White Trash Beautiful

by Nichole Severn

  A hand wrapped around her throat from behind. He wrenched her back inside, throwing her into the recliner. “I’m the only person who gets to say we’re done.”

  Trey worked to keep her breathing under control, but the murderous gaze in her father’s eyes scared her more than the Caminos ever had.

  “You think just because you’re back with your cop boyfriend, you can walk out on me?” Cal shook his head, smiling. “You’re stupider than I thought. If I don’t make that payment every week, the Caminos will come here again. Is that what you want?”

  Trey stared her father straight in the eye, her decision made. She would find herself six feet under if she stayed. Her last client had proven it. She stood, reaching into her back pocket. “This is everything I have.” She handed him the cash. “Try not to spend it on booze.”

  “I warned you once, Trey. You better watch yourself.”

  “Why? Are you going to hit me again?” She kept her expression blank, grateful her outward appearance lacked the hysteria building in her chest. “There’s only one thing you taught me and that’s how to take a punch.” She took a step toward him and ultimately toward the door. “I’m walking through that door or going out in a body bag, Cal.”

  He visibly winced at the name, but didn’t reply.

  She’d never called him anything other than “dad”. “I am done with you.”

  ****

  Dispatch had already called him and Luke’s heart sank as he arrived on the scene.

  Trey.

  He forced himself from the car and practically ran through the junkyard’s entrance.

  He could only focus on Tucker walking toward him, his hands held out. His best friend and partner’s face revealed something bad had happened.

  Luke’s heartbeat rang loud in his ears. He didn’t hear a word Tucker said to him, but none of it mattered anyway. From the opening in a wall of totaled vehicles, paramedics rolled out a body bag.

  His knees nearly failed. If Tucker hadn’t been there to catch him, Luke would have hit the ground. “No, no, no,” he whispered, his eyes unable to move from the bag. His body grew heavier as if gravity had suddenly increased exponentially. He could barely stand, barely form a coherent thought, but he pushed Tucker off.

  “Luke, man,” Tucker said. “You don’t want to do this. You don’t want to see her like this.”

  “Get away from me.” He should have told her everything sooner. He shouldn’t have pushed her away. The red and blue flashes of lights blurred around him. He had to get inside that hole in the wall. So this is how it ends. He tried to lower his heart rate before hyperventilating, but nothing helped calm the anger running through his veins.

  “Officer Johnson,” a paramedic said. He placed a hand on Luke’s shoulder.

  “How bad?” The words were barely audible coming from him and he wasn’t sure the paramedic understood.

  “It’s not pretty, but she was conscious enough to call 911 from her cell phone ten minutes ago.”

  His breath caught behind a lump in his throat and he pushed his way inside.

  The scene looked the same as he remembered from the day before except for the two separate pools of liquid sinking into the dirt. Blood. “Where is she?” he asked no one in particular.

  Two paramedics hovered over a body on the other side of a manmade wall. Only a pair of bare feet stuck out.

  Trey’s feet.

  Luke walked toward them slowly, his eyes glued to the spots of blood marring the pale skin of her ankles. Shuffling around the wall, he watched as the two paramedics hovered over Trey’s motionless body. Bile rose in his throat and he tried to breathe through it. Anger, disbelief, and hatred surged through his veins. His heart pumped faster as he assessed nearly every inch of the woman he’d pushed away.

  Her chest rose and fell, but barely.

  “Open your eyes, Trey,” he whispered. “Please open your eyes.”

  Chapter Ten

  None of this...your fault, man...

  Go...nothing you can do...

  Keep her sedated...too substantial...

  Trey’s mind had been playing tricks on her for several minutes. She recognized the voices, but couldn’t put faces to them. She struggled to open her eyes. Blurry figures walked back and forth across her vision. Her lips were dry and it hurt to move them, but small words made it out.

  A figure from the right got closer to her.

  She registered the fact that she’d been placed on her back, but even as her vision cleared, Trey couldn’t decipher where. White walls, beeping equipment and rough blankets gave her an idea, however. “Lu—”

  “Shh,” a voice said. “Don’t talk...”

  The darkness threatened to overtake her again, but she held on to that voice. She knew it. She wanted it. Trey couldn’t think of the words to tell him to stay. They were on the tip of her tongue, but slowly slipped away. With every movement, she ached.

  “Trey, just stay still.”

  Pieces of his face came into focus and she worked to touch him. “Stay...” she breathed.

  I’ll...with you...

  ****

  Luke held Trey’s hand to his face. She’d surprised him with her strength, but he felt comfort in it at the same time. Not a lot of people could take a beating like hers.

  The nurse he’d called into the room when she woke bustled in. “You called?”

  “She woke up,” he said, softly placing Trey’s hand back at her side. “Just for a few seconds.”

  “I’ll get the doctor to increase the sedative then. She shouldn’t be waking up just yet.”

  “When can...?”

  “When can we let her wake up?”

  Luke nodded, his eyes resting on Trey’s closed eyes.

  “Couple more days.” The fifty-ish nurse turned to leave, a sheen of sweat coating her black skin, but seemingly changed her mind mid-step. “Don’t worry, baby. You’ll get through this. And so will she.”

  His eyes stung at her words. “I can’t lose her again.” Luke wiped at his face and looked up to the nurse with as much pleading in his eyes as he could muster. He felt heavy, worn.

  “Keep praying, baby, and you’ll be together sooner than you know it.”

  The next two days drained Luke of everything he had left. Watching Trey’s chest rise and fall, her eyes flutter randomly, it made him sick.

  He’d been responsible for this.

  He rubbed circles with his thumb over the back of her hand, studying every bruise, scratch and split on her skin. Five more hours, he reminded himself. She’ll wake up in five hours. So entranced with the words, he didn’t even notice the form in the doorway.

  “Terrible circumstances, that one,” a voice said.

  Luke met a pair of ice blue eyes. “Can I help you?”

  “Just wanted to see her for myself. Shame what happened to her.” The blond took two steps inside Trey’s room, his pinstripe suit announcing him as a stranger. Nobody in Parkvista owned anything that nice.

  “Yeah.” Luke turned his gaze back toward Trey then stood. “Luke Johnson.” He held out his hand, but the visitor only stared at it. “And you are?” Alarms went off in his head. Something wasn’t right.

  “I have very little patience for formalities, Mr. Johnson.” The English bastard nodded toward Trey’s motionless body. “This woman owes The Family forty thousand dollars and I’ve come to collect.”

  “The Family?” Forty thousand?

  “When does she wake up?” the blond asked.

  Luke tried to keep his composure, but let his frustration seep into his tone. “Why?”

  The stranger took another step closer to the bed, his eyes roaming over every inch of Trey’s body.

  Luke’s chest tightened, along with his fists. “Don’t come any closer.”

  He stopped, a smile spreading from ear to ear. “Ah, I see now. You’re in love with the little whore?”

  Luke couldn’t hold himself back. He lunged forward, barreling right into the man ha
lf his size. They fell to the floor, fists swinging. The blond’s head snapped back against the linoleum as blood leaked from his nose.

  Two sets of feet surrounded them, and all too soon Luke was pulled back and restrained, throat exposed to a knife.

  The Englishman got to his feet, a handkerchief in hand. He wiped the blood from his face. “Not the normal behavior of a cop, Mr. Johnson, but given the circumstances, I’ll let you live for now.” He took one last step toward the bed, running his fingertips over Trey’s left arm.

  Luke’s entire body tensed in reaction. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

  “Remember, Mr. Johnson, you have a knife to your throat.” He continued his adventure across Trey’s shoulders and up her neck. “I’m the only one giving orders.”

  “What do you want?” The knife bit into the soft skin of Luke’s jugular. He felt drops of blood slithering down into his t-shirt, but this man’s hands were on his woman.

  “When she wakes, give her this message.” The blond stopped in front of Luke, his blue gaze almost light. “She can’t hide anymore.” He motioned for to the two holding Luke to release him. “No matter how much daddy pays.” They turned without another word, leaving Luke wiping the blood from his neck with the back of his hand.

  Luke didn’t know exactly what Trey had gotten herself in to, but he knew one thing for sure. “You ever touch her again,” he said to the figures leaving. “I’ll kill you.”

  ****

  “Can you hear me?”

  That voice again. His voice.

  “Trey?”

  His eyes were the first thing she noticed, the brown depths full of concern. They matched the expression on his face.

  She tried to reach for him. She wanted to smooth the wrinkles away, but noticed the blood on his shirt. “What happened?” The words were slurred, her lips numb as if she’d been drugged.

  “Your dad—”

  “Not that.” She remembered every moment before now and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to think about it. That part of her life had ended when she’d slammed the teapot into her father’s head before collapsing in a bloody heap. Reopening her eyes, Trey licked her cracked lips, feeling every split along them. “What...to you...?”

  Luke’s hand brushed the cut on his throat lightly. “Cut myself shaving,” he said with a smile. The sight made her heart race, but it didn’t last long. His chocolate eyes had hardened. “How do you feel?”

  The question had been innocent enough and Trey forced herself to believe he cared, but the fact remained he’d expressed his true feelings about her. He didn’t want to be with a whore and she understood completely. It would take more than time to sort out the problems she had and nothing short of changing her name and moving to another town would help. “I’m fine.”

  He didn’t respond right away, merely stared at her. Luke’s mouth opened and closed, then again as if the words were on the tip of his tongue.

  A feeling in the pit of her stomach told her he was about to apologize, but Trey knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it. No more apologies. No more close calls. No more feelings. She had to put all of that behind her if she wanted to survive. “Please don’t.”

  Luke exhaled, turning his gaze away from hers.

  The danger hadn’t passed. The Caminos would come looking for her when Cal didn’t make this week’s payment. She didn’t know who they would send or when, but it didn’t matter. Luke couldn’t be a part of her life as long as she was on the run. “I think I just need to rest,” she said. “Brush my teeth and all that.”

  “Right.” He leaned back in the chair, paused then stood. His expression told her he didn’t want to leave, but would do as she asked. Just as she hoped. “I’ll just be outside if you need anything.”

  Halfway to the door, Luke turned back, his face hesitant. “You’re not going to be here when I come back, are you?”

  Just do it. Trey inhaled slowly, feeling the pressure of her broken rib as more of a stabbing pain rather than a nuisance. “I need some space.”

  His chin sank toward his chest and Trey forced herself to look away. She’d imagined all too well what his face had looked like the morning she skipped town. She couldn’t bear to see it in person.

  “You think that’s a good idea?”

  “One of the best I’ve ever had.” She stared out the window beside her bed, not really seeing anything specific. “Things just didn’t work out here.” Her throat felt as dry as the Nevadan desert and as cold as January in North Dakota. Trey wanted to take the words back, but knew deep down she would have to break his heart to save his life. She’d gotten herself into this mess. Now, she had to get herself out. “It’s time for me to move on.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “You’re not going anywhere.” Luke meant every word as he turned around to face her. The expression on her face almost made him smile. He’d surprised her.

  Trey’s lips moved as if she wanted to speak, but he cut her off before she could.

  “I’m sick of the games. I’m sick of you pushing me away.” Stalking toward the bed, he stopped only inches away. He decided against shaking some sense into her, unsure he could control the storm raging in the center of his chest. Luke wished he had a metal heart, one that she couldn’t break over and over again, but then he wouldn’t feel as alive as he felt now. One pump at a time, his heart pushed longing through his veins. Vulnerable, exhausted and ornery, Trey Aston resembled a goddess more than ever before. Pieces of black hair clung to the sides of her face with a sheen of sweat. His breath stuck in his windpipe from the sight. The visit from the Caminos had changed him, made him realize exactly what he had at stake and nothing Trey said would make him let her go.

  “You did that on your own,” she retorted. “Remember?”

  Sitting beside her, Luke placed his hands on either side of her head. She couldn’t run from him now. “And now I’m going to make up for it.”

  Her eyes widened, the sea-foam color sending a jolt of pleasure straight between his legs.

  “What do you want from me? Forgiveness?” she asked. Trey turned away from him, her eyes searching the room as if she needed a distraction from him. “Fine. You have it.”

  Luke leaned in closer, enjoying her discomfort. It’d been too long since he’d been able to keep her in one place, to just look at her with no one else around or sirens wailing. He didn’t care that she hadn’t showered in a week or that her face had grown dark with bruises. Her beauty amazed him in every way. “I couldn’t care less about your forgiveness.”

  Her eyes snapped back to his. “Then what do you want?”

  “Just one thing.” Luke drew out the silence as long as he could, a few breaths at least, and wondered how he’d let her slip through his fingers. “You.”

  ****

  Trey swallowed hard. You didn’t hear him right. “What?”

  Luke sat on the edge her bed, his thick arms keeping her boxed in.

  She had nowhere to go. Her anxiety spiked as she looked for a way out. Tubing threaded through the hospital blankets and in and out of her arms and she couldn’t escape without hurting herself.

  “I looked for you every day you were gone.”

  That got her attention. “You did?” The thought made her heart jump.

  “I joined the force to track you down, but you were too good.”

  Trey closed her eyes, memorizing the sound of his voice. She couldn’t let this information affect her decision. She had to get out of town. She had to save his life.

  “That’s why I have to leave,” she whispered.

  He cradled her jawline with the barest of touches. It felt exquisite. With merely a touch, Luke made her doubts disappear. They could survive this. They could run. He would protect her from the Caminos if she asked.

  “You’re not easy to love.” His breath brushed her face and Trey knew if she opened her eyes, he’d be closer than when she’d closed them. “You make everything complicated, but I love you, Trey. I’ve lov
ed you since high school and I will never let you go again.”

  She didn’t know how to respond, but forced her eyes open anyway. Staring into his chestnut gaze, she searched for the truth behind his words. And found it. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  Luke leaned in closer, his eyes locking with hers for in slow, agonizing seconds. “There isn’t another woman in the world who could replace you.”

  Every muscle in her aching body tensed. His expression had gone soft, loving even. Trey knew what would happen in the next few seconds and wasn’t sure if she wanted it. Kissing had always been classified as personal in her book, intimate, and she hadn’t been intimate with anyone in a long time. She opened her mouth to protest, to tell him to stop.

  His lips pressed against hers.

  Trey held her breath for the first few seconds, her eyes open in shock. His lips moved in a comforting rhythm and she slowly unclenched each muscle throughout her body. She exhaled through her nose, pressing further into Luke as she closed her eyes. The kiss felt warm, soft, and not like anything she’d expected from the man she’d dated in high school.

  He shifted beside her, pulling himself further onto the bed without breaking their contact.

  Trey responded in kind. Her bruised fingers ached as she gripped his t-shirt, but she didn’t care. The time for hesitation had passed.

  A throat cleared, but Trey refused to acknowledge it.

  Pulling away, Luke didn’t get out of the bed, but left her wanting more. The spot where his thigh had rested against hers grew cold.

  “I take it you’re feeling better?”

  She recognized the voice and silently cursed Tucker for the interruption. Trey opened her eyes, nearly dizzy with pleasure, and unclenched her fingers from Luke’s t-shirt as he stood. The words they exchanged became muffled as understanding slowly came in waves, sinking into every fiber of her being. Luke had kissed her. He’d told her he loved her. In the brief seconds their lips were joined, he’d sentenced himself to a life of running, fear and violence. Oh, God. What have I done?