Dangerous (27 page)

“I don’t know yet. His father may find me a place with one of his other businesses, or I may have to start sending out my resume. I should know next week.”

“Nine hundred dollars,” I repeated, thinking Stone was so close to meeting his father’s goal. Then, a horrible thought occurred to me. “The fifteen hundred dollar
check
he gave me? That’s what made him come up short, isn’t it?”

Tom started to open his mouth, but closed it again.

“I feel horrible.” I sunk against the counter, palming my face.

“Dara, he and I had a discussion about that. He knew there was a good chance that he would fall just short of his father’s goal. It was a risk he was willing to take. He wanted you to have that money.”

“If I still had it, I’d give it back to him, but I bought a car.”

“Good,” Tom said, patting me awkwardly on the shoulder. “That’s what he wanted you to do.”

“When you see him, will you tell him that I came by?”

“I certainly will,” Tom promised, pushing his shaggy hair away from his eyes.

“Thanks, Tom.” I smiled at him. “Good luck. I hope Mr. Hamilton finds you another position.”

“I appreciate that. Good luck to you, too.”

I gave him a slight wave as I turned and left the building.

Sitting in my car, I couldn’t help but feel guilty. If Stone hadn’t given me the money, his father wouldn’t be closing the store. I justified it, thinking that Stone shouldn’t have laid me off, but either way, it didn’t matter. What was done was done. We needed to find a solution.

I texted Stone, begging him to talk to his father, to tell him how important the bookstore was to him and how it reminded him of Luke. I had never met Mr. Hamilton, but if there was any decency in him at all, surely if he knew that Stone wanted the store as a tribute to Luke, he could find a way to keep the store open, at least for a little while longer.

Despair closed in on me. It was bad enough that Stone was angry with me and refused to speak to me, but now he would lose the bookstore, too.

I cranked my car engine. I needed to talk to Granny.

Chapter 14

Stone

Despite the fact that my parents were home, the house was quiet, most likely because my parents and I were avoiding each other. Every time we spoke, it turned into a shouting match. I knew I hadn’t been helping matters. I was still pissed that Dara had lied to me. She claimed that she hadn’t known it was her father that had killed Luke, but how could I believe that? How could she not know?

That wasn’t the kind of thing one kept a secret.

Just when I thought my life didn’t quite suck, it bit me in the ass to remind me just how screwed up everything was and that there was no escaping.

I stared at the ceiling as I lay in my bed. I had no desire to get up. There was no one to see, nowhere to go. Why show up at the bookstore? Tom assured me that he had it handled, and it would be closing soon, anyway. Not to mention that Dara wouldn’t be there. The motivation to work had been sucked out of me, leaving nothing but the hollow feeling of worthlessness in its place. I ran my fingers through my hair. How much more screwed up could my life get? I couldn’t even call Jess now. There was no way I was going to contact her after she had professed her love for me when I didn’t feel the same. I knew everyone thought I was a prick, but I didn’t screw with girls’ feelings, which is why I normally chose to hang out with girls who were as emotionally unattached as I was.

There were other girls I could call
,
but Dara had changed things.

I rubbed my bare chest. I had tried to block her from my mind, and I had been successful at ignoring most of her texts. I did open one that she had sent me yesterday, and although I hadn’t responded to her, I thought about her words. She wanted me to talk to my dad about the bookstore, and while her arguments made sense, I just didn’t know if I was up for sharing my feelings with my father. We weren’t touchy-feely kind of guys, and I had no intention of starting now.

A knock sounded at my door. I said nothing, hoping that whoever it was would think I was asleep and go away.

“Stone?” my mother’s voice called cautiously.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

My mom cracked the door open and stepped inside. “We have a visitor. Why don’t you get dressed and meet us in the great room?”

“Mom, I really don’t feel….”

“It’s Dara’s grandmother.”

That got my attention. I pushed myself up on my elbow. “What’s she doing here?”

“She wants to talk to us, all of us.”

“What’s there to talk about?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but it seems very important to her that we all listen to what she has to say. I want you to get dressed and join us in the great room.”

I rolled out of bed.
“Fine.”
I had to confess that this turn of events had piqued my curiosity.

My mother stepped out of my room and gently closed the door. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, combed my hair, and walked barefoot to the great room, where my father and mother were already discussing the weather with Granny.

Granny was perched on the edge of her chair. In my mind, she was the quintessential grandmother with her soft, gray curls that framed a kind, wrinkled face, her easy smile, and her blue polyester pantsuit.

“Granny, how are you?” I asked, as I entered the room from the hallway.

“I’m doing
good
. It’s Dara that I’m worried about,” she said, her hands folded primly in her lap. “I know y’all are wondering what I’m doing here, and I just want a few minutes of your time to explain some things to you. I’m not asking you to respond. I just want to say my piece.”

“Okay,” I agreed, taking a seat by my mother on the couch.

Granny looked at my mom, and she gave Granny an encouraging nod.

“I know that because of the actions of my son, y’all have lost your son. If I could, I would gladly give up my life, if it would mean that your son could be here with you, safe and sound.

“I lost my son a long time ago to alcoholism. Believe me, I tried to get him some help, but nothing worked. He would disappear for months at a time. Dara rarely even saw him. When the incident happened, I didn’t tell Dara. She was only fourteen years old, and well, I just didn’t know how to break the news to her. When it was time for the trial, I sent Dara to stay with my niece in Nashville. She didn’t know what was going on. She just thought she was visiting them for the summer. When she came back, I did tell her that her father had killed someone while driving under the influence and that he had been incarcerated. I never told her about the victim because he was close to her own age, and I didn’t want to upset her. She never asked any questions. I thought it was probably better that way. I wanted to protect her, so I told her not to tell anyone. Since Dara has her mother’s last name, I figured that most people at school wouldn’t make the connection between Dara and her father.

“Dara told me that she had lied to you, Stone, about her father, but when she told you she didn’t know he had killed your brother, she was telling the truth. I didn’t make the connection, either.

“Dara’s heartbroken. Be mad at my son. Be mad at me. But please, don’t hold it against Dara.” She held up her hands. “I don’t want you to say anything. Just please think about it.”

My mother nodded her head. “We will, Mrs. Baxter. We just want you to understand how difficult the entire situation is for us.”

“Believe me, honey, I understand.” Granny handed me an envelope. “Dara wanted me to give this to you.”

I took it from her, staring at Dara’s neat handwriting. Then, my eyes met Granny’s. “Thanks for coming by.”

My father rose, shook her hand, and opened the front door for her.

After she had left, we all sat in the great room, discussing her visit.

“We shouldn’t hold the girl or her grandmother responsible,” my father said.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of anyone holding them responsible,” my mother countered. “It’s just being around them brings it all back.”

“Olivia, Luke’s gone. We all have to accept that and move on,” Dad said.

“Then why, even now, do you blame me for his death?” I asked him, anger bubbling up inside of me.

“Blame you?” he asked. “Is that what you think?”

“Things have been different since his death. Between us, I mean,” I told my father. “It’s been different since I told you that I had dared him to leave the house that night.”

“Was I aggravated that you would encourage anyone to sneak out of the house? Yes.
Just like I’ve been aggravated all the times that you’ve been caught sneaking out of the house.
Was the accident your fault? No, Stone, it wasn’t. Luke made the decision to leave the house that night. You didn’t force him. He should’ve been home, but he wasn’t the one driving under the influence. At over twice the legal limit, I might add. The guy was in Luke’s lane. The blame rests solely on Ford Baxter’s shoulders, and no one else’s.

“All this time, you thought I blamed you?” he continued, a look of shock on his face.

“Why wouldn’t I? Nothing I do is ever good enough for you. You’re always telling me that I’m screwing up, that Luke would’ve done things differently. I know that you wish that Luke was here, not me.” I turned and rushed toward my room.

“That’s not true. Come back here, Stone,” my father thundered.

“Let him go,” my mother said softly.

I put on my shoes, grabbed my keys, and stormed out through the basement door. I needed to talk to Dara.

I texted her and asked her if she could meet me at Quail Mountain Park. In less than a minute, she had texted me back, telling me that she was on her way.

Since I lived closer to the park, I arrived first. I parked my motorcycle in the shade and waited for her beneath the weeping willow tree.

When she arrived, I stepped out from under the willow branches. “Hey,” I said when she was close enough to hear me. She looked exhausted and disheveled.

“Hey, Stone.”

“How’ve you been?”

Instead of answering me, she sprinted toward me and flung her arms around my neck, nearly knocking me off balance. “I’m sorry, Stone. I’m sorry that I lied to you.”

I didn’t respond. I just held her close, realizing how much I had missed her over the last couple of weeks. She smelled good, and I buried my face in her hair.

I pulled her away from my neck and looked at her. “Dammit, Dara, don’t you understand? You were the one person that made me want to give a damn.” I rammed my hands through my hair. “I thought I could trust you.”

“You can,” she whispered, leaning into my chest. “I was just embarrassed. Having to tell people that your father is in jail is….”

“
It’s
okay, Dara. I get it. I just wished you would’ve trusted me enough to tell me the truth later, after we had gotten to know each other. It was just such a shock.”

“And you think it wasn’t a shock for me?” she asked, her eyes wide. “What? What is it, Stone?

“Dara, it’s just….”

Her lips quivered, and her eyes pooled with tears. I looked away. She knew. She knew what I was going to say.

“Stone, please…,” her voice trailed off.

I couldn’t speak. What I needed to say to her would be painful. I watched the emotions on her face, knowing that she understood all too well the words that were lining up on the tip of my tongue. I wanted things to be different, but it felt as though the entire universe worked against us.

“You haven’t changed your mind, have you?” she
asked,
her voice cracking as she spoke softly. “You’re done with me.”

“Don’t say it like that, Dara.”

“How else should I say it?” she screamed.

“Calm down,” I whispered in an effort to quiet her.

The tears streamed down her face. “I knew that I should’ve stayed away from you.”

“And I warned you to do just that, Dara. Didn’t I tell you that I wasn’t the good guy?”

“Don’t do it, Stone. Don’t push me away. That’s what you always do.”

I exhaled loudly. “It’s all I know to do, Dara. It will never work between us.”

“How can you say that?
Because of my father?
Don’t punish me for what my father did, Stone.”

“I’m not trying to punish you.”

She sobbed uncontrollably. “Well, it feels like I’m being punished. You make me fall in love with you, and then you just walk out of my life like everyone else does.”

“What did you say?” I asked, grasping her upper arms and forcing her to look at me.

“I love you, Stone,” she whispered.

This girl scared the hell out of me, but I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that I liked the sound of that.

I closed the distance between us and kissed her urgently. When we were both breathless, I leaned my forehead against hers. “Dara, I need more time to think things through. I just don’t know if I can do this.”

Silent tears slid down her cheeks, and she nodded.