," I told her as we walked hand in hand down the street, away from Nick who still stood staring, his hands clenching and opening like something had slipped through his grasp.
She shot me that look, the one that drove me crazy and I almost faltered in my plan. She wasn't going to like this. But I couldn't put it off anymore.
"Let's go in here."
Her face went from intrigued to alarmed in a nanosecond. "Rett!" she gasped, wrenching her hand away. "You've got to be kidding. In there?"
I gaped at her for a second and then burst out laughing. "I'm not saying we fuck in there," I whispered, lowering my voice and pointing to the window where the "Open" sign hung. "Lake Country Tours is not on the list of places I want to have you."
She let out a small gasp of relief, and then looked even more alarmed when I pulled on the door. "What are you doing?" she yelped, doing an adorable triple take.
"Come on," I stretched my hand out. "Time to make this official."
Cal was sitting at his desk, looking extremely uncomfortable in front of his computer. The way he hunted and pecked at the keyboard, I wondered if the guy even knew how to type. "You need help with that?" I called out.
Cal jumped when he heard my voice and then did a perfect sibling imitation of Brynn's triple take when he saw that she'd come in with me. "Uh," he said warily. "Hey, you two."
Brynn looked at him and then up at me. "We're doing this now?" she whispered.
"No time like the present," I said reaching out and grabbing her hand. "Quick, sit down before paying customers come in."
The side of her mouth quivered and she looked down at where our hands were joined. Then looked over at her brother who was gaping openmouthed. "So yeah, Cal," she said, a little more loudly than necessary. "Rett and I need to tell you something."
"Seriously?" Cal sputtered. "Rett? Is this like some kind of revenge for Harper?"
I opened my mouth to protest but Brynn cut me off. "Really Cal? You're asking him that? Like I'm some kind of object?"
Cal looked down, his ears turning red. "Sorry," he muttered.
She lifted her chin, looking for all the world like the fierce goddess she was. "If I'm gonna be with a guy, you'd better believe I have some say in it. I'm not just going to go along with some revenge plan like I have no brain inside my head, just to make it easy for him." As she spoke I could see something dawning across her face, the register of her voice dropping down lower and more powerful. "If I do something, it's because I want to do it." She glanced at me. "And I want to be with Rett." She licked her lips. "I love him."
"I love you," I blurted, pressing her hand to my mouth.
She smiled at me and took a deep breath. And then we both turned to Cal who was sitting there with his head cradled in his hands. "Well, uh..." he stammered. "Okay then."
"Okay?" I repeated.
"Yeah," he said, sitting back in his chair. "I'm cool I guess. Just... you know... startled and everything." His hand went down and rubbed his stomach, and a flicker of a smile crossed his face. He looked up at me. "Although, I have a distinct memory of you socking me in the gut when you found out I was with your sister. You gonna let me get in one good punch, just for old time's sake?"
"Over my dead body, Cal," Brynn piped up. "You two can have your macho dick-measuring contests sometime when I'm not here, okay?"
"Thanks, babe," I grinned.
"You tell Dad yet?" Cal asked Brynn.
She shook her head. "Not yet. I've been sort of AWOL I guess." Then her eyes flashed. "And don't
you dare try to pull some big-brother-bullshit and tell him first, you got it?"
"Jesus," Cal muttered. "Didn't you used to be nicer? What happened?"
I hid my laugh behind a coughing fit and turned away while Brynn let him have it.
"So where are you two lovebirds headed now?" Cal wondered once Brynn had sufficiently dressed him down.
I felt my ears go red. The skein of yarn I had all ready in my deep cargo pocket felt like it was burning a hole through the fabric. "Oh you know, just poking around in a few shops," Brynn sang out, all bright and cheery again. She glanced at me and I had to hide my smirk behind another coughing fit. Cal silently extended his water bottle to me. "We've been looking around town a lot this summer," she went on, still keeping her eyes on me. "We're learning a lot about Reckless Falls. You'd be amazed what you find out about yourself when you try something new."
I turned away before Cal could see me stiffening in my pants. For his part, Cal looked completely mystified. "Well, all right then," he said, sitting back down at his laptop. "You have fun with that." He squinted at the screen. "Hey Rett, when you get a chance, you think you could take a look at the back end of my invoicing system? Something is wonky in there."
"Sure, man," I said. "I'll be by later, okay? Got a date with my girl now."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Brynn
Sitting on the park bench in the town square used to be such an innocent activity. All around me, tourists milled about on their idyllic vacations, popping in and out of the shops that Rett and I were ticking off our dirty little list, one by one.
We'd moved out from Main Street now, taking in the side streets that gridded the town. I'd never known there was so much commerce in this town.
I leaned forward on the sun-warmed bench. The heat seeped in through the thin fabric of my sundress, making me shiver. I wasn't wearing panties, of course, and I crossed and recrossed my legs. Anticipation of what we were about to do had me almost moaning out there in the sunlight surrounded by families on vacation.
I shook my head and turned away, standing back up again and briskly walking towards the edge of the park.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kids from the daycare spilling out into the playground where they spent their last hour before pickup. Eager for the distraction, I searched for Grace's silky head. Then I spotted her, off in a corner, away from the rest of her peers, methodically poking the packed dirt with a stick.
I pressed my lips together. I hadn't been paying close enough attention at all to her. Maybe I ought to walk over, grab Autumn and talk with her about forcing more interaction with other kids. I stood there, searching for Autumn's fiery red hair, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a car pull up along the side street, slowing in a way that made a nervous flutter start in the pit of my stomach.
I stepped around a giant oak to get a closer look and saw a tall man, his shoulders slumped forward like he'd suffered many defeats in life, roll out of his driver's seat. He worked over his shoulder several times, then approached the building from the side.
Out of the eyesight of the teachers.
Alarmed, I searched more frantically for Autumn's red head, and finally spotted her, across to the other edge of the playground. She was gathered with the rest of the teachers, hunched over a kid who was lying screaming on the ground directly underneath the monkey bars. All their attention was on him, so that no one noticed this strange man walking right up to the fence and waving to Grace.
"No honey," I muttered under my breath, willing Grace to back away from the man who was beckoning her.
But Grace, sweet little Grace, looked up, and her face broke out into a wide smile. I couldn't be sure from this distance, but I swore her lips formed the shape of the word "Daddy."
And then it was clear. Of course this man was her father. Grace looked nothing like Adelina, but this man, this was the where the real familial resemblance lay. They both shared the same slanted eyes and the same shade of honey brown in their hair. I could already see how her limbs were lengthening, reaching towards her father's height.
Some of that adrenaline-packed alertness I was feeling sort of ebbed. I watched with a wary eye as he touched her head, then her cheek, but something wasn't sitting right.
Why hadn't he come through the main building?
Suddenly alert again, I moved the very edge of the street corner watching as he walked around the side and opened one of the side gates. Horrified, I watched as Grace skipped happily over to meet him.
"Grace! Hold it," I cried in my best teacher voice.
Grace froze, obedient child that she was, and I rushed across the street, causing a station wagon full of vacationers to swerve out-of-the-way, the horn blaring angrily. Adrenaline coursed through my body as I rushed up to the tall man, who stepped back and shot me a winning smile.
"Oh, it's no big deal," he said with a charming grin. "I'm her dad, picking her up."
The instinct to be nice, to back off, reared its ugly head, and I forced it back down again out of fear for Grace. "Grace, is this your daddy?"
Grace nodded and swiped her hair out of her eyes, that little nervous tick she always showed when agitated. I looked back at the man. "No. Stay right there Grace," I said, holding his gaze.
The man gave an angry growl. "I'm her motherfucking father. Let me take her with me!"
"Don't you go near her," I shouted. "Autumn!" I called across the playground, but the kid on the ground was still screaming.
The stranger's face flushed red, and a dangerous gleam flickered in his eyes. And all at once I was afraid of him.
And suddenly I knew that Adelina, she was afraid of him too. The wariness, the watchfulness, the warning about creepers lurking around. It all slammed into place and I looked up at this man, horrified at what he must have done to his family.
"I can pick up my own damn kids," he went on. I could see him battling with the violence inside of him. He gave me another charmingly winning smile that would have made me relent once upon a time. "Look," he said. "I'll show you the pictures I have her on my phone." His lip twitched up in a snarl. "Will that make you stop being such a bitch?"
Swallowing hard, I pulled out my own phone. "No," I said, keeping my voice steady as I dialed the police. "You stay right there. Don't you touch her."
He turned bright red and lunged for his daughter right as I yanked Grace behind me. "Stay back!" I shouted just as the police dispatcher picked up. "911?" I gasped. "I need to report an attempted kidnapping."
Chapter Forty
Everett
Brynn was supposed to meet me in the town square, but she was late. I looked down at my phone again. Almost ten whole minutes late, actually. That wasn't like her.
I grinned. She was definitely going to get a spanking for this.
I briskly walked the perimeter of the town square one more time, keeping an eye out for her shimmering blond hair. She usually sat on the park bench right there in the northwest corner across from the daycare. But today that spot was occupied by an older couple wearing matching souvenir sweatshirts in the nearly ninety-degree heat.
As I circled the park once more, the wail of sirens suddenly filled my ears. There was shouting, and I looked over to see Brynn's golden head, shining like a beacon amidst a crowd of people across the street.
Instantly I broke out into a print.
When I reached the other side of the street, I saw that she was standing next to a police officer I didn't recognize, a little girl in her arms. Brynn lifted her head and spotted me in the crowd, and the lift of her lips into a small, reassuring smile made me slow and exhale sharply.
Just then a car screeched up to the curb, and a woman came flying out of the driver's seat, not even bothering to close the door. Confused, I stepped aside as the waitress from the country club, the one who had been a bitch to Brynn way back in the beginning of the summer, blew past me. She rushed right up to Brynn, who readily handed over the little girl in her arms.
The woman dropped to her knees, clutching the little girl tightly, when two other cops walked past, holding a tall guy in handcuffs. I pressed my lips together, seeing the resemblance between him and the little girl on the ground. Her father, it was clear.
What the hell had this asshole done? And what was Brynn doing involved in it?
But there was no time for questions, because all at once he wrenched himself from the cops' arms and lunged for the waitress as she knelt on the ground. She shriveled into a protective crouch around the little girl, shielding her with her body as the man shouted abuse at her.
"Cut that shit out!" one of the cops called, yanking him back, but the man was a wild thing, spitting and cursing in red-faced rage. "I'll kill you, you bitch, you know that?" he sputtered, spit flying from his mouth. "I know where you live now! I fucking found you, bitch. You know what I'll do to you, right?"
I was just about to punch him in the face myself when one of the cops swept his legs out from under him, and threw him to the ground. "Grace!" the man shrieked. "Grace, come help daddy!"
"You leave her alone!" the waitress cried holding her daughter more tightly. The little girl turned away, burying her face in her mother's neck and the two of them knelt on the ground as the cops fought with her father.
Brynn looked up at me helplessly. I rushed over, already swiping through my phone.
"Hi Grace," I whispered as I knelt down beside her. "Miss Reese is your teacher, right?" I said, putting the pieces together. "I'm her friend, Rett. Hey, do you like horses?"
The little girl looked up at me with her tear-stained face, but nodded, wide-eyed. "Here, I have some pictures of them on my phone, do you want to see Shimmer? He's an Arabian," I ad-libbed. "They're a special kind of horse, isn't he beautiful?"
I moved the phone at an angle away, and her mother caught my gaze over her head and nodded to me. We both twisted our bodies to shield her from the sight of her father finally being led away in handcuffs, still calling for his daughter to come with him.
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