“Good evening, Mr. Keane,” said the officer with the flashlight. He stood just in front of my dad, while the other hung back somewhere behind me. I got the feeling it was in case one of us decided to run.
“Is there a problem, officer?” Dad asked.
The officer, a pudgy middle-aged man with a greying mustache and a fat red nose, smiled. “I think you know that there is. You wouldn’t be trying to leave Sitka Valley, would you?”
Dad was quiet. I didn’t know why he wasn’t answering, so I piped up instead.
“We were just going out to get some food,” I replied. “Neither of us could sleep.”
He didn’t believe me, that much I could tell. He didn’t call me out on it either, though.
“I think it would be wise for you to turn back,” he said, addressing my father. “You don’t want Gromley to get the wrong idea. He’s not a man you want to mess with.”
Gromley? As in Preston Gromley? What did he have to do with this?
“I know,” my dad said, sounding more defeated than I’d ever heard him. “We’ll go home.”
“Jolly good. We’ll escort you.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” I replied. “We know the way back just fine.”
“All the same.” The officer clicked off his flashlight, leaving me temporarily blinded as my eyes struggled to adjust to the low light. “It’s late, and we wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. Gromley would be very disappointed if you disappeared.”
He started to walk back to his car, leaving no room for further complaint. I tried to catch my dad’s eye in the mirror, but he seemed determined not to look at me.
“Dad? What’s going on?”
“Let’s get going, Mr. Keane,” called the officer from his car. A second later I heard both doors slam shut and the engine came to life.
Dad shoved his helmet back on his head. I was going to have to wait a little longer for my answers. The confused thoughts rattling around my brain became more insistent, more angry. If those cops weren’t going to arrest us, why did we still have to do what they said? Since when did the police work for Gromley? Perhaps he held more sway in the community than I’d anticipated. It was a sobering thought.
Dad started the engine and turned back the way we came.
I remembered something Wes had said, about how my dad and I would be unwise to refuse a Gromley request, and I felt my skin turn cold. Did that have something to do with this? It must have. It killed me that I had to wait to learn how all these events were connected.
The police followed us the whole way home. They left their lights off, at least, but I still felt like we were being paraded through town in shame. Good thing it was so late. Then again, maybe if someone did see us, they would know how fucked up this all was.
They stopped outside our driveway, watching with the engine running as we parked the bike and retreated inside the house. I turned back to look at them before entering. The one we talked to had the audacity to smile and wave. I had to get inside before I flipped him the bird or something else unwise. The situation was bad enough as it was without me making it any worse.
I slammed the door. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded of my father, who was dragging his feet toward the living room.
He glanced back at me. “Come sit down.”
I followed, and we sat on opposite ends of the couch. I twisted around to watch him. Dad kept his head low, taking shaking breaths that I knew would soon turn into tears. My heart broke, even as my anxiety had driven me to anger at anyone and everything.
“Dad.” I tried to speak gently.
He flinched like I’d thrown a knife at him.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he croaked. “I am so fucking sorry.”
“Dad, what is it? Why did those police officers stop us from leaving? Why were we leaving in the first place?”
He looked up finally, eyes rimmed with red. I couldn’t stand to see my dad cry. I hugged my knees up to my chest and rested the side of my head against the back cushions, trying not to break down into tears myself.
“After your mother died, the business took a hit,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do...I—I couldn’t stand to see the business go under. What would happen to you if it did?”
The business had only suffered because he turned into a shell of a person for several weeks. Even after he came out of it, he wasn’t the same. The business came back to life, sure, but my dad didn’t.
“The bank wouldn’t give me a loan, and then someone told me to ask Preston Gromley. So I did, and he helped me. He gave me the money I needed to get back on even footing.”
“Oh, dad,” I sighed. “You didn’t.”
“I needed to.” His eyes turned frantic. “I had nowhere else to turn.”
“So you turned to a loan shark? You know why they call them that, right?”
“I already feel guilty enough,” he snapped. “I don’t need you to lay it on any thicker.”
I sat back, surprised at his sudden coldness. His expression collapsed into distress, and the tears flowed freer, his shoulder shaking with sobs. I couldn’t take it anymore and dove across the couch, wrapping my arms around him and shushing him.
“It’s okay,” I cooed. “We can deal with this. I’ll get a job, and we’ll start chipping off at what you owe. How much did you borrow?”
Dad sniffed and met my eyes. He gave a short shake of his head that made my stomach drop.
“It’s not that simple. I didn’t want to be indebted to Gromley, and when he came to me with investment opportunities that, if they paid off, would get me out from under his duress almost immediately, I jumped for them. By all accounts, they should have paid off. That was what he said. I don’t know if he was dishonest or if I just have the worst luck, but I’m in deep now, Dallas. This month he raised my minimum payment, said the interest rate has changed. I couldn’t pay it.”
“So you tried to leave,” I filled in. “What happens if you don’t pay it?”
I didn’t want to know, but I had to. All manner of horrors filled my head, and my brain went into overdrive trying to figure out how we could get out of this. We needed money, first of all. And time. I wondered if I could talk to Wes somehow, get him on my side against his father.
Dad sniffed and hugged me tightly, pressing his face into my hair. “He didn’t give me a choice,” he said. “I swear he didn’t give me a choice.”
I pulled away from his embrace and caught his eye. “What does that mean?”
“He...Gromley told me he’d forgive this month’s payment, but he wanted something else instead.”
My blood turned to ice in my veins, jagged and cold. I struggled to suck in some air in a room that felt more like a vacuum than anything else.
“What did he ask for, Dad?”
“You.” He said it so quietly I hardly heard it, but the word vibrated through me like a gong. “You have to go to a party at Gromley’s house instead of prom. If you don’t...” He gritted his teeth, suppressing another sob. When he spoke, his voice cracked miserably. “If you don’t go, he’s going to kill you.”
My first thought was one word. A name.
Wes.
Wes had done this. He must’ve. He told his father that I turned him down, and now he wanted to play the ultimate power game with me. Fear and rage battled for dominance inside of me, making my hands shake but my teeth grit together resolutely. I wanted to throttle that piece of shit. But I couldn’t. Not if I wanted my dad unharmed. Hell, not if I wanted to stay safe myself. He had me exactly where he wanted me, and I was powerless to do anything about it.
My dad was crying, hugging me in a python’s grip and apologizing over and over again. It reminded me of when my mom died, except then there were no words. Was he mourning for me already? What did he expect was going to happen at this party? I figured it was safe to assume the worst but hope for the best, though in this case, I didn’t even know how bad the worst could be.
“It’s
going to be okay.” I stroked his head the way I’d often seen Mom do to calm him down when the seriousness of her condition threatened to break him.
“We can get through this together.”
And then, because I couldn’t be strong for my dad when I was already breaking inside, I quietly pulled him off the couch and urged him off to bed. There was nothing left for us to do now, nothing left to say.
I made it under my covers before the tears came. They were bitter, frightened tears, ones that threatened to drag me somewhere dark and cold. I sobbed into the pillow and hoped that my dad wouldn’t hear me. I wanted to hate him for what he’d done, but he was all I had now. I could never hate him.
Sometime later I fell asleep, exhausted. I dreamed of Wes’s taunting face hovering over me, laughing. Always laughing.
Chapter 11
Shane
Back to school.
I was a new man, and nothing could stop me from achieving my goal. Keep me from my destiny. Destiny was probably putting it a bit dramatically, but something told me today was going to be important. Dallas wasn’t just some girl I wanted to see naked and fool around with. She was the kind of girl a man could spend his life with, and today was the first step in seeing if that could be the case for us.
I came in through the back door and found Jake standing by the art room. It was where he always waited for me in the mornings, even though half the time I showed up right before the bell rang. He didn’t have many other friends so if I wasn’t around he just sat and listened to music by himself. I would have felt bad for him if he didn’t enjoy it so much. It was what he spent half of his free time doing anyway.
“And on the third day, he rose again,” Jake greeted, pulling his earbuds from his ears.
I rolled my eyes and clapped him on the back. “Good to see you too.”
“Good? Just good? You wound me.”
I laughed. “Gotta keep you on your toes, or you might leave me for another.”
“Fat chance.” Jake snorted. “You’re the only person in this whole school who’s tolerable to be around.”
“Not the only one. In fact, there’s a pretty little girl in particular that I’ve got some business with.”
We started walking toward the cafeteria, where most of the students gathered in the mornings to work on homework, chat, and fool around in general. Jake and I didn’t usually go there, but it was my best bet for finding Dallas.
“I assume you’re talking about that Dallas girl?” Jake asked as we stepped into the crowded cafeteria.
I started scanning the room for a flash of her auburn hair.
“You would assume correctly.”
“I think you’re going to have a problem conducting your business then.”
I understood his meaning when my eyes landed on the back of Dallas’s head a moment later. She was seated at a table in the middle of the room with half of the football team and a couple of her friends. She wasn’t looking in my direction, but Wes was. The expression on his face was pure malice, and he slung an arm territorially around the back of Dallas’s chair. I watched her stiffen and my hands tensed at my sides. The douchebag may as well have started pounding on his chest like the ape he was.
“Hold your horses, John Wayne,” Jake said. “Why don’t you just wait to talk to her in math class?”
Much as I didn’t want to admit defeat, Jake was right. The other guys had noticed by now that I was standing there, and they all glared. Rob looked particularly deadly, silver glinting on his bared teeth. He would use the wire to carve out my eyeballs if I gave him a chance.
“Okay,” I admitted. “Let’s get out of here.”
Jake relaxed at my side, and we turned to leave. Their glares seared my back like thousands of red-hot needles, and I couldn’t help but feel like a loser as I made my retreat.
Why did Dallas hang out with those guys? There was nothing redeeming about them. I would know since I’d been playing football with most of them for the past three years. Nelson was a loud, obnoxious asshole who hadn’t respected a woman a day in his life. Rob was a brute with nothing but shit for brains, and though Paul was the nicest of the bunch, it was only because he was the quietest. He still went along with everything the others said. Then there was Wes, who seemed to take on the worst characteristics of all of them. Dallas was too good for them, and I doubted she had any real interest in being there. I only hoped when I asked her to prom, she would accept, and I could help her escape them for good.
Jake and I caught up for a little bit by our lockers, but I practically sprinted to class once the bell rang. I wanted to have as much time to talk to Dallas as possible, and she usually showed up early.
I leaned against my desk and waited for her. And waited. The classroom filled with people, but Dallas and Sasha were still missing from class. Then, just as the second bell rang, they came in and sat down at their desks.
It was too late. Mrs. Fairfax was already telling everyone to settle down, and I took a frustrated seat as I realized I would have to wait until the end of class to ask Dallas. Things weren’t going well for me this morning, but that didn’t mean anything. Dallas liked me. We’d shared an amazing kiss, and I knew that she wanted to go to prom with me just as much as I wanted to go with her. She was going to say yes.
I watched her during class, but something was different. Ordinarily, Dallas was loose, relaxed. She nodded along to points she found interesting and doodled in her notebook when she was bored.
She volunteered to answer questions, unlike Sasha, who was much too cool. Today she did none of those things. She sat still in her chair and stared straight ahead. I had a feeling if I could see her eyes, I would find them blank. Something was on her mind.
The second the bell rang, Dallas shot up from her chair and headed for the door. I barely had time to gather my stuff up and follow after her. Jake tagged along behind me since our next class was together. He had the good sense to keep his distance.
I caught up with Dallas at her locker and tapped her on the arm.
“You practicing for a marathon or something?” I asked, exaggerating my breathing.
Dallas smiled, but her expression was guarded. “Practicing for a marathon?”
“I’ve never seen someone leave a class so quickly. I figured either training for a marathon, or you found something aggressively disgusting about tonight’s homework.”
She chuckled. “As much as I despise homework, all I was trying to do was get from A to B in the least amount of time. You know me, always like to be on time.”
“I won’t keep you long then. I’ve been trying to find a time to talk to you all day.”
“Oh? About what?” Dallas clutched her books tight to her chest, eyes flickering with curiosity. She kept looking over my shoulder, sneaking a glance off to the side, like she was keeping an eye out for someone. I found it strange but continued anyway.
The words tumbled out of my mouth smoother than anticipated. “Will you go to prom with me?”
Dallas’s mouth split into a wide grin, but a half-second later the smile dried up into a frown. In my head, I heard a record scratch, and trepidation darkened my mood.
“I’m sorry, Shane. I would love to go to prom with you,” she said, forehead creased as if she were in pain. “Only I’m not going to prom.”
“You’re not?” I frowned.
“No.”
“Why not?”
Dallas looked down the hallway again, and when she hadn’t answered after another couple of seconds, I gently guided her chin back to front and stared down into her eyes.
“Dallas, what’s wrong?”
Her eyes, endless pits of blue, widened. She stepped back, and my hand fell to my side.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “I just don’t want to go to prom.”
“Then let’s not go to prom,” I suggested. “We can go for a ride down to the beach and make a big bonfire or something. I just want to spend my night with you.”
“I
can’t.”
“Dallas—“
“I just can’t, okay?” she snapped suddenly. People around us turned to look, alarmed by the sudden noise.
I took a step away from her, palms up. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”
She sighed, grinding her teeth, and walked away. I could’ve sworn I heard her mutter, “Me too.”
Someone clapped me on the back, and I looked to my left to see Jake standing beside me, watching Dallas go.
“That was cold of her,” he said. “I wonder who pissed in her cornflakes.”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” I replied.
Jake shrugged. “It happens, dude. Girls can be hot and cold at a moment’s notice. I don’t want to shit on your dreams or anything, but maybe she’s just the kind of girl who can be nice to a guy when they’re alone but embarrassed of them when there are people around.”
I snorted. “Gee, thanks, Jake. You think I’m embarrassing?”
“To a girl who hangs out with the football team?” Jake raised a ginger brow.
I scowled and started walking to our next class. Jake kept pace beside me, chatting away in a way that I’m sure he thought would make me feel better.
“...a ton of girls at this school who would kill to go to prom with you. They think you’re a babe. I know you’ve got this thing for Dallas, but it’s probably a good thing that she showed her true colors now. At least this way—“
“She’s not like that!” I rounded on him, catching his eye, so he knew just how serious I was about it. “There’s something wrong with her today. Something on her mind. You may not believe I know her well enough, but something I do know is that she isn’t the type of girl to act a different way in public. She’s completely genuine, always has been. She doesn’t put up a facade or walls, and she doesn’t lead people on. You can think that I’m being delusional and believing what I want to believe if you want to, but that’s the truth. Something’s the matter with Dallas, and as soon as I know what it is, I’m going to try my damnedest to help her.”
First Time Lucky Page 7