The Year of Luminous Love (5 page)

“Yes.”

“You’ll never belong to anyone but me.”

A tingle of fear shot up her back, igniting every cell in her body. He was respected on the street because to not respect him was bad for a person’s well-being. And although she feared him, she wanted him, needed him. “Talk’s cheap,” she said, her need supplanting the fear.

His mouth came down on hers, hard and hungry.

Eden first met Tony when she was fourteen. She had crashed a street party one summer night, blocks from her house. Her mother was on one of her manic tears as an evening activity and Eden was in no mood to experience it. At the party, she lost herself in the crowd, older kids and frat and sorority kids from summer term at MTSU looking for a good time. Eden eased inside a house with an open front door, found the kitchen and a keg of cold beer. She helped herself and wandered into the trashed living room. She noticed a dark-eyed guy on the sofa staring at her. His unrelenting stare made her shiver, and she decided to take her beer and return to the crowds outside.

She made it to the front door before a hand caught her elbow. She spun to face a tall girl who looked wasted. Eden vaguely remembered her from school. “Hey, let go!” Eden tried to pull away, but the girl was surprisingly strong.

“Tony wants to meet you,” the girl said.

“I don’t know any Tony.”

The girl ignored Eden’s words and herded her to the sofa, where the man studying her stood and took Eden’s arm. He said, “Thanks, Meghan,” and handed the girl a small baggie.

Eden watched Meghan walk away. Her heart thudded. What had she fallen into?

“Sit with me,” Tony said affably.

“Um … I can’t stay.”

He grinned and pulled her down next to him. “I’m Tony Cicero. You are …?”

He had not a trace of Southern accent, so she knew that he wasn’t from the area. “Eden,” she said.

“Just Eden?”

“For now,” she said, her anxiety giving way to curiosity. He
was an outsider, new blood in a town full of guys she’d grown up with.

“You’re very pretty, Eden.”

She raised the beer. “Thanks.”

“You in school here?”

“Sure. What about you? I don’t remember seeing you around.”

“I’m out of school.”

Somehow that made him more interesting to her. He wasn’t the typical high school jock or flake. Jocks and preppie guys bored her, nor was she attracted to rednecks. “You go to MTSU?”

“No. Does it matter?”

“Just asking.” He tilted his head but said nothing. Eden squirmed, but emboldened by the beer, she asked, “So what did you give to that girl Meghan? Drugs?”

“You do drugs?”

“I could.”

“Well, don’t.”

His warning surprised her—was he a dealer warning her off of drugs? It didn’t fit. “I can do what I want,” she answered.

So far she’d stayed away from hard drugs, mostly because of her friendship with Ciana, who just never
would
, and Arie, who’d spent months of her life taking chemo drugs that made her dog-sick and who swore even the idea of recreational drugs made her want to barf. Eden sometimes sneaked a few of her mother’s tranquilizers, but the pills made her zone out and she didn’t like the feeling. Besides, the pills never satisfied. What she learned to do to herself was cutting. She needed it now. She couldn’t help herself.

“So what
do
you want, ‘just Eden’?” Tony’s soft question scared her. She feared he’d make a move on her. They were in
plain view, so she was hopeful he wouldn’t force her backward on the sofa and paw her.

“To get out of this town.”

“Where would you go?”

“Bigger city.”

“I came to a smaller city. Better survival odds.” He traced a finger down the side of her cheek, sending a tingle along her skin. He was both dangerous and fascinating, but she was mostly bravado. She had some experience with boys, but none with a guy like Tony.

“I … um … gotta go,” she said, hoping he would let her.

His dark eyes buried into her blue ones, but after a few seconds, he stood and pulled her up in front of him. “I’ll walk you home.”

She hadn’t mentioned going home, but suddenly it seemed like a good idea. “I can go by myself. I got here by myself.”

“It wasn’t a request,” Tony said, taking her elbow.

She wasn’t sure she wanted him to know where she lived. He ushered her to the door and down the steps. People parted, staring at them as they passed. This told her Tony was known and also important. At the street corner, he said, “Which way?”

With her heart in her throat, she pointed back the way she’d come. They walked in silence, not touching. When they arrived at her house, she stopped. Every light was ablaze, and for a moment she was relieved that her mother was in one of her hyper moods. “This is it,” Eden said.

Tony turned her to face him, then let go of her shoulders. “Someone left the lights on.”

“Mom. She hates the dark.” Eden’s heart flipped like a Ping-Pong ball in her chest. Now what?

“I’ll see you around, Eden.”

“Maybe,” she said belligerently.

He stepped closer and pulled a card from his pocket. She barely made out the words:
Tony Cicero, Security
and a phone number. He flipped it over, wrote down another number, and handed it to her. “This is my personal cell phone number. Never share it.”

She took the card, her heart hammering wildly.

“When you call, and you will call one day, I’ll come get you.”

Dumbstruck, she watched him walk away.

Tony stayed clear of Eden, which baffled and disappointed her. She didn’t call him and swore she never would. She caught glimpses of him from time to time—in the school parking lot just sitting and watching kids come in and out, and now and again, playing soccer with men in the city park—but he never approached her. Eden didn’t tell either Arie or Ciana about her run-in with Tony; it had been so fleeting yet unsettling. Before the school year ended, though, Eden screwed up her courage to approach Meghan, a senior. “Remember me?” she asked.

Meghan was rifling through her locker and glanced down at Eden, her eyes half closed. “The girl child Tony took notice of. I remember you.”

Eden’s mouth went dry. “I-I’m wondering about him. Who is he?”

“Someone you should avoid.”

“No problem there. He hasn’t said a word to me since that night of the party.”

Meghan slammed the locker door. “Look, little girl, he’s out of your league.”

Eden tried again. “Why? Because he deals drugs? I know guys who deal,” she said boldly, wanting to wipe the smug look
off Meghan’s face, wanting to let her know that Eden wasn’t “a little girl” who could be dismissed like a bothersome fly.

Meghan snorted. “I’m just trying to do you a favor.”

“I don’t do anything I don’t want to do,” Eden snapped.

Meghan rested books on her hip and stepped backward down the hall. “Well, here’s a news flash—Tony Cicero
is
a drug. Stay away from him. And his products. You’ve been warned now.”

Ciana awoke with a start, found that the sky was streaking red in the east. She was covered with a blanket. Where was she? What had happened? She sat up and felt a pounding behind her eyes that hurt bad.

“Good morning,” a deep male voice said.

She looked over, saw her green-eyed cowboy, and buried her face in her hands as the night before came flooding back to her. He was sitting on the grass beside her, a half smile on his face, which she noted was just as good-looking as it had been the night before beneath the stars when she’d had those margaritas.

“Did I stay out here all night?” Ciana was horrified.

“We did,” Cowboy said. “I found an old horse blanket in the back of my truck and covered you. Hope that’s all right and that you don’t mind smelling like horse hair.”

The scent of horse clung to the blanket’s fibers. She rubbed her throbbing temples and cut her eyes sideways, a movement that sent pain knifing through her head.

“Headache?”

She closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. “More like a freight train.” She shivered, wondering what had pooped in her mouth. She raised her head. “What happened?”

“You fell asleep while we were talking.” He grinned broadly, showing dimples through the growth of stubble on his chin and jaw. “I don’t usually have that effect on women.”

His expression was teasing, but she groaned. “So nothing
happened
.” She emphasized the word.

He leaned forward. “Well, while you were sleeping, I kissed your eyelids.”

A knot of anxiety began to unwind inside her.

His expression went serious. “But no, nothing happened that might make you want to slap me. You see, I want a woman to be aware of everything we’re doing together.”

Ciana’s face went hot. “So now what?”

He stood, offered her his hand, and pulled her to her feet when she took it. “We get some breakfast and hot coffee. Then maybe we can pick up where we left off.”

They spoke little on the ride to a diner not far from the dance saloon. Ciana hugged the door of his pickup and watched the sun rise through the windshield, her brain dull, her emotions raw. She’d made an idiot of herself the night before. At the diner, she made a beeline for the restroom, pausing just long enough to read a sign for taxi services in the hallway. She pulled out her cell and called the first number, ordering a cab to come pick her up at the diner’s clearly posted address.

In the small restroom, she could hardly look at herself in the mirror. She washed her face with the dispenser soap, rubbing off every speck of eye shadow and smudged mascara. It was time her cowboy saw the real her. She tugged her fingers through her tangled nest of cinnamon-colored hair, found a squished scrunchie in her string purse, and made her usual pony tail.

When she settled at the table across from him, she saw mugs of steaming coffee and a plate of warm toast. If her fresh-scrubbed
face startled him, he didn’t show it. “I thought this might be a good start,” he said. “I ordered fried eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits, and a short stack. You can order whatever you like.”

Her stomach heaved and she grabbed the coffee, sipping the hot liquid. “Toast and coffee are fine.”

His order arrived and she watched him smush the runny eggs into the grits and wished she hadn’t. “Want a bite of pancakes?” he asked. “Real maple syrup.”

“Don’t think so.” She glanced out the window, willing the cab to get there.

“Expecting someone?”

She felt her face redden. “I … I called a cab.”

“I’ll take you home.” He looked insulted that she might have thought otherwise.

“I … um … don’t live around here. Long drive to my place.”

He reached over the top of the table and took her hand. “I want to see you again.”

She couldn’t imagine why.

After a few seconds of silence, he said, “That would require your name and phone number.”

Just then, she saw the cab stop in front of the diner through the large plate glass window. She stood, ambivalent. Why shouldn’t she give the information to him? She wanted to see him again too. “Um …” Her phone vibrated. “Let me get this,” she told him, feeling the pressure of the cabby revving his engine. She took out her phone and saw that she had a text message from her mother. Great. Had Alice Faye called Eden looking for her? That was all she needed. She punched the button. The text read: OLIVIA RUSHED TO HOSPITAL. COME NOW.

Fear seized her. “Oh my God!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I … I have to go!” She ran for the door, even as he called for her to wait up. Ciana jumped into the cab.

“Where to?” the cabby asked.

“Windemere.”

“Whoa. That’s a pretty expensive ride, lady.”

Ciana dug into her string purse, found the hundred-dollar bill she’d brought to the dance hall but hadn’t spent, and waved it under the driver’s nose.

He pulled out of the diner’s lot. She glanced out the back window to see her cowboy emerge from the diner. The cab gathered speed and he grew smaller and smaller as the distance widened between them. Ciana fought back tears—for Olivia, for the responsibilities resting on her shoulders, for having to leave such a man behind—but the spell was broken. She’d stayed too long at the ball.