Darkness Falls (Darkness Series Book 3) (7 page)

“No, I said take care of it,” he shouted, then downed the rest of his drink. “Do I pay you to question me? No, I pay you to make things disappear. I don’t know who leaked this, but you better fix it or you’ll join the last guy you let slip through your fingers. Last chance, Cale.” He chucked his phone on the chair and sent his glass into the fireplace. “Fucking bitch!”

“Seth,” Mom whispered from the kitchen as she gave me a look begging me to leave.

My father suddenly appeared at the door. His face looked like I just caught him doing something wrong.

“What do you want?” he snapped at me.

I smirked and thought how sad it was that this man was my father. “Nothing from you,” I muttered.

“Watch your mouth, son,” he barked.

“Jack,” Mom came forward to calm the situation, “please, let’s just enjoy the party.”

“Or what, Father, you’ll punch me again? Toss me up against the wall?” I moved closer. I towered over him by a few inches. “In case you forgot, I’m all grown up, smarter and wiser.”

His eyes flickered, and I knew he’d love to haul off and punch me. Jack never liked to be threatened, which was why so many feared him. But he didn’t scare me, not now that I saw what a sad man he had become.

“Seth!” Maddy flew into the hallway. “Seth!” she shouted again, not at all reading the situation. “I need your help.”

“Not now, Mads.”

“Please,” she begged, and something in her tone made me follow her outside while she filled me in. “He basically pushed her into going. But she should have been out by now. I don’t know, I…I have a bad feeling because, well…you know.”

I beat my way through the sea of people to the front and headed through a side door. Once inside, I glanced around at the holding room for the actors. It was small, but it gave them a moment to rest before they went back into the rooms to play their part. My mother sank a hefty amount of money into Halloween, and she went all out for her haunted houses, but to someone who scares easily, no matter how much she denied it…house six was the worst.

“Anyone see the blonde in house six?” I called out. “Any idea where she is in the maze?”

“Third room,” a guy dressed all in back, head down, holding a cloth to his face growled.

I hurried down a tiny hallway and slipped into the room that was a riddle. It was empty, and I quickly turned a handle, which made a door pop open. That was when I saw Emily, back pressed to the wall, fingers madly scratching along the fake window to find her way out.

“Em.” I made my way down the hall, but she couldn’t hear me over the loud music. The moment I touched her hand, she screamed. I covered her mouth and whispered in her ear, “Open your eyes.” She did, and when she saw it was me, she lunged into my arms. She was shaking, but she seemed all right. “You okay?” She nodded, but I could see she was beyond terrified.

“Get me out of here.” Her eyes were wide. “I don’t like this.”

I moved her through the last room, where I shook my head at the actor who was about to do his performance. Emily’s grip on my hand almost made me sad that she got so scared.

Once outside, she sagged against the wall and took a moment to regroup, then she started to laugh.

“Should I be worried?” I asked, worried she might be losing it.

“No.” She leaned forward, hands on her thighs. “But I think I may have hurt one of your actors. I elbowed him in the face.” She cupped her mouth as she laughed harder. “Oh my God, Seth, that was so fucking scary.” She stopped, and her face fell a little. I started to hold her, but she held up her hand to stop me. “I just need a moment.”

“Okay.” I leaned beside her and made sure she was all right. I wanted to kill the ass who tempted her to go in there. “Why did you go in?” I had to know.

She took a deep, trembling breath and let it out. “If I tell you, Seth, you can’t judge or be worried, because really, I’m fine.” I waited for her to go on. I could see she was wondering how I was going to react. “I’m not sure how to explain this.”

“Try.” I pushed her because I needed the answer.

She looked up at me and pressed her lips together. “Have you ever watched a horror movie, and the suspense has you so wound up, you just need that release of the person jumping out of the bushes so you can let go?” I nodded. “Since Lasko died, I’ve had that feeling. I’m wound up so tight, I just needed a good jolt to the system to feel better, to feel release. I thought going in there would give it to me, but instead I ended up seeing Lasko’s face, hearing the way he said my name. That poor guy,” she pointed at the house, “he just reminded me so much of him. Christ, even his eyes, and the way he looked at me, even the way he tilted his head. It’s like he was reading my thoughts.” Her hands started to rake through her hair. “He was in every room, and at one point he came up behind me to block my path, and I freaked out and ended up elbowing him in the face.” She squatted down and covered her eyes. “It was stupid to have done that. I should go apologize.”

I bent down in front of her. “First, this is not the only time one of those guys has been hit.” I chuckled. “They kind of know it comes with scaring the hell out of people. Second, he wasn’t supposed to follow you room to room, so that’s just taking advantage of the situation. And third,” I removed her hands so I could see her beautiful face, “I know how you feel about being wound up so tight inside because I feel it too.”

“Really?” she whispered.

I moved a piece of her golden hair off her face. “Really.” I stood and held out my hand. “You ready to go back to the party?” She nodded but stopped me when she spotted the ass who taunted her. “Is that the guy?” He was next to go in.

“Yes.”

“Stay here.” I rushed inside through a side door, gave instructions to one of the directors, and returned a moment later.

“What did you do?” She reached for my hand.

I grinned down at her. “Nothing.” I kissed her head and wished I could witness what that asshole was about to walk into.

***

After the dinner was cleared, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Emily was back to her old self. Although she bounced back quickly from things, I was not completely blind to the fact that she was struggling. We were, after all, right around the date I killed Jimmy, ending that whole ordeal. There were many questions that came to mind about that case, but the one that haunted me the most was how and why Jimmy picked Emily. I wondered if I’d ever know the answer to that question.

My arm was wrapped around the back of her chair, my thumb brushing the back of her neck. There wasn’t a time when she was near me that I didn’t want to touch her. She still had the pull that gravitated me to her. She grounded me, awakened things in me I didn’t know I had. I loved this woman with all my heart, but sometimes I wondered if it was enough. We had a huge history, one that she didn’t have with someone like Travis or Scott. Christ, those two were like sharks circling, waiting for a chance to swoop in and snatch her away. There was no doubt she loved me, but I knew history could sometimes destroy the future if you weren’t careful.

Her hand fell onto my leg, and I looked down as she drew circles over my pants. Such a simple act to let me know she was thinking of me.

Nicholas’s curse stole my attention. He stared at his cell phone, then looked back at the house. He slammed his glass down and headed inside.

Garrett had seen it as well, and he nodded to let me know he would keep an eye on Emily for me. I leaned over and kissed her on the neck. “I’ll be right back.”

“Everything all right?” she asked as she looked around the property. I hated that it was a reflex for her.

“Save me a dance.”

I headed inside and checked the kitchen, the living room, my father’s office, then I heard something coming from upstairs. I took the stairs two at a time and followed the noise to the library, where the doors were not completely shut.

“I need this, Nicholas!” my fathered shouted in my brother’s face.

“I can’t, I just can’t anymore. You’re out of control, Dad.” Nicholas was nervous. “I won’t lose my job digging in places I don’t belong.”

“Lose your job?” My father laughed. “Nicholas, I can have you thrown behind bars for the shit you’ve done.”

“That’s nice!” Nicholas tossed his hands in the air. “Trying to win father of the year, here? ’Cause you’re doing a fine job.”

My father turned and pointed a finger in his direction. “You want to get smart with me, son?” He shoved Nicholas in the chest, which sent him back a few feet. “You think you can talk to me that way, boy?” He shoved him again, but this time Nicholas was ready and stood firm. “You’re a dirty cop,
son
.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a dirty lawyer,
Dad
.”

My father hauled back to punch Nicholas, but he ducked and sent my father tumbling forward. I’d seen enough and hurried into the room and stood in front of my younger brother.

“What the hell, Dad!” I shouted and felt my fists harden as they curled. “You think it’s all right for you to hit us?” Father stepped forward and hissed with anger. “We’re your children, your fucking blood. If you’re going to treat one of us like a punching bag, at least punch the one you despise the most.” He went to swing like the coward he was, but I ducked.

“You’re a disgrace,” Nicholas spat at his feet.

Father turned his attention on him and sent a sucker punch into Nicholas’s ribs. I took my father by the shoulders, turned him around, and punched him straight in the jaw. He fell back but quickly recovered and charged me with his arms locked around my waist. He plowed me into the wall. The impact hurt but soon dissipated with the adrenaline pumping through me.

Nicholas pulled him off me and chucked him to the floor. We both stood, out of breath, and stared down at him while we waited for his next move.

He stumbled to his feet, and anger poured off of him. I knew he saw he wouldn’t win, so he headed over to the fireplace, where he pulled out an envelope and tossed it into the flames. I glanced at Nicholas to see if he knew what that was all about, but he shook head, confused.

The punch to my father’s face had split my knuckles open, and I felt them starting to swell.

I moved so he saw my face. “You ever lay a hand on anyone else in the family, I promise you, you won’t leave this room again.”

“That’s quite a threat, son,” he grunted with his back turned to me.

“Nah, Dad, just a promise.”

***

Avery

I pulled off the hoodie once I was far enough away from the house and jogged down to where my car was parked outside of the gate. Once inside, I turned on the light and took a look at the damage.
“Shit!”
My whole left eye was swollen, and the cheek was puffy and red as well.
Stupid bitch!
I needed some painkillers and some ice. Voices behind me had me on edge, so I started the car and headed home.

After I swallowed three of Jimmy’s white pills marked painkillers, I held a bag of frozen peas to my eye. I let myself sink into the recliner. I wondered how I was going to get out of this one. I had work in six hours. I soon gave in to the effects of the drugs. My eyes grew heavy, and I drifted off.

There were so many lights, they lit up our entire street. If I wasn’t so scared, I would think it looked like a Christmas parade like I’d seen on TV. People were in tears, my sister’s eyes were turned toward the ground, Jims’ arms were around me to make sure no one touched me. What I couldn’t understand was where Mommy was. She always made things better, she always came and visited in the treehouse after Daddy hit me. But she didn’t this time. Instead, I came down when Jims called for me.

“What’s going on?” I asked Jims, who was covered in blood, his pants were undone, and he smelled like bubblegum. Julia always smelled like bubblegum. I hated her. She was mean to me. “Where’s Mommy, Jims? I want Mommy.”

Jims hugged me a little tighter. “Sorry, Alexander, Mommy got in the way. She won’t be coming back.”

I didn’t understand, and I started to cry, I tucked my face into his side. Maybe if I closed my eyes real tight Mommy would come back to me.

“Are you Jimmy?” an officer asked as he bent down to look at us. “Are you Alexander?” I nodded, but Jims stayed quiet. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

“I…” I hiccupped and rubbed my runny nose across my sleeve. “I don’t know, I was up there.” I pointed to the treehouse where just moments ago I flew across the city about to save a bank from getting robbed.

“What about you?” The officer looked at Jims. “Can you tell me where this blood came from?” Jims didn’t move, but I did notice he glanced at Julia, who watched us carefully. She seemed fine. Maybe she didn’t know Mommy wasn’t coming home. But she wouldn’t care. She spent a lot of time with Daddy. Daddy always said she was his special little girl, and that he’d take her pain away. They even had sleepovers together. I hated Daddy. He didn’t care about me. Just Jims and Mommy did.

The officer nodded at a woman, who came over to us. She said her name was Lindsay and that she’d find us a place to stay tonight. And in a few days we would be moved to another home. This scared me. I looked at Jims and hoped he’d help, but he was too busy watching people snap pictures around our house.