Her Striker by Charlene Raquel

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

Mrs. Hamby held an ice pack in her hands. “Here, dear. Put that on your face.”

Gwen stopped and scowled at Mrs. Hamby but took the ice pack. “He paid you. He paid for me to live here. Did you help him spy on me?”

Mrs. Hamby approached carefully, her arthritic hands clutched in front of her. “He did pay me, and he expected me to inform him of your comings and goings. Now, let me finish before you get all riled.”

Gwen wanted to argue, but the woman had been like a grandmother to her. She would listen to what she had to say. “I’m listening.”

Drew was quietly watching from a few feet away. He would step in if necessary, but he had a feeling Mrs. Hamby was not their enemy.

Mrs. Hamby pointed to the wicker chairs around the yard table. “Let’s have a seat.”

Drew, Dean and Gwen circled the table facing Mrs. Hamby.

“My family has been in this area for hundreds of years. My entire family has attended the university and had been embroiled with its secrets.” She faced Drew. “Yes, even its secret society, but that’s a conversation for another day. My son, Adam, was friends with both of your fathers when they all attended together. Luckily, Adam is now happily married to a nice schoolteacher, and they live in Virginia Beach, away from all the nastiness of this place.”

Dean leaned forward and opened his mouth, only to be hushed by their host. 

“I should have moved a long time ago, but I’m particularly fond of this old house. I also stick around to help when I can. Again, that is a story for another day.” Mrs. Hamby was wringing her hands. “Your father approached me before you came to Albany. He tried to use some knowledge that he thought my family would not have wanted to be made public to persuade me to rent out the apartment to you. He had no idea that the secret he thought he had was already out and accepted. But that’s neither here nor there. He didn’t want you to know about our arrangement and wanted to make sure that I kept him apprised of your activities.”

Gwen’s intake of breath was all she could manage. Things kept getting worse and worse.

“I charged him way more than the place is worth and for the inconvenience of me having to send the same email to him each week. Don’t interrupt, Drew.”

Drew’s eyebrows shot up. How did she know his name?

“I sent him the exact same two sentences each week. ‘She went to classes, taught tennis, and stayed in the apartment. There have been no male visitors.’ That was it. I can assure you that I never once told him anything you were doing. He’s had others for that, but I made sure no one bothered you here. That retched Stanley tried to sneak in here a few times, but Peaches doesn’t like him.”

Gwen cracked a slight smile at that. Peaches was Mrs. Hamby’s huge dog. It was more of a mutt than anything, and had long hair, big paws, and a fierce growl.

“Peaches took a bite out of that man’s backside.” Mrs. Hamby grinned before becoming serious again. “I’m sorry for concealing this, my dear. I only did it for your own good. Your rotten father would have found someone else to spy on you if I hadn’t stepped in. You’ve had three years of relative peace, and I was happy that I could do that for you.”

Drew drummed his finger on the table. “Why didn’t you tell her before this?”

Mrs. Hamby sighed. “I wanted to give her a couple of years reprieve before the ugliness of the world came crashing down on her. He was paying for college, and if I had told her what was going on, she would have dropped out of school and run away. Who knows what could have happened to her?”

Gwen stared at the table. She would have fled from here and probably not finished her psychology degree. She couldn’t finish now and would never be able to work in family services. She wanted to help others in situations like hers. Gwen had no money for school or a place to live. All she had was her beat-up old car. “I’ll pack my things.”

Mrs. Hamby’s stern look shocked Gwen. “You’ll do no such thing! You are going to stay right here where you’re safe and finish your degree.”

Gwen’s shoulders sank. “I can’t. I don’t have money for school, and it’s too late to apply for loans or financial aid.”

Mrs. Hamby pointed to Dean. “Be a dear and get that envelope from the porch.”

Dean shrugged at Drew but hurried to do as instructed. He came back quickly and held out the thick manila envelope to Mrs. Hamby.

She took it from him and slid it across to Gwen. “I have every cent your father gave me in that envelope. It’s all yours. I’ve been saving it for you since you moved here. I know what an evil man he is, and I knew you would need some help starting off if you ever wanted to be free of him.”

Gwen shook her head. “I can’t take that.”

“Yes, you can. It’s not my money. It never was. It’s always been for you. Take the money, and finish school. Get a great job, and move far away from here and your father.”

Gwen was crying again when she got up and crossed over to Mrs. Hamby. “Thank you.”

Mrs. Hamby hugged her closely. “I’ve loved having you and Sam here with me. Seeing you girls every day is good for my heart.”

Drew continued to tap. He was happy for Gwen, but he was distracted. Mrs. Hamby mentioned a secret society, and his father had handed him the card. He needed to know what she knew. “Tell us about the secret society.”

Mrs. Hamby turned to face Drew. “If you don’t know and are asking me about it, you have no business knowing. Being a Maxwell and all, I’m surprised you weren’t told.”

Dean leaned closer, resting his arms on the table. “Why all the mystery?”

“You’re better off not knowing. Count yourself lucky you haven’t been marked.” Mrs. Hamby pushed away from the table.

Drew stood up and blocked her retreat. He held out the card. “I don’t think I can do that, Ma’am.”

Mrs. Hamby visibly blanched when she saw the card. “Throw that away and don’t go anywhere alone. You don’t want to get tangled up in that wickedness.”

Drew placed his hand on her arm lightly. “I have no choice. I think this group had something to do with my brother’s death.”

“All the more reason to stay away.” Mrs. Hamby shook her head. “Is that why you came here? It breaks my heart that that boy died, but you following after him and getting yourself killed won’t bring him back.”

Drew clenched his fists. “I know Landon didn’t kill himself or fall off a balcony because he was high. My little brother didn’t do drugs.”

Gwen watched them with huge round eyes. Too much was happening around her. “It was an accident. Why do you think someone killed Landon?”

Drew ran a hand down his face. “He contacted me a few weeks before he died. He told me he got mixed up in something that he shouldn’t have. Landon had thought he was doing what was expected of him, but he had no idea that he had really sold his soul.”

Gwen frowned. “Maybe he was talking about getting mixed up in drugs. Freshman year is stressful. Lots of students become dependent on drugs and alcohol.”

Drew glared at her. “Don’t you think I asked him that? You don’t have to believe me, but I know something happened to him and I am going to find out what it was. The day before he died, he told me he was going to transfer schools. He was going to come down to Maryland. Landon promised he would tell me what was going on when he came to see me. He wouldn’t talk about it over the phone. He said it wasn’t safe. He thought he was being followed.”

Drew put his hand up to stop Gwen from interrupting. “I know you’re going to ask if maybe he was being paranoid. He wasn’t. He told me that if something happened to him, I needed to find his notebook.”

Mrs. Hamby cupped Drew’s face with her hands. “You won’t find it. I’m sure they’ve destroyed anything that boy had.”

Dean came up next to Drew. “Who is they?”

Closing her eyes, Mrs. Hamby said a silent prayer, hoping she wasn’t dooming them. “The Scorpio Society. Nearly every powerful man or woman in this country has some sort of ties to the Scorpio Society. They can make you successful or destroy you, depending on their mood or whim. Stay away from them. I’m not going to tell you anything else. I already told you too much.” She hurried into the house.

Gwen’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t deal with anything else tonight.”

Drew nodded. He would let her run for now. “We still need to talk.”

“Not tonight.”

 

~*~*~

 

Dean waited for Sam to go into the kitchen of the diner and slipped into one of the booths in her section. His grin was in place when she reappeared, stopping abruptly and nearly causing the waitress behind her to crash into her.

“What are you doing here?” Sam demanded.

“Your girl needs you. She had a really rough night.” Dean watched the irate glare turn into concern and fright.

“What happened? Is Gwen okay? I need to get home.” Sam searched around the diner for her boss. She would probably fire her for taking off again, but Gwen was more important than a job.

“She’s not hurt physically. Her father showed up at the event.” Dean watched Sam closely for her reaction. He shouldn’t have suspected her of anything, but after all of the revelations of spying, he needed to make sure.

“Oh my God. I have to get to her.” Sam pulled off her apron with her checks and tips inside and handed it to one of the other servers. “I have to get home. An emergency came up.”

Dean followed her outside. “I’ll drive you. You don’t have a car, do you?”

Sam hugged him. “Thanks. I don’t have a car. I wasn’t even thinking about how I was going to get home. Did he hurt her? He’s beaten the hell out of her in the past.”

Dean held open the car door for her and waited until she was seated to hurry around to the driver’s side. “He backhanded her across the cheek. She’ll probably have a black eye. Drew stopped him from punching her.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up. “Drew did? I thought he hated her?”

Dean debated on what he should tell her and settled for the truth. “I think he’s still in love with her, but she hurt him pretty badly.”

“He hurt her. He left her with her asshole parents and never contacted her.” Sam glowered at him.

Dean glanced over at Sam. “Sounds like they need to have a chat.”

He pulled into the driveway and Sam hopped out. “Thanks.” She was running up the steps with only a small wave goodbye.

“Gwen!” Sam called out as she pushed open the door. The apartment was dark and quiet as she hurried toward Gwen’s bedroom.

She found her best friend sitting on the floor in front of her bed with her arms around her drawn-up knees.

“Gwen?” Sam sat next to her on the floor. “Talk to me. What happened?”

Gwen turned her head sideways on her knees and a sob escaped. “Everything.”

Sam pulled her in for a hug. “We’ve got all night. Start from the beginning.”