Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and looked around her dark bedroom. Another tap echoed from the direction of her window. “What the...?”
She threw back the covers, crossed to the window, and pulled the curtain back at the corner. Then jumped when she saw Luis standing in the bushes outside her house. Letting go of the curtains as if they’d burned her, she lurched back.
Her heart rate shot up, and her hands grew sweaty. What was he doing here? She didn’t want him here. Not when she’d already been rejected twice in one day. Was he here to make her feel worse?
“Mal?” he said in a low voice. “Mal, I know you’re in there. I saw the curtain move. Come outside for just a minute, please? I need to talk to you.”
Mallory’s pulse turned to a roar in her ears, and indecision pushed at her from every angle. Her foolish heart wanted her to rush right out there, but her wounded pride was still licking its wounds.
He’d hurt her today. Hurt her more than she’d thought he could. It wasn’t just that he hadn’t fought for their relationship like she wanted him to; it was that the longer this dragged out, the more she saw her mother in her actions. She loved her mom, but Joanne Alvarez had turned a blind eye to everything Hector had done for way too many years. Mallory had vowed long ago not to be like that, and standing up for herself and the things she wanted was the only way she knew not to become her mother.
“Mal.” His voice grew weary. “At least come to the window. Please?”
Mallory’s hands itched to pull the curtain back, so she twisted them behind her back and held completely still.
“Shit,” he muttered. Then closer, as if he’d moved right up to the glass, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about everything. I’ve been a jerk, and you have every right to be mad at me, I just...” He hesitated. “I want you, Mal. Not Lacey. Just you. And I should have told you that earlier only I was...stupid. Please, please give me another chance and I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
Tears filled Mallory’s eyes. Tears and hope. Something she’d lost sometime during the day. She was just too afraid to reach for it.
“Mal?” he said again, his voice strained and sad. “Please?”
Her stomach tightened with a thousand different doubts. But the biggest was whether or not she could trust him. She wanted to trust him, but in the back of her mind all she could think about was how awful she’d felt after she’d left the country club today. She never wanted to feel like that again, and she didn’t know what he could say to reassure her that would never happen.
She wanted to ask if he’d told Lacey he wasn’t interested in her advances. Wanted to ask if he’d told her to back off and quit flirting with him. Wanted to ask what had happened to make him come here so late at night to tell her these things. But she couldn’t. Because she was too afraid of the answers. And because she didn’t want to be like her mother.
Several minutes of silence passed, and then softly from outside, Luis said, “I’m not giving up on you. I’m not. I’m just...not, okay? This is the real deal. Somehow, I’ll prove that to you.”
Warmth gathered around her heart where it pounded against her ribs. Her hands grew sweaty. And that hope—the hope she’d tried like crazy to keep at bay—came rushing back.
Oh God, she wanted him. Wanted them. And though she knew it made her weak, all she could think about was telling him that before he left.
She bolted for her bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway, excitement and fear pushing her forward. Her mother was sound asleep. Tiptoeing toward the kitchen, she carefully unlocked the door with fingers that shook, then stepped out into the warm night and rushed around the side of the house.
Her feet drew to a stop as she searched the empty yard, then she whipped around to look down the dimly lit street, but it too was empty.
That racing heart slowed. He’d already left. She’d wasted too much time. For a moment, she thought about going after him, but then remembered she was wearing nothing but short cotton sleep shorts and a tank with no bra. She could go back inside and change, but she didn’t know which way he’d gone, and he lived clear across town. She wasn’t stupid enough to walk alone at night—even in Storm—which meant her only other option was her mother’s Oldsmobile.
Her gaze drifted to the drive, where the beast of a vehicle sat parked. No way she could start that without waking her mother, and if that happened she’d have to explain why she was sneaking out in the middle of the night.
She looked back down the empty street and knew she’d have to wait until tomorrow, after her shift at the B&B, which started way before Luis even rolled out of bed.
“I want you, Mal. Not Lacey. Just you.” Warmth filled her chest as she remembered his words, and that hope lifted her mouth into a wobbly smile. She could wait until tomorrow. She could wait forever for Luis if she had to. Because he’d just proved he was nothing like her father. He was a guy worth waiting for.
* * * *
Jeffry Rush downed the rest of his energy drink as he looked at the rundown old house on the outskirts of town, the crumbling stucco and missing paint not surprising him. It had been converted into four apartments, five if you counted the garage apartment that was his destination.
He crumpled the can and tossed it into the garbage can that blocked part of the driveway. Nobody else had bothered, and empty beer cans littered the street.
Once, this section of Live Oak Street had been nice. Now it was a dump. There’d been a flood back in the seventies, and most of the houses had never been fixed up. White trash tended to congregate in places like this, and though he’d never considered himself elitist in any way, right now he knew he was a thousand times better than the person inside that apartment.
He checked the time on his cell phone. It was ten o’clock in the morning. Early enough for her to be up on a Sunday. Knowing her, though, she’d probably been out partying last night and was currently passed out on her couch. All the better for him. She didn’t know he was coming, so she wouldn’t be that snarky, uppity girl everyone knew and hated. She’d be vulnerable and weak. And she was about to get the shock of a lifetime.
He climbed the metal stairs and headed for her door. Stopping in front of her apartment, he remembered everything Mallory had told him, and the way his dad had flat-out denied it when he’d asked about it last night at home.
“She’s a tramp, son. She threw herself at me. Do you honestly think I would be interested in someone like her? I’m a Rush. She’s...nothing. Besides which, I love your mother. I would never do anything to hurt her.”
His dad might be an asshole, but he wasn’t a cheater. His mom wouldn’t stay with someone who cheated on her. His grandmother would never allow it.
Anger rushed back through Jeffry’s veins, and he closed his hand into a fist and banged on the door.
A groan echoed from the other side. She was in there, dammit. He pounded louder.
“Okay, okay,” she muttered from inside. “Stop the fucking pounding.” The door flew open, and Dakota Alvarez stood in the dark apartment wearing nothing but a black lace bra and a silky short pink bathrobe open to her navel. “Yeah? What the hell do you want?”
Oh yeah. A total tramp. No way his dad would even look at someone like this.
She lifted a hand to block the sun, her glossy dark eyes finally focusing on his face. “Jeffry? Wh-what are you doing here?”
“I know what you are, and I know what you’re after, and you’re not going to get it so back the fuck off.”
The blood drained from her face, and her eyes grew wide. “I don’t—”
“That’s right. You don’t have a fucking clue who you’re messing with. You think it’s harmless to flirt with and proposition a married man? A senator even? It’s not. He’s not interested in slutty girls like you and he never will be. You won’t get any money out of him. You’ll get nothing. And if you ever do anything to mess with him or my family, if you even think about going near him again, I’ll make your life a living hell. Gua
ranteed.”
“I...but...he...”
Jeffry turned for the stairs, feeling better with every step. No one messed with his family. The Rushes might be fucked up and dysfunctional in a variety of different ways, but they were his, and he’d protect them with his last breath.
He made it to the landing on the chipped metal stairs before Dakota’s voice rang out from the railing above. “How did you know?”
He glared up at her. “From your own lips.”
Her face went ashen. “But I—”
He shook his head at her utter stupidity. “You were dumb enough to tell your sister.”
* * * *
Mallory put away the last of the breakfast dishes in the kitchen at the Flower Hill Bed & Breakfast, anxious to finish her shift so she could go see Luis.
“That’s the last of it, Anna Mae,” she said to the white-haired woman seated at the kitchen table, making a list of items they needed to restock in the kitchen. “Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“No, no,” Anna Mae said. “I think that’s all. Oh, but could you be a dear and get me that cookbook from the top shelf there before you go? I want to make those pecan rolls again and I can never remember how much yeast to use.”
“Sure.” Mallory pushed to her toes and reached for the handwritten book on the top shelf. Some of the oldest families in the town had donated recipes for a charity cookbook a few years back to help Allison Kenney, a six-year-old at the local school suffering from leukemia. Sadly, Allison had passed, but the cookbook lived on, in her name.
The front door to the old Victorian echoed from the parlor, followed by Marisol’s voice. “Anna Mae? Are you here?”
Butterflies churned in Mallory’s stomach as she looked toward the archway that led to the front of the house. Marisol would know if Luis was still at home. Mallory could find out where he was without having to call him.
“In here, sweetie,” Anna Mae called.
Marisol swept into the room with a smile and a pan covered in foil that smelled of cinnamon and sugar. “Oh, good morning, Mallory. I didn’t realize you worked Sundays.”
“I don’t always,” Mallory said.
“The rooms are all full,” Anna Mae muttered. “I need as many extra hands as I can get.” Her brow wrinkled and she pushed to her feet. “What’s in that pan?”
Marisol shifted one hand under the pan, then peeled back the foil. The scent of warm, homemade cinnamon rolls filled the kitchen.
“Ooh,” Anna Mae said with a grin. “Girl, you just made my Sunday.”
Marisol smiled. “This batch is free. So long as you sit and enjoy one with me.”
Anna Mae moved toward the cupboard and pulled down three plates. “Don’t have to break my arm to get me to agree. Mallory?”
“Um.” Mallory glanced toward Marisol. She didn’t really want to stay; she wanted to find Luis—was anxious to find Luis—but she didn’t want to be rude. Especially to the sister of the guy she was in love with. “Okay.”
“Wonderful.” Anna Mae handed Mallory the plates, forks, and a serving utensil. “You give these to Marisol and I’ll get us three coffees.”
Mallory brought the plates to the table while Marisol removed the foil and scooped a gooey hot cinnamon roll onto each plate. “So Luis was still asleep when I left. You two must have been out late last night.”
Heat rushed to Mallory’s cheeks. Yes, Luis had been out late last night, but she didn’t really want to share the things he’d confessed at her window near midnight. Those she wanted to keep all for herself.
“I guess so,” Mallory said, sinking into the chair on the far side of the table. “I didn’t look at the clock. So Luis is still at home?”
Marisol slid a plate across to Mallory. “Sleeping like a bear.”
A smile spread across Mallory’s face. After this, she was going right over to his house and waking him up. With her lips if she could.
Anna Mae brought three steaming coffee cups to the table. “It’s so nice to have a moment like this while the guests are off checking out the sights. Lord knows, soon enough I’ll be inundated with requests for tea and sweets all over again. I swear I can’t keep enough of your white chocolate macadamia nut cookies on hand, Marisol.”
“Oh, the cookies!” Marisol wiped her hands on her jeans and rushed for the archway toward the dining room. “I left them in the car. I’ll be right back.”
Anna Mae chuckled as she sank back into her chair with a groan. “I don’t know how that girl does it. Up early every day with her bakery, taking care of that brother of hers, and now with her younger sister pregnant...” She shook her head and sipped her coffee. “God clearly knows only young people can deal with children. Why, if the good Lord thought to give me a child at my age, I’d probably forget where I left the little bugger.”
Mallory smiled and reached for her coffee. The back screen door burst open just as she lifted it to her lips, and Dakota rushed into the room with wild blonde hair she obviously hadn’t combed yet this morning, dark circles under her eyes as if she’d forgotten to wash her face, rumpled shorts, a frayed blue T-shirt, and two different color flip-flops on her feet.
“Dakota?” Worry skittered Mallory’s nerves, and she quickly set down her coffee and pushed to her feet. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Fire flared in Dakota’s eyes. “What’s wrong is that my sister is a backstabbing, lying, two-faced little bitch.”
Mallory’s mouth fell open in absolute shock.
“Whoa, missy,” Anna Mae said from her seat. “You’re in my house right now. You watch that mouth of yours. I’m not about to look away like your mama.”
Dakota’s fiery gaze shot to Anna Mae but darted right back to Mallory. “You promised you wouldn’t say anything. You promised and you lied.”
Mallory had no idea what Dakota was talking about, but she could tell that something was seriously wrong. She skirted the table and reached for Dakota, but her sister swatted her hand away before she could touch her.
Mallory lifted her hands in surrender. “Okay, calm down. Tell me what happened.”
“I’ll tell you what happened,” Dakota growled. “Jeffry Rush accosted me at my apartment this morning.”
“He what?”
“He said you told him about me and the senator.”
Mallory’s mind spun. She had no idea what Dakota was talking about. Her and the senator? Senator Rush?
Before Mallory could ask what that meant, Dakota said, “No one knows about that but you. I never told anyone that he hit on me last year except for you. And you went and told Jeffry fucking Rush? He thinks I’m a hussy trying to bleed money out of his family. You’ve ruined my reputation!”
“Oh shit.” Mallory’s conversation with Jeffry yesterday in the park whipped through her mind. “I...I didn’t say anything bad about you, Dakota. I didn’t think he would take it that way. I told him that the senator hit on you, but that you turned him down. You did the right thing there. No one would ever think you were a hussy for that.” She was going to have a serious talk with Jeffry. How could he have misread what she’d told him?
“You are so incredibly naïve,” Dakota sneered. “You don’t know the first thing about how the world works.”
Mallory stared at her sister, confused about what was happening. Anger radiated off Dakota in waves. This was about more than what Mallory had told Jeffry. There was something else going on here. “I don’t—”
“Understand?” Dakota’s brow lifted. “Of course you don’t. How could you? You don’t know the first thing about men. You can’t even hang on to your own man and he’s only a high school boy.”
A whisper of fear rushed down Mallory’s spine. Luis. She was talking about Luis. She swallowed hard, almost afraid to ask. “What about Luis?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Smug victory spread across Dakota’s face. “Your boyfriend fucked your best friend up at the lake last night. Everyone in town is talking
about it.”
A gasp echoed from the doorway, and Mallory knew Marisol was standing there listening, but she couldn’t turn to look. “N-no. That’s not true.”
“Oh, it’s true,” Dakota said, twisting the knife. “Adam Glenn saw them together on a blanket by the lake getting all hot and heavy, and I heard when he asked Lacey after church today if that was them, she didn’t deny it.”
“I...” Mallory’s legs grew weak, and she reached out for the table. “I don’t believe it.”
But even as she said the words, she knew they were a lie. Something had happened last night. She’d felt it when Luis had stood outside her bedroom window and confessed his feelings. She just never in a million years thought it would be this.
Dakota laughed, but the sound held no humor. “Still so naïve. Your boyfriend is a lying, cheating son of a bitch, Mallory. Just like you. I hope you’re both extremely happy together.”
The screen door slammed shut with a crack, but Mallory barely heard it. Because her legs gave out before she even knew what was happening.
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Rising Storm story
Storm Season: Ginny & Jacob – the Prequel
by Dee Davis
Rising Storm
Storm, Texas.
Where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy…
Nestled among rolling hills and painted with vibrant wildflowers, the bucolic town of Storm, Texas, seems like nothing short of perfection.
But there are secrets beneath the facade. Dark secrets. Powerful secrets. The kind that can destroy lives and tear families apart. The kind that can cut through a town like a tempest, leaving jealousy and destruction in its wake, along with shattered hopes and broken dreams. All it takes is one little thing to shatter that polish.
Crosswinds: Episode 3 Page 8