“I want the truth.”
Jed scoffed. “The truth?” He looked at her again. “Your mom’s a whore, Melissa.” This time he looked mean—more like the Jed she knew. “So, yeah—I’ve fucked her plenty but I’m not the only one. There are lots of guys around here who have, just like there’s a lot of people in this town who think your apple don’t fall far from her tree.”
If the twins weren’t strapped into the back of his car, she would’ve hit him. “Fuck. You.” She glared at him, biting each syllable in half. The ring on her finger cut into her clenched hand, Pete’s words coming back to her.
He won’t want to marry you after I’m through with you…
Pete didn’t have to rape her to ruin her. She was already ruined. Had always been ruined, from the day she was born. She felt the fight go out of her and she slumped in her seat, leaning her forehead against the window. “I’m nothing like her,” she whispered, her breath puffing slightly against the cool glass of the window. Thinking that, feeling that way about her mother should make her feel guilty, because she was dead, but it didn’t.
She didn’t feel anything at all.
“I know that,” Jed said next to her before he sighed, sounding exasperated. “I never thought that about you.”
“You’re a liar,” she said, her tone even and low. “That’s exactly what you think of me.”
She slapped at him with her words and he jerked back, stung by the reminder of his own bad behavior. “Look… I’m sorry. For everything... I never know what to say to you—how to act. I usually just end up making shit worse.”
“Because you love me.” The words slipped out, flat and dull. No sharp edges. No accusations or blame. Love was a dangerous thing. When it went unrequited it could turn ugly. Make you do things. Make you into something you weren’t supposed to be.
It took him a few seconds to answer her. “Yeah… because I love you,” Jed finally said, pulling into the parking lot of the hospital. He parked in a spot reserved for law enforcement that was close to the main entrance before killing the engine. “I’ll help you inside.”
“You ever go into my room afterward, when I’m not there?” She said it fast, had to before she lost her nerve. “After you been to see her? Snooped around? Take my things?”
That ugly red flush again. It crept up his neck, staining his cheeks. He didn’t answer her this time. He didn’t have to.
“Did you do it?” she said, shifting around in her seat to fully face him. The tears were back but she didn’t try to stop them this time. They slipped down her cheeks, dripping off her chin, unchecked. “Did you… hurt Tommy because of me?” Did you kill my mother?
“No.” He said it like he meant it. Like it was true but there was something… “I was being serious about that ring,” he said, casting his gaze toward her hand. “I’d take if off if I were you. If Tomahawk isn’t the asshole who went to work on your face then the last thing you need is Chief Bauer to get wind of what’s going on between you and him.”
Any delusions she had about Jed not knowing about the two of them were shattered. He wasn’t the only one. Wade. Michael… everyone in town probably knew about her and Tommy.
That meant it could have been anyone. That no matter how badly she wanted to blame Jed for what’d happened, she couldn’t. Not for sure.
She popped the car door open before jamming her feet into her pair of borrowed sandals. She stood, levering her seat up, and leaned into the back to unfasten Riley’s car seat. The girl all but leaped into her arms, her little legs digging into the bruise on her hip but she didn’t mind.
Shouldering the diaper bag, she shut the car door and moved to stand on the sidewalk, watching through the windshield as Jed struggled to get Jason out of his seat. Once he had him, he joined her on the sidewalk and they moved toward the hospital without saying a word to each other
The ring Tommy gave her stayed on her finger. Where it belonged.
NINETEEN
JED TOOK HER STRAIGHT to the hospital cafeteria, installing her and the twins at a table close to the bathroom, before he hurried through the line, snatching this and that, piling it all on top of a tray before paying for it from a wad of cash he had stuffed in the front pocket of his jeans.
“Here—I didn’t know what to get,” he said, practically dumping the tray onto the table in front of her.
“I have money,” she said, reaching for a plate of fruit that was wrapped in cellophane. “Not with me. It’s in the bank but I—”
“I don’t want your money,” he said, dragging a couple of high chairs over to the table. “I’m gonna go find the Chief; have him meet you down here.” He hitched a thumb over his shoulder before burying his hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket. “There’s a phone on the wall over there if you want to call your grandma or whatever.”
“I was telling you the truth before, Jed,” she said, suddenly desperate to make him believe her. “Tommy had nothing to do with what happened to me.”
“That ain’t entirely true,” he said, backing away from the table. “And we both know it.” Before she could answer him, he was gone—off to find her father. To tell him that someone had beat the shit out of his illegitimate daughter. That she was waiting in the hospital cafeteria for him. Probably a lot of other things that were half true or outright suppositions.
She couldn’t think about that now. Couldn’t do anything about it. She focused on what she could control. She fed the twins. Called her grandmother but the phone rang and rang before she remembered that it was Monday morning—Lucy volunteered at the library on Monday mornings.
People were staring at her. At the damage done to her face. Wondering what happened. Who did it. She was embarrassed but there wasn’t anything she could do about that either so she just pretended to ignore them.
“Hey, Melissa.”
The voice was familiar but it didn’t belong to her father. She looked up to see Zeke, her father’s deputy, standing over her. As soon as he saw her face, she caught a ripple of worry, chased by something that looked a lot like anger.
“Come on,” he said her, lifting her up by the arm, coaxing her out of her seat. He had her halfway to the door before she recovered enough to pull herself out of his grasp.
“I can’t just leave them,” she said, stopping in her tracks. She looked around. No one was looking. Everyone was very interested in their Watergate salads and rubbery pancakes which meant that even though they weren’t watching, they were all paying attention. “They’re babies.”
Zeke cocked his head at the table. “Wait with ‘em til I get back,” he said and someone moved in her peripheral. Jed seemed to come out of nowhere, sitting in the chair she’d just been forced to vacate. Problem solved, Zeke continued to drag her out of the room.
Waiting in the hallway, near the elevators and away from prying eyes, was her father. As soon as Zeke saw him, he let go of her arm. “Tell me what happened,” he told her. “Who did this to you?”
She bounced a look between her father and his deputy, not sure which one she should be addressing. “I—” she shook her head, settling her gaze on her father. “I want to see Tommy first.”
“’Course she does.” The Chief scoffed. “I ain’t got time for this shit,” he said, aiming his words at Zeke. “What I got is a half-dead Indian kid upstairs and no one to thank for it.”
Half-dead Indian kid.
The words clenched her stomach, pushing at the fruit and toast she’d managed to choke down. It all came rushing up and she had to lock her throat against it to keep from gagging. “His name is Tommy,” she said between clenched teeth. “And he isn’t the one who did this to me.”
Her father locked his jaw and shook his head, his expression calling her a liar while Zeke advanced on her, closing the space between them until she could smell the stale coffee on his breath. “If not him, then who?”
The moment she told them what had happened, what she’d done, she’d be arrested and she couldn’t
let that happen. Not yet. “I want to see Tommy.” Again, she looked past Zeke, aiming her glare and her words at her father. “Now.”
The hard tone that came out of her mouth was a shock to them both. It had Zeke taking a step back before aiming an uncertain look at her father. He gave Zeke an almost imperceptible shake of his head. “That ain’t gonna happen,” Zeke said. “He’s in ICU—no one but family and the police are allowed in.” He seemed to regain his bearings because he squared his shoulders. “Now, I need you to tell me—”
She maneuvered around Zeke, closing the distance between her and her father until they were face to face. “You’re gonna make it happen, Dad.” She wielded the word like a weapon, like a slap in the face and it worked. He finally looked at her. Listening. Waiting.
She held her hand up; all but shoving the ring Tommy gave her in his face. “I’m his fiancé—that’s family,” she said. “The rest of it—what happened to me—can wait.”
They stared at each other for a moment, the only sound between them, the clicking of his jaw as it clenched and unclenched. Finally he looked past her. “Take her on up. Tell the nurse I said it was okay.”
Then he was gone. Down the hall and out the door. He left her there and didn’t look back.
“Alright, you got your way.” Zeke appeared beside her. “Now, I need to know, Melissa,” he said, leaning over to punch the call button for the elevator. “I need to know if this has anything to do with what happened to Tommy.”
The door slid open and she stepped inside. He followed her, leaning over to punch his thumb against one of the numbered buttons. Three. Tommy was on the third floor.
“I’ll tell you everything.” The doors slid closed and they rode upward in silence. “As soon as I see him.”
“Alright,” he said as soon as the doors slid open. “Follow my lead.”
ICU was a locked ward and it took a minute for them to be buzzed in. When they were, Zeke fixed a hang dog expression on his face, lifting his cowboy hat off his head as they approached the nurses’ station. “So far, this is the only family belonging to Tommy Onewolf I can find.” He pushed her forward a bit and the nurse behind the counter frowned up at her.
“She’s his fiancé,” he said before the nurse could object. “We’re on the hunt for his mama but until then…” He shrugged like he didn’t know what to do but the hand around her elbow tightened, silently urging her to play her part.
“Please,” she said, her bottom lip quivering. She wasn’t pretending. She was suddenly desperate. Her gaze wheeled around the ward, searching for some sign of him. “Please, can I see him?” She flattened her hand on the counter, putting the ring Tommy gave her on full display. “I won’t cause trouble—I’ll just…” her pleas tapered off when the nurse’s frown folded under the heavy weight of sympathy.
The nurse bounced a helpless look upward, landing it on Zeke’s face before looking at her again. “How old are you?”
She felt her heart sink. “Sixteen. I’ll be seventeen in October.”
Her answer pulled the nurse’s mouth into a hard, thin line. She looked up again and shook her head. “Zeke—”
“Chief vouched for her.” He leaned in, closing the space between him and the nurse. “She’s his daughter.”
She’s his daughter.
The words fisted around her throat and squeezed, making it impossible to breathe.
The nurse sighed, staring at them both for a moment before she gave her head a single nod. “Follow me,” she said, leading them down the hall. “I’ve got to warn you, Miss—”
“Walker,” she mumbled, following fast behind. “Melissa Walker.”
Another glance, this one questioning and aimed over her head. “Okay, I’ve got to warn you, Miss Walker—his condition is critical.” The nurse cut a quick look at Zeke who kept pace. “He’s suffered significant head trauma and blood loss.” She stopped in front of a closed door. “I need you—”
Melissa left the nurse behind, pushing the door open to step inside the dimly lit room. He was laying on the bed, covered by a blanket, arms on top. Tubes and wires stuck out every which way. One stuck out of his mouth, attached to a machine that pumped and sucked at evenly
spaced intervals.
He was pale. She’d never seen him so pale. His black hair lank and dull against the pillow. The only color on his skin were splashes of livid purple, ringed and slashed with red. Bruises. One bleeding into the next. Overlapping and crowding his lax features.
Her. This had happened to him because of her.
“Oh…” the sound escaped her and like it’d been the only thing holding her up, she sank, her knees too loose to hold her. Someone caught her, guided her to the chair next to Tommy’s bed. She sat, pressing her hand to her mouth, the silver ring on her finger cutting into her lip.
The nurse gave her a sympathetic cluck. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re here.”
“Alright now,” Zeke said as soon as she was gone. “You got what you wanted—”
“Pete Connors.” She spit the words out without even bothering to look up at the man standing next to her. “He came at me this morning—said he knew about me and Tommy,” she said, her voice snagging and shredding on the razor-sharp pain that stabbed at her chest. “Said he’d fix it so he wouldn’t want to marry me.” Now she looked up at him, her eyes dry and hot. “Make it so no one decent would ever want me again.”
“Pete Conners?” Zeke said, looking down at her, repeating the name like he knew who he was. “He’s the one did this to you?”
She cranked her hands into fists. Could practically feel the hard wood of the bat they’d been squeezed around only a few hours ago. “Yes.”
“Did he…”
“Rape me?” She looked away from him. Settled her gaze on the still, pale form on the bed. “No.”
“Where is he now?” The relief in Zeke’s voice was palpable and she tried not to hear it. Not to feel it.
“I suppose he’s where I left him, Zeke,” she said, the corner of her mouth lifting in a humorless smile that felt both completely foreign and utterly at home on her face. “Dead, on my kitchen floor.”
TWENTY
THE DOCTOR CAME IN and threw words at her while he flipped through Tommy’s chart. Acute subdural hematoma. Penetrating abdominal trauma. Critical condition. Life support.
The last few words were the only ones Melissa understood but they all meant the same thing. She knew what the doctor was trying to tell her. What he was trying to prepare her for.
Tommy was going to die.
As soon as the thought formed in her mind, she rejected it. Pushed it away. Tommy was going to be fine. He was going to wake up and as soon as he was healed they were going to leave Jessup. Together. They were going to be together. They were—
“Miss Walker?”
She looked up at the doctor standing over her. They hadn’t been able to find Tommy’s mother. She was in New Mexico somewhere, totally unaware that her son was dying. Because of the ring he’d given her, she’d become his next of kin.
“Do you understand what I’ve told you?” he said, a concerned look planted on his tired face.
She nodded because she was supposed to and because it was the quickest way to get him to leave. “Yes,” she said, fixing her gaze on the young man in the bed in front of her. She was tired of words she didn’t understand and people trying to prepare her for what they thought was inevitable. She just wanted them all to go away.
The doctor stood over her for a few more moments before nodding his head. “You should try to get some rest,” he said, flipping Tommy’s chart closed and placing it back in the rack at the foot of the bed. “I’ll have one of the nurses call your grandmother to take you home.”
“I’m not leaving.” She said it in that voice she’d used on her father and Zeke earlier. The one that sounded like it belonged to someone else. The one that gave people pause. Made them look at her like she was a stranger. Like she might be dangerous.
“Miss Walker—”
She finally looked at him. “I said I’m not leaving.”
“Okay…” The doctor held up his hands, took a step back like he was searching for a safe distance between them. “At least let one of the nurses take a look at your face—” He cut a quick look at Tommy. “The cut on your lip looks like it needs stitches.”
He thought that Tommy was the one who did this to her. They all did. That she was some crazy, battered girlfriend, protecting her abuser. That what’d happened to Tommy was retaliation for assaulting her. Only Chief Bauer and her grandmother knew the truth.
LUCY had come not long after she’d arrived at the hospital, rapping on the door with light knuckles before she pushed the door open. When she heard her, Melissa turned toward the door to find her standing in the doorway. As soon as Lucy saw her, her smile brightened but she could see it. How heavy it was. How it sagged a bit under the weight of seeing what had happened to her. She’d blame herself. That’s what she did.
“Hi, Grandma,” she said, her voice trembling. She felt herself starting to float away so she turned her gaze on Tommy—let the rise and fall of his chest ground her. It was the only thing that kept her here. Held her down. “How’d you find me?” It was a stupid question. One whose answer didn’t really matter but her grandmother smiled at her while she slipped into the room.
“Your father called me.” Lucy moved to stand beside her, next to Tommy’s bed. “He told me… what happened.”
“That I killed Pete.” The words were flat, said without inflection. Without remorse.
It was as if she hadn’t said a word. Lucy reached over and patted her hand. “He sent me to collect the twins. Wants me to talk you into coming home with me.”
She didn’t answer. She just shook her head.
Lucy sighed. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “As stubborn as your grandfather—that man’s skull was as thick as a brick.”
Waiting In Darkness: A Sabrina Vaughn Thriller (The Sabrina Vaughn Series Book 1) Page 11