Blood Always Tells, Hilary Davidson [good book club books .txt] 📗

he’s dead in my care within a week…” His voice trailed off.

“That’s horrifying.” She turned it over in her mind. “Was it some kind of revenge, because of you seeing other women?”

“Trin’s never cared about me sleeping with other women. She doesn’t want to be with me. She only married me because her father told her she had to be married by thirty. He arranged the whole thing.” He rubbed his temples with his fingers. “She’s an evil person. I know she had a screwed-up childhood. Her father was a crazy control freak, and she was never allowed to see her mother. That would mess anyone up. But at some point, you have to be more than a collection of all the rotten things that ever happened to you. I mean, I had a crappy childhood. My dad tried to make my mom get an abortion, and when she wouldn’t, he walked out on her. And you… you had a truly awful childhood, babe. Look at you now.”

His words made a part of her that was usually hidden twist inside. “It wasn’t awful. Just sad. Daddy… it was a terrible accident. But I had Nana and Desmond to take care of me.”

They were quiet again for a long time. Dominique wasn’t sure how it happened, but they were holding hands. Gary yawned and stretched back in his chair.

“Do you want to go upstairs and lie down?” Dominique asked.

“This has been one hell of a day.” He yawned again. “I feel like I just went nine rounds with Sugar Ray Leonard. My head is a mess. I’m so tired, I almost fell asleep in the bath. I don’t have the energy to drag myself upstairs.”

“I’m going to get you some aspirin. I’ll be right back.”

She went to the master bedroom and got a couple of aspirin out of the toiletry kit. She’d meant to ask Gary about why he’d chosen pretty things for such a macabre place, but she’d forgotten the question with everything else going on. By the time she returned to the kitchen, Gary was slumped over the table, snoring gently. She ran her fingers through his hair, set the pills in front of him on the table, and realized she should have taken one herself. Her headache was hammering under her temples. She picked up her wineglass and went back upstairs. She took some aspirin, then sat on the bed. After a moment, she got up and turned the lights off, then returned to her perch on the bed. She wanted to watch for Max. From the curtainless window, she had a bird’s eye view of the dirt road through the trees. When he came back, she’d know.

She sat there for a long while, taking a sip of champagne every now and then. The events of the day had sapped every last bit of energy from her veins. She wondered what Desmond was doing, and where he was just then. She thought about Trin. Just considering the ugly possibilities made her whole body leaden. She curled up under the blanket and put her head on the pillow, but her eyes stayed open and on the points of light outside. Something jabbed at her hip, and it took her a minute to realize it was the nail she’d dug out of the wall. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it in her hand. The sky was perfectly clear now. The thundering hooves in her head wouldn’t stop stampeding, but there was some comfort in gazing at the way the stars hung in the sky, like glittering jewels laid out on black velvet. They never changed. She knew that she might be looking at points of light that had fizzled out thousands of years ago, but it didn’t matter. From where she lay, they burned bright.

Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.

That was such a beautiful thought to her. That Desmond. Always so wise.

She drifted into sleep imagining herself soaring up to the sky. She was a little girl again. Her restless legs were in motion and she was blissfully happy. She was suddenly aware of Nana beside her, reaching for her in the darkness. She clutched her hand and they both smiled, racing to the next star together.

Part Two

Desmond

Chapter 18

If Desmond Edgars had his way, he wouldn’t be making the drive from the Chicago suburb of Hammond, Indiana, to Pennsylvania alone. Hell, he wouldn’t be taking a trip at all. He had plans for the weekend, an arrangement he’d been looking forward to for some time. On the phone with his sister, he hadn’t been entirely truthful. Not that he’d straight-out lied to her, but he had company over when she called, and he didn’t want the interruption. When Gary Cowan’s name first popped up on his phone, he was annoyed that his sister’s lame-ass ex was calling him. Then, worry crowded in. Concerned that something might have happed to Dominique, he played the message. There was no turning back once he heard the panic in his sister’s voice. When he called Dominique, he had a hundred different questions he wanted answers to. But she rattled off that crazy story of hers in her rapid-fire way—too much information flying at him all at once—while his lovely companion, the one with almond-shaped eyes and legs that went on for days, did her level best to distract him.

When he got off the phone, regret weighed heavily in his voice. “I hate to say this, but I’ve got to cut this visit short.”

“But, baby, we barely got started.” She put one manicured hand on his left shoulder, stroking the flame-breathing panther tattooed there. One languid finger looped around the words spit fire underneath it.

“I know.” He slid off the bed, half-turning to put on his shirt. Pointless modesty, he told himself, but it didn’t make him turn around. “But I have to be somewhere else.”

“You can’t just go,