by R B Hilliard
“Instead of staying with her after college, like we planned, I left her and moved to Texas, D. Once again, I bailed on her.”
“Max had been gone for years and you both had to live your lives. She doesn’t hold that against you. You need to let it go. As for Gage, he’s licking his wounds right now and you need to let him.”
I yanked my hair in frustration. “You know, hindsight is easy. I can see the flaws in Dooley’s execution. I can finally see what you see. But while I was in his house living it, I was so scared and confused. It was real, Dillon, so very real.”
“Did Gage say it wasn’t?” His defensive tone made me smile. Always my protector.
“Gage said that he would never believe that I would cheat on him unless he saw it with his own two eyes. Even then, he said he would have questioned it.”
He flinched and mouthed, “Ouch.”
“I know. Right? The thing is…I did question it. I questioned it the entire time. I just didn’t believe Dooley straight off the bat. I didn’t.”
“Until he made you call Gage.”
I nodded my head. “Until he made me call Gage.”
“I still say he’ll come around.”
“Being that I did the exact same thing as his ex, I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. Anyway, can we change the subject, please? I can’t talk about this anymore.”
“Sure thing jelly bean. What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t care, anything. Tell me something about you, something I don’t already know.”
“Hmmmm let me see. You don’t like spiders and I’m afraid of snakes.”
“Ha! Very funny.”
“No, seriously,” he said through his laughter, “Let’s see. I’ve got one. The music I choose for Sheila to play is mostly to tweak you.”
Sheila is what Dillon named the IntelliTunes at Dragonfly. The scary thing is that he treats it better than his supposed girlfriend. “I said tell me something I didn’t already know. What’s your favorite type of music?”
“Despite playing thrash and heavier stuff at the bar, I mostly play and listen to Classic Rock. How about you?”
“I like a little bit of everything. How did you get into music?”
“My dad was a musician and my mom was a back-up singer. That’s how they met.”
My eyes shot to him. “Was?”
“They are both deceased.”
“I’m sorry. Do you mind me asking how they died?”
He physically tensed at my question. “Yes, I do. It’s not something I talk about…ever.” His grey eyes bored through me.
“Okey dokey,” I said. “Do you have a favorite song?”
His eyes shot back to the road and he relaxed back into the seat. Talk about wrong question to ask. Still…it did make me wonder.
“In My Life.”
My eyebrows shot through the roof. “The Beatles?”
“Don’t look so surprised. I don’t like the Beatles version of the song, but love Ozzy Osbourne’s. How ‘bout you?”
“Right now it’s Free, by the Zac Brown Band,” I deadpanned.
He burst out laughing. “You’re a funny girl.”
“I try.”
“If you had one song to describe you, what would it be?” he asked.
“That’s easy. Brandi Carlile’s, Story. You?”
“Dust in The Wind,” he deadpanned and it was my turn to laugh.
I decided to ratchet it up to a more personal level. “What is it you see in Dana?”
His eyes drifted from the road to me and then three beats later back to the road. “She takes what I give her, no matter what that is, and is completely disposable.”
His answer did not surprise me in the least. “You are better than that,” I chided.
A smile spread across his beautiful face. “I know, but that’s all I have and all I want right now.”
“What about Ellie? You wanted more with her, didn’t you?”
His mouth thinned. I figured that I had stepped over the line again when he answered, “I did. For her, I would have risked it all.”
I was about to ask what he meant when his phone rang again. By the time he got off, the moment was lost. We spent the rest of the time talking and playing music. Gage called Dillon’s cell when we were ten minutes out. He wanted me to text Reyn and make sure she was at the apartment and was waiting on us. As soon as I got her “Yes,” we pulled over and I hopped out to strategize.
“Okay, here’s the plan. Dillon, you get in the car with me and Zip. Piper, you need to go in alone. If it’s a trap, we don’t want to be detected.” My heart rate sped up. He was using me as bait. As if answering my thought, he said, “None of us are comfortable with this but it makes the most sense. Take your time walking to the door. That way we can assess the situation and all get in place.” His hand curled around the nape of my neck and he dipped his head down to look me in the eyes. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I promise. Okay?”
His lips were right there, so close and so tempting. Would he push me away if I tasted him one last time?
Before I got the chance, he pulled back. “Let’s go.”
Dillon gave me a big hug. “We will be close by and won’t let anything happen to you, Piper. Trust me.”
“I do. I’m good,” I told him.
I jumped in, started the car and headed for my old apartment. I can do this, I silently chanted…over and over and over again.
Not ten minutes later I was pulling into my old parking space. I started to slowly count to one hundred. I wanted to make damn sure that the guys had a chance to check things out and get in place before I got out of the car. At fifteen, Reyn shot out the door like a bat out of hell with its ass on fire. She was half-dragging, half-carrying two suitcases behind her and I jumped from the car to help.
“Throw them in and let’s go!” she shouted. The panic in her voice motivated my ass to move. “Go! Go! Before he comes back!” she screeched. We threw her suitcases in, jumped in the car and got the hell out of there. My phone rang as we were pulling away.
“What the hell!” Gage yelled.
“I don’t know!” I shouted back. “She just told me to go and I did!”
“We’re pulling in front of you right now. Follow us. As soon as we get some place safe, we’ll pull over.”
“Got it.” I hung up and glanced over at Reyn. She looked awful. Her pretty blonde bob was now shoulder length and stringy. She looked gaunt and strung out like an addict. “Honey,” I said and grabbed her hand. She burst into loud heart-wrenching tears.
A good long twenty minutes later Reyn was finally ready to talk. My phone rang. Of course it was Dillon and not Gage.
“What?” I rudely answered.
“Bitchy much?” His sarcastic tone made me smile.
“You interrupted.”
“Well hopefully you didn’t get very far because we’re about to stop, grab some lunch and talk.”
I relayed this to Reyn and she gave me a despondent shrug.
Ten minutes later we pulled in beside a food truck. Everyone put in their orders and sat down at a nearby picnic table. All Reyn could stomach was a few French fries. Having been in her shoes, I was not going to press her. Baby steps.
The look on her face told me that she didn’t know where to begin, so I helped her start. “Do you know what happened to me?” Her eyes instantly dropped to her hands and she nodded. I swallowed thickly. Would this ever not be hard to talk about? “Did you know Dooley was going to kidnap me before it happened?”
Her head snapped up and she looked me straight in the eyes. “No! I swear I had no idea that he was planning something like that, Piper! You have to believe me.” The desperation in her voice made me pull back.
“What did you know?” Gage asked in a hard, demanding tone.
“I overheard Dooley telling Zeke that he needed for you to be on the Arkansas trip.” Her eyes darted to me and back to Gage. “And to make sure that Selina was there, too.”
/> “Hey, you’re not in trouble,” Dillon soothed. The second she got a good look at him, her eyes widened in wonder.
“Reyn, this is my good friend Dillon Whitaker. I work with him at Dragonfly,” I told her.
Dillon smiled at her and she blushed. Then she turned back to me and asked, “The same place Ellie works?”
It dawned on me that we hadn’t spoken in over six months. She had no clue as to what had transpired in my life after I left Austin. “Yes,” I answered. “Look, there’s a lot to talk about and I promise we will have time to catch up later. Right now, we need you to tell us what you know about Dooley. Do you think you can do that for me?”
Chapter Fifteen
Reyn let out a deep sigh. “A week before the Arkansas trip I saw Dooley sitting in his car outside our apartment. I didn’t really think anything about it. I figured he was probably dropping something off or… I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Anyway, I decided to go say hi to him. As soon as he saw me heading his way he took off. That, and the surprised look on his face, tipped me off that something wasn’t right. Not even three minutes later Zeke called and asked me to meet him at Katz’s Deli in a half an hour. I started to tell him about seeing Dooley, but he told me he’d see me there and hung up. Thirty minutes later I was having lunch with Zeke… and Dooley.” She gave me an apologetic look. “They told me that you and Dooley were romantically involved and that Gage didn’t know about it. Dooley said that Gage was like a son to him and that things were very sensitive between the three of you. I explained that you were my friend and that he was putting me in a bad position. He promised that you planned to break it to Gage the following weekend.” She glanced over at Gage. “He seemed so worried about hurting you and I was so stupidly crazy about Zeke that I didn’t even question it.” Her eyes welled. “I didn’t realize that he was just playing me. When he begged me to keep quiet, I did. I’m so sorry, Piper. If I had just told you about it then, maybe Dooley wouldn’t have kidnapped you.” I wrapped my arm around her and squeezed.
“When did you figure out it was all a bunch of bullshit?” Gage asked.
“I remember thinking it was strange. I mean, no offense or anything, but Dooley is kind of…old, and no offense meant Piper, but Gage, you are freaking hot.” She looked over at me. “You would have to be crazy to choose Dooley over Gage. Plus, you loved Gage and I mean loved him. Anyone who saw you two together knew that it was the real deal.” I could feel Gage’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t look at him because all I would see is what I had lost. “I gotta give it to the man, though,” Reyn continued, “he is a master manipulator. By the time I left Katz’s, I was convinced that you and Dooley really wanted to be together. When I overheard Dooley telling Zeke to make sure that Gage and Selina were with him in Arkansas, I thought he might be trying to get them together. If Gage cheated on you before you broke the news to him, then you would both have been in the wrong and we all know what happens when you put two wrongs together.” Yeah, nothing. I couldn’t help looking at Gage when she said this. Our eyes met for a brief second before he looked away. “But then Gage called from Arkansas and left a message on the machine. He sounded really worried about you,” Reyn continued. She looked over at Gage, “I just didn’t have the heart to tell you that she was with Dooley.”
“Who told you that Piper was at Dooley’s house while we were in Arkansas?” Zip asked. He had been so quiet that I almost forgotten he was there.
She paused for a second to gather her thoughts. “Sorry, I’m just trying to remember it all in the right order here. Okay, you all left for Arkansas on a Thursday night.” She turned to Gage and asked, “You left the message on Sunday?”
“Saturday night,” he corrected.
“That’s right, because right after I heard it I called Zeke and asked if he knew where Piper was. He told me not to worry. Piper was safe at Dooley’s and that he would take care of Gage.” She paused, as if collecting her thoughts. “Look, I loved Zeke and I thought he loved me too. Even though I had questions, I chose him and in doing so, also chose Dooley. I backed the wrong horse and you’ll never know how sorry I am for that.” She squeezed my hand.
“Hey, stop beating yourself up,” I told her. “You’re not the only one Dooley fooled.” Not by a long shot.
“Where were you when all of this was happening?” Dillon asked Zip.
“Fucking clueless. I had no idea.”
“I didn’t either,” Gage said, “but I should have.” Once again I could feel his eyes on me.
“When did you realize it was all a lie?” I asked.
She dropped her eyes back to her feet and got really quiet.
“Reyn?” Dillon quietly called her name.
She looked at Gage for a beat and then said, “Zeke was acting strange when he returned from Arkansas. When I asked him about you and Selina, he shrugged it off and told me that you found out about Dooley and Piper’s affair. He said that in retaliation, you and Zip were planning on betraying Dooley and that bad shit was about to go down. He said that Dooley was sending Piper to North Carolina in order to keep her safe. When things settled down, Piper was supposed to come back and marry Dooley.” I made a gagging noise and she gave me a sad smile. “Right after that, Gage and Zip took off and Zeke was an absolute bear cat. I thought I would never hear the end of it. All he talked about was how much Dooley had done for you both and how ungrateful you were in return.” She ran her hands through her dirty, stringy hair. “You looked guilty, Gage. Zeke gave it to me in such a way that I didn’t even think to question it!” She was angry at herself for believing the lies and I felt for her.
“Go on,” Gage encouraged.
“I tried to call you,” she told me, “but your phone number was no longer in service and Susannah wouldn’t tell me anything. She wouldn’t even tell me where she was.”
“That’s because I told her to keep her mouth shut,” Zip said. “If she told you, you would tell Zeke and Zeke would run straight to Dooley. We had just gotten out of that mess. There was no way we were going back.”
She nodded in understanding. “It took about a month for everything to settle down. Dooley wasn’t around as much, which meant that Zeke and I had more time to spend with each other.” She took a deep swallow. “He acted very protective of me. He pretended that he was in love with me.” Her voice cracked when she said this and Dillon wrapped a comforting arm around her.
“I bet he did,” Gage murmured. I gave him a quick kick under the table in response.
The lost look on her face made my heart hurt. “He was possessive and I thought he was in love with me. I liked it. I liked thinking he was so crazy about me that he couldn’t stand for me to be out of his sight. I never felt that from a man before and it felt good. I felt loved and safe.”
I knew exactly what she was talking about. She was right, it did feel good. In fact, it felt great.
“Anyway,” she continued, “about two months ago I spent the night at Zeke’s, which I did pretty much every night, and headed to work early the next morning. I planned on stopping by my apartment on my lunch hour to grab more clothes, but on the way to my place realized that I had left my apartment keys sitting on the dresser in Zeke’s room. So, on the way to my apartment, I detoured to his house to grab them. I was surprised to see his motorcycle in the driveway, but was excited that I was going to get to see him for a few minutes on my break.”
I knew where this was headed and, by the looks on the boy’s faces, they did too.
“I heard noises when I entered the apartment and thought Zeke was in his office on the phone. He hated to be interrupted when he was talking business.” Her eyes closed and she let out a self-deprecating laugh. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I had shouted the house down because he wouldn’t have heard me.”
“How many?” Gage quietly asked.
How many what? I looked at Reyn and then Gage and then again back at Reyn.
“Two,” she answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
>
“Two what?” I asked, clearly not catching on.
Gage’s lips twitched. “Girls, Princess. Zeke was entertaining two girls in his bed.”
“Oh,” I mouthed while trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. Gage, Zip, and Dillon all smiled. I scowled at them. “You don’t sound too surprised by this,” I accused.
“We’re not,” Zip said, “Zeke is not a one woman man.” He looked at Reyn and flinched. “Sorry sugar.”
She gave him a sad smile.
“Why didn’t you try to find me?” I asked. “You knew I was in North Carolina.”
A guilty look appeared on her face.
“Oh shit,” Zip said.
“What?” I asked, again wondering what I’d missed.
“He was waiting outside after I got off of work that night. He apologized over and over. He even cried,” she said. Her eyes begged for understanding.
Finally I caught on. “Really, Reyn? You went back after you caught him with not one but two girls?”
“I know, I know,” she groaned. “It was stupid. Believe me, nothing was the same after that. I worried every day that while I was at work Zeke was having threesomes. My stomach hurt all the time. Every time I ate anything, I felt like throwing up.” That explained her weight loss.
“Losing trust in someone you love can really fuck you up,” Gage said. He looked straight at me when he said it and the anger in his tone made me flinch.
“Enough,” Dillon warned. Then he turned to Reyn and asked, “What happened to make you call Susannah and warn Piper?”
“Last week Dooley threw an impromptu pool party. Everyone was drinking and swimming. Dooley and Zeke had started drinking early. I’m talking like ten-in-the-morning kind of early. That’s what prompted the party. Anyway, smack in the middle of the party Lester drove up in one of Dooley’s cars. His face looked awful, like he had been in a fight or something.”
Dillon snorted and she gave him a questioning look. He waved it off, “Sorry, please continue.”