I stared down my nose at her. God, I hated the snooty way she said ‘Mister.’ I could see through the airs she was putting on. Hell, the woman had her hand on my cock four days ago! It didn’t matter that she was my boss. Or that she was rich and I was dirt-poor. The lowly servant who’d worked in obedient silence was long gone.
“The bruises, Miz Bradford. Who put ‘em there?”
That got her back up. “You forget your place, young man.”
“My ‘place’? Look, I know what you’ve been doin’ to her.”
Lilith cranked the ice-bitch routine up a notch. “Better watch yourself. You’re skating on thin ice as it is.”
“She’s bruised on the inside too,” I said, ignoring her threat. “You don’t know how lethal words are. One stupid remark can cut a child down faster than a bullet.” I moved closer. “Her back was bruised last week. She flinched when I went to hug her the other day. Now she’s got a bruised arm. Says she fell, but I know better.”
Brow arched, Lilith said, “Yes, I’m well-aware of your ‘contact’ with her.” She paused. “Let me ask you something, Mister Dawson. Do you think it’s proper for an eighteen-year-old ‘male stripper’ to have such a close relationship with a fourteen-year-old minor?”
Took a second before her insinuation hit home. It cut deep.
“I don’t like the time you spend together,” she said, mounting her imaginary high horse. “Especially now. I saw her diary last night and it was all there—every disturbing detail. The two of you dancing alone. The way you whisk her off on that bike, disappearing for hours at a time. You’re inseparable.”
My breath bounced off her. “Nothin’ is going on and you know it! She’s got nobody but me. Everyone else ignores her.”
“Get out.” She jerked away and her hair slapped my face like a wet curtain. It stung.
“Why do you hate her?” I wrenched Lilith around by the arm. She glared at my hand, but I kept a firm grip. “She’s your baby!”
“Not anymore, she isn’t.” Lilith jerked free. “You’re fired! Maybe now you can do your Playroom striptease full-time.”
An audience: Mrs. Campbell and other servants gathered, including Gerard, Lilith’s butler.
Mad as hell, and trembling with rage, I stalked off, but then she yelled, “Tell Dottie to pack up her mop and bucket. She’s fired too.”
Lilith had just poked a hornet’s nest. I was in her face within seconds. “Do what you want to me, but leave Mama out of it. She needs this job.”
“You should have thought about that before.”
“Guess what?” I hissed. “You won’t fire my mama, ‘cause if you do, I’ll spill all your dirty secrets. I’ll tell the town what a slut you are. How the only reason you kicked us out is ‘cause I wouldn’t stick my dick in your nasty hole. How you’ll spread your legs for anything that’s young, male, and fuckable!”
A flood of gasps ricocheted from the staff as my voice thundered across the room. Lilith went ballistic. Her face turned blood red and her eyes sizzled with hellfire. She hauled off and slapped me, her nails cutting a trio of red lines into my cheek.
I tried to restrain her while she bit and clawed, but she just drew more blood. I didn’t realize my own strength when I shoved her away from me with such force she hit the floor butt first, her body slamming into the mini bar. Bottles crashed around her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Calla Lilies
SHANNON
____________________________
“I’m not sure why she didn’t press charges,” Trace said, his voice raspy. “Prob’ly knew I’d make good on my promise.”
I cradled the phone and eased into the seat at my vanity table, trying to connect the mother I remembered to the monster he’d just described.
Both were strangers now.
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts amidst the pain he’d endured. Trace had recounted, in amazing detail, the last night of my mother’s life.
More than a few times, he’d had to stop to collect himself, yet he’d refused to quit, as if he were purging some disease from his soul. Now I understood why he’d taken on the role of my guardian angel. He’d done for me what he’d been powerless to do for himself.
“I went straight home afterwards,” Trace continued. “Mama was on the phone with Mrs. Campbell when I got there. Soon as she hung up, me and Mama got into it, then Daddy crawled from the bottle to add his two cents. They actually wanted me to apologize.”
I got to my feet and carried the phone into the bathroom. “They thought Mother would rehire you both?”
“Yep. Mama was ranting about Daddy being on disability—that we needed the money and I should’ve minded my own business.” He sighed. “I asked why she let Daddy use me for a punching bag. Told her Lilith was doing the same thing with you.”
“What did she say?”
“Nothing. She just stormed off. Then Daddy cursed the day I was born. Went staggering up to me and Cole’s room. Tossed my TV out the window. My clothes. Everything I owned lay in the front yard. I didn’t speak to Mama for years after that.”
“Did your father ever abuse Beverly and Cole?”
“Naw. My little brother was his pride and joy and Bev was his princess. Seems he saved all his vinegar for me. Bev used to think he was jealous. She said I was independent and fearless. He hated that. So he tried to beat it out of me.”
Heart trembling, I leaned against the tiled wall. “But you and your mother found your way back to each other. Is that why she’d pinned all her hopes on you making parole?”
“Yeah.”
Just the thought of how he’d suffered made me ill. “Where did you go after you left your house?”
“Cholly’s,” he said, his voice staid, resigned. “The Fontanas let me stay with them. But after I dropped my stuff off there, I went straight to Sheriff Gray.”
“To report Mother.”
“Yep. I didn’t have much hope given the whole Eddie and Bev thing, but after I told him about your bruises and Lilith’s drinking, he said he’d look into it. Even thanked me for coming by. I was hopeful when I left. Looked like he believed me.”
“But he testified that your claims were baseless later.”
“Yeah,” Trace said bitterly. “Only question is why.” Silence lingered. “What do you remember about the day she died?”
Not much, but just then…. I cupped my forehead as another memory gelled of the day before the murder. Namely, the reason Mother had hurt me that last time.
I was too embarrassed to share it with Trace or any man.
I slid down the wall and hugged my knees. Sorrow washed over me. “Everything’s still fragmented,” I whispered.
“Well, I got to your house early the next day. I hopped the fence to stay hidden, but it was deserted. Not even a breeze. That’s what I’ll never forget. The quiet. It was unnatural.”
I licked my lips. “Why did you come back?”
“To give you hope. To tell you the Sheriff said he’d help.”
That he’d still been thinking about my welfare even after the horrible night he’d had was heartening. But it also made me more determined to uncover the truth. Not just for Mother’s sake, but for his as well. “I’m sorry I called you a coward when we were in the garage. I was wrong. You’re a hero…my hero.”
I guessed from his silence that I’d surprised him. Ten seconds went by before he said, “Th-thanks.” Trace Dawson had actually stuttered. He cleared his throat. “Well, I, ah, I gotta get to work.”