by Jayne Blue
I steered the conversation away from me and asked her about all the mundane things she liked to talk about. Bette Davis was her favorite. In the space of five minutes, she described the entire plot of the movie she was watching and explained how Bette would have made a better Scarlett O’Hara than Vivian Leigh. Smiling, I agreed rather than arguing.
“Are you okay, Veronica?” she finally asked. I smiled, giving her credit for making it this long without asking. But, there was something different about the way she said it. Her voice grew choked as if she were holding back tears.
“Aunt Marie? Are you okay? You sound like you’re crying.”
“I just miss you is all.”
I told her I loved her but that I had to go. Aunt Marie already knew that though. She knew the drill. I’d call her again when I could, but we both knew that might be weeks from now. We said goodbye as the music swelled for the credits of whatever movie she had on. After I had clicked off, I held the phone to my breast. Then, I walked further out into the surf.
I cocked my arm back, preparing to throw the phone into the sea. But, it vibrated in my hand, startling me so badly, the next wave almost knocked me down. Rusty started barking behind me.
I clutched the phone, looking at the screen. I didn’t recognize the number, it wasn’t Marie’s. Fear carved a hollow space in my chest as I brought it to my ear and clicked the answer button.
“You’re getting sloppy, Veronica.”
I stumbled backward, losing my footing I landed in the sand. Rusty ran circles around me as I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t breathe.
“Cat got your tongue?” Caleb laughed in my ear.
No. It wasn’t possible. This couldn’t be happening.
“Where are you?” I said, but my voice didn’t sound like my own.
“Aunt Marie. Sweet lady. You never told me about her. Did you think I wouldn’t be smart enough to figure it out? We had a nice little chat the other day. She’s really old-fashioned, right down to the landline she won’t give up. That made things pretty easy for me, you know. I had a feeling you weren’t smart enough to break all contact with her.”
I dug my fingers into the sand. God, he must have tapped her phones. He’d have the means to do it too. “It doesn’t matter, Caleb. I’m gone. I know you can’t find me.”
The phone vibrated in against my ear. I pulled it away. He’d sent a picture text while we were talking. Oh, God. He was standing somewhere across the street from Aunt Marie’s house. He’d snapped a photo of her through the window as she sat on her couch watching television. It was close enough that I could see Bette Davis on the screen. He was there right now.
“Caleb!”
“I figured that would get your attention.”
“Don’t,” I said. “For the love of God, don’t hurt her. She isn’t part of this. Caleb, she doesn’t know anything.”
“She knows you, baby. That’s all she needs to know.”
“She doesn’t know where I am, Caleb.”
He laughed. “It doesn’t matter, Veronica. It just matters that now you know where I am, or where I could be.”
“What do you want?”
“You back where you belong. That’s all, baby. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Caleb, it’s over. Just go, okay? You won.”
“That’s right. I always win. Do you remember what I told you? Now, if you want to keep having these charming little conversations with your daft aunt, you’ll tell me where you are and we’ll put an end to all of this craziness. You’ve had your adventure. It’s time to come home.”
“Thea!” King’s voice behind me made me jump. I covered the phone hoping to God Caleb hadn’t heard. King stood on the balcony watching. Rusty’s deep bark drowned out all other sound as he ran back toward his master.
“Keep in touch, Veronica,” Caleb hissed in my ear. “I expect a call from you in twelve hours at this number, or you can expect to see a very different picture of your aunt the next time I text.”
Before I could answer, Caleb hung up and King came down the steps.
Chapter Thirteen
King
I swore I thought I heard her scream. Rusty’s urgent bark drew me out to the balcony. She turned to face me, the moonlight shining in her eyes. She looked pale and scared and I went to her.
“Baby? Is everything okay?”
Thea pasted on a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She came to me, throwing her arms around my shoulders. I put my hands on her upper arms and gently pulled her away.
“Thea, you’re shivering. Did something happen?”
“No. It’s just...I couldn’t sleep and I thought I’d come out here to get some air.”
She looked away, hiding her face from me. Something was very definitely wrong, but I wasn’t getting anything out of her.
“Come on,” I said. “I don’t want you walking around out here alone.”
“I’m not alone. Rusty came.”
I wanted to tell her how glad I was of that. Without Rusty making a racket, I wouldn’t have heard her out here. Nobody really came down this stretch of beach, but if tonight was the night someone did it was so damn dark and the ocean could sweep her away forever. A chill ran through me as I pulled Thea close. She’d been so jumpy ever since I brought up the vacant shop on the boardwalk. I was kicking myself for springing it on her so soon. She wasn’t ready. The last thing I’d wanted to do was spook her, but it appeared that’s exactly what I’d done.
“It’s late, baby,” I said. “It’s after two in the morning. Let’s go back inside.”
Thea wrapped her arms around my waist. God, she was still trembling so badly. It took everything in me not to swoop her off her feet. She took my hand and walked with me up the wooden steps to the balcony. I wanted to ask her a thousand questions, but decided the safest play was to simply hold her close and let her feel safe as she finally drifted off to sleep.
We slept in. I woke first, leaving Thea in a tangle of blankets as I padded to the kitchen to make some eggs and toast. A text from Shakes came in. There was something going on at the Den he wanted to talk to me about.
“Can it wait until this evening?” I wanted to explain my answer. I didn’t feel right about leaving Thea. The last time we took a leap forward, she packed her Honda and tried to disappear. I had a strange feeling she was thinking about doing it again.
Shakes waited a full minute before texting back. His answer didn’t make me feel any better. “You’d better come within the hour, King. Nash is waiting.”
Well, shit. This was a club meeting. I had no idea what new business we had to discuss as a group. I texted him back that I’d be there and tried to figure out what to do about Thea.
She came down the hallway yawning. Her hair was an adorable mess and she wore one of my old t-shirts. It just covered her ass and the urge to reach under there and draw her focus to something carnal burned strong through me.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long,” she said, rubbing her eyes. She took a seat on a barstool at my kitchen counter and I slid a plate of eggs and toast under her nose. Her eyes lit up and she leaned over to kiss me.
“You okay?” I asked. “And do you wanna clue me in to what happened last night?”
Thea’s eyes grew dark and she hesitated with her fork before stabbing it into the eggs. “I’m fine, King. Promise. Just feeling a little homesick. It’s nothing a busy day won’t cure.”
“Homesick?”
She froze mid-chew. “Oh. Babe, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean because of you or this place. Shit, I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing to say.”
Sighing, I leaned over the counter and took her hands in mine. “Baby, I’ve gotta head to the Den in a little bit. It’s club business and it hopefully won’t take long. When I get back, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go. Will you wait for me?”
I locked eyes with her. It was a challenge and she understood it. If she lied to me, I’d know it. She touch
ed my cheek and smiled.
“I’ll be here. Promise. Go do your club thing then hurry back. I have two more estate sales I want to hit. I know you’re getting sick of them and these will be the last of it for a while.”
I turned her hand and kissed her palm. I loved the way I could get gooseflesh to rise all over her arm with just the feather of a kiss. There were so many other things I loved about the way her body responded to mine. I’d have given anything to just carry her back to bed and spend the day there with her. There would be time for that later, though. Thea’s eyes were earnest when she answered me and I knew in my heart that she’d stay.
I got to the club about an hour later. When I walked inside, Liza wasn’t there to greet me like she normally did. I gave a nod to Diane, Liza’s new hostess hire. She blushed and waved at me. Diane was young, nubile, and looking to score with one of the members. It remained to be seen whether that would cause a problem. Nash didn’t like it when the crew banged any of our employees. It never ended well. Shakes and Liza were great together, but if one of them grew tired of the other, I wasn’t looking forward to the fallout.
I headed to the back room. When I opened the door, Nash and Shakes were standing over Liza’s shoulder. She was sitting at the conference table with her laptop pulled up. Whatever she had pulled up on the screen, Nash and Shakes scowled as they stared at it.
Nash cleared his throat and straightened when he saw me walk in. He gave Shakes a light punch and he looked guilty as shit when he met my eyes. Liza quickly punched a key on her laptop and scrambled out of the chair.
“I’ll leave you boys to it,” she said, smiling at me.
“No,” Nash said. “Liza, you should stay for this. King’s going to have questions you’ll have to answer.”
My heart dropped out of my chest, leaving a hollow chill in its wake. I didn’t like the looks the three of them gave me.
“What the fuck’s going on?” I asked. “Where’s everybody else? I thought this was a club meeting.”
“No,” Nash said. “It’s just us. Where’s Thea?”
I wasn’t expecting the question and it got my back up. “She stayed back at my place. We’re meeting up later.”
Nash nodded. “Have a seat, King. Some shit’s happened that concerns you.”
“I think maybe I’ll stand.” I crossed my arms in front of me.
“Fine,” Nash said. He walked around Liza and took a seat himself. He knocked his knuckles against the tabletop and kept his gaze locked with mine. “Look, we’ll get right to it. Liza brought something to me that you need to know about. Before you lose your shit, I want you to hear her out then hear me out. We clear?”
I changed my mind and took a seat across from him. Steepling my fingers beneath my chin, I gave him a curt nod. Nash threw a look to Liza. Her eyes darted from Nash to me and back again. She managed a weak smile and turned her laptop around. She had a video pulled up. In blurry freeze frame, I couldn’t make out what it was.
“King,” she started. “You know I’m really good with faces. I told you your girl Thea looked familiar to me. I finally figured out why.”
“Yeah?” The pit in my stomach spread. It got hard to breathe.
“I almost didn’t pinpoint it,” she said. “She’s changed some things. Her hair’s darker. She dresses differently, but, I mean, that part makes sense. She would probably have had a stylist or something helping her out. Now, she’s just wearing her normal clothes. You know, that might even explain the hair too, but not the name...it’s just…”
“Liza!” Nash and I shouted at her in unison. Shakes reached across the table and took her hand.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.
“Right,” Liza cleared her throat. “I should have figured it out right away when she started giving me her design ideas. They’re really good, by the way. No matter what happens, I’m going to vote for implementing them.”
“No matter what happens? What’s going to happen, Liza?”
She folded her hands in front of her and rested them on the table. “King, Thea Clark isn’t that girl’s real name.”
I felt like I’d swallowed a jagged rock. My throat burned and the air in the room thickened. “You’re going to tell me you know her real name?”
“Yes. Actually, yes. King, about three years ago, there was this show on the HLC, the Home and Lifestyle Channel. I love that one. It’s mostly reality shows about home remodels, and pickers, sometimes cooking shows. Anyway, I was into this one show a couple of seasons ago where they had an interior design contest. You know with amateurs? Well, not amateurs. I mean, they were professionals, but unknown designers. Every week they’d have a design challenge and somebody got voted off. Anyway, she was on it.”
I reared back. “What do you mean? Thea was on a reality show?”
“She was. Only, she wasn’t going by Thea. Here. Let me show you.”
Liza clicked the play button on her laptop and slid it closer to me. As the video clip played, my insides shredded. It was Thea, all right. Her hair was platinum blonde and pulled back. She wore flattering makeup and high heels as she walked around an empty room and barked orders at a pair of female assistants. Words flashed on the screen identifying her as Veronica Rose from Rose Design in Cleveland, Ohio.
“That was my favorite episode,” Liza gushed. “She turned that bedroom into a model spaceship for this kid with terminal cancer who wanted to be an astronaut. It was magical. She won the challenge. King, she won the whole show!”
I couldn’t speak. I pulled Liza’s laptop closer and paused the video. Veronica Rose. Veronica. Not Thea. God, strange as it seemed, the name fit. It was her. My Thea. My Veronica.
“I don’t understand.” I hadn’t meant to say it out loud but I did. I closed the laptop and slid it back toward Liza.
“I don’t either,” Nash said. “King, this girl’s been lying to you the whole time. You telling me you had no idea about any of this?”
My need to protect Thea...Veronica...warred with my loyalty to Nash and the club. “No,” I finally said. “I didn’t.”
“I’m sorry, brutha,” Shakes said. Liza looked flat-out miserable. I could appreciate how difficult it was for her to tell me all of this. At the same time, I cursed her and her fucking good memory for faces.
“What difference does it make?” I said. “She’s a designer. We already knew that. So, she didn’t tell me she had a gig on TV. So what? She’s still no threat to us.”
“Probably not,” Nash agreed. “But, you need to figure out what or who she’s running from so we can be sure.”
“King,” Liza said. “I said she won the whole show. It’s a big deal. The prize was her getting her own show and a million dollar contract with HLC. I did some more digging online because I don’t ever remember the Veronica Rose show being a thing after that. I found a press statement from the network a few months later. It said she declined the offer for personal reasons. Then, I googled her shop in Cleveland. They closed their doors two years ago. There were some online commenters who were pretty shocked and pissed about it. They said she just dropped off the face of the earth.”
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. She dropped off the face of the earth. My God. My poor, sweet Thea. What in God’s name had happened to her to make her do it?
“That’s a hell of a lot to walk away from,” Shakes said. “What would make a person throw their whole life away like that?”
“King, you’ve got to talk to her,” Nash said. “I fucking hate getting into your business like this. And we like her. Thea...Veronica...whatever...she seems like a great girl. If she’s in trouble and we know the truth, maybe the club can do something for her. But, she’s gotta be straight with you. You know that.”
“Yeah. I fucking know that.” I hated that my voice sounded so flat and bitter.
“King.”
I put up a hand. “Don’t. I don’t wanna fucking talk about this anymore. I need to go.”
&nbs
p; “Yeah,” Nash said. “Yeah.”
Rising, I slammed my chair against the table and walked out. I knew I was being somewhat of a dick to Liza. I could mend that fence later; for now, I just needed to ride.
I took the curves on the coastal highway dangerously fast. It suited me. Hot wind blew against my face and made my teeth rattle. I roared into it, letting my voice rip from my lungs.
Thea. Veronica.
There had to be a reason. None of this made sense. Except, I’d known. Since the second I met her I’d known. She flinched when she told me her name. That first night when I went to her house and nearly fucked her, her tears came when I called her Thea. Why? Why the fuck hadn’t she trusted me with the truth?
I pulled into the driveway. My heart thundered in my chest as I took the porch steps two at a time and threw open the door. The house seemed strangely quiet and I gripped the doorknob. I opened my mouth to call out to her but realized I didn’t know what to say.
I heard movement in the bedroom and went there. Rusty tumbled out the doorway and put his paws on my chest. Gently, I pushed him aside.
She sat on the bed with her back straight and her hands folded in her lap. Beside her, she’d packed a suitcase.
Swallowing hard, I leaned against the doorframe. “Were you planning on just disappearing? Did I ruin your plans?”
Her shoulders dropped and pain lined her face. “King. No. God. No. I wanted to wait for you. I promised you this morning.”
Time seemed to stop. I looked at Thea with new eyes. The rage and shock I’d felt at her betrayal seemed to wash out like the tide as she sat there before me. She wasn’t the same woman I saw in that video on Liza’s computer. That woman seemed to have the world at her feet. This woman had only herself.
And me.
She raised her eyes and looked at me. Understanding seemed to dawn on her and a single tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly.
“I have to tell you something,” she said. A little of the rage I’d felt flickered inside of me and it colored the next thing I said.