Chapter Two
Ibarely remember the five-mile walk into town.
My body and brain are working on autopilot as I try to understand what just happened.
It wasn’t my imagination, not with how my father and Dale reacted.
I just don’t understand any of it. The lights, the wind, the house acting as if it could feel me—all of it was real, and yet how could it be?
I shake my head, feeling more confused than ever.
Maybe I have a concussion. It wouldn’t be the first time.
But then what did my father mean when he said I was only sixteen? What did that have to do with anything?
I shake my head, then groan when it screams in protest. Even my neck hurts from trying to hold it up. I picture myself, for a moment, with a huge, inflated head on a tiny body. It’s enough to almost make me smile.
With my head down, I head toward the clinic, going over the events again and again, wondering if I missed some clue that might explain what happened. If I did, I can’t see it.
Before I replay events for a fifth time, a body plows into me, knocking me flat on my back, my head bouncing painfully off the concrete. “Watch where you’re going,” a voice snarls at me as it storms past.
“What the fuck?” a second person curses.
I feel hands sliding underneath me to pick me up. I whimper, but don’t have the strength to fight them off.
“Hold on for me, Calliope.”
I crack my eyes open, but all I see is dark stubble across a defined jaw. I let my eyes slip closed as the stranger carries me. He pushes a door open and carries me inside, somewhere cool with AC whirring in the background.
“Austin? Oh my goodness, what happened?” I hear someone say.
“Andy knocked her flying, but she looked like she was already in bad shape.”
Austin? As in Austin Dyer? Oh crap.
“Who is it—oh, Calliope.” The woman’s voice changes from concerned to wary in the blink of an eye. “Take a seat. We’ll get to you when we can.”
“Take a seat? She’s fucking bleeding all over the place. And from the way her head hit the pavement, she likely has a concussion.”
“I understand that, but she’ll need to wait her turn, like everyone else.”
I feel us turning. I crack my eyes open again to see what he’s looking at, but I don’t see anyone. Ah, I get it.
“Take her turn? With whom? The invisible man?”
“Austin—”
“It’s Mr. Dyer to you. Either get a doctor out here or get the fuck out of my way.”
When she hesitates, he stalks toward the back rooms. He kicks a door open while she protests.
“What is going on here? Austin, what is this?”
“What this is, doc, is gross fucking negligence. Not sure how you’d feel if this girl keeled over and fucking died in your waiting room. Your receptionist would surely be fine with it, but then it’s not her they’d investigate, is it?”
I stare up at the man in surprise as I try to remember the last time someone came to my defense. I come up blank.
“Lay her on the bed. Trisha, we will talk after this. It seems the last time we spoke, you weren’t paying attention.”
Trisha, the rude receptionist, huffs and leaves as Austin lays me gently on the bed. I whimper, making him curse.
“Sorry, little one. Doc will fix you up in no time,” he tells me softly.
I stare at his face and feel my skin heat.
Austin Dyer might be 10 years older than me, but that doesn’t make him any less handsome.
With his dark hair and even darker eyes, he has that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going on, but I’ve always steered clear.
Not that he’d ever usually look at me twice, of course.
There’s something about the man that intimidates me, not quite in the same way that my father does, but in a way that’s just as unnerving.
The fact that he’s Andy’s brother adds to my need to keep my distance.
Everyone knows how Andy treats me, and nobody stops it, most likely because they’re scared of Austin.
A man who stepped up to look after his brother after his mother got sick and died, and his father and some of his buddies were killed in some kind of hunting accident.
I don’t know the details, but there are dozens of rumors swirling around his rise to infamy.
If my father is the king of Crowhurst, then Austin is the ruler of the underbelly.
Where he rules with fists, Austin rules with cunning.
Both are formidable in their own ways, which is why I can’t understand how my father thinks a marriage between Andy and me would work.
Aside from the fact that Andy is a colossal dick, I can’t imagine why Austin would ever consider tying himself to a man like my father. It makes no sense.
“Calliope. Can you tell me what happened?” Doc Jenkins asks, nudging Austin aside.
“Does it matter?”
“No, I suppose not.” He sighs.
“The fuck it doesn’t,” Austin snaps, folding his arms.
“Austin, you may go now. I’ve got this,” the doctor tells him. He leans over and shines a light in my eyes, making me want to punch him in the face.
“All due respect, doc, I think I’ll stay.”
I swallow, unsure what to say or do.
“Calliope?” The doctor looks at me with a stern expression, but I’m not sure what he’s expecting me to do. I’m the fucking kid here.
I look to Austin, but the glare he sends me has any protest dying on my tongue.
“He can stay,” I reply, tearing my eyes from him to look at the doctor, who frowns with disapproval.
The doctor turns to Austin. Guess what? The guy’s expression works just as well on him, and he quickly turns back to me.
He focuses on my face, moving his fingers over the tender spots, making me hiss.
“The cut above your eyebrow is pretty deep, but I think I’ll get away with gluing it. You hurt anywhere else?”
“The puddle of blood behind her head not giving that away?” Austin growls.
The doctor ignores him and indicates for me to sit up. I do as he wants, instinctively wrapping my arm around my ribs, unable to hold back the groan.
“Your ribs hurt? But you landed on your back,” Austin points out. I look away without replying.
Once the doctor has finished checking the back of my head, he tells me to lie back down again.
“You have a goose egg on the back of your head and a small cut that will need gluing. Head wounds tend to bleed a lot, making things seem worse than they actually are. Everything else looks good. No concussion, far as I can tell, but you know what to look out for. Let me grab the glue.”
He moves away as Austin follows him with his eyes.
When he turns back to me, he moves to the edge of the bed.
Before I can react, he reaches up and pops open the top button of my dress.
My mouth drops open in surprise, stealing my ability to object.
He has the following three buttons open before I can think to protest.
“Mr. Dyer, what do you think you’re doing?” the doctor hisses when he walks back over.
“Your job, apparently. You could see she was injured elsewhere. You just didn’t care. I’d like to know why.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I whisper, drawing the edges of my dress together to hide the bruises he just exposed.
“Yes, it fucking does.”
“No. It doesn’t. If you make a fuss, the next time I need treatment, I’ll get turned away at the door. Please don’t make trouble for me.”
Austin grits his teeth before looking at the doctor whose face has paled. “Is she correct?”
“I do what I can, Austin, which honestly is more than most.”
“Right.”
The doctor sighs as Austin moves back. He cleans the area around my eye, applies the glue, and then pinches the skin together.
“Done.” He looks me over, a glint of remorse in his eyes. “I can give you some pain meds.”
“No, thank you. They make me drowsy, and I need my wits about me.”
I hear Austin grinding his teeth together, but I don’t look at him. I sit up gingerly as the doctor goes through how to look after my wound and what to look out for regarding concussions. It’s unnecessary. We’ve both been here before, and I’m sure we’ll be right back here before the month is out.
“Thanks, doc,” I tell him as I ease myself off the bed.
“Take care of yourself, Calliope.”
Sure. I’ll get right on that.
Austin gets the door and holds it open for me to pass. Austin heads back into the room, so I leave him to it, heading out into the waiting room.
Trisha eyes me with distaste. I offer her a broad smile, not caring when my lip splits once more. It adds to the look I’m going for, which is homicidal, at least today. I see the fear in her eyes, and it warms my little black heart.
“Try not to fall down again, Calliope. I know how clumsy you can be.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure if I do trip, it will be right on your boyfriend’s dick. Oh, wait, that’s right, you don’t have a boyfriend, do you? He traded up to Clarissa. Good for him.”
“Bitch.”
I curtsey, ignoring the pain. “Thank you.” I turn and walk out with my head held high, even though it throbs like a motherfucker and my eyeball feels like it’s hanging out of its socket.
Closing the door behind me, I breathe in the fresh air and take a moment to center myself.
I had planned to wander around town so people could see my bruises and cuts.
I wanted them to look me in the eye while they pretended they didn’t know one of their own was beating me.
Making them feel like shit is one of my only guilty pleasures.
But right now, I don’t think I have it in me.
I look toward the diner before turning in the other direction toward the library. Decisions, decisions.
I hear the door open behind me, but I ignore it and decide the library will be the lesser of two evils. I might not have the focus to read right now, but perhaps I can find a hiding spot in the stacks and take a nap.
“Let me give you a ride.”
I jump at the sound of Austin’ voice, not realizing he was standing right behind me.
“That’s okay.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist.” He takes me by the elbow and leads me over to his shiny Range Rover.
“Seriously, I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. Now stop talking before I lose my shit.”
I let my mouth snap closed, not sure I want to know what that looks like. As we get closer, I realize someone is leaning against the passenger side door.
Andy. Fuck.
He must hear us approach because he turns toward us. Seeing me, he grimaces before stalking forward. “What the fuck do you want, freak?” Before I can answer, he drags a finger down my tender cheek. “I like what you did with your face. It’s a definite improvement.”
Austin’s fist comes out of nowhere, surprising us both. Before I can make a sound, Andy is sprawled on the ground, blood streaming from his nose.
“Touch her again, and I’ll rip your fingers off and feed them to you.”
“What the fuck, Austin? You hit me. What, you fucking the freak now?”
Austin squats, fisting the front of Andy’s shirt, lifting him half off the ground, and holding him an inch from his face. “It’s like you want me to make you bleed. Tell me, Andy, why the fuck do I keep making excuses for you? You’re nothing more than a fucking shit stain.”
“You promised Mom you’d take care of me,” he whines, which is every bit as unattractive as it sounds.
“And that’s the only reason I haven’t buried you already. Right now, I’m thinking some promises were made to be broken.”
I look between the two of them and decide I don’t want to get caught in the middle of this. All it will do is add fuel to the fire and give Andy one more reason to wail on me. Not that he needs a reason to treat me like I’m a human punching bag. I’m just one of the lucky ones.
As if sensing where my thoughts have gone, I’ve no sooner taken a step back than Austin is standing up in front of me. “Get in the car.”
“Look I can just—”
He places a finger over my lips, making me gasp in surprise. “Get in the fucking car,” he growls softly.
Okay, getting in the car.
His voice might be filled with menace, but I don’t feel any fear, which is as confusing as everything else right now. Again, I have to question whether I hit my head harder than I realized. All of this is just weird, which, coming from me, is saying something.
I leave them to it and get in the car, my body protesting at the move. I watch Austin through the window as he ducks back down and deals with Andy again. I can’t hear what’s being said, and I’m not sure I want to. Instead, I slip my seatbelt on and rest my head against the cool glass.
I jolt when the door opens, turning slightly to watch as Austin climbs in. He closes the door and looks me over before strapping himself in.
“You good?”
I shrug, not really sure how to answer that. As he starts the engine, I frown. “What about Andy?”
“You really want him in the car with us?”
“Well, no, but he’s your brother.”
“And his legs work just fine. I can’t guarantee I won’t crack his skull if I don’t get a fucking minute to calm down.”
“Okay,” I whisper, unsure how to reply to that.
“Where am I taking you?”
Even though I think the library is the better option, I know I need to eat something. “The diner?”
He looks at me and frowns. “I’m not sure your head is going to cope with the noise level there.”
“I’m not going home yet. I can’t.”
He grits his teeth as he starts the engine and pulls away from the curb.
I lean back and close my eyes, letting the hum of the engine soothe me.
Sleep is something I struggle with the most. Letting my guard down in the house when my father’s always there, ready to take advantage, isn’t an option.
I’ve become accustomed to sleeping lightly and maybe only grabbing a few hours here and there.
Why I feel safe in this man’s presence is beyond me.
I recognize danger when I see it, but for some reason, my senses aren’t going off.
It’s as if I’ve convinced myself that he might be a danger to others, but he’s not to me.
And that’s crazy talk because I don’t know this man from Adam.
What I do know is that his brother is the spawn of Satan and that he might be the only person my father is wary of.
I must drift off, my wayward thoughts distracting me. I wake up because the car has stopped, only I don’t recognize where I am.
I turn to look at Austin. For the first time, I feel unsure about my actions. He might have been kind to me, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an ulterior motive. “Austin?”
He reaches over and lightly grabs my elbow. My sleeve slips up, revealing my birthmark. Austin’s eyes drift down to it. He frowns, but he doesn’t ask any questions as I tug my arm free and my sleeve down.
“You need some place to relax where people won’t bother you. There is no place better than this.”
“And where exactly is this?” I ask warily as I glance out at the large house.
“Home.”