Seducing Liselle

by Marie E. Blossom

  “Tell me what?” Liselle carefully ignored the sinking sensation in her stomach.

  Beth shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” She looked worried.

  “Beth, just tell me. He’s dead. He can’t hurt either of us anymore.”

  “I don’t want you to be mad at Uncle John.”

  Liselle frowned, starting to get really worried. What did John have to do with Matt’s death? “I don’t understand.”

  The girl jumped up and started pacing. “My dad was hitting my mom.” She sent Liselle a look too complicated to figure out. “You have to understand, this was after my mom threw him out. Months later. He came back, snuck in the back door.”

  Liselle nodded. “Okay.” She didn’t care about Matt. She just wanted to know what John had to do with it all.

  Beth took a deep breath. “He came back, drunk or high or something. My mom told him to leave and he hit her, said it was her fault he was so messed up. We were in the foyer. I tried to get him away from my mom, and he hit me. I fell down against the stairs. Uncle John came in, he was coming over for dinner. I remember he was wearing his fatigues and when Dad saw him, he went crazy.” She stopped and wrung her hands.

  “Beth, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Liselle offered, sliding out of bed and hugging the girl. She no longer cared that all she had on was a pair of panties and John’s shirt.

  Beth shook her head. “No, I want you to know.” She took a deep breath. “Uncle John grabbed him and tossed him aside, like it was nothing. I’ve never seen anything like it. He looked like one of those guys in the movies. Mom said he’d learned how to fight in the military.” She looked at Liselle, her expression pained. “I know his shoulder still hurt a lot, he was still having trouble with it, but it was like he didn’t even notice. When my dad got up, Uncle John blocked everything he threw at him. Mom was on the phone with the cops by now, and I could tell Uncle John was trying not to really hurt my dad.”

  “Jesus,” Liselle breathed. “I had no idea.”

  “And then my dad went completely berserk when he heard the sirens. He threw a chair at me. I didn’t duck fast enough.” She pointed to a small scar over her right eye that Liselle hadn’t noticed before. “It started bleeding like crazy, and Uncle John grabbed my dad and shoved him out the door. The cops pulled up, and then my dad punched Uncle John in his bad shoulder, really hard. Uncle John groaned and fell back against the house.”

  Liselle felt sick. Beth had stopped talking and looked like she was on the verge of tears.

  “I know Uncle John was a pilot, but he must have had some kind of other training, because he suddenly got real calm. The police were there, but my dad had Uncle John by the neck, too close to him for the police to really do anything, and he punched him again. Uncle John just took it—he had the scariest look on his face, and then he hit my dad in the head.”

  She pulled the girl close again and hugged her. “It’s all over now.”

  “I know,” Beth said into Liselle’s shirt. “My dad went down, like boom. Dead.”

  Liselle froze. “What?”

  Beth nodded. “Yeah. I couldn’t believe it either. The cops said it was totally self-defense. They saw the whole thing.”

  Oh my God, Liselle thought. John had killed Matt. She felt a strange sort of satisfaction at the thought, and then she felt a hint of guilt for being thankful that her lover had killed her brother. She should be angry, or upset, and instead, she felt … relieved. And weirdly, safer than she had in a long time. John said he’d protect her, keep her safe from her father. Clearly he wasn’t just saying that. He must have thought through the consequences of exactly what it meant to make that kind of a promise. After all, he’d killed before.

  “Aunt Liselle? You okay? You’re not mad I told you, are you?” Beth sniffed against John’s shirt.

  “God, no, never!” She hugged her again, beyond thankful that she’d come here all those months ago and met this girl and her family.

  “I didn’t know Uncle John hadn’t told you,” Beth said.

  “I think he was afraid I would freak out,” Liselle murmured.

  Beth snorted. “Yeah.” She rubbed her face against Liselle’s shirt, then pulled back. “Hey, what’s this?” She hooked a finger around the gold chain and before Liselle could stop her, pulled out the necklace with the dog tag dangling from it. “This was my grandmother’s.” She leaned closer.

  Liselle closed her eyes, flushing. Shit. She sure hoped John didn’t mind his family finding out about them. Wait, he’d given her his mother’s gold necklace? What did that mean?

  “And that’s Uncle John’s dog tag! Well, one of them anyway.” The girl rubbed a finger over the metal. “He gave this to you.” She eyed Liselle speculatively.

  Liselle blushed harder. “Um…”

  “He likes you! My mom said my grandmother always wore that chain, for as long as she could remember. Wow. Uncle John gave it to you.” Beth gave a whoop and kissed her on the cheek. “That is so cool!”

  “Uh, you’re not upset?” She wondered when her life had gotten so surreal.

  “Are you kidding? I thought he’d never meet someone. He never dated any girl that I ever saw. Or guy, come to think of it.” Beth giggled, then seemed to realize exactly what Liselle was dressed in.

  Or not dressed in, Liselle thought, because Beth let out a squeal. John’s cat hissed. Beth ignored him.

  “You’re wearing his shirt, too, and you’re totally naked under there! Oh my God, I have to text my mother.” She pulled away and had her phone in her hand before Liselle could even blink.

  “Oh God, he’s going to kill me,” Liselle groaned, watching Beth type. The girl’s fingers moved so fast they almost blurred. From the corner of her eye she saw Pitbull jump off the bed, throw them both a disdainful look, and head downstairs.

  “Nah.” Beth flashed a grin at her, hands pausing. “He’ll be cool. He’s used to women. Four older sisters, remember?”

  Liselle groaned again and buried her face in her hands.

  An hour later Liselle, Beth, and Julie were sitting in a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant eating lunch. Or rather, Beth and Julie were eating lunch. Liselle was answering the barrage of questions the two of them threw her way. The place was set in the small town at the bottom of the mountain where the Steele family had lived for generations. Everyone seemed to know each other, judging by the dozens of greetings sent their way from people on the street when they’d parked the car. Liselle hated to admit it, but she liked it here. It was quaint. The general store John and his crew were renovating was down the block. When he’d seen her with his sisters he’d smiled and thrown her a kiss, then winced when Beth made kissy faces at him. Liselle chuckled, thinking about it, and took another bite of her burger.

  “When did he first kiss you?” Beth asked around a french fry, continuing her and her mother’s interrogation.

  Liselle made a show of chewing her lunch, gesturing that she couldn’t answer because her mouth was full. Thank goodness the place was close to empty because she really didn’t need the whole world hearing about her love life. The table next to them held three older women. There was a waitress and a cook using the small kitchen in the back. That was the extent of the people inside, given that it was a bit late for lunch and the place had no air conditioning. It was hot inside. She took another bite of her burger, trying to enjoy the small-town atmosphere of the place. Beth and Julie weren’t making it easy.

  “Oh come on, you can tell us!” Beth wheedled.

  Liselle waved her finger at her mouth, trying to convey 'sorry, chewing here,' with the appropriate amount of adult control rather than the embarrassment she was actually feeling.

  “Oh please, you’ve been chewing that bite for, like, an hour,” Beth said, chomping down another ketchup-smothered fry.

  Julie laughed. “She’s right. Now spill.” She leaned over the table. “He hasn’t had a girlfriend since high school. At least not that he’
s told us about.”

  Liselle sighed and swallowed. “And I can see why. He’s got five women tormenting him for information. Any sane person would have run the other direction as soon as they set eyes on his family.” She smiled to show that she was only teasing.

  Julie smirked and her daughter laughed. Liselle rolled her eyes at them and gave in.

  “He rescued me from that blizzard the first night I met you guys.”

  “Wait, what? He kissed you back in February?” Beth goggled at her.

  “He rescued you? What happened in the snow?” Julie leaned in now, too.

  Liselle chuckled. They look of avid curiosity on their faces was hilarious.

  “My car broke down and I ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. He found me and took me home with him, thankfully. I was freezing.” She debated on what to tell them, but then figured she might as well throw them a bone. “And he warmed me up in front of his big fireplace.”

  “Oh my God, the classic ‘share heat’ romance thing,” Julie crowed, laughing hysterically. “Were your clothes wet?”

  Liselle blushed. “Uh, no comment.”

  “They were? Okay, I don’t actually want to know any more.” Julie sat back and took a sip of her iced tea.

  “Aw, mom!” Beth complained.

  “Hello, this is your uncle we’re talking about here,” Julie said, waving a hand. “I do not want details of my little brother and his romantic conquests.”

  Beth laughed and ate another fry. “Yeah, you’ve got a point. There is not enough brain bleach in the world to erase those images. I’m glad I’m an only child.”

  Liselle breathed a tentative sigh of relief and sipped her drink. She wondered if they would be willing to answer a few questions. Only one way to find out, she told herself. “So, how long was John in the Air Force?”

  “Oh, twenty years. I think. I know he got his pension.” Julie’s face darkened. “But the accident was horrible. I don’t know if he was planning on retiring, but well…” she trailed off.

  “What happened?” It was Liselle’s turn to lean forward.

  Julie eyed her. “Well, you’re wearing my mother’s necklace. I guess I can tell you.” She wiped her face with her napkin and tossed it on the table.

  Liselle’s fingers twitched, wanting to stroke the dog tag. Since she’d taken it all those months ago, she had come to rely on it every time she felt unsettled, like a good luck charm. Not that it helped me much when my dad appeared out of fucking nowhere, she thought darkly.

  “Supposedly, he disobeyed orders. He told me that some of his team had gotten pinned down by the enemy in the midst of a skirmish, up in the mountains in Afghanistan. Some awful ambush or something, and his commanding officer didn’t want him taking the chopper back to get them. He went anyway. He got them out, but the bird went down and he was hurt bad.” She grimaced. “Thank God his superior officers,” her tone of voice implied that they were anything but ‘superior,’ “decided he should take a medical discharge instead of just kicking him out for disobeying orders. God, I hated them for their damned callous attitude. They didn’t deserve John. He’s too good for that kind of service.” She nearly snarled the last few words.

  “I’m sorry,” Liselle said, feeling bad for bringing it up. “I didn’t realize it had been that bad for him.”

  “He had nightmares for months after he got home,” Beth said.

  Julie snorted. “Oddly, I think decking Matt helped him. He didn’t have as much trouble sleeping after that. Well, that and he flies the chopper for the fire department when clueless tourists get lost hiking the Appalachian trail in the winter.”

  Liselle thought about that. “Protecting you probably made him feel like he had control of something again. Something important.” She wondered why Julie didn’t mention that John’s blow had been the thing that killed Matt, in the end. Maybe Julie didn’t want her to know?

  Julie looked at her, brown eyes perceptive. “You know all about that, don’t you?”

  Liselle forced herself to hold the woman’s gaze. “Yeah, I guess.” She thought of her father, and how he was still out there, probably looking for her right now. “I wish I had that kind of control over my life.”

  “Uncle John will help you,” Beth said, her young voice sure.

  Liselle didn’t feel so confident. “He’s only one man.”

  “So’s your father,” Julie said.

  Liselle thought it was interesting how none of them ever referred to him as Beth’s grandfather. “Yeah, that’s true.”

  And then, like a specter from a bad dream, she heard his voice.

  Chapter Nine

  “So you decided to hole up with the bitch and her family, huh?”

  Liselle sucked in a breath, heart slamming against her ribs. She spun around, almost falling off her chair. Her father stood not five feet away, unshaven, his t-shirt dirty. He had on his old work boots and his jeans had seen better days.

  Jesus Christ, she thought, faintly. Then, before he could speak again, she shoved away from the table, grabbing Julie and Beth by the arm. Without a word, she dragged them up and over to the kitchen with some faint hope of escape through the back, but before she could get them out the door, her dad sneered and pulled a gun out of his pants.

  “Stop right there, girl!” he yelled, pointing the weapon at her. For someone who looked half-drunk, his hands were strangely steady. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Liselle froze. The women at the next table froze, too. Where the hell had he come from? And where the hell did he get a pistol? He’d never owned one before, at least not that she knew of. She wished she knew more about guns. Was it loaded? Did he have the safety on? There was no way to tell. It just looked black and menacing and totally fucking scary nestled in her father’s rough hand.

  “Who is that?” Beth hissed.

  Liselle shoved her behind her, not answering, trying to make sure her father couldn’t see the girl.

  “What do you want, Dad?” she asked, taking a few steps forward.

  “Oh my God, it’s—” Julie began to say, but then he shot a round into the ceiling, scaring the hell out of Liselle. She froze, swallowing hard. He was insane.

  “Shut up!”

  Liselle cringed inside, but didn’t let her fear show. It would goad her father into crazier heights of rage—just like it had in the past. She wished she could turn around, make sure Beth was okay, but she couldn’t afford to draw his attention away from her and toward the girl.

  “Dad, put the gun down,” she said instead, voice calm. In her head, she wanted to scream and cry, but she had to keep Beth safe. She clenched her hands into fists, and then deliberately relaxed them. If he saw her show any anger, he would lose it.

  “You don’t tell me what to do,” he said, pointing the gun her way again.

  From the corner of her eye, Liselle could see one of the women at the other table dialing her cell phone. Thank God.

  “You want me to come with you? Okay, I’ll come,” Liselle said, inching forward. She ignored the sullen pain of her injured ankle, the sting of her thigh as the bandage pulled across the scab. None of that was important now. She needed to get close enough so that she could surprise him, knock the gun away. She really didn’t think he’d shoot, but then, he’d surprised her before. There was that time he’d broken her arm—he hadn’t even been angry at the time. She took another step. He glared at her, eyes bloodshot and glassy. Was he high?

  “You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” he sneered. The gun trembled a little.

  Liselle shook her head, eyes on his hands. He held the gun so tightly the skin around his nails was turning white. She hoped his finger didn’t slip on the trigger.

  “I can’t hear you,” he growled.

  “No, of course I don’t think that.” She was almost there, thank God, and then the front door opened. Shit. Her dad was going to lose his fucking mind, she could see the rage on his face. She hoped whoever was coming in woul
d figure out what was happening and leave quickly.

  “Dad, don’t do anything stupid,” she said, and then wanted to kick herself. He hated when anyone implied he was dumb. She flinched as the anger slid across his face like a bomb going off in slow motion—disaster, disaster, her brain supplied, complete with hysterical screaming where no one could hear—and then her father spun around, gun waving.

  “Stop right there!” he yelled, aiming for the person standing in the doorway.

  “Dad, just put the gun down,” she said loudly. “You don’t really want to hurt anyone, do you? I already told you I’d come with you.” She tried to keep her voice steady, but her throat went dry on the last word. Her father snarled at her, hand swinging back around to point the gun at her head and she flinched. His forehead was twisted up as if he couldn’t figure out what was going on and it pissed him off. Liselle stopped breathing. This was it. No going back, she thought, looking right into his eyes. He wanted her dead. She saw it in the way he held himself.

  She felt sick, and more frightened than she’d ever been before. She tried to swallow and glanced at the door. When she saw John standing there all the blood rushed out of her head. No! she thought, horrified. Of all the people to come in … she had to do something to keep him safe, get him out of there. Anything.

  John had the weirdest expression on his face, but Liselle didn’t have time to figure out what he was thinking. She lunged for her father’s arm, praying he wouldn’t pull the trigger, but of course he did. She gasped as the bullet grazed her cheekbone, burning a line of fire along her skin, but she was already moving so it didn’t matter. She shoved his hand up, astonished at how heavy it was. She heaved, hard, and he growled and smacked her with his free hand. She went down, head spinning.

  “Shit,” she muttered, spitting blood on the floor. She wiped her face, trying to get hair out of her eyes. The graze from the bullet hurt like a bitch. She had to get up, she thought woozily, certain her father would hurt someone else if she didn’t stop him. She had to protect Beth. She had to get John away from the disaster that was her life. She rolled over, head throbbing, just in time to see John tackle her father. He wrenched the older man’s arm up behind his back and the gun fell to the floor. She blinked, astonished. Disbelieving. Was John actually trying to protect her? She swallowed, throat suddenly thick. No one had ever done that before. She shoved herself up, getting to her knees, and then her father twisted in John’s grip.