Inferno Anthology (301 page)

“We have nothing to hide,” I said. “So that won’t be a problem.”

“Good. Once the Henderly Police Department has been notified, things will be set in motion to extradite you back to Nevada, so you can be questioned, again, by the authorities there.”

“And how do we know that we are safe back there?” Brooklyn asked. “Dee Dee says my dad could have many people in his pocket.”

“I’ve already put a bug in someone’s ear regarding that. I have a judge who is a friend there, and I’ve told him there have been allegations of misconduct regarding the Mayor’s office and a possible cover up in the death of my nephew. He’s already started the ball rolling on an in-house investigation. That’s one of the things we’ve been trying to take care of in the last couple days. Also, I have a very trustworthy lawyer friend in Las Vegas. He’s agreed to represent you both in Nevada and has already been briefed on the case. He’ll meet you at the Henderly Police Department when you arrive back there.”

“I don’t want to see my dad, again,” Brooklyn replied, looking concerned.

“You won’t have to. All the details of the reports here will be faxed to them. They’re required to protect you from someone who assaulted you. The media is hot all over this and we’ll hold a press conference, too, before you go back. There’s no way anyone is going to be able to dance around this.”

“All right. Thank you,” she said.

“There’s one more thing I need to tell you that neither of you are aware of.”

“What’s that?” I asked, the nervous feelings arising once more.

“Scott Hall successfully obtained a restraining order against you, Trey, legally separating you from Brooklyn until she’s eighteen years old. It will remain valid unless a judge rescinds the order. From the minute you walk into that police station, there’s a really good chance it will be the last time you’ll see each other for a while.”

And there was the other shoe I’d been waiting to drop. Only it crushed me like an anvil.

A choked sound escaped Brooklyn and she threw her arms around my waist, burying her head against my chest.

“Even if Scott is incarcerated?” I asked, the knot reforming in my throat as my arms went protectively around her.

He nodded. “I’m afraid so. Only the judge who ordered it can rescind it. If the judge Scott went to is a friend of his, I don’t see that happening easily. Restraining orders are usually given because a need for protection exists. In this case, Scott was trying to remove you from having sexual contact with his daughter. Since Brooklyn is still a minor, the original valid reason still exists to uphold the separation. According to the order, it remains in effect until midnight on the day of her eighteenth birthday, in July. I need to stress to you how important it is that you both uphold the order. With this case pending, you need to be the perfect law abiding citizens. We don’t want your dad’s lawyers to be able to cast anything about either of you in a bad light. Everything needs to be above board—not even a parking ticket.”

“I understand.”

I was going to lose her. All of this, and now I was going to lose her. I could feel it in my bones. Brooklyn knew it, too. Her body was shaking as she cried in my arms.

“Okay. Let’s get going. We can take my car,” Marcus said. “Dee Dee will be staying here after she provides her statement to the police, so I can bring her back. Let me go open the garage.”

Marcus disappeared back into the house and Dee Dee followed after him, leaving Brooklyn and me alone on the sidewalk.

“Hey,” I said, lifting her head and staring into her tear stained eyes. “It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to work out, I promise.”

“I can’t let you go,” she said. “I can’t.”

“It’s only for a couple of months, sweetheart. After that, we can be together all we want and no one will be able to stop us.” I was trying to be strong for her, but I was dying inside. This was going to kill me. All of a sudden, those snatched moments we had at lunch seemed like the greatest of treasures. I’d give anything to have them back, just to hold her, see her, and kiss her—something to ease the separation. But those were all lost, now.

Glancing up at the sky, I saw the bright moon shining overhead. “Look,” I said, nudging her and pointing. “Every night we’re apart, I want you to look at the moon. Every time you see it, I want you to know that I’m looking at the same moon, and I’m thinking of you. Okay? Wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, the moon will draw us together.”

The sound of the garage door opening interrupted the silence, and we both glanced over before turning back to each other.

“I love you,” she said, tears continuing to roll down her face. “Don’t forget that.”

I gave a short laugh. “Not possible. And I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.” Bending down, I kissed her, my tongue dipping into her mouth as I tried to commit everything about her to my memory—the way she felt in my arms, the way she frantically hung onto me, the way she smelled, the way she tasted, the way she made my blood feel like it was laced with fire. I wanted to remember it all.

“We need to get going,” Dee Dee called to us.

I wanted to ignore her, but I couldn’t. Breaking away, I stared at Brooklyn. “Time to go,” I said and she nodded, still crying. I couldn’t help it—I kissed her one more time before we walked to the black SUV and climbed inside. Sitting side-by-side, we clutched each other the entire way, arriving at the police station way too quickly.

Marcus parked directly in front of a door marked “Booking,” and a couple of police officers stepped outside, obviously waiting for us. Marcus and Dee Dee got out and Marcus opened my door. Our time together had run out. Brooklyn was still crying, a wild look of desperation in her eyes.

“From this moment on, every second that passes is bringing us closer together, again. Don’t forget that.” I pressed my lips hard to hers one last time, releasing her and climbing out of the vehicle. An officer stepped forward and slapped a pair of handcuffs on me. He recited Miranda Rights to me, but my eyes never left Brooklyn, watching as she exited the vehicle and went into Dee Dee’s arms. Dee Dee guided her to the door and the officer opened it. I was happy to see they weren’t going to cuff her. She was the victim in all this, after all. I was the terrible criminal who’d taken her.

Taking me by the elbow, the officer guided me toward the door and I stepped inside, seeing two metal doors in front of us.

“You’re going to booking,” Marcus said pointing to one. “I’ll be right with you as soon as I get Dee Dee and Brooklyn situated.”

This was it. We were being separated, right now. My heart was pounding like mad. “I love you,” I said, one last time, as the officer pulled me through the door. I craned my neck, continuing looking at her as I walked away.

“I love you, too,” she replied, her words echoing in the hallway as the door slammed shut behind me.

She was gone.

Standing at the window, I stared at the moon, my thoughts, as always, drifting to Six, wondering where he was and what he was doing. Once all the charges against him had been dropped, he’d disappeared completely. He hadn’t even told Brandon where he was headed, saying it was better that Brandon didn’t know because he didn’t want me to try to coerce the information from him. I knew he was alive, only because Brandon told me Six texted him periodically, asking how I was. He never sent me any messages, through Brandon, because that would be a violation of the restraining order.

I missed him so badly. I had the feeling Six had asked Brandon to watch out for me because he hardly left my side. He and Bailey invited me to do everything with them, and they regularly came over to visit with my mom and me. Even Bailey’s dad came by, on occasion. I think he felt badly about how things had gone down between my dad and me.

Despite finding his daughter was sleeping with her boyfriend in the pool house, something he didn’t seem to mind in the least, he’d actually formed quite a rapport with Brandon. He said he appreciated Brandon’s work ethic and how he’d built up his personal training business, even offering to fund him in branding his business.

So, things were going well with them and I had a feeling that Brandon and Bailey would end up tying the knot somewhere down the road.

John, Bailey, and Brandon had all given testimony about what had happened at the pool house that day, which only helped to further my charge of assault against my dad. I had witnesses to back me up.

Thankfully, we hadn’t encountered any resistance or problems thus far regarding the police department, here, in Henderly. My dad had entered a plea bargain, however, admitting guilt in my assault and that he was having an affair with Rhonda, in exchange for naming Rhonda as Tommy’s actual killer.

Tommy had apparently discovered the affair with Rhonda and had gone to my dad, telling him that he was going to expose him to the media and tell my mom. Unfortunately, he happened to be crossing the street in front of Rhonda to get to his car when she heard the news. In a fit of outrage, she gunned the engine and ran him down, killing him. She confessed the crime to my dad and he helped her disposed of the car. As a result of all this, a full-scale investigation had been launched into the Mayor’s office and everyone who worked for him.

Of course, this meant that my dad might get out of jail sooner, since he hadn’t actually killed anyone. I didn’t really care as long as I never had to see him, again; which, if my mom had anything to say about it, she’d kill him before she would let him anywhere near me. She’d filed divorce papers immediately after hearing about everything.

“What are you thinking about, honey?” she asked, drawing my attention away from the moon in the sky.

Sighing deeply, I moved away from the window, plopping down beside her on the couch. “Six. Dad—everything that’s happened in the last few months—wondering how it’s all going to turn out and wishing there had never been this dang restraining order.”

Setting her book down on the coffee table, she scooted closer and wrapped her arms around me. “I know it’s been hard. And I know you were upset with me for asking that the restraining order remain in effect, but you know what? You’re my little girl, and you only get to be a kid once. There’s no need to be in such a hurry to grow up so fast.”

“He asked me to marry him, Mom. I love him.” I leaned my head against her shoulder.

“And if he comes back and the two of you decide you want to do that, I’ll support your decision. But you have to look at this from my point of view. I literally woke up from surgery to find you gone, supposedly abducted by a strange man I didn’t know. That was terrifying. Then, to find out you weren’t abducted, but you’d been sleeping with this man pretty regularly was quite a shock, too. I didn’t know this person from Adam, and the fact that the two of you were sneaking around behind my back suggested you had something to hide.”

“We weren’t hiding from you. We were hiding from Dad, because he’s psycho. Six wanted to meet you. He wanted things to be legit.”

“I know that now, but I didn’t, then. Plus, I know intense situations can bring people together, but then the relationships fall apart later on. You’ve been through a lot. I wanted you to be able to sort it all out with a clear head, without any influence from Six. It gives you the chance to see what’s real and what’s not—for him, too.”

“I already knew what was real,” I grumbled.

“Well, now you’ll really know.” She squeezed me harder. “Try not to hate me for too long, okay?”`

“I don’t hate you, Mom. Unlike Dad, I know you really care about me and things aren’t just ‘for show’.”

She kissed the top of my head. “You can rest easy about him, at least. His reputation has been completely ruined by just about every television station in the country. The perfect mayor, who beat his daughter and covered up his son’s murder—I’m pretty sure he’ll never be able to show his face in public, again. If we’re lucky, he and Rhonda will have the opportunity to rot in jail for many more years to come.” She sighed, shaking her head. “If I’d had any inkling of what they did to Tommy, I’d have gone to the police immediately.”

“Mom, I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you in all this, too. I’m not just thinking of myself, here. Are you going to be okay?”

She hugged me tighter. “Oh, sweetie, I’m going to be just fine. We have plenty of money and investments to keep me comfortable. Now that you’re graduated, I’ll probably sell this place and downsize a little. I imagine you’re going to move out after you turn eighteen, so there’s no need for me to have a big ole place like this to myself.”

“I used to want to leave immediately, but that was to get away from dad. I’ll stay if you need me.”

“No, I want you to go out and live your life. You don’t need to stick around for me. I promise I’ll be fine.”

“Do you think you’ll ever remarry?” I asked and she laughed.

“That’s the furthest thing from my mind, right now. If I did, he’d have to be someone pretty spectacular…and not a politician! I think I’ve had enough of that world.”

“I don’t blame you. I’ve had enough of it and I haven’t even had to deal with a quarter of the things you have.”

“Let’s talk about something more fun,” she said, patting me. “What do you want to do for your birthday, next week?”

“Honestly? I’m hoping I’ll get to see Six. That would be the best present I could imagine.”

“And if he doesn’t show? What then?”

“Lay in my room and cry?” I added with a laugh, even though a sick feeling entered my heart at the thought. “Curl up into a ball and stare at the wall?”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think he’d be stupid to not show up, because you’re amazing. And if he’s half the person you made him out to be, I can’t wait to meet him.”

“You’ll love him, Mom. I just know it. He’s so sweet, and so incredibly good looking.”

“I knew that already from the pictures I’ve seen of him. I can see why you’re attracted to him. Brandon and Bailey speak very highly of him, too. I’m sure it was fun for both of you to date friends.”

“It was. Hopefully it will be, again.”