Harkham's Choice (Harkham's Series Book 2) (20 page)

The pattern was gone! She moved away.

“You okay? You’re . . . kind of freaking me out, love,” she said, her eyes boring into his.

“Oh . . . Yeah, I . . . I really love your hair, Mari. Why can’t you let me play with it more?” He sighed, and a lazy grin spread across his cheeks. His eyes were heavy hooded.

She chuckled and cupped his cheek before kissing the corner of his mouth. “If it means you’re this happy and almost sedated—then play with it whenever you want.” She leaned over, grabbed her carry-on and pulled out a small mirror. “I want you to see what you look like for a minute.”

He started to move, but she stopped him by gripping his thigh.

“No—don’t change your expression,” she told him.

She held it in front of his face. He almost didn’t recognize that man.

“Who’s he?” he teased.

“That’s a naturally doped-up Adam with endorphins taking over. I want you to see that, because that’s what I used to be like when I was getting high all the time. I looked and felt like that, but with me—it wasn’t real.” She handed him the mirror. “With you—it’s real. There’re no side effects to this.” She nudged him. “I’d be jealous, except you had already made me feel that way first. The only reason I realized you were out of it was because you mumbled something about diamonds and figure eights and rings. Were you dreaming about something in particular?”

“No,” he squeaked. He wanted to surprise her with a ring as wonderful as the one she found for him. It had to be meaningful and special like her.

“Just checking.” She readjusted her seatbelt and rested her head on his shoulder again. “You have the best shoulder dip. I could live here.”

“It is nice, isn’t it? I mean, you living there. It means I can visit you whenever I want.” He rested his head on top of hers. “Do you think you could sleep there? Maybe you should practice right now?”

“’Kay, sweetie. Thank you for helping me stop freaking out. I’ll probably need that again before I have to see Vic.”

“Why do you have to see him if you don’t want to?” His insides squished a little at the thought of that guy being around her.

“He has something my dad left for me. Apparently
Will
”—she grimaced
as she said her father’s first name—“had cancer and was dying already. He gave it to Vic’s dad for safekeeping after I left this last time. He was worried I wouldn’t want anything of him at all. He figured the Acedo family could keep it for a few years and then after everything settled, see if I wanted it.” She scratched her nose and yawned.

“What does he have?”

“Dunno, and I can’t decide if I really care or not. It’s more out of curiosity than anything else,” she said. Another fat yawn exited her, and he could tell he was keeping her awake.

“I hope it’s something you’ll love and treasure.”

“Mmm . . .” She grunted a little, and her head felt heavier on his shoulder. Her breathing grew louder.

It was no surprise—she didn’t sleep very well last night at all, tossing, turning, moaning when she did manage to get a few moments of rest.

“Night, love,” he said and kissed her crown, then set his head back down on hers.

Hopefully she’d dream of happy things, like their future wedding, rather than houses with peeling paint, stacked full of boxes with unnamed valuables almost holding the slanted, dilapidated walls up.

He sighed. Hopefully he would dream of good things, too.

His nerves were short like hers. That house kind of scared him when he’d been there.

If it hadn’t been for Mari and her room, he probably would have had a number meltdown when he came to see her that night . . .

Her father’s house inspired a crowded, number-filled head.

It also inspired a burning sense of injustice.

“You won’t ever have to deal with mean men with yuck houses after this—not ever again. I won’t let that happen,” he told her with a faint yawn.

He’d bury himself under a pile of old rusty nails before he let her be in a situation like that ever again. She deserved better. Always had.

He drifted off with images of a little girl Mari, tripping past bulging boxes and old, musty burger wrappers lining the floorboards, falling down with no one to help her. That was, until he showed up—not as a boy, but as a man. And that’s when she morphed into the pretty woman dressed in white, ready to marry him, in nothing but a field of yellow daisies.

His lips twitched into a smile in both dream and in physical form. That was what she did to him—no matter where they were headed.

Chapter 11

Adam’s leg cramped up a little at the end of the flight because he was supporting so much of Mari’s weight. She slept on him for quite a long while before the plane jostled and woke her.

“Where are we?” she asked, bleary-eyed.

“We’re almost there. We’ll be landing in about thirty minutes,” he told her.

In fact, the flight attendants were going through, telling people to prepare to land. They picked up trash and put trays away.

Adam’s dad and Zach slept almost the entire flight. He wondered if they had stayed up late the last few nights, scrambling to make their early Christmas a reality.

He smiled. His family made his chest warm with happy feelings. Mari deserved to be in their family and have lots of presents and love.

Mari was quiet and reflective during the landing, and even afterward at the baggage claim, she barely said a word.

He massaged her shoulders whenever they were standing around doing nothing.

His dad got the rental car, and Mari gave him directions on where to go in a monotone voice.

Adam’s eyes were on her the entire time. Was she okay? Did she wish he’d stayed behind so she could see Victor and her old friends alone?

His gut twisted so hard, he finally blurted, “Do you not want us here?”

She looked at him and blinked, took his hand and said, “No, I’m glad you’re all here. I just hate this place. I’ve never been happy here, and it’s hard to be back, especially after the way things ended last time.”

Mari had already told his dad and Zach what happened on her last visit and how her dad had pulled a gun on her for touching his stuff and trying to get rid of some of it.

The car went really silent after her brief explanation of why she was acting so distant from all of them.

He wanted happy, Christmas-time, I-love-sharing-presents Mari back. This girl was ringed under the eyes with sadness and dark feelings.

Adam snuggled in a little closer to her so she’d know it would be all right. There was nothing to worry about. Adam would take care of her—keep her safe and happy.

His dad drove them to the house. It was the middle of the day, so every flaw was easy to see. Nails poked out of boards along the stairs leading up to the house. There was mismatched paint on two of the shutters—one a mint green, the other more like an aqua kind of color. Portions of the porch ceiling were sagging in various areas and had water spots with peeling paint hanging like Spanish moss all over the place. Every window was dingy and covered with webs and grime.

It was hard to believe Mari’s dad lived here on a daily basis.

Adam blew out. “No wonder he didn’t want to leave.” Who would want to see all this when they stepped outside their front door?

“Yeah—it’s a regular babe magnet. Great place,” Mari deadpanned. “Definitely worth salvaging.”

“Hey, now . . .” his father said. “It’s going to be okay. No complaining. We’ll get through this just fine. And you might find plenty of items worth keeping.”

Mari tensed up at Adam’s side. He grabbed her hand and stroked her arm with his other hand.

She didn’t move, so he simply stood there and took in the rest of his surroundings.

The bushes around the walkway were overgrown and scraggly with dead branches poking up in random places. The walkway had cracks all over it with weeds packed between them. The place smelled old and musty even from this distance.

Neglect was a powerful word, but it certainly worked in describing this house.

The only thing that looked well taken care of was his converted-over police cruiser.

They all stood at the foot of the porch, staring at the house with their mouths agape.

The house was bigger than he remembered. How on earth would they get through all of the contents in this place in three days’ time? That’s all they had—three teeny, tiny days.

“This is gonna be hard,” Adam said.

“Impossible is more like it.” Zach stared inside a window with boxes and junk leaning up against the pane.

“Not impossible. Just challenging,” his dad said, wearing a forced smile.

They all looked at him like he was nuts.

“Here goes . . .” Mari pulled out the keys, dragged her feet up the steps and unlocked the door.

“Should I get a helmet for you?” Zach teased.

“Well, how about you go in first, seeing as how you have such a thick skull?” she teased Zach back.

“That sounds like a good idea,” their dad replied for Zach.

Zach rolled his eyes and stepped up behind Mari.

“You don’t have to. I’m only joking,” she told him. “Vic’s going to meet me here in an hour. He’s seen it before. We can always just go back to the hotel, and then Vic and I can start on the front room so when you guys arrive, it won’t be so disgusting.”

“I’ve seen it already, too,” Adam reminded her.

She smiled, but it was watery and tight-lipped.

“I’ll go first,” Adam volunteered.

She took a breath and held it. He joined her at her side.

She pulled the door wide open and stood at the threshold, taking it all in, her head sweeping slowly from side to side.

“Jeez . . . It’s worse than when I left. I swear I was constantly tidying up when I was here,” she said, her shoulders slumped forward.

“I know you did. We all believe you,” Adam said.

His dad moved up the steps and waited behind her, next to Zach.

“Maybe he was trying to find something?” his father offered. “It looks like he was rummaging through some of these boxes.”

“Most likely he was trying to determine if I’d stolen anything. Or worse—thrown out some of his junk when he wasn’t looking.” Her shoulders wrapped up around her ears. “I did. All the time. Any chance I got—I was tossing out stuff. I knew he wouldn’t really know if anything was missing, but I guess I was wrong. Looks like maybe he went into an obsessive search for something . . .” Her eyes welled up.

“How did you live with him like this?” Zach asked her over her shoulder.

“I didn’t. Like I said, I was disrespectful of him. I threw his crap out, and he got pissed. I refused to sleep with boxes and clutter all around me.” She rested a hand on the doorjamb and her head fell forward, her shoulders hunched as she stared at her feet. “I knew this was a mental illness for him, but I didn’t care. I had no sympathy for him. Not really.” She sighed. “I never had friends over. He wouldn’t allow it. I resented that I couldn’t do teenager things like sleepovers or movie nights in my living room.” She glanced up at Adam, then her eyes cast back down to the ground. “Not like I would’ve done any of that anyway—I was too embarrassed. I mean, I hated being here myself, so why would I want to share this horrendous mess with anyone else? I didn’t want anyone to know I lived in this trash heap. Any excuse I could find to be out of the house, I used. The minute my summer was up with him, each time I ran out the door to get back home to Mom. I couldn’t leave fast enough, even though living with her was usually less than pleasant as well. But at least I wasn’t surrounded by a landfill and a man rotting away in his favorite chair with his permanent butt groove that fit him like a glove.”

“Come on . . . Let’s go inside and start formulating a plan on how to handle all of this,” his dad suggested. “No need to relive past memories that are upsetting to you.” He gave her an empathic smile and patted the back of her right shoulder.

“You’re right.” She stepped inside but only past the door. Once they all moved past her, she shut it.

“Sorry if it smells. I managed to get it presentable last time I was here, but . . . Who knows when the trash went out again after I left,” she said, shrugging, but it was a tired-looking attempt.

“It’s fine,” Zach commented softly, looking in shock as he continued to survey the place and all its contents.

Had her dad acted out to spite her by making sure to be twice as filthy in his place once she returned to her mother?

“It’s not fine,” Adam said. “I can tell it bothers her. I think the first thing we’ll need to do is remove the piles around the windows so we can open them and have good ventilation and air flow through here as we work.”

“Definitely.” Zach nodded with his hands on his hips. He wore a determined expression.

“Are the big trash bins here?” Mari asked.

“I received confirmation they’re in the back of the house. Why don’t we take a tour—see what we’re up against, and after Victor arrives and then leaves, we can get started,” his dad said.