After eating so late in the morning, we worked through lunch, and well into the afternoon. As the sun began to drift along the horizon, I knew it was near time to call it quits. I finished the section I had been struggling with, a new design for a shipping company. I was unable to really figure out how to glamorize brown for anything except hot fudge. I shut off my computer and secured the passcodes, an extra measure Austin had insisted on. Given his profession, I shouldn’t have been so surprised.
As I placed my purse on my shoulder, I could hear voices coming from Austin’s office. Peering around the door, the back of a dark haired girl blocked my view. The conversation was heated as the volume of the voices began to rise. Fearing this was an unhappy client, I walked into the room.
“You’re serious.” Austin’s face was ashen, as if he’d had just witnessed something horrible.
“Completely.”
I walked around to make my presence known, revealing more of the dark haired girl as I progressed. I had to admit she was beautiful, definitely runway model material. From the back she was quite slender, but as I grew closer, her profile revealed a slight bulge on her lower belly.
“Mr. Morgan, is everything okay?” I glanced back and forth between the pair. Austin seemed to be in some sort of trance or perhaps shock. I had insisted from the beginning that we keep the office a professional arena, calling him Mr. Morgan when clients were visible.
Austin seemed frozen in time, and unresponsive to my question. Had he not been standing with his eyes open, I would have dialed 911.
“I’m sorry, we haven’t been introduced.” I attempted to get somewhere with the dark haired girl. She turned her green eyes in my direction, her pure, exotic beauty making me take notice. Slowly, a small smile took shape on her well-defined lips, revealing white teeth, which nearly glowed in the light against her tan skin.
“No, we haven’t. I’m Keena Marshall, Austin’s girlfriend.” Her elegant fingers extended in my direction. Her voice sounding high pitched enough, I wondered if dogs barked when they were around her. “I’ve been trying to reach him all day.’ Her smile held a secret, one she couldn’t wait to share. “We have reason to celebrate.” She turned to me, since Austin was still in a holding pattern.
“Oh?” I quirked an eyebrow at her, hoping Austin would come to the present soon.
“Austin is going to be a daddy.” She said excitedly. Her voice going up an octave, her eyes bright, and her hand resting on that bump. This tiny, beautiful woman, who barely came to my chin, had just delivered the words, which knocked the breath out of my lungs.
“I was just telling him the good news, and as you can see, he is so happy he can’t even speak.” She closed the distance between them and placed her hand on his chest; on my chest, the place where my forehead rested as he’d finished his last orgasm last night. The chest he pulled me into when I finally walked across the area by the library. And the chest, which supplied the breath he used to tell me, he loved me.
“Wow, congratulations. I didn’t r--realize he was seeing anybody.”
When I was thirteen, I had found this little stream not far from the trailer park. With the summer so hot and no air-conditioning in the house, we had to find other ways to cool off. I’d spend hours sitting on the sandstones, letting the water rush by, taking the heat with it. My secret hiding place didn’t stay secret for long, and neither did the lack of parental supervision. Tilly Eaton, Mark Eaton’s momma, found out the stream was there. She came looking for him one afternoon, and found him about to slip out of his socks and shoes to wade out like the rest of us. “Marcus Franklin Eaton, don’t you dare step into that water, you will slip and cut your foot wide open!”
Since my momma was nowhere to be found, I ignored her, and continued on placing one foot at a time into the cool water. She tried to tell me to stop, threatened to tell on me, but I was determined. Deciding the threat wasn’t real, I took one more step onto the sandy stone, when my foot landed on the moss growing between the stones. My foot slipped causing me to lose my balance, but not before slamming my big toe into a jagged rock, slicing it clear to the center of my toenail. I knew Tilly was still behind me, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of being right about getting cut in the water.
“You comin’, Lainie Faith?”
I swallowed hard, and bit back the scream, which wanted to see the light of day so bad. “Yes, Ma’am, just watching this snake go to the other side.” I’d seen Tilly nearly climb a wall when a garden snake got in her flowerbed. She didn’t disappoint me then either, as she snatched Mark by the back of his head, and ran out of the woods. I never cried as I wrapped my foot up. No one ever knew what happened that day. It was the most pain I have ever had in my entire life, until now.
“It’s been hard, with me in New York, and him hidden away here in the sticks. But, we’re together now, and with this little one coming.” Her eyes locked on his, touching his face with her perfect, runway hand.
“New York? Wow, you’re a long way from home.” I torted, pain growing in my chest. I felt like I was being held underwater, restrained from rising to the surface.
“Was my home,” she circled her arms around his neck, the place I found sanctuary. “I’m living here now, with Austin.”
Keena’s words ran on repeat for the next hour. I assumed Austin came back to the land of the living, since he’d called me about fifteen times, all of which I have ignored. I finally turned off my phone to silence the reminder.
I couldn’t bring myself to drive. So I called for a taxi as I exited the elevator, not trusting mine, or anyone else’s, safety. The thought of going home, to a place, which should have given me comfort, only reminded me of him, something I didn’t want to think about.
Instead, I had the taxi drop me at the nearest bar. After I’d ordered a glass of wine, I took a seat in the corner. Suits of various shades of gray and black slowly migrated in, trying to rid themselves of the agony the day brought them. What I wouldn’t give to trade them my pain for their obvious boredom.
“You know the alcohol only works if you drink it.”
I slowly looked up from my glass of untouched crimson liquid to the overly made up face of the bartender. “Uh oh, I know that look. Child or husband?”
Holding on desperately to the last ounce of reserve I had. “Both,” I whispered, my voice cracking with the escaping emotions. “Just not mine.”
When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching-- they are your family.
~ Jim Butcher
“This is bullshit!”
Momma had grown sick of the rift between her children. When the first tear rolled down her cheek, Daddy called a meeting. Last time this happened, Chase and Dylan were chasing after the same girl. She didn’t care for either one of them, and when they wouldn’t take a hint, her daddy got involved.
“Did you do a background check on Claire and Lainie?”
“Yes.” Dylan and I spoke unanimously.
Hearing her name made my soul hurt. I’d never experienced shock before, watching the world pass by you, and having no ability to join in. I didn’t have to guess as to why she wasn’t taking my calls, having had to watch Keena spread her lies like soft butter on warm bread. Momma told me to give her a minute to get over the sting of it all. I had called her as soon as my brain kicked back in, begging her to come and take Keena to a hotel for the night. Momma being well…Momma, refused to have her possible grandbaby anywhere except at home.
“Austin, I’ll keep an eye on her, make sure this is all real.” None of us boys had ever given her reason to worry about a baby coming. We’d known from the time our dicks got hard how to put a condom on.
“This is unbelievable!” Chase pulled at his still short hair, his body shaking with anger. “Dylan gets his first girlfriend, and she is welcomed into the family with open fucking arms. Austin changes jobs and now he thinks he can hunt down the fucking Taliban.” Chase’s face was red with fury, this however d
idn’t faze our daddy, as he sat on the same bale of hay, as his son’s voice rose in defense.
“And because I have a girlfriend, who is hot as fuck, everyone is jealous and trying to break us the fuck up!”
“Is that what you think? That I’m jealous?” Dylan was immediately on his feet, slamming into Chase with his chest, their fury filling the barn. “While your ‘hot as fuck’ girl is showing off her tits on a pole, my girlfriend is saving fucking lives.” Chase attempted to shove him away, but Dylan wouldn’t be swayed.
“I went there, Dylan.” He shoved his finger in Dylan’s face, pistoling his arm back and forth, as he spoke each word. “I asked her about it and I went there, nobody knew anyone named Harmony. She said she didn’t work there, and I checked!” Something changed in Chase’s voice. His pitch rose, as if he was still wading his way through puberty, but it was more than that. He knew we would never lie about something like this, not something as simple as a girl.
“Then where is she?”
When we left the pawnshop Dylan told me he knew Largo would run his mouth to her. “He’s going to call her and tell her we’re looking for her. But you know what?” He shook his head and wore the same smile he did after he won something. “She planned for us to find this. She wanted to give us a new trail to follow.”
He had been right. Chase called later that evening, telling him Harmony had phoned in a panic, sayin’ she had to leave town because her sister had to have an emergency C-section.
“I told you, she’s with her sister, helpin’ have her baby.”
“Sure she is. And when that excuse expires, where will she be then, huh?” Chase hadn’t spoken to me since I’d first confronted him about her. He had done everything he could to avoid talking with me, even choosing to work nights in the bike shop.
“Explain the photos and the videos. Are those all her sister, too?” Rage bubbled up like a volcano inside of me. Being away from Lainie, if only for a short time, was eating at me, killing me slowly. As was having the woman whom I’d placed in my past, currently fighting to get back into my bed.
“What? You think I’m going to believe a few grainy photos, and a video taken in a place where I know she has never been?”
“And what about the pawn shop? How do you explain that?” I was grasping at straws, anything to make him see this was all connected.
“Really, Austin? You want me to believe a story, told to you by a career criminal?” He laughed as he shook his head. “How many times have you arrested him, Dylan? And you honestly think this guy is credible?” His question rhetorical, considering he’d made perfect sense, his point was valid.
“Listen, I gave you guys my word, and no matter what I won’t go back on that. But I draw the line on Harmony. I love her, and as soon as she gets back from her sisters, I plan to ask her to marry me.”
“Are you serious?” I shouted, Dylan shoved me back as I advanced toward him.
“Absolutely, and she won’t have to be pregnant in order for me to do it.” Rage clouded my vision, as I pushed Dylan out of my way, and tackled Chase to the hardwood floor. He had no room to say anything about Lainie and I like that. Keena claimed she was carrying my child, but a DNA test would be performed before she saw a single dime. The timeline was slight, but it was still possible. Keena and I had sex the week before I found out she’d cheated on me.
Punches came automatically, and my knuckles cried out, as I hit his face and occasionally the floor, over and over. Chase got in a few good ones, before we were pulled apart.
Both of us stood there, bloody faced, chests heaving, and clothes torn. Historically, this is where the fight would end; we’d hug it out, and then go get a beer or watch a game. Not this time, more than age had passed between us. An invisible line had been drawn. While Chase would never back down from defending his girl, I would never stop trying to protect my brother.
“Tell me somethin’, Austin,” he started, as he wiped the blood from his swelling lip. “If Harmony is this thieving person, why hasn’t she stolen anything from the bike shop?” He avoided looking back at me, as he examined the blood staining his white t-shirt. “Hell, I’ve taken her there a couple of times and never heard word one about something being stolen out of there. And let’s face it, the shit we have there is a hell of a lot easier to pinch than your little toys.”
In the end Chase agreed to come around the house to visit Momma. Daddy reminded him she hadn’t chosen sides, and didn’t deserve the avoidance she was receiving. We agreed to be civil when we were around her, and not have a repeat of today’s battle.
After he left, the three of us set on hay bails, quiet as church mice, as we drank the cold beer Daddy had waiting. “I’m sorry I lost my cool there, but he hit the right button when he touched on Lainie.”
Daddy reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “Have you heard from her son?”
I shook my head. My attention on the straws of hay, which littered the floor. My boots were covered in the dust that always seemed to fall from the large bails. “No, and I don’t know how much longer I can stay away.” Daddy nodded his head, and then did what he’d always done, he told us about a time when he was younger, just like Granddaddy did when he was alive.
“When I was about to head to Law School, I met this young lady who turned my world upside down. She had the reddest hair I’d ever seen, and legs which went on for days.” His smile took shape, his eyes off in the distance, through the open barn door and past the rain, which had begun to fall. “I wanted to bring her home to meet your Nana and Papaw, but she was worried they wouldn’t like her.”
We never had the opportunity to meet Papaw, he’d died in his sleep the summer Daddy went to school. Nana lived about two years after that, dying from a routine surgery to check for colon cancer.
“Your Uncle Cecil and I argued over her. He said she was running around with a boy in the next county, and I told him he was a liar. Well, we fought just like you and Chase did, busted each other up real good.” He was silent for a while, that smile growing incredibly larger.
“And?” Dylan demanded, smacking the back of his hand against Daddy’s shoulder.
“Oh, sorry.” He laughed, caught up in his memory. “Well, we were supposed to meet at this fair going on in Beaumont County. But your Papaw had to deliver a calf in Crescent Ridge, and needed my help. Now remember, this was back in the day when cell phones weren’t as common as they are today. Anyway, I went with him to the delivery, and on the way back we stopped at this bar and grill for a bite to eat. We walked in, sat down at a table in the back, and when I looked up, imagine what I saw” He looked from Dylan, and then to me.
“My little redhead, sittin’ on the lap of this other guy, his arms around her, while her tongue was clear down his throat. Years later, I recalled the story with your Granddaddy, he knew the girl straight off. The guy, the one whose lap she was sittin’ on, was no regular guy, he was her husband. She was looking to trade up, exchange him for me, and the chance to live a little better. Now, when I asked Cecil about it, he tried to tell me he had told me about her being married, but I swear to God, I never heard that part.” He shook his head, as he laughed at the end.
“So, what you’re sayin’ is, until Chase sees Harmony doing something wrong, he won’t believe anything we have to say.”
“That’s exactly what I’m sayin.”
“So what do we do? Just let her rob him blind?” Dylan worried, rising to his feet.
“Austin, can’t you place any security blocks on his bank accounts? Cancel his cards or something?” Daddy was on to something. I could cancel all the cards issued to her, making it near impossible for her to get any money.
“Of course, and since he said she has been to the shop, you better change the security code. We don’t need her breaking in now that she has an alibi.” Both Dylan and Daddy stopped in their tracks; a sinister grin taking hold of Dylan’s face.
“No, I don’t think I will.” He held out his clenched fist, his s
mile multiplying, as I met his fist bump. A silent agreement to let her think her plan was working.
“Honestly, I don’t think you have to worry about her using the credit cards or visiting an ATM.”
“Good point,” I agreed, though I would still create a safety net, as soon as I got to the office.
“Purchases can be tracked and, if what we suspect is about to go down, the last thing Virginia Greyson wants is to be located.” I was sick of calling her by her alias, this twisted bitch can call herself whatever she wants, but I’m calling her out.
“If you freeze the accounts, and she attempts to use them, can it be tracked?” Daddy presented an interesting question, one that would work to our advantage.
“I can set up an alert, and a limit. Let her think she can access the account, like those identity theft people who charge a dollar to see if the account is active. When she does try to use any of the cards, I’ll have her location, and more importantly her walls down.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” he hesitated long enough to look at me with concern. I suspected what was coming, questions I wasn’t ready to face. “Is it true, about this baby Keena is carrying?”
I could see the disappointment in his eyes. The plans of a proper courtship, a momentous proposal, and wedding to mark the ages, disappearing with that one word…baby. Then after a respectful passage of time, children to carry on the Morgan name. In his mind, I had stepped out of turn. Regardless of what society held as the norm, Morgan men were raised different.
“If you’re asking me if we had sex during the time when she could have conceived this baby, then the answer is yes. If you are asking if I think this baby is mine, then the answer is, I don’t know.”
“You will do right by her.” Dean Morgan was a powerful man with ties in many circles, both above and below the law. Growing up, he was the man I based nearly everything off of; how I walked, spoke, and even the kind of girl I went after. I could count on one hand the number of times he’d had to seriously discipline me, setting me back on the straight and narrow. He used actions, not just words, to show us the way men carried themselves. But in those few times, the handful of events when I crossed a line, which was clearly drawn in the sand, I paid the consequences for, and learned what was expected of me.
Absolute Corruption: Southern Justice Trilogy Page 19