Unbelievable (25 page)

“I promise,” he said, settling stiffly on the couch “How’s your father?”

“I . . . I don’t know how to say this. I . . . um . . . I didn’t go see my father. I lied to you. I went to see Birdie. Remember I told you about her. Growing up, she was my nanny.” I paused to wipe away new tears. “Anyway, I’ve been lying to you ever since I came to town. My father made me…No. I made a deal with him, with the devil really. I could’ve run away again, gone into hiding, but I’m tired of running. He promised me I’d be free to live my life however I wanted if I just helped him to. . .” I stopped to mop up the tears that just wouldn’t stop.

“Helped him to what?”

I didn’t like the eerie calm in his voice. Something was up. He stared soberly at me, waiting for a reply.

“He lied to me, Cole. If I’d known I never would’ve agreed to help him.” I inhaled deeply, and through my tears said, “My name’s Delilah. Delilah … Dreser.”

He got up, went to the patio door, and stood there in silence, saying nothing at all, just fingering the curtains.

“Do you hate me now?”

He turned
, anger rolling off him in waves. “Why exactly are you here? Revenge for your brother’s deaths?”

“Yes. No. Sort of.”

“Which is it, Lilah, because it can’t be all three,” he snapped.

Not know
ing how to explain everything and not come across` as a horrible monster, I stumbled for a minute. Then I realized there was no way to make it sound any better. I let the story poured out of me in one huge purge. All the ugly details of my father’s financial revenge, and my obtaining Booker’s account numbers and his security code. I also told him about the planned murders that I knew nothing about until yesterday. He remained silent as I went on and on. It unnerved me.

“Here.” I held out an envelope and he walked over slowly, taking it from me.

The A/C still didn’t work and the apartment was an oven. Sweat raced down my back. I hadn’t noticed it before, being lost in my panic, but I felt it now. Sticky, suffocating heat. I went to the door and shoved the grimy curtains aside, pushing the patio door open in hope of relief. Useless. The night air rolled in, just as stifling.

I gave up and turned my attention back to Cole. He’d thumbed through the photos of my father. Daddy’s disguises were masterful. He’d dressed as a nun, a crippled
soldier, and another time a homeless guy. One showed him as an ugly woman with a rifle strapped to her chest. Sadly, those were the tip of the iceberg.

“Why am I looking at photos of random people?” he asked, emotionless.

“Birdie gave them to me. They’re pictures she’s been collecting to turn over to the police,” I explained from across the tiny room. He looked at me, offering a slight head shake.

“Cole, they’re my father. Every one of them. He’s a chameleon. His ability to disguise himself is legendary, at least in the drug world. It’s the main reason he’s been able to avoid being arrested all these years. Daddy bragged once about walking right past a handful of cops
who were looking for him, and not a one gave him a sideways glance thanks to his disguise. Give them to Booker. I’m sure he knows all about my father’s
talent.
Here.” I stepped closer; he stiffened. My hands shook while handed him my drawings. “I’ve seen my father in these. I didn’t learn the truth about what he did until I turned eighteen. He’d hid his business practices from me up until then, I suspect on my mom and Birdie’s orders. After my learning the truth, he’d often wear disguises home at night, not caring about my objections. Six months later I ran away from home and joined a commune.

“
There are more, but I haven’t had time to draw them up yet. I’ll finish a few tonight and take them over to Booker.” I paced back and forth in front of the table, wringing my hands as I explained my stupid choices to Cole. He stood vexed, with his arms across his chest and his jaw clenched.

“Needless to say, I’ll quit my job decorating Booker’s office complex, but I’ll stay in my apartment. That way I can update Booker on my father, but in all honesty, I don’t know much. He’s at a clinic, but I don’t even have an address. He does call sometimes. Maybe Book can put a trace on my phone.” I was talking to myself more than anything now, planning how
I’d help. “I think it might be a good idea to set up a secret code so if he’s monitoring me, which he’s done before, you’ll know I can’t speak freely. Maybe a key word or something. What do you think?”

I looked into his blue eyes as they glared back. He took a deep breath. “So, you used me to get access to everyone.” His jaw ticked
, his right eye twitched.

“No!” My face twisted in shame. “Yes. Sort of.”

“Lilah,” he said, exasperated.

“I felt something when we first met, not love at first sight, but something, and it’d been a long time since I’d felt
anything for a guy. I decided that maybe a summer fling would be okay. I could have a little fun and do what I needed to do at the same time.” I pinched my eyes shut. “And yes, I thought it would be a good way to worm my way into Booker and Seth’s life by dating their best friend.”

“So I was a means to an end.” He wiped the sweat forming on his forehead. “I gotta go,” he said, an edge to his voice.

“Cole, no—” I leaped forward and grabbed his hand.

“I get it, Lilah.” He ripped his hand from mine. “I get that you were pressured into helping your dad. You came here. You met everyone and
eventually realized that what your father told you wasn’t true. You
saw the light
. I get it. You were a pawn in your father’s hands, and now you want to make amends. I’ll talk to Booker and show him these pictures. I’m sure he will be very grateful. You haven’t done anything illegal, at least not as far as I know. He’ll probably have to let you go. But I’ll warn you, he’s out for blood.” He said it all with a tight curt voice.

“Don’t do this,” I begged in a whisper.

“Don’t do what? I’m the one wronged here. Like I said, I get it.” He turned to leave when I grabbed his arm, this time jerking him around.

“You get nothing. Geez, Cole. Scream, yell, do something. Don’t you ever get angry? Or am I not worth getting angry over, is that it?”

“I’m not the one who did the using, Lilah. I love you like I’ve never loved anyone, but I’m certainly not going to beg you to love me back. I’m a big boy, and I got played. End of story,” he said flatly, anger lighting his eyes.

“I never lied about my feelings for you, Cole,” I vowed, fisting my hands in the front of his scrubs as panic set it. “Remember that kiss in the garden at Maggie and Seth’s wedding? I was already in love with you by then. That kiss, it changed everything for me. I did lie to you, I admit that, but never about how I felt. Every word, every kiss came from my heart. I swear it. I’ve fallen madly, passionately in love with you.” I touched his cheek.

“I’d also figured out by then that Daddy’d been wrong about everyone, though I wasn’t sure if it were all a lie on his part or mistaken information. FYI, all lies, everything he told me was a lie. But it didn’t matter anymore. I had no intention of helping him with his revenge.”

Cole said nothing. His face held no expression. He just stared at me with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I figured I had time on my side, and I wanted to spend every last second with you that I could,” I continued, not knowing what else to do. “Daddy’s at a clinic in Mexico, which is another of his lies. He’d told me it was in Switzerland. His treatments are scheduled for several weeks. To be brutally honest, I don’t think he’d make it eight more weeks. The last time I saw him he was positively gray. This is all a mess, a complete mess.” I laid my head on his chest, nuzzling up next to his neck. “I love you, Cole, so very much.” Finally his arms came around me, pulling me close.

I sighed. “I should have known my Opie would believe me.”

Instantly, his body went rigid. His arms dropped away. I watched as anger shadowed his face.

“I’m tired of being the gullible, play-it-safe guy. I’m tired of being walked all over. Tired of being taken advantage of.” He wrapped his hands around my wrists and calmly drew them from his neck, setting them at my side before letting go.

“You don’t believe me?” I asked, biting my lip.

“No, I do believe you, much to Booker’s dismay, I’m sure,” he said. “
That doesn’t change anything. I need some time, Lilah. I’m sick and tired of being everyone’s lap dog. You’ve hurt me.” He crossed the room, his fingers rubbing his temples.

“So we’re over. You’re breaking up with me
.” I stated the obvious softly. “Of course. Why wouldn’t you?”

“We’re not breaking up. I need some time, that’s all. A little space to think. Can you understand that?” The anguish in his voice sliced through my heart. What a selfish, despicable person I’d allowed myself to become. This was not how I was raised.
Mami
, would be a shamed of me. I was ashamed of me. Why did I cave to Daddy’s demands? Why?

“I said do you understand?” Cole repeated.

I nodded. “Yes, I understand completely.”

I looked into his tense eyes and swallowed hard
. “There’s more you should know.”

“More? Great.” Pinching his lips into a thin line, he waved for me to continue.

“You should know . . . I-I was married before.” I steadied my voice, not wanting to come off as a spontaneous idiot, which is exactly what I was; a spontaneous, foolish idiot. Would I ever learn to think things through first?

“
His name is David Hudson,” I continued. “At eighteen, I ran away and hid in a commune after learning about Daddy.”

“You said that already.”

I took a few steps away before turning back to him. “David showed up about two years after I did. He was gorgeous.” I glanced at him sheepishly, and then added, “Though not nearly as hot as you.”

The corners of his mouth turned up infinitesimally. “Naturally,” he said.

“He also came from a rich family. Both his parents died a few months before I met him. They’d left him a fortune. He gave it all away and joined the commune. He hated money, saw it as an evil. His childhood was cold and empty, and he blamed money for his problems. We got married after knowing each other for only two days.”

“Two days?”

“Crazy, I know. Six months later…” I hesitated, then continued. “Six months later I was pregnant.” I searched his face, trying to judge his reaction.

“So what happened?” he said
gently.

“The commune went belly up in my fifth month, no pun intended.” I smiled. “We were out on the streets, cold and hungry. I already regretted the hasty marriage. Not only did David have a distaste for people with money, he also had a distaste for work. I held down two jobs while he did nothing but
contemplate life
. Soon, my blood pressure skyrocketed and I swelled up like a balloon—”

“Toxemia,” he supplied.

“Yes. I convinced David we should go see my father. I hoped he’d lend us some money until we could get on our feet. We hitchhiked home—”

“Hitchhiked?” His eyes widened. “With toxemia, no less
?”

“Foolish, I know, Cole, but like I said, we had no money. It didn’t take David long to figure out what my dad did for a living, not that Daddy tried to hide it, and he wanted nothing to do with me or the baby.” I gathered my arms around my stomach.

“He filed for divorce and made me a deal. If I agreed to take back my maiden name, and if I didn’t give the baby his last name or name him as the father, he’d keep quiet about my dad’s business. He said he didn’t want our family’s filth to be tied to his name in any way.”

“Sounds like a real charmer,” he scowled.

“Agreed. I jumped at the offer without hesitation, and he vowed to never mention the Dreser name again.”

“What happen to the baby?”

I buried my face in my hands. “Stillborn.”

“I’m sorry.” He crossed the room in two strides and pulled me into his arms again. I fought the overwhelming dread that usually consumed me whenever I thought about my baby. I wanted to stay focused, make sure Cole understood why I did what I did, no matter how stupid.

Cole wiped the sweat from his brow again. “It’s unbearably hot in here. I need a drink.” He released me and I padded to the kitchen, gathering a pitcher of lemonade from the fridge and two glasses from the dishwasher.

“Would you like some lemonade?”

He nodded, asking for a couple aspirin for his headache. A headache my selfishness caused. I filled both glass with ice and the drink. He downed his in two swallows, along with the medicine. Silently, I refilled his glass before sitting on the counter next to the sink.

“
The baby wasn’t due for three weeks,” I said softly. “We’d moved to New Mexico to avoid be captured by the police. I’d just learned that Alan was dead. The news threw Daddy into a tailspin and he had to be rushed to the hospital. They discovered he had emphysema and gave him six weeks, tops, to live. I was a wreck. Birdie worried about me. She put me right to bed. I couldn’t eat or sleep. I developed a fever, and my body ached to the bone. Birdie did everything she could to help me. I drank so many different herbal teas, even the thought of drinking another glass made me nauseous.