Crushed (45 page)

Chapter 25

“Call me as soon as you get to Emma’s,” Reece ordered as he walked Cleo into her empty
house. Cleo expected Luci home within the hour
. H
is parents were due home around the same time. “Or call me before that if you need
anything, okay?”

Cleo nodded. “Good luck with your dad, today
,
” she said. “I hope you two can work things out.”

He gave her a look that implied he really didn’t care. “He did this to himself. It’s
my mom I’m more concerned about. I think you’d like her. If you got to know her,”
he said. “She’s actually pretty great.”

“She must be,” Cleo said. She had to assume Reece took after Beth because he was sure
nothing like Landon. She started to fidget. “I really don’t think he’ll be home this
early, but you should probably get going, just in case. And I need to get packing.
There are some things I don’t want to leave here. Mostly pictures of my mom…” she
trailed off.

“You know I’d rather stay,” he pointed out.

“I know,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going to come home. But if he did, you’d just
make it worse. And then I would never be able to get Luci out of here. He has to think
nothing is going on
if
I’m going to get her out of the house. But hopefully we’ll be gone way before he gets
back. That’s the plan, anyway.”

“Okay,” he said as he gave her a kiss goodbye. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

The moment Reece was gone, Cleo went to her room. She pulled out her battered suitcase,
a consignment store relic that she’d rarely had reason to use. She stuffed it full
of clothes as well as the few framed pictures she had. She had a box under her bed
with a few keepsakes of her mom’s that she had tucked away. She slid that into her
suitcase
as well. When she was done
packing her own things, at least what she could fit, she moved to Luci’s room.

She packed her clothes as well as the new books from Reece. She was going to have
to leave a lot behind but she packed what she could—their favorite outfits—and hoped
that she’d be able to come back later for the rest. Though there was no guarantee
of that.

The entire time she was packing, she was very much aware of the time. It was after
eleven. She was expecting Luci to walk in the door any minute. She placed both of
the packed suitcases next to her bedroom door and then wandered through the house.
She was looking for anything else that might be important, anything that she might
regret not taking. Nothing turned up. Anything that had meant anything to her, she’d
already tucked safely into the keepsake box.

With nothing else to do, she began to pace the house. Anxiety was prickling throughout
her body. She wanted this over with as soon as possible. Her heart was beating a little
too rapidly and her skin had broken out in a cold sweat. Talking about it yesterday,
though complicated, it had seemed fairly simple. Pack. Get Luci. Get out. But now
that she was there alone just…
waiting
…she was starting to feel a bit panicked.

The reality was she might not ever come back to this house again. She had such mixed
feelings about that. She tried not to think about it because it was just too overwhelming.

If Paul did come home early, they might need to leave without their bags. She wouldn’t
care
so
much, but he was just nasty enough that she was worried he might destroy the few
things of her mom’s that she’d saved.

She wondered if Reece’s parents were home yet. She hoped his family was able to smooth
things over. Although, she couldn’t even imagine facing Landon again. And if she and
Reece were together—that thought alone suddenly lightened her feeling of dread just
a little—she would probably have to see him. Eventually.

When she finally heard a vehicle pull into the driveway, her already sputtering heart
really took off. She quickly made her way to the front door and Luci came flying in,
throwing her arms around Cleo. But not before Cleo had noticed how red and blotchy
her face was.

“Hey, what wrong?” she asked.

Before Luci could answer, Paul stepped into the entryway and closed the door behind
him.

“Go
ahead, Luce, tell Cleo what the problem is,” he said calmly.

Luci turned her tear-stained face to look up at her sister. “He said that we’re leaving.
But
you
aren’t. He said…he said that he’s not going to have a job anymore.”

“Tell her why,” Paul commanded.

“Because of you,” Luci said quietly. “But I told him that was just stupid—”

“Watch your mouth,” he warned.

Cleo had her arms around Luci still. She edged backward, away from Paul.

“You don’t have to go,” she said.

“After what you pulled the other night?” he scoffed.

“No one said you don’t have a job. Landon doesn’t know Reece was here for my birthday.
He never has to know!” Cleo insisted.

“And where were you this weekend?” His tone was mocking.

“At Emma’s,” Cleo said defiantly.

“Is that so?” he asked. “Are you sure maybe you weren’t with Reece?”

Cleo nodded.

He took a step toward her, using the bulk of his body to intimidate. She didn’t back
down as she slid Luci behind her.

“Yes, I told you. There’s nothing going on with us. Nothing for you to worry about,”
she said in a wobbly voice.

His hand moved so fast Cleo barely saw it. She stumbled back as the
familiar
,
white
-
hot flash of pain
exploded across her face
. Luci let out a sob and Paul stopped directly in front of her.

“Liar. I stopped by the Donovan’s house Friday night. I thought you and I maybe needed
to have a little refresher about our agreement.” He stared at her, waiting for his
words, for their meaning, to take hold.

Cleo’s heart rolled over painfully in her chest. Reece’s vehicle had been parked in
the driveway for hours. Her cheek burned but she was trying not to show it. She blinked
back tears as she waited for him to continue.

“I saw you leave with him Cleo. Did you think I was bluffing? We’ll be out of here
by the end of the week. Did you think I wouldn’t take Luci and go?”

“No,” she said around a sob. Even still, she hoped he was bluffing. She hoped he was
just trying to scare her. It was working. Possibly better than he even imagined. “I
didn’t think you were bluffing. But I didn’t call him. Emma did.”

He let out a sound of disgust. His
face was turning crimson. The c
ords in his neck were bulging and his eyes were hard, cold and full of hatred for
her. “So the other night was because of Luci. Now you’re blaming Emma. But I sure
as hell didn’t see you turning him away. And
you
are the one that chose to leave with him Friday night. You two looked awfully cozy
to me. So don’t you dare lie to me and pretend you weren’t with him all weekend.”

“Why can’t she be with Reece?” Luci demanded between sniffles. “
Why do you care
?!”

Paul had been watching them? He must’ve parked down the street. After he’d seen Reece’s
vehicle, she realized, he’d parked and waited. And now that he knew something was
going on, he’d picked up Luci from the Abernathy’s. He’d obviously wanted to make
an entrance with her, for Cleo’s benefit. And what better way to do that than to get
Luci upset first.

“Cleo,” he said, his voice calm but cold, “I want you out of this house. Now.
Right now
.”

“No!” Luci cried as she flung her arms around her sister. “Don’t go!
Please don’t go
!”

“I’m not leaving,” Cleo told Paul as she hugged Luci close.

“Oh, yes, you are,” he disagreed. “You wanted to be with Reece so much, go ahead and
be with him!”

“I’m going, too!” Luci said as tears streamed down her face. “I want to go with Cleo
and Reece, too! I don’t want to go with you!” She yelled at her dad. She turned to
Cleo, “Please take me with you! Please don’t leave me here!”

“This isn’t up to her,” Paul grated out as he grabbed Cleo by the arm. His fingers
dug in as he pulled Luci away with his other hand. She struggled, holding on tighter
to Cleo who was trying to pull her backwards.

“Paul, please,” Cleo whimpered as her grip started to slip. A few stray tears leaked
out and coursed down her cheeks. “Please don’t do this. I’ll never talk to him again,
I swear! Landon never has to know he was here! It’ll be over, really over!” She didn’t
know if she meant the words or not. She just knew she wasn’t going anywhere without
her sister.

“Luci!” he shouted. “Let go!”

“
No
!” she screamed back.

Paul’s anger surged and the girls’ strength was no match for his own. He easily tore
them apart. Cleo barely registered a popping sound and Luci’s shriek as her body was
thrust down the hallway. Luci landed on her hands and knees, howling in pain. He flung
Cleo in the opposite direction. Her small body collided with the arched doorway that
led into the kitchen.

Starbursts of pain e
rupted
in her head as it hit the edge of the doorframe.

She heard Luci sobbing and heard her scream her name as she toppled to her knees and
then onto her side. Her entire body was vibrating with pain as she lifted her hand
to the searing
agony that had erupted on the side of her head. When she pulled her fingers away,
they were covered in blood. She blinked at it a few times, dazed, and then the world
slipped away.

***

“Landon, how could you? How could you do something so
despicable
?” Beth fumed as she stared at him from across the living room. They had barely gotten
their shoes off before Reece had started filling them both in on what he’d learned
over the weekend. “I feel like I don’t know you at all anymore!”

“Reece,” he said calmly, “you are blowing this out of proportion.”

“Really, dad?” Reece asked angrily.
He had been fully aware of how his dad’s expression had hardened and had then become
impassive. As if he really thought he could blow this off. His mom, on the other hand,
her face had paled. She had listened to Reec
e, shooting questioning looks at
Landon
.
He had not
bothered to deny it
but he refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong
.
“Which part am I blowing out of proportion? How awful you were to Cleo? That you
paid
Paul to keep us apart? That she might lose her sister because you couldn’t
force
me to do what you wanted? Or that as long as you get your way… to hell with everyone
else?!”

Landon looked as though he
was
about to protest, but Reece wasn’t done. “You have no idea how hard you’ve made things
for her! You have no idea what Paul has put her through because of this!”

“I am not going to be held responsible for that man’s actions!” Landon’s voice boomed
through the room.

“Of course not,” Beth said icily. “You won’t even take responsibility for your own
actions. Why would you accept that you attributed to someone else’s?” The moment the
words were out of her mouth, she looked contrite. She worked hard at not bringing
up Landon’s faults in front of Reece. But this one, so obvious, had just slipped out.

Before Landon could answer Beth spoke up again. “I just need to know one thing, Landon.
Is it true? Did you
go behind my back and
pay Paul off and then threaten him with his job?”

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You two are making too much of an issue out
of this.
It wasn’t that much money.
”

“It’s not about the
money
!” Reece shouted.

“Did you really do this because Reece didn’t want to go to the school you picked out?”
Beth asked in disbelief.