Bruised Angel (River of Lies #2) (7 page)

“A dress? I’ve never seen you in a dress before” Dylan scoffed.

His reaction hurt her feelings and suddenly she wasn’t sure that she wanted to be at his home anymore, but she didn’t want to go back to Mason’s house if he wasn’t going to be home.

“I just wanted something different” she said sniffing back a tear.

Dylan looked up at her and frowned.

“Did I say something wrong? Are you going to be all girly now?” he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and turned her back on him so he wouldn’t see the tears that she couldn’t control. Dylan got off his bed and went to his door, shutting it behind him. Chelsea wiped her tears and sighed, packing her new clothes and Kelly’s clothes into the bags and went into the kitchen where Dylan was sitting at the table.

“Oh Chelsea you look beautiful, are they new clothes?” Sharon asked.

Chelsea forced a smile and quickly glanced at Dylan who had his head down and refusing to look at her. Chelsea nodded her head and wiped her hands over her jeans.

“Well I love them.” Sharon said.

“I bought a dress too” Chelsea blurted.

Sharon smiled and glanced between her and Dylan, who was still sitting at the table brooding.

“Really? Show me” Sharon said enthusiastically.

Chelsea pulled the dress from the bag and held it up, Sharon came closer and took the dress getting a closer look.

“Oh Chelsea this is gorgeous. The colour is going to be beautiful on you. It’s going to make your eyes pop, especially if you wear your hair up like you’ve got it now” Sharon said as she turned to Dylan “What do you think Dylan don’t you reckon she is going to look beautiful in her new dress?”

Dylan lifted his head, his cheeks reddening for being put on the spot and shrugged his shoulder.

“I liked what she used to wear” he mumbled.

“Oh for God’s sake Dylan, girls need to change it up a bit now and then” Sharon scoffed, handing the dress back to Chelsea.

Chelsea put the dress back in the bag while Sharon continued to make her coffee. She gave Chelsea a squeeze on the shoulder before leaving and heading for her little office that she used for her crafts and reading. Chelsea stood looking at Dylan who still was refusing to make eye contact with her.

“Um, Dylan can we go outside I need to talk to you about something?” Chelsea asked nervously.

Dylan lifted his head with a frown and nodded. He stood from the table silently and led them to the back garden. They sat under the big Maple tree that encompassed the back yard and Dylan stretched out in the grass, picking the green blades and throwing them in front of him at an invisible target. The sun freckled through the leaves of the tree and Chelsea sucked in a breath taking in the Spring air.

“So what do you want to talk to me about?” he asked.

Chelsea sucked in a shaky breath, she didn’t know where to start.

“I don’t know where to start” Chelsea said blinking away her tears.

Dylan frowned again and sat up.

“Obviously it’s something big,  because you have done a sudden change and you’re all teary, I’ve never seen you cry before. You’re being weird” Dylan said.

He wasn’t as poetic with his words like Mason was, Dylan was blunt and straight to the point. It shouldn’t have shocked Chelsea she knew that he was like that, but sitting there she felt uncomfortable and wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing. Chelsea knew that he had a right to know what was going on, he had been her best friend, her only friend, for the last five years. Chelsea took in another deep breath and leaned  back into the trunk of the tree.

“My Dad got shot last night, it didn’t kill him, but he is in hospital” she blurted.

Dylan frowned and continued to pick at the grass.

“Who shot him” Dylan asked sounding a little uninterested.

“I did” she said.

Dylan stopped picking the blades of grass and stared at her with a look of shock taking over his face.

“Why? And how are you not arrested? Are you on the run or something?” Dylan asked.

Chelsea shook her head.

“He told the police that he shot himself. There is something you don’t know about me Dylan, a secret I’ve kept for twelve years I’ve told no one, until last night” she said as she dropped her eyes to the grass in front of her.

Dylan continued to frown at her and Chelsea sighed again, closing her eyes pushing the tears away that were threatening to overwhelm her.

“Since I was five years old my Dad did things to me and made me do things to him and then last night it got too much” she said with a  shaky voice.

“Things? Like sexual things?” Dylan asked.

Chelsea nodded as a tear slipped from the corner of her eye and fell down her cheek.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Dylan asked accusingly “You could have come and lived here, we could have gone to the cops”

Chelsea sighed again and shrugged her shoulders.

“I didn’t tell anyone, I kept it a secret. I thought that people would think I liked what he did to me. I didn’t want people at school to know what was going on. They pick on me bad enough now. Imagine if they knew that was going on too?” she said.

“So why last night?” Dylan asked.

“He said he was going to rape me. He said he wanted to make me pregnant so he could continue to abuse my children” she said with more tears slipping down her cheeks.

“Fucking hell and I thought my family was fucked up” Dylan said in shock shaking his head slowly.

Chelsea couldn’t help but snort out a laugh.

“He knew where my Mum was the whole time.” Chelsea said.

Dylan looked at her and shook his head.

“Where was she?” he asked

“In jail. She went to jail for him. He was dealing drugs and got caught, she took the blame, said they were her drugs, she did ten  years” Chelsea explained.

“Fuck me. So how did you find that out?” Dylan asked.

“Last night after he went to the hospital he told the police my Mum’s number and Mason’s Dad has a friend who is a cop and they put my Mum in touch with Mason’s Dad” she said.

Dylan frowned and climbed onto his knees leaning in closer to her.

“Wait a minute. Mason’s Dad? How did he know you shot your Dad?” Dylan asked.

The thought of Carl being referred to as her Dad made her shudder. She sighed again.

“After I shot my d.. Carl, I was running scared and literally ran into Mason. He took me into his house and I blurted out everything to him and his Dad” she said.

Dylan sat back on his heels looking like he had just been punched in the stomach.

“You told Mason Knox, but you couldn’t come here and tell me?” he said.

It hurt Chelsea to see the hurt on his face.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened that way. I wasn’t running anywhere in particular and if I hadn’t run into Mason I probably would have come here eventually when the adrenalin wore off” she tried to explain.

Dylan didn’t say anything.

“You better go” Dylan said quietly standing.

Chelsea felt the sting of rejection hit her in the stomach as she stood nodding her head.

“Dylan. I’m sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t want to do that. That’s why I came here now to explain what was going on” she said reaching out for his hand.

Dylan snatched his hand away and Chelsea sucked in a sharp breath as the rejection punched her again.  Dylan turned and stared into her eyes.

“So did you see your Mum?” Dylan asked still frowning.

Chelsea nodded fighting to keep her tears at bay.

“Did you stay with her last night?” Dylan asked.

Chelsea dropped her eyes and shook her head. She heard Dylan groan.

“Where did you stay then?” he asked.

Chelsea looked up at him, his face was red and his blonde hair hung over his brown eyes that had darkened with anger.

“Dylan please don’t do this. You are my best friend. I’m sorry I didn’t come here. I was so scared and everything happened so quickly” she said.

“Did you fuck him?” Dylan spat.

“Who? Mason? What the hell Dylan? I just told you about the shit my own fucking father did to me, do you think I felt like a quick romp after that?” she shouted.

Dylan dropped his head and balled his hands into fists before releasing them. Chelsea watched as emotions flooded his face.

“You’re right, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Chelsea I hate that you’re d.. Carl did that stuff to you. He is an arsehole for putting you through that and I wish the bullet had killed him. I am hurt that you couldn’t come and tell me even before it got to this point. I don’t understand. But I will try” Dylan said.

Chelsea nodded as tears dripped down her cheeks and chin, hitting her new shirt.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner” she said with a shake of her head.

Dylan suddenly grasped her and pulled her into his chest. Soon Chelsea’s silent tears turned into gut wrenching sobs that shook her whole body. Dylan held her tight until her tears had begun to ease and her sobs were nothing more than the occasional hiccup. She pulled away from him and looked down at the giant wet patch on his shirt. She patted his chest.

“I’m sorry” she said wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

Dylan looked down at his chest and shrugged, giving her a small smile.

“Are we still friends?” he asked.

Chelsea smiled and nodded her head.

“Forever” she replied.

“Are you going to be staying with your Mum?” he asked.

Chelsea looked away from Dylan as she lied and told him that she was. For the rest of the afternoon she sat in the music room listening to Dylan play various songs on the guitar, before it was just before dinner time.

“I better get going” she said standing from the bean bag that she had tucked herself into.

Dylan put his guitar down and walked her to the door.

“Do you need a lift to your Mum’s house?” he asked with a look that Chelsea knew was testing to see if she was telling the truth about the place she was staying.

Chelsea quickly shook her head. The truth was she had no idea where her Mum even lived. She felt awful for lying to Dylan, but it was apparently obvious that he didn’t approve of her having anything to do with Mason, so she didn’t feel she could tell him that she was actually going to be spending another night there, let alone in Mason’s bed and probably with Mason beside her. 

“Dylan? Did Mason ever beat you up when the others did?” she asked.

Dylan shifted uncomfortably in the doorway and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Once” he said holding up one finger. “I kind of had it coming. I said that his Dad was bikie scum. He punched me once and gave me a bloody nose.”

Chelsea nodded. The biggest problem that Dylan had was his mouth, it often got him into trouble. He didn’t have much of a social etiquette, Chelsea always put it down to his upbringing. Once his Mum got involved with drugs, she was pretty distant and he was raised in a world of junkies and various other pieces of shit, watching his mum rotate through men until he was ten and she died. He was the one that discovered her body in their living room, a needle still in the crook of her arm. His grandmother tried to help him be more polite and he did improve over the years that Chelsea knew him, but sometimes he just said what he felt rather than thinking about how it might make someone feel or the consequences like a punch in the nose from the football team.

Chapter Eight

Slowly Chelsea walked back to Mason’s home. When she got to the gate she saw that Mason was coming out of it, when he noticed her, his face lit up and he gave her a big smile. Chelsea’s heart skipped a beat and she couldn’t wipe the grin from her face as he came towards her and kissed her lips gently. Mason took the bags from her and she followed him through the gate into the yard, where Duggar was still sitting. Chelsea frowned and followed Mason into his bedroom.

“Doesn’t that Duggar ever leave the yard?” she asked as Mason closed the door.

Mason laughed and put her bags beside her other things. He shook his head.

“He has a home. He just never seems to go to it” he said with a shrug of his shoulder. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about him, how did it go with Dylan?”

She flopped down onto Mason’s bed and laid back with her legs dangling off the edge. Mason laid down  beside her and put his hand on her stomach under her shirt, just above the waistband of her jeans. Chelsea felt her body clench in fear at first scared that Mason would discover her other secret but she couldn’t help her stomach lurch with excitement. Chelsea closed her legs tight against the throbbing that was beginning. She closed her eyes to try and concentrate on telling Mason about Dylan’s reaction.