Scarred

by Tess Thompson

  “Should be here any minute,” Autumn said.

  They went into the kitchen. Stone helped himself to a beer, then they all went out to the patio to enjoy the view.

  “What’s with the security system?” Stone asked.

  Autumn glanced at Trey. “I had a Peeping Tom this morning, so Trey had the security guy come out and install a system for me.”

  Stone raised his eyebrows. “Peeping Tom?”

  “Just some random guy on the deck,” Autumn said. “Nothing to worry about.”

  That seemed to satisfy her brother, because the guys broke off into a conversation about work. Autumn and Pepper kicked off their shoes and walked to the end of the deck and across the cement boardwalk to the sand. Pepper wore shorts that barely covered her narrow rear and a tank top over small breasts. Her skin remained the color of cream because of dutiful slathering of sunscreen whenever she was outside.

  The yellow ball that was the sun hovered above the skyline.

  “I got a call from my mom and stepdad this morning. They sold their place in the Hamptons and made an offer for a house in town here.”

  “That’s wonderful.”

  Pepper smirked. “The pressure for grandchildren will reach outrageous heights.”

  “You know Stone’s up for it.”

  “I know he is. I’m not ready yet, though. My career’s finally taking off. I want to spend a few more years nurturing it and not a baby.”

  “When the time is right, you’ll know.”

  “My mom says there’s never a right time for a baby. You just have to go for it,” Pepper said.

  “Spoken like a woman who wants grandchildren.”

  They shared a chuckle as they walked slowly across sand still warm from the afternoon sun. Discarded sandwich wrappers and a few tin cans dotted the pristine beach. Pepper pulled a plastic bag from her shorts pocket. “I like to get the trash when I can.” She leaned over and picked up several candy wrappers and stuffed them inside.

  “Do you always do this?” Autumn asked.

  “Only when I’m on the beach. Or in town. Violet’s rubbing off on me.” Pepper grinned. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am to be marrying into this family.”

  They kept walking, picking up debris along the way, until they reached the edge of the wet sand. A breeze rustled Autumn’s hair. Peppers shiny curls bounced as they covered her face.

  “Want to sit for a minute?” Pepper asked.

  Autumn did so, careful to make sure the long skirt of her maxi dress didn’t ride up over her ankles. They both stretched their legs out across the sand.

  Pepper put aside her trash bag and reached inside her canvas bag. “I present rosé in a can,” she said as she popped the top and handed it to Autumn.

  “What else do you have in that bag?” Autumn asked.

  Pepper brushed her curls away from her face. “Let’s just say your brother often needs a snack. That’s a lot of body to keep fueled.”

  They sipped from their cans of wine and watched the sun sink ever so slowly toward the sea. There was a resignation to the evening, as if the earth readied itself for bed after a sun-drenched day. As they sat there, the air cooled and brushed over her bare arms and face with the promise of a cool, clear night. The light turned from yellow to orange. Pelicans and seagulls squawked and swooped, but not with the vigor they’d displayed during the hot afternoon when they’d hovered near picnickers, vying and hoping for a piece of food dropped from a sandy hand.

  Next to her, Pepper fidgeted, as if she couldn’t get comfortable. A tightness around her mouth hinted at a worry of some kind. She rolled the can of wine between the palms of her hands like a potter with a piece of clay.

  “Everything okay with you?” Autumn asked, hoping to get a straight answer.

  “Yes. I think so anyway.” Pepper drew a circle in the sand with one finger. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the guys. They’re both so overprotective of us. I keep telling Stone I looked after myself for years before I met him, but he’s always worried. I can’t blame him when we’re in LA or if I’m filming somewhere far from him. Sometimes I catch him watching me when I leave to go somewhere like he thinks I might not come back.”

  “That’s the family abandonment thing.”

  “I understand, but it makes me sad,” Pepper said. “I’d never leave him on purpose.”

  She reached over and squeezed Pepper’s hand. “He knows that deep down. It’s just that our subconscious acts up from time to time. We’re like dogs that were abused, always waiting for a smack that our new owners would never give us.”

  “I’d do anything to take that away from both of you,” Pepper said.

  “It’s strange to say, but you have. You and Violet—the way you love my brothers—it’s changed us.”

  “Even you?”

  “Yes.” Her gaze drifted to the waves that broke just inches from their feet. “It’s given me hope that there’s someone out there who will love me that way.”

  Pepper drew her knees up and rested one cheek against them, looking at her. “You really don’t see it, do you?”

  “See what?”

  “Never mind. I wanted to talk to you about something without the guys present.”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Yesterday, I was coming out of the grocery store and there was this man standing by that big oak. You know the one?”

  “In front of the flower area?”

  “That’s right. He was leaning against it and staring at me. When I looked back at him, his gaze didn’t even flinch. It was like he was fixated on me. Not to sound vain, but I thought he might be a fan. Believe it or not, that awful horror movie I’m in is killing it at the box office. There’s no accounting for taste. But then, I saw him again later when I came out of the bookstore. There’s something really creepy about him. However, I’m paranoid, you know, because of what happened to me.”

  She didn’t have to explain. Pepper suffered from the trauma of being raped as a teenager. She was afraid of the dark and was easily spooked by male attention. From her own experience, Autumn understood how certain people or places could trigger a person and take you back to the cruelest moment of your life. The roar of an engine or riding with someone who drove fast or recklessly shook her in much the same way. In a second, she could return to those terrifying moments as their car spun in a circle. The night she almost died. The night she almost lost her legs. The night that changed everything.

  Pepper crossed her legs at the ankles. “I dismissed it until just now. But the man on the porch, staring at you, seems too coincidental.”

  “Like it could be the same guy?” Autumn asked.

  “Well, maybe.” Pepper flushed as she tucked a bouncing curl behind one ear. “Or do I sound super paranoid?”

  “Not at all.” Alarm bells were echoing through Autumn’s mind. “What did he look like? I couldn’t see him well because it was so foggy.”

  “He was a big guy. Not as large as Stone or Brody Mullen, but more barrel-chested with one of those thick necks.” Pepper closed her eyes as she continued to describe him. “He had a ruddy face, like guys who drink too much, and a receding hairline. I’d say he was somewhere in his fifties.”

  For a second, Autumn fumbled for a memory. Why did that description feel familiar? Then she knew. The man crouching on the other side of her planters fit that description. She told Pepper about him. “I didn’t connect that the figure on my patio could be the same guy, but it’s certainly possible.”

  “Crap, yes.” Pepper’s fingers dented the middle of her can.

  “Do you think it’s the same guy? And if so, why would he be following us?”

  “I had a thought. It’s probably far-fetched,” Pepper said. “People do accuse me of having too large an imagination.”

  “What is it?”

  “Could it be something to do with the woman who was blackmailing your mom?”

  Autumn started, surprised to hear Pepper speaking out lo
ud about the darkest secret of their family. “You know about what our mother did?”

  “There are no secrets between Stone and me. I know your mother set the fire that killed the boys who tortured Kyle and caused your accident.”

  She took a moment, considering the question. Last year, when their mother had shown up so unexpectedly, she’d come to tell them what she’d done and that she was preparing to turn herself in to the authorities. Someone from her past had threatened to tell the police unless Valerie went to Kyle and asked for a lump of cash in exchange for her silence. Kyle had convinced Valerie to tell the woman she was ready to confess and would take the evidence of the extortion with her when she went to the police. After that, the woman disappeared. They’d thought it was all over. Could this be another connection to that? But if so, why spy on her or Pepper?

  “I don’t know. It’s possible,” Autumn said.

  “As you and I know, evil is always possible.”

  Autumn nodded as she brought her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Fire. A burning building. Could the fire in Valerie’s building have been set to target her? A warning? Or payback?

  She took in a sharp inhale of breath and froze as the possibility took hold. A fire for a fire? A death for a death. “What if the fire was set on purpose? My mom doesn’t think so, but what if there were still people alive who cared about those boys? Could they have somehow been contacted by the blackmailer out of spite?”

  Pepper’s eyes widened. “And this is like a vengeful thing?”

  “Yes,” Autumn whispered. Her heart sped up. “What if they’re trying to kill my mother?”

  Pepper rose to her feet, dusting the sand from her bottom. “We should talk to the guys before Valerie gets here.”

  7

  Trey

  * * *

  Trey watched as Pepper and Autumn walked toward them. In the sand, Autumn’s gait was slower and her injury more pronounced. That wasn’t the only difference in Autumn’s appearance. Her expression was one of worry and, if he wasn’t mistaken, fear. He glanced at Pepper. She looked much the same way.

  Stone, who’d been inside grabbing a couple of beers, came out the French doors just as they walked up the steps. Pepper flounced into a chair, her black curls bouncing like springs. Autumn rested her hands on the back of a chair next to Trey’s, clearly too agitated to sit.

  “What’s going on?” Stone’s brow furrowed as he glanced back and forth from his fiancée to his sister.

  “There’s something I didn’t mention,” Pepper said. “A couple of times I’ve seen the same guy watching me. Maybe even following me.”

  “What the hell? Pepper Shaker?” Stone asked.

  At Stone’s immediate agitation, she put up her hands. “Please, don’t be mad I didn’t tell you, but I thought I was just being paranoid, like I am sometimes.”

  Autumn took the story from there. “What if this creepy guy and the fire at Valerie’s apartment building are somehow connected to the fire she set all those years ago?” Her fingers gripped the back of the chair as if she were using it as a way to stand upright. “What if it was set on purpose as payback or something?”

  Trey and Stone exchanged a glance. He could see in his friend’s eyes that he thought the women’s theory was a distinct possibility.

  “But what would he want with you two?” Trey asked. He must remain calm. The thought of anyone harming Autumn or Pepper made him want to howl in fright.

  “That’s the part that doesn’t make sense,” Autumn said. “Unless he wants revenge on our whole family.”

  “Mom said no one from that family is even around anymore,” Stone said.

  “That’s what she thinks. It may or may not be true,” Autumn said. “I mean, why else would anyone be following us?”

  “But why Pepper?” Stone asked.

  “Maybe whoever it is wants our whole family to suffer. Pepper’s family now.” Autumn’s voice shook.

  Trey patted the chair seat next to him. “You should sit.”

  She obeyed, all the fight seeming to run out of her. He reached under the table for her hand and held it in his against his thigh. She rested her head on his shoulder.

  Stone’s large fists were clenched on the table. “If he comes around again, I’ll bash his face in.”

  “No, call the police,” Pepper said. “I don’t want you hurt.”

  “More likely, Stone would hurt him,” Trey said.

  “Should we go to the police?” Autumn asked.

  Trey nodded. “Tomorrow. Go in and at least tell them what you saw. Both of you.”

  “We’ll go with you,” Stone said. “And we need to let Kyle know. Violet and the kids could be in danger.”

  He felt Autumn shiver. “Violet will freak. After what happened with the kids, who can blame her?”

  “True,” Trey said.

  “What do you mean?” Pepper asked.

  “A few years back, before they were even married, their unhinged nanny kidnapped Mollie and Dakota,” Stone said. “It ended with the nanny being killed by the police. While she was holding infant Mollie in her arms.”

  Pepper paled. “I didn’t know that.”

  “Violet and Kyle don’t like to talk about it. Seeing that girl die in front of him still gives Kyle nightmares. You know how he is—downplays everything—but it’s obvious in how protective he is of the kids.”

  “He does FBI-type background checks on anyone they let near the kids,” Autumn said. “Again, not that I can blame them.”

  “What was wrong with her?” Pepper asked. “The nanny.”

  “She was obsessed with Kyle,” Stone said. “The poor thing had it in her mind they were soul mates and meant to be together. She took Dakota and Mollie out of their beds and ran off with them.”

  “That’s awful,” Pepper said. “Why is there so much evil in the world?”

  “There’s more good than bad,” Autumn said. “But evil attracts more attention.”

  The sound of a car pulling up to the driveway interrupted their conversation.

  “That’s Mom,” Stone said. “I recognize the old muffler.”

  “Baby, we have to get her a new car,” Pepper said.

  Stone sighed as he unfolded his tall, wide frame from the chair. “You have a heart of gold, Pepper Shaker, but it’s no match for my mother’s stubborn pride.”

  Trey hung behind with Pepper while Stone and Autumn went out to greet their mother. Leaning against the counter, he took a slug from his beer. When he looked up, Pepper’s eyes drilled into him.

  “What?” He chuckled nervously. When Pepper gave him that look, he knew he was in trouble.

  “I know what you guys are up to, and it’s a terrible idea.” She folded her arms across her chest.

  “For the record, it was Stone’s idea.”

  “I’m quite aware of that. I’ll tell you what I told him. You’re playing with fire. Women do not like to be lied to.”

  “Men don’t either.”

  She made a face. “No one’s lying to you. You better stop before she finds out.”

  He gestured at her with his beer, as if that would shield him from the spice of Pepper. “She opens up to me in there.”

  “Your job, if you want her to fall for you, is to show her yourself for real. Don’t hide behind a computer screen.”

  He didn’t have time to answer because Stone and Autumn appeared with their mother. Pepper rushed to Valerie and grabbed her in a hug. “You poor thing. What can we do?”

  Valerie looked taken aback but returned the hug. Pepper didn’t seem to notice Valerie’s trepidation. She grabbed her hand and led her over to a chair by the kitchen table. “Let’s get you a drink. White wine?”

  “Sure. That’s fine,” Valerie said as her gaze darted to Stone. “But don’t go to any trouble.”

  “It’s no trouble.” Autumn was already pouring her mother a glass.

  Pepper brought Valerie’s drink to the table, then took the chair across
from her. “We need to talk about our plan for tomorrow.”

  “Plan?” Stone asked as he brushed a hand through his wavy brown hair. “Pepper, I’m not sure Mom needs us to help with a plan.”

  “Sure she does.” Pepper flashed a reckless smile. “I’ve had enough of this nonsense.”

  “Nonsense?” Valerie asked. Her hand shook as she reached for her glass.

  Autumn shot Trey a nervous but amused glance before pouring herself a glass of wine. He busied himself with his beer to keep from laughing. Stone had migrated to the opposite end of the kitchen and was now leaning his backside against the cabinetry with both hands in his cargo shorts pockets. Trey moved to stand next to him, patted his shoulder in sympathy, and then turned to watch the show. Pepper in action was a fine sight to see.

  “Yes, this total and complete nonsense.” Pepper gestured toward Autumn. “Could I have some of that, please?”

  “Oh, yes. Where are my manners?” Autumn winked at Pepper before pouring a glass of wine.

  Pepper turned back to Valerie, who had seemed to shrink since sitting at the table. She gazed at Pepper with wary eyes, like a child on the first day in front of their eccentric and unpredictable new teacher.

  “Here’s the thing, Mrs. Hickman.” Pepper placed both hands on the tabletop. “You may not know this, Valerie, but I’m filthy rich and getting richer. I just had an offer for another film, and they’re giving me a ridiculous amount of money for six weeks of work. Add that to the vast fortune my cold, absent biological father left me when he passed away—God rest his soul—and you’ve got one rich, spoiled kitty cat. I don’t want to be a rich, spoiled kitty cat because that person is not the type of woman Stone Hickman deserves. So I’m dedicated to doing good with my money and using it for people and causes that need a little boost instead of focusing solely on me, myself, and I. Which, trust me, I could do in a hot second. I mean, we all know I’m not good enough for your son. No one in this room is impolite enough to say it, but even my own parents know the truth. He was born good, and I have to try really hard to be just decent.”