I knew the talk in town was probably bad, and I had no idea what the repercussions would be from Evans Crist as he undoubtedly knew that we knew how Rika’s father died. How she almost died.
But right now, I couldn’t bring myself to care. My father had been the bigger threat, and although we weren’t all safe yet, I had every confidence people would have a nice, long, fucking pause now before coming at us.
And if they did, we’d be ready.
I ran my fingers through my hair, just wanting a shower and a bed right now, but there was one thing more I had on my mind to deal with before that.
I closed the door and locked it.
“I kind of just want to go sit in the fountain,” Winter said lazily, resting her head on my arm as I held her hand and we walked.
“Plenty of time for that,” I told her. “I have another idea, though.”
“Oh?” She sounded amused like she could only imagine what I wanted to do right now.
But instead of heading up the stairs, I continued down the hall and through the kitchen.
She popped her head up. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.”
I led her outside, across the patio, down beyond the pool and pool house, and past the hedge line, into the trees. We went slow as she navigated her way over the land and fallen branches, but when we got to the large, white oak tree, I picked her up, carrying her over the debris of leaves and wood I hadn’t cleaned up yet.
Setting her down, I took her hand and put it on the tree.
She ran her hands over the bark, feeling up and down until she landed on a board nailed into the tree trunk.
She pulled away, straightening her back and her face falling as she understood why I’d brought her out here.
Her chest moved with her shallow breaths, and I could see the fear on her face.
Moving around her, I wrapped my arm around her waist and kissed the back of her hair.
“I’m stronger now,” I whispered. “I won’t let you fall.”
I felt her body shake, but she didn’t say anything. Just stood there, going through the shit in her head.
After another moment, she reached out, breathing hard but determined, and felt for the first step with her foot while grabbing hold of the board in front of her.
I watched as she started to climb, taking her time, one step after the other, and I followed, not taking my eyes off her for a moment.
She paused about halfway up, feeling the wind whip across her hair, but she kept going.
Just one more step.
And another.
“Stop there, baby,” I told her when she reached the top. I didn’t want her hitting her head.
She stayed put as I closed the distance between us, and then I reached above her head, throwing open the door in the floor.
Waving her hand to gauge the width, she climbed through, crawling up onto the floor and standing up carefully as I came through after her.
She stood there for a minute, getting her bearings, but then took a few careful steps, finding the railing. I kept my eye on her feet, making sure she didn’t step over. I’d put the boards in the fencing close enough together, we wouldn’t fall, but she could still slip and hurt herself.
I walked around, making sure everything was holding well and inspecting the pointed roof to see if any water had seeped through in the last rain. I’d thought about making it a full house, completely enclosed, but maybe that was better for kids. For now, I liked it open on the sides for the wind and the sound of the trees.
“So this is where you’ve been going?” she said, still facing out. “Not a hundred yards away from me.”
I came up behind her. “Never.”
All the nights I was away, I was still here.
I held her waist with one hand and leaned on the railing with the other, staring out at the house and thinking about where we were five years ago today.
It was Halloween, and I’d just been arrested.
“How are you?” she asked.
I knew she meant my father. If I was upset.
I still wasn’t sure. I was glad he was gone, but I was still trying to figure out what this meant and what the next step was.
The important thing was I wasn’t alone anymore, and that made a huge difference. We were going to be fine.
Unfortunately, not as fine as I wanted, though.
“I have no money, no home, a wife, and a probably pregnant girlfriend,” I said, trying to tease.
But even I knew the amount of shit that needed to be cleaned up when I woke up tomorrow. I had a lot to do.
She was quiet for a moment, but then said, “I wonder if it’s easier to get an annulment if the marriage was never consummated.” She let the words hang in the air a minute. “If it was never consummated.”
I looked down at her, knowing what she was worried about. Did I sleep with Ari…
I reached around and turned her chin toward me. “It’s called fraud,” I explained. “When you enter into a marriage with no intention of consummating it. I’m way ahead of you, Devil.”
An embarrassed little smile tugged at her lips, and I could see her shoulders relaxing.
Marrying Ari got me into the house and put them all under my thumb. I was a means to an end. It didn’t take long to face the fact, though, that I could barely tolerate eating a meal with that woman, let alone take her to bed. I knew who I wanted.
She lowered herself onto the floor, dangling her legs over the side just like we did when we were kids.
“Banks won’t want the inheritance,” she pointed out. “You can contest his will if you want.”
I let out a breath and sat down next to her, leaning back on my hands and looking out through the leaves in the tree that hid us from the world.
“Fuck it,” I said. “He was right. She’ll do better with it than I would have. And I don’t want anything of his anyway.”
She nodded, but no worry creased her brow. She almost looked happy, and with her hair blowing behind her and those same dark pink lips, she was eight again, and I was eleven, unable to stop looking at her.
She faced out toward the house, and I was glad she seemed to like it up here.
“What do you see?” I asked.
She inhaled a deep breath and then fell slowly back, lying down on the floor with her legs still hanging over the side.
A little smile played across her lips. “I see us spending the night up here.”
I came down on her, taking her face in my hands and heading for her mouth.
Hell yeah.
Damon
Present
Slamming the car door, I clicked the lock and walked around, jogging up onto the sidewalk as I shivered.
It was going to snow soon. I could feel it.
I yanked up the zipper of my pullover and stuffed my hands into my jean pockets as I opened the door to the theater and walked inside. Warmth hit me, and a couple of employees made eye contact, but looked away again when they realized it was me.
I’d been coming every day to drop Winter off and pick her up, so they knew why I was here.
Plus, the whole town knew what really happened at the tavern last week, and even though no one was crying about it, they still moved to the other side of the street when they saw me coming. They put their heads down, stayed out of my path, and answered extra polite with one-or two-word sentences when I ordered food or got gas in my car.
In fact, I’d noticed they were doing the same thing when they saw Will or Rika or Kai, too. All of us, in fact.
It was like the town had a changing of the guard or something and people weren’t sure if they should be scared.
I headed past the concessions and the stairs leading to the mezzanine and gallery levels, and opened the double doors, heading into the ground floor of the theater.
Music filled the room, while Winter moved about on stage, sliding and turning, her whole body in every move she made like it was all a single unit instead of individual parts.