Under the Autumn Sky

by Liz Talley

  Jess snorted. “Yeah.” She lurched to her feet and swayed. He held out a hand to steady her but she slapped him away. She didn’t want him touching her again. “I’m sure it’s a crazy wild time,” she continued, her words slurring. “At least by this town’s standards.”

  “Mystic Point not good enough for you?”

  Okay, so she’d pissed him off, either with her comment or her slap. Good.

  She rolled her eyes—and immediately wished she hadn’t when she almost tipped over. “Relax. God, why is everyone so defensive about this place?”

  “Maybe we don’t like outsiders slamming our town.”

  Outsider. That was her. And she was glad. She didn’t want to belong here. She just wanted to go home.

  “There’s a whole big world out there,” she said, waving her arms. “Places where parties are held in actual houses instead of in the middle of nowhere surrounded by some stupid rocks.”

  She’d much preferred last week’s party at the secluded part of the beach. The one and only thing she liked about Mystic Point was its proximity to the water. She loved the sound of the waves crashing on shore, the smell of salt water, the power of the ocean. But word had spread that the local cops had gotten wind of the underage drinking going on there and were going to increase their patrols of that area.

  Which is how she ended up at some old quarry at the edge of town.

  “If you hate it here so much, why don’t you go back to Boston?” Nate’s tone was snide, superior, as if he knew damn well why she was stuck here.

  He thought he was better than her because he had a normal family, a mom who didn’t spend all her time so strung out she barely remembered she even had a kid. A dad who not only acknowledged him, but spent time with him.

  Jess’s mom couldn’t even say for sure which of her lowlife boyfriends had knocked her up.

  Her hands curled. He was right. She did hate it here. And she hated Nate, too. Him and all his friends with their small-town attitudes and stupid cliques. They’d all heard about her past—nothing was sacred in a small town, after all. They’d discussed her. Judged her. And found her lacking. Even if she’d wanted to fit in, she’d never had the chance.

  Several car headlights flashed twice then remained on, the brightness cutting through the trees. Jess squinted against the glare.

  “What’s the matter, Nate?” a male voice called. “Having problems…performing?”

  “Dude, I bet she knows all sorts of tricks to help with that,” another guy yelled.

  “She should,” a girl added gleefully, “she’s had enough practice. She spends more time on her back than her feet.”

  Laughter erupted and a moment later, the lights shut off. But not before she saw the grin on Nate’s face. Saw how little he really thought of her.

  Bastard.

  With a low growl that, if she wasn’t careful, could easily turn into a sob, Jess picked up his sweatshirt and threw it at his face.

  He caught it before it could make contact. “What’s your problem?” he asked. “They’re just joking around.”

  “I don’t have a problem.” But everyone else did. They were too small-town boring and uptight. She started walking deeper into the woods.

  He grabbed her arm, stopping her so fast, the entire world tilted. She clamped down on the urge to vomit.

  “The party’s this way,” he said.

  Once the trees stopped spinning, she jerked away. “Get off me.” No one touched her unless she wanted them to, and he’d lost that right. “I’m leaving.”

  Her voice broke and she prayed he didn’t notice.

  “All right,” he said slowly, as if trying to calm her down, “if that’s what you want.” This time, he reached for her hand. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

  She crossed her arms. “Why?”

  He sighed heavily and glanced back at the party. “Because you’re drunk and shouldn’t be wandering around the woods at night.”

  “What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll die of exposure or get attacked by a wild animal and you’ll be blamed?” Though she gave him plenty of time to deny it, he didn’t. All he cared about was getting into trouble if something happened to her. “Go back to the party. I’m sure you’re dying to tell everyone what a stud you are.” She raised her voice. “But you might want to leave out the part about how it lasted a whole five minutes.”

  “Everyone was right about you,” he said. “You really are a bitch.”

  Bitch. Slut. Loser. All names she’d been called before. Whoever said words couldn’t cause pain had obviously never gone to high school.

  “And don’t you forget it,” she said with her patented sneer. And she walked away.

  This time, he let her go.

  Good. She didn’t want him chasing after her pretending he cared about whether she made it home safely or not. Oh, sure, he’d been all charm when he’d called and invited her to the party, had layered it on even more when she got there, flirting and joking around, but it’d all been an act. She wasn’t sure who she was angrier with: him for not being different, for not living up to her hopeful standards.

  Or herself for sleeping with him anyway.

  She squinted at the narrow path cutting through the woods. If she kept walking, she’d end up in the clearing near the quarry’s entrance.

  She hoped.

  Too bad the farther she got from the clearing and the fire, the darker it got, the trees seeming to have multiplied to cut off any and all light from the moon. But it still beat going back the way she and Nate had come. She knew what would happen if she rejoined the party. The girls would freeze her out with their bitchy comments and accusing glares, blaming her for giving the boys what they were too frigid to. The guys would exchange smirks and elbow nudges and Nate would end up avoiding her the rest of the night.

  And she was too wasted, too emotionally messed up at the moment to pretend it didn’t bother her.

  She took out her phone and pressed the speed dial for Marissa, her best friend back in Boston. Holding it to her ear, she began making her way through the woods again, her steps unsteady, her head spinning.

  “Come on,” she muttered when Marissa didn’t pick up. “Where are you?”

  Despite her best efforts, tears streamed down her face. She angrily wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. Her toe caught on a tree root and she pitched forward. Her phone flew from her grip and she landed hard on the ground on her hands and knees.

  Tears and snot dripped from her face as she fought to catch her breath. To not puke. Her palms stung, her head swam. She straightened her leg, felt material rubbing against her knee and realized she’d ripped a hole in her favorite jeans.

  God, but this place sucked. She hated it here.

  Patting the ground around her for her phone, she crawled forward. Something rustled behind her. She froze, holding her breath as she listened. When only silence surrounded her, she continued her search, inching forward along the forest floor, the sharp twigs scratching her.

  “Shit,” she whispered.

  “You can say that again.”

  Her head jerked up and she fell onto her rear, squinted against the harsh glare of a flashlight. But she didn’t need to see who had spoken, didn’t need a light to know a cop stood before her. No, not just a cop, but Mystic Point’s new chief of police.

  “Hi, Uncle Ross,” Jess said. Then she reared forward and threw up at his feet.

  * * *

  POLICE CHIEF ROSS TAYLOR couldn’t breathe. Didn’t dare move. If he so much as blinked, he might lose all control. And that wouldn’t be good. Not when his instincts screamed at him to wrap his hands around the puny neck of the kid he and Assistant Chief Sullivan had dragged into the woods to help search for Jessica.

  The kid who’d admitted he’d let her go stumbling off by herself in the dark. The kid who hadn’t had to admit what he and Jess had been doing while the rest of their delinquent friends drank and whooped it up in the clearing. The empty cups and the
used condom Ross had walked past had made it all too clear they hadn’t been stargazing.

  He exhaled heavily. Son of a bitch.

  Ross knelt next to his niece. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly, well aware Layne Sullivan and the kid made a rapt audience to this little family drama.

  Jessica stared up at him, her face illuminated by the flashlight Sullivan shined in their direction. Jess’s eyes—light blue like her mother’s—were huge. And unfocused, the pupils dilated. “No.”

  Then she threw up again.

  Behind him, the kid gagged. Ross pointed his flashlight on him and, sure enough, the boy’s face was pale. “Don’t even think about it,” Ross said harshly.

  The kid swallowed hard. “Yes…yes, sir.”

  Satisfied, Ross turned back to Jess. She sat back and wiped her hand across her mouth.

  “Finished?” he asked.

  “I hope so.” Her voice shook.

  He helped her to her feet, keeping a firm hold of her upper arm so she didn’t fall. And so she couldn’t take off should the idea enter her head. Her pale, shoulder-length hair was matted and tangled, her clothes wrinkled and stained with puke and dirt. Tears leaked unchecked from her eyes, leaving trails of mascara down her cheeks.

  She looked like every other underage drunk girl he’d ever arrested. He had to remind himself that she was just a kid. A rebellious, self-destructive kid. She was also his responsibility.

  One he wasn’t sure he wanted. Wasn’t sure he could handle.

  “What in the hell are you doing out here?” he asked.

  What was she doing getting drunk, rolling around with some pimply faced kid, when she was supposed to be safely tucked away in her bedroom? Damn, he really wasn’t cut out for this guardian stuff.

  She wiped the moisture from her cheeks. “You’re the one who told me I needed to give Mystic Point a chance. That I should put myself out there and make friends. Nate and I got very friendly. Didn’t we, Nate?”

  Her tone was spiteful, almost…gleeful. But her eyes… When he searched her eyes he saw the truth. Anger. Regret. And such pain, he wasn’t sure he could fix it. Could fix her.

  “We weren’t…” the kid blurted. “I mean…we didn’t…”

  Ross glanced over his shoulder, his quick glare shutting the kid up.

  “Sullivan,” Ross said quietly, “would you please escort this young man back to the fire?”

  Three years younger than Ross’s thirty-five, Layne Sullivan was ambitious, levelheaded and had been the front-runner for the position of chief until Ross threw his hat into the ring. He had no doubt she’d enjoy spreading around the tale about how he couldn’t even control his niece. How inept he was when it came to dealing with a rebellious teenager.

  “Yes, sir.” But she didn’t move.

  “Is there a problem?” Ross asked.

  “No…no problem. But what do you want us to do with the kids?”

  When Ross, Sullivan and patrol officer Evan Campbell had pulled up to the bonfire, most of the kids had taken off into the woods. But a half dozen had been corralled and were being watched by Campbell—a rookie cop barely old enough to drink himself.

  “I want you to do your job,” Ross managed to reply in what he considered a highly reasonable tone. “Check IDs. Those under the legal drinking age—” and from what he’d seen, they were all underage “—will be cited. If they’re under eighteen, take them back to the station and hold them there until they can be released into their parents’ custody.”

  “You’re going to call our parents?” Nate asked, his voice hitching on the last word. “Oh, man, my dad is going to kill me.”

  Ross’s flat gaze had him hunching his shoulders.

  “Can I have a word with you, Chief?” Sullivan asked. “In private.”

  Without waiting for an answer, she walked down the trail, the light from her flashlight bobbing on the worn path.

  Ross jabbed a finger at Jess. “Don’t. Move.” She saluted him—her middle finger clearly visible. He ground his back teeth together. “You,” he barked at Nate, “sit.”

  The kid collapsed into a sitting position as if Ross had swept his feet out from under him. Ross glanced from Sullivan’s back to Jessica. If only everyone could take orders so well.

  Sullivan waited for him a good twenty feet from the kids. She was tall. Long-legged. Sleek and sexy even in uniform, her face more interesting than beautiful, her dark hair pulled back into a long tail that reached the middle of her back. Attraction flared, quick and hot in his gut.

  He ruthlessly squelched it.

  She was surly, defensive and wore her resentment toward him as blatantly as she wore the badge on her chest. More important, she was his subordinate. Which put her so far off-limits, she may as well have been on another planet.

  “What is it, Captain?” he said, stressing her rank. No crime reminding her who the superior officer was. Especially when she clearly needed that reminder.

  “Usually, in situations like this, we make sure no one who’s been drinking is driving then let them go with a warning.”

  “And how many warnings do they get before they’re held accountable for breaking the law?”

  “Chief Gorham always thought it was in everyone’s best interest to let this type of thing slide.”

  “Gorham is no longer chief of police—”

  “Believe me,” she murmured, “we all know that.”

  “Therefore, we will no longer be doing things the way he did them. Or letting his actions as chief dictate the decisions I make.”

  She flipped her long, dark ponytail over her shoulder. “We can certainly do things your way—”

  “I appreciate the permission.”

  Her face was hidden by shadows but he’d bet a year’s pay she rolled her eyes. “But if you cite those kids, you’ll rile up a bunch of parents.”

  “Part of the hazards of the job.”

  Sullivan stepped closer, holding the flashlight between them so it illuminated the lower half of her face. “I realize you don’t understand how things work in a small town,” she said softly, as if imparting some hard-won wisdom, “but believe me, you’re not going to win any points for hauling these kids in. What’ll happen is they’ll all get slapped with fines, lose their licenses—if they have them yet—and be ordered to perform community service. Fines,” she continued pointedly, “that their parents will more than likely have to pay for. Community service that their parents will have to take time off of work to take them to. Just like they’ll have to drive them to every practice, school function and social event until they get their driving privileges restored.”

  Ross fought for patience. For the past month he’d been careful not to step on any toes, to be respectful of the veterans of his department who were less than thrilled at being ordered around by an outsider who’d taken the position from one of their own.

  He’d been especially cautious around Sullivan. She’d had her fellow officers’ support in her bid for the position of chief, she had their respect. She was also, as far as Ross could tell, a damn fine cop.

  But it was past time they all realized he was in charge now.

  “I appreciate your input.” He kept his tone mild, not giving away the frustration eating at him. “While I may not have much experience with small-town living, I do know that it’s illegal for a person under the age of twenty-one to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages in the state of Massachusetts. It’s not up to us to interpret the law or decide when and where to enforce it. It’s black and white.”

  “A good cop knows there are always shades of gray. sir,” Sullivan added, making the sign of respect sound like anything but.

  “Not on my watch. Not in my department. There’s right and there’s wrong.” She didn’t have to agree. She just had to do as he said. “Give anyone eighteen or older the choice to take a Breathalyzer test. If they pass, they’re free to go. The rest get cited.”

  “Even your niece?”

  He ignored t
he skepticism in the captain’s husky voice. “She broke the law. She’ll have to face the consequences like everyone else.”

  And if that made him the bad guy then so be it. Over the past three months he’d gotten used to playing that role with her. Just as he’d played it with her mother—his younger sister—his entire life. He glanced at Sullivan, noted her disdain for him in the twist of her mouth.

  Hell, now he got to be the bad guy at home and at work.

  Funny how doing the right thing could be such a pain in the ass.

  “It’s quite a coincidence,” Sullivan said, “you showing up right as Evan and I pulled in.”

  “I heard the call.”

  “Well, aren’t we lucky you just happened to be listening to the police radio at one-thirty in the morning.”

  Hard not to listen to it since he’d been driving around looking for Jess after discovering she’d snuck out. Which Sullivan must suspect or else she wouldn’t be taking this little fishing trip. “Glad I could offer my assistance.”

  Her mouth flattened. “Come on, Nate,” she called and the kid scrambled to his feet. “Let’s go.”

  They walked away. Ross checked on Jess and found her back on her hands and knees.

  “Get up.” He crossed to stand over her. Jess, of course, didn’t so much as glance at him. She excelled at doing the opposite of what she should. “I said—” he took a hold of her elbow and tugged “—get up.”

  Once on her feet, she pulled away from him, the effect ruined when he had to reach out to keep her from falling flat on her face.

  “I have to sit down,” she said. “I don’t feel well.”

  And for a moment, Ross got sucked in. Sucked in by her pale face and big eyes, by the trembling of her voice. By how young and scared and…alone she looked.

  He gave his head one quick, hard shake. She didn’t need coddling. She needed a swift kick in the ass. It was the only way to get her to straighten out. He was pissed and embarrassed and at the end of his rope with her. Just thinking about what she and Nate had been doing made him want to rail on that boy, shake some sense into her and then send her to a convent for the next twenty years or so.