“Eliza, that’s enough,” Betty, Pete’s mom scowled at the woman.
“You don’t see the resemblance? I bet he’s still so hung up on her that he’s only with you because you remind him of her.”
“What are you talking about?” I was completely confused and starting to think Eliza was a little unhinged.
“He didn’t tell you?” She laughed a shrill sound just as two identical angry males came rushing into the room.
I barely remember most of the argument. So much was happening that I didn’t understand but when things finally calmed down and the kids were settled, I looked to Pete. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin everyone’s day.” I looked up into his confused expression.
“No, it’s my fault. I haven’t been around a lot to see the way Liza was and I dumped you into a volatile situation that has nothing to do with you.” He wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead sweetly. “I’m sorry you had to witness that.”
“It’s fine, for now. But, you’re gonna explain some things later.” I reached up on my toes and kissed his chin. Pete grinned at the sudden display of affection.
“Anything you want to know about this whole mess,” he promised. It made me feel even guiltier about not telling him the truth. He was willing to explain his past to me and I couldn’t bring myself to drudge mine up for anyone.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
It was a relatively good afternoon once the dust settled. Greg wasn’t happy about all the presents Pete had bought for the kids. Even though it wasn’t Tabby’s birthday he’d brought stuff for her too. It was sweet and the more I saw Pete with his family just being happy and carefree the better I felt about whatever this was that was happening between us. He became more than the playboy MMA star. He became real. His family was normal and down to earth. Way more normal than mine ever was.
“You ready to go?” Pete’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. I’d been staring off into space watching Tabby and Gray play with their new toys. I hadn’t even realized how late it was.
“Sure.” I smiled up at him. We said our goodbyes and left the house. Pete made sure to make plans with his brother later in the week. I could tell he felt guilty about the fact that he hadn’t been around much and had no idea his brother was having problems.
Pete was quiet in the car on the way back to his place. I didn’t want to push, so I waited until he was ready. “You wanna come in?”
The police detective had called earlier in the day and said I was safe to go home. Pete hadn’t liked the idea of me going back to the apartment, but I’d assured him that I would be fine.
“Sure, sounds good,” I responded a little unsure of myself. Maybe I should go home and let him process everything. Pete looked relieved but at the same time a little apprehensive. I knew what he was thinking about. I should have just let it go, but the burning curiosity was getting to me.
Pete came around to my side of the car and opened the door before grabbing my hand and helping me out. “Maybe I should go. You have a lot to process.”
“Please don’t. I owe you an explanation and if I don’t do it now, I might never do it. You deserve to know what really happened.” He pulled me close staring directly into my eyes. There was fear in them. I hated it. He was a big strong MMA fighter he wasn’t supposed to be scared.
“Okay.” Pete led us to the front door of his house. I was so caught up in my own thoughts, I almost didn’t see the envelope with the scratchy handwriting taped to his door at eye level.
“What’s this?” Pete grabbed the envelope. I knew what it was. I looked around frantically for any chance of escaping the questions that one envelope contained. Pete had my hand clutched in his and I began hyperventilating at the thought of him seeing that and knowing who I really was. Turning, I started to move but Pete pulled me into him. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”
“I-I just gotta go,” I stuttered. I couldn’t see the look on his face when the realization hit. I couldn’t bear to see the disgust. I knew it would be there. There was no doubt in my mind especially when he demanded answers and I had to describe all the horrible things that woman did to me. I couldn’t.
“Whoa, it’s all right. Come inside and tell me what has you spooked.” I looked to the envelope in his hand inadvertently letting him know what the problem was. “Is it this? Have you been getting messages like this?”
Pete went from confused to overprotective alpha male in a hot second. I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so scared he’d find out my secret. I started to shake my head but Pete wasn’t buying it. “Tell me the truth, babe. Has someone been harassing you?”
“Fine, yes, okay?” He wasn’t going to let this go. I wished he would that way I never had to see the look on his face I knew would be there in only a few minutes. “Open it.”
Here goes nothing. I held my breath waiting for him to say something. He tore open the envelope and just like all the other times there was an old newspaper clipping. This time it was a Las Vegas newspaper. I read the headline over his shoulder.
Woman convicted of locking daughter in closet for sixteen years.
That was kind of dumb. She didn’t leave me locked in the closet even though sometimes I’d wished she would have. Sometimes the things that happened outside the closet were way worse than being locked in the dark. “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with you?”
“That was me,” I explained in as little detail as possible. His eyes widened and a sadness filled them before he crushed me in a hug. That hadn’t been the reaction I’d been expecting, but he didn’t know everything yet and now that I told him this in order for us to move forward, he needed to know everything. “Can we go inside, please?” My words were muffled against his chest. His chin rested on my head, and he breathed a sigh.
“Yeah, babe, let’s go inside. It seems we have a lot to talk about.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Pete
I was afraid if I let go of her she would disappear. I was still processing this new information. How did someone survive something like she did and come out as strong as she was? I thought she was fragile until I found out just how amazing she was. My problems paled in comparison to what she went through.
Pulling her into the kitchen with me was probably dumb, but she looked like she wanted to bolt. I wondered if she’d ever told anyone about this before. I grabbed two beers and handed her one. She looked grateful. I knew alcohol wasn’t the answer but my nerves were fucking fried and I’m sure hers were too. “Thank you.”
When we made our way back over to the couch, I sat down pulling her into my lap. “What do you want to know?” It was a broken whisper and I hated it.
“Only what you want to tell me.” I rested my chin on her shoulder prepared to just listen to her.
“My dad cheated on my mom when I was a baby. I guess it made her crazy but honestly, I never knew anything different. She moved us to this big deserted farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t find out until later that we were still in Tennessee. Mama wanted us isolated from the whole world so when she left or just couldn’t stand the sight of me, she’d lock me in the closet.” Her words were soft and I found myself squeezing her tighter. Holy shit what kind of life was that for a child?
“When I got older I think she started to realize she couldn’t keep me there forever, so she started different tactics to make sure I never left or trusted other people. She showed me stories about rape and murders. Her view of men and relationships were so distorted that she started to…” She trailed off tears flowing freely down her cheeks. I didn’t need to hear her say it. More than one time she’d had incidents where she cried out in her sleep around me. I almost didn’t want her to continue. I didn’t need to know all the details.
“Shh, it’s okay. I won’t let her hurt you again.” That was one promise I fully intended to keep. I rocked her in my arms until her cries quieted and I thought she was asleep.
“Thank you.
You make everything better. I don’t know what I would have done had you been disgusted by me. By what happened to me.”
“Hey, I could never be disgusted by you. You have become the best thing in my life. I don’t know how it happened so fast or why, but it did and I’m glad for it.” I kissed her shoulder softly. Brandy turned in my arms wrapping her arms around my neck hugging me like her life depended on it. I squeezed her back offering comfort in the only way I knew how.
I owed her an explanation and I wondered if it was a good time, but I knew if I didn’t do it, I would put it off for as long as possible.
“When I was seventeen, I was in a car accident,” I started. I gulped in a huge breath before continuing. “Ellie had been mad. We were at the movies and one of the girls from school had cornered me by the concession stand. She was irrationally jealous we’d been together all four years of high school. She had nothing to be worried about. It hadn’t stopped her from railing on me though.”
Brandy propped her chin up on her hand and watched me as she listened intently. “We were on our way home, and we were arguing when a drunk driver ran the red light and t-boned me. The car spun for what felt like forever and I remember the sound of the screeching tires and gasoline smell like it was yesterday. I don’t remember much except the heat on my face as they pulled me from the wreckage. Something was on fire and the fuel was leaking. A couple of bystanders tried to pull her from the car, but we were hit on her side and the door was so mangled it needed the jaws of life.” My hands were cramping and my breathing shallowed as I could practically feel the blast as the car exploded in the quiet night air. “The fire department…” I had to pause too choked up to speak. Brandy’s eyes were wet with tears, and she rubbed a hand over my chest trying to comfort me. I have no idea if she knew just how soothing her touch was.
“They didn’t make it in time. One of the good Samaritans was badly burned when the jeep exploded and Ellie was gone forever.” Her quiet gasp had me looking down into her tearful eyes. I squeezed her tighter as much for my own comfort as hers. I didn’t want her to cry for me. That’s not why I told her. I told her because she deserved the truth and if I was honest with myself, I was relieved more than anything. She didn’t seem to hate me, and she knew the deepest darkest secret I had.
“Is that why you don’t drive?” her soft whisper met my ears.
“I lost everything that night, my girl, my car, my chance at state finals in wrestling. I wasn’t supposed to be driving with her in the car, but I was young and dumb. I never thought it could ruin everything. They took my license until I was twenty-five, but I never renewed it after that. The night I went over to your house was the first time I’d driven since that night,” I admitted. I never admitted that to anyone. Not even my family knew the real reason I didn’t drive. I mean I could take down a two-hundred-pound asshole but getting behind the wheel terrified me.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Brandy
Listening to that story was absolutely heartbreaking and it made me feel even more guilty. I’d thought he was just a vapid conceited playboy with no real substance for a long time. If I had known that absolute heartache he’d been through, I might have been a little nicer to him. That’s no excuse though, I let my mother and her psychotic beliefs about people turn me into a judgmental bitch.
When was I gonna stop letting her crazy effect my life in such fundamental ways? My tears didn’t slow as he held me close caressing my back. I started to wonder who was comforting who. The lines had blurred through our shared pain.
“I’m so, so sorry,” I bawled.
“Hey, it’s okay. It was a long time ago. I meant what I said at the house today. I’m ready to move on. What happened was awful and I still have nightmares about it sometimes, but I’m working through all my problems and I’m happy with my life for the first time in a long, long time.” Pete kissed the top of my head sweetly. My tears slowed a little, but he never let me go. Something inside me had cracked, broken completely open with that final confession and any walls I’d built up crashed down around me. I felt it then, something I’d never thought I would be capable of. Something I thought my mother had stolen from me all those years ago. I did have the ability to love with my whole heart and it was Pete. Every soft touch and kind gesture had made me fall irrevocably in love with him. The realization hit me like a sledgehammer to the heart. It terrified me as I laid in his lap while he stroked my hair.
“I think I need to go home tomorrow,” I whispered into his chest.
“What? No.” He sat so abruptly that I almost fell off the couch. “I can’t protect you there.”
“This is all happening too fast.” I moved next to him on the couch running a hand through my hair. “What I feel it’s consuming. I think we need to try this without the added pressure of living together.”
“You’re scared,” he growled low. “Don’t you think I’m scared too? The way I feel about you is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Even Ellie.” He jumped from the couch pacing in front of me. A sound of pure frustration gurgled from his throat as he dropped to his knees in front of me grabbing my hands. “Don’t pull away from me again, please.” His eyes were pleading with me. I knew it was killing him.
“I’m not pulling away. I just think we should take a couple steps back. Pete, we jumped five steps ahead in only a few weeks.” I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Don’t. I can’t lose you.” He turned my face so that he could look in my eyes, but I closed them. I didn’t want him to see how messed up I was. He already knew from what I’d told him, but the idea of losing myself in someone else so completely was crazy. “I love you,” It was a desperate whisper and I couldn’t stop the tears from falling again. My eyes opened at the proclamation and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“I love you, too. That’s why I have to do this.” I kissed his cheek and stood disengaging my hands from his. “It will be okay. It will be better for both of us, I promise,” I said as I grabbed Coco and my keys and headed for the door. “Call me later?”
“No, call me as soon as you’re at the apartment.” He wouldn’t look at me still kneeling on the floor in front of the couch wringing his hands together.
“I will.” I closed the door behind me blowing out a breath. Coco was whimpering softly. I felt her little rough tongue lick the tears from my face. “It’s okay, baby girl. We’ll be okay.” I squeezed her a little tighter and resolved myself to put one foot in front of the other just so I didn’t go running back into the house and admit to how stupid I was being.
***
I made it to the apartment in a blur, honestly surprised that I didn’t get pulled over. I shot off a quick text to Pete letting him know that I was home and made my way to the bed. I didn’t even change my clothes before I fell into bed Coco snuggled up next to me.
Someone was in my bedroom. My bleary eyes tried to make out the shape and Coco was going crazy barking and growling like a wild animal at whoever it was. I felt a pinch at my neck as I took in the blurry shadow of the person standing over me. I knew them, but I couldn’t bring myself to care as I fell back into a dreamless sleep.
The next time I woke up it was because something jostled me. I attempted to rub a hand over my face only to notice my limbs weren’t moving. That wasn’t the only thing. I appeared to have tape over my mouth and my arms were taped tight behind me. I couldn’t see anything and wondered where the hell I was. It was complete blackness and I could hear the gentle hum of an engine. A car? How the hell did I get here? Panic gripped me as the car continued to whatever kind of hell I was being dragged into. The small space closed in on me until I was thrashing around trying desperately to find a way out. I kicked out my taped legs trying to figure out any way I could escape.
Whoever it was must have pulled off onto a dirt road because the car started getting really bumpy jostling me around. I hit my head on something hard and metallic sounding. My cry of pain was muffled by the duct tape covering my mouth.<
br />
When the car stopped abruptly, I tried to brace myself but it was no use and I hit the back of what I was beginning to believe was the trunk. The engine cut off, and I was surprised by the silence that followed. In Vegas it was never quiet. There was always traffic noise or the sounds of sirens to lull me to sleep at night. The silence there was so complete it was as if there wasn’t a soul around for miles. There probably wasn’t. Shit. How was I gonna get myself out of this one?
A burst of light widened my eyes, but I still couldn’t see anything through the black pillowcase that had been thrown over my head. There was a grunt and I could feel my body jostle as someone picked me up and carried me. I didn’t know where I was or who had kidnapped me until I felt the lumpy mattress under me and the bag ripped from my head.
“Welcome home, Catherine.” I widened my eyes and shook my head. It can’t be. How could it be him?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Pete
A text message? She sent me a weak ass text message?
I figured if she was going to call me in the middle of the night to rip my heart from my chest, she should have at least had the decency to do it to my face. That was what I kept saying in my head as I drove to her apartment only an hour after she’d left my place. The scene before me hadn’t been what I’d been expecting when I pulled into the parking lot.
I barely had the car turned off before I ran without even closing the door to Brandy’s smashed in apartment door. There was police tape blocking off a perimeter and I tried to bust through but was pushed back by a uniformed officer. “This is a crime scene, sir.”
“That’s my girlfriend’s apartment.” I didn’t mention the break up text I’d received. That was when it hit me. She hadn’t sent the text. “Where is she?”
“Brandy Daniels wasn’t here when we arrived. A neighbor said he saw someone drag her from the apartment. He tried to catch them but by the time he was outside they were driving away. There was no license plate on the vehicle.”
Addicted (Sin City Gym Book 2) Page 11