Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next day, everyone went to the fair. Bram, Vivian, Mac, Lemon, the guys, and me. There were even members of the club going. We ran into Bash and Theo and they sort of attached themselves to our group after that.
The girls and I got our faces painted and took a bunch of pictures in a photo booth. I got a teal and black butterfly that went around my eyes like a mask. Lemon had daisies painted around her eyes. Mac had the upper part of her face painted like a cheetah with a black heart shape on her nose.
The guys made me try cotton candy and all kinds of fair food. Bram rode the Ferris wheel with me, and I got scared once we reached the top. He put his arm around me for the rest of the ride while telling me that it would be all right.
The day was nothing but play, fun, and pure joy. It made me wish there was a way I could tell my younger self that it would be okay. It would end. And when it did, it would be worth it. Enduring what I had, the fight, the survival, would all be worth it in the end.
As the sun set and the fair lights grew brighter, Bram and Vivian called it a day.
“Let’s check out the haunted clown house,” Mac suggested as she skipped ahead.
Lemon and I stopped walking to stare at the scary-looking attraction, which made my guys and the twins stop as well.
Mac glanced back when she got too far ahead. “Don’t be chickens.”
Lemon sighed and hooked arms with me. “I apologize in advance for screaming like a banshee.”
I laughed. “Same.”
Mac fearlessly walked ahead of us as we entered the haunted house.
Lemon and I were right behind her with the men following.
It was very dark even as we walked through a neon room with swirling walls of orange and yellow.
At the first jump scare, air shot out of the walls.
Mac jumped but laughed. Lemon and I just screamed. All the brave men behind us chuckled.
As we entered the next room, where the lights were strobing, making it hard to see, two clowns came out of nowhere with chainsaws.
Lemon and I let go of each other and bolted.
I turned on my heels and ran right for the first one of my guys I saw.
It was Reid. I jumped on him, arms tightly wrapping around his neck.
He grabbed my butt, hoisting me up farther, and I wrapped my legs around his middle.
Not that I could hear it over the chainsaws, but his chest was shaking with laughter.
He carried me through the rest of the haunted house like that. Finally he said, “We’re out.”
I lifted my head from his neck. As I did, I surprisingly saw Lemon being carried out bridal-style by Bash. Mac was already out of the haunted house and was staring at Lemon and me with her hands on her hips. She had a look on her face that screamed, Really?
Reid smacked my butt lightly, then began rubbing it as if to soothe the nonexistent sting. “You still scared?”
“I’d prefer you spank me when we’re both naked.” I pecked him on the lips.
He didn’t hide his surprise. “You’d be okay with that?”
I understood why he’d asked. I shrugged. “I know you won’t hurt me. Plus, I read about it in this book I just finished and it sounded kind of hot.”
He snorted. “Roe told me about the books you’ve been reading.”
“He read one with me. I liked it more than he did, though.”
“There wasn’t any plot,” Roe said as he and Wyatt came over.
“What are they talking about?” Wyatt asked.
“Charlotte’s romance books,” Reid said.
“I’m a huge supporter of her romance-book addiction. I benefited from it the other night,” Wyatt said.
“What do you mean?” Roe asked.
I spoke before Wyatt could answer because the twins and the girls were right behind him. “Tell them in private, Wyatt.”
Still holding me, Reid leaned close to Roe and said in a low voice, “They did something she read in her book.”
Roe’s brows rose.
“Okay, people. Onto the next thing,” Mac said.
“Bathroom break first,” Lemon said.
Mac nodded and looked to me. “Let’s go, Lottie.”
“We’ll wait for you here,” Roe said.
I unwrapped my legs from around Reid, but he didn’t let me go. Instead, he started walking in the direction the girls were headed, leaving Roe and Wyatt behind with the twins.
I wiggled. “You’ve got to put me down.”
“Kiss me and I’ll consider it,” he said.
Smiling, I gave him a quick peck. “There, I kissed you.”
“Kiss me better than that,” he ordered.
“Come on, Lottie!” Lemon yelled.
I exhaled and kissed him again. Now I took my time, putting how I felt into it. His tongue brushed the seam of my mouth and I opened to him. He caressed my tongue with his in a way that made me dizzy and everything around us fade away.
“Charlotte, stop making out with my brother and let’s go before Lemon pisses herself!” Mac yelled.
I pulled away. “I have to go.”
He continued to give me shorter kisses as he set me on my feet. “All right. I love you.”
“Love you, too. I’ll be right back,” I said, and took off. It wasn’t until I was ten steps away that I froze, realizing what he had said and what I had said.
I turned. He was in the same spot, watching me with his hands stuffed into his pockets.
Roe and Wyatt were about twenty feet behind him talking about something with the twins.
“I’ll catch up,” I yelled over my shoulder, and I headed back toward Reid.
When I reached him, I jumped back into his arms to kiss him.
Just one more kiss, I thought.
That one more time turned into three and I eventually pulled away.
“I’ll be right back,” I told him, and ran to catch up with the girls, who were already at the restroom.
There was a line out the door, and Mac and Lemon were at the front of it.
I was about eight ladies back. I waved at them to let them know I was here.
Mac yelled that they would wait for me when they were done.
While I waited, I tightened my ponytail that was high on my head. Just as I finished, I felt something hard press into my back. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mother. My stomach dropped. What was she doing here? Had she followed me? I went to move away, but she grabbed the back of my shirt.
“Let’s step out of line,” she said, ushering me away until we were completely out of sight of the restroom.
She led me to a dark, less populated area.
Her grip on my shirt didn’t let me turn around and she continued to press something hard against my spine.
“We have five minutes to get out of here,” she told me.
“If we don’t and I don’t call the person I hired to follow your friends around, one of them will be shot. Do you understand?”
My heart started galloping. I nodded.
“Then let’s get moving,” Mother said, steering me ahead of her once again.
As we got closer to the fair’s exit, I wanted to dig my heels into the ground. I kept walking. What if she was telling the truth about someone helping her? It made sense. For years, she’d had Clay help her.
“Mother—”
“Shut up and keep walking,” she ordered.
I did. It made me sick to my stomach, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other.
We went through the exit and into the parking lot. We walked past rows and rows of cars until we were next to an old, dark green sedan that looked similar to the one Prue owned.
“Stop here,” she ordered.
She still wouldn’t let me turn.
“Has it been five minutes? Please call that person watching my friends,” I begged.
“You’re so pathetic. Even now, I still can’t believe I gave birth to you.”
That was the last thing I heard before pain exploded on the back of my head and everything went black.
A smack across my face woke me. When I tried to open my eyes, everything spun. I blinked to try and focus. The strong smell of gasoline filled my nose with each breath I took.
Another slap. “Wake up!” Mother’s voice roared.
“I’m awake!” I yelled back, and tried to bring my hands up to touch the back of my throbbing head.
My wrists were caught by something. I glanced down.
I was sitting at my late father’s desk—now Mother’s—with a laptop placed in front of me.
I was in a chair from our dining room and my wrists were handcuffed to its armrests. I was home and I was in Mother’s study.
“Good,” Mother said from where she stood next to me. “I know you sold your shares to Sullivan.”
“What?” I asked. “How do you know that?”
She sighed as she scooped up a bottle of gin and took a big gulp. I guessed she was foregoing glasses and splashes of lime. “Because Prudence told me,” she answered with a slight slur in her voice.
I didn’t believe her. “She wouldn’t have done that.”
“I’d tell you to ask her yourself, but she’s not breathing anymore.” Mother gestured with the gin bottle toward the other side of the desk.
I turned my head away from her and there on the floor was Prue lying face down. She was beaten badly and blood had pooled around her body. Her eyes were open and lifeless.
I was screaming. I was so in shock that I hadn’t realized when I’d started. Mother slapped me again and tears began to drip from my eyes. “What did you do?” I cried.
Watching me, she got this delighted look on her face like she enjoyed my reaction.
“I heard from a little birdie that Sullivan was coming to town. I followed him to JJ’s firm.
Imagine my surprise when I see you pull up not a minute later.
You all were there for a long fucking time.
Nearly all day. Then the police showed up and I really got curious.
As soon as I saw Prudence walking to her car…
well, I knew she would be able to tell me.
Plus, I was a little pissed at her betrayal. ”
“So you brought her here and killed her?”