by Vicky Jones
"The name and address said here. Let's go." Kyle jumped out and marched towards the farmhouse. Ernest hopped up the steps and hammered on the heavy wooden door.
"Hello?" an old man's voice sounded from behind the door.
"Open up!"
Sidney opened the door slightly. Spotting Ernest Bullen, he panicked and tried to shut the door, but Kyle wedged his foot in the way.
"What do you want?"
"Did you see Chloe Bruce last night?" Kyle yelled through the crack in the door.
"What?" Sidney yelled back, feeling his strength drain away.
"I said, did you fucking see her last night?" Kyle booted the door as hard as he could, knocking Sidney crashing to the ground inside his house. He stepped over the threshold and grabbed the old man, throwing him outside onto the ground at the bottom of the three steps leading from his porch.
"Wait. Yes, I did bu–"
Not waiting for him to finish his sentence, Kyle punched Sidney so hard that his nose exploded, caking his wrinkled face in scarlet blood. Collapsing into a heap on the ground, he held his hands up in surrender, but Kyle kneeled and grabbed him by his collar, his right fist drawn back ready to strike again.
"What the fuck is a withered old bastard like you doing with her?” His eyes were wild with fury.
"It's not like that–" Sidney began, realizing his explanation was futile as Ernest Bullen appeared from the back of the truck brandishing a baseball bat.
"Then why don't you tell me exactly what it's like if it ain't you sneaking 'round with my woman?" Kyle screamed, nodding to Ernest who grinned as he pulled the bat back and struck Sidney across the legs. He yelped, a sickening crack emanating from his kneecaps.
"There's nothing going on, I swear," Sidney pleaded, trying to crawl away, his kneecaps shattered.
"Then what was she doing here?"
"She just came to chat."
"You're fucking lying!" Kyle nodded to Ernest, who waved his bat and struck again.
At that moment, Sidney raised his head up and caught sight of a smaller figure crouching in the back of the truck, almost out of sight.
"Wait. That boy, HE KNOWS ME!" He pointed his shaking finger towards Billy, crying desperately for him to save him.
"What the fuck’s he talking about?" Earl stared over at his little brother, who had now shrunk completely out of sight.
"He knows for a fact there ain't nothin' goin' on with Miss Chloe and me! Please, ask him. ASK!" Sidney begged them, the blood spilling freely out of his quivering mouth.
Billy appeared from behind the truck and strode purposefully towards the group, his decision made. His face was pale as he reached into his pocket.
"What's he talking about, brother?" Ernest demanded.
With the last of his strength, Sidney sat up and looked Billy straight in the eye. "He knows me, he knows because–"
With tears in his eyes, Billy Bullen took his hand out of his pocket and pulled the trigger of the revolver he was holding. The bullet ripped straight through Sidney's heart, killing him instantly.
His older brothers looked at him with a mixture of shock and admiration on their dirty faces.
"WOW, brother! I never knew you had it in you–your first kill!" Earl slapped him hard on his back.
Kyle stared at the dead man on the ground. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, you boys know where to get rid of this." He kicked the body.
"Usual place?"
"Yeah. Make sure you get rid of that gun too!" Kyle nodded to Billy, who was standing motionless over Sidney's dead body, trying to hide the grief and shame he felt for what he'd just done to the man who had, for once in his miserable young life, been the only one to ever accept him for who he was.
"What are you doing here?" Chloe whispered as Shona appeared unexpectedly at her office door.
"I had to work late. I was just about to go home when I saw your car still here. I can't rest, Chloe. They're sending me back to Louisiana. I'll be killed the minute I set foot there!" Shona blurted out.
"Kyle's been gone half an hour now. He could be back any minute. I'm scared of what he's gone and done! I can't leave—he's taken my keys!" she replied, her blanched face still frozen in shock as she sat in her chair. She ran her shaking hand over her red raw neck, not registering a word of what Shona had said.
"What happened? Did he do this to this to you?" Shona asked as she bounded across the floor and kneeled in front of her, her eyes wide in horror as she saw the angry red handprint on Chloe's pale neck.
"Shona, I've gotta get away from him!" She broke down, terrified she would hear the growl of the Ford at any moment.
"Ssshhh, come here." Shona tried to pull Chloe into her arms, but she resisted.
"I can't. I want to be with you so much, but if Kyle comes back and finds you here, he'll finish us both off!"
"We'll think of something," Shona reassured her.
Just then, bright headlight beams streamed through the blinds. Chloe jumped out of her chair and stared down out of the window at the green Ford truck that had just pulled up outside, her face stricken with fear, realizing they had only moments.
"Go, NOW! I can't let him find you here–"
"I'm not leaving you here on your own with him!" Shona's eyes blazed.
"I'll be fine, Ron's downstairs. If I need him, I'll scream. Now, GO!" Chloe cried as she gently pushed Shona's arms away.
As Shona raced reluctantly away to find Ron, Kyle rounded the corner and headed up the balcony steps, missing her by milliseconds. He walked into Chloe's office and placed her car keys on her desk in front of her. She stared at him, petrified.
"Kyle, what the hell have you done?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Here are your keys." He fixed his cold stare on her and smiled, then left her alone in the semi-darkness of her office.
Chapter 78
Chloe found Shona the following morning in the tool room.
"You OK?" Shona asked wearily, looking as if she hadn't slept a wink.
"Yeah. Listen, give me a day or two to get some money together, then we get out of here, for good!" Chloe replied.
"You serious?"
"I mean it, Shona. I want us to be together. I'll get some money out of the bank at lunch, and I got more hidden away at my parents' house too. I'll see them tonight and I'll let you know what we're doing tomorrow, yeah?"
"OK," Shona replied, her stomach churning but with excitement this time.
"Shona?" Chloe turned around when she reached the door.
"Yeah?"
"Tell me you love me." Her eyes moistened.
Shona gazed at her, her eyes shining brighter and bluer than Chloe had ever seen before. The truth in them was unmistakable.
"I love you, Chloe."
Chloe smiled, the words landing safely in her heart.
"I love you too." She hurried away, still tingling.
"How much today, Miss Bruce?" the bank teller asked brightly.
"All of it," Chloe replied matter-of-factly, hardly even glancing up.
"Oh, I'm afraid our policy is that we can only give you half today and half tomorrow, would that be OK?"
"Fine, I'll come by in the morning and get the rest. I just wanna buy a few things, you know," she replied lightly, keen to play down her frustration at her plans being delayed.
After returning from her lunch break, Chloe walked along the balcony and knocked on her father's door.
"Chloe," Bruce said coolly.
"Father, I thought we could have dinner tonight?"
"Sure. Will Kyle be joining us?"
"No, he's out tonight at Red's, some business I think he said. I thought it would be nice to have just the three of us."
"OK." Bruce's mustache bristled nervously at her unexpectedly pleasant manner towards him. "See you at 7 o'clock!" he called after her as she left his office and disappeared down the balcony steps.
Sticking her head around the tool room doorway, Chloe whispered to get Shona's atte
ntion.
"Hey," Shona replied.
"I have a plan and a way out of here. Meet me at 10, at the statue in town. Can you do that?"
Shona didn’t even need to think about her answer.
"So, how's it going with Kyle, dear?" Eleanor Bruce's voice sounded hollow.
"Fine," Chloe lied, picking up her knife and fork.
"I've picked the wrong damn glasses up! Be back in a minute," Bruce said, dropping his newspaper on the table.
As he disappeared up the stairs and out of sight, Chloe saw her opportunity.
"Mother, I need to speak to you. It's important."
"About a certain wedding, giving me grandchildren?" Eleanor smiled coldly as she sliced through her beef.
"I'm not happy with Kyle." She tried to make eye contact with her mother.
"It takes work, Chloe, you don't just give up. Kyle's worried about you, he–"
"Mother, he doesn't treat me very good. He's often physical with me–"
"Now you listen here." Eleanor clattered her knife and fork down onto her plate, her patience finally wearing out. "Our job as wives is to support our husbands. It's that simple. You being with Kyle has attracted a lot of interest from investors and the wedding you'll have, my goodness, everybody who is anybody will be there! And you want to turn that down because it gets a little difficult sometimes?"
"Difficult? Mother, do you know what I mean by physical?" She stared at her mother in disbelief. "Has Father done it to you?"
"What happens between a man and a woman in the privacy of their own home is nobody else's business. Besides, overall, he's a good husband."
Chloe stared open-mouthed at her mother, who carried on eating her roast potatoes.
"Found them." Bruce joined the table holding his glasses in front of him.
After dinner, Eleanor and her husband retired to the drawing room, brandy glasses in hand.
"I'm just going to my den," Chloe said.
"I wish you'd grow out of that drawing stuff," her father called after her.
"Hey, can I come down too?" Antonia's gentle voice soothed Chloe's inner turmoil, as it always had done since she was a baby.
"Sure," she replied, smiling at the welcome company.
Inside the small, cluttered den, Chloe lovingly sorted through her sketches, a sad smile etched on her face knowing that she couldn't take them all with her.
"Miss Chloe, I gotta say, I've noticed that you ain't been the same lately. Something’s changed, hasn’t it?" Antonia probed gently.
"You don't miss a thing, do you?" Chloe answered, unsurprised.
"Nope, but I keep it all in here," she replied, pointing to her temple.
"I just wish I could keep these with me." She gestured towards the pictures piled up high on her easel.
"You could always draw new pictures? But I like these ones. Done with so much care and attention…and love."
Antonia pointed to a pile of detailed sketches Chloe had clearly taken the time to complete perfectly. Eyes had become faces, faces had become bodies, with each sketch lovingly finished off using her finest watercolors. Shona's beautifully painted face gazed back at her in every portrait, most of which showed her seated on or stroking Storm.
"Your father hasn't seen these. Don't worry, I kept them hidden away. But he doesn't come down here anyway."
"Thank you." Chloe was touched by her intuition. "I'm going to miss you, Antonia. Here, take this–"
She handed her a thickly stuffed envelope. "But don't open it until tomorrow, OK? And keep it to yourself, like all the other things I know you know." Chloe kissed her on the cheek. She looked at her watch. It was already 9 p.m.
"Shoot, I gotta go and get ready."
Chloe arrived in town with only a few minutes to spare, but Shona was already waiting patiently by the statue. She jumped into Chloe's car and beamed at her as she put her foot down and sped away.
"So, what's this plan?" she asked, her eyes wide with excitement.
"I want to spend the night with you, Shona."
Chapter 79
Chloe pulled up outside Fortua Hotel, just on the outskirts of Daynes. Rooms here were the most expensive in town, but she wanted luxury and nowhere else would suffice. Open-mouthed, Shona looked out of the car window at the stone pillars holding up the grand entrance to the hotel and the long red carpet leading up to the gold-embossed glass door.
"Wow," she said, blowing her cheeks out.
"I've booked the best room. I wanted our first night together to be special." Chloe switched the engine off and turned to face Shona, but as she did so, her eyes clouded with concern at the halo of sweat that had matted Shona’s long blonde bangs to her forehead.
"What's the matter? Are you nervous?" She reached across and stroked Shona's face, losing herself once again in her blue eyes, the anguish in them almost unbearable to see.
"I've pictured this moment so many times in my head. I never thought it would happen, though," she replied softly.
"Surely you know my feelings for you are real by now?"
"Back in Mississippi, I thought that girl liked me then. But she tricked me. I was terrified it was gon' happen again. That's why I kept fightin' it with you. I couldn't let my heart fall for you ’cos I would've never recovered." Shona bit her lip. "I love you so much it makes me ache."
"Come on. Let's go inside." She jumped out of her car as Shona sniffed and wiped her face with both hands.
"Ma'am!" Chloe winked as she opened the passenger side door.
They walked through the opulent lobby together, side by side. Approaching the front desk, Chloe smiled confidently at the clerk.
"Hello, I have a booking for tonight and we would very much like not to be disturbed. I'm sure you still pride yourself on being the soul of discretion here?" she hinted, giving him her name without even blinking an eye, then sliding a ten dollar bill across the counter.
"Yes, ma'am." The clerk smiled back, understanding Chloe's subtle words perfectly. "Room 223 on the top floor. The elevator is just over there. I see you have no luggage, so I won’t trouble the bellhop. Have a pleasant stay with us, Miss Bruce," he purred as he handed her the key, his open palm then gesturing towards the gold-plated doors behind them.
As the two women headed towards the elevator, the clerk stared after them. As he pocketed the bill, he walked to the other end of his counter and picked up the phone.
Chloe slipped the key into the door and pushed it open. The room was enormous, with a lush Persian carpet and azure-blue crushed velvet drapes. The gilt-edged furniture set the room off perfectly, but it was the huge king-sized bed that dominated the room. The navy-blue damask quilt was peeled back slightly to reveal crisp white sheets below. It looked achingly inviting as the two women stood inside the room together, alone and undisturbed for the first time. Chloe turned the key in the lock as Shona surveyed the magnificence of the gorgeously perfect room.
"Hey," Chloe said after a minute or two of silently watching her.
Shona turned around and smiled back nervously, her hands clasped over her fluttering stomach. "I can't believe I'm here with you." She lowered her head as her whole body began to tremble.
Realizing what was happening, Chloe moved towards her quickly and slipped her fingers underneath her collar. She caressed the back of Shona’s neck, sending bolts of electricity down her spine. Shona held back for a split second, but Chloe pulled her in closer, trying to reassure her.
"It's OK. I know what happened to you, but what we're doing isn't wrong. You do believe me, don't you?"
Looking up at her, Shona's anguished eyes filled with tears.
"All my life I've been told it was. What they did to me…they made me feel so dirty, so ashamed of myself. And now I'm here with you and I never wanna be anywhere else," she whispered.
"Say them. Say the words to me. Say, 'it's not wrong'." She cupped Shona's face in her hands, holding her gaze.
After all the years of pain, guilt and suppressing who she was
all her life, Shona finally found the strength to squeeze out the words.
"It's…it's not wrong." She fell limply into the safety of Chloe's warm body.
Smiling proudly, Chloe wrapped her arms around the back of Shona’s neck, stroking her hair and locking their bodies together. Shona lowered her face to rest on Chloe’s perfumed neck, their faces inching closer. A fraction away from connecting, they both pulled back and stopped, savoring the longed-for moment.
Unable to resist a second longer, their lips finally met for the very first time.
Kissing tenderly and stroking each other's hair, their mutual arousal began to build inside them. Occasionally they broke away from each other in disbelief that the moment was real, that they were both with each other at long last, their eyes communicating every unspoken emotion they’d ever held in their hearts. In no time at all, their kisses had become hotter, more urgent, with Chloe nudging Shona closer and closer to the edge of the bed, unbuttoning, then peeling off her checked shirt and running her fingers over the warm skin of her shoulders. Feeling the soft material of the sheets graze the back of her legs, Shona froze, pulled her face away and looked down, trembling once again.
"What is it?" Chloe stroked the hair out of Shona's face.
"It's just…I've never actually done this…with another girl before."
Holding on to her chin delicately, Chloe kissed her.
"That's OK, me neither. But there ain't no rule book here. We just take it slow, trust each other and do what feels good, OK?"
Shona's skin tingled more each time she felt Chloe's fingers brush against it. Running her palms over Shona's bare shoulders, then underneath her arms to lift them, Chloe gripped the bottom of her white undershirt and slid it up over her head. Shona's bangs flopped over her face, obscuring her view momentarily until a giggling Chloe swept them out of her eyes again. Her smiling face darkened when she looked down onto Shona's bare chest and saw her pale scars for the first time.