4. #2
“When Raylee was about four, I picked her up from daycare and took her back to my place for our weekend together. That night, while I was helping her get ready for her bath, I saw marks on her back and legs that were obviously made by some sort of whip or belt. I asked her how she got them, and she said her mom’s new boyfriend .
. .” Shiloh lifted his hand and made air quotes before he continued, “. . . ‘spanked’ her for walking in front of the television while his football game was on.”
“Holy shit. What did you do?”
“I put Raylee to bed like everything was fine and then asked my neighbor to come sit with her while I ran an errand,” Shiloh said.
“I went to my ex’s house–the one I was still paying rent on–and kicked in the front door.
Once I was inside, I started beating the shit of him.
When she tried to intervene, I pushed her out of the way and kept going until my arms were too tired to hit him anymore.
I left and went home to Raylee, thinking I’d made my point.
I didn’t think much more of it, other than to assess my finances to figure out how to get custody of her so nothing like that could ever happen again. ”
“And they called the cops,” I said without question.
I thought about what I would do if I found out someone had whipped a child I knew like that.
I remembered how furious I had been with my nephew Zeb’s grandparents when they treated him so badly.
As far as I knew, they hadn’t abused him physically, but there were times when I wondered if the only way to keep him safe was to make sure they weren’t able to pick him up for their scheduled visitation.
Although the court granted Jolie an intervention, it didn’t keep them away.
Soon after Jolie and Dante got together, he had been able to “convince” Zeb’s father to force his parents to back off and move away.
Even though it had never been said out loud, I suspected Dante had used contacts from his time in prison to strong-arm Zeb’s father into making that declaration. The thought didn’t surprise me, and I didn’t even flinch when I considered what must have happened to convince all of them to back off.
If anything, the idea of that bastard suffering for all he’d put Jolie and Zeb through made me happier than I’d like to admit.
Shiloh jerked me out of my musings when he said.
“Actually, they didn’t call the cops because they were afraid of the trouble that prick would have gotten into for hurting Raylee.
But later that night, he died in his sleep, and the autopsy report showed that it was from head trauma he sustained during the beating I gave him.
They charged me with murder, and I pleaded down to manslaughter. ”
“How long were you in prison?”
“That time I was gone for three years and nine months.”
“I’m sure that was horrible, but at least it wasn’t for very long,” I said quietly.
“I got out and started rebuilding my life at the same compound where Dante lived after his release. That’s where I reconnected with him.
While I was living there, I was able to reconnect with Raylee, too, which was harder than you can imagine.
By then, her mother had had four years to convince her that I was a monster she should be terrified of. ”
“Oh, no.”
“I kept steady, though. I worked my way up from supervised visits for an hour or two here and there to having her with me on the weekends. During that time, Raylee gradually got to know me. Even though it was hard with her mother constantly whispering in her ear, she and I started to become close again.”
“And then what happened?”
“One weekend when I dropped her off, I got into a yelling match with her mother . . .” The sudden, fleeting thought that he might have murdered his ex vanished when he said, “But then I realized Raylee could hear everything we were saying, so I took off. I didn’t want to undo the progress we’d made. ”
“That’s good. I know how hard it is not to say things you really mean, but know you shouldn’t say out loud when you’re talking to an ex.”
“I went home and out to the garage to work on my bike. I’d been out there for a while, listening to music and trying to clear my head, when the cops busted in and arrested me for my ex’s murder.”
“But you didn’t . . .”
“No. But there were plenty of times I wanted to, so it made sense they’d suspect me before anyone else.”
“But the jury convicted you.”
“Raylee woke up when she heard her mom yelling again and assumed that I’d come back to argue.
While she was trying to go back to sleep, she heard the gunshots.
She snuck out of the bedroom to get to her mom’s phone and found her on the living room floor.
Trembling, she dialed 911 and explained that her mom and dad had been fighting . . . and now her mom was dead.”
“Oh, no.”
“They arrested me and charged me with her murder, but I knew I hadn’t done it, so I rejected every deal the DA offered.
I’d been in the county jail for almost two years waiting for trial when they matched the ballistics from the bullets they found in her to another shooting.
They knew it wasn’t me, since I was already under lock and key, so they arrested the other guy.
When the detective mentioned that the same bullets were found in my ex’s body, the guy broke down.
He told them he didn’t mean to kill her.
He’d been drunk, they got into a fight, she threatened to go to the cops about his extracurricular activities, and he pulled out a gun to scare her.
She tried to take it away from him, and it went off.
Instead of calling an ambulance, he shot her again to make sure she couldn’t testify. ”
“Holy shit!”
“Raylee’s mom didn’t have the best taste in men.” Shiloh laughed self-consciously. “Other than me, of course.”
“Of course,” I agreed with an answering smile.
“County jail sucked, but what Raylee endured while I was locked up was far worse.”
“What happened? Was she staying with family?”
“Other than her mom, I’m her only family.
She and I were both only children, and she hadn’t talked to her parents in years.
A car accident killed mine while I served my first sentence.
With her mom gone, Raylee went into foster care and got bounced around the state.
She lived in some great places and some really shitty places, all while dealing with her mom’s death and finding her body.
Luckily, as soon as I got out, I was able to get her back.
Of course, she’d spent all that time thinking I killed her mother, so it was quite a shock when she found out that it wasn’t me at all. ”
“I bet she felt horrible.”
“She still does. She’s got some issues now that we’re working through together. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised she hasn’t called me to pick her up yet.”
“She’ll be safe at Jolie’s, and I know they won’t do anything to . . .”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with Jolie and Dante.
If I didn’t trust them, she wouldn’t be there in the first place.
Biscuit has abandonment issues now and doesn’t feel secure unless she’s in her own space.
That’s why she’s not in school. We’ve been working on getting her out more, and I was ecstatic when she told me she wanted a job.
Finding out you were related to Dante’s old lady made me even happier and guaranteed that I could trust you to take care of her. ”
“Of course!” I thought about it for a second. “That explains a lot.”
“What does?” Shiloh asked.
“Why Raylee is so timid sometimes and anxious other times,” I said. “I get it now. I mean, I don’t know exactly how she’s feeling, but it’s easier to understand why she’s that way.”
“She’s a work in progress, but aren’t we all?” he asked softly.
“I’m not. There’s no need to work on perfection,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Shiloh took the bait and shocked me when he said, “The packaging is perfection. The attitude could use some work, but it’s sexy as hell. Still, I’ll have to reserve my assessment of what really matters until I get to know you a little better.”
“What do you think really matters?”
“Looks fade over time, but a good heart just gets better with age and wisdom.”
“And you don’t know if I’ve got a good heart yet?”
“I sure as hell hope you do, since you’re my girlfriend and all. But it might take a few more dates for me to make sure.”
I found that even though he had quite an illustrious history, I wanted to get to know Shiloh Duvall better because I already knew his heart was pure. And, of course, the packaging was pretty damn spectacular too.