There was fire in her eyes as she looked up at him. “You think I’m so weak that I’d cave in to that?”
“Not intentionally, and I know you believe you’re stronger than that, but with both of them there in your face, saying the things they know to say to you to resurrect all the guilt and have you back under their thumb again, you will cave. Even if you don’t, they’ll have taken something else from you that they don’t have a right to.” He took her in and could see the sheen of tears that filled her eyes as she wouldn’t look at him, so he stepped closer, sliding his hand under her chin and lifting her head so she had to look at him, and he said, “So that’s why I’m going with you.”
26
Her father lived in Los Angeles, and her sister lived in Lake Arrowhead, a resort community outside the city. Aaron was driving a pickup he’d rented. Their flight had been shorter than expected, or maybe she was anticipating the impending scene she had known would be coming ever since Aaron had decided he was coming with her only two days earlier. He didn’t believe in waiting.
She took in the small resort town and the store owned by Harry, her brother-in-law. She could see him through the front glass, talking with a customer and smiling from behind the cash register as the midday sun shone bright.
“Cute place,” Aaron said, which was the only thing he’d said since leaving LA.
“It’s busy at times. Turn left up here. The house is white with blue trim.” She pointed to it where it sat on a half acre, with big trees, green grass, and a small white Toyota, her sister’s car, parked in the driveway.
Aaron pulled in behind the car and was out of the truck before she could unbuckle her belt. He looked imposing and dangerous even though he had cleaned up nicely and was wearing blue jeans and a snug faded green shirt. By the way he walked around the truck to her side, watching, studying, taking in the scene, she knew he was assessing the entire situation. She opened her door, and his hand was there on the frame, holding it. He was looking to the side as if she needed someone watching her. It was an odd feeling, and she wasn’t sure what to make of it.
She heard the front door open and saw Susan, her dark hair short and wavy. She was wearing a jean skirt and a simple yellow T-shirt and was just watching her.
Aaron had his hand on her hip and then her waist as he closed her door. She moved around the front of the truck, and Aaron was behind her, shades on, not a stitch of emotion showing on his face.
“Susan…” she started and looked up at Aaron, who touched her back. He was chewing gum, and she thought it was more for effect or to steady his nerves.
“I talked with Dad, Mary,” Susan said.
“Brittany. You can stop calling me Mary. I told you already. I’ve hid long enough, and finding myself again…” Aaron had his hand around her waist and was pressed against her. “Aaron is going to help me pack up my things to ship out east.” She heard a car and looked over to see Harry step out of his older Jeep. He shut the door and stalked across the grass. “Hi, Harry. Susan call you?”
He didn’t say anything as he took in Aaron standing so close to her and then looked over to Susan, who was still standing in the doorway, blocking it as if she needed to keep them out.
“I called my husband as soon as I saw you brought…” Susan was gesturing toward Aaron, and she sounded cruel, as if speaking Aaron’s name was something she couldn’t fathom.
“Aaron McCabe,” Brittany said. “Harry, this is Aaron. Look, Susan, as I told you on the phone, what you and Dad did was wrong, letting me believe that Aaron had moved on when nothing could be further from the truth, then enabling me to hide out in the shadows.”
Susan crossed her arms, and Brittany heard Aaron breathe behind her. She could hear his frustration and felt his fingers dig into her side. He was holding her tight, and she had to slide her hand over his to get him to ease up. She didn’t know why, but just the touch settled him and her.
“So you want to pack up your things?” Harry said. His expression was off, and he gestured toward Susan and shook his head as if they’d discussed something. She didn’t like it. “Let’s go,” he said as if he were now in charge of walking her around the house to the cottage, making her feel as if she wasn’t welcome.
“Did you change the locks? Is that what this is about?” she asked as they started walking. She took Aaron’s hand. The grass needed to be mowed, and she took in the darkened cottage that had been her refuge for so long.
“Look, this thing between you and your sister is getting out of hand. You need to make things right with her, and I’m not comfortable being in the middle of it,” Harry said. He pulled a key from his pocket. Yup, it was shiny, new.
“Shit,” she said, looking to Aaron, who pulled off his shades, giving her all his attention. “I guess I have my answer—new key, locks were changed.”
Aaron frowned as Harry opened the door and stepped inside her cottage. She noted her bed had been stripped. There were boxes filled with her things, and her closet doors were open, with only empty hangers left. “Guess someone saved me a lot of work.” She glared at Harry, and his entire expression was distant.
“Look, I’ve told you to make it right with Susan. She’s hurt and was trying to protect you. I may not agree with her reaction, but she’s your sister. Whatever her reasons for doing what she did, it could only be because she cares for you.” He glanced over to Aaron, and she wondered whether he was worried by the way he was taking him in. Aaron said nothing as he took in the tiny room, the double bed, the cuddler chair in the corner, the small TV, her desk and art stand.
“Everything go?” Aaron ran his hand over a stack of boxes already stuffed and taped.
“All the boxes. The art stand, too…”
Harry was shaking his head. “No, Susan paid for that. Sorry, it stays.”
“Fine.” She couldn’t believe how petty her sister and Harry were. “Just the boxes.” She took in Aaron and the intensity that burned back at her. She knew he was angry for her, but it didn’t help right now.
“Brittany.”
She jumped and took in her dad. He had sandy hair mixed with gray. He was tanned, broad shouldered, and two inches shorter than Aaron. His expression was one she didn’t like, one that told her this wasn’t going to be a chat that would settle anything.
“Dad” was all she could say as her father stepped into the cottage. “This is becoming awkward. Not sure I appreciate this from you and Susan. I’m getting it, though. Locks changed, things packed up for me, being told I can take only what I paid for. Maybe if we’d waited an hour or two, everything would have been dumped to the curb. I get it.” She couldn’t believe how her throat ached, saying it. Worse, she couldn’t believe her sister could be so vindictive.
“You know what?” Harry said. “I’m going to get back to the shop. You guys work this out.” He stopped beside her father. “Jeff” was all he said, and she wasn’t sure what passed between them. Then Harry took in Aaron, who had said nothing to him or anyone but was studying him as if they would face each other in the ring.
Then Harry left, and her dad did a slow take of the room as if looking for something before his gaze settled on Aaron. Whatever passed between them had Brittany taking a step and then another until she’d put herself directly between them, because right now what she feared more than anything was that two men she loved very much would kill each other to keep her from the other.
27
“Aaron,” Brittany’s father said to him, and he recognized the look: It was the one fathers gave boys who had ideas about their daughters. It was one that said, “I’ll kill you if you lay a hand on her.” Except the problem was that what Brittany’s father had done to her, to him, was unforgivable.
He nodded. He couldn’t say the man’s name. He stayed where he was, and Brittany had inserted herself between them. He reached over and touched her arm. She turned to him, and he saw all her hurt amplified. “You should go wait in the truck,” he said. “I want to have a word with your dad.”
“Can’t really believe you lied to your sister. You took off planning to see him and said you were going to an art gallery.”
“And I can’t believe you and Susan lied to me about Aaron. He never moved on. He was looking for me for how long, and if his brother hadn’t dragged him onto a plane, he’d have died in Thailand. You were wrong, Dad, about what you said, that Aaron didn’t care enough about me. I loved him. He was my everything. He is my everything. You knew that, and you just—”
“Oh, stop it,” her father snapped at her as if she were being ridiculous. It was demeaning. Jeff stepped into the room, and Aaron squeezed his fists as he leaned against a box, seeing how the man talked to his daughter. There was no respect there, but there was something else he wasn’t sure of.
“Brittany, go to the truck, please,” Aaron said. “This is something I need to work out with your dad.”
She turned to him, her eyes wide. He knew she was worried he’d hurt her dad, so he stepped in closer and slid his hand around the small of her back, pulling her to him. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss to her lips, letting it linger, deep and possessive, before breaking it. He could tell her father was uncomfortable now, and maybe that was his point. “Your dad will be fine,” he added.
Brittany stepped away and then stopped in front of her dad. A second passed, and then she left. He just stared at the open door through which she’d gone, and he took in the backyard, the trees, the beauty. He was now stuck in this cottage with a man who hated him and had made no secret of it.
“So is this where you tell me to stay away from my daughter?” Jeff said.
Aaron said nothing at first. He didn’t know what to say to a man who’d created a lie about him, had hated him, and he couldn’t understand why. “No. If you think Brittany can be told who she can and can’t see, then you don’t know her very well.”
“You probably want to know why I did it.” Jeff stepped into the room and over to the desk, then leaned back against it.
“She thought I was dead, and you knew I wasn’t,” Aaron said. “I reached out to you after I spoke with Susan. I knew you hated me. She told me I should have died in her place. I just never would have thought you’d hurt your own daughter because of your hate for me. When she found out I was alive, you spun another tale that I’d moved on, and then you beat her down some more until she lost her voice, until she was just a puppet you could manipulate to think the way you wanted her to think and behave the way you expected her to. What kind of monster are you?” Aaron crossed his arms, feeling unbelievably calm.
“You were never right for her. She should have moved on, found someone else. It was her mother who convinced me to let her go traveling with you. I should have followed my instincts and stood my ground and refused, and none of this would have happened. Her mother would still be alive, and she’d have met someone else.”
So this had always been about him not being good enough. Why did her father hate him so much? He looked to the door, knowing this was going nowhere, and he nodded. “Point taken, but let me make something clear: She hasn’t met someone else because she loves me, I love her, and even after all these years, all these lies, the deceit, and a family who schemed to keep us apart, you couldn’t make her forget me. You can’t and won’t drive a wedge between us, so your choices are to find a way to respect our relationship, or you won’t have a relationship with your daughter. You want her to choose? There isn’t a choice.” He lifted two boxes and started to the door.
“Aaron,” Jeff called out.
He stopped in the doorway and glanced back at a man he hated and didn’t know how to reconcile his feelings for. He said nothing.
“She’ll see you for who you really are, and she’ll realize her sister and I were right about you. You’re just a man who uses his fists to beat the hell out of people. There’s nothing stable about you. There never has been. And you’re wrong. Family matters. She’ll come back,” he said.
Aaron took him in. He couldn’t find one thing to like about him except for the fact that he was Brittany’s father, and it was only for that reason that instead of fighting, he turned, walked away to the truck, and started loading it up.
28
There were eight boxes, including the one with her art supplies, and Aaron had arranged for them to be shipped back to Greensboro. Her father hadn’t said another word. Susan, though, had been waiting at the truck with Harry and had added one final dig before Aaron reappeared with the last of the boxes. She had said their father would never forgive Brittany for taking up with the man responsible for killing their mother, and nor would she, and that she was choosing Aaron over her family.
Brittany had stared at her sister, realizing for the first time how twisted that sounded. She’d said not a word as she climbed into the truck and closed the door, tears welling in her eyes. She’d wiped them away and was still sniffing as Aaron climbed into the truck and backed out of the driveway. He hadn’t shared what had happened with her dad, and she hadn’t asked. She’d been stuck in an agony of having her heart shredded once again.
Aaron must have known, as he’d changed the subject, breaking into the chilling silence by asking if she felt up to a road trip. Now here they were just outside Vale, Oregon, close to the Nevada border, to stop in and visit his brother Chase.
“I don’t remember Chase,” Brittany said. “Which one is he, again?” She was hit with a flux of butterflies the closer they got. “I know Vic.” He was big, imposing, and scary, she believed, for anyone who crossed him, but he confused her with his empathy. “Luc is…” Emotional, she thought, and quiet, and she wasn’t sure what to make of him.
“Chase is the lawyer, once a congressman’s chief of staff. He fixes everything and can’t help shoving his nose in everyone’s business. He’s great, though. Adopting a teen who kind of got in a jam, Billy Jo.” She noted the fondness in his voice. “And there’s Rose, the woman he’s now involved with and living with. They’re making a life together. You’ll like Chase,” he said and then slowed the truck, turning off the highway down a side road.
She said nothing as she sat in the leather seat of the pickup, feeling drained and for the first time dreading spending time with anyone. She wanted—no, needed silence to just sort through every jumbled emotion that had pounded at her since pulling into her sister’s. She felt a hand rest on her arm, squeezing, rubbing, and she allowed Aaron to link his fingers with hers.
“It’s going to be okay, you know,” he said, and she wondered whether he really believed that or was just saying so. Again she said nothing as she stared straight ahead at the flat open desert and a house in the distance, Cape Cod style, with a car and pickup in front.
When Aaron pulled in, she saw a woman in shorts at the side of the house. She was slim, great figure, with long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail that swung high. She was pretty and wearing a toffee-colored tank top, work gloves, and boots. A man with the same light blond hair walked around the house, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with dirt. He was in worn jeans and a T-shirt. They were both looking over at them and smiling, and Aaron was out of the truck.
The man who had to be Chase was laughing as he walked over to Aaron. All she wanted to do was sit there and let them go off and leave her to her misery, but then she saw Aaron gesturing to her, and everyone was staring at her. It was awkward, so Brittany was forced to open the door and step out.
She lifted her hand. “Hello” was all that would come out, but then Aaron was there, holding her hand and pulling her to the very tall, extremely attractive Chase, who was grinning at her. It was warm and welcoming. She’d met him so long ago, of course.
“Brittany, it’s so good to see you. It�
�s kind of like miracles happen, hearing about your resurrection. Vic called, told me, and I know this guy here couldn’t be happier.” Chase slapped his hand around Aaron’s shoulder. She said nothing. She just couldn’t get her tongue to move, so she forced a smile. Then the attractive woman appeared at his side. “Rose, this is Brittany, Aaron’s girl—sorry, his young woman. Brittany, this is Rose.”
She could see how nervous the woman appeared as she held out her hand. “Great to meet you, Brittany. We’re in the middle of finishing touches on the house. Didn’t know you two were coming. Chase didn’t mention you were out this way,” she said to Aaron, shoving her work gloves in her back pocket.
“Hey, Aaron! Didn’t know you were coming,” a girl called out from the front steps. She had dirty brown shoulder-length hair and freckles, and she was scrawny, wearing blue shorts and a tank top. She ran barefoot in the dirt and jumped over a pile of wood beside a saw and table.
“Hey, kid, you look good. Thought I’d surprise you guys.” Aaron slid his arm around the teen’s shoulders and pulled her into a hug, then gave her a noogie, messing the top of her hair with his hand. She laughed, and everyone laughed and was talking and happy, but Brittany wanted to roll her eyes back in her head and sneak away.
She was pulled along with everyone around the side of the house to the back deck and was sat in a chair. A cold beer was placed in her hand, the barbecue was fired up, and she heard a chair scrape beside her as the teen, Billy Jo, leaned in, staring at her as if scrutinizing everything about her. Brittany didn’t know what to say or do, feeling as if she were suddenly cornered by a pit bull who’d rip her face off if she made one wrong move.
“So are you back for good with Aaron, or are you messing with him?” Billy Jo said.
Right to the fucking point, this kid was, and Brittany choked as the beer she’d just swallowed slipped down the wrong way. Everyone who had been talking moments ago just stared.
Don't Run From Me Page 11