Bennett shook his head. “I wish to hell I knew, baby. I wish I knew.”
Thirteen
Quentin parked the car in front of the house and noted that Clayton and Annalee were already there. He smiled, looking forward to seeing Emma Grace. His only niece was shamelessly spoiled but still a sweet kid, and he enjoyed her tremendously.
Getting out of the car he walked around to open Lowey’s door for her. He could smell the fired-up grill, and his stomach rumbled.
“Oh my god!” Lowey said. “That smells amazing…and I’m starving.”
“We did skip lunch,” he pointed out. He’d talked her back into bed with him, and it had been amazing.
“Yes, we did. Because you whined like a little bitch until I agreed to have sex with you again.”
He took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “Whatever works.” Her answering giggle was a very un-Lowey-like sound. She tried so hard to be stoic all the time, to be tough as nails, and to never let anyone see the softer side of her, the sweetness under the salt.
“Thank you,” he added.
“What for?”
“For coming here with me…for letting me show everyone that you’re special, that you’re different, and that somehow I’m different with you.”
She stopped then, blinking at him, her lips parted in a soft O. “You gotta stop saying things like that to me…if you’re playing me, Quent?—”
“I’m not playing you, Lowey. Playing you was never my intent. I just never expected to have these feelings…not for you or for anyone.”
“Why do you close yourself off so much?” she asked. “I know why I do it, but you seemed to grow up in the perfect family.”
He laughed bitterly. “Not perfect…about as far from it as possible. Living with Samuel Darcy was like lighting matches while sitting on top of a powder keg. You knew it was gonna go off, just notwhen.”
Recalling the fights, the blow-ups, the endless stream of disapproval where nothing any of them ever did was good enough for Samuel, he wondered how any of them could have been even remotely functional as adults. But, in retrospect Quentin realized, he’d borne the brunt of it.
Clayton had been good at everything, excelling at sports, at academics. Mia had been an angel, right up until BennettHayes came along. But him? He’d been the troublemaker, always getting into fights, getting into trouble, ready to swing his fists at the drop of a hat. He couldn’t count the number of times that Samuel had told him how unlovable he was, how worthless he was, and that he would never amount to anything.
But Patricia had always been there, always available to hug him and to tell him that he was worth something. “Mom made it bearable,” he admitted, “But Samuel…he’s a real piece of work, that son of a bitch. Cold through to the bone.”
“I wish I’d known her better,” Lowey said softly, as they paused on the steps of the porch. “What I did know of her was pretty damned impressive.”
“I wish you could have too,” he agreed, and then crossed the porch to knock on the door. “Come on. Let’s get in here so my siblings can bust my balls, and you can enjoy watching someone else abuse me for a change.”
Silas had taken a car from the impound lot, one that wouldn’t be missed and that wouldn’t draw notice. The compact was just about as nondescript as a car could be. He let himself into The Kicking Mule and helped himself to one of the guns Lowey kept stashed under the counter. It hadn’t beendifficult. The place was shot all to hell, thanks to his asshole cousin. The door was barely on the hinges after all that.
When Joey’s truck pulled into the parking lot, Silas braced himself for what he was going to have to do. He didn’t take it lightly. The Barnes clan was as dysfunctional as one family could be, but blood was blood, and the idea of having to take out one of his own didn’t sit well with him. But if he’d learned one thing in his years of having Samuel Darcy on his back like he was in a goddamn harness, you did what was necessary to save yourself.
As Joey got out and crossed the parking lot of the nearly deserted café, Silas turned the key in the ignition to start the engine. Joey climbed in, and Silas nodded. “We need to go someplace a little more private…I didn’t think there’d be so many people still here.”
Joey eyed the thinning crowd. “There’s all of five people here, Si, and most of them are so damned old they can’t see five feet in front of ’em much less across the parking lot.”
Silas ignored the complaints and turned the car back onto the highway. “You may not have a reputation to protect in this town, but I do. I still need these asshats to vote for me.”
Joey’s eye roll spoke volumes. “You could be raking in a fortune if you wanted to, but you’re still too worried about what people think of you.”
And that was the difference between them. All Joey could see was getting rich quick. Silas knew that he’d get more in the long run by playing his cards right and angling for higher offices. That meant damage control by any means necessary.
Taking the highway out of town and toward Fire Creek, Silas slowed when he reached the turn-off for the abandoned house. He had the gun in his hand before the car even came to a full stop.
“Get out of the car, Joey,” he said.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
