A Long Goodbye (24 page)

She was shaking like a leaf, and tears filled her eyes. “Do you have a minute for an old friend?” She didn’t beg, but I could tell she was praying underneath that tone of hers.

How could I say no to her the way she came in? Something was wrong. I pulled her down on to my bed. “What happened to you?”

She wiped her tears, her loud sniffling as she hiccupped. “His friend,” she trembled.

“Whose friend, honey?” I rubbed my hands up and down her arms trying to get her to calm down.

“Do you remember Tyler? We met him at that bar on the docks with Trevor a while back?”

I nodded. Waiting for some kind of horrible bomb to drop.

“He told me something about Trevor.”

“Okay,” I said trying to get her to continue.

“Shit, Ash. You can’t tell anyone, especially not Trevor, or he’ll hurt me more.”

I stood up, anxiously biting my nails. Wondering what the hell she was talking about. “I promise. Just tell me.”

“Trevor has a kid up in Maryland. He never sees him, and Ash he doesn’t help, or even acknowledge that poor baby. He’s only one and a half years old. Tyler hit me when I told him I was going to tell you.”

“What?” I ran to stand over to her, and turned her face from side to side, taking in the large bruise on her right cheek. “I will kill that son of a bitch,” I shouted.

She shook her head. “Let’s just go somewhere so he can’t find me. I ran out of there so fast he couldn’t catch me. If he tells Trevor,” she shook.

“All right, Lu. This is what we’re gonna do, Sweetie. You grab a couple bags in my closet and I’ll grab my spare key to the beach house. We have to go now before my daddy gets home.” Lu nodded frantically. I picked her up and pushed her toward my closet.

Quickly, I grabbed the key and then helped shoved clothes and toiletries inside the bags as she dropped them on the bed. “Meet me at my car in ten minutes, I just want to bring Nash back down to the barn and leave a note for Teddy the groundskeeper to take care of him for me.”

Lu grabbed both bags, ran down the staircase, and headed outside with Nash and me on her heels.

Tyler was coming up the porch steps and I didn’t get a good feeling about what was going to happen next. I didn’t know much about him other than he and Trevor worked together, but something by the way he looked told me he wasn’t a good man.

“Well, you two look like you’re running off somewhere.”

I stepped in front of Lu, stuck my chin and out, and took a deep breath. “You ever hit my friend again and I will make sure Trevor fires you.”

He snorted. “Trevor wouldn’t make it more than a week if someone didn’t tell him how to run his father’s company, or how to wipe his own ass. That man has no business sense. You sure are lucky you have your daddy’s money, seeing that Trevor will probably run that electrical company into the ground. He needs me.”

“It sounds to me like you need him,” I snapped.

Tyler took a step closer and I could feel Lu pulling me back to get out of his reach. My car was a mere ten feet away and I wanted desperately to get inside with Lu and take off. I hadn’t taken any lessons in fighting, but I knew where to hit a man to bring him to his knees. “Keep it up, bitch and I’ll hit you next.” His nostrils flared and his eyes looked beady in the afternoon sun.

I grabbed one of the bags from Lu without taking my eyes off of him. I counted to three in my head, and then took my knee and drove it home as hard I could. Tyler dropped, like a bag of potatoes holding on to his manhood, cursing me out under his ragged breath.

 “Get in the car, Lu,” I screamed as I pulled her alongside me.

I dropped the leash just as I opened the door. Nash’s puppy dog eyes stared up at me. “C’mon, boy.” Nash just sat there, staring, and growling at Tyler. I couldn’t wait. “I’ll be back for you, Nash.” I patted his head, but noticed Tyler moving to a half sit, half stand position just as I cranked on the engine. We roared out of there. I could see him screaming from the front porch, but I couldn’t make anything out that he was saying.

It wasn’t until we both felt safe that we started laughing.

“I can’t believe you kneed him in his nuts like that,” Lu said through happy tears.

“I thought I missed it when I didn’t feel anything. That boy must have has a toothpick for a penis.”

Lu laughed harder, tears falling from her eyes. “You have no idea how right you are.”

We talked about Trevor, Tyler, and Woody and the whole ninety minutes it took us until we pulled into North Forest Beach.

We had just popped the cork off the second bottle of Chardonnay from my dear daddy’s supply that he kept here. “I can’t believe you’re giving up on Dane,” Lu said, uncertain of bringing him up by the wariness of her tone.

Slowly, I took a long sip from my glass. “Me either. I can’t believe I’m allowing this,” I admitted.

“That father of yours is a major SOB. He keeps on letting you down. I know he loves you deeply, but baby girl, he’s making you give up the man you love.”

I held my glass in the air, feeling tipsy. “And my dreams. Let’s not forget about those.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing,” I lied. I hadn’t told a soul how both of them, Trevor and Daddy want me home raising a family, and how no respectable man would let his wife work.

She leaned over, grabbing me by my shoulders. “You are going to be a teacher and leave that house.”

I shook my head, solemnly.

“Are you going to pass this opportunity up to take care of your Daddy and Trevor?”

I looked up to meet her gaze. “They’re all I have left. Woody’s gone. I can’t love a man more than him. I might as well just humor my daddy and get on with it.”

“You listen to me, Ashton Winslow. You only have one life and I will not stand by and watch you throw it down the drain for likes of Trevor fucking Owens. Or, that ridiculously warped father of yours. Do you hear me?” Her voice was raised and angry, not letting go of me.

I fell into her arms. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be the cause of his mama losing everything. How could she forgive me for that? Could you imagine on Thanksgiving all of us sitting around a big old table at my daddy’s because they lost their farm? I can’t. Deep down his mama and his brothers would probably hate me for it and Dane would be the one to pay.”

“Well, then, we need to think of something to make your Daddy see the light. We need to come up with a plan to win Dane and get your Daddy’s damn approval.” She rocked up to a standing position and paced back in forth in front of the huge window overlooking the beach.

I poured two more glasses of wine. “I got it,” she shouted, excitedly.

“What is it?” I stood up, anxious to hear her idea.

“We go home next weekend and find Dane, get him all liquored up, go off the pill, and have unprotected sex and have a baby with him. Even your daddy wouldn’t refuse blood.”

“That’s a horrible idea, Lu.” Although, having his baby did sound nice.

“Why? Give me one reason?”

I knocked back the rest of my wine while I was convincing myself not to go through with her plan. It was stupid, but brilliant. It would work and I knew it. “I can’t trap, Dane. It can’t be like that. I want him to come to me because he loves me, not because I force his hand.”

Lu plopped back down on the floor next to me. “I was trying to think out of the box. Sorry,” she apologized.

“Yeah, Pandora’s Box.”

The next morning we woke to bright sunshine, and the sound of seagulls in the background. I couldn’t think of any other place I’d rather live for the rest of my life. I loved it here. I always have. My daddy would bring me down here with whoever the nanny was at the time, and I’d play in the surf and sand for hours upon hours. At night, Daddy would come in my room and read me a bedtime story until I fell asleep. I had more memories of his goodness here than our home.

Lu was pouring coffee into mugs when I stepped into the kitchen. I smiled at remembering how a few days before I bumped into an old friend at the Piggly Wiggly.

I grinned as she handed me a cup.

“What?” she asked.

“You will never believe you I bumped into at the store the other day.”

“Who?”

“Charlie Lucca, and he was all alone, buying those frozen dinners for one. So, I told him you were still single and he should call to ask you out. So you may want to watch out for that call,” I teased.

“Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because I was pissed at you and because I love you. You need to find someone, Lu and he really, really likes you.”

“I’m gonna kill you,” she warned, but laughed a second later.

“Well,” I started to walk into the other room. “You can kill me while you’re over borrowing my blue sweater.”

She quickly followed. “Which one?”

“Just your favorite. The baby blue with the vee neck.”

“If I didn’t love you so much I’d tell your daddy all about the things you did on our trip.”

“It’s a good thing you love me then.”

“I really hate you,” she said, but I heard the smile in her voice.

“Nah, you don’t and you can thank me after the date. If you give hot kisses goodnight on the front porch instead of chickening out, you can have my sweater as a gift. If, you don’t go on that date, well, I guess when I go back to volunteering I’ll pick up a kitten for you. Start off that whole spinster look for you.”

“Remind me why we’re friends again?”

I smiled as my feet hit the stairs. “Because, we love each other like sisters.”

“Oh, yeah, now I remember.” She smiled at me as I started to climb. I was set on putting my suit on and relaxing in the sun, maybe even hitting the Jacuzzi attached to the pool later on. The one thing I was determined to do was forget about my problems. At least for today.

CHAPTER 44

DANE

The one thing I remembered about Grace was the taste of her lips on mine. I couldn’t stop thinking about her as hard as I tried. Staring at the blades of the fan as they spun around, I talked to myself, trying to quiet the voices inside my head. Mostly, AJ’s voice since his was the one that haunted me. I knew I’d live with it forever, and I finally accepted that.

I turned the television off and on, just to do it over again to try and find the peace I was looking for tonight. I told myself I wouldn’t check to see where she was spending her nights, and I’d been doing a good job at it, until now. I hadn’t seen or heard from Grace in several days, so I checked for the first time in a long time.

I shot straight up from lying down on the couch, taking notice of where her phone said she was. I paced several times, until I called the one person I knew would help me. Josh picked up on the fifth ring just as I almost gave up on him.

“What’s up, bro? Talk up some, it’s loud as shit here.”

“I need to know if Trevor Owens is there and if not, I need you to find out where he is tonight.”

“Hold on a sec,” he told me. A few seconds passed until I heard him again. “All right, I stepped outside. That asshole was here earlier, but he left with someone.”

“Who?”

“A couple of people. He was trying not to be obvious, but I cornered Karen Ann in the bathroom to find out what was up. She told me he was taking her home. If you know what I mean?”

“And you trust this girl, why?”

“Pfft. Man, I got some of these girls wrapped around my finger. She told me and I trust her. That dude’s an asshole for running around on Ashton.”

“I need one more favor, baby brother.”

“What is it?”

“I need you to call that girl and get her to take a picture, or some kind of proof of the man he is. I have one more card up my sleeve that I’m thinking of playing.”

“Is it gonna get you the girl?” He asked.

“Probably not, but it will mean the end of Trevor. And Ashton will have a chance to find a good man.”

“Yeah, all right. I’ll call you when I get something.”

I waited all night for that proof. Once it came through, I was able to sleep knowing that I was one step closer to keeping that bastard away from Grace.

Just as I walked into the offices the next morning, Amy popped up out of seat and I could tell it wasn’t good.

She gave me a sad smile, “I tried to keep them out, but they insisted on waiting for you in your office.”

“Who?”

“Winslow and Trevor Owens.”

Fuck! I shook my head. I stopped in the kitchenette to pour a cup of coffee to handle the pair of them. Something was up and I was pretty sure it had to do with Ashton.

I stepped through the open door. Winslow turned toward me as he heard me come in. “Where is she?” He demanded.

“Where’s who?” I asked, paying dumb.

“Ashton,” Trevor said.

I shrugged. “No idea. She’s your fiancé, I would think you would know, or did she find out about Toby?”

He stood and got in my face. “Shut up, Woods, or I’ll make you.”

I grinned widely. “I’d love to see you try.”

“Boys, boys enough,” Winslow’s voice thundered.

Winslow glanced at Trevor. “We’ll talk about whoever the hell Toby is later, but for now,” he turned to me. “I’d like my daughter back.”

“I don’t have her, Sir.”

“I don’t believe you.”

I walked around him, and took a seat at my desk, placing my feet up. “I don’t really care about what you believe, Sir. If you can’t find Ashton maybe there’s a reason.”

I swiped my phone on and scrolled to my message from Josh that came in late last night. “I decided that I’d like to play one of my cards about now.” I pushed the cell toward him. Trevor reached for it, but Winslow grabbed his arm forcefully.

“What is this?” Winslow asked as he stared down to the picture.

“Well, I believe that is your future son-in-law engaging in sexual activities last night, while Ashton’s missing.”

I looked over at Trevor who looked like he was going to explode. “Where did you get that?” He seethed.

“A little birdy. You should be more careful who you trust,” I fired back, flicking his collar on his expensive shirt.

“I don’t get it,” Winslow said looking between us.

“Don’t get what, Sir? It’s pretty explanatory.”