“Would you like to sit down?”
“Yes, thank you. Brodie is it?”
“Yes, ma’am. Brodie Beaumont.” I gestured to one of the nicer chairs and she sat.
The room grew silent and they both looked at me expectantly. Priding myself on being no dummy, I said. “Well, I’ll let you two chat. I’ll be back later.” I grabbed my keys and walked out of my house, leaving my girlfriend, the love of my life alone with her rich mother. A mother that Gabrielle didn’t want to know about me, or at least about our relationship for some reason. Why would she introduce me as the guy she rents from and not as her boyfriend? What was I, an embarrassment? Anger boiled in my veins as I drove to the bar. Okay, so her mom was wealthy. A little tidbit of information she’d neglected to mention. I wasn’t the richest son-of-bitch to roam this God forsaken world, but I wasn’t the poorest either. What the fuck just happened?
Chapter 42
Gabrielle
“I’d offer you something to drink, but I don’t think you’ll be here long enough. Why are you here?” I demanded.
“I told you. I wanted to see where you were living. You’re my daughter.”
“Well, you made it very clear that if I left school and moved away, you would have nothing to do with me.” My mother didn’t like the idea of me leaving school, and when I did, she cut me out of her life refusing to see reason. Everything had to be her way or no way.
“Oh, Gabby, people say things all the time.”
“No, they don’t. Mothers don’t tell their daughters that they don’t ever want to speak to them or see them again.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I was hurt. You leaving school like that was a blow to all our dreams, Gabby. You have your whole future to think of. You have such great potential. I thought you wanted to be a journalist. You know with Kurt’s influence you could have a prime spot on NBC, but you need to have your degree. He can’t work magic.”
“How is Kurt?”
“Oh, Kurt is Kurt. He says to say hello. Anyway, when you stormed off like that with your hot-headed temper, well, I … didn’t know what to do. Cutting you off seemed like the best idea at the time. But Gabby, I miss you.” She looked around the house. “You can’t possibly be happy here in this … place.”
My mother was a tool. A manipulative snobby tool. I knew she meant well, but damn, I didn’t want to be a newscaster on NBC. “Mom, those are your dreams. Not mine. I don’t want a spot on TV. Not at NBC, not anywhere.”
“Well, you don’t have to be on camera. There are plenty of wonderful positions for journalists.”
“Mom,” I placed my hand on top of hers. “I know this is going to disappoint you, but I don’t want to be a journalist.”
“Of course you do. That’s what you’ve wanted your entire life. Well, at least since I married Kurt and he, bless his heart, inspired you.”
“He did inspire me. He inspired me to pursue my dreams, but journalism isn’t my dream. It was yours. I want to write.”
“Exactly, honey.”
“No. I want to write novels, fiction. Romance to be exact.”
“Oh Gabby, be serious.”
“I am serious.”
“You can’t be. You can’t make any money writing novels. Look at the Internet. It’s full of starving authors.”
She was exasperating and had the ability to shoot my dreams down with one sentence. “Maybe it’s not all about the money.”
“Well, whatever else could it be about?”
“Maybe it’s about the story and the fact that I love to write them.”
“Well, you can do that as a hobby.”
“Mother. I already have a contract with a publisher. They’ve already sent me an advance. My book is due out this fall.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded.
“How much of an advance?”
“Forty thousand dollars.”
“That’s all? Honey, you can do so much better than that working for NBC.”
“That’s just the first book and doesn’t include the royalties. Really, mother, this is none of your business anyway, but I have a contract and I will be getting much more on the second book.”
She scoffed and waved her hand at me.
“They’ve promised a hundred and eighty thousand on the second book.”
Her eyes lit up like firecrackers. “Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place? That changes everything.”
I looked at her, unable to refrain from rolling my eyes. She was a piece of work for sure. How quickly she could turn when there was money talking.
“So, you’ll be able to move out of this …” she glanced around the living room, wrinkling her nose in disgust, “… place.”
“I don’t have any intention of moving.”
“You can’t be serious. What is it about this house, this tiny town that is so alluring? I hope it’s not that … that guy.”
By “that guy,” I assumed she meant Brodie. And now we were back to the very reason I hadn’t introduced Brodie as my boyfriend. My mother wanted me to marry some snobby, wealthy NBC executive who would no doubt cheat on me with every new actress in Hollywood. There were several that came to mind who’d been to the house for the specific reason of meeting me. It always infuriated my mother when I never showed interest in any of them.
I shrugged, unable to hide my feelings for Brodie. I spared him the humiliation she would ensue upon him, but since he wasn’t here now to receive any of her snide remarks, I blurted out, “Yes. ‘that guy’ as you called him means everything to me. This is my life, not yours. It’s my choice what work I do, as well as who I make my life with.”
She stood, holding her purse in her hands in front of her, her lips pressed firmly together. “Gabby, I want you to come to dinner next week. I’ll send a car.”
“Why?”
“I have some friends coming, I’d like you to meet them.”
I knew my mother, and when she said she had friends coming over and wanted me present, it meant a young, usually handsome, wealthy country-club bachelor. One who spent most of his spare time on the golf course, making the next deal of the century, and who would no doubt bore me to tears about how he made his fortune or inherited it. Most of them usually turned out to be even bigger snobs than my mother.
“Did you not hear what I just said? I don’t want to meet your friends. I am happy here. Brodie is my choice. I love him. You’re just going to have to accept that.”
“For God’s sake, Gabby, you know very well what I had to go through after your father died and left us penniless.”
“Don’t talk about him that way.” My dad may not have been the wealthiest man, but he loved me. I’ll never forget what he told me when I was little. He told me always to be myself and never compromise my beliefs and dreams to please someone else. I hadn’t realized until that very moment that he was probably talking about my mother.
“I know you loved him, but I had to scrape and save every penny I made just so you could have new shoes to wear, or a new dress for school.”
I’d never considered our living situations to be as awful as she made them sound. We always had a decent place to live. True, she had to go to work after my dad died, leaving me with the neighbors, but I didn’t think that was so unusual. Tons of kids got dropped off at day care centers and neighbors while their moms went to work. Granted, most of those places didn’t have a Thomas, but that wasn’t her fault and there was no point in telling her now.
She went on with her self-important drivel, “We were very fortunate when Kurt came into our lives. I only want what’s best for you. I don’t want you to suffer the way I did.”
At that point, I’d had enough. “I think your time is up. Please leave.”
She sighed, then shook her head. She reached out to stroke my cheek with her finger, but I flinched away before she could touch me. “Someday you’ll understand, Gabby.” She turned and walked out the door and strolled down to the car. I wat
ched as the driver let her in the back seat and then got back in himself before they pulled away from the curb.
Relief filled me as I shut the door, then panic set in. “Oh my God. Brodie!” He had to be furious with me. I quickly found my cell phone and called him, hoping he would understand why I hadn’t told her who he was to me, but it went straight to voicemail.
Chapter 43
Brodie
Upon entering the bar, I was surprised to find it so crowded. Wednesday nights weren’t usually busy, and there was nothing special happening. It looked as if I had arrived just in time. Derrick was behind the bar by himself, juggling beers and mixing drinks while Alison, one of the week-night waitresses, called out another drink order. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize, but thought maybe the busy work would help take my mind off of Gabrielle and her mother, so I grabbed an apron and put it on. “Why all the people?” I asked Derrick.
He shrugged, giving me a huge smile and proceeded to deliver the two drinks he carried in his hands to a couple of guys at the other end of the bar.
He came back toward me. “Why are you here? I thought you’d be home with Gabby.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He gave me a bemused glance. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Might say that.” I didn’t want to go into detail about how awkward it had been meeting Gabrielle’s wealthy mother, or the fact that Gabrielle obviously didn’t want her to know we were in a relationship. I busied myself filling some beers and mixing drinks. I wondered how long Gabrielle’s mother would be there. I felt foolish leaving my own house and I wanted to go home. I was tired after working all day and coming back, only to work twice as hard. I’d been helping Derrick out for the past thirty minutes or so and the freaky rush was slowly dwindling down. My phone buzzed. I took it out of my pocket and glanced at the display. It was Gabrielle. I pushed the button sending it straight to voicemail. I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and waited on another guy.
As I placed a fresh drink down in front of another customer, my heart skipped a beat when I noticed Jeff’s face back in the corner. He was sitting with a group of guys. Soccer pals, no doubt, since they were all dressed like they’d just come from practice. He may be part of that team, and this is where they always came after practices and games, but he still wasn’t welcome here and he knew it. I couldn’t let the harassing phone calls to Gabrielle go without at least calling the bastard out. I threw down my bar rag and started to come out from behind the bar. I wanted him gone. I had no sooner stepped out from behind the bar than the heavy doors opened and two cops strolled in and looked around, stopping me in my tracks. They headed to the one and only empty table and ordered coffee. So much for my wanting to pound the snot out of Jeff. It would have to wait for another time.
I wanted to let Gabrielle know that I had seen him, but then I remembered how she considered me to be such an embarrassment that she couldn’t even introduce me to her mother properly. I wanted to puke.
I headed toward the bar to grab my keys I’d placed under the counter. I was done playing the dejected, run-out-of-the-house-with-my-tail-between-my-legs puppy dog. I didn’t care what her mother thought of me. I would claim my woman, and if her mother didn’t accept me then … shit. I stopped at the door. Gabrielle would support me, right? But she hadn’t. Damn it. Come to think of it, I was still pissed off and I didn’t want to talk to her. My news about Jeff no longer important, I went back to work helping Derrick. I probably stayed longer than I should have, but I wasn’t ready to go home yet.
“How about another?” I asked one of the guys sitting at the bar as he stared at his empty bottle. He glanced up at me and nodded. I pulled out a bottle of Bud Light to replace the empty one when my phone rang. I placed the bottle on the counter and pulled my phone out of my pocket. It was Gabrielle. I debated letting it go to voicemail again, but what the hell. I wanted to hear what she had to say. “Hello?”
“Brodie?”
“Yeah.”
“Um … are you coming home soon?”
I laughed. Not because I thought the question was funny, but because I couldn’t believe that was all she had to say to me.
“Brodie?”
“What?”
“Please come home.”
“Is your mother gone?”
“Yes.”
I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. It was childish of me, but I didn’t trust myself to talk on the phone for fear of what I might say without seeing her face when I said it.
I said goodnight to Derrick and he waved. “Good luck with paradise.”
The house was dark. Even the front porch light was off. It seemed strange to me, but I figured she’d decided to go to bed and maybe she was upset about the unannounced visit from her mom.
As I went to turn the knob, I realized someone had left the door slightly ajar. Maybe Gabrielle had been upset about her mother’s visit and forgot to shut it all the way when she left. I pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked in. I flipped the switch on the wall since the room was pitch black and what I saw when the light came on almost had me on my knees. I was wracked with regret and guilt that I hadn’t come home when she called the first time, or fuck, even that I had left in the first place. Gabrielle sat in one of the kitchen chairs, tape over her mouth and her hands tied behind her back. The horror emanating from behind her eyes told me someone was behind me, but it was too late as something struck the back of my head. Right before everything went black I remembered noticing that Jeff had left the bar about thirty minutes before me, but at the time, I was too busy to think about it.
Chapter 44
Gabrielle
I sat whimpering in the chair. I never dreamed Jeff would come here. I hadn’t locked the front door after my mom had left, thinking Brodie would be back any minute. I was trying to be thoughtful and make up for the cowardice of not being able to stand up to my mother and introduce him as my boyfriend. I so needed a do-over on that one. I only prayed I’d have a chance. I wasn’t sure what Jeff’s intentions were. He’d snuck in while I was in the kitchen making some tea and grabbed me from behind. I didn’t have a chance to fight back as his heavy body quickly overpowered me. A pain in the back of my head throbbed. He must have knocked me out because I couldn’t remember how he’d gotten me to the chair and tied me up. He made me call Brodie and tell him to come home. I was afraid to say anything to give him away since he had one of our kitchen knives pressed against my throat as I spoke. I wanted to tell Brodie I was sorry, but I didn’t want Jeff to know we’d been fighting. I knew he’d use that for whatever purpose he saw fit. He placed the tape over my mouth after I had made the call and turned out all the lights.
I screamed into the heavy tape covering my mouth when Jeff struck Brodie from behind.
“Now isn’t that convenient?” Jeff laughed as he stepped over Brodie’s body. “I get both of you at the same time. You, because you owe me, bitch, and your lover boy here, well, just because he’s had the pleasure of your body before me.” He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his pocket and yanked Brodie’s hands together to slap them on his wrists. “Got these a while back when I thought you and I would be hooking up after the wedding. We would have had some kinky fun if you hadn’t gone all frigid on me. Let’s not forget to thank my ex-girlfriend, Kate, for vouching for me that night in the woods. Of course, considering she's known me for quite some time and knew what would happen if she hadn’t, she really didn’t have much choice.” He pulled some twine from his pocket and attached it to the handcuffs Brodie wore, bringing a line down to his feet and tying them together so that Brodie lay in a fetal position.
“I bet you’re wondering how I got your cellphone number, huh? Well now, you’re a very careless young lady, leaving your phone lying around for anyone to pick up at that pathetic excuse of a bar while you go up on stage and sing your little heart out for all the guys to drool over. The way you move and sway your perfect little ass around up there, well, it
’s just sinful. That’s what it is.”
Brodie groaned and opened his eyes, struggling when he realized he was tied up.
“Don’t waste your energy, Skippy. You’re not going anywhere.”
Brodie’s eyes found mine. “Are you okay?”
I nodded.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“Now, now, you’re not in any position to start asking questions, but since you asked so nicely, I’ll tell you. She owes me, and I want to fuck her. Simple as that. And since you’re here, you get to watch. How’s that?”
“You’re a sick bastard.”
He laughed. “Let’s see, where should we do it? Perhaps we should go to the bedroom.” His eyebrows rose up when he said “bedroom” like it held some secret sex allure. “We could do it in the bed. That way every time you fuck her, Brodie, she’ll be thinking of me.”
He looked around the room like he was looking for something specific. Then he sat on the sofa, wiggling the knife at Brodie. “Only one problem with that, Skippy. I don’t feel like dragging your sorry ass into the bedroom and tiring myself out. How would it look if I got you in there, then her, and I was too exhausted to perform? How would that make me look? Not very good. So, out here in the living room? Have you two done it here yet? No?” Jeff reached over and stroked his finger down my cheek.
“Don’t touch her!” Brodie said through clenched teeth.
“Well now, aren’t you just mister-save-the-day-all-tied-up-there, like a calf gone to market?” He chuckled.
Chapter 45
Brodie
I stayed as still as I could, watching and listening to Jeff grow crazier by the second. The guy was definitely not right in the head, and I worried for Gabrielle. I had to get free, but even if I did, I wouldn’t be able to do much as he waved that knife around ready to slice the first thing that came into his path. I needed to be careful. I didn’t want him to cut her because I did something stupid. I thought of the old pistol of my uncle’s I’d always kept in the drawer of the pie safe. I prayed it was still there and fully loaded.
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