by Beth Flynn
“They were two years ahead of me. I didn’t hang with them, but I did have Lucy in P.E., and Lenny tutored me for a semester in science. I didn’t have any reason not to be nice to them.”
“Why don’t you go say hello?” Anthony prodded.
Assuming he wanted to speak to Alexander and Brooks alone for a moment, Christy agreed. Besides, it would feel rude not to acknowledge them.
During Christy’s absence, it was all Brooks could do to stay in his seat. He barely heard anything Anthony and Alexander were discussing. And he didn’t care. Because it didn’t matter. She was here. Barely five tables away from him. His mind scrambled for a way to interact with her. He wasn’t the type to ask for a formal introduction, so he would have to continue observing and wait for an opportunity to make the best of it.
Fifteen minutes had passed when Anthony signaled to Christy that their food arrived. The three bikers watched as Lenny stood when Christy did. It was obvious by the guy’s expression that he had a crush on Christy, and Anthony told her so when she got back to the table.
“Yeah, he might’ve back then, too. But he never acted on it. He’s totally harmless,” she said as she placed her napkin in her lap.
“Ya think?” Alexander laughed.
“Don’t make fun of them,” Christy snapped. “I’m sorry, Alexander,” she hastily added. “It’s just that they had a rough time of it back in high school. But you know, they’ve come a long way. I think I learned more about them in the past fifteen minutes than I ever did before.”
She took a bite of her salad and set her fork down to pick up her water. After taking a sip, she added, “They’re both still in college. Lucy is doing something with disease control and Lenny is into nuclear physics. Whatever that is.” She laughed.
Brooks didn’t like what he was feeling, but he couldn’t shake it. Without warning, a feeling of emptiness descended and threatened to swallow him whole. And for the first time in his life, he felt alone. He recognized the dark hole in his soul and wrestled with the thought that the only one who could fill it was sitting across the room from him. And just like that, he remembered all those years ago, when she appeared to be glowing. Maybe it was just for him. He rapidly shook off the sappy sentiment. I’m Jonas Brooks, he reminded himself. I don’t have feelings. I don’t care about people. Haven’t in a long time and never will. The anesthesia from my surgery back then is still playing with my brain.
In a feeble attempt to lighten his own mood and steer Christy away from the subject of Lucy, he told an old urban legend, inserting himself as the perpetrator of a repulsive prank he supposedly played on his stepmother. Let them think I really did it, he told himself. They’ll definitely believe it since they know I’m capable of worse.
“That is disgusting,” Christy said, but she couldn’t help but laugh at Brooks’ repugnant tale of how he took revenge on his stepmom. A woman he apparently despised. Besides, it was mild compared to what Christy now knew he could do without a second thought. “And, I think I’m done with dinner,” she added, laying her fork down.
“I think we all are,” Anthony agreed as he signaled the waitress for their check.
Brooks was getting ready to tell them he’d made the whole thing up when he noticed Lucy stand, push her chair in, and walk toward the restrooms. She had to wait a few minutes for a family of six who blocked her way. He let a few seconds pass. Then a couple more. Finally, ignoring his body’s betrayal, reminiscent of six years earlier, he felt himself rising from his seat against his will and heading toward the men’s room.
Chapter 2
Lucy Renquest washed and dried her hands. She checked herself out in the restroom mirror and wondered what her life would’ve been like if she’d had Christy Chapman’s looks. Christy was one of the few kids at school who wasn’t mean to her or Lenny. Christy had been quiet and reserved but not cruel like the others. Lucy was more than flattered when Christy not only approached their table but took the time to sit with them and talk. She seemed genuinely interested in their lives; Lucy couldn’t help but wish someone from their old high school would happen upon the three of them. She wanted to be seen with one of the cool kids. Just once in her life, she wanted to feel important and popular. She had no way of knowing Christy Chapman had been lonelier than her back then. She was completely taken aback when Christy confessed she’d had no real friends in high school. At least Lucy had her twin. She let out a sigh when she thought of her brother. His puppy dog eyes kept passing over Christy during their entire conversation. He was smitten with her back then, and it was obvious he still carried a torch. Her brother was as unremarkable in the looks department as she was.
Still staring into the mirror, she took in her mousy appearance. Her brown eyes were way too big for her face and her thick glasses only magnified them. She thought of those alien pictures she’d seen and couldn’t help but compare herself to them. She had a wide forehead, limp brown hair that hung to her shoulders, and huge glasses that always slipped down to the end of her nose. She was lanky, underweight, and so pale, she could easily be cast as an extra in a vampire movie. She picked up her purse and left the restroom. She collided in the hallway with a busboy and the impact sent her sprawling. Her purse flew open and most of its contents were scattered across the floor.
She started to apologize while simultaneously trying to gather her belongings when she heard a voice say with a snicker, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the uglier half of the Renquest incest twins. If your homely self hasn’t found anybody to relieve you of your virginity by now, I’d be glad to do it. Unless, of course, your brother already took care of it for you.”
She’d recognize that voice anywhere. Artie Kane was one of the worst bullies she and Lenny had faced back in high school. Why? Why does he have to be here and ruin the high I’m still feeling from talking to Christy? she wondered. Lucy stood and courageously met his eyes. He stood there smugly, holding the empty tub he’d been carrying to bus tables.
He slowly perused her from head to toe and sneered. “You know what, on second thought, I wouldn’t want to infect my di—” Artie’s eyes widened as his words stopped abruptly. He was staring over Lucy’s shoulder and started to stammer.
“I think you owe Miss Lucy an apology,” came a deep voice from behind her.
She twirled around and gasped when she saw the man who must’ve come out of the restroom and walked up behind her. He was one of the people who’d been sitting at Christy’s table. How does he know my name? Christy must’ve mentioned it, she figured. He gently pushed Lucy to the side and roughly grabbed Artie by his right arm.
Without looking at her, the huge biker said, “Stand guard outside the men’s room. If anybody tries to use it, make up an excuse as to why they can’t come inside.”
Lucy was at a loss for words. All she could manage was a nod. It seemed like time was grinding to a halt as she watched Artie drop his empty dish tub on the floor as he was roughly dragged by the big man into the men’s room. She stood in front of the door and prayed she wouldn’t have to lie to anybody who needed to go in. She started to tremble when she heard Artie’s muffled cries. Not much time had passed when the door opened, and she turned around to see the big man exiting the restroom, adjusting his zipper. Before the door closed behind him, she thought she saw Artie on the floor, lying in the fetal position with his pants around his ankles.
“I go by Brooks and I know you’re a friend of Christy’s. If anybody ever tries to bother you again, you come find me.” Unless I find you first, Lucy Renquest, he thought. He could tell by her expression she didn’t remember him. And why would she? It’d been years and he hadn’t told her his real name back then, plus he’d gained at least fifty pounds, given up shaving his head, and acquired more facial tattoos.
She stared up at him, her eyes wider than saucers, her glasses enlarging them. She was surprised but didn’t flinch when he softly caressed her cheek with the back of his tattooed and calloused hand. “You remind me of someone
I used to know,” he said, before adding that she could find him at Brooks’ Bait & Tackle. He then rattled off a well-known and popular intersection.
“Th-th-thank you,” she barely whispered. “For standing up for me.”
He gave her a look that sent an unfamiliar fear coursing through her veins. It wasn’t the kind of fear that frightened her. This feeling was new and stimulating. Like she’d stuck her finger in a light socket and instead of fearing for her life, she felt more alive than ever before. His smoldering eyes and the fact that she liked the way he was looking at her caused her to shiver. He had an animal lust that pierced her conscience. She’d never felt anything like it. Her knees suddenly felt weak.
Brooks saw his reflection in her glasses. It was all he could do to not drag her outside to his motorcycle and take her with him.
“Wh-what did you do to him?” she asked. Her voice came out hoarse.
“I relieved him of his virginity,” he answered evenly.
Chapter 3
Lucy smiled herself silly over the course of the next week. She happily floated through her days on a wave of euphoria. The feeling was foreign, and she mentally pinched herself a thousand times to not only make sure it was real but to allow herself the luxury of thinking about him. Brooks. He’d come out of nowhere and slayed the enemy.
Honestly, slayed might’ve been stretching it a bit. She knew Brooks hadn’t killed Artie nor literally relieved him of his virginity. He’d likely humiliated and scared him enough to make him think twice about bullying her or anyone else in the future. Satisfied with the assessment of her newfound hero, she continued to bask in the memory of the attention he’d given her. The kind of notice she’d dreamt about, fantasized about, had even witnessed but had never experienced.
Not one time in her twenty-two years had a single person defended her. Lenny had tried once when they were in seventh grade, and after being on the receiving end of a minor playground beating for his efforts, he retreated into his shame and studies. They would eventually be the dual target of the viciousness only a high schooler could perfect.
The twins were relieved and grateful when the malicious gossip and cruel pranks didn’t hitch a ride with them as they entered college. They’d purposely chosen different universities, but in retrospect, it probably wasn’t necessary.
All those years of relying on her brother and schoolwork for companionship were now to her detriment. Lucy realized too late that she didn’t know how to socialize, and although college wasn’t fraught with the type of cruelty she’d been victim to before, it was even lonelier without Lenny. She went from getting a truckload of attention she didn’t want to being practically invisible.
That is, until the day Brooks showed up in the restroom corridor of an average restaurant. Like a knight in shining armor, he swooped in from nowhere and championed her. She couldn’t deny there was something oddly familiar about him but chalked it up to having seen too many movies with big, scary bad guys. She’d never been attracted to his type. When she let herself consider it, she didn’t really have a type. Lucy didn’t know what it was like to be on the receiving end of positive attention from the opposite sex. Then again, after receiving so much negativity, she’d pretty much turned her back on the world and its inhabitants as she concentrated on her future.
A hot breeze shook her from her musings. It swirled around her head, bringing with it the dreamy aroma of the ocean, salt, and the cinnamon-sugared cupcakes she’d baked for her rescuer. She smiled, convinced the air smelled better than all of those things combined. Because to Lucy, it smelled like hope.
As she sat now, mustering up the courage to go inside Brooks’ Bait & Tackle, she couldn’t help but be optimistic for something that had eluded her for years. A relationship, whether it be romantic or not—she didn’t care either way—had always seemed a distant dream. For the first time, it felt like a real possibility. She remembered how the look Brooks had given her made her knees shaky. She tried to convince herself she would be okay if she’d only imagined it. Would someone, could someone like Brooks at least be her friend?
She got out of her car, and after filling up her lungs with a healthy dose of air and standing as tall as her spine allowed, she went inside. It had taken five days, four hours, and twenty-six minutes for her to find that courage. And less than ninety seconds to send it crawling back into a place of darkness where hopes and dreams went to die.
Chapter 4
Five days, four hours, and twenty-six minutes earlier…
Instead of returning to the table, Brooks quietly waited in the restroom corridor and watched as Lucy met her brother at the front of the restaurant near the cash register. He waited until they left before he approached the windows to see which way they’d headed. He gazed out over the parking lot where Lenny was hugging her goodbye. They’d apparently met at the restaurant in separate vehicles, and Brooks couldn’t help but frown when he saw her climb into a light blue car. He knew of several instances where that particular model had been rear-ended, and each time the car had burst into flames. Someone needed to stop the automaker from turning out these death traps, but suing Ford wasn’t his immediate concern. After infiltrating Lucy Renquest’s life, one of his first priorities would be to make sure she had a safe car to drive.
He grimaced inwardly, knowing he couldn’t take full note of her license plate. But, he had her name, the make and model of her car, and enough contacts to easily track down her address. A firm hand gripping his shoulder didn’t startle him but did pull him from his thoughts.
“Will I see you at the camp, big guy?” Alexander asked, as he turned his head to follow Brooks’ gaze.
Without looking at him, Brooks replied, “Nah. I have more pressing business.”
Alexander retrieved a pen from near the cash register and walked back over to his friend. Grabbing Brooks’ hand, he turned it over and wrote on it. “I’m thinking you might need this when you go see whoever it is you plan on asking for help in tracking down that sweet and innocent young lady.”
There was no mistaking the warning in Alexander’s voice. He didn’t need to vocalize what he was thinking. Brooks recognized it in his tone. I know you’re going to find her even without me giving you her license plate, so hurry up and get it over with. Don’t be stupid, Brooks. Our club doesn’t need this kind of attention. And Lucy sure as shit doesn’t need yours. Brooks narrowed his eyes at his friend before stalking out of the restaurant.
His first stop was the bait shop where he found Lewis, a retired boat captain who’d managed the place for years. He gave a description of Lucy and left the man with explicit directives on how she could contact him. Completely satisfied that Lewis would handle his request as instructed and ignoring the man’s baffled expression, he headed for his next stop. Within nine minutes of arriving, Brooks had an address for twenty-two-year-old Lucy Renquest. He would give her ten days to come to him.
Chapter 5
After discovering the unkind woman behind the counter at Brooks’ Bait & Tackle had never met a man named Brooks, a devastated Lucy found her way back to her car. She was so distraught she didn’t even remember to take the cupcakes with her. It was probably for the best since she would’ve dumped them in the nearest trash bin anyway. The man who’d called himself Brooks apparently had no affiliation with the bait shop and had only used it as a pretense. For what reason, she hadn’t a clue. A million possibilities swirled around her brain, and finally the only logical one took up residency. He wasn’t her knight in shining armor. He was a phony who’d probably helped her out so he could brag about it to Christy Chapman. So he could look like a hero in the eyes of a beautiful woman who men tripped over themselves to please. That was the only explanation that made sense.
At that very moment, Lucy wanted nothing more than to hate Christy, to hold her responsible for Brooks’ betrayal, but she didn’t have the heart to make accusations against one of the few people from high school, other than her teachers, who’d ever treated her wit
h kindness.
She numbly drove around Naples with nowhere in particular to go. She mechanically used her fingers to tap out the numbers in her head on the warm steering wheel, whispering them out loud as she drove. Before her father died, he’d insisted on teaching her a memory game. She’d been only four years old at the time, but even at such a young age, she loved the game and basked in the praise she’d received from him. She’d used the technique many times to her advantage since then. Aside from her high IQ, studying for tests was a breeze thanks to her father’s tutelage.
She didn’t want to head home to wallow in her sorrow. She didn’t feel like dropping by the college to make sure her classes were set for the upcoming semester. They wouldn’t be resuming for at least a month, and she mentally kicked herself for not taking the vacation she’d promised herself. Instead, she’d filled up her summer with volunteering and home projects. She spent a lot of her free time at the summer tutoring programs being offered in some of Naples’ more disadvantaged elementary schools. She could’ve done the same for the local middle and high schools but couldn’t bring herself to walk the halls of any places that were invisibly stamped with echoes of bullies and those they’d traumatized. Of course the younger ones were tormented too, but Lucy felt the level of viciousness was kicked up several notches by the time those kids hit pre-puberty.
As much as she loved caring for the home she’d grown up in, Lucy just didn’t feel up to working on another house project. Upon their graduation from high school, their mother had offered the twins their childhood home. Mrs. Renquest had been able to live a comfortable life after their father, her husband of thirteen years, had died. But she’d become disenchanted with South Florida over the years. Due to a recent medical diagnosis, the heat was becoming unbearable for her. And the majority of snowbirds who were showing up in bigger droves every year were downright rude. So she opted to try small-town living in Maine. Since both of her children had their hearts set on Florida universities, she offered them their modest three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage home that sat on a quiet street in a middle-class neighborhood. Lenny politely declined and chose to live on campus. But not Lucy. She loved their home. It had always been her sanctuary. But for the first time in as long as she could remember, Lucy didn’t seek the comfort of its cream-colored walls or the plushness of her favorite chair by the bay window. She wasn’t in the mood to sit in the air-conditioned patio area she’d enclosed with faux glass panels, giving it a greenhouse effect without the blistering heat. She normally loved gazing out over her lush and flowering backyard. She enjoyed watching the birds as they splashed around in the cement birdbath she’d recently added. But not today. She was too heavy with the dull and colorless weight of a crushed heart.