Page 21 of Lies Beneath Secrets (Skeleton Crew #1)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Con
I can’t help but glance into the rearview mirror to watch her. Gabby has a smile on her face, and her bag is clutched in her little fingers. Fingers with nails painted bright pink from the last time Kendra watched her, which seems to be all the time lately. Tonight, though, she’s going to a friend’s house for a sleepover.
“Excited?” I ask my little girl and try not to make it sound as though I’m terrified. Her response is to look up at me and smile, then nod.
I feel comfortable letting her go to the Parsons’ home. I have my connections, they’re good people, and their daughter is the only other person besides Lauren who can get Gabby to speak more than two words in a row. “Good. If you want to come home at all, you remember what to do, right?” She reaches into her bag and pulls out the note I wrote for her, saying that she wants to go home and to call me. The Parsons know that Gabby doesn’t talk much and are already aware of the note. I had to have a plan of some kind in place if she wanted to bounce. “Good girl. You show them that note, and I’ll be there asap.” She smiles and tucks it back into the bag, and I’m hit with the thought of ‘what if she loses the note?’ “What if she forgets?” My stomach fills with dread the closer we get and when we hit the driveway to their place, I nearly turn around and tell Gabby we can do this another night, but the way her face lights up when she sees Jannie standing outside with her mom, I don’t have the heart to kill her plans.
“Hello,” Kristy, Jannie’s mom, greets us when I lift Gabby out of the truck and walk over to them. “Gabby, we’re so excited to have you here tonight.” Gabby gives a smile, then looks my way as if silently asking if she can go.
“Have fun, kid.” I drop down to one knee and hold out my arms. She makes the two steps and falls into my arms, and I damn near pick her up and put her back in the truck. The hug is too short and before long, she’s bouncing away with her friend.
“She’ll be just fine. I have lots of things I’m planning to do with them.”
“She has that note to give you if she wants to go home, and you have my number too?” Fuck, I’m losing my composure.
“I do. You enjoy your night off, Dad. I got it from here,” Kristy gives me a polite smile and walks into the house. I’m left there, caught between grabbing my kid and leaving or just manning up and getting into my truck. I choose the latter and drive away before I change my mind. Staying at Knox’s with Kendra seems so much different from her staying at a friend’s house for the night.
Going to the club is the only thing I can think of to get me through the night—drink myself into oblivion until I can’t think about it anymore. Halfway there though, I slow down and make a U-turn back into town. If she does end up calling me, I need to be sober to go back and pick her up. No way will I be sending anyone to get her for me, and I sure as hell won’t be hammered in front of my little girl. I don’t ever want her to have that memory of me. My girl has gotten a second chance at having a stable, secure parent, and I sure as hell won’t be fucking that up. I know I’m classified as an outlaw, but I won’t let that shit touch her if I can help it.
I’m standing at my apartment door, ready to put the key in the lock, when I hear Lauren talking. I glance over and notice her door open a crack. I’m about to brush it off until a man’s voice joins hers, then I’m forgoing my door and stalking over to hers. My mind is suddenly void of all thoughts except for finding out who the hell is in her apartment and why.
“You always do this,” the guy, who I instantly place as Eli, complains.
“Look, Eli, you’re a nice guy and all—” Lauren starts to say, but her door swinging open, with me standing there, stops her mid-sentence.
“Everything okay here? I heard raised voices.” They were hardly raised, but I’m sticking to the concerned neighbor act. This fucker might be a cop, but he also knows who I am. The fact he hasn’t told Lauren surprises me.
“Yes. Eli was just leaving.” Lauren looks back at Eli, who has a scowl on his face directed right at me.
“Yeah, we’re good.” He takes another hard look at Lauren, eyes narrowed, then he brings his gaze back at me. “All yours,” he scoffs and stomps out of her apartment like a toddler.
“Not that I needed it but thank you for showing up,” Lauren says and begins to close the door. Something down deep inside me screams for me not to let her.
“Can I come in?” I blurt.
“Come in?” she repeats and turns a skeptical eye on me.
“Yeah. Ah, Gabby is at a sleepover and… I just don’t want to go back in there alone.” I give her my vulnerable side, and it’s not an act. It’s just the plain truth. I don’t want to be alone, and being near her tonight would ease some discomfort.
“Oh.” She looks into her apartment for a moment, almost as if contemplating what she should say.
“I’d like a chance to apologize too,” I add. After she pretty much kicked me out of her apartment two weeks ago, I haven’t seen her since. Gabby has even been asking about her, and it hurts every time I hear her say Lauren’s name.
“Water under the bridge,” she says, and I know she’s just putting up a wall.
“Even so, I hope I didn’t push too far. It seems you’ve been avoiding me since then,” I tell her, chancing a step into her apartment when she walks away from the door and leaves it open.
“Well, I think the avoiding could go both ways,” she says as she grabs a blanket and situates herself onto her couch.
“Touché,” I respond and walk over to her kitchen. “Can I have a glass of water?”
“Sure. Help yourself. Glasses are top left of the sink.” I open the cupboard door and take out a glass, then open the freezer to see if she has any ice. Instead, I find a bottle of vodka.
“Well, hell, look at this, party girl.” I pull out the bottle and slowly shake it back and forth.
“That’s been in there for a while. Help yourself.”
“I’m not going to have much. If Gabby calls, I don’t want to be hammered.” I don’t let on that it would take more than a quarter of a bottle of vodka to get me shitfaced. She doesn’t need to know that.