PROLOGUE #2
He wore a blue shirt with a white oval patch over his chest with his name embroidered on it. The first time I saw it, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I knew he had several of them, and I used to daydream about stealing one and wearing it to bed.
Since I turned fourteen, I’d crushed hard on Sully.
He barely knew I existed.
“Dad went to the bar. Remy got pissed and left. Derek went to Reilly’s to get me a shake.”
“You doin’ okay?” he asked, his head tilting, his eyes focused on mine.
“I wish everyone would stop asking me that.”
“People are asking because it’s obvious you’re not fine, Six. And that’s understandable.”
When I didn’t reply, he took a step closer.
“C’mere.”
I didn’t need him to say it twice; I went into his arms and let out the wail I’d been holding in.
His strong hands stroked my back.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but you’ll get through this, honey. You’ll make it to the other side of this. You’ve still got your whole life ahead of you. And somehow your mother will be with you through it all, because you’ll carry her memory in your heart. Always.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“How did you do it?” I asked, remembering he’d lost his mother at twelve years old.
“Survive losing my mom?” He shrugged. “Just tried to make it to the end of each day until they became a string of days, then weeks, then months and years. The pain fades, but you’ll always feel like a piece of you is missing.
I guess Derek and Remy helped. It was the year we all started racing in the juniors.
I’m lucky your father paid my entrance fees and gave me his old equipment.
My own father didn’t have a dime to spare in those days.
Still doesn’t. Hell, your mother fed me half the nights that first year. ”
I stayed in his arms; it was my safe place.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Yeah?” I replied without moving.
“You know I’m always here for you, right?”
I nodded against his chest and then pulled back to look at him.
He winked. “Give me a smile.”
I gave him a shaky, fake one, and his hand came up and cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking over my wet skin.
“You looked real pretty yesterday in that dress, Six.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I almost forgot to breathe when I saw you.”
The fake smile became a real one.
And then he tipped my chin up and pressed his lips to mine, giving me my first kiss.
A vehicle pulled into the lot, and we both turned, realizing simultaneously that it was Remy.
We stepped apart, and Sully dropped his arms, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Remy’s door slammed, and he strode into the garage.
“Where’d you go?” Sully asked.
“Get in the house, Maggie,” Remy snapped.
My eyes shifted between them, and I was terrified they’d start a fight.
“Sully?” I whispered.
“Go on,” he replied, lifting his chin toward the door. “It’s fine.”
But I knew that was a lie. It wasn’t fine. I fled, my cheeks rosy with embarrassment at my brother catching me kissing his best friend.
But Remy wasn’t staring at me; he was staring daggers at Sully.
For weeks they barely spoke, and Sully rarely came around until one night after dinner, Derek and I were in the garage. I was there mostly to pester him while he worked, tired of being alone in the house.
Sully’s truck barreled into the lot and skidded to a stop. When he jumped out and stalked inside, his eye was swollen, and his mouth was bleeding.
“Where is he?” he snapped.
Derek stood from the overturned bucket he’d been sitting on, draining the oil from a motorcycle. “Who? Remy?”
“Yes, fucking Remy. Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He’s been gone for hours. What’s wrong?”
“He went too fucking far this time.”
“What did he do?” Derek frowned, wiping his hands on a rag.
Sully’s eyes cut to mine. “She shouldn’t hear this.”
Derek jerked his head toward the house. “Give us a minute, Mag.”
“I want to hear. He’s my brother, too.”
“Not this. Go inside. Now,” Sully snapped.
My mouth dropped open. He’d never once spoken to me like that.
My eyes glazed, but I dashed out of the garage, slamming the door.
But I didn’t go into the house; instead, I crept around back and listened through the open window.
“What the hell is going on?” Derek asked.
I peered inside. Sully raked a hand through his hair as he paced the floor.
“I caught him, Derek. I caught him red-handed.”
“Doing what, for God’s sake?”
“I spotted his truck out by the shed near the back of Griffin Park. I thought maybe he broke down, so I pulled over on the side of Rue de la Mason. I heard a commotion in the shed. He had some chick in there. He was raping her, Derek.”
“What? Are you sure that’s what was happening? Are you sure it was rape?”
“Yes, goddamn it. She was screaming for him to stop.”
“What did you do?”
“I pulled him off her and beat him bloody. He got his hands on a shovel and slammed it against the side of my face, then ran out.”
“Where’s the girl?”
“I wanted to take her to the hospital, but she refused. Said she just wanted me to go. Said she’d get herself home. I asked if she wanted me to drive her to the police station. She shook her head and screamed at me to get out.”
“What’d you do?”
“I waited by my truck. I didn’t want to leave her there. I was afraid Remy would come back. Finally, she came out clutching her torn clothing around her, ran to a car parked in the lot across the field, and drove off. I came straight here looking for him.”
Remy’s truck pulled into the lot, and he jumped out, slamming his door. It was obvious Sully had landed a few fists. There was blood down his shirt, but the scratches on his cheeks and arms had to have been from that woman.
Sully and Remy attacked each other, and Derek had to break them apart.
“You’re turning yourself in,” Sully barked, jabbing a finger toward Remy.
Remy laughed. “Me? It’s you I’ve got a photo of coming out of that shed. I’ll tell the cops you did it with me.”
“You fucking piece of shit.”
I gasped, and when Derek turned his head to look toward the window, I leaped back, then ran to the house.
My brothers didn’t speak of it again, and the cops never showed up. Sully stopped coming around, and I feared I’d never see him again.
I couldn’t even look at Remy. He disgusted me.
Then one evening, I was standing at the kitchen sink, doing the dinner dishes, peering across the lot toward the garage where Derek was working alone when Sully’s truck pulled into the lot.
He walked into the garage and talked to Derek. My father and Remy were gone, which had become a habit. I began to wonder if Remy wasn’t drinking at the tavern along with my father.
When Sully headed back to his truck, I ran from the house and met him at the driver's door.
“Hey, Sully.”
“Six.” His eyes glanced past me to the garage.
I twisted to look, but Derek was working again.
“You haven’t been around much.” My eyes went to the bed of his truck. It was full of boxes and a duffel bag. I frowned, alarm flooding my body. “Are you leaving?”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes, instead glancing at the last streaks of sunset sinking beyond the trees. “Yeah.”
“But why? What about your job?”
“I just need to get away from this town, ya know?”
No, I didn’t know. I’d never even considered a life beyond this town. I didn’t want him to go. I needed him. He couldn’t leave me.
“Don’t go. Please.” My eyes filled.
He stood in the open door of his truck; one arm looped through the open window. He shook his head. “I need to.”
“Why?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Why not?” He shifted like he was about to climb behind the wheel, and my hand shot out to grab his arm.
“Wait. Please. You’re not going now, are you? Tonight?”
He shrugged.
“Can’t it wait until morning? Can’t we talk?”
“About what?”
“You said you’d always be here for me. Now you’re leaving.”
“I’m sorry.”
I stared at the house, and a crazy idea filled my head. Maybe not crazy, maybe it was an answer to my prayers. “Take me with you.”
Shock filled his face. “What?”
“We can leave together. Go somewhere different. I could get a job.”
“Six. No.”
“Why not? You think I’m happy here?”
He stared at his feet.
“You kissed me.”
“I shouldn’t have.”
“Didn’t it mean anything?”
“Yeah, it meant something.”
“Then don’t leave me.”
He sighed. “You’re only seventeen. Your brothers would kill me. Your father, too.”
I felt as if a vise was squeezing my heart. This couldn’t be happening. My whole world was falling apart. How would I survive if Sully wasn’t here?
“Please.” My voice was a whisper. “Please, just wait until tomorrow morning. We can have breakfast. I’ll pay. Just promise me you won’t leave tonight.”
He didn’t respond, but I saw the emotion in his eyes. They glittered in the dim light. “Six…”
“Promise me. Please.”
“I promise,” he finally whispered. “Now go back inside.”
I stood and watched him drive away, his taillights disappear down the road.
I never saw him again.
Two weeks later, I got off the school bus and got the mail out of the box. I flipped through the stack. There was a letter addressed to me. The return address was a law firm in New Orleans.
I paused halfway to the house as my mother’s words came back to me.
You’ll get a letter from the attorney.
She hadn’t been delirious. She’d meant it.
Hurrying inside, I went to my room and sat on my bed, tearing it open. I quickly scanned the contents.
My mother left me fifty thousand dollars.
My mouth fell open.
I read on. I was to receive fifteen thousand immediately and the balance when I turned twenty-four. I was required to sign some paperwork and was asked to come to the office on the afternoon of the thirty-first.
I glanced at the calendar on my wall.
That was this Friday.
Everything my mother told me came back to me. She’d been afraid my brothers would be furious when they found out she left me money, and perhaps they would take it from me. Or maybe it was just Remy she’d been concerned about.
Sitting on my bed, I considered my next move. I would be eighteen tomorrow. I worked weekends at a hamburger place and had a bank account with an automatic deposit for my paychecks.
The attorney could transfer the amount to that account.
My mother was on the account because I was fifteen when I opened it, but my father wasn’t. So, he’d never know about the money unless my statement came in the mail. But I could change those to online statements.
I’d go to the meeting, sign the paperwork, and get my money.
By the time my father and brothers figured out what Mama had done, I’d be long gone.