Page 14 of Lies Beneath Secrets (Skeleton Crew #1)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lauren
“Thank you for bringing me today.” Conner nods as he puts the truck in park. “I know she wasn’t telling me the whole story.”
“Maybe she just isn’t ready to talk about it,” he says. “You two seem to have your own way of dealing with things.”
“What makes you say that?” I narrow my gaze at him.
“I—”
“Never mind.” I stop him from talking and shake my head, then get out of the truck. The last thing I want to do is have a debate with someone I barely know about me and my sister. “I really appreciate the ride. I’ll see you around, okay?” I force a smile and shut the door behind me. He didn’t pick up Gabby before coming back here, so I know he won’t be following me inside.
“Fucking men,” I grumble to myself, slamming my apartment door shut behind me. I turn around and secure all the locks I recently screwed into my door. They’re more for tricking my brain into thinking I’m safe. Deep down, I know that if anyone wanted to get inside, one really good slam to the door would knock it to the ground. It’s happened before.
Tossing my purse to my couch, I flop down, sink into the cushions, and turn on my TV for some background noise. I adjust a little on the couch and right my glasses that got pushed out of place when I lay down. It’s still fairly early in the day, and the longer I sit here staring at the TV, thinking about my sister, the stronger my urge to go to my room and find my lighter is.
“Fuck,” I groan and get up from the couch, going to my kitchen instead. I open my freezer and pull out the new bottle of vodka I put in there last week. It’s already half empty. Walking back over to my couch, I unscrew the cap and take a seat and a few sips of the clear liquid. This vise isn’t much better but it’s the only thing that stops me from using the lighter on myself.
* * *
I wake up to the slamming of a door, followed by yelling. I can’t quite make out the words being yelled. Only that it’s my neighbors doing the yelling. Once again, they’re fighting. The vodka did its job, and I fell asleep while zoning out at my TV. “You’re a fucking whore!” I hear plain as day through the floor. The guy is louder this time. There’s a crash after the yelling, then a scream. I’m about to reach for my phone and call 911 when a knock comes from my door.
“Lauren, open up please,” Conner yells from the other side. I quickly get up and turn all the locks on the door, swinging it open to find him standing there with Gabby.
“Can you watch her for a few minutes? I’m going to take care of that bullshit down there.” I’m about to tell him that I was dialing the police, but I don’t get the chance. He shuffles Gabby into my apartment and closes the door shut behind her. “Lock that door!” he yells out, and I hear his footsteps thunder across the hallway. Gabby looks up at me with tears in her eyes, and my heart cracks in two.
“Hey, do you like music?” She doesn’t answer; she just stands there clutching her little stuffed black horse. “Watch this, it’s like magic. Alexa, play some music,” I say aloud, and the voice comes out across the speaker.
“Playing your most liked music,” Alexa responds. I press the volume button and turn up the music as loud as the device will go.
“That yelling can be scary, I know. You’re safe here with me though, okay?” I reach out my hand and for a moment, I don’t think she’s going to take it but when she does, I lead her over to the kitchen table and help her onto a chair. “I don’t have anything here to color, but I do have a deck of cards. Do you know any card games?” She shakes her head. “I don’t know many either.” My mom’s last boyfriend taught me how to play cribbage but other than that, I’m completely worthless with cards. “Well, how about we just match them up? It will help you learn your numbers.” I separate the cards, dealing them between the two of us until there are none left. I try my best to distract her when yelling through the floor gets a little bit louder.
“Okay, so I’ll lay a card down, then you can put either one that matches that same number, or you can lay down a different one.” It isn’t much, but we start laying cards down, and she does a great job matching each number to the correct spot. “You’re so smart, Gabby,” I praise her, getting a smile in return.
We continue playing our newly invented matching game until someone knocks on my door. “Be right back,” I say and go over to peek through the spy-hole on the door. I’m relieved to see Conner standing on the other side. When I get the door open, I notice he has a slight red mark on his cheek and a small cut on his forehead that’s bleeding. “What the hell?” I whisper, not wanting to alarm Gabby.
“Asshole won’t be coming back,” he tells me. “Thanks for watching her.”
“You’re bleeding,” I say in response. He reaches up with his hand and swipes away the blood with his forearm. It smears across his skin and pools at the bottom of the cut again.
“Fucker hit me with one of them damn TV dinner tables. An old ass metal one.”
“Come sit; you’re bleeding everywhere.” I try to bring him inside, but he pauses.
“I don’t want Gabby to see the blood.”
“Oh.” I pause to look around my apartment quickly. “Here.” I go over to my kitchen, grab a paper towel, and bring it back to him. Gabby has gotten down from the chair and is coming to the door. “Use this.” I hand him the paper towel just in time for him to cover the cut on his head.
“I’m okay, kiddo. Just bumped my head. Did you have fun with Lauren?” She nods a little, then hands him a card. “Did you play cards?” She nods again. “Well, good. Ready to go home?” She doesn’t nod this time. Instead, she walks past him toward their apartment. “Thank you,” Conner says and hands me the card.
“Yeah. Anytime.” I’m suddenly at a loss for words as he follows his daughter, and they disappear into the apartment. I stand there for a moment, then close the door.