Willow (17 page)

“
Your face is all flushed and your nipples are hard. Would you like to share with me what you were thinking about?”

She felt her face heat up more. “No, I would not. What do you want? I’ve got a lot to do.”

“
You know you say that to me a lot. It’s noon.” He stepped back as he spoke to show her the lunch he’d set up. “Aren’t you hungry? Marta packed us a big lunch. She said something about you needing more calories.”

After lunch, she continued to work on the walls. She would have someone come and check about something off and on, but for the most part, she was left alone. It suited her mood and she thought maybe everyone knew it. By six, she was ready to go home.

~Chapter 17~

At midnight, Shawn was back at the site. There was no one around, but he’d counted eight cruiser drive-bys in the last two hours. He blamed the bitch for it and pulled out his little notebook and wrote that down too. There was plenty she had to pay for and he was keeping track.

When the next cruiser drove by, he made his way to the trailer. At the rate he was going, he’d still be trying to get there when everyone showed up in the morning. Shawn was hiding near the steps when another car drove by, this one a regular car. He took out the keys, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.

Getting a set of if site keys had been brilliant, he thought. He knew where all the people lived, of course, and it hadn’t been any problem getting into the house of Conley. It was after Conley had shown up that the problems had begun. Had he just turned over the keys when he’d asked politely, then he wouldn’t have had to rough up his missus. Course that didn’t help good ol’ boy Conley much, but that was the way things went down.

Shawn laughed when he thought about how he’d tussled them both up and left them. They’d be dead by morning anyway so it didn’t matter much that he’d trashed the house not thinking about prints. He was on a mission.

He pulled out the desk drawers and dumped them. Nothing but papers. Damn it, where did she keep the fucking keys to the storage lot? He pulled out more paper from other drawers. There was nothing under the computer and he couldn’t find anything in the chair he’d cut up either. Sitting down on the ruined desk chair, he pulled out his stash and took another hit of drugs.

“
Ahhhh, now that’s more like it.” His body caught fire the moment the drugs hit his system. A euphoric feeling washed over him and he felt relaxed, more himself. He sat there for only a few seconds before he heard someone pounding on the door. Shawn got up and went to it.

“
Who’s there?” He thought he sounded normal, but the person on the other side pounded again. Louder now, he asked again.

“
Police. Open up. And put your hands out where I can see them.”

Shawn panicked. And when he panicked, he got stupid. He hated being stupid. Pulling out his gun, he tried to think what to do.

“
Think, think, think,” he ordered himself as he beat his head on the door. “There is only one way out of this and that’s killing time.”

Shawn turned around and pointed his gun at the voices he’d heard speaking. No one was there. It was her again, he just knew it. Putting the gun in the waistband of his pants, he pulled out the notebook again. Dropping it, he leaned over to get it and that’s when the cop burst through the door.

Shawn fell forward and bobbled his gun. He didn’t even hesitate when he scooped it up in his hands and turned it on the policeman. There was a split second when he had a single clear thought. This, he thought, this is going to be my crowning glory. He fired six times, hitting the cop twice in the belly and once in the leg, throwing him out of the doorway and out into the lot behind him.

Laughing hard and struggling to get up, Shawn followed the cop into the yard and watched with fascination as the cop tried to crawl away. Tiring of the show, Shawn picked up the cop’s gun and shot him eight more times, each shot hitting him dead center in the heart.

He went back into the trailer and found his notebook he’d dropped. Finding a pen in the mess in the office supplies strewn about the room, he sat in the chair again and wrote.

“
Caused me to kill a cop—punishment, one bullet to the head.” Shawn looked at his list of transgressions that the bitch had to pay for and shook his head. “You are going to be one sorry bitch. Yeah, one sorry, sorry bitch.”

~o0o~

Willow was in the kitchen with Marta when someone pulled in the driveway the next morning. At first she thought it was her parents, but when a man she didn’t recognize stepped out, she was surprised. It was seven o’clock in the morning…on a Thursday. When he came to the door, she met him there.

“
May I help you?” She looked at the car he drove and a very lovely woman stepped out as a driver opened the door for her. Willow looked back at the man.

“
You must be Willow James. I’m J.R. Stone. I’ve heard a great deal about you.” he looked back at the woman then back at Willow. “May I speak to my son? I’m sorry about the hour, but it’s important. Something has come up and, well…you’re going to have to hear it too, I’m afraid.”

Willow was confused. She knew the man, but not his son and before she could say anything, she realized who he was. Grabbing onto the door, she nodded her head. “Jared Robert Stone is your son.” She looked at the woman who was coming up the steps.

“
Yes. I’ve tried the house, you see, and he’s not…are you all right, my dear? You look a bit peaked.”

The next thing she knew, she was seated in a chair with her head between her knees. The hurt wasn’t any better from this position either. She tried to sit up twice and someone kept pushing her down. Finally, she’d had enough.

“
Let me go. I’m…I’m fine.” No she wasn’t and she had a feeling she never would be again. “I’ll go and get your son. He’s…he’s here.”

The woman blocked her path before she could make her escape. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”

Willow shook her head and moved out of the room. She hoped that Marta would take care of them. Willow’s mother would never forgive her if she was a poor host. Giggling uncontrollably, she rounded the stairs for now and went to find the dogs. They were sleeping in the family room.

She sat there for several minutes just looking at them. She didn’t know what she’d been thinking in that time. She’d actually been trying not to. Finally knowing she had to do it, she went to her bedroom to wake Jared.

He was sleeping so soundly. They’d made love most of the night and talked the rest. She’d told him things she’d never told anyone before. And now…well, she wasn’t sure what would happen now.

She leaned over and shook his leg. He didn’t move. He just wasn’t a morning person, he’d told her. This time, she grabbed the blanket and tore it off him.

“
Hey,” he said, coming awake quickly. “That’s no way to wake a man. Come here and make it up to me.” When he reached for her, she stepped back.

“
Your father is downstairs. He needs to talk to you about something.” She stepped back more when he leapt from the bed. “Your mom is down there too.”

“
Christ.” He yanked on his pants. “Did he say what it was about? And my mom too? Must be bad if he brought…”

She could see the moment that it hit him that she knew. With his pants up but yet to be zipped, he turned to her. He looked at her for long moments before he spoke. “I was going to tell you last night. But I got distracted. It’s not what it looks like and whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that either.”

He sounded mad. Well, so was she. “And what is it supposed to be like, Jared? Tell me. Does it look like you’ve been fucking the help? Were you here to check up on the news you’ve been getting from Talbor and decided to get laid while you were here?” His flush told her she’d guessed. “Oh my God. You did, didn’t you?”

She started to turn away when he stopped her by grabbing her arm. “What about you, Willow? Rich girl working as a laborer on a construction site? For what? Shits and giggles? And what about your secrets? Huh, want to tell them to me?”

“
What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t have any secrets.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room. When they were before the spare bedroom, he pointed to it.

“
What’s in there? You keep it locked all the time. What do you have hidden in there?”

Willow thought she’d been hurt before, but nothing prepared her for what it felt like to have not only her heart ripped from her chest, but her trust too. Reaching above the door, she took the key and handed it to him. He looked confused.

“
Open it. Go ahead. We’re baring our souls here. Open it.” When he continued to stand there, she took the key from his hand and shoved it into the lock. She heard him say her name, but she ignored him. She threw the door back with a bang. “You’ll have to forgive me for not sharing this with you. You see, this wasn’t a secret so much as something I didn’t think to share.” her voice cracked and she had to take a deep breath.

Jared stepped into the room. “What is this?”

What did she tell him? Then she remembered his parents where downstairs in her kitchen and she didn’t care anymore.

“
They’re donations. I gather things throughout the year and I take them to shelters and other charities that don’t seem to have enough money to get the supplies they need to get by.” She looked at the room through his eyes. “The toys are marked by age and sex. I take those to the orphanage twice a year or sooner if they need them. The other things, the wipes and diapers, are there when someone needs them. They come by when they run low and I replenish them here. There you have it, my big secret. I buy toys for children and I have a stash of diapers.”

He turned to her then. “The other night, a man was here. You were coming out of this room.”

She remembered. Joel had come because someone had had a house fire and their baby was without supplies. She’d helped him pack his car. And Jared had seen her. She wondered what he’d thought then. He’d thought the worst, no doubt. If he hadn’t, he would have come to her about it. Willow wondered if she could hurt any more. When Jared turned back to the room, Willow went to the stairs. It was too much.

She had to go through the kitchen because her jacket and keys were there, but she didn’t want to speak to anyone. Marta handed her her jacket as she swept through, and her wallet. Kissing her on the cheek, Willow turned to Mr. and Mrs. Stone. “He’s coming down. I don’t think he’ll be much longer.” She turned to Marta. “Could you see to the dogs for me?” At her nod, Willow left.

It was well after ten in the morning when she realized she needed to stop somewhere. Her truck was on empty and she thought she might be as well. Giggling slightly, she pulled into the gas station and began filling up.

He’d been playing her all along. Tears threatened again and she had to fight hard not to cry in public. Trying to think about anything else, she finished filling up and went inside to get something to eat and drink. Willow couldn’t go long without food. Her overactive metabolism had already burned through the dinner she’d had last night. Grabbing several candy bars and three bottles of water, she went back to her truck.

When her phone vibrated off the seat, she reached for it. The icons across the top were all about messages—email, texting and voice mail. She scrolled through the phone log and saw that most of the calls were from her house and quite a few more were from the site. There was one from Conley and two from her mother. She called her mom.

“
Hello, darling. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we came tonight instead of tomorrow? Your father has it in his head that a storm will keep us from getting there in one piece.”

She looked out the window of her truck and saw that a storm did look like it was in the making. Dark clouds were over the South and she wondered what the temperature was.

“
Sure. I might not be…you’re already on your way, aren’t you? How close are you or are you already here?” Willow closed her eyes against the thought of her mom and dad hearing about Jared.

“
You always have been too perceptive. We got here an hour ago. We’re staying at the one on Wilshire Boulevard. Can you meet us here after you get off work?”

Work. She’d forgotten about work. Not that she could work there anymore not with Jared…her mom was speaking.

“…
call him. He said that you need to pick up your phone. Oh and he’ll be coming to dinner with us too. I hope you don’t mind, but we haven’t seen him since the two of you came up that weekend.”

Her brother. For a minute there she’d thought her mother was speaking of Jared, but realized that he’d never met them before. But he had met Alexander. Willow wondered if they had exchanged numbers and that’s why he wanted her to call. Willow realized that the conversation had died or she’d lost connection.

“
Mom?”

“
Yes, dear. What’s happened? Have you had a fight with that boy?”

Willow couldn’t lie to her, nor could she tell her the truth. How did she tell her mom that she’d slept with the owner’s son and he’d been doing her…a lot to see if the information they’d gotten from one of her employees was correct.

“
I have to go. I’m fine. I don’t…I’ll have to call you about dinner. I’m a little…I have to do some catch up work before I can make any plans.” Willow hung up on her mom.

The next person she called was Alexander. And she was right, he did have Jared’s number and vice versa. As soon as he answered the phone, he started in on her.