Midnight Secrets (3 page)

A wobbling, obviously drunk Clark Dayton stood before her. Sober, he was one of the most obnoxious guys she knew. Judging by the belligerent smirk on his flushed, round face, being intoxicated hadn’t made him any nicer. After graduating last year, he had left Midnight for college. All three Wilde sisters had been glad to see him go. He had tried to date each of them, and when Savannah, the last one he asked, had turned him down, he had resorted to crude comments and behaving even more obnoxiously.

She stepped around him and said firmly, “I’m going back inside.”

He grabbed her arm and whirled her around. Three other guys were standing behind him. She recognized Clark’s cousin Mason Hardy, but didn’t know the other two. Savannah refused to panic. These jerks were just trying to scare her and admittedly doing an excellent job.

“Let me go.” The words were a demand but she inwardly winced at how shaky and uncertain she sounded.

“I don’t think so. It’s about time you Wilde bitches learned a lesson. You ain’t no better than anyone else.”

“We never said we were. You—” She stopped abruptly. Getting into a verbal shouting match would accomplish nothing. She needed to get away and quick.

Her head twisted so she faced the school building, she pretended she saw someone and called out, “Hey, guys, I’m over here!”

Clark jerked around, giving Savannah the opportunity to jump away from him and run. She took three steps forward before one of the boys she didn’t know stood a few feet in front of her. He began walking toward her, leaving Savannah no choice but to back up. She slammed into an unmovable object—Clark Dayton. Beer-scented breath whispered in her ear, “We’re going to have us some fun.”

He backed away, leaving Savannah to turn slowly around and assess her situation—it wasn’t good. She had somehow been corralled into a dark area of the parking lot. Four drunken young men surrounded her and there was no help in sight.

One of them thrust a bottle toward her. “Take a long, deep swallow … it’ll get you in the mood.”

Having no other choice, Savannah opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of her lungs.

Chapter

Two

Zach Tanner rubbed his tired, gritty eyes and yawned widely as he steered his car toward home. A twelve-hour workday would’ve been bad enough, but he’d had to get up a couple of hours earlier this morning to study. Taking online college courses was a lifesaver since he couldn’t afford to drive to the University of South Alabama campus every day, but it sure cut down on his sleeping time. The psychology test was at noon tomorrow and he was determined to ace it.

This was his last test for the quarter. The better he did on this exam, the better his record would look. It’d taken a lot of work to overcome his rep as a no-good kid. When he’d signed up for the army a couple of months back, he had been warned to keep his nose clean. Telling the recruiter he was following his dad’s footsteps had helped, but still the recruiter hadn’t liked the black marks on Zach’s records, no matter how unfounded they were. He had told him to keep a low profile in town and to stay out of trouble. Zach had done his best to comply. No way in hell was he going to jeopardize his chances. He’d dreamed too long and worked too hard to let anything get in the way. Come August, he was out of Midnight for good and on to a new life.

His family responsibilities were finally ending. After being the sole provider for more years than he liked to remember, he was finally free. His salvation had come by way of Leonard Easley, a widowed bank president from Pascagoula, Mississippi. He’d taken one look at Zach’s mom and fallen head over heels. After all of Francine’s machinations to find a man to take care of her, she’d ended up finding him on the side of the road when she’d run out of gas and Leonard had stopped to help.

It’d taken a few months before Zach was convinced that Leonard was really serious. His mother wasn’t known for good judgment in her selection of men. Nor was she known for her self-control. If Leonard had wanted to, he could easily have kept a casual sexual relationship and Francine would have hung on for as long as she could. Instead, much to everyone’s surprise, Leonard didn’t want casual, he wanted forever.

The day after Leonard proposed, Zach had gone to the army recruiting office in Mobile and signed up. The U.S. Army was not only his ticket out of town, but also the chance to do something worthwhile. He had never known his dad; James Tanner had been killed in a brief conflict in Libya when Zach was a baby. The stories his mother had told him made him want to be the kind of man his father had been—strong, courageous, and honorable.

He had a long way to go. Zach had been an outcast for most of his life. As the son of the town’s “Jezebel,” he had been called every vile name in the book. Also, being poor just seemed to piss some people off. Now it was time to prove that he had something inside of him. Something that didn’t involve scraping, stealing, or wheeling and dealing just to survive.

His number one priority had always been his half brother, Josh. From the time his mother had walked in the door with the small blanket-wrapped bundle, Zach had felt responsible for him. His mother had reinforced those feelings when she’d placed the infant in four-year-old Zach’s arms and said, “You’re the big brother. You’re supposed to watch out for him and protect him.” And that’s exactly what Zach had tried to do. When Eric Adams, Josh’s father and Zach’s stepfather, had walked out on the family, Zach’s responsibilities as a big brother had taken on even more importance.

But now, Josh was sixteen years old, a star football player who had an excellent chance of getting a football scholarship. With Leonard paying the family expenses, Josh would be taken care of until he was out on his own. That peace of mind had given Zach the permission to pursue his own dreams.

The cellphone in the console beside him blared out a loud ring. Zach glared at the thing. He didn’t want to answer, even though he knew he would. He had resisted getting a cellphone because he knew he’d be on call 24/7 and he had been right. His mother thought nothing of calling him, no matter what time or for what reason.

Grabbing the phone before it could blare out another ring, he answered, “Hello?”

“Zachie honey, where are you?”

“I’m headed home, Mom.”

“Well, what’s taking so long? Your shift ended twenty minutes ago.”

That was because he’d sat in his car for a full five minutes and just enjoyed the quiet. No one asking for anything, giving orders, or making demands. Solitude was a precious commodity.

Explaining that would do nothing but make her cry, so he said instead, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Leonard’s already called to say good night, and Josh probably won’t be home for hours. I’m lonesome.”

Zach held his tongue.

“Could you stop and pick up some milk and cigarettes?”

“I thought you told Leonard you had quit smoking.”

“That’s only after we’re married. Till then, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

So much for honesty in a relationship. “I’ll stop for milk. Not cigarettes.”

“You’re such a fuddy-duddy, Zach Tanner. I’m an adult and your mama. You’re supposed to mind me and do what I tell you to do.”

If only that were true. Zach had been nine years old when his stepfather had up and left the family for another woman. That day, in between sobs of despair and curses at her husband, his mother had announced that Zach was now the man of the house. From that moment on, his life had not been his own. Francine had depended upon him for everything.

Zach had recognized early that resenting her demands or control over his life accomplished nothing. His little brother needed to eat. Zach had become an expert on bargain shopping. The monthly swap meet on the outskirts of town became his hunting ground. Paying pennies for dented or unlabeled cans of food or a quarter for day-old bread at the thrift store had sustained them. When even those hadn’t been available or money had been scarce, he had resorted to various other avenues of obtaining food, some legal, some not. He’d learned early that pride or fear couldn’t get in the way of survival.

Social Services had been a constant visitor in their home for a while. Zach had learned to lie about their circumstances. His mother had told him horror stories of what could happen if the family was split up. No matter how hard his life got or what he had to do, the thought of never seeing his little brother again wasn’t something Zach could accept. Eventually, they had stopped checking on them.

“Zach, you still there?”

He shook himself out of his stupor. “Yeah, I’ll stop for milk. Anything else?” Before she could say it, he added, “Besides cigarettes?”

“That’s it. Don’t be long, okay?”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Zach ended the call and blew out another tired sigh.

Despite his happiness that the well-to-do Leonard was serious about marrying Francine, Zach had felt honor-bound to have a long talk with him—he couldn’t allow the man to go into the marriage uninformed. Though Francine had good qualities, her number one priority would always be herself. Having Leonard know that fact upfront would prevent any unpleasant surprises down the line—such as him leaving the way Zach’s stepfather had.

Much to his surprise, Leonard held no illusions about his future wife. He told Zach that he had been a widower for over five years and missed being married. He had enough money to support Francine and her needs. Her lack of maturity charmed him instead of turning him off. Having her depend upon him for everything was exactly what he was looking for.

Deciding that the man did indeed know what he was getting into, Zach had given his approval. He just hoped Leonard could handle being a full-time caretaker for the rest of his life.

Though he loved her, Zach held no illusions about his mother. When she hadn’t been dating, searching for a new husband, or trying to steal someone else’s husband, she had been miserable. She had told him once that having a man in her life gave her purpose.

Instead of turning right onto Beach View Drive to go home, Zach made a left onto Grant Road. The convenience store was only a couple of blocks away. Hopefully, he could get into bed before midnight, since he wanted to get up early for a couple more hours of study time. Glancing over at the high school on the right, he wondered about all the cars and then remembered that this was senior prom night.

How could he have forgotten the prom? Josh was there. Though his little brother wasn’t a senior, one of the senior girls had asked him to take her. Josh, being Josh, had refused. The kid did everything he could not to incur any added expenses. Zach wasn’t having it and had insisted that he go. He hadn’t been able to go to his own prom, not that he would’ve wanted to go, but choosing not to go was a hell of lot different than not being able to afford to go. Zach was determined his little brother get all the advantages he hadn’t had. That included proms, dances, dates, and all the other things most teenagers took for granted.

Zach took a sweeping glance at the full parking lot but didn’t see the car Josh was driving—a baby blue Lexus—Leonard’s gift to Francine on the day of his proposal. Maybe he’d parked on the other side. As Zach drove by, his headlights swooped across the far end of the parking lot and he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Blinking to clear his sight, he saw what looked like four guys standing in a circle. Though they were in a dark area, away from the streetlight, their menacing stance and total focus told him they were surrounding someone. Some poor kid was about to get an ass whooping.

He told himself he was too tired to intervene. Early on, before he’d learned a few hard-earned lessons, he’d been the recipient of several of those beatings. They weren’t fun but they’d toughened him up. Besides, the army recruiter had told him to stay away from anything that could cause him trouble. One more blight on his record and his dreams of being in the service would be toast.

A few yards later, Zach slowed to a standstill. How many times had he wished for someone to come rescue him or help him out? No one ever had. Was this guy wishing for the same thing?

The badass reputation Zach had worked hard to earn could now deter even the toughest asshole from bothering him. Maybe just by showing up, he could scare the little shits away and help a kid out.

Mentally shrugging, Zach made a quick U-turn and headed for the entrance to the parking lot. Whether he could just make verbal threats or he’d have to knock a few heads together no longer mattered. The closer he came to the menacing circle, the more imperative it seemed for him to put a halt to whatever was about to happen.

Not bothering to park, Zach stopped within a couple of yards of the group and turned his lights on bright. Four young men, two dressed in tuxedoes and two in casual clothes, whipped their heads around and glared. Oh yeah, he’d definitely interrupted their good time.

Zach opened the car door and got out slowly. “You guys having a party or what?”

“What the hell do you want, lowlife Tanner?”

Hearing one of the many nicknames he’d been called much of his life barely penetrated his consciousness. A gap between two of the guys showed him exactly what the fine young men of Midnight were about to do. A teenaged girl stood in their midst, shivering and trembling like a candle about to be extinguished. Her wide-eyed, terrified expression revealed her helplessness. Rage like he’d never known before zoomed through his body, spiking his adrenaline and giving him a much-needed boost of energy.