Requested Surrender

by Riley Murphy

  He was surprised when she nodded.

  “Someone you loved?”

  “It was my fault. I was bad and things like that happen around me.”

  “You’re not bad.”

  She turned her face into his neck and whispered, “I was the one who caused the accident. I was never supposed to know. But then…then on my thirteenth birthday I found out the truth.”

  David remained quiet as he tried to piece together his own ideas about what she was telling him. Then he asked, “Does this have to do with your brother?”

  “Yes. I’m the one who made him a monster.”

  She sounded so sure he frowned, “How?”

  “When I was four, I threw the ball that caused boiling water to scald his face and neck. He’s disfigured because of me. He might have been a nice person if…if…it didn’t happen.”

  “You discovered this on your thirteenth birthday? Someone told you?” No wonder she hated parties and no wonder she didn’t want to go to her brother’s birthday party. From what she just said too, her brother’s appearance had little to do with him being a monster, as it had more to do with why he was one.

  She crushed her cheek against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “It was my own fault. I went in that fort to play seven minutes of heaven. My brother dared me to and I wanted to go besides. But then my dad came and he pulled me out of there. He got on his knees and was going to crawl in after the boy I was with, when I tried to stop him. He was so mad, but me and that boy didn’t do anything. We just talked. We were silly, nervous and…well, when I put a hand on my dad’s back to get him to stop scaring Jimmy, he turned on me. He grabbed my arm and slapped me in the face. He slapped me.”

  She repeated and David hugged her tighter.

  “Then, after that he asked if ruining my brother’s life wasn’t enough for me. Did I have to steal all his friends too? He pushed me away, and the look on his face? It was horrible. I knew he hated me and then I knew why, when he said that I was the one who caused my brother’s accident. Up until then the details were always vague and hardly discussed. After that though, the subject was never brought up again. But my brother didn’t let it go. He saw my dad grab me. He saw him slap my face. He knew how humiliated I was and how awful I felt and he used it to make my life a living hell from that day forward. He got all his friends to do the two-tap, he called it. Grab Racy-Lacy by the arm and clip her on the chin. It was a game to them. A nasty horrible game, but I let him do it…them do it, because I was the one who caused the accident. It was me. I could never let them know how I felt. If they knew I cared, it would have been worse. There’s always worse.”

  David stroked her back as she clung to him. Eventually her grip softened, and when he heard her even breathing, he knew she’d fallen asleep. He let her stay that way as he contemplated what she’d shared. No wonder she worried about bad things happening. Her father had planted that fertile seed. How dare a parent—in such a position of power in a child’s life—lay that kind of blame at the door and then slam it shut without letting the child seek forgiveness. Not that Lacy had much to be forgiven for. An accident was an accident. Terrible things happen, but everyone deserved the opportunity to deal with them. Her father had robbed her of that opportunity and had given her brother the means to exploit it.

  He’s only mean to me…

  Yeah, like fucking hell. He gathered her in tighter. Come Saturday, they’d see about that.

  An hour later, or it could have been longer, he tucked her into her bed. He was all the way to the door when she stirred.

  “David?”

  He turned and waited.

  “Why can’t I sleep in your bed with you?”

  Finally. “You haven’t asked to.”

  He went into his own room, positive his sheets weren’t even warm when she arrived bedside and he found himself waiting again. She had on her robe and she was clutching the lapels.

  “Can I sleep with you in here?”

  He didn’t hesitate. Only flicked the sheets aside, opened his arms and invited, “Come on, angel.”

  In a flash, she dropped the robe and dove in. He thought she was going to settle after the evening she had, but when she didn’t, he frowned, even though his eyes were closed. She was sliding all over him, so he grabbed a hold of her and cracked a lid looking down her. “I’m not an amusement park to ride.”

  “Yeah, but you’re so warm and you feel so good. Do you know I’ve never been in a bed naked to your naked before?”

  He smiled in the darkness. “No?”

  “Um uh.”

  Both his eyes opened and he stared at the ceiling. “Lacy, what are you doing?”

  She kissed his stomach. His abdomen and then lower, as she said, “Checking for defects. If I’m going to take a ride I want to make sure all the parts are functioning.”

  They were functioning all right, and when she wrapped her soft lips around his hardest piece of equipment, he closed his eyes and sighed. She had the best damn mouth…when it was between his legs.

  ***

  David stood away from the partygoers and examined the wall of family photos. With each new one he looked at he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Lacy’s family, whether conscious or not, had spelled out their dysfunction on this wall. In graduating degrees of unhappy changes he saw it. First with the pictures of the quintessential family. Two beaming parents always together, paired with two perfectly formed children hugging one another. Those shots rode the top tier. Next row down were slightly happy parents on either side of their two children. One of which didn’t look so good now that he’d been maimed. Then the next row under that one, halfway through, something else changed and he knew what it was. Lacy appeared to be standing a good foot away from the family unit in each of the shots. Worse, her brother, who in David’s estimation was barely disfigured, seemed to be clinging to his parents more and more. With each shot after that, it was almost as if he could literally see the progression of Lacy becoming an outsider in her own home.

  If he hadn’t already gotten the fact that the sun rises and sets on their boy, he would have figured it out from these images. The question was why? The guy was a spoiled asshole. Not only did his parents spoil the shit out of him, but the friends he surrounded himself with did as well. It was as if he had his own pity party going on. What the kid needed was someone to kick him in his self-indulgent ass and show him what he should be grateful for. He had a wicked sense of humor and if he directed it in a positive way he might make some real friends.

  “I see you found our wall of shame.”

  David turned to Beth, Lacy’s mother. It was hard not to like her. She was an older version of the one woman he thought was spectacular, so what was not to like? “You have a beautiful family.”

  She eyed the photos and smiled. “I think so.” When she looked up at the wall, she frowned. “I don’t suppose you could take that photo at the top, the one in the middle of my babies, down for me, could you?”

  David spied the picture of Laurence and Lacy as small children and nodded. “Sure.” As he reached for it he heard her murmur.

  “I don’t know why Lars put that one up at the top. It’s my favorite one of the twins.”

  The only thing David was shocked about was learning that Laurence and Lacy were twins, because he definitely knew why Lars had placed that photo up there. The image looked like the last photo taken before Laurence had the accident. Handing Beth the frame, he spied Laurence out of the corner of his eye, zeroing in on something from across the room.

  Lacy.

  The way her brother stalked her was maddening.

  “It was an accident,” Beth whispered.

  When David turned back to her, he noticed she was stroking her children’s faces through the glass of the frame. And suddenly it came to him. Lacy hadn’t been wandering, she’d be trying to escape to survive. That discovery didn’t sit well with him.

  “Of course it was. Lacy was too young to know an
y better. Not that it mattered. She’d never intentionally harm anyone.”

  “Who told you that Lacy was involved?”

  David kept one eye on her brother and said, “She did.”

  “Excuse me?”

  He was going to continue the conversation with Beth, but then he heard Laurence address Lacy for the first time since they’d arrived, and that encounter trumped whatever was bothering her mother at the moment. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to excuse me.”

  Lacy was no doubt heading for the back patio when her brother closed in on her. David watched both their backs as he stalked over to them. He heard Laurence say, “Still cleaning up dog shit and cat puke for a living?”

  A few of his little flock of friends meandered around him. To David, some of them looked like he’d cherry-picked them out of crack house. The small group giggled in unison, as if Laurence were a headlining comedian. Which only encouraged the bastard further. “Did he take away the clinic, or did you give it to him after sucking up by buying his dream piece of real estate?”

  “Don’t do this, Laurie, not now. Please.”

  If the guy had any sense he’d listen to his sister. As it was, David was parting the small crowd behind them like Moses and the Red Sea.

  “Admit it. Luring Daddy to work with you was the only way you could get his attention. Are you that desperate?”

  Lacy didn’t answer and David was fast approaching striking distance.

  “You must be, but you didn’t quite follow in Daddy’s footsteps, did you? At least the old man has a specialty. You wouldn’t catch him scooping up dog shit. He left that kind of grunt work to his grunts. Are you a grunt, Racy-Lacy?”

  Suddenly her brother lunged forward, grabbing her arm and lifting his hand like he was going to flick her chin, but before he could do more than that, David caught his arm.

  Lace did what she always did. She tried to step back and stay clear. David got that now. This was her bad dream and legs cramps. The bastard.

  David took hold of her brother’s wrist and bent it back. He curled down and whispered in his ear, “If you ever raise your hand to my girl again, I will break only the most difficult to heal bones in your right hand, in such a way that you’ll wish I cut the fucker off. Got me?”

  Laurence whimpered and then nodded.

  He held for another five count before he let her brother go. He was content watching as the guy slunk off with his rag-tag friends following along behind him.

  “What did you say to him?”

  He blinked and then turned to her with a smile. Holding his hand out to her, he was glad when she automatically took it, as he said, “I told him to show some respect for his sister. Are you ready to go?”

  “But they haven’t served the cake yet.”

  “You want to stay?”

  He waited for her answer. He didn’t mind hanging here for a bit. He’d likely have another round with her brother, and if her insensitive father ever made an appearance, he was sure he’d hit that too.

  “No, I’d rather go. With you.”

  That was all he needed to hear. Although there was a small part of him that wanted to meet the man who was so blind he couldn’t see what an amazing daughter he had, he decided since he had that wonderful woman all to himself right now, he was good.

  “We should say goodbye to my mom.”

  David was good with that too, only according to one of her cousins, Beth had come down with a headache and had gone to her room. Lacy said she suspected this had been brought on by her dad’s absence, but in David’s mind it could have been the plethora of obnoxious guests that cause it.

  He waited for Lacy to get into the car as he held the door for her.

  “Thank you. Oh.” She turned to him. “Can we stop by my place so I can pick up my car? Tomorrow I’m going to see that movie with the girls and I told them I’d meet them at the mall.”

  Truthfully, David had forgotten all about Lacy’s Sunday matinee plans until now. “Andrew can take you.”

  She snorted. “Oh yeah, that would look great, wouldn’t it? Me and the girls going to the early show to save on tickets and I drive up with my chauffeur.”

  “Watch yourself.” He shut the door and went around the front of the vehicle. Trying to come up with a plausible excuse. He didn’t want her going home, so once he got in, he offered, “I can pick up your car on the way back from T’s. I have to take some paperwork over to him and it’s on the way. I’ll just have Andrew drop me off.”

  “You could drop me off and I—why are you shaking your head?”

  “You’re going to be busy for the rest of the afternoon.”

  She leaned back in her seat and narrowed a look at him. “I am?”

  He nodded as he started the car. “You like Oscar Wilde?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Then you’re in for one long afternoon.”

  She strapped the seatbelt around herself and asked, “Do I have to watch a story of his life or something?”

  “No.” He backed out of the drive and headed up the street. “Nothing like that.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “I’m going to give you two stories of his to read and then we’re going to talk about them.”

  She groaned and hearing it, he smiled.

  “They’re wonderful stories. You’ll love them.”

  “I don’t think so. The one with the aging picture was boooo-ring, with a capital B.”

  David waited until they were stopped at a red light before he tilted his head and looked at her. “It’s either that or we can talk about what happened last night.”

  She didn’t miss a beat. “Oscar Wilde it is.”

  Damn, he was dying to have the other conversation, but so far she’d been the Rock of Gibraltar on the subject. Maybe after tomorrow and what he’d planned, she’d open up to him. Maybe…

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  They next morning, they’d just finished breakfast and Lacy was sitting on David’s lap as they did a crossword puzzle when she couldn’t take it anymore. “Okay, I think I’ve been patient enough.”

  Last night, when she wanted to stay up later and continue talking to him about Wilde’s Selfish Giant, David had said no. And when she balked, he told her she needed to get her rest as they had something important to talk about in the morning. Which was really horrible of him because she’d stayed awake for hours wondering what it could be.

  “Blank of the storm.”

  It was clear he was going to string this along. “Okay, eye.”

  “Very good. What’s another word for yen.”

  “How many letters?”

  “Four.”

  “Want.”

  “It fits. Next clue: One plus one.”

  “Ugh, two. David. I’ve been patient. Come on.”

  He didn’t look up. “No, you haven’t. What’s a seven letter word for ask?”

  She stared at his gorgeous profile and figured she’d have to get the damn puzzle done before he spilled. Fine. She’d focus. “Request.”

  “Very good.” She tried to look over his shoulder and he held the paper away. “No peeking.”

  Her phone buzzed and she went to reach for it.

  “No picking up that call when we’re playing either.”

  “All right, but it could be the girls.” Maybe that would soften him, but it didn’t.

  “They can wait.”

  She let out a deep breath and returned her phone to the table. “It really is much easier for me when I can look at the boxes and see the other letters that are included. I’m a very visual person.”

  “I don’t doubt that, but I wouldn’t have called it blind man’s crossword if I were going to let you look.”

  “Fine. Next?” She purposely imitated The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld so she was glad that he laughed.

  “What’s blank name?”

  “Your.”

  “Last one. A nine letter word for give up.”

  “E
asy-peasy. It’s what I want to do right now. Surrender.”

  There was a moment of charged silence and then he said, “I hope so.”

  His voice was as deep as his look and it came to her. The only six answers she’d given him. No wonder he didn’t write this last one in. They weren’t playing at all. “I want to request your surrender?” She sat up straight. “You want to request my surrender?”

  He nodded.

  And all she could think to ask was. “Why?”

  “That’s a great question.” He tossed the paper aside and took hold of her hands. “I should probably tell you something romantic, like the afternoon when I saw you sitting in the rain, it was the first time in a long while I’d experienced the sun. Or, that the moment you said on our first date that ‘you’d fall under my spell and get naked and do all kinds of things as you’d anticipate my every need’ I fell hard for you. But the truth is, you know the bad you’re afraid of?”

  Her heart pounded. “Yes.”

  “The bad is what attracted me to you.”

  She searched his face. He was serious. “I don’t understand.”

  “Everything that should have driven me away drew me in instead. Your bratty behavior that sometimes bordered on being immature. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just as there’s no ‘good’ without the bad, you can’t have growth without the need for it. You needed me to help you grow and I needed you…”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “Yes?”

  “To remind me that some types of growth actually wind up restricting a person.” He clasped her hands tighter. “The robot in the picture over the fireplace in my office? That was me. I was going through the motions, only I didn’t know it because I was doing everything right. But doing things right doesn’t always guarantee you’ll have success or even be happy. Remember when I talked about the play park and how I picked you? For years I’d lost my way to that park. I’d been living outside it, and it wasn’t until I met you that I found it again. That I recalled how much fun it was to have a playmate who saw the world so differently than I did, and wasn’t afraid to share it with me. Do you aggravate the shit out of me sometimes? Absolutely, but that’s the bad that comes with the good. A bad we need to be willing to embrace in order to enjoy all the good it give us.”