Fire and Rain, Season 2, Episode 5 (Rising Storm) (7 page)

Dakota spun around. “You’re so full of it.”

Another loud noise shook the house, this one sounding like something crashed to the ground, followed by the tiniest, muffled whimper.

That set her sister off again. She pointed a shaking finger in the direction of their parents’ room. “I’m full of it?
I’m
full of it? You’re so determined to justify everything Hector does that you’ve created an entire
fake world
in your head where whatever noise we just heard, and however bruised or banged up our mom ends up being as a result of it, you’re somehow always going to figure that it’s
her
fault? That she’s
that
clumsy, but for months, with him gone, she never fell
once
?”

“Shut up,” Dakota snapped, fed up. “Just shut up. You’d both do anything to make Dad look bad. You love the attention. Well, I’ve had it. I’m leaving.”

“You’re just like him,” Mallory snarled. “You’re a bully, and you only care about yourself.”

Dakota’s only response was to slam the door behind her as she left.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Marcus watched as his sister strode toward him, eyes flashing in anger.

“What’s your problem?” she asked him by way of a greeting, the words coming out on a snarl.

“You,” he replied, feeling his own temper rise. “You’re my problem. You and our worthless, abusive father. I’m surprised you could stop kissing his ass long enough to leave on your own. Did he need you to run an errand for him? Or are you actually doing something productive?”

“You know what I’m
not
doing?” she shot back. “Getting a job. You know why? Mom sabotaged it for me.”

“Sabotaged?” he asked, eyes narrowing. That only sounded like one person, and it wasn’t their mother. “Mom isn’t the one that sabotages. And are you talking about the job at Pink?”

“The lack of a job at Pink, yes, and she sure does. She’s got this whole town so brainwashed against Daddy that our name is a black mark against me. It’s sickening.”

“Mother is not the one that’s done that to our name. It’s Hector…and you. If you didn’t get the job, that’s on you, not Mom.”

“Oh, please. You all just want attention, and not only is it pathetic, it’s gotten old. Just let it go already.”

“We want attention? After all of the things you’ve done, you have the nerve to accuse someone else of that? You’re thinking of yourself there. And why aren’t you with dear old
Daddy
this morning?” He studied her. “You’re somehow behind him coming back, aren’t you?” He’d suspected it the minute he’d realized how happy she was to see Hector and how unsurprised.

She didn’t deny it, damn her.

“So where is he now?” he asked, glancing around suspiciously.

“At home,” she answered, and this time she smirked. “He’s not going anywhere. I just stepped out because Mom and Dad are fighting. It’s about time they had it out. Mom has a lot to answer for. I hope he gives it to her good.”

Marcus felt ill suddenly. “Do you even know what that means? Dad’s version of giving it to her good ends with an excuse about her falling down the stairs. How many times is she going to trip or fall or turn up with bruises that never make sense before you see him for what he is?”

Their conversation thus far had been hostile, but relatively quiet. At his words, Dakota’s voice suddenly raised, and he became conscious for the first time that they might be making a scene in the parking lot closest to the square.

“You’re a liar!” she spat at him. “You’re all liars. If Daddy was like that, I would know it. I know him better than
any
of you!”

He was suddenly too incensed to care about being overheard, but he managed to keep his voice down anyway as he responded with a furious, “Here’s what you know! A
different
version of him than the rest of us. Because that’s what he allows you to see, and you help him with the lie by
being in denial
. How do you explain that in all these months with him gone, Mom hasn’t had one ‘accident?’ Not one. But within a few minutes of him being back, she predictably ‘trips.’ Go ahead, try to explain that to me.”

“She likes to get him in trouble,” Dakota defended, but her voice was trembling. Marcus suspected, but was afraid to really hope, that she was beginning to see the truth. “She likes the attention.”

“Think about Mom. Who she is. What makes her happy and what embarrasses her. Do you really think she enjoys the type of attention she got when she ‘tripped’ and had her husband and oldest daughter berate her for it? Does that add up to you?”

Dakota didn’t respond to him for a long time, and as they stood there staring at each other, Marcus wondered why he even bothered. It was possible that Dakota was as much of a lost cause as Hector. Marcus was likely just wasting his time by even trying to convince her of the truth.

In fact, that was very likely. He couldn’t even get their mother to walk away from his asshole of a father. It still stung that Joanne had chosen that abusive bastard, once again, over her children. Over her own welfare. She’d rather live as his punching bag than leave him.

What could anyone do about that?

And Dakota had, as always, automatically sided with Hector. The blind little fool.

* * * *

Dakota stared at Marcus’s back, her temper rising. “Screw you!” she snarled.

He spun back around. “You want to know why he treats you differently? Why you see such a different side of him? Why you’re his favorite?”

Her jaw was set stubbornly, but for some reason, she was feeling more and more ill at ease. “Why?” she asked.

“Because you’re just like him, and that should worry you.”

Dakota felt disloyal to her father, but for some reason the comparison offended her. She compensated for her mixed emotions by lashing out. “You’re the violent one! You’ve gotten into way more fights than I have!”

“Never in my life have I hurt someone that was weaker than me. Someone that was helpless. I’ve never
bullied
anyone, Dakota. Can you say the same?”

She opened her mouth to retort, but he wasn’t done.

“You’ve alienated everyone around you except for Hector, and vice versa. What does that tell you?”

She really didn’t like the way those words made her feel, so she lashed out again. “You’re just upset because once Daddy came home you were booted out! You don’t get to stay at the house anymore! I’m not the outcast here! You aren’t even allowed to come back.”

“You think I want to stay there?” he asked her, eyes wide, voice incredulous. “It’s toxic when he’s around, and I can’t get far enough away. Good luck to you. You’re going to need it.” With that parting shot, he strode away.

Dakota glared at him even after he’d left her sight. “Insufferable, self-righteous prick!” It had taken some time for her to muster up a comeback, but better late than never.

“Whoa!” a voice with a smile in it said behind her. “I hope that wasn’t directed at me. What’d I do now?”

She turned to meet the amused eyes of Patrick Murphy. She lifted an imperious brow at him. She couldn’t forget for a second just who he was related to. His brother Dillon had unfairly and unlawfully run her daddy out of town.

Still, Patrick was always pleasant to her; in fact he was one of the few people in town that was actually nice. “That was for Marcus. Ugh! He pisses me the hell off.”

“Brothers do that sometimes. All of them do. Trust me. Even the good ones.”

“Well, my brother is never on my side, no matter how much I’ve been wronged. Do you know how frustrating that is?

“I don’t. But it sounds rough. Hey, are you in a big hurry? I was about to grab some lunch. Would you like to join me?”

Her eyes narrowed on him suspiciously. “What, like as a date?”

He didn’t seem at all offended that she obviously found that idea distasteful. His smile was rueful but still friendly. “No. Like as a friend. Do you have a problem with the idea of being my friend?”

She was still wary. “Your family doesn’t like me.”

“My family likes you fine. Your dad, not so much, but that has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes, it does. If you have a problem with him, you have a problem with me.”

He cocked his head to the side, studying her curiously, but not in a way she took exception to. He wasn’t judgmental like everyone else in this podunk town. He was actually one of the few people that still treated her like a person. “You’re close with your father, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I always have been. He’s the only person who thinks I’m perfect just the way I am.”

“I can see where that would be nice.”

“Your family loves you. Isn’t it the same way with your parents?”

“Oh yeah, they love me, I love them. I have a great family. But nobody thinks I’m perfect. When I’m wrong about something, or just being an ass, there’s always someone in my family that will let me know.”

She glared. “I see what you did there. You’re saying I’m wrong and that I’m being an ass.”

“I didn’t say that. I was referring to myself and the fact that nobody thinks I’m perfect. Let’s go grab some food.”

“Fine,” she agreed. If they were going to talk all day anyway, they may as well eat.

Lunch was nice. She unloaded on him, venting it all out, and he listened to her, letting her know his opinion, which wasn’t always the same as hers, but he managed to get his point across without making her feel stupid or coming across as judgmental. She liked that about him. It made her feel comfortable. Comfortable enough to eventually ask him in a small voice. “If my dad was as awful as they say, I’d know it, right?”

He sent her a look that could only be described as sympathetic. It would have bothered her if not for the fact that he was starting to grow on her. “Somewhere deep down, you would definitely know it.”

She wasn’t sure how to take that answer, so she finished her food in silence.

When Patrick insisted on paying for lunch, she asked him saucily, “Are you sure this wasn’t a date? Don’t friends go dutch treat?”

That made him laugh, and she realized that she liked making him laugh. Maybe he
was
kind of her friend.

It had been a pleasant outing, but as they went their separate ways, she felt more conflicted than ever.

Unlike almost everyone else she knew, Patrick never openly condemned her father or tried to make her feel bad for taking Hector’s side.

Somehow that was more effective at making her question herself. The quiet way he’d scrutinized her as she defended her daddy had been disorienting. She’d found her excuses ringing hollow when she analyzed them herself.

Why
did Hector always need an excuse?

She’d been so defensive for so long that it just came second nature for her to make excuses for him, but why did it always come to that?

What if you’re wrong about him?
A small, niggling voice in her head spoke up, and not for the first time. That voice had started out quiet but was getting louder by the day.

What if you’ve always been wrong about Daddy?

She shook off the thought because if she was wrong, and if everyone was telling the truth about her father, it meant he was a monster and that
she
was one for defending him.

So she tried her best to quiet that voice and to cling to the hope that everyone else was wrong.

Because the fact was, Hector was all she had.

* * * *

Mallory left her house wondering if she’d ever be able to make herself go back now that her dad was home.

Things had gotten so ugly so fast, but that always seemed to be the case with Hector.

And Dakota. She’d been turning into a downright pleasant person for a time there, but the second their father had come back, she’d become his vicious little puppet again.

That fact disgusted Mallory as much as it baffled her. How could Dakota not see him for what he was? How was she that good at lying to herself?

Mallory would never understand and frankly didn’t want to. In fact, she didn’t care if she ever saw her sister again.

What she needed was to see Luis. He’d make her feel better. He always did.

“What’s wrong?” her boyfriend asked as soon as he opened the door.

She grimaced. “I don’t ever want to go home again. Can I come live here?” She was only half joking.

He grinned. “Works for me. My sister would flip, but I could just sneak you in the window.”

There it was. Already he’d teased a small smile out of her.

“Yeah, because that went so well the last time.” They both smiled. “In the meantime, what should we do? I can’t go home right now.”

“Hit up Cuppa Joe downtown? We could walk around. Or whatever you want.”

“That sounds good.”

They grabbed coffee and muffins from his sister’s coffee shop, chatting with Marisol for a time.

Mallory just picked at her muffin, despite the fact that usually these were her favorite. “Not hungry?” Luis asked, pulling her attention from the growing pile of crumbs.

“Not really.” She sighed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, his voice hesitant.

For a minute Mallory considered lying to him, but then decided on the truth. “It’s the same thing it always is when my dad is here. Everything in my family goes to shit. Dad is the same. He hasn’t changed a bit, in fact he might be worse, and Dakota has taken on her other, eviler personality. I guess the worst part is that I feel so helpless, when for a while things were starting to seem like they were going to get better. Like my mom was going to get to move on with her life.” Mallory folded her napkin over and over, bitterness washing through her. “I wish Dad had never come back. I wish that more than anything.”

“I’m sorry,” Luis said simply. “You and I will just have to spend all of our time together until he leaves again.”

She smiled despite herself.

After finishing their coffee, they took a stroll around town square. When they passed by the Storm Oak, Mallory stopped.

“What is it?” Luis asked.