13. Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Thirteen
Remington James
S o unbothered, Droolius trots up to me on the dock with a random shoe. It’s not one of ours. He drops it at my feet like a prize. “You’re a funny little dude. You know that, right?”
I’m going for some red, white, and blue for the upcoming Fourth of July festivities in Lake Hollow. In the form of a massive bruise on my thigh from getting knocked into the dock by the bumper boats, red from my burn, and then white from my shocking farmer’s tan. Unless the sun can give me an assist today. I’ve been laying on the dock for almost an hour, and the only thing happening is a mosquito feast. You’re welcome little bloodsuckers.
The impulse to stare at Wilder’s cabin makes me lay my book over my face. When I suggested a party for Grady over the raging success of his band’s new release, he shrugged and said, “We’ll see.” Fucking annoying. Grady is stuck here alone, the rest of his band in LA. He could use the cheering up, and support.
Then I asked him to join us (as he has taken to saying Remi and the suspects… which would make a kick ass band name by the way) for the double feature Drive In movie ‘Summer with Candy’ two classic John Candy movies -The Great Outdoors and Summer Rental. Skip even opted to give out free taffy at the food truck. His response to that was a bored, “Why?”
So, I’m resorting to some trickery. Can’t blame me. Much. He’s anti-social.
He’s going to be ticked, but I’ll just hand out my sack of sorrys later. Blowjobs are like flowers for men, right? Not that I’m going to get close enough to touch him after he realizes what I pushed him into.
A crabby Skip left the house this morning. Not only was the kitchen window open after he closed and he’d locked it, but the light is malfunctioning in the bathroom again. The necklace I found at Hidden Treasures that reappeared after its swim in Lake Hollow was laying next to my bed this morning, creeping me all the way out.
I suggested that Skip try to nicely ask the ghost to cease and desist, but he growled some not so nice things into his cornflakes. I should’ve left out my parting words to him, “... maybe Winifred wants you to stop snoring at night. It sounds like someone’s choking a walrus.”
There isn’t much activity on the lake today. A few boaters can be seen to the south in the distance. A light breeze ripples the water as I drag my hand through dark depths. How could three girls all go into the lake and drown? No injury, no impairment? If someone held them under wouldn’t there be a struggle? Screaming, thrashing? Thinking about it makes me sit up and pull my hand into my lap.
If they were drowned by someone… how? And why? Detective Hemminger seemed focused on asking Wilder if anyone else was here that Saturday night that Sara died. Like she already knew the answer, but it was not the one she was getting from him.
When I first arrived in Lake Hollow, hearing about the ominous lake, all the death surrounding it, experienced more than a few spooky things… I was on the bandwagon (well, I had a foot on it anyway). Believing that some unforeseen and otherworldly thing was responsible meant that I didn’t need to worry about the people I was surrounded by.
That was foolish.
I spent so much time walking around the cabins thinking in riddles and clues. Thinking that the remodeling of or the number of cabins would unlock some missing piece of information. Maybe I am insane. I want so badly to believe it can’t be Cal, Charlie, or Grady. That they’re every bit the men they appear to be.
Even Wilder can’t wrap his head around it.
Daniel Gibson’s drowning was witnessed. He’d been messing around on the dock causing him to slip; he struck his head and fell in. No one realized he’d hit his head. When several minutes passed, his older brother yelled for help because Daniel hadn’t resurfaced anywhere in the surrounding area. Locating his body wasn’t immediate. He couldn’t be rescued by the time he’d been pulled up.
The circumstances are nothing like Susanna, Sara, or Katie. No further drownings have happened for six years. What does any of it mean?
Droolius’ barking at a treed squirrel pulls me from my thoughts. “Hey, your little brother is a squirrel. He’s family now. We don’t scare our family.” I whistle at him. “Here have your shoe back.” I toss the tennis shoe he scored off someone towards Wilder’s cabin.
More than a little tempted to pay him a visit, but I still need to come up with a viable reason to make him follow me later.
Keenan calls my name loudly. He’s been popping by more. I tease him that he’s hoping to spot a certain Romantic Ruin lead singer. Not denying it, he offers me little factoids about the band or Grady himself. “He sold songs to several popular artists before ever recording with Romantic Ruin.” or “In an interview when asked what he looked for in a partner, his answer was a fully developed prefrontal cortex.”
He hands over a heavy gift bag, I make a face at him. “It’s not my birthday. That’s in October. What’s in here?” I move some of the tissue paper with… “Dude, where did you find tissue paper with dicks on it?”
“This is a ‘just because’ gift. I’m the best friend that ever friended. Now invite me into Winifred’s cabin so I can get a drink of water. It’s a long ass walk here from downtown. Is that why your legs are so sexy? All the damn walking you do? Chop, chop… inside before someone… namely Wilder sees us.” He still thinks my neighbor is shady.
Once I’ve given Keenan ice water, I pull the tissue from the bag and look inside perplexed. I’m not a stranger to sex toys, but what I’m seeing has me scratching my head. “And this is?” I pull a package out to hold up. It’s not light. “Oh… goodness gracious.” I don’t know how I just managed to sound like an eighty-year-old nun. “A double-sided dildo?”
Keenan cracks up. “Keep going.”
“Flavored nipple tingler, anal beads, a vibrating rabbit… did you order a whole adult store? Um, why did you get this stuff for me?” Placing things back in the bag, I cover it back up with tissue paper.
I’m glad he thinks he’s so funny. Saying through his laughter, “You’re wrangling four dicks. Toys will come in handy.” Little does he know that Grady and I flirt but don’t touch since our one-night stand, and Wilder teases me before acting like nothing is going on.
The bag tips and a few things fall out, I blush holding up an implement that looks like I’d need a lot of instructions. “My pelvic floor muscles could never…”
Promptly, I deliver my gifts to the inside of mom’s trunk. Where all the questionable things I possess live. “You’re a bad influence,” I huff out at Keenan as he grins from ear to ear.
“Mmhmm. The worst.” He’s cheeky, and I love it.
“Is Ceily feeling any better? When I saw her at Carlotta’s funeral, she thought she was getting sick.” I was distracted by fifteen bazillion things that day; I couldn’t stay focused on what she was saying.
“Meemaw’s missing her friend. They talked every day before the accident happened.”
With Keenan’s help I open every window in the cabin to get more airflow, crank the fans up. Then when I’m still steaming hot, I tug off my shorts. In my underclothes draped on the couch, I go over what we know about the drownings. Which turns out to be unhelpful. No new theories come to mind.
“No way. The detective said that Susanna died the same way? I know I heard it was a boat that hit her.”
“Do you remember what happened the two previous summers with those drownings?”
“Kind of? I mean it was similar enough to get people freaked out about the lake. I remember Father Conelly even did a lake blessing at Lakeside Park. It was a big deal.” Keenan shakes his head. “It was bonkers. He did this whole prayer, sprinkled holy water, and I think it was the summer before the last drownings.”
Something about that doesn’t sit well with me.
The bathroom door slams shut with force, when not much air is moving through. Keenan looks at me in alarm. “Speaking of blessings…”
I can do this.
An hour ago, I told Cal and Charlie I’d walk to the Drive In. Which they refused to accept until I started in about preferring my legs to being inside a motorized death trap. Grady agreed previously to meet us there. Apprehension over it oozing from his words.
Now to get Wilder there.
Armed with a blanket, I knock on his door. I hear some loud music coming from inside, I knock harder. “Wilder?!”
Just as I’m ready to open the door to check on him, he swings it open. Shirtless with his sweatpants low on his hips. My entire body swoons over him standing bare chested inches from me. “What is it? Droolius isn’t at my cabin.”
“I’m going stargazing and you’re coming with me.” I hold up the blanket draped over my arm. “No excuses. Let’s go.” I wiggle in my spot, nervously biting at my lip.
He shifts to lean against the doorframe. “Why would I do that?”
Clearly, he prefers to languish about in the dark corners of his cabin, but I’d really like his cooperation for once without verbal sparring. “It would be lovely if you just did something without push back. C’mon, pal. Let’s go.” I step back with a wave of my hand.
“I’m not a dog. You’re going to get eaten alive by mosquitos. Can’t you look at the stars from inside your cabin?” He raises his eyebrows at me.
Why is he like this? Refusing to be defeated, I try a different tact. “I want your company. I don’t care if we just go for a walk. Please?” Holding my hand out, he looks down at it with his face pinched.
Without another word, he reaches back for a T-shirt to pull on, stepping into the cloud of gnats circling his backdoor outside light. Waving them away while squinting at me, he says, “Lead the way. I’m not making a habit of this.”
No doubt.
Arms crossed over his chest, silently he trudges along beside me going south to the main road. My nerves get the better of me when I turn to walk towards the Funpark, and he still hasn’t said a word. This isn’t the way I want the night to go. I stop abruptly, turning to face him, “Look, I’m not going to force you to spend time with me. This has been one-sided since I’ve known you. At one point I thought you might be attracted to me, but I must’ve been wrong. I’m sorry that I keep bugging you. I’m going to the Drive In, if you like me at all you’ll come with me. If not, then I guess I’ll see you around.” He doesn’t react, because that’s just Wilder, I’m learning. Spinning back towards the downtown area, I continue to walk. Each step cracks my heart when I don’t hear him follow me or say anything.
Seems the things I was picking up on between us were all in my head. Wishful thinking. I won’t look back; I still have a speck of dignity.
Just as I pause on the side of the road to cross, traffic heading to the Drive-In passing by, I feel him jog up beside me. “What the fuck did you draw on the back of your leg?”
My heart resumes its normal rhythms, as I smile to myself. I look down at my calf, running a finger over the fish with heart shaped bugged out eyes. “Like it?”
“You are one of a kind, Remington James. One of a fucking kind.” Then when I think the night can’t get any better, he squeezes my arm.
I knew ahead of time that Cal was going to park near the concessions. His white truck with the bed loaded down in lawn chair pads, pillows, and blankets has both Cal and Charlie sitting on the top of the cab when I spot them.
“You must actually fucking hate me.” Wilder stops short.
That doesn’t deserve a response.
Grady’s arrival helps. It’s crowded on the bed of the truck, Charlie hops back up to sit on the cab behind me. Cal and Grady on either side of me. Wilder sits on the side of truck bed, his hands shoved in his pockets with a scowl on his face.
The guys had loaded up with popcorn, pretzels, and drinks waiting for me to get here. My stomach is doing backflips, even the draw of some chewy taffy isn’t appealing. I had shoved the antique necklace into my pocket before leaving tonight.
Strangely compelled to see what the reaction to it would be. Call me a provocateur. Leaning into Grady, I whisper, “Can you help me with this clasp?”
Placing it on my neck, he takes the ends, his thumb rubbing over the frog with crazy eyes that I drew using the mirror in our possessed bathroom earlier. “There.” He kisses my neck, his lips lingering for a couple of seconds. He knows what that does to me. A little self-satisfied smirk on his unreal face.
I say softly, “Once you kiss my neck… you may as well just take my pants off.”
We’re off to a damp start this evening. Wooee.
Grady laughs as he looks at the necklace. “Is that a family heirloom? It’s cool.”
Wilder’s head whips towards me, shocked. That’s right mister, that necklace you threw to the fishes is back in my possession. He rightly looks like he’s seeing a ghost.
But it’s Cal and Charlie’s reactions that make my heart start to thud dangerously. It dawns on me that they never saw me wear it the brief time I had it before. I described it to Cal, but we were working, and he may not have been paying attention.
Charlie fumbles the box of popcorn he’s holding; Cal shoots him a look. Both of them are eyeing Wilder. Stammering, Cal says, “How… how?”
“Rem, where did that necklace come from?” Charlie asks me his face pale.
What is it with all of them? And my necklace?
Wilder drops his head, his hands fisted in his hair, he says, “Goddamnit,” to himself.
“What’s going on here? What am I missing?” Grady asks with his head cocked.
“Good question. Something tells me not one of them is going to share.” I’m fed up with all the secrets. Now it’s clear that Charlie, Cal, and Wilder all know something about my dang necklace.
“You need to get rid of that thing,” Cal says his voice strained. “Give it to me, I’ll throw it away.”
The fuck? “No. What’s with the necklace? First Wilder pitches into the lake, now you tell me to throw it away. Tell me why!”
Kneeling next to me Charlie says gently, “Please take that damn thing off. Please.” The sense of urgency and his eyes filling with tears makes me uneasy. Like the necklace is going to strike me dead. Oh, no… no.
“Whose necklace was this?”
A couple passing by the truck recognizes Grady, they politely ask him to take a picture with them, and then an onslaught of more people troop over. I protectively place my hand over the locket of the necklace. The wild rebel that lives with her battle cry in the darkened part of my heart, wants the necklace more, knowing how much the guys want it gone.
Seriously irritated, I pull Cal and Charlie away from all Grady’s fawning fans. “Talk. Wilder won’t tell me anything about it.”
They share a look; Cal lets a breath out looking physically deflated. “Rem, if we tell you that wearing that may be the kiss of death… would you throw it away then?”
Not good enough. Wilder walks towards us, his look of irritation has morphed into startled confusion. “I don’t even want to know how you got that back but listen to Cal. Get rid of it.”
Frustrating fucking men.