Underestimated (50 page)

know that he raped me too?”

Drew stood up. His face was instantly red. “Are

you serious? When?”

“A bunch of times, every time he would drive me

anywhere.”

“I’ll kill that motherfucker.”

“You don’t have to worry about him. I told Mr.

Callaway what he did.”

That got another shocked look right toward the

camera.

“When?”

“Before you sent him here to kill me.”

“I never sent him here to kill you. I sent him here to

calm you down.”

“He was going to kill me,” I assured him.

“Who’s Dawson,” he asked again.

“My sheriff,” I replied with a sad tone.

“Excuse me?”

“I was going to marry him until I ended back up

here in your web.”

“You were going to marry him?” he asked with an

almost hurt tone. Good. I wanted him to hurt. “How were

you going to do that? You’re married to me.”

“No. Morgan Kelley was married to you. I wasn’t

Morgan Kelley there. I had a whole new identity. A whole

new life. I was happy there.”

“Do you love him?”

“I loved him more than anything alive. He is the

only one who has ever been there for me my entire life,

and he loved me too. I do still love him, but I don’t know

if it’s enough anymore.”

“I’m sorry, Morgan. I should have let you get on

that plane.”

“Yeah. That would have made things easier,” I

said it, but I knew that I would have spent the rest of my

life wondering the answers to all of these questions.

“Morgan, I know that it’s selfish of me to even

think, but I want you. I love you.”

“That is pretty selfish. A leopard’s spots never

changes, Drew.”

“My spots started changing the first time you

kissed me.”

“You never kissed me before.”

“I didn’t want to be intimate with you. I wanted

you to pay for messing everything up.”

“How could I mess something up that I was

unaware of?”

“You couldn’t, Morgan. Your dad would be so

disappointed in me,” Drew said with his head down. He

was ashamed of himself. I never thought I would see the

day.

“How did he meet my mom?” I couldn’t say my

dad. I never knew the man existed. I thought that when I

heard my dad from back home say that he raised another

man’s child that he was talking about Justin, not me.

“I don’t know the answer to that. I didn’t want to

know any of the details.”

“You said that your mom was going to marry my

dad. Where is your mom?”

“She shot herself in the head the day after

Michael’s funeral.”

I gasped. “I’m sorry, Drew.”

“Don’t you dare apologize to me. Don’t you ever

apologize to me. I deserve to feel every bit of pain

humanly possible,” he said, getting angrily.

“I have to go to Mr. Callaway.”

Drew only nodded. He knew that I would.

“You’re not really going to leave me in here to

starve are you?”

“No,” I said getting up, “but you are going to stay

there for a while.”

I didn’t need an address. Mr. Callaway’s address

was programmed into the GPS on Drew’s car. I had found

it when I was sitting in his air-conditioned car one

afternoon waiting for a game to start.

His house was just as extravagant, only newer. I

wondered if that would be left to me too. The grounds

were meticulously kept, and the blacktop drive looked like

it was freshly laid. It wasn’t quite as big as the house we

lived in, but bigger than the normal mind could imagine.

I walked up to the massive door. I’d never seen

anything like it. There was an arch built from stone and the

double doors were glass with etched tree branches galore.

It was breathtaking. I rang the doorbell and all of a sudden

felt sick.

The nurse that seemed to always be with Mr.

Callaway answered, and I wondered if she was the only

one there. She smiled at me.

“He saw you walk up,” she said, gesturing with

her hand for me to enter.

Did this man have a camera fetish?

Holy shit…

The house was beyond astonishing. The ceilings

looked like they could go on forever and I wanted to run

my fingers across the vibrant marble floor. I followed the

nurse as my eyes widely took in the surroundings. I was

expecting to be taken to his bedroom, but I wasn’t. She led

me to a den of some sort. I waited while she opened the

wood pocket doors.

Mr. Callaway must have been an advocate hunter.

There was every exotic animal on the planet in that room. I

almost jumped when I saw the stuffed Black Panther

beside of me. It looked so real, and his eyes looked

hungry.

Mr. Callaway did look bad. I had never seen him

look so sickly. His eyes were sunk into his skull, and his

lips were dry and cracked. The nurse pushed the button on

his bed and he struggled to sit. I got an immediate cold

chill. You could feel death lurking in the air. I didn’t want

him to die. I wanted to know him.

He put his hand out to me, palm side up, and I

placed mine in his.

“How are you, Morgan?” he asked. I knew he was

talking about Derik and what I had been through with him,

and I was going to leave it at that. My intentions all along

were to go there and expose Drew. I couldn’t do it. I

didn’t want him to think that he took me out of a bad

situation and put me in a worse one.

“I’m good Mr. Callaway. How are you?”

“I have never been better,” he smiled.

My eyes couldn’t seem to stop looking around the

room at death. I’m sure if I would have counted, I would

have counted close to fifty dead animals, including the

paintings around the room. I couldn’t help but look at the

owl straight across from me hanging from a branch that

miraculously grew from the wall. His big eyes never left

the sight of me.

“You’re a hunter,” I stated the stupid fact.

“I used to be. Have you ever been to Africa?”

“No,” I replied. I had only been out of the country

once, and that was when Drew took me for our

anniversary.

“You tell that boy I said to take you there, beautiful

country,” he assured me.

I dropped my head. I didn’t mean to let him see the

sadness, but he did. He read me like a book.

“What’s wrong, Morgan?”

I looked into his cloying eyes. “I know who you

are,” I said.

He smiled a warm smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you give me

time to know you?” I pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Morgan. I don’t always make the best

decisions, I guess,” Mr. Callaway confessed.

“I need to know what you expect of me. I don’t

think Drew, and I are going to stay together.”

He looked shocked. “Are you two having

problems? What did he do?”

“It’s nothing like that. Drew is fine. I just need

some time. I don’t know how to process all of this,” I lied.

I should have thrown him under the bus right there. Anyone

in their right mind would have wanted him to suffer a slow

painful death. I wasn’t blessed with a normal mind,

whatever that was.

“Morgan, I don’t know how much Drew has told

you, but all of this is yours,” he said, waving his weak

hand around the room full of dead animals. “You will

never want for anything for the rest of your life.”

I knew that was a lie. Money couldn’t buy what I

needed.

“None of this will be Drew’s without you. If he

walks away now, he’ll be homeless,” he added.

“He’s not the one that wants to walk away. I am.

And I don’t want that. Drew runs your company better than

anyone could. He is good at it. He takes great pride in it,”

I stated, not having any idea what I was saying. Why

wouldn’t I render the bastard homeless? He deserved it.

He smiled at that. “He always did, even when he

was still just a boy. What do you want, Morgan?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just need some time to

figure things out.”

I went there with the intention of finding out how

my mother became pregnant by his rich son. I wanted to

know where she was, and what she was doing. It didn’t

seem to matter anymore. She was obviously one of the

people who could be happy with money, and it was also

apparent that she didn’t need me.

I cried all the way back to Drew’s or my house I

should say. I knew what I had to do, and the sooner the

better.

I walked the north corridor and unlocked the door

to hell. I didn’t walk in, and stayed back as Drew slowly

walked out. He stared at me cautiously with his hands in

his pockets.

“I don’t want any of this,” I said, crossing my

arms. “I’m going back to my small town, my job, and my

friends.”

He nodded. “I’ll have Felix fly you there,” he said.

He took a step toward me and my heart fluttered as

I closed my eyes.

I tried not to feel anything when he placed his

hands on my arms.

“Morgan, for whatever its worth, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not worth anything, Drew,” I replied looking

up to him.

Damnit…Why did I have to go and look at him?

I was fine until he ran his hand up and held my face

with his hand to keep me from looking away.

“I know it’s not worth anything, but I do love you,

Morgan, and if I could take it all back, I would in a

heartbeat.”

I stepped away from him. I had to. I was having an

emotional breakdown, and nobody in their right mind

would forgive this man.

“I’m going to a hotel,” I said. “I can’t stay here.”

He let me go with a nod as his hand slid back into

his pockets.

***

didn’t shower, I barely ate, and I cried a lifetime of tears.

Finally, on the third day I called Drew.

“Morgan?” he answered on the first ring.

“I would like to fly out this afternoon,” I said.

“Okay, I will have Felix get things ready.”

I hung up. I was interested in carrying on a

conversation with him.

I stopped and visited Mr. Callaway before going

back to the house to pack. He looked a little better and

talked more. I ate lunch with him, and for the first time in

days, I felt like I was going to be okay. He hugged me and

told me that I should stop by Desert Springs Hospital and

say hello to my friend Derik.

I did do that. I felt the need for some reason. Call

me a little malicious. I needed to rub it in.

The nurse directed me to his room. He was in a

body cast, and his face was black and blue. He had a tube

running down his throat and was hooked up to every

machine possible. I didn’t stay but just a minute because I

knew that Jena was close by getting coffee, and I didn’t

want to run into her.

I bent close to his face. His eyes fluttered open

with a look of pure terror.

“I told you not to fuck with me,” I whispered with

a honeyed voice. “Have fun shitting in a bag for the rest of

your life.”

I was sure that Derik would never touch me or

anyone else for that matter again. Ever.

I didn’t see Drew while I packed a few things. I

knew that he was watching me from his office, but I paid

no mind. I shook my head with a snort when I realized that

I didn’t need to pack anything. I was going home, home to

my cozy little house in Misty Bay. I had everything there.

Thinking about my little house in Maine gave me a warm

comfortable feeling.

Chapter 19

I thought about how things would be in Misty Bay

as I stared out the small plane window. I knew that it

wouldn’t be the same. I was a different person than when I

had left. I didn’t know what was in store for Dawson and

me, but I owed it to him to try.

Drew had arranged for a car to take me wherever I

wanted to go once I had landed. That surprised me. I had

the driver take me to my house. I needed time to myself to

regroup before I let anyone know that I was home,

wherever that was.

I smiled when I saw my old white Honda sitting in

the drive. I hated that car so much, I loved it. It was

beautiful there that time of year. I could hear the ocean

screaming my name. I took a deep breath, savoring the

warm summer, sea air.

I moved the flowerpot, hoping the key that I had

kept hidden there was still there. It was and fell from the