Laurel didn’t need a second invitation. With a wary eye on the door, she pulled her skirt and slip down to cover her naked thighs, scurried about the room to retrieve her panties, bra, and blouse, and dressed faster than she ever had before in her life. Standing on tiptoe, she checked herself out in the small mirror over the bureau next to the door. Her hair was a mess, and her face looked like she had a fever.
After running her fingers through her hair to smooth it, she pressed her cheeks with her hands to bring down their color. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were dark and hollow, but there was nothing she could do about that. She’d have to sneak in the side door and stay in her room for an hour or so before facing Mama and Daddy.
There were probably marks on her body too, maybe bruises, but she was the only one who would see them.
Jase emerged from the bathroom. He’d pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt that he hadn’t bothered to button. “You ready?” His voice was gruff and curt.
“Yes.”
“I have to get some shoes.”
She backed up as he entered the room, her eyes following his every move as he reached under the bed for his sneakers, but he didn’t even glance at her. She might have been in Ethiopia for all he seemed to care.
She looked at the room one last time and felt sick to her stomach. It was all so sordid—the tuna tin of cigarette butts, the football posters and lurid pinups, the unmade bed.
“Let’s go,” he said, standing beside the doorway, his face expressionless, the color high in his cheeks.
She walked slowly toward the doorway, nervous about passing so close to him, then scuttled through it quickly, ready to fight him off at any moment. Outside the weather had turned bright and sunshiny, a beautiful, uncaring morning full of promise and delight. What irony. How could the day be so lovely when, in less than half an hour, her whole life had turned upside down?
Jase held the passenger door to the pickup open with mock courtesy, and she slid gingerly onto the torn vinyl seat, remaining as close to the door as possible. Walking around to the driver’s side, he lit a defiant cigarette before he got in, and started the engine.
They rode in silence for a few minutes until he spoke.
“Everything they say about me is true.” He sucked at the cigarette and floated the white smoke out through his mouth and nostrils. “I’ve been doing Ms. Shelton since before Christmas, and I’ll do you too if you give me half a chance. You’ve had your warning. I’m bad news. Stay clear of me from now on.”
And she had stayed clear of him, which wasn’t hard since he left Bosque Bend within a week.
When Sarah asked what had happened the next day at church, she’d said Jase had thanked her for her concern, asked her to pray for him, and driven her home.
But for days after that, her nipples tingled when her breasts moved against her starched cotton bra. And in her virgin bed at night, when the whole world was dark and anything was possible, she relived that morning at Jase’s house again and again. The awkward ride home was a forgotten footnote as she reveled in the memory of his passionate kisses and the touch of his body.
What would it have been like if she hadn’t made him stop?
Chapter Five
Jase took a couple of deep breaths, then punched in Maxie’s number.
“Lolly’s safe. Laurel Harlow’s taking care of her, but I’m getting the idea Girl Child’s being difficult.”
He could hear the exasperation mixed into Maxie’s sigh of relief and knew exactly how she felt.
“You’d better come down here tomorrow morning. Call me as soon as you have a flight number and I’ll pick you up at the Waco airport.”
“What about Lolly? Do you need me to bring anything for her?” That was Maxie—always on top of things. God knows what he would have done sixteen years ago if she hadn’t already made plans to move to Dallas for a full-time job with an insurance company when the school board got him kicked out of town.
“Why don’t you bring her a change of clothes, just to be sure, and I’d appreciate you packing a suitcase for me too. I’ll probably stay here a while to scout out the local scene. It looks like Bosque Bend might have some business possibilities.”
“Will do. See you tomorrow.”
Jase replaced the mobile on the floor beside the bed and laid his head back on the pillow.
He’d check around to see what properties were available. If Walmart had a new store here, the town must be on the upswing.
Who was he kidding? He didn’t need any small-town properties. What he wanted to do was keep busy so he wouldn’t make an ass out of himself knocking at Laurel’s front door and demanding to see his daughter before she was ready for him.
Damn, he and Girl Child were at loggerheads all the time now, and he loved her so much. She was his life. Thank God that Laurel had taken her in last night.
Laurel…