by Edith DuBois
“Oh? That’s great. That’s really great, Marina.” Michelle smiled, hugging a couch pillow to her chest as she coughed. “Speaking of tweeting, did you see that T-Swift has a new beau? She was tweeting about some mystery guy today.”
“Oh, how juicy.”
Michelle giggled. “And Loretta Lynn’s doing a show in Nashville soon.”
“Wish we could go to that.”
“Yep.”
“Hey, Michelle? How come you never ran away to like Paris or Cairo or something?”
“That came out of nowhere.” She sneezed and then blew her nose, but she could feel her head growing gradually clearer.
“I was thinking about Nashville and traveling, and you know, I used to really look up to you. Back at home and everything. You were always talking about leaving and getting the heck out of there. You were always playing that LeAnn Rimes song about being on a westbound train or whatever.” Marina laughed, remembering.
“You never told me that.”
Marina let out a strange little laugh, and Michelle could see her putting Roy’s ears over his eyes and holding them there. He was attempting to snooze and nipped sleepily at the air. Marina got up off the chair and dumped Roy on the ground. “Yeah, I always thought you were gonna leave me.” She headed for the stairs, but before going up, she looked at Michelle. “You’re a good sister.”
Stunned, Michelle couldn’t think of any reply as Marina started up the stairs. “That was weird,” she whispered to herself, but she had a small warmth in her heart, nonetheless.
An hour or so later, after Marina had left for Lianne’s, Michelle rolled off the couch. The medicine had kicked in, but now she felt groggy. Groggy was better than sneezing and sniffling, though.
Roy woke up and jumped off the chair as Michelle headed for the kitchen. After rummaging through the fridge, she pulled out all the veggies and the chicken. She got the chicken boiling with a few spices and set about cutting up veggies, tossing a couple bits of mushroom to Roy, who gobbled them up in one bite.
It had been about a week since that wonderful day she’d spent with Franklin. He’d given her a ride back to Aunt Agnes’s and told her that he and his brothers all had busy schedules that week but that he’d want to see her again the next weekend.
Thomas had called her while at work almost every night, talking to her on his downtime when nothing was happening at the clinic.
Elias nagged at her mind. She’d only seen him that Friday night when they’d all played Yahtzee, and he hadn’t spoken to her since Marina’s fit. She wondered if maybe he wasn’t as keen about her as the other two insisted he was. She wanted to see him again but didn’t know the best way to make that happen.
So occupied with thoughts of the Ashley brothers and clumsy with the allergy medicine, she lost her concentration slicing the vegetables. The knife blade cut hot across her palm before she realized what was happening. She saw red blossoming out of the corner of her eye, and then she jumped.
“Shit,” she said, her voice shaky, as the knife clanked onto the counter. Her hand trembled as blood spilled over the sides of her palm. Spurred into action at the sight of the first red drop against the creamy tile of Aunt Agnes’s kitchen floor, she rushed to a drawer and grabbed a towel. Pulling it tight against her cut, she squeezed it with her hand to staunch the flow of blood.
Roy sniffed at the blood. “No. Roy, no! Damn.”
Grabbing her car keys, she scooped up Roy and walked out the door to her car. Her whole left arm was shaking as she climbed into the driver’s seat. She knew she wouldn’t die from the cut, but she didn’t want to pass out. With the blood loss and the allergy medicine and the shock, she knew it was a very real possibility.
After dumping Roy into the passenger’s seat, she pulled away from Aunt Agnes’s house. The hospital was only a few miles down the road on Treaty Lane, but she felt justified driving a little faster than normal. When she pulled up to the ER, she left the car running. She wanted to grab Roy, but she didn’t feel strong enough. Inside, there was only one other patient sitting in the waiting room.
The nurse working the front desk looked up when the automatic doors slid open. Upon seeing Michelle, she leapt out of her chair and ran toward her, taking Michelle’s weight on her shoulder. “Honey, you are white as a sheet. Dr. Ashley!” She shouted toward the back.
“I cut myself, and nobody was home, and so I had to drive myself, and I’m really tired, but Roy is in the car. Please, you need to get Roy.”
“All right, honey, take it easy.”
“You’re kind of fuzzy right now.” She couldn’t think in a straight line, and she giggled. She felt drunk, but it was a sick drunk. “Oh, drat,” she said, looking down because she’d let the towel fall away from her hand.
But then she was floating, and it felt so lovely. Like she was on a cloud, flying through heaven. She heard voices from somewhere far away, a magical land, somewhere she couldn’t live.
There was something cool on her face, and then she went to sleep.
* * * *
Marina popped two quarters into the jukebox. Skyler leaned against the old, rusty contraption, an arm slung casually over the top. He smiled down at her, his face only inches from hers. Maybe it was the three shots of whiskey she’d already consumed, but she thought he smelled dangerous.
She liked that. She wanted that.
“What are you gonna pick?” he asked.
Covering his eyes with her hand, she giggled. “It’s a surprise. My favorite song of all fucking time.” After she typed in the code for her song, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her hand away from his face, his fingers around her wrist a little too tight. He stalked toward her, his eyes shining with that danger she craved.
“I want another shot of Jack,” she said. Skyler backed her up until she felt her lower back hit the bar. Placing his hands on the wood on both sides of her hips, he shouted her order to the bartender without looking away from her face. “You wanna dance?” She grabbed his hips. “I love dancing.” She rolled her body against his and brushed her fingers through his hair. He smiled down at her, but there was something cold in his smile. Marina liked the challenge. She wanted to make him hot for her. She wanted to wield her power. She wanted to rule him, wanted to rule every man.
“Drink up,” he said, providing her with a shot. After she downed that one, he gave her another. Over his shoulder, she saw two of the Ashley brothers come in. “Oh shit,” she said under her breath. Luckily, they didn’t see her behind Skyler and headed to the other side of the bar to greet some buddies.
“Come on,” she whined. “Let’s dance.”
“Honey, if he don’t want to dance with you, I’ll take you for a sweet turn around the floor.”
“Hell yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.” She shoved away from Skyler. “You snooze, you lose.” She grinned over her shoulder at him and then turned to her new dance partner. “I’m Marina.”
“Cleve Yeats, honey. You been in Savage Valley long?”
“Not long enough, I guess, since I just met you. Boy, do you people breed sexy men here or something? Every time I turn around, I see someone else I want to two-step with.” She stared up into his startling bright-blue eyes. He had a devilish gleam lurking in those depths.
Earlier, after she’d left the house and was a safe distance away, she had run behind a tree to change her clothes. She’d exchanged her jeans for a tight blue-jean skirt and her flannel shirt for a white tank top that showed her neon-green bra beneath. She wore a thick black belt with a buckle in the shape of a snake’s head and two bright diamonds for eyes. On her feet was a pair of black snakeskin cowboy boots. God, she felt sexy.
Once she made it to Catdaddy’s, she went straight to the bathroom and applied a few extra layers of eyeliner and mascara and a coat of hot pink lipstick, which was her favorite. She knew it made her lips look extra pouty. She took her hair out of its ponytail and let it tumble in curls over her shoulders and down her back. When she w
alked back out to the bar area, she felt her sexiness washing out onto everyone in waves, and she felt wild.
Now, dancing with the gorgeous Cleve, she felt that wildness again. It coursed through her blood and drove her crazy. She had to do something or else she’d lose her mind.
Grabbing his hand, she placed it on her ass and rolled her body against his. “Didn’t you hear me, cowboy? I said I want to dance.”
“I see.” His voice growled low and sexy in her ear while he moved her around the floor, holding her body tight against his. She felt like an undulating galaxy, full of light and space and dust.
She felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned her head to see who it was, she suddenly found herself in another man’s arms. “’Scuse me, but it was time I cut in. Can’t let my brother have all the fun.”
Turning, she felt her jaw drop. “Cleve?”
“Yes, ma’am?” He’d only moved about half a foot away.
“Is this your brother?”
“Sure is.”
“The name’s Ezra.”
“Marina.” She smiled up at her new dance partner.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He shot her a wink, and she noticed he had the same startling blue eyes as his brother.
“Well now, I just can’t decide.”
“Decide what?”
She looked between both brothers. “I can’t decide which one of you is sexier.”
“Well, I’m generally known as the sexy one,” Cleve said, winking. “Ezra is the dumb one.”
“Now hold on. I think you got that a little mixed up there, bro.”
“No, no. This is a real quandary, fellas.”
“Maybe you don’t have to decide,” Cleve said, coming up behind her, trapping her between both their bodies. Cleve’s hands moved to her waist as Ezra’s hands slid up her ribs.
She let herself float between them, resting her head on the broad chest behind her, and stared up at the ceiling. She felt so happy. Or was it sad? She didn’t know if she could tell the difference.
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
“What is it, honey?”
Startled that he’d heard her, she jerked upright. “Boys.”
“Yes?” they said together.
“I am drunk. Drunk as a fucking skunk!” She laughed, her body shaking hard with the force of it.
“Marina?” She peeked over Cleve’s shoulder at the sound of her name and saw one of those Ashley brothers approaching.
“Goddamn it,” she heard one of the brothers say close to her ear.
“Marina, come on.” That was Thomas, the middle one. She felt really proud of herself for remembering. “Why don’t we go outside for some fresh air?”
He put a hand on her arm, meaning to pull her away from her sexy dance partners. “No, I wanna stay and dance.”
He reached for her again, but Ezra and Cleve stepped away, keeping her body between them. “The lady said no.” When Thomas reached for her again, the sexy brothers with blue eyes yanked her out of Thomas’s grasp. “Go on. Shoo,” Cleve said, and she heard Ezra laughing above her.
“Yeah, shoo!” she said, laughing.
“Does Michelle know you’re here, Marina?”
She heard the beginning strains of “Fancy” by Reba McEntire. “Oh my god!” she screamed. “This is my song. Skyler!” She looked around, looked for the man who smelled like danger. She saw him watching her from the bar. Breaking free from her dance partners, she ran over to him. “This is it! My favorite song of all fucking time!”
She climbed up on a stool and then clambered up onto the bar, grabbing an empty beer bottle on her way up. The words tore out of her throat.
“Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down.” She sang at the top of her lungs, prancing her way from one end of the bar to the other. She felt all those eyes on her, and it made her feel so beautiful.
A man ran his hand up her leg, and she slapped at him, laughing and wagging her finger at him as she sang. “Just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy, and they’ll be nice to you.”
One of the Yeats twins, she couldn’t tell which, shoved at the groper, and she giggled. She loved when men shoved and fought over her. It made her feel powerful, like a panther queen or a fucking Amazon woman. She fell to her knees at the bridge right in front of Skyler. “You know, I might have been born just plain white trash, but Fancy was my name!”
She finished the song with a scream, her throat raw and her lungs burning. But she felt so fucking good.
Running her hands through Skyler’s hair, she saw his deep blue eyes, and they were burning. She moved her hands, raking them down his neck and then grabbing the gray lapels of his business suit jacket. Leaning close, she said, “I’ll be your Fancy tonight.”
“Come on, Marina.” Someone grabbed at her from the side. “We’re going to get you out of here.” A chant of “one more song, one more song” had broken out, and she laughed, rising and taking drunken bows.
“Fuck off.” She kicked out at the hands that reached for her, not ready to leave the bar. Her foot met solidly with flesh, and looking down, she realized she’d hit Thomas’s hand and caused it to fly back and slap a man standing behind him in the back of his bald head. The man turned slowly around, growling.
“One more song, one more song, one more song.” The chant grew louder and more chaotic.
“They love me,” she said to the other Ashley brother, Franklin, who had taken Thomas’s place in trying to get her off the bar.
“We need to get you outside for a minute or two. Come on.”
“No, goddamn it. I wanna sing. I just wanna sing.” He’d maneuvered her so that she clung to the lip of the bar, her body parallel to the floor as he tugged on her legs. “Let go!” she screamed. “Let go of me, you bastard!”
Ezra shoved Franklin. “She said let go. Get your hands off before I take them off.”
“Ezra, calm down. I’m only taking her outside.”
“Don’t tell me to fucking calm down.”
“I didn’t tell you to fucking calm down. It was a regular ‘calm down.’ No fucking involved. I know that probably feels a little weird for you.”
She heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh, and then the hands that had been trying to pull her off the bar let go. “Whoops,” she said, giggling when Thomas tackled Ezra, both of their bodies slamming into a table, sending glass bottles flying.
Skyler sidled up next to her. “You are quite the rabble-rouser, aren’t you?”
“I guess I am.” She watched as more men joined in the fight, and soon the whole place was in an uproar. Climbing over the top of the bar, she fell to the other side, ducking down whenever the action came too close. What a fucking beautiful show.
* * * *
Her hand flinched.
“I know you’re probably still feeling a little woozy from everything, but try to be perfectly still, Michelle.”
“I’m trying.” Elias hated hearing the tremble in her voice, but he didn’t want to mar her hand as he stitched her skin closed. When he’d assessed her cut, he’d seen the white of her tendon beneath the layers of skin she’d sliced through.
She’d passed out for a few seconds from the shock of cutting herself and from the sight of her blood-covered hand. After she’d come to, Matilda, his PA, had brought juice and animal crackers for her. She seemed to be feeling a little better now although her face remained pallid. He had her lying on a cushioned, adjustable table with her head raised.
“Okay, I’m about to start. Take a deep breath in.” She did, looking in his eyes. “Now let it out.” He looked down at her tiny hand between his. “Now take a deep breath in.” He moved the needle to a ready position. “And let it out.” He pushed the needle through her skin.
There was always that small resistance. Human skin was tougher than it looked, but he shoved the needle through her flesh. She sucked in a quick breath, but her hand remained still.
He began his work, but after he’d gone
back and forth through her skin a few times, she whispered, “Can you talk to me please? Distract me.”
“Okay.” He poked the needle through one side of her cut. “I supposed what I’m wondering right now is why do you let Marina treat you the way she does? Because what we saw at your aunt’s house wasn’t the first time she’s behaved that way, was it?” He pushed the needle out the other side of the cut.
“Wow. Not one for small talk.”
“Was that offensive?”
“Not offensive. Just, you know, there it is.” They were both quiet for a moment, and Elias continued his work, waiting, knowing she would want to think before she spoke. He felt her hand shaking in his, and after he’d pulled the thread taut, he looked up.
Her features trembled with traces of emotion, and he wanted to know what each flicker of her eyelids meant, what the tremble in the corner of her mouth meant, why one of her eyebrows jerked up.
“Dr. Ashley, you can’t…please don’t look at me like that.”
“What is it, Michelle?”
“You’re making me feel…I don’t know.” Her expression was worried, and her eyes begged him, so he turned his face back to her hand. “I don’t know why,” she finally answered. “I think maybe a part of me shuts down when she starts up. It makes everything easier.”
“But only for the moment. Because she’ll keep doing it. She’ll only stop if you stop allowing her to get away with it.”
Michelle sighed, and when he glanced up, he saw that she had clenched her eyes closed.
“Do you have a dream, Michelle?”
Her eyes flew open. “What?”
“What did you want to be when you grew up? What was your dream? Just a guess, but I don’t think babysitting your sister was it.”
A gentle smile passed her lips then faded away. “Yes. I had a dream. This might sound kind of weird, but when I was little, when I didn’t know any better, I used to want to be a hippo.”