Chapter Three #3
“I'm betting the cops are on their way. I’ll send the others away and stay here.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “I can handle this.”
“We won’t leave you unprotected.”
“He has an in with the police force. Why do you think no one’s shown up yet?
This reeks of a set up. For years, I let fear paralyze me.
I thought if I kept my head down and did everything he wanted, I could survive it.
But instead, it got worse. And now we’re here.
” She rocks back and forth, soothing Emily.
“Do you have a weapon?” I ask.
“Yeah. In the drawer beside the bed.”
“I’ll take care of the rest. You defended yourself from intruders, locked yourself in here, and called the police. We’ll be watching from a safe distance.”
I know what a woman taking her power back looks like. I’m not going to get in the way. She’s going to need that energy with the asshole she's trying to divorce.
Walking over to her room, I pull out the nine-millimeter.
“Keep your ears covered. It’s going to get loud for a minute.”
Returning to the scene of the break-in, I calculate where she would’ve shot to defend herself. Deploying a handful of lead, I return to her, wiping the gun down.
“Here, hold on to this. Make sure the officers see you with it. Remain in the closet until they come and get you.”
Tracy nods. “O- okay.”
“Remember, we’ll be nearby.”
“Wait. How do I explain your presence? People saw you.”
“Just friends of a friend checking in on you. They all know who Blanche is married to.” Her gaze becomes unfocused.
I snap my fingers. She blinks. “Tracy. Do you have this?”
“Yes. I do.” She nods.
“We weren’t here when this went down. You think whoever broke in waited until we were gone.”
“Yes. They came after you left.”
“Brother, we gotta go,” Wizard yells from the front door.
“It’s going to be okay.” I squeeze her shoulder, cup the back of Emily’s head, and step back. We’ve done everything we could. Now it’s time for her to take charge and help herself.
Chapter Four
Ro
“What if he wasn’t dead?” The whispered sentence slices through the dim room like a scythe.
“I checked his pulse, Betti.” I sigh. “And I know what death looks like.”
“We just left him.” Pulling her knees to her chest, she burrows into the corner of the couch. Under a pile of blankets, she looks smaller and younger than seventeen.
I choke on the scathing comments burning on the tip of my tongue. She needs to get all of this out.
“What if we made a mistake?”
“We didn’t. But say he was alive. Do you think he would’ve come with us? Hell, would you have wanted him too?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice shakes.
Exhaling, I remind myself she’s just a kid. “Say he agreed. Would you honestly feel safe trapped in this house with no way out for an unknown amount of time? Not to mention he’d go into a detox state, cause there’s no alcohol here.”
“He never hit me before. Bitched, and threw shit, sure. But there was a line he didn’t cross.”
I inhale sharply. “What do you think changed?”
“He saw me wearing Mama’s locket, and it triggered something.
” She swipes at the tears flowing down her face.
“His eyes were empty. I knew he wasn’t seeing me, but Mom.
When he started toward me, I ran. But he caught me.
” She gives a half laugh. “I’ve never seen a drunk move so fast. He kept saying Camilla was haunting him, and he was going to get rid of her once and for all.
” She rocks back and forth. “It didn’t make sense.
I thought it was a garbled mess of alcohol sodden lunacy.
” She hiccups. “I fought him, Ro, I didn’t make it easy.
I scratched, kicked, and bit his hand when he tried to keep me from screaming. ”
I curse under my breath. I should’ve pulled her out before this happened, courts be damned.
“He really killed Mom, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, babe. I’m pretty sure he did.”
“God. I have hated her. Hexed her a million times in my mind.” She burst into sobs, and I move from my spot to sit beside her.
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I pull her to my side. “Anyone in our position would be angry at her. We didn’t know, and that’s not on us.”
“Who then?” she croaks.
“Pa. It’s all on his head. We were kids. Had we known, there would’ve been nothing we could do anyway.”
Five days in, the water is up to the porch, and I’m avoiding using the generator as much as possible. Out here, we’re the last to recover from flooding and downed communication. The food supply is solid, but I’m watching every crumb to make sure it stays that way.
“Ro?”
Putting on a smile, I turn to face my sister. “What’s up?”
“Are we okay?” Her eyes are wide, and I hear the nervous lilt in her voice.
“Of course. There’s plenty of food and drinking water. We just need to wait out the flooding.”
“But your car's gone.”
“It’s insured.” I shrug. I’ve been trying not to worry about the fact that I’ve lost my mode of transportation.
“Don’t do that.” Her explosion shocked me. I stare at her. Jaw clenched, hands fisted, and body drawn taut as a wire, she radiates anger.
“Do what?”
“Treat me like a child. Smooth everything over and act like it’s all unicorns farting rainbows.”
“I- don’t even know how to respond,” I admit. The outburst is bizarre and ill-timed.
“I’m almost eighteen. When are you going to stop babying me?” She explodes.
I rear back. “How am I doing that?”
“You do it all the time.” Her words bounce around the living room.
Slumping into the couch, I mentally count to ten. Emotions are high. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“No. Don’t be sorry. Be real. Get pissed off. Show emotion.” She hops up and begins to pace back and forth in front of the couch.
“Are you saying I come across as robotic? ‘Cause I feel plenty, and I don’t hold back.” Crossing my arms, I turn from the window and lean back against the counter.
“No. But you always shoulder the burden and give up everything for me. It’s too much.” She tugs at the braid she’s woven with her thick hair. “How can one ever repay a martyr?”
“Well, for one, I never expected you to.”
“God, that’s even worse.” The disgust and contempt in her words tear at me.
“Where the hell is all this coming from?”
“Every college I applied to is far away from here.” She pauses mid-step and stares me down.
“Good.”
“Wait. What?” She whispers. Inhaling sharply, she looks at me wide-eyed. “How can I leave you?” Her voice shakes.
I hold up a hand. “I have been as involved in your life as I am because our father was an unreliable piece of shit. My only goal has been to see you turn of age and get the hell out of here. You don’t tell me anything.
It’s not why I did it. You’re my sister, and Mom was gone. What else could I do?”
“Live your own life.” Her voice cracks.
I shake my head. “Not how it works with family. We’re in this together. All I want you to do is thrive.”
“That’s no life.”
“No. It was a season of my life. Those always shift with time. This season is almost over. And at that point, the wheel of life is going to turn, placing us in a new phase.”
She pauses mid-rant. “Can you just tell me the truth?” The pleading in her tone and the desperation painted over her features drive home how serious she is.
“You want to be treated like an adult? I can respect and lean into that.”
“Good.” She takes a shaky breath, looking at their surroundings and taking it all in. “Are we completely fucked?”
“No. I just said we have food and water.”
“After this, Rowan.” She glances away. “With Pa.”
Unsure how to answer, I bite the inside of my cheek.
“Ro?” Her voice gets higher.
“I don’t know.” I shake my head.
She walks over and stands in front of me. “You said we’d figure it out.” Her eyes beg me to fix everything. But I can’t.
“Yes, I’m still working on that part.” I keep my voice steady. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t’ know how this is going to pan out.
“Ro.” Panic creeps into her eyes.
I reach a hand out to rest on her arm. “It depends on when and how he’s found.”
“You’re just going to leave things to chance?” Her voice cracks. Eyes dilated, and mouth ajar, she’s unraveling before my eyes.
“I don’t have a choice.” I squeeze her arm, hoping to ground her. “Overreacting could lead to exposing the events that happened. It’s better to be reactive with multiple plans thought out.”
“You need help. Don’t we know someone who deals with this kind of stuff?” She licks her lips. “Like Lotte’s brother.”
“Out of the question.” I will not go crawling back to Gambit after the way we parted.
“Why?” Betti whispers.
“We don’t talk, haven’t seen him since he left.”
“I think you can make an exception for this, don’t you?” she squeaks.
“I’ll figure it out, I always do.”
“This is different,” Betti insists, stubbornly.
A loud splash followed by a thud cuts her off. Spinning, I peer out the window. “Shit.” A large gator has decided to explore what was once the back porch. The screen must’ve gotten weak and given. He’s too close for comfort for me. “Jesus, he’s big.”
Saved by a damn alligator. Despite my gut reaction, her suggestion planted a seed. Gambit would now know exactly what to do in this situation. I haven’t seen him in person in years, but the photos Lottie shares show me he’s just as beautiful as he always was.
“What went down between the two of you?” Betti asks.
“Pa made me believe Mom had run off with half of the money we’d spent over a year saving up to leave town.
He was plastered, slurring his words, and more aggressive than I’d ever seen him.
We know why now. He’d killed her.” I close my eyes against the tears.
“Gambit was on his way to get me; you were screaming in your crib. God only knows what you’d witnessed.
I panicked. I knew he would confront Pa or suggest we take you with us, and he deserved his freedom.
He’d waited for me to be old enough to leave and Mom to be stable enough to handle things without my help.
How could I take that away from him again? ” I choke on a sob.
“What did you do?” She grabs my hands.
“I did the one thing you never do in a relationship. I went for his jugular. He was always keenly aware of our age difference. It was the one reason he hesitated to date me. Four years feels like a lot when you’re that young.
He always made sure I didn’t feel pressured, because the man was all about consent long before it was a thing people discussed. I attacked that. Viscously.”
Her face falls. “Oh, Rowan.”
Her sympathy breaks me. I lean against her and let the cracked dam inside of me flow. For once, I don’t have to be the strong one.