“How much?” said Matt.
Heath put down two chips. He insisted on using the chips when he played poker these days. They were an important part of the experience. Playing with real money made it too real. Using the chips removed reality by a step. It was easier to bet a chip than a wad of cash.
Matt looked down at his own stack of chips, which were woefully depleted. But he had enough.
Heath had made sure not to bet more that Matt had. Not yet, anyway. He smiled.
Matt belched and wavered a little bit where he was sitting. Then, with lurching movements, he shoved forward his chips. “I’ll see that.”
Heath was dealing. He took a card off the deck and put it face up in front of Matt, and then put one face up in front of himself.
Matt’s was the King of Diamonds.
Heath’s was the seven of spades.
Matt crowed. “See that, gypsy? You’re at home now, and I can still put you in your place.”
Heath chuckled. He doubted that. He studied his fingernails. “I am back at home, Matt. And we both know the only reason you’re letting me play cards with you is because you like my money. And because you’re a crazy drunk, just like your father.”
Matt sniffed. “Don’t insult me.”
“Sorry. That was rude of me, wasn’t it?” Heath took a drink of his beer. “Say, Matt, do you remember my truck?”
“Truck.” Matt furrowed his brow.
“Yeah,” said Heath. “The one your father gave me. The one that you took from me after he died. That one.”
Matt grinned at him. “Sure, I remember that truck. It’s still parked in the garage.”
“Really,” said Heath. “You want to make this final bet a little more interesting? How ‘bout, if I win, I leave your money, and I take the truck back.”
“What if I win?” said Matt.
Heath slid the rest of his chips into the pot.
Matt looked down at the King of Diamonds. He giggled. “You’re a stupid fuck, Heath. Always were.”
“Oh, undoubtedly,” said Heath. “I’m just a stupid gypsy.” He took another drink of his beer.
“You’re on,” said Matt.
And they uncovered their cards.
Matt’s smile faded.
Heath sat back. “I’ll take the keys to my truck, Matt.”
Matt shrugged. “Sure, fine. It’s an old piece of junk anyway.”
“It’s a start,” said Heath. “Just so you understand, Matt, I’m going to get back everything you stole from me. And then I’m going to steal everything else from you. And there’s not going to be a damned thing you can do about it.”
Matt laughed. “Big talk, gypsy trash. But right now, all you got is a beat-up truck.”
Heath just smiled. That wasn’t all he had. He also had Matt Earnshaw exactly where he wanted him.
2013
Eli banged on the door of the farmhouse. “Give me back my daughter, you son of a bitch!”
The door opened, and Eli found himself face to face with Linton Galloway. Eli took a step backwards. The boy was a Linton from his head to his toe. It was incredible how little he looked like Heath.
“Linton,” sputtered Eli. “It’s you.”
Linton smiled, and then Eli saw his father in him. That was Heath’s cruel, empty smile. “Hello, Uncle. My father says he doesn’t want you to come inside. You understand, I’m sure, after you falsely accused him of kidnapping?”
“Falsely…” Eli could hardly speak, he was so frustrated. “He’s got her here, and we both know it.”
“Who?” said Linton, still grinning.
Then Eli noticed the faint outline of a bruise on Linton’s face. Heath’s handiwork, no doubt. “Listen, Linton, I know he’s got you twisted around his little finger. I know you must be afraid of him. But if you help me get my Thera out of here, I swear I will take you far away from him. You’ll never have to see him again.”
Linton leaned up against the doorjamb. “You’d save me then? Help me get away from him?”
“Yes.”
“Too late now, Uncle. Maybe if you’d kept me from him after my mother died, like you tried to do. I was young then.” He shrugged. “Father says he wonders if someone like you could have made a good boy out of me.”
Eli swallowed. He was realizing that there was something… off about Linton. It made his skin crawl.
Linton smiled, but his eyes just gazed out hollowly. “But you didn’t save me, did you? No, you’ve never been able to stand up to my father. You’re really pathetic, aren’t you?”
Eli clenched his hands into fists. “Just tell me where she is.”
“She’s tucked away,” said Linton. “Father says I can do things to her if I want. He says I can do anything—”
“I never said that,” said Heath, knocking the boy away from the doorway. “I think you have sick dreams, Linton. You imagine what you want to hear coming out of my mouth. I don’t want Catherine hurt.”
“Heath,” said Eli.
“Lovely to see you, Eli. As always.” Heath raised sardonic eyebrows.
“Give her back, Heath. You’ve made your point.”
“I don’t think I have,” said Heath. “How long have I had her here? Days?”
“Give her back.”
“How long did you have Cathy?” said Heath. “Years, wasn’t it? I think you’re only beginning to feel a fraction of the pain I felt.”
Eli dragged a hand over his face. “We both lost Cathy, Heath. She’s dead. You can’t blame me for that.”
“Well, it was your baby that killed her.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be out of bed,” said Eli. “You had her out in that storm. If anyone’s to blame—”
“Don’t,” said Heath. “I don’t think it would be wise to make me angry right now. After all, I do have your daughter. And Linton has some very… interesting ideas about ways he’d like to get to know her.”
Eli felt powerless. Goddamn Heath. He always made Eli feel powerless. He wished he had the strength, the courage…
Eli advanced on Heath. “So help me, if you hurt her, I will kill you.”
Heath laughed. “Oh, that’s more like it, Eli. I do love the way you get when you’re angry. It’s really adorable.”
Eli grabbed Heath by the collar.
Heath’s hands wrapped around Eli’s. They were so strong, Eli felt like Heath might crush the bones in his fingers. It was all he could do to keep from crying out in pain.
Heath’s voice was soft. “How does it feel? How does it feel knowing that I’ve got her, and you can’t get to her? Tell me it makes you miserable. Tell me it makes you half-mad with frustration. Tell me it hurts.”
“Yes,” choked Eli. Heath was still squeezing his hands.
“Good.” Heath released him. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. “Oh, hello, there. I want to report an intruder on my property. He’s making wild accusations, and I’d like him arrested.”
* * *
Thera struggled in Gage’s grasp, as she watched the police escort her father away from the farmhouse. Gage had let her see him in the window after she’d begged and begged. But then he’d clamped his hand over her mouth when she’d tried to yell at him.
She was exhausted from trying to break free of Gage. She felt hot tears leak out of her eyes. She was amazed she still had any left in her. She’d cried so often since she got here.
She went limp against Gage.
The police car drove away.
He let her go.
She pushed at him. “You know, if you’re going to grab onto me like that all the time, you could think about taking a bath every once and a while, because you stink.”
Gage shoved his hands into his pockets. “If you’d calm down and stop fighting so much, it wouldn’t be so bad for you, you know?”
She laughed in disbelief. “Oh, sure. I’ll just get comfortable here with my kidnappers. You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”
“I�
�m not an idiot,” Gage told her through clenched teeth. He headed for the door. “You’re exactly like Linton.”
“I’m nothing like him. He’s horrible. He hurts people for fun, and I…”
“Only insult me in retaliation?” said Gage. “Well, then you’re like Heath. He’s always got to get his revenge.”
“I’m not trying to get revenge. I’m trying to get away,” she said.
“Oh, okay,” said Gage. “So, how does calling me names help you get away again?”
“Shut up and leave me alone.”
Gage readjusted the brim of his baseball cap and went to the door to her room. Hand on the knob, he stopped. “You haven’t been hurt in any way, have you?”
She glared at them. “What?”
“Neither of them has hit you or cut you or anything like that.”
She drew back in horror. “Are they going to?”
“Never mind.” He yanked open the door. Then he looked at her. “If they try, you can yell for me, you know?”
And then he shut the door in her face.
1995
Heath opened the door of the tenant house and found Cathy there, flushed and nervous. It was late at night, and he’d been in bed. He was only wearing a pair of boxers. The only air conditioner in the tenant house was barely working these days, and it was too hot for any more clothes.
Her gaze flitted over his body, all his bare skin. She moistened her lips.
“Let me put something on,” said Heath. He walked away from the open door.
When he came back downstairs, she was standing in the middle of the living room, looking at the empty beer cans that had been left behind after the poker game.
“Do you have a cigarette?” she said.
“Actually, I quit,” he said. “But you shouldn’t smoke anyway, should you? Not in your… condition.” Thinking about her pregnant made him feel ill. It was wrong. All wrong.
She shrugged. “Just one wouldn’t hurt anything.”
He cleared the couch. “Do you want to sit down?”
She sat.
He stood.
She twisted her hands together in her lap.
“Why are you here, Cathy?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.
“It must be so uncomfortable sleeping in that big, expensive house with your pretty little boyfriend. You do have such a difficult life.” He glared at her.
She bit her lip. “I… I guess it was a mistake to come here.” She started to get up.
He stopped her. “Tell me a little bit about how your relationship with Eli got so serious, Cathy. Because the last time I talked to you, you told me you were only interested in his money. That still true? Are you still hiding all the cash he gives you in a drawer somewhere?”
“Heath, you don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t at all. Either you’re very shallow, which…” He laughed. “Let’s face it, maybe you are. Maybe I have very bad taste in women. I don’t know.”
“You were gone. You left. You didn’t even say goodbye. I had no idea if you were even alive.”
“Yes, and you drove yourself crazy looking for me, didn’t you?”
Her lower lip trembled. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh.” He gave her a mock-sympathetic pat on the head. “It’s okay, Cathy. I think everything will go much more smoothly if you admit to yourself that you were relieved I was gone, because you were free of me.”
She winced.
He felt her wince like a dagger in his heart. She had felt that way, then. Fuck. He walked away from her. He began to gather up an arm load of beer cans to take to the trash can. “Maybe you should go.”
He stalked into the kitchen and deposited the cans in a trash bag. When he returned to the living room, she was still there.
“I love him,” she said. “I do. And I thought that it wouldn’t matter that you were back. But I was lying to myself, because it does matter. Because you’re Heath, and I love you. It’s different than the way I love him. It’s like I’d forgotten that I was only half of something while you were away. But now, here you are, and I see you, and I notice the empty parts again. And I know you’d fill them up.”
He went to her. “Cathy.”
There was terror in her eyes.
He wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her, assaulted her mouth.
She dug her fingers into his shoulder blades, tangled her hands in his hair, pulled on it.
He groaned.
She yanked his shirt over his head, raked her nails over his chest.
He ripped at the buttons on her clothing, and they popped off. He bared her bra—black lace against her pale skin.
She unzipped his pants and took him out and wrapped her hand around him.
He moaned.
She stroked him. “I worry that I might not be a very good person, Heath.”
All he could think about was her hand on him.
She pumped at his cock, her hand moving faster. “I worry that I might be very, very bad. Because I don’t want to give you up.”
“You don’t have to,” he panted. “We can go away, you and me. To the city, like you always wanted.”
Her hand still moved in a brisk rhythm. “You’d do that? You’d be with me after everything?”
“Of course.” His balls felt tight. She was driving him crazy. It felt so good.
“You’re mine, aren’t you? You’re still mine.”
He grunted. It was hard to talk.
“Say it,” she whispered.
“I’m yours,” he managed.
She let go of his cock.
His breath came out in a loud huff. Why had she stopped?
She got up. “I am a bad person.” It was as if she’d just made the discovery, and it shocked and disgusted her. She started for the door.
Was she fucking kidding him?
He lurched to his feet, tucking his very hard penis back into his pants. Zipping up. Following her.
She was already out the door.
“What the fuck?” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I think I’m losing my mind.” She got into her car.
He heard the motor come to life. He leaned against one of pillars on the porch, watching her drive away.
“Bitch,” he breathed.
* * *
Heath knocked on the door the next day. Cathy had somehow known he’d come by again. He’d threatened to, after all. But she’d hoped that he wouldn’t. After the absolutely embarrassing thing she’d done the night before, throwing herself at him like that, and running off before anything could really happen… well, she wished he hadn’t come back.
Everything was confusing now.
He gave her a knowing smile as she welcomed him into the house.
“Who is it?” yelled Eli from somewhere inside the house.
“It’s Heath,” she said.
Heath dragged his gaze over her body, still smiling at her.
It made her feel dirty and exposed.
Eli appeared in the doorway.
Isabella nearly knocked him over when she showed up right behind him. “Hi, Heath,” she said.
Heath looked at Cathy. “Well, I thought you might want to come on that drive with me today, after all.”
Cathy swallowed. “Only if Isabella comes along.” Maybe if she wasn’t alone with him, she could control herself. But then, she was being stupid, wasn’t she? If she didn’t want to see him, she should tell him to leave. Except, goddamn it, she did want to see him. He robbed her of her good sense.
“I can come,” said Isabella brightly.
Heath shrugged. “Suit yourself. Might be kind of a tight fit.”
“What?”
“I brought the old truck,” he said. “Thought it would be just like old times, when we used to skip school and go riding through the fields. Of course, not exactly the same fields, since half of them have been sold to your father.” He gave Eli a dark look.
“I don�
��t mind,” said Isabella.
Cathy looked at her sidelong. Isabella didn’t have some kind of crush on Heath, did she? No, that was ridiculous.
* * *
But they didn’t go to the fields. Instead they drove up on the mountain. Cathy made Isabella sit in the middle, between both of them. And she and Heath barely spoke. Instead, Isabella kept up her inane chatter about whatever popped into her head, like she usually did. When Heath stopped the car, they climbed down the cliffs to look down on the town below them.
“If it’s too difficult for you, then we don’t have to go down here,” said Heath.
“I’m pregnant, not an invalid,” Cathy told him. And she wasn’t even that pregnant. She could still move around fine.
It was Isabella who had trouble climbing down. She climbed over the first set of rocks and nearly lost her footing.
Loose stones skittered down over the cliff, falling into the valley.
Isabella shrieked.
Heath steadied her with one hand. He laughed. “Not like strolling through the mall, huh?”
Isabella’s face had turned white. “Why don’t we just stop here?”
“No way,” said Cathy. She pointed. “That ledge down there is perfect for sitting. There’s nowhere to sit up here.”
Isabella looked down at the ledge. She gulped. “All the way down there?”
Cathy nodded.
Isabella shook her head. “I think I’ll climb back up to the truck.”
Heath laughed again.
Damn it. Cathy had wanted Isabella there as a buffer. She considered climbing up after her, but she was already almost to the ledge, and it was a nice place to sit. Maybe she could be with Heath like she wanted to be, reminiscing about their childhood. “We won’t stay down here long,” said Cathy.
“Okay.” Isabella was already climbing back up.
Within a few minutes, Cathy was sitting on the ledge next to Heath. She looked down at the scenery. It was beautiful. She felt at peace for the moment. She turned to him. “Do you remember the time we decided to try to make our own spears for fishing after you read that survivalist book?”
Heath’s face lit up. “Oh, right. I do remember that. I cut myself trying to whittle the sharp points on the branches we were going to use as spears.”
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