by Chloe Walsh
“It’s kind of hard not to worry considering you’ve just had a heart attack. I am worried about you.”
He visibly shook when I said that. “Awh darling, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say those words. I thought that you’d hate me after what I did.” I had no answer. “Delia, I’ve stopped drinking. I’m taking meetings, every day. I’m sorry baby, so sorry for what I did to you.”
I flinched. “Which time daddy?”
“Every time… What I did to you, the way I treated you was unforgivable. I realized that the day I found your room empty.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My father was actually showing remorse. He was up to something.
“I’m not coming home daddy, if that’s why you’re saying these things. I won’t come home.”
He nodded and sighed. “I wouldn’t expect you to sweetheart. I’m just glad I got a chance to tell you how sorry I am before…before it’s too late.”
I stood up quickly. I could not listen to anymore. I needed to think.
“I’m going to go. I can’t take this all in right now. I’ll come back tomorrow, okay?”
Daddy nodded. “Sure, sure, do you have somewhere to stay tonight? You can stay at the house for as long as you like.”
I shook my head, not wanting to go anywhere near that house. “Camryn is with me, she drove me here.”
Daddy pondered this for a moment. “I guess I owe that girl a thank you,” he said. “Taking care of my baby when I didn’t… She has been a good friend to you. You’re both welcome to use the house.”
I opened the door. “Goodnight Daddy.”
Cam was unusually silent in the car on the way to my father’s house. She had said, no told me that we were staying at the house. She wanted me to get some of my things and knew this was probably my only chance of getting any of my possessions.
We pulled up outside the old battered farmhouse and the sound of a dog barking had me leaping from the car. “Bruno,” I squealed. The sight of my old chocolate lab bounding towards me made me drop to my knees.
“Hey boy, I missed you, yes I did. Did you miss me?” Bruno barreled into me, attacking my face with wet kisses and drool. “Oh you did miss me, didn’t you boy.” I hugged the chunky old guy. By the looks of him, my father had been feeding him well.
“That old guy's still alive?” Cam chuckled from behind me.
“Of course he is, aren’t you Bruno,” I said, my voice taking on the universal ‘dog’ tone.
Standing up, I went and opened the front door, Bruno bounded in before us. I was half-afraid of the mess in front of us, but the house was…clean.
I guessed my father was telling the truth about kicking the booze.
Kyle
I listened impatiently as Derek muttered and moaned through his fucking explanation. “Lee’s father had a heart attack, that’s why she’s gone home. He’s fine though as far as Cam knows.”
Relief flooded through me, she wasn’t running from me at least. “That’s it? That’s the big secret?”
“Well, not exactly…”
I looked over at him. “Dude you better start fucking talking fast, or I’m gonna toss your ass out of this truck quicker than you can say Okla-fucking-homa.”
Derek shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Okay, promise you won’t flip out and go crazy?”
I grimaced. “Don’t give me a reason to flip out and go crazy.”
Derek sighed loudly. “Okay, well, I found out some stuff about Lee and why she might be staying with us.” I tensed, but kept my mouth shut. “You’re not gonna like this dude,” he warned and let the words rush from his mouth. “Cam said Lee’s dad used to knock her around.”
I slammed on the brakes. “Jesus fucking Christ, Kyle, are you trying to get us killed?”
Horns were blaring around us, as I pulled into the hard shoulder.
I turned to face him. “What do you mean used to knock her around?”
Derek fidgeted with his hands. “I’m not sure dude; I’m not even supposed to know this. Cam let it slip the night you and Lee had that fight in the kitchen.”
That was nearly two months ago. Derek had been holding back crucial fucking information from me. I cringed.
“She was drunk Kyle,” Derek said defensively. “I wasn’t sure if she was talking out of her ass,” he groaned and rubbed his forehead. “She said that Lee had a piss poor life with the guy and that he was a control freak. He knocked her around and she had some scars on her back or something.”
I couldn’t deal with this shit. Lee didn’t have any scars. I would know.
My mind reverted back to the night of her birthday when I had thought I’d felt something on her back…But I’d been too fucking horny to stop and check.
Were those grooves I felt scars? Fuck, I wanted to hit something. “And she’s what? Gone back to Louisiana to hold his fucking hand?”
Derek shrugged. “Kyle, he’s still her old man. Her mom’s dead, she has no brothers or sisters. Lee’s dad is all she’s got.”
Not anymore. She had me.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Lee
We sat on the porch swing in our pajamas sipping cocoa, with Bruno plonked down on the porch by our feet. The night air was calm and mild. I loved the mildness of Louisiana winters. Compared to Colorado, this was heaven.
“Wow,” Cam said as she blew her cocoa. “I can’t believe he apologized.”
Neither could I. “I know. I’m still trying to get my head around the conversation. He was so different Cam, nothing like the way he used to be.”
Cam turned to me. “Do you think it’s an act, like to get you to move back home.”
I had thought that. “I’m not sure. It’s a pretty convincing act.”
She sighed. “Yeah.”
The sound of Bruno barking drew my attention the lane leading up to our house.
Bruno rushed down the step towards the incoming headlights.
“Looks like we’ve got company,” Cam muttered as she stood up and walked over to the steps of the porch. I watched the headlights pull up outside my house. “No freaking way,” Cam squealed as she bounded down the steps of the porch.
The passenger side of the black truck opened first. “Miss me much?” Derek asked, as Cam threw herself into his arms. They quickly went from a friendly hug, to an X-rated make out session.
The driver’s door opened and my stomach dropped. I closed my eyes. I stayed sitting on the porch swing; my body locked up in anticipation.
I knew he was walking over to me, I could hear his footsteps on the on the gravel and then the porch steps. I just didn’t know which version of Kyle I was going to get.
“Princess…” The sound of his voice had me whipping my eyes open.
Kyle stood in front of me; hands in his jean pockets, his hood of his gray hoodie was pulled up covering his thick brown hair.
“You’re here.” I blurted out. I didn’t know what else to say.
He tilted his head to the side, smiling softly. “Are you really surprised?”
No, I wasn’t.
“It’s an awfully long drive, just to drop off Derek.” I said.
He reached out and snagged my hand. “What if I came for you?” He said pulling me up from the swing.
I hovered awkwardly. “I told you, I’m not your friend anymore.” The words sounded weak, even to my ears.
He smiled deeper, his lush dimple making me melt. “Keep telling yourself that princess, see how long that lasts.”
I was about to protest, when Kyle pulled me into his arms. His arms wrapped around me tightly; his thumb drawing slow circles on my lower back, his other hand cradling my head against his chest. I tensed for a moment and then softened into his embrace. It felt so good to be back in his arms.
Kyle
I was fucking terrified Lee would turn me away. She sure looked like she wanted to kick my ass when I showed up at her house. Thank god, she caved in and let me hold her. I
needed to hold her like I needed to breathe, it wasn’t a requirement; it was a fucking necessity.
Cam and Derek went upstairs within ten minutes of us arriving, so I guessed they were back on track. And I’d spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to win around the affections of Lee’s huge mother fucking dog Bruno. The cranky shit growled at me every time I moved too close to her. We were sitting on her old frayed couch in the open planned kitchen/lounge with the smelly bastard sitting in between us. Do not get me wrong, I liked dogs, but this particular one had it against me.
“Would you like some more cocoa?” Lee asked.
No, god no. That stuff was like drinking lead, but the hopeful look on her face had me nodding, “Sure, I’d love some more.”
She smiled nervously as she walked over to the kitchen area. Christ, I was pussy whipped. But I wanted to keep her smiling and if that meant drinking shit stain cocoa for the night, then I’d man up and do it.
I turned to look at Bruno and he was eyeing me with that freaky dog stare. “Dude, you’re killing me here. Isn’t there a nice bitch or a bone you could go play with?” I said, low enough so Lee wouldn’t hear me. He growled again and I jerked back.
Yep, I was definitely going to get my ass ripped up by that guy.
While Lee made more ‘cocoa’ I took the time to look around. The room we were in was decent in size, but it wasn’t big by any stretch of the imagination, or modern. It hurt my heart to think that Lee lived here for eighteen years. The place was clean, but it was run down and shoddy.
The furniture was old fashioned and worn and I assumed from the look of the table and chairs, it was handmade. The wooden staircase in the left corner of the room was neither carpeted nor varnished and looked worryingly weak; it had creaked loudly when Cam and Derek went upstairs earlier. The house didn’t look like it had been renovated in decades.
“Sorry Kyle, we’re out of cocoa. It’s just coffee I’m afraid,” Lee apologized, as she handed me a cup of steaming black coffee. Thank you, Jesus. I inhaled the welcoming smell of steaming strong coffee. “So are you going to tell me why you’re really here?” Lee asked, as she sat on the tarnished coffee table in front of me, her arms folded over her knees.
“Are you going to tell me why you are?” I shot back.
She frowned, “You know why. My dad…”
I interrupted her. “I know your dad had a heart attack, I’m asking you what you are doing here?”
Realization flooded her features, she paled. “Who have you been talking to?”
Lie or tell the truth… Fuck it. “Derek mentioned that you and your dad have a rocky relationship.” Smooth, but I carried on like a fucking idiot. “He told me a few things that make me wonder, no serious fucking question your sanity for being here.”
Lee’s eyes filled with tears. “That is none of your business, or Derek’s,” she sniffed. “I could kill Cam.”
I leaned forward and grabbed her arms. “Lee, don’t pretend with me. I know something’s going on. I care about you for Christ’s sake. I want to help. Let me in.”
Lee
I couldn’t believe Kyle was bringing up my private life like this. How dare he?
“You don’t care about me Kyle,” I snapped. “Don’t lie to my face by saying that you do. Oh god, you weren’t supposed to know, you were never supposed to find out.”
Kyle stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “You know I care baby.” He marched around the room like someone jacked up on too much caffeine. “I need to know, if it’s true, I need you to let me in,” he said. His grabbed my cheek, looked straight into my eyes, “Let me in.”
The floodgates of tears and anger inside of me burst open. “What do you want to know Kyle, about how my father used to beat the shit out of me?” I demanded. “Or how he locked me away from everything normal and kept me stuck in this goddamn house for eighteen years? Or maybe you’d like to hear about how he pulled me out of school in my senior year and killed all my hopes and dreams?” I was on a roll now. “Will that somehow help you? Do you get a buzz from hearing about my fucked up life? Well, there it is, turns out I’m just as messed up as you, probably more.”
I lost it then, pulling my top over my head. “You wanna see, huh?” I asked. “Would it make you feel better to see how badly he beat me for being a whore and easy. Well, it looks like you both thought that about me,” I screamed, placing my hand over my heart. “But the scars you left on me, you can’t see.”
I jerked my pajama bottoms down, stepped out of them and turned around. “Here take a good look. This is me, scarred and imperfect. I’m broken, nothing like Rachel.”
I heard Kyle take a sharp breath. “Jesus.”
I felt his hands skim my scars and I flinched. “Don’t touch me” I warned.
He pulled me closer. “I said don’t touch me.”
I struggled in his arms. “Don’t fight me baby,” he whispered as his arms wrapped around me tightly. All the fight went out of my body. Succumbing to the tears, I let Kyle hold me.
Chapter Thirty
Kyle
I held Lee for the best part of last night. Jesus, I’d been afraid to let her out of my arms. Those scars…
My stomach coiled thinking about the nasty welts across her back, her ass and thighs. What kind of monster did that to his kid?
I had a fucked up family, but they paled in comparison to Lee’s father. I wanted to kill him, more than I had ever wanted to harm anyone in my life. The only thing that had stopped me from driving straight to the hospital last night was Lee. She had been so small and fragile in my arms. How had I not noticed those scars before?
I was in way over my head, but I couldn’t back out now, I was fucking hooked. Walking away was not an option.
She had cried herself to sleep in my arms last night and I had put her to bed. I should have left her room, but I was a selfish bastard and had curled up beside her. I think I needed to keep her close last night, more for my sake than hers. I wanted to protect this girl from all the cruel, torturous blows she had been dealt. I wanted to pack her up in my truck and take her far away from here, keep her with me.
She was gone when I woke up this morning, had left a note to say she was going to visit that bastard. How she could show him any compassion was beyond me. Her actions proved another point; Lee was an angel. Christ, she was the best person I knew.
I dressed her twin sized bed, went downstairs and made a cup of coffee. I was anxious as shit, waiting on a phone call to give me the information I needed. I had a fucking score to settle before I left this town. Someone was going to pay…
I was sitting on the porch swing, trying to woo the fleabag himself when Derek joined me.
“Morning,” he said, sitting down beside me.
I nodded. I couldn’t see anything good in this morning. If I had my way; I would have Lee halfway back to Colorado by now.
“Where are the girls?” Derek asked, patting Bruno on the head.
“They’re at the hospital, visiting him.”
Derek stretched, yawning loudly. “So, did you and Lee straighten everything out?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know Derek; everything is still all messed up.”
He leaned forward, tickling Bruno behind his ear. How was it the damn dog let Derek pet him, but when I went to touch him, he all, but ate my arm off? “Was it true?”
I knew what he meant. “Yeah, all of it and more.”
He let out a whistle and turned to face me. “You’re gonna break her if you don’t choose. It’s going to end bad Kyle and you’re not the only one invested anymore.”
I could hear the warning in his words and I knew what I had to do.
I had to phone Rachel.
Lee
“He knows?” I nodded. “Everything?”
I thought for a moment. Kyle knew about Perry and now he knew the worst part of me, the dirtiest corner of my secret life. “Yes.”
Cam let out sigh. “I think I might have been wrong a
bout you staying away from Kyle. He’s different with you Lee. He’s changing.”
I looked at her face; she looked deep in thought. “In what way?” I asked. Could it be possible that Kyle really was changing? We hadn’t spoken in a month before last night and I had missed him. But I couldn’t keep riding this rollercoaster of passion and pain.
“I’m not sure how to explain it exactly, but he is different with you. It’s like you’ve woken up a part of him that has been missing with years.”
I pondered over her words. Whether I had changed Kyle or not was irrelevant to the fact that he had perpetually changed me. “I’m in love him Cam.”
“I know Lee.”
Chapter Thirty-one
Lee
We visited my father again. Cam came in with me this time. She wanted to see for herself the change in him.
“Camryn Frey,” Daddy said when Cam walked into the room ahead of me.
“Jimmy Bennett,” she responded coolly.
“Hello Delia,” he said addressing me.
“Hello,” I muttered. I stayed further away from his bed today. Daddy seemed more active and I was too afraid to get too close. I guess old habits die hard.
“How have you been Camryn? What have you been doing with yourself?” Daddy asked, shifting his focus to Cam, who towered over his bed.
“Oh, you know Jimmy,” she said airily. “A little of this, a little of that, mostly taking care of the shell of a girl behind me.” I cringed when spoke about me like that.
My father flinched and Cam went on. “I gotta tell you Jim, it was fun to see the horror scene of scars on her body. How’d you do it this time? Your fist? Hmm, no you’re more creative than that. Maybe it was your belt, or the fire poker. Oh no wait, I forgot the tire iron was always a firm favorite of yours, wasn’t it?”