Blackout (37 page)

“My brother was prosecuted for a trumped up drug charge by Sheriff Tate,” Dare says.

“That’s an Internal Affairs issue, but I will talk to them about that,” Agent Kinlaw says.

“Thank you,” I say.

“My pleasure,” she says. “My department will be in contact soon. Get better.” She leaves Dare and me alone.

Daddy sits quietly by my bed until she leaves. “I had no idea, Teal, that all this happened. I’m sorry, Darius. I knew about your dad’s and Lynn’s affair. I took it out on you, and I shouldn’t have.”

Dare shrugs. It’s hard to forgive after all that he went through. It’ll take time.

Daddy’s face sags. He loved Lynn, and she betrayed him. The case and his old wounds will be reopened. Lynn hurt so many people, not just me.

“I should’ve told you why your mother left,” Daddy starts. “When I found out about the affairs, I threw her out of the house. I didn’t want her to have anything to do with you. It was easy for me to hate the Tuckers since Lynn was sleeping with Mr. Tucker. She didn’t leave town right away, but eventually she flew back to Paris, probably to be with her old lover Francois.”

The name in the book.

“I know it was wrong of me to separate you from your mother, but I thought she’d try to reach you,” Daddy says.

“Do you have her address?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “She has never contacted me. I’ll see you at home, sweetie. I assume you want Dare to bring you back.”

I nod. I reach up to Daddy and hug him. “I love you.”

“You have no idea how much I love you, darlin’. I told Lynn she couldn’t have you. It was selfish of me.”

“I’m glad you did,” I say. He has no idea how happy that I didn’t have to see her for the past ten years.

The doctors release me to go home. The bullet in my calf went clean through, so they stitched it up, and a part of my ear is gone, but I’ll live. Unless I want plastic surgery, there’s no point worrying about it.

Dare runs to get his truck while a nurse wheels me out to the front. When he helps me into it, he doesn’t mention my mom being present when Lilly was murdered. He knows she was there. “Are you okay?”

“Not really.” I know now why I can’t remember my mother Lynn.

Dare and I drink lattes at a small outdoor café on the Rue Desaix within easy walking distance to the Eiffel Tower. The cherry trees blossom and an array of tulips and flowers flank the sidewalk where artists sketch and paint. I understand why Lynn chose this city. It’s tranquil, yet alive with stimulating visuals of art.

Dare’s hand drifts under the tablecloth and up my thigh to under my skirt. At his request, I don’t have on any panties.

For the past two years, he’s immersed himself in school, taking a ridiculous amount of hours each semester. He signed up at the junior college as soon as he talked the high school into letting him retake his finals and graduating. He took the CLEP exams for several prerequisites too.

While attending Duke, I’ve barely seen him, so I was surprised when he insisted on accompanying me to Paris. I didn’t want to travel alone or with Daddy. I don’t trust Lynn.

Before I decided to come, Miles spent many hours with me, reexamining the hateful things she had said and her petty jealousies of me. She’d wanted a boy, so she wouldn’t have any competition. She always tried to hide my femininity by dressing me like a boy. My modesty came from her scaring me into believing that men would see me as a slut for wearing revealing clothes, yet she did.

Though I haven’t had a blackout since, the neurosurgeon told me I had brain damage and that there was always a possibility of having another one. At Duke, I take my bike and let Kami drive me to the grocery store.

Since arriving in Paris, Dare hasn’t stopped touching me. “This vacation is all about you.”

His words comfort me. For the past few days, he’s been so attentive. Though for the past two years, I thought he was no longer interested. I believed we had drifted apart with me at Duke and he attending the Outer Banks community college, even though he promised to move into my townhouse when he started vet school. I only went on one blind date that turned disastrous because I spoke of Dare the whole time. I could never forget him.

“Are you hungry?” I ask.

“For you.” His fingers tickle my
minet
, making me giggle.

Heat blossoms not only on my cheeks but between my thighs where his fingers stroke me. “Stop. You’re embarrassing me.”

“Good. It adds color to your cheeks.” He leans in and plunges his tongue into my mouth, stealing my breath.

Several women smile and point at us, many eye Dare over like he’s one of the savory crepes on the menu. Him kissing me in public isn’t that unusual here. We’ve seen several couples openly embracing in the city of love, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me, though it’s not like I can say “no” to Dare either.

As he sips his coffee, his hand moves down to my knee. “When’s your mother coming?”

“Daddy said to expect her to be late.” It doesn’t surprise me.

After Tate attacked me in the swamp, memories of Lynn tormenting and belittling me that I’d buried popped up like floaters from the murky depths of the bog. Most of which I wish had remained lost forever.

With Daddy’s help, it had taken a good part of a year to track down Lynn’s whereabouts. The vase she’d sent me for my birthday led us to her. The vase contained rare materials including lead, gold filigree spun throughout the piece, and silver. I’ll cherish the work forever, though my feelings for Lynn vary from day to day, but usually I just give in to loathing her.

My leg jiggles underneath the table. It’s been twelve years, and my most vivid memories of her are filled with violence and blood spattered onto her face. Thanks to Miles, I’m no longer terrified of her, even if I have good reason to never trust her again.

Dare holds my knee steady. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

I haven’t told him or anyone else about the details of that night, though I’m positive his imagination has filled them in. He knows she was there from the bracelet and me letting it slip that I remembered her at the swamp. Before I tell him everything, I need to talk to her first. “Why” is my biggest question? Why did she do it? The blood. Lynn’s emotionless, calculating actions.

If Dare and I are to remain together, I will have to come clean with him. He’s been patient and hasn’t asked about that night in the woods, and I suspect he knows some of the ugly truth.

For the millionth time, I recheck my phone. She’s really late now, and I wonder if she’ll show.

“There she is,” Dare says, though he’s never met her.

I rotate in my ironwork chair to see me, older and far more sophisticated. Her hair is intricately tied together with ribbon into a French twist. A cotton skirt flares from her waist while a satiny blouse hugs her petite frame.

Every man stops to gaze at her captivating beauty, and the man with her smiles at this. His hand slopes along her butt, but the other is locked onto a girl around eight or nine. She has dark hair like her father’s, but her eyes are the same color as mine.

Anger seizes my throat. She has a whole new family. She ran away from her crimes and now lives happily with another man and her daughter. She truly abandoned us, but I should’ve suspected this after my memories of her returned. She’s a cold heartless bitch. She gives me a tight smile as she approaches.

Dare grips my knee a little tighter. “You came here to get answers, and then I will show you the time of your life in Paris, and I have a few surprises.” He fervently kisses me, and for a moment, I forget why I’m here. Though I’ve never told him, I love him with all my heart, and I love every seductive inch of him.

“We should return to the room,” I say, staring into his eyes that adore only me. How could I have doubted him?

He winks at me, and goosebumps race up my arms. “We have plenty of time for that.” He stands and offers his hand to the man latched onto Lynn.

“Darius Tucker.” His deep voice resonates into me, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s with me when I need him most.

“Francois,” the man says, the same name on the inscription in
The Story of O
, “and this is our lovely daughter Elise.”

Clinging to her father, she smiles demurely.

Francois’s hair sticks up at odd angles, like he’s going for a much younger hipster look. His jaw is cut at sharp angles, and he dresses in the latest fashion, a light cable knit sweater draped on his shoulders and tied at the neck. Women passing by give him the once over, and he glances away to smile at their appraisal.

Lynn acts like she doesn’t notice, though a hint of jealousy sparks in her eyes.

I hand back the
The Story of O
to her. “I believe this belongs to you.”

She glares at Francois, and he smiles sheepishly.

“It most certainly does not,” Lynn says. “It was Lilly’s. She was into that wretchedness.” She shoves it back to me.

The pieces of the puzzles snap into place. Lulu had told me Lynn and her sister Lilly fought like tomcats over everything including boys, clothing, and shoes.

Francois steps over to me, kisses each cheek, and embraces me a little too long for a stranger. “You are as beautiful as your mother.” He holds me at arms’ length to cast his gaze up and down me, reminding me of a snake slithering through blades of grass.

Lynn hugs Dare next. It’s rather creepy the way her gaze lingers on him like a lioness sizing up her prey. “You are as handsome as your daddy.”

Dare roughly pushes her away. “You should know.”

Her feline eyes narrow, but she quickly replaces her distaste with a smile. She assesses me with a cursory glance. “You should wear a dress. Culottes look…so boyish.”

Memories bombard me—all the criticisms I endured, the petty jealousy of me resembling her, why she always dressed me as a boy, women commenting on how pretty I was, her punishing me for it. “You liked to dress me as a boy, but this is a skirt.”

“You look beautiful, Teal,” Dare whispers into my ear. “I’ll be close, but be careful.”

Miles spent many hours clearing the cobwebs from my mind. I’d buried her deep into the dark recesses, not only for her petty jealousies and constant demeaning remarks but also for her butchery in the swamp that day.

I passionately kiss Dare to let Lynn know I have something she can no longer take—my confidence. “My little talk with Lynn won’t take long, and I will.” In the past two years, I’ve grown strong, and thanks to Miles, I’ve learned to deal with the emotional abuse. I’ll never get over what Lynn did to her sister though.

I swivel back to her. “Let’s get this over with.”

Despite the pleasant spring day, the cold look she gives me sends chills racing up my spine.

Francois grasps his daughter’s hand. He speaks in French to her about shopping, and she responds with an excited, “
Oui
.”

“Square your shoulders or you’ll ruin your back,” Lynn says to Elise.

She nods and sulks a bit until Francois smiles at her.

Lynn pecks her daughter on the cheek. “Let me chat with your sister.”

So Elise knows about me, but I know nothing about her new family. Lynn may have just sprung that news on her though.

Lynn locks her arm in mine and leads me toward the Eiffel Tower.

The closer we get the more my nerves unravel. At the kiosk, she pays for us to travel to the top. Dare buys a ticket too but remains at a distance.

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” she says in a low voice.

“I did.” Let her squirm. “He doesn’t trust you, so he won’t be far.”

The car rides up the center of the tower, stopping at the second stage. Even from here, we’re up high and have a panoramic view of the city.

“To the top,” she says, walking to the next car, her skirt billowing in the stiff breeze. I hold mine down. Not wearing panties seems stupid now.

Her hair blows into her face. Men admire her lithe, graceful body, and she reservedly smiles at them. At the top, she starts to buy me an expensive glass of cheap champagne, but Dare stops her.

“I’ll get it,” he says. He must worry she’ll poison me.

The height is dizzying, so I don’t wander close to the edge, despite the high railings and hatch-cross fence. The thought of her figuring out a way to toss me off puts my nerves on high alert. Other than Sheriff Tate, whose devotion to Lynn saved her from a life in prison and kept me safe for a short time, I am the only witness, the only person who could bring her to justice.

Dare hands us each a glass then wanders away from us but not too far. We stand in a corner away from the other tourists, looking out over the city.

She sips on her champagne, her attention only partially on me. The other part eyes the men watching her. “What would you like to ask me, Teal?”

“Why? Why did you kill Lilly?” I blurt out.

She bats her long lashes. “I was protecting you.”

What I could remember about that day I replayed in my mind over and over. “Maybe at first. After Lilly hit me in the head with Tate’s Billy club, you punched her, and said something about your boyfriend.”

I thought I’d followed Lynn to the swamp that day, but it had been Lilly. She must’ve asked Lynn for money, then Lynn had followed me. When I came upon the
ménage a trois
, Lilly had screamed at Tate, Kirkland, and me. It was something about Lynn finding out and killing her. She could not have been more right.

I can’t look at Lynn now. “Lilly was on the ground. You picked up the chainsaw and cut off her arm.” There was so much blood. Dare had later slipped in the carnage. By then, Tate and Lynn must’ve hauled the body parts away.

From the point when Lynn sawed off Lilly’s arm, it’s a bit hazy. Lilly had split my head wide open. Tate had told Lynn no witnesses. With what little motherly instinct she possessed, she told me to run. Even though my skull was cracked open and the brain exposed, I pushed myself up and ran. Though I didn’t observe hardly any of this, Tate must’ve helped Lynn cut Lilly into manageable pieces and disposed of her in the river.

For a moment, my head spins and my stomach fights to escape my throat. I breathe in and pucker my lips upon exhaling.