by Brenda Novak
“Stop it!” He couldn’t listen anymore. He was about to be sick.
“I have your watch,” she whispered. “It’s in my panties.”
He grimaced. “That doesn’t excite me. Just…throw it away.”
“You’re not making this any easier.”
Come on, come on. He had to get to Ava’s. Gravel flew as he skidded around a turn and almost landed in a canal. “I’m trying to be clear about this. I’m not interested, Kalyna.”
“You won’t even give me a chance!”
She couldn’t really expect him to—not after everything she’d done. She had to be after something else. “I’ll pay you,” he said.
This seemed to bring her up short. “For what?”
He could see the light of Ava’s houseboat. He was almost there. “To get an abortion.” He knew his parents would die at the thought. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it himself, but he was desperate. He couldn’t bring a child into the world under these circumstances, with this woman.
“An abortion?” she echoed. “You want me to get an abortion?” She broke into tears. “How can you ask me to kill our child on top of everything else you’ve done to me?”
It didn’t even feel like a child, didn’t feel real. “Okay.” He was still reeling as he skidded to a stop at the end of Ava’s pier. But now that they were talking about the baby, he didn’t want to get out of the car. Ava couldn’t solve this; this was something he’d have to solve himself. “You’re right, I don’t want that. I don’t think I could live with that, but…I’ll take the baby. I-I’ll raise it myself.” Yes, that was the only option that would work. “Just—just name your price. If I’ve got the money or I can borrow it, it’s yours. All you have to do is admit I didn’t rape you and hand the baby over to me once it’s born.”
She sniffed. “Will I be able to see you through the pregnancy?”
He couldn’t stand the thought of her in his life. But if she’d admit he didn’t rape her, it’d be worth it. Wouldn’t it?
“Maybe.”
“And after the baby comes?”
Again, he wanted to say no. But would that be fair to his child? To her? Did he have to worry about what would be fair to a person like that?
God, this was so far from anything he’d ever dreamed he’d have to face. “Er…maybe. Probably. I guess,” he said, and stared out at Ava’s houseboat as he awaited her response. This was a good offer. There wasn’t any more he could do. She had to accept it, didn’t she?
“So we could make something positive out of all this negativity? There’d be a chance for you and me?”
They were back to this? “Come off it, Kalyna. There is no you and me. There never has been.”
Her tears grew into full-fledged sobs. “You’re going to prison if it’s the last thing I do!” she screamed, and the line went dead.
Luke was shaking when he turned off his phone. He’d never felt such rage, especially against a woman. How did she know so much about him? I know you love egg burritos from Del Taco. I know you always buy gas at the Chevron station near the base. I know you’re a great catcher because I’ve watched you behind the plate.
She’d been following him. That pretty much constituted the definition of stalking, didn’t it? How was that for a switch? A female stalker. He’d never thought it could happen, never once glanced over his shoulder. He’d “bumped” into Kalyna often enough that he should’ve wondered, he supposed, but he hadn’t thought twice about it. And here he’d been feeling guilty for having sex with her, had even been tempted to believe his father was right about all women taking sex more seriously than men, which meant he sort of deserved what he was getting for crossing that line. But she wasn’t some tragic figure he’d mistakenly hurt. She was crazy.
And now she was even more determined to destroy him.
Pushing his door open, he got out. He wasn’t sure what Ava could do about what’d just happened, but he wanted to tell her about it while it was fresh in his mind.
A moment later, he was glad he’d acted on that impulse because Kalyna called back.
19
Ava was at her computer in the dining room, checking e-mail, when Luke appeared out of nowhere. She’d heard a soft knock above the music she had playing, but it was almost midnight, so she thought she must’ve imagined it. Then the door swung open before she could get out of her seat.
“What’s going—” she started, but he pressed a finger to his lips, indicating silence, and beckoned her toward the phone he had pressed to his ear.
“Kalyna?” she mouthed.
He nodded.
She could understand why he’d come back, but that didn’t make her any more comfortable about the fact that she wasn’t wearing any clothes except his sweatshirt and a pair of thong panties she’d bought because they made her feel sexy. She almost didn’t get up, but the intensity on Luke’s face overruled more practical considerations, and she decided it didn’t matter. The sweatshirt covered her to midthigh. And even if it hadn’t, he’d probably seen a lot of women in their underwear.
When she met him in the middle of the room, he didn’t seem to notice her state of undress. He was too engrossed in his conversation. Turning the phone slightly, he leaned close so she could hear.
“I’m just saying that’s a big part of your case, and now it’s gone. You caused your own injuries,” he said.
Obviously, they were engaged in a heated argument.
“Who told you that?” came the response. The voice sounded a bit tinny and edged with panic, but it was Kalyna, all right.
“Someone I know spoke to your mother.”
“Ava Bixby? You think I’m not aware of that?”
Luke pulled Ava onto the couch with him; sitting made it easier to share the phone. “Your own mother won’t support you in this, Kalyna. That’s the point I’m trying to make.”
“My mother won’t support me in anything. She never has. And I don’t care. What I want to find out is how you know Ava.”
“She called me.”
“Have you met? Have you been together?
“What difference does that make?”
“It explains a lot. You’ve been seeing her, haven’t you! That’s why she dumped me.”
Uneasy with that accusation, Ava bit her lip.
“She dumped you because she knows you’re lying,” he said. “She’s working for me now.”
“What?” Kalyna cried. “You’re not a victim!”
“I’m more of a victim than you are.”
“That’s bullshit! She just wants to jump your bones, like every other woman you meet.”
Ava wished she could deny it, if only to herself, but she felt a little conspicuous having donned Luke’s sweatshirt—and nothing else.
“Go to Ogitani and tell her to drop the charges,” he said.
“It’s too late for that.”
“Then why’d you call back?”
“Because I think it’s only fair to warn you.”
“About what?”
“Now that I’m carrying your baby, I won’t take kindly to being cheated on. You’d better not be seeing anyone else.”
Ava and Luke exchanged glances. The baby remark stunned Ava, but Luke didn’t make any reference to it. “I can see anyone I want, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
“Wanna bet?” she challenged.
“What are you talking about, Kalyna?”
“I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. If you so much as look at another woman, I’ll kill her.”
Luke didn’t respond right away. If Ava had her guess, he was at a loss for words. “I hope you don’t mean that literally,” he finally said.
“Oh, I mean it. I know how to do it, too.”
Ava had heard enough. If she’d had any remaining doubt that Kalyna had lied from the outset, it was gone now. “Kalyna, stop threatening people, or you’ll end up in serious trouble yourself,” she said into the phone.
This met with shoc
ked silence. Then there was a click and Kalyna was gone.
Waiting for the adrenaline pumping through her system to abate, Ava shifted to the opposite end of the couch.
Luke rocked back and stared at her. “Do you think she was serious?”
A chilling sense of foreboding told Ava that she was. Kalyna was unconcerned about the pain she inflicted on others, a liar—probably pathological—completely narcissistic. “Maybe.”
“But people get upset and say stuff like that all the time.” He didn’t want to believe it. He hadn’t come up against anything like this before. Although he’d never gone to war, all the enemies he’d imagined facing were properly labeled and wearing a different uniform. Kalyna was part of his flight crew, a comrade, a woman.
“Are you seeing anyone right now?” she asked.
“No.”
“Good thing.”
He sank lower. “What kind of consequences would she face for making these threats?”
“Nothing serious or long-lasting enough to render her incapable of acting on them.”
“You mean, there are no consequences until she actually hurts someone?”
“Nothing that’s going to be effective if her mind’s made up.” That was the problem Ava ran into all the time, especially with domestic disputes. But the police couldn’t start throwing people in jail on speculation.
He rubbed a hand over his face. “Damn, where’s this going to end?”
“Do you think it’s true about the baby?” she asked.
“At this point, I don’t know.” He set his cell phone on the coffee table. “They collected my semen at the hospital, so it’s possible.”
That had to scare the hell out of him. “What will you do if it’s true?”
“Try to gain custody.”
“There’s an example of family planning.”
“No kidding.”
Ava got up and crossed to the kitchen. “Can I get you a drink?”
Blowing out a sigh, he dropped his head on the back of the couch and gazed up at the ceiling. “Right now I could drink an entire bottle.”
Everyone was asleep.
Now that she’d finished packing, Kalyna took a last look at her sister and felt a strange pang. She doubted she’d be coming home again. There wasn’t anything for her here. Her parents were even less tolerant, less accepting, of her than they’d been before. She’d hardly exchanged a civil word with them since she’d arrived. But she’d never gotten along with them so she could’ve dealt with that. It was her sister who broke her heart. Tatiana was the only person Kalyna had ever loved and yet…she didn’t know this version. These days Tatiana was so influenced by Dewayne and Norma she felt guilty about letting so much as a cussword slip out. And she said she was finally happy. What she meant was that she was happy with them, happier without Kalyna.
This was the worst betrayal Kalyna had suffered so far. Now she had no one. No one to act as an anchor when she felt as if she was about to spin out of control. No one to save her from the void that threatened to consume her in the long, dark hours when she couldn’t sleep.
She was truly alone.
Never had the memory of that girl she and Mark had tortured ten years ago felt closer. Maybe this was that stranger’s revenge. She’d never done anything to Kalyna. Kalyna had killed her just because she could, because Mark was egging her on. And she’d enjoyed the power it gave her. That was why she hadn’t wanted to spend time with Mark anymore. He’d made her too much like him.
Kalyna checked her wallet for what was left of the money she’d earned at the bar last night. She’d spent most of it at the mall earlier today, flashing it around for Tatiana’s sake. After borrowing the money for that pregnancy test, she’d told Tati that her paycheck had been electronically deposited, even though it wasn’t due for a week. She hadn’t wanted her sister to think she was absolutely broke. She spent too much time trying to convince her she’d done the right thing when she joined the air force, that she had plenty of whatever she needed. It wasn’t as though she’d spent it all on herself. She’d bought Tati a cute pair of jeans to make up for screwing that Danny guy. Tatiana didn’t know about it, but Kalyna had made it up to her, anyway. That was nice, wasn’t it?
Of course. The money was well-spent. But now Kalyna wasn’t sure how she’d get home.
Dropping to her hands and knees, she looked behind the trundle for Tati’s purse. It wasn’t on the desk or anywhere else she could see. Nor was it under the bed. But it had to be somewhere. Maybe up in the kitchen.
Careful not to make any noise, she opened the bedroom door and hefted her suitcase through the opening. She was about to climb the stairs when the door to the cooler caught her eye.
When she was little, she’d been frightened of that cooler. She didn’t like the waxy skin, the blotchiness, the bloating that made it so obvious that the people in there weren’t just sleeping. And yet…those corpses sort of appealed to her at the same time. They couldn’t hurt her. They’d never be able to hurt her. They were powerless. It was the living she had to fear.
Crossing to the heavy door, she unlatched it and heard a small whoosh as the seal was broken. The cool air swirled around her, welcome as an embrace, while she eyed the four gurneys that awaited Tati’s attention. One contained an old man, shriveled and already skeletal in appearance; another an old woman with liver spots; the third a middle-aged woman, and the fourth the woman’s teenage boy. They’d both been killed in a drunk-driving accident. She’d never met any of them, and yet they were her friends, the only people who’d never rise up against her.
If Ava were here, she’d be as powerless as they were, Kalyna told herself. And, unlike that hitchhiker from years past, Ava deserved to die. Not only did she pretend to be something she wasn’t, she thought she could stab Kalyna in the back and get away with it.
It was time to eliminate Ava as a threat.
The stairs creaked as she climbed them, but she couldn’t hear any other sound, except the rat-a-tat-tat of the automatic sprinklers outside. Her father watered at night so the hot Arizona sun wouldn’t scorch the lawn. A mortuary had to have curb appeal, he said. Perfectly manicured grass had a soothing effect.
Once she reached the kitchen, Kalyna moved more quickly. Leaving her suitcase by the door, she began searching for Tati’s purse—and came across her mother’s instead.
“Even better,” she muttered, and carried it into the pantry, where she could safely turn on a light.
Bingo! Her mother had nearly five hundred dollars in her wallet. She’d also put her wedding ring in her coin purse. Norma couldn’t wear it anymore. Her hands were too swollen from the water retention caused by some of the meds she took for depression.
It was a pretty ring with a large, square-cut diamond. Kalyna shoved the money in her pocket, then slid the ring onto her wedding finger to see how it looked. Not bad. It was much more attractive on a young hand—
A noise drew Kalyna’s attention to the doorway. Her mother stood there, bedding lines scoring the cheek with the mole, her dark hair, normally ratted in a fixed “do,” flat on one side.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Norma wasn’t yelling. Her voice was low, but the look in her eyes suggested serious trouble.
It was more than obvious what she was doing. She’d been caught in the act. So Kalyna decided to shrug it off as if it wasn’t a big deal. She pulled the ring from her finger and returned it to her mother’s coin purse. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d get a jump on the drive home.”
“You’ve got my purse.” Favoring her bad knee, Norma stepped forward. Her weight was wreaking havoc with all her joints and had been for some time. “You were stealing from me.”
“I wasn’t stealing,” Kalyna said. “I was just borrowing a few bucks to get me home. I’ll send it back to you as soon as I get my next paycheck.”
“And my ring?”
“I was admiring it. What more would I want with it?”
“That’s
what I’d like to know. Give me my purse.” Her tentlike nightgown billowed around her as she limped forward to grab it. “What else did you take, huh?” she asked, rummaging through it. “Where’re my diamond earrings?”
“I don’t have them. I didn’t even know they were in there.”
“They’re gone.”
“I didn’t take them!”
“Like hell! They can’t disappear on their own.” She snatched her wallet and opened it to find it empty. Then her face contorted with the seething hatred Kalyna had sensed all along. “You little bitch! You took my money. You were planning on cleaning me out, weren’t you!”
Her mother was starting to raise her voice. Kalyna knew the scene that would ensue if her father got wind of this. Tatiana would jump in, too, trying to calm everyone down—but she’d ultimately take Norma and Dewayne’s side. She wouldn’t see getting up in the middle of the night to pilfer from Norma’s purse as borrowing, either. She would’ve forgiven her for stealing from her own purse; she’d done it before. But not Norma’s. Why didn’t you tell me you needed money? she’d whisper, wearing that disappointed expression she’d perfected in Kalyna’s absence.
“Stop freaking out!” Kalyna said. “I was planning on paying you back, like I said. I’m just a little short on cash right now.”
“I saw those packages you brought home today. What about all the money you spent at the mall?”
“I was trying to show Tati a good time.”
Her mother couldn’t even take her makeup off properly. Her eyebrows, normally penciled in, had been washed away, but mascara smudges beneath both eyes made her look like a raccoon. “And that means it’s okay? You can spend your money however and whenever you please and then take money from me when you run out? You’re unbelievable, you know that? Just when I think you can’t surprise me anymore, you do something like this.”
“There’s a woman in California who’s trying to sabotage my case,” Kalyna explained. “She was supposed to be helping me, but now she’s gone over to the other side. If I don’t get back, she’ll convince the prosecutor to drop the charges against the man who raped me.”