Dirty Truths

by Renee Miller

  Sheila snorted and shook her head. “You’re gonna do what you want, but I’m telling you, a man who leaves bruises like that isn’t getting better. I’ve known some assholes in my life too. A real man doesn’t hurt a woman over words. What could you have said to warrant him grabbing you hard enough to leave bruises?”

  Kristina turned and Wade moved out of sight. “He was mad because I’m working here and I refused to quit when he asked me to. I could have just lied to him, and said I’d do it. Everything would have been fine. To be honest, I’m a little worried about what he’ll do next. Not that he’d hurt me again, he was only trying to scare me, but he said he’d take Cadence. I know this isn’t the best job for a mother to have. He’s right. Would a judge take custody from someone just because they work in a bar?”

  Wade had heard enough. Before Sheila could answer, he opened the door wide and poked his head out. “Hey Kris? Can you come in here?”

  The women looked at each other and Sheila shrugged.

  “Sure,” Kristina said.

  She walked around the bar and he stepped back allowing her to pass him into the office. The door closed behind him with a soft click and Kristina stood next to the desk, one hand covering the bruise, fingers tugging at her sleeve.

  He walked toward her and reached out to pull her hand from her arm.

  She resisted, her cheeks reddening but dropped it away.

  “What’s this?” he demanded.

  “Nothing, I—”

  “I heard you talking. Don’t you dare lie to me. Not for him.”

  “Like I said, it’s not as bad as it looks. I bruise easily.”

  “Maybe you do, but that bruise is as bad as it looks.”

  She dropped her gaze.

  Wade sighed. He thought he’d seen her pride and a little self-esteem returning, but apparently her asshole ex-husband beat it out of her again.

  “Really, it’s nothing,” she said. “It doesn’t even hurt. He scared me more when he said he’d take Cadence from me. He can’t, can he?” Kristina looked up at him, eyes moist with unshed tears.

  Wade wanted to take her in his arms and run off where no one could hurt her again. Instead, he smiled and shook his head. “As long as you’re looking after your daughter, and you are, your job doesn’t matter. Don’t worry; I’ll take care of him.”

  She frowned.

  Before she could argue, Wade turned away and walked out to the bar, signaling to Sheila for a drink. Whatever argument Kristina had worked up in Daniel’s defense wouldn’t change his mind. It was time Daniel Riley got a dose of his own medicine and Wade couldn’t wait to deliver it.

  ***

  Wade closed the safe and then pocketed his keys, listening to Sheila and Kristina chatting while they waited for a cab. The door opened and closed and the bar fell silent. He reached above the safe to switch off the light. As he stepped around the boxes of booze covering the floor of his office, Wade made a mental note to get someone to clear out the storage room so he could have this room back. How the mess always managed to creep into his personal space was a mystery.

  “Wade?” he jumped at Kristina’s voice.

  “Oh, I thought you left with Sheila.”

  “No, Jimmy took her home. Her car’s in the shop. The cab won’t be here for a while yet, they’re busy I guess.”

  “I could drive you—”

  “No, it’s okay. I already called them.”

  Wade couldn’t help smiling at how she forced a safe distance between them. Kristina stared at him now and then but as soon as he got too close, she became skittish.

  “I’ll walk if it’s not here soon. I wanted to ask you a favor before I go.” She said.

  “Oh?” He knew what she planned to say. It would do her no good, but he’d pretend to consider it anyway.

  “I know you think you’re helping, and I really appreciate you care enough to try, but please just leave Daniel alone. I don’t need you taking care of anything. I can deal with him on my own.”

  “Really? You’ve done such a wonderful job so far.” He touched her arm, trailing one finger down the bruise then raised his eyebrow at the tremor in her body.

  “He’s working hard to control his temper. I know in his own way he loves me. He’s just frightened and lonely right now. We’ve been through a lot, and we both have some growing up to do. I’ve had worse than this, believe me. It’s nothing.”

  Wade listened to her excuses and fury erupted in his chest; rising like bile to his throat. How could she defend such a jerk? Did she truly not realize how much she was worth? God, if he had a woman like her he’d worship the ground she walked on, not throw her on it.

  He reached for a stray curl, the one that always fell over her forehead at the end of the night, never staying in the ponytail. “He’s as bad as he ever was, and he’ll never change. Don’t try to hand me bullshit. I know you’re not stupid. You’re smart, funny and beautiful, and you deserve to be treated with love and respect, not as a piece of garbage or as someone’s property. Cadence is going to grow up seeing her mom settle for less than what she deserves, and she’ll do the same. Do you want her to have the same bruises someday?”

  She blushed and looked down at her feet.

  Wade touched her chin, forcing her to look at him.

  Kristina smiled.

  His heart ached at the sadness in her eyes. “You need to find the backbone you used to have and stop allowing people like him to treat you like shit. Stop being a doormat and start standing up. You can do better than Daniel Riley and you know it.”

  She stepped back.

  Wade crossed his arms over his chest to keep from grabbing her and making a fool of himself.

  “Thank you. I do appreciate the thought, and I know you mean what you say. I’m trying to fix my life. That’s why I divorced him. It doesn’t change the fact I still don’t want you having a talk with Daniel. Okay. Please, it will just make things worse.”

  “I won’t talk to him, if it’s what you want.”

  Wade didn’t lie. Not technically, anyway. He didn’t plan to talk.

  ***

  Several men filed out of the strip club, some with a woman on their arms, most of them alone. Wade had no trouble tracking Daniel. He’d waited outside his apartment for an hour and the fool drove straight to the Peek-A-Boo Club, as he did every week. The club hosted amateur night each Monday, and Daniel occasionally left with a dancer. Wade wondered what the new girlfriend would think of that. Joe had been furious to know Daniel had done this while married to Kristina, but at the time she wouldn’t listen to even her father.

  The neon lights surrounding the sign out front flashed red and blue, reflecting off the puddles left behind by an early evening thunderstorm. Wade glimpsed a few familiar faces. Some he would come back to speak to later, others he would rather not see again. The popular little club didn’t discriminate their clientele. The men exiting ranged from white collar to no collar. A lone figure emerged through the double doors, one of the last to exit, and Wade sat straighter in his seat.

  “Well hello, Mr. Riley,” he murmured as Daniel walked toward them. He was alone, the parking lot clear as he stumbled to his truck.

  Laughter erupted from the backseat and Wade turned to his friends.

  In the rearview Frank held his gut, laughing. “That’s him? Preppy piece of shit ain’t even a challenge. Jesus, come on.”

  Frank was used to a different kind of man, the kind that would slit your throat for looking at him the wrong way. He came along because he owed Wade a favor. Wade almost laughed along with him as he pictured Daniel’s face when Frank approached him. Six foot five, bald, and pushing four hundred pounds, Frank owned a frightening picture. Because of his size, many thought they could outrun him. They’d been wrong.

  “I just want to give him a warning,” Wade reminded him. “He knows me, so I can’t do it myself, although I’d love to rip him apart.”

  “Got it.” John, the other man, grumbled.

&
nbsp; John hadn’t wanted to come along, but he owed Wade a lot of money and he didn’t have it. Despite his grumbling, John enjoyed a good scrap, He wasn’t as big as Frank, but the tattoos covering his body and the piercings in his face were as unsettling as Frank’s size. According to Amy he’d pierced other parts of his body as well. Wade shuddered at the thought. Some things were not meant to have extra holes.

  “So we’re even after this?” John asked.

  Wade grinned, to enjoy the sight of John shifting uncomfortably under his stare. He knew Wade knew about Amy and him. Idiot thought Wade gave a shit too, but it worked in his favor. “For now.”

  They slipped out of the car and around the building, keeping to the shadows until Daniel leaned down to unlock his truck. Wade’s hands itched to knock the arrogance from his face. It radiated off him, that cocky sureness no one could touch him. Well, he was about to learn in Wade’s world he was as vulnerable as Kristina.

  Approaching from behind, his heavy steps remarkably silent, Frank grabbed Daniel by the throat and the moron actually tried to take a swing at the big man. Wade grinned as they put Daniel on the ground, kicking him mercilessly until all the jackass could do was cover his pretty face.

  He managed to roll to his knees once but Frank wrenched his arm behind his back and continued the beating. They remained silent, despite Daniel’s repeated demands to know what they wanted. Then Daniel went limp, passing out from the pain of what Wade figured was a couple of broken bones. They waited for him to come to. Then John knelt on the damp pavement, his face touching Daniel’s ear, to relay Wade’s warning.

  Touch her again, you die.

  They walked away, careful to move out of Daniel’s line of sight before heading back to the car. As they got in, Daniel cowered on the ground. He didn’t move for a long time. John and Frank climbed in the backseat and Wade started the car before Daniel pushed himself off the pavement and looked around.

  “Not so hot now is he?” Frank murmured. “I think we cracked a few bones.”

  Wade shifted the car into reverse, leaving the lights off. “Good. Now we’ll see if he’s learned his lesson.”

  “I heard once a wife beater, always a wife beater,” John said.

  Wade turned, a frown on his face.

  “Hey man, don’t get pissed at me. I’m just saying it’s what I heard.”

  “I hope for his sake it’s not true,” Wade mumbled.

  ***

  Kristina glanced at the clock. Daniel was late. The first couple of days after her conversation with Wade she’d worried he wouldn’t listen and pick a fight with Daniel. But nearly a week had passed and she hadn’t heard anything from her ex-husband. Assuming Wade had left Daniel alone, she’d been relieved. The last thing she needed was someone defending her. It would only make Daniel angrier, if that was possible.

  Gravel crunched outside and she looked to the window next to the couch. Finally.

  She picked Cadence up from the mat on the floor where she’d placed her in an attempt to get her to crawl, but the chubby baby preferred to roll everywhere.

  At the sound of the door opening, Kristina turned and braced herself for another argument. The words froze on her lips.

  Daniel stood in the doorway with his arm in a cast, his face a mess of bruises and cuts. Kristina’s heart tightened as guilt washed over her. Hot and prickly it traveled over her skin. Wade hadn’t listened.

  Daniel closed the door and walked into the room to the couch. He eased himself down, obviously in a lot of pain and then stared at her. Misery softened his gaze, the usual anger gone. He looked utterly dejected, as though he’d lost his best friend.

  “Jesus, Daniel. What happened?”

  He shook his head.

  Kristina could have sworn his chin trembled.

  “Two guys jumped me on Monday night when I came out of a bar. I don’t know why, they said something about some girl, but I don’t know what they were talking about. Honest to God, Kris, I thought they were going to kill me. I think I even blacked out. They didn’t say anything until just before they left. They just kept kicking me and punching me and then they took off.”

  “You don’t know who it was?” Kristina sat down on the coffee table in front of him. Cadence reached for his cast and Kristina shifted her away.

  Daniel shook his head again.

  She stared speechless, as he fidgeted with a loose thread on the sling. Wade wouldn’t do something like this. Besides, he knew Daniel would go to the cops and he couldn’t afford to go to jail. If Wade had been one of his attackers, Daniel would have recognized him.

  Daniel raised head, his eyes moist with tears. “When I was on the ground, I just kept thinking about us and all I’ve lost. Where did we go wrong?”

  “We just aren’t meant to be,” she didn’t know what else to say. Her chest hurt. She wanted to hold him and make his pain go away.

  Taking her hand in his good one, he leaned closer. “We are meant to be, Kris, I know that now. The whole time I thought they were going to kill me all I could think about was you and Cadence. I miss you so much and I’ve been a jackass, I know. I should have been patient with you, kinder. I just get so frustrated sometimes, and it seemed like you weren’t listening to me when I tried to help you. God, I never meant to hurt Cadence, you know that. People lose control sometimes. I’m only human.”

  Daniel stood, pulling her with him. Kristina struggled to hold Cadence still as he drew her close. He touched her face, his gaze on her mouth.

  Kristina froze, not sure if she should push him away or welcome this new Daniel. In his eyes she found the man she thought he was so long ago. She let his lips brush hers.

  He smiled. “Please, can’t we go back and try again?”

  She said nothing. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess. This Daniel she could fall in love with. She had loved this man but thought he was lost forever to her.

  “Let me stay the night, please.”

  “But what about Desiree, she—”

  “You’re all that matters. I don’t want her.”

  A tear slipped down his cheek and Kristina was undone.

  “Okay, just tonight,” she whispered.

  “You won’t regret it. We’re going to fix this. I want you back so much, I don’t care what you did before.”

  Kristina paused at his words. He didn’t care what she did? She pushed it away. If they could fix this, didn’t they owe it to themselves and to Cadence? Ignoring the voice in her head screaming at her to say no, Kristina allowed Daniel to stay.

  CHAPTER 9

  At Cadence’s soft babbling, Kristina rolled over, a sigh escaping her lips. The sun wasn’t up yet and her bedroom remained shadowed. She turned over and her heart fluttered. Daniel slept on the pillow next to hers, his mouth opened just a bit, soft snores issuing from his nose.

  They hadn’t made love the night before. He hadn’t even tried to touch her in that way. Somewhat disappointed, she’d lain next to him listening as he talked until the wee hours about the future and how much he loved her. He held her close until he had nothing more to say. Then he rolled away as he always did. Kristina had lain there, staring at his back, her heart wavering between wanting him back and needing more than she knew he was able to give.

  Now it was time for reality, to see if he could stay this way. Maybe the mugging, or whatever it was, had really changed his thinking. She eased off the bed holding her breath and then smiled at her silliness. He wouldn’t bite her head off for making noise. Hadn’t he said he was done with his tantrums?

  Tiptoeing to the dresser, she opened the drawer and pulled out a t-shirt. Without thinking, she pushed it close with her usual force.

  “Could you be louder? Maybe you could stomp around a bit or jump on the bed and make sure I’m up. What time is it anyway?”

  “It’s just after five. I have to get Cadence.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t so try to be quiet, okay?”

  “Okay,” she crept down the hallway and to Cadence�
�s room.

  Cadence giggled when she saw her and pulled herself up on the rail of her crib. Kristina reached for the light and thought better of it. He hadn’t freaked out, but there was no point in testing her limits quite yet.

  “Hey Monkey,” she whispered, and picked Cadence out of the crib. “Let’s get you changed and go have some breakfast.”

  “Sleeping in here!” Daniel growled from her room.

  Kristina closed her eyes and choked a curse; she’d forgotten to switch off the baby monitor. “Sorry.”

  She hurried downstairs. Daniel just wasn’t a morning person. He wouldn’t change overnight. He’d been so tender the night before, so unlike himself, she expected too much too soon.

  In the kitchen, she fell into the routine she’d adopted since Daniel left. With Cadence in her highchair chasing Cheerios around the tray, Kristina went to the small laundry room off the kitchen—really a closet her dad had fixed up—and threw in a load of laundry, bringing out the ones she’d left in the dryer the day before to fold them. She set the basket next to the couch and went to check on Cadence.

  She’d left bottles lined up along the sink, and quickly washed them, setting them on the counter to dry. While wiping the stovetop and the counter, she eyed her list from the day before posted to the fridge. She’d forgotten to clean the oven. On a page from the notebook she kept on the table Kristina added it to her list for the day, smiling as she wrote. That particular chore would see many lists before she worked up the motivation to do it. She hated cleaning the oven.

  Kristina stood and went to the coffee maker. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten to make coffee, a terrible sin. Coffee was her ambrosia, a heavenly gift from the gods; one couldn’t properly begin a day without it. She opened the cupboard—cringing as the rusted hinges squeaked in protest—to grab the filters and the coffee tin.

  She hummed as she worked, pausing now and then to pick up Cadence’s dropped keys and to wipe her messy face; pleased that for once, everything felt right with her world. No guilt over Daniel, no dread about what the future would bring, but a wide-open road filled with promise. If they could stay on track, if Daniel could really change, then they had a chance to be happy together.