Wrong Side of the Tracks by Ashley Zakrzewski
ChapterTwenty
Sissy stared at her hands folded in her lap while she waited for Daddy to arrive. A large hand covered both of hers, making her look up.
“He can’t make you do anything. We’ll make sure of that.”
Sissy turned over one hand, wove her fingers in with his. “I’m not worried he’ll try to make me do what he wants. I know he will, and I’m prepared for it. I realized some time ago that I’m a big girl and Daddy can’t force me to do what he wants. He can, and will, try to blackmail me into it.”
Cole lifted one brow as he watched her.
“Daddy didn’t force me into dating Troy. Yes, he asked me to meet him, and he seemed nice at first, so we started dating. Then he wasn’t so nice.” Sissy brought her free hand up to gently touch the now green and yellow remains of her black eye. Most of her bruises had faded, but a couple looked like the one on her face. She had been tempted to try and cover it up, but Cole had suggested she not and let Daddy see what Troy had done to her. Sissy agreed and had gone without make up at all. She expected Daddy to make a backhanded comment about letting herself go. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him without at least a little makeup. “Who knows what Troy told him.” She looked back down at her hands, noting how small and pale hers looked tangled with Cole’s and marveling how different they were.
The bell on the front door rang, making her look up again. He body flashed cold. She had a moment to be glad she was seated as a wave of dizziness washed over her. She forced back the urge to get up and leave.
Sissy took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She could do this. She was done being pushed around. By anyone. Still not quite ready to let him see her face, she turned her head so her black eye was hidden.
She watched as Daddy stopped just inside the door and scanned the room, distaste clear on his aristocratic face. There was no missing the moment he spotted her, nor that he was determined to pick her up and take her home. He closed the distance from the door to the table where she sat with only a few steps.
“There you are, Sissy. Come on, let’s go,” Daddy said without bothering with any greeting.
“No, Daddy. I’m staying here.” She knotted her fingers together in her lap and forced a smile on her face as she looked up at him. “Why don’t you have a seat, we can talk.”
“I didn’t come here to talk.” He glanced around the room, disgust that she would request to meet him in a bar clear in every dismissive glance. “I came to take you home where you belong. How you ended up here, with him, I’ll never understand. But I will make sure it’s investigated, and I’ll be pressing kidnapping charges as soon as I have the evidence I need.”
“I came here with Cole of my own free will. He helped me when I didn’t know who else to trust.”
“You can always trust me.” Hurt clear in Daddy’s voice.
“For most things, I’d agree with you. But this?” She turned her face so he couldn’t miss the ugly remains of what Troy had done to her. “This is what’s left of what Troy did to me. It’s been almost a week and I’m still covered in purple, green and yellow, and not just my face.”
“That’s not what Troy told me—”
“When? Before you sent him to get me or after you bailed him out this afternoon?” Gizmo had let them know that Troy had been bailed out just after noon today, Sissy knew it had to have been her father.
“I fail to see why that matters.”
“I don’t care what he told you, Daddy. I’m telling you he did this, and more. He beat me so badly I passed out. When I woke up, I got cleaned up and got the hell out. I left my phone and my car and went to someone I knew wouldn’t go to you for help.”
“I would have helped you.”
“You sent the man who beat the shit out of me to get me.” She didn’t bother trying to keep the anger from her voice. “You were on his side, and after what he did to me, I had to get out before he killed me.” Her voice shook and Cole’s hand covered hers in her lap, squeezing to let her know he was here, and he had her back, but he would let her handle this until she asked for help or needed it. Sissy watched as the color drained from Daddy’s face.
“He said you mouthed off and he slapped you to teach you a lesson. Are you saying it was more than that?”
“Because just slapping me would be acceptable?” Rage made her braver than she’d ever been to Daddy’s face. “Does this look like he slapped me?” She turned her face so he could see all of what Troy had done to it, the bruise, the scabbed over cut on her cheekbone.
Sissy turned pulled her hands free, grabbed Cole’s and squeezed briefly before releasing him again and sliding out of the booth. She took a deep breath and braced herself for his reaction as she lifted the hem of her blouse, rolling it under as she pulled it high enough and turned so he could see the still vivid outline of Troy’s shoe on her side. “Is this just a slap?” After a moment she dropped her shirt and let it fall back into place as she turned and set a hand on Cole’s shoulder. The small bit of contact made her feel better. More secure. She could do this.
“How do I know the biker scum you’re hanging out with now didn’t do that and you’re using it as an excuse to get me to leave you alone?” Daddy glanced around the room again before turning back to her.
“That is rude and uncalled for. You owe Cole an apology. Though I know you probably won’t give it.” She squeezed Cole’s shoulder. “I know you ran him off all those years ago. But you know what? That didn’t stop him from coming when I called and asked for help. Someone he hadn’t seen in more than ten years. He dropped everything and drove more than ten hours to help me.”
“I would have helped you.”
“I’m sure you would have, but you also would have tried to convince me to go back to Troy, that he didn’t mean to hurt me that bad, and it was my fault I’d made him mad.”
Daddy started to say something, but she cut him off first.
“Don’t even try to deny it. I watched as you pulled that shit on Momma for years. I knew if I went to you, you’d do the same to me. You would justify what he did until in the end, I went back to him. But I can’t. I will not end up like Becky Lynn.”
Daddy frowned, not placing the name, then he looked at her as realization struck. “The girl in the paper last week. The one killed by her husband.”
Sissy nodded. “I don’t know if you remember but I went to school with Becky Lynn.” A hand on hers reminded her she wasn’t alone. “We did. I don’t know if it was my luck, fate or what that she was killed, but seeing the article woke me up. I knew if I stayed with Troy, I’d end up just like her.” She let out a mirthless laugh. “I almost did anyway. Anyway, seeing the article made me decide to break up with Troy. That’s what set him off; if he didn’t tell you. I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore. He lost his mind.” She stopped and swallowed back the tears that clogged her throat.
“You don’t have to do this.” Cole’s voice was soft, meant only for her.
“Yes, I do. He needs to hear why I’m not going back with him. Why I’m staying here with you.” She smiled at Cole to let him know she really was okay, then looked back up to Daddy. “He slapped and punched me until I fell, then he used his feet until I was curled in a ball, sobbing. After that he used my hair to drag me down the hall to the bedroom where I knew he was going to rape me. It wouldn’t have been the first time he forced me.” She forced herself to meet her Daddy’s gaze. She wanted him to know what she’d been through. “I don’t know why he stopped, only that the last thing I remember was throwing up from the pain, then everything went black. I woke up hours later alone and still laying in my own vomit.”
Sissy’s stomach churned but she wasn’t finished. “I had to get out. I had to be somewhere Troy couldn’t get to me. I went to a friend and found out how to contact Cole. I didn’t know if he would help but somehow, I knew he could. He came, got me, and brought me back here. He took care of me when I couldn’t think to take care of myself. I know you don’t think much of him, Daddy, but you approved of Troy and look where that got me.” She paused, glancing around the room at the men she’d met over the last few days. The men who had protected her, cared for her, told her she didn’t have to do this and had been willing to come stand between her and Daddy when she’d insisted she did.
“I’m not cutting you out of my life, Daddy, but I’m through being your perfect little doll. I’m going to stay here. Stay with Cole as long as he’ll let me, then I’ll figure out where to go from there. I’ve let you run my life for too long. It’s time for me to grow up and live my own life. Right now, that life is here, but I don’t know where it will be honestly. I do know it won’t be in Mobile, or anywhere near Troy.”
Daddy’s face went from white to red. “You’re right. You are an adult, and you can make your own choices. But as an adult you also must live with the consequences of your choices.”
Sissy bit her tongue to keep from smarting off that she was already doing that, the beating she’d taken was a consequence of dating someone he had picked out. That wouldn’t help things right now.
“That’s fine. Let me know what needs to happen and I’ll get it taken care of.” She didn’t know if he meant he would be cutting her off financially or what. Not that she cared. He’d paid for her car because he’d wanted to be in control of what she drove, but she took care of most of her own bills. She had for a long time.
“I’ll be in touch with all that. I see you’ve replaced your phone, I assume you’re keeping the same number?”
“I am for now, if that changes I’ll let you know.” She didn’t say that the only reason she could think of to change it would be if Troy started harassing her. Again, not helpful.
“If you’re not coming home with me, I have no reason to stay any longer. I just hope you know, this is going to destroy your Aunt Jo.” He turned on his heel, as if his words were a final bomb to hurt her before he left.
“Some how I doubt that. She always liked Cole.” She watched as he headed for the door, only to have Ruger step in front of him.
She knew what the other man was saying… Telling her father that if Troy left town they would drop the charges but if he ever came back, ever contacted Sissy again, they would press charges, if the man survived the encounter with him and the rest of the Demented Souls. She watched as he stepped around Ruger and left. As soon as the door closed behind him she let out a breath and let her shoulders slump.
“I’m sorry Daddy was a jerk to you,” she said as she slid back into the seat beside Cole.
“Sweetheart, I stopped holding you responsible for what your daddy said while we were still in school. It took me a little longer to stop caring what he thought about me, but that was mostly because of how much it bothered you.” He covered her hands with one of his and squeezed. “You’re welcome in my home as long as you’d like to stay, you know that.”
“I know, but I didn’t want to assume. And if I didn’t give him plans for after, he would have used it as another angle to bully me from. And I have to be a realist. A lot of relationships feel like this, all happiness and joy, at least in the beginning. Only time will tell if it lasts. It’s never a bad idea to have a what if plan. What if things fall apart. If these ten days have taught me nothing else, it’s that an escape plan can be a life saver.”
“I hope you never feel like you need to escape from me.” Cole’s gaze met hers.
“I do too.” The clinking of bottles against tables, the smack of billiards balls hitting each other, all the noise of the bar faded, until all that mattered was the two of them. “I know you won’t hurt me, not like Troy did. But even after just a short time, I can tell you have things you can’t tell me. I’m okay with that. At least for now. What’s more important is I know who you are in here.” She laid her open hand against his chest and tapped the middle two fingers over his heart. “With as little time as I’ve been around, I can see that the Demented Souls are not exactly what they appear to be. I know who you are and I’m good with what you think you need to do.” She rolled her lips inward and bit them as she tried to find the words to tell him what she knew had to be said.
“Cole, I’ve loved you since I was sixteen. Nothing in the last week or in the last twelve years has done anything but make what I feel for you grow. I think the only way you could kill what I feel for you is to become as big of jackass as Troy is.” She searched his face for any clue he felt the same for her, or even close.
“Sweetheart, I walked away all those years ago because your daddy convinced me I was nothing but bad news for you. That didn’t change how I felt. Nothing has changed how I felt for you. Hell baby, I drove twelve hours to rescue you because you called me. Me.
“I can’t tell you how bad I wanted to kill that fuckwad for what he did to you. But taking care of you was more important. You are what’s important to me. Well, you and my brothers. I love you too, sweetheart. I think if I have you, I’ll be the happiest man on earth, even if the world were to burn down around us.”
Sissy smiled and leaned close. Her heart seemed to flutter in her chest as she watched him close the distance between them. His mouth came down over hers and she was lost in the hot press of his lips.
Smooching sounds and cat calls pulled her out of the bubble of Cole’s presence as he broke the kiss and pulled away.
“Get a room,” one voice called.
“There’s a couch in the office,” came another.
“We can go home if you like,” Cole offered.
Sissy shook her head and grinned. “No. I’m good for a bit yet. Get me a drink. I’m ready to unwind a little. I’m glad the confrontation with Daddy is over and all we have to look forward to is us.”
“I like the sound of us.”
“Me too.”
Sissy leaned against Cole as she glanced around the room. She’d never pictured herself somewhere like this, but for the first time in years, she felt like she was in the right place. Somehow, she knew it wasn’t the place that mattered, it was the man there beside her.
After more than ten years, she was back beside Cole and things were the way they were supposed to be. For now, at least, everything was right in her world.
Thank you for reading Bubba. There are several more in the Demented Souls series, which can be found on Melissa’s website http://
Melissa Stevens has more than fifty books and is working on more all the time. She lives in Arizona with her husband, dog and wild children. Melissa loves reading and writing and spends her days dreaming up new tales for her favorite friends… the ones that live in her head.