The girls’ apartment is unlocked. The living area is dark, and so is the rest of the house. The only light is coming from the back, and it's pink. Gabe shuts the door, and I head toward the light. The door isn’t all the way shut. I take a breath, wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans, and I push it open. There in the middle of the bed, surrounded by paper and pencils, I find my broken girl. She's been crying, and her shirt has crawled up her thighs. She hasn't noticed me yet. I watch her work, and hope that she hasn’t totally checked out. I’d never forgive myself for abandoning her.
She’s so beautiful. Pale and small. She reminds me of my mom before the drugs. Strong beneath a fragile layer of glass. I just hope I haven’t shattered her.
She’s focused on a spot just over my head. I glance back at it and see a picture of me. It’s dark and brooding. It'll be only moments before she realizes that the real thing is standing right in front of her.
“Why are you here?” She startles me with the hollow drone of her words. I wasn’t expecting her to speak.
I step forward until the end of her bed presses against my thighs. “Gabe said that you needed me.”
“I don't need anyone.” Her eyes narrow into a vindictive glare. I didn’t know that my sweet Alice had it in her. “Least of all you.”
I sit on the edge of her bed and notice that she's drawn our bluffs. In some, there is a girl falling from the side, back facing the rocky ledge below, and her face is toward the paper. She's crying in the sketch, but Alice’s body has a girl's face—what I would expect she’d looked like much younger.
“This is you?”
She doesn't nod. I pick up the next picture, and in this one, she's kneeling over the edge, and I'm falling. I look peaceful, but she's broken. “Alice.”
“Please just go.” She rolls away from me, and if I hadn't been holding my breath, I may not have heard her whimper. “Just go.”
“Hey, what's wrong with you? This isn't like before. It's almost like you've just died inside.” I want to cry man-tears. I did this to her. I fucking robbed what little life she’d clung to when I told her I didn’t want her.
She sits up and like something off the Exorcist, spins her head without moving the lower half of her body. “Maybe I have. Tell me, Seth, what do I really have to live for? What in my life is so important that I should keep trying? Is that what you want to hear? That I'm miserable. Well, I am. I'm miserable and I'm hurting, and I just want it all to stop.” I crawl on the bed, shoving her pictures to the side and taking her in my arms. She struggles at first, but eventually leans against me. “I just want some peace.”
“I know, baby.” The burn in my eyes doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as the one in my heart. “I'm so sorry.”
“I don't know how to fix this.”
I'm not even supposed to be here, and I have no answers for her, so I rock her against me until she falls asleep. She's feather light in my arms, and I gently lay her back. There's a bandage peeking from the bottom of her long shirt that has ridden up. I want to wake her and demand answers, but she's so tired and fragile.
I run next door and drag Evan back to watch Alice sleep. For some reason, it doesn’t bother me as much to have Ev be in her room as it would Deacon. I trust them both with my life, just not necessarily my girl. Evan didn’t see Alice that way. He’d always treated her as a little sister. I need the comfort of knowing that whoever watches over her, won’t make her feel uncomfortable, and I think she and Evan share similar history. We’d never talked about it, but when Ev and I met a few years back, he’d been in a really bad place and three inches from being pummeled by Gabe. His soft ways and easy manor are exactly what Alice would need when she woke up and found me gone.
I need to find a way to fix this and there's only one man who may be able to help me. If he'll listen to me. If I'm not too late.
William James is a man to be reckoned with. I sit down in the comfortable chair across from him and wait for his call to finish. He nods at me and holds a finger up in the air. “Fine. Fine. Don't let them get a hint of this. Let me know.” He replaces the receiver and takes a deep breath. “Seth, what do I owe the pleasure?”
“How are you, Dad?”
“Good. I can't complain. I hear that your first concert was an instant success. Some brilliant singer has really taken the music to the moon, or so I've heard.” He's trying, and I have to give him credit for that. “Was it that pretty girl you brought to lunch?”
“Yeah, Alice is amazing.” I glance up from the hole in my pants I’ve fingered into a gaping mass of shreds, “I honestly didn't know my songs could sound like that.”
He doesn't frown like I expect, but instead, sits back in his chair and crosses one leg over the other. “Seth, I'm going to do something that I don't normally do, and I'm afraid that I haven't done it enough to you boys. I'm going to apologize. I'm proud that you're making this happen for yourself.”
The room shrinks. My heart beats like a caged tiger in my chest. This has to be a joke. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, son. I'm proud of both of you. I've been waiting for you to come back to me to tell you.” He clears his throat, lifts his chin, and straightens the navy tie draping his chest. “I didn't want to seem like I was checking up on you. I know how you hate that.”
I'm pretty sure a black hole swallowed my real dad. “Uh, thanks.”
He sits forward and leans his elbows on his desk. “What can I do for you?”
And we were back to business. This I could deal with. I knew the no-nonsense behind this man. I gulp, and take two deep breaths. I didn’t think I’d ever have to say this. “I need your help.”
He steeples his hands under his chin. “Are you in trouble?”
“Not me. Well, not really. It's Alice.”
“Alice?”
“Yeah, she’s mixed up in a shitty situation. It’s her father. E. Harrison—governor elect. He’s bat-shit crazy and a fucking demon.” I stand and pace. Dad’s office has the normal four walls that every other office has, but today it feels like there are fifty corners, a dozen floors and ceilings, and only one way out.
“Wait. Are you telling me Alice is the illegitimate daughter of Erid Harrison?” Dad stood and tapped the desk with an index finger, driving home his point. “Seth this is bad. That man is evil incarnate.”
I drop my hands to my knees and try to calm the racing pulse beneath my skin. “The same.”
He raises his hand and rubs his eyebrows. “You just can't do easy, huh?”
“I'm sorry. Dad, Harrison is crazy.” I’m torn. If I tell my father all about Alice’s past, he’ll either do his best to help me, or he’ll withdraw, spiraling us back to the relationship we’ve forged over the last twelve years. No matter what, if it’s within my power, I have to at least try to help Alice. “He hurts her.”
Dad paces back and forth across the carpet, much like Gabe and I did when nerves got the better of us. “What the hell?” He glances up at me, stops, begins pacing again, and resumes staring at the floor. “Son, what do you want me to do with this information? I can't get involved in their family problems. She’s an adult now, surely she doesn't still let him—do things.”
I grab him by the elbow and yank him to a stop. We weren’t going this route. I’d let him walk away too much. And that’s not how he raised us. At least, not before. “Dad!”
“Okay, I'm sorry, but fuck, son.” He grabs my shoulders and squeezes. “I like Alice, but maybe you shouldn’t continue seeing her.”
I shake my head the ridiculous statement. “They live in the apartment across from me. I'm past just walking away.”
“Fuck.”
“Dad, he's threatening her for something, and he wants me to stay away from her so she'll focus. He’s powerful. I think he could mess with your business if I don’t help him. But he did something to her yesterday.” I scrub a hand down my face and meet my father’s keen gaze. Blue eyes clashing with blue. “I sat with her for a while last night, and she has bandages
on her stomach.” I'm pacing again, and I want to punch something.
“Okay, okay, calm down.” He leans against his desk and rubs his chin. “Is it sexual?”
“No. At least, it wasn't.” God, if that sick fucker touched her like that, I’d kill him slowly. Feed him his dick and balls before getting to the really bad stuff. “Better not have been.”
He watches me and lifts his brow. I shrug, and a small smirk tilts the corner of his lip. “Well, do you know what he wants?”
“I don't. And Alice isn't talking either.” I drop down into the chair across from him, worn out from the mental exhaustion of plotting Harrison’s demise.
My dad’s leather chair squeaks beneath him. He rolls forward, back to the business man he’d always been. “Listen, son, you have to find out what he wants.”
“Well, I kind of fucked up. He wanted me out of the picture. He told me he wouldn't hurt her if I stayed away.”
The animal that lives in each of us James' men comes out of my dad. He slams his hands against the desk top, stands, and crouches over the pens and stapler like a big cat about to lurch across at me. “Did he stick to his word?”
“What part of ‘he hurt her’ did you miss? Dammit Dad.” I want to shove the neat stacks of papers across his desk, throw that stupid stapler through his high-rise window, and most importantly smack some life back into him. “We can’t take the high road here. These people don’t play this way.”
Dad taps his pen against the desk for a few beats. The rhythm oddly soothes me until he snaps the damn thing in half, sending a spray of ink across the wood. “Then what are you waiting for? Find out what he wants from her. She knows.”
Okay, now we’re talking. With Dad’s help, I can find a way to bring this asshole out into the open. I glance at my old man. He hasn’t always been there for me, but maybe Alice was right. Maybe he does love me. “What about you?”
“What about me? I’ve messed with men far more powerful than fucking E. Harrison. Don’t you worry about me none. And if he screws with my business, well, your mother's family left us very tidy when she died. I have a huge pension plan that he can't touch. Believe me, I can make it. And the islands might be nice this time of year.”
I circle the desk and shock both of us, throwing my arms around him and giving him a bear hug. “Love you, Dad. Thank you.”
“Go take care of that girl.” He pats me on the back. “Seth, watch yourself. Harrison doesn't like to lose.” He backs up and pulls out his phone. “I'll see what I can handle from this end.”
Harrison will only have to do the same, and my dad’s business will suffer. I hate that he will probably lose the career he's worked all his life for, but maybe he is ready for retirement. No, that’s the selfish prick in me. There has to be a way to get us all out of this mess. I just have to think of it. “Dad, be careful. I'm going to get back to Alice. Make her forgive me and stick by her side like glue until this all blows over. I'm sure that Harrison wouldn't like his dirty little secret spread around the world. I think it's time we fought fire with fire.”
He arches a brow and pinches below his bottom lip with his index finger and thumb. “You might be right, but Harrison's not a man to play with, son. I mean it, be careful.”
Back at the apartment, Gabe and Molly are sleeping, cuddled together beneath a blanket on the oversized couch in the living room. I sprint to my room and pack a duffle bag full of jeans and shirts.
I'm rummaging through my socks when Gabe flops to my bed. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and stretches. “Dude, what are you doing?”
I glance back at him. “I'm going to stay with Alice for a few days.”
He frowns, and scratches his armpit. “Okay, then why are you packing a bag?”
“Because we're not staying here. I don't want you and Molly here either. Take her on a surprise trip to the lake house or the Ritz. I don't care which, just don't be here.”
“Okay, is this because of Alice?” My brother’s voice held both concern and hope, and I can’t stop the grin. I felt the same way. It was most definitely because of the dark beauty next door. And thinking of her hurting brings back my mission.
I slam my drawer closed and toss the bag on the bed. “He's been hurting her all his life, and he's holding something over her. I'm going to get her out and take care of him.”
Gabe rolls his eyes. “So, what are you planning on? Just snatching her away? Do we stay hidden forever?”
“I got it—”
He cracks his knuckles. “I don't like not being here for you.”
“You are always here for me.” I fist bump him and pull him to his feet. “Dad is helping me, don't worry.”
Gabe's eyebrows shoot to his hairline. “You talked to Dad?”
“Yeah.”
He breaks into a smile. “Okay. Let me get Molly up, and we'll get her a bag packed.”
Evan winks at me as I enter Alice’s room. “She’s sleeping like a baby.”
“Thanks, man. I got this now.”
We fist bump and he pats my shoulder as he passes. She hears me and rolls over, wincing. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
“I'm going to help you.” I nudge the edge of her bed, and she rolls her eyes. She has more color now, but there’s a tightness around her mouth and eyes that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen her—before I’d abandoned her. “Let's get you up and dressed.”
She flops back to her pillow. “I just want to sleep. Please go.”
I reach beneath her and lift her shoulders until she sits. “Come on, we have things to do.”
“You wanted to be rid of me. You got your wish.” She twists the sheet around her thighs, and then glares up at me, her light brown eyes darkening to black pools. “Why are you here?”
I place a knee on the bed, lean over her until she lies back on the bed, and use one hand to hold me up and the other to rake a thumb down her cheek, brushing it across her bottom lip. “Because I'm not letting some jackass hurt my girl and get away with it.”
She lays there in stunned silence, eyes wide with tears swimming on the surface. “I'm not your responsibility.”
I brush my lips across her forehead, down her nose, careful to avoid her swollen jaw, and end with a swift kiss on her mouth. She doesn’t return it, but she will. “No, but you are the girl whom I want to be with, and you can't be free to do that until you're done with all this.”
“Seth.” She sighs my name, and my dick hardens. I didn’t really need an erection right now. That’s not what this is about. I want her to understand how I feel about her. I want her to know that she’s my everything.
She pushes me over, rolls to the side, and stands. The T-shirt she’s wearing drops just below the hem of her panties, and I have to avert my stare, or else I’ll be embarrassing myself. “I'll be in the other room while you get dressed.”
She grabs my hand. “I need help.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here.” I would not let her do this alone.
She smiles, and it’s like the sun kissed the night sky. “No, I mean getting dressed.” She points to her stomach. “I need to change my bandage.”
I glance down at her, fighting the need to kill her dad. How can anyone break a spirit like Alice? Or try to? I’m not sure anyone would ever get this girl to go down. She had survival skills that would impress any cat.
“I know you’ve seen the bandages.” Her smiles twist into something sad. “You thought I was sleeping.”
“Yeah, I did.” I lean down and grab the hem of her shirt and wait for her nod. “Ready?” She raises her hands in the air and nods. I pull the shirt off, inching it up over her breasts and finally passed her head. I'm momentarily struck dumb by her beautiful breasts. Small enough to fit into the palm of my hands, but perfect and perky, and I want to taste them. What kind of an ass thinks like that about someone who’s hurt? I have no idea how doctors do it.
Tiny red splotches have seeped through the gauze across her ribs, and I'm scared
of unwrapping her. Scared that I'll kill that fucker for hurting her like this.
She catches my hand in hers before I touch her below the bandage. “I’m okay, Seth. I’ve had worse.”
That’s the part that sucked the most. How many times had he beaten her, and she had to deal with it alone?
She begins to peel the tape away, and I shove her hands back. She's watching my face, and this feels more intimate than when I'm inside her. My breath stills when I unwrap her, revealing a long slash across her stomach. It's stopped bleeding, but the edges are shredded. I trace the skin above the wound with my thumb, and she shivers. Her nipples harden, and her eyes darken.
I swallow down the bile rising. “What does this?”
“Whip. It doesn't hurt that bad today. I've had worse.”
Tears fill my eyes that anyone would have to endure worse, yet the woman I love had. “I'm sorry.”
She cups my jaw. “Don't sweat it. I'll be out of your hair very soon, and all this dark will lighten.”
“The hell you will. You’re not fucking leaving me. I’m in this for you. With you. Until we find a way to stop him or to give him whatever he needs from you.”
She turns her head to the side and shudders. “I'm not going to continue to let him hurt me.”
“What did you think you were going to do?” She turns and wraps clean gauze around herself, and I'm all thumbs trying to help her. She's good at this, and I don't even want to think why that is.
“If I can't find what he needs, I'll have to disappear. It's the only way to keep everyone safe.” The hollow way she says the words has the hair on the back of my neck standing up.
I grab her hips, forcing her attention back on me. “Alice, what does he want?”
“Memories.” She finishes with the tape and finds a loose-fitting flannel shirt that buttons up the front. I help her stretch it across her shoulders, and we both struggle to get her into a pair of sweats. I tie her tennis shoes for her and comb her hair into a ponytail. It's really crooked, but she's still beautiful.
I give her a few minutes alone in the bathroom and wait in the living room. She enters, walking stiff and pained. I take her hand and drag her down to my lap. “Where do we start?”
Drowning (Tears of Sin Series) Page 21