Crushed (38 page)

“Cleo,”
he
said softly, hoping to coax her into talking. “We’ve gotten this far. Don’t stop
now.”

But she did. She just sat there, looking at
him
with a miserable expression on her face.

“Don’t you trust me?”
he
asked. “Because if you do, you know you can tell me anything.”

“I know. It’s not you I don’t
trust.” She looked away from
him
. O
ut at the waves hitting the shore.

“Okay,”
he
said, “this is what I think. I think last spring had something to do with Paul. It’s
pretty clear he wasn’t happy to see me the other night.”
His
eyes drifted to her shoulder. She flinched but she nodded. “I just don’t get why.
What does it matter to him who you’re dating? He’s never given a damn about anything
that doesn’t affect him directly.”

Her eyebrows twitched up just a bit.
He
realized
he
was on to something.
He
just didn’t know what. What could Paul have to gain by
him and Cleo
not being together? Why would he suddenly care? Unless
someone
gave him a reason to care.

I
t hit
him
t
hen. Like a ment
al cement block slamming into him
.

“Does this have to do with my dad?”
His
voice sounded like it was echoing in
his
head. Paul worked for
his
dad. His
dad could
make
Paul care.

For a minute, she didn’t move or say anything.
He
was afraid
they were
going to be right back where
they
started. With her
shutting him
out.

She nodded and that small, barely there motion caused a burning surge of anger to
rush through
him
.
Mad
? She had warned
him
. But
he
was so far beyond mad.

“What did he do?”
Reece
demanded.
He
hadn’t realized
how sharp
his
tone was until
he
saw her flinch. “Cleo, tell me.”

She took a breath and then it all came out in a rush.

“He bribed Paul. He told him if he could make me leave you, he’d pay him ten thousand
dollars. Five thousand last spring after we broke up. Five thousand at the end of
this year, if we stayed apart. Paul agreed. The catch was that if we get back together,
Paul loses his job. He agreed and he got the five thousand up front. It was either
keep us apart
and he gets the next payment. Or
allow us to get back together
and he’d be without a job. And it’s not like anyone else in town would hire him. He
agreed. It was easy money and Paul’s never given a damn about me.”

“
And you agreed to it
?”
Reece
asked in disbelief.
His
whole body had gone from red hot rage to a deadened, numbness. She would never have
agreed to something like that. Would she?

A small nod and an apologetic look answered his question
.

Chapter 2
1

Last spring…

Reece and
Cleo
had been sitting at the lake, talking when Paul
called
. He said
Cleo
had
to
come home to watch Luci.
She
was surprised to see his car in the driveway
when they got there
. It wasn’t like him to wait for
her
to get home. He’d just leave Luci alone.
She
let
her
self in. Before
she
’d even closed the door behind
her
, Paul called
her
name from the living room.

“Yeah?”
she
asked as
she
went in to see what he wanted. Nothing could’ve prepared
her
for Landon Hilde
n
brandt standing there. Paul was seated in his recliner

“Hi,”
she
managed to force out. “Reece isn’t here. He just dropped me off,”
she
explained as
she
took a step back.

Mr. Hilde
n
brandt nodded. “Good. Why don’t you have a seat Cleo? The three of us need to have
a talk.”

Something in his voice was telling
her
to leave but
her
feet didn’t obey.
She
found
her
self sitting on the sofa, across from Paul. “Where’s Luci?”

He motioned to her room.

“She doesn’t need to be here for this,” Mr. Hilde
n
brandt told
her
.

“For what?”
she
asked as
her
stomach started tying itself into uncomfortable little knots.

“You think you love my son?” Landon asked
her
.

She nodded,
feeling very much like it had to be a trick question.

“Good. Then you would want what’s best for him?”

She
didn’t answer. There
was something off about this. She
’d felt it the second
she’d
walked in the door.

“You’re ruining his future, Cleo. He’s had his whole future mapped out for years.
And
you
are
ruining
everything.”

She
stood up to leave.
She
could feel something awful heading
her
direction.
She
wanted to get away as fast as
she
could.
She
wanted to call Reece.
She
wanted him to get back here because
she
was sure this was something he would want to know about.
She
was also just as sure that his dad didn’t
want
him to know. There was a reason his vehicle hadn’t been out front. Reece would’ve
seen it and come inside with
her
to see what the hell was going on.

“Sit your ass down, Cleo,” Paul ordered. “If you love your sister, you’ll sit your
ass down and listen.”

“What does Luci have to do with this?”
she
asked. She was
feeling more ill by the second as
she
slumped down onto the cushions again.

“You’re going to break up with Reece. You’re going to let him get on with his life.
You’re going to stop holding him back,” Landon told
her
.

She
sat, frozen. Was this conversation really happening? It couldn’t be. It was too ridiculous.
She
knew how Landon felt about
her
. But for him to be here with Paul? It didn’t make sense. Was this all because Reece
didn’t want to do
exactly
what his dad wanted him to do? Did he think Paul was going to…what? Ground
her
or something? Forbid
her
from seeing Reece?

Landon’s harsh voice cut through
her
thoughts. “I tolerated him dating you all this time. I thought it would end soon
enough. I even tried to ignore the fact that your background is about as disreputable
as they come. That in itself has been a complete embarrassment to our family but I
let it go,” he said, sounding humble for doing so. “I thought this thing would play
itself out. I thought he’d have his fun and move on. But now, my patience has worn
out. He’s at a turning point in his life. Life altering decisions are going to need
to be made in the next year or so. I’m not going sit by and let him throw his future
away for some girl. Especially not you,” Landon informed
her
.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Paul said. “We’ve thought this through. You’re going
to end things with him tomorrow. That’ll give him the whole summer away from you.
No seeing each other. No complications. By next fall, he’ll have moved on.”

She
shook
her
head. “No. No way is that happening.”

“It’s happening,” Paul said confidently. “Because if you don’t, I’m calling Social
Services.” He waved a slip of paper in the air. “I am not your legal guardian. I never
have been and you’re still a minor. I’ve been letting you stay here because I
felt like I owed it to Karla.” Her
stomach lurched at the sound of
her
mom’s name coming from his vile lips. “But my boss has asked me for this favor.” He
shrugged. “I don’t know much about the foster
care
system but I think it’s possible you might end up in another town. Maybe another state?
I know it’ll only be for a while but do you really want that? Do you really want to
go live with strangers? Because I’m telling you, it’s your choice. It doesn’t really
matter to me. But if you refuse to do this, you’re out of here. And even after you
turn eighteen, you won’t be coming back into this house. You’re done seeing Luci.
She’s my kid. If I say you can’t see her, you can’t see her.”

“You
r
father—”

“Step-father,”
she
interjected by force of habit. Even though
she
wasn’t even sure he was technically that anymore.
Her mother’s death, in her mind, severed that unwanted tie.

“He has already agreed,” Landon told
her
. He laid out the terms of the deal they’d made.
She
felt tears burning behind
her
eyes but there was no way
she
was going to cry now. Not in front of them.

Her
eyes darted to Paul who was glowering at
her
, daring
her
to question him.
She
knew better, of course. Then they landed back on Reece’s dad who was watching
her
with an alarming amount of calm.
She
, on the other hand, was anything but calm.
Her
fear started spiraling out of control. Something very close to terror was clawing
its way out of
her
soul. The thought of being thrown into foster care was frightening. The thought of
being separated from Luci was terrifying.
She
had already lost
her
mom.
She
couldn’t handle losing Luci too. And
she knew Luci would
have just as hard of a time losing
her
.
She
couldn’t do that to her.

Her
eyes flew back to Paul again, sucking away on his drink. His face was carefully blank
and
she
hated him.
She
hated him in that moment for his selfishness and his greed.
She
hated him for the simple fact that he was using his own flesh and blood this way.
He knew how much
she
loved
her
sister and he was using it against
her. And against Luci
.