by Melissa Good
She met eyes so dark with rage, they almost seemed purple in the amber light. Dar’s entire face was still, and her body tense and motionless, save her right hand, which was slowly clenching and unclenching. Good god. Kerry put her hand on the taller woman’s knee. “Dar?” It was like touching a vibrating engine, the tension fairly sang out of her body. “Are you…” Kerry let her words trail off, amazed at the pure anger being generated.
“How…” Dar managed to get out in a half growl, half groan, “…could they do that to you?”
Kerry wiped the moisture from her eyes and shrugged. “They thought they were doing the right thing, I guess. In their eyes, they were bringing me up properly,” she said.
“In my eyes, that was criminal child abuse, and they should be shot,” Dar answered. “And then beaten, and then stabbed, and then dragged behind a tractor down US 1.”
Kerry was surprised at how strange it felt to hear that. “Dar, they’re my parents,” she objected softly. “I’m sure they thought they were doing what was right.”
“I wouldn’t care if they were Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Theresa,” Dar replied. “Jesus, Kerry.” She reached out and caressed the blonde woman’s face. “How could they think taking away things you loved was right?”
The touch did something to her. Maybe it was the compassion, or the honest outrage in Dar’s eyes. Kerry tried to resist it, but she found herself moving forward and being pulled into a warm hug that threatened to become her whole world. And she so much wanted to let it.
She wanted to let her fears go, and fall into the strength she found herself cradled in, and never leave it. It hurt to tear herself away, and move back, and peer up at blue eyes that ached with misery for her. For me.
“Dar,” Kerry said softly. “I don’t…I thought I could keep this nice and simple, but I can’t. And the more I want to care for you, the more I think about what my father would do if he found out about us. Dar, I can’t watch you get hurt on my behalf. I can’t.” She put a hand out and touched the dark-haired woman’s arm. “You mean too much to me.” So. Kerry exhaled and felt the Tropical Storm 317
moment of silence between them. She looked right into Dar’s eyes and saw a slight narrowing there, a tilt of the head that projected a totally unexpected response to what she’d said.
“Kerry.” Dar stroked her hair, unintimidated. “It’s all right. He can’t hurt me.”
Kerry took a shuddering breath, and pulled back again. “He can. He will.
Dar, I’m telling you. He has people who do nothing but hunt around all day, looking for dirt and finding ways to screw over people.” She felt exhausted.
“It’s like a game to him.”
“He can’t hurt me,” Dar said again.
“Dar.” Kerry let her head drop. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with in him.”
Dar’s hand touched her chin and lifted it, forcing Kerry to meet the taller woman’s eyes. “He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with in me,” she returned the statement in a quiet, serious tone.
Silently, Kerry leaned her head against Dar’s shoulder, releasing a sigh.
“Kerry, there’s only one thing he can do that would hurt me,” Dar said after a moment, her tone changing again. “And that would be to drive you away…to take away from me a friend I’ve come to value very much.”
Checkmate. Kerry wasn’t sure if she should be relieved or simply scream in frustration. There was no way back from this for either of them in one piece.
“Jesus,” she finally whispered. “I don’t want that either.”
“Unless what you’re really saying is that you just…” Dar’s jaw worked a moment. “That you just aren’t interested, in being…um…in staying in a relationship, in which case, I understand.” She couldn’t hold Kerry’s eyes any longer and let her own drop to study the tile floor. “And even then, I…still don’t want to lose you as a friend.”
Kerry stared at the dark bent head in shocked silence for a long moment, then she let a small sound of dismay escape her throat. Her hands curled around Dar’s and she squeezed hard. “Oh god no, that is so not the case. Dar, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to…no…no, no…no…no, no…”
Blue eyes peeked up at her quietly. “I’ve got a lousy track record in that regard,” Dar said. “So I wondered.”
“Don’t wonder.” Kerry gave in and accepted the inevitable. “You’re stuck with me.”
Dar felt lightheaded with relief as she folded the blonde woman into her arms again, and they both exhaled simultaneously. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
Kerry sighed. It felt so good to tell someone; even Colleen only knew bits and pieces. “Kyle is the worst part. He’s Father’s bodyguard.” Her mind pictured his tall, silver-haired sleekness, and her stomach turned. “He does most of the dirty work. Sometimes I’m not even sure my father knows half of what he does.” She let her head rest against Dar’s collarbone, and paused a moment. “When I was in college, I was going out with a guy I’d known for a few years. I really liked him, and he was a nice guy—good family, very religious. You’d think I’d finally found something my father would approve of.”
Dar waited, glancing down to see the lost, aching expression in Kerry’s eyes. “What happened?”
318 Melissa Good
“He…Kyle said they didn’t really think this guy was right for me, but he said he knew how stubborn I was, so he had to make sure I did…the right thing.” Kerry’s voice went flat and remote. “So he took me into the back laundry room and, um…” She went silent, then shook her head. “And he told me he’d tell John all about it if I ever saw him again.”
Dar exhaled very slowly, feeling the rage start to build again.
“I was stupid. I went to my father and told him what happened, and you know what he did, Dar?” The blond woman smiled bitterly. “He talked to Kyle and decided I was lying. He brought him in, and made me apologize to him. And all the while, Kyle just smiled at me.” She laughed humorlessly.
“And then, of course, my mother got to me, chewing me out for ‘upsetting my father’ with my ‘shameful tales.’ ” Kerry paused. “I think…that night was the most alone I’d ever felt.” She spent a moment in quiet memory. “Saying goodbye to John was hard; he didn’t understand.” Kerry looked up at the pale, quiet face above her. “I can imagine what you’re thinking.”
“No,” Dar managed to get out. “And you most certainly can not imagine what I am thinking, which is a damn good thing, too.”
Where had that image of drawing and quartering come from? Kerry just looked at her, prickles running down her neck at the fierce tone in Dar’s voice.
“I guess it sounds so incredible. I just learned to live with it,” she concluded softly. “I didn’t even realize life could be different until I came down here.
Being on my own was…” She stopped. “Oh god, I can’t describe it…to make friends with whoever I wanted, do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it…”
She reached out a hand and touched Dar’s face. “And now you. I’m so scared, Dar. Whenever I’ve really wanted something, I’ve had to watch it be taken away, and I…” An awkward pause. “I really want this,” she whispered.
“You.” Another, longer pause. “Us,” she concluded very softly.
“Do you?” Dar whispered back.
“With all my heart,” Kerry replied, resting her head against Dar’s shoulder. “I don’t want you to get hurt, Dar, but, my god, I don’t want to lose you either.”
I don’t want to lose you. Dar felt herself calm as she processed the words and understood her greatest fear was unfounded this time. Kerry wasn’t walking away from her, and though there was trouble on the horizon, it wasn’t that kind of trouble. This kind of trouble, she could handle. Her questions had been answered, and a problem put forth. She set aside both the rage and the shy joy, and considered the problem first. “Does your father have any hold on you other than paternal?”
Kerry look
ed at her, puzzled. “I don’t understand the question.”
“Do you owe him money, does he have legal strings holding you?” Dar asked, her brows contracting slightly. “Anything like that?”
“No.” Kerry shook her head. “I support myself here, if that’s what you’re asking. You’ve made that more than comfortably possible, you realize.”
“I just pay people what they’re worth.” A tiny, tiny smile lit Dar’s face.
“So he couldn’t actually force you to come back.”
There was a long period of silence as a succession of emotions crossed Kerry’s expressive face, the idea something she apparently hadn’t considered before. At last, she half shrugged. “He’d find some way of getting me fired,”
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Kerry replied darkly. “Find some friend of his high enough up.”
Dar chuckled softly. “Not in this company. It’s up to your supervising manager, and that’s me. There is nobody that’s going to go head to head with me over this,” she said, with absolute confidence. “And even if he did, it wouldn’t matter.”
“Then he’ll go after you,” Kerry stated seriously. “He’ll find someone to dig and dig…until they uncover something he can use against you. And, Dar, the most obvious thing that pops to mind is us,” Kerry reminded her. “I know we said we’d keep it low-profile, but you know people talk. I’m sure at least a few of them are already.”
Dar didn’t look dismayed. On the contrary, she looked intrigued. “Then I’ll have to go after him first.” she replied.
“What do you mean?” Kerry asked hesitantly.
“You said he digs things up?” Dar asked.
She nodded. “He has investigators, that kind of thing.”
A slow nod of Dar’s head. “So do I. Only they’re not the kind that wear twelve-dollar fedoras and smell of cigar smoke, and I don’t have to pay them overtime.” She gazed at Kerry. “This is the Information Age, Kerry…and the truth is out there. You just gotta go find it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dar said. “Trust me, Kerry. I’ve faced down a lot bigger fish than your father.”
Kerry studied her, with a troubled expression. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?” she asked. “If something happens to you, Dar, I’ll…” She fell silent.
Dar smiled and took her hand, running her fingers over the skin lightly.
“Just leave it to me,” she told the blonde woman. “And, Kerry?”
“Hmm?” The reddened eyes blinked. “I’m sorry I got like this. I don’t usually,” she apologized.
“Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you said it so we could talk about it,” Dar replied quietly. “Rather than you just…” She shrugged. “…walking out or whatever.”
Kerry closed her fingers around Dar’s. “Is that what happened to you before?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Dar stared off into the darkness beyond the patio doors.
Kerry sighed. “I won’t ever do that to you, Dar, I swear.”
Dar slowly focused her attention on Kerry’s face, searching it for a long moment. “And I’ll always be there for you, Kerry. No matter what.”
It was a strange moment, Kerry thought. She could feel a faint shiver go down her back, and as she looked at Dar, some pale, almost translucent barrier between them seemed to drop. “That’s what friends do, they stand by each other, right?”
“Right.” Dar smiled. “Friend.”
Kerry slid gladly into the waiting arms and let the warmth wash over her.
We’ll find a way through it. Together.
320 Melissa Good DAR LEANED BACK against the couch, content to simply sit and hang on to Kerry, who was peacefully resting in her arms. They’d been sitting like that for a while, in relative silence, only the soft hiss of the waves audible through the half open balcony door. “Hey,” Dar finally murmured. “You like strawberries?”
Kerry seemed to come back from very far away. “What human being doesn’t like strawberries, Dar?” she inquired reasonably, smoothing her fingers over the soft cotton of her friend’s shirt. She could feel the gentle motion of Dar’s breathing, which seemed almost hypnotic to her. “Why?”
Dar felt Kerry’s touch idly roaming her body, and she had to swallow before she answered, “You want some?”
“Means I have to move,” Kerry complained, finding interesting things to trace with her fingers. “And I really like where I am,” she concluded softly.
“That’s true,” Dar acknowledged with a smile. “But they’re nice, big, juicy ones, and I have melted chocolate to dip them in,” she coaxed teasingly.
“Mmm.” Kerry smiled. “Do you always make it a habit of spoiling people you like rotten?” She peeked up at Dar’s face, which had creased into a smirk.
The expression faded after a moment, though.
“I don’t know, haven’t had much practice,” Dar admitted quietly with a faint shrug. “I just do what comes naturally.”
Kerry’s brow furrowed. “Dar, do me a favor, okay?”
A nod. “Okay.”
“You haven’t heard what it is yet,” the blonde woman objected. “If we ever bump into any of these people you were involved with, let me know.”
Dar looked taken aback. “That’s not really likely, but… Why?”
“So I can kick them in the shins,” Kerry told her. “And if you’re really nice, you’ll tell me ahead of time so I can put on the pair of steel-toed cowboy boots I bought in Austin last year.” She felt Dar’s body jerk as a laugh was forced out. “I mean it.”
Dar hugged her. “Thanks. I’d actually enjoy watching that,” she muttered wryly. Oh yes, especially… Her lips twisted into an ironic grin. Especially Elana, who so enjoyed telling me the only way I’d ever find love was to purchase it.
Kerry was so different from anyone she’d been involved with before…certainly worlds different than the tall, aristocratic Elana. Maybe I’ve been barking up the wrong tree all these years, she concluded with a sigh. Even in the best times with anyone else, it hadn’t felt anywhere near as wonderful as it did right this moment.
Kerry smiled, and wriggled closer, continuing her idle tracing. A button worked itself free somehow, and she traded cotton for skin, feeling Dar’s hands begin a gentle massage on her back. “Ooo. That feels great. I am going to be soo sore tomorrow,” she commented wryly. “After that climbing wall, I’ll be limping around all over the place. People are going to think I’m the world’s biggest klutz.”
Her fingers moved lower, and she felt a temperature change under them, the skin growing very warm. Puzzled, she probed a little further, and heard the soft sound as Dar stifled a gasp. “Hey.” Her brows creased, and she unbuttoned a few more buttons, pulling aside the taller woman’s shirt and peering at her. “Oh my god, Dar!”
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Guiltily, Dar glanced down. “It looks worse than it is. Really.” A mottled bruise covered a space the size of a soccer ball just under her ribs. “It’s just a little sore.”
“Dar, that’s bullshit!” Kerry objected. “You need to get that checked out.
Jesus! You could have ruptured something!”
Dar had to smile at Kerry’s worriedly indignant speech. “I’m sure I’d have keeled over by now if that was the case,” she reminded her friend. “It’s really nothing.”
Blonde brows knit. “Oh yeah?” Kerry eyed her. “Sit up.” She paused.
“Without using your hands.”
The taller woman hesitated and saw a triumphant smirk appear. “I said it was sore,” she grumbled. “Talk about klutzes, I should have gotten out of the way.”
Kerry exhaled. “Dar, Dar, Dar… Would a cold pack help?” she asked sympathetically. “You came over and helped me out. I guess it’s my turn.” She paused, wincing at the bruise. “You sure you don’t want to get that checked out? This time of night on a weekday, it probably won’t be busy at the hospital.”
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“No! I hate hospitals,” Dar replied stubbornly. “Look, if it still hurts tomorrow, I’ll stop by Dr. Steve’s on the way in to work and have him look at it, okay?” She paused and cleared her throat a awkwardly. “But, um…an ice pack is probably a good idea.”
Kerry patted her shoulder. “You stay here, I’ll get it.” She rose up off the couch and headed towards the kitchen. “And bring back some of your strawberries, too.”
Dar settled back with a smile. “If you pull the plastic container on the bottom shelf out and put it in the microwave for about three minutes, that’ll about do it.”
As she moved towards the refrigerator, Kerry just shook her head and retrieved a good amount of ice, which she put into the blender on the counter.
Then she pulled the requested container out and put it in the microwave, slightly popping up the top to vent it before she turned the machine on. “What is that?” she wondered briefly as she turned on the blender and watched it make snow. After a minute or two, she sniffed at the air. “Mmm.”
The blender stopped, and she put the ice in a heavy plastic bag she’d dug out of the closet. Then she set that aside and peeked in the microwave as a blast of warm, rich chocolate scent hit her. “Oh my god.” She gingerly pulled the container out and opened it, revealing a warm pool of the stuff. “Ho, boy.”
She put the dish on a small tray. Then, glancing around, she poked her finger in it and tasted. “Jesus, that is wonderful.”
Being around Dar, she realized, was an extremely sensual experience, and her senses seemed to be on hyperdrive lately. She left the tray and went back to the refrigerator, opening it and kneeling down, blinking when she spotted the strawberries. “Good grief, Dar!” she yelled into the living room.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Strawberries? Where did you get these, the fields outside Turkey Point?” She heard the soft laugh as she pulled the box out, a long plastic container with approximately two dozen of the fruits—laid out like roses on long stems with the leaves still attached. The berries themselves 322 Melissa Good were all larger than an average peach, and the scent was almost intoxicating.