Entangled: Book 2 of the Fullerton Family Saga Page 9

  He didn’t even ask as he took my wrist in his hand and dragged me to the dance floor. His arm wrapped around my waist as he pulled me close to his body, and I felt him press against me in a way far too intimate for my liking. “Drew…,” I tried to protest, but he only responded in pulling me closer.

  “You danced with everyone else,” he murmured into my ear. “Why not dance with me?”

  My breath caught in my throat. He knew exactly why it as a horrible, horrible idea, he could feel it in the way my traitorous body yielded to his masterful touch. I wanted to protest how unfair he was being, but I already knew he didn’t fight fair. And he was quite proud of that fact. So I gulped down any protest as he led me around the dance floor, his hand placed right above my hip as he gripped me tight. As his hand fell to cup my curvy hip in one hand, I gasped in spite of myself.

  “Drew,” I whimpered. “You’re being completely inappropriate.”

  “Not half as inappropriate as if we were alone,” he murmured against my ear. “Come with me to my study, Rachel. Let me show you all the inappropriate things I’ve dreamed about doing to you.”

  I shook my head and tried to pull away, but he held me fast. “All your things are still here. You don’t even have to leave. You can return and everything could go back to the way it was. The way they should be.” His voice deepened as his eyes absorbed me. “God, you are beautiful,” he whispered. “Is this for my benefit? Or for his?”

  I damned the tears that sprung into my eyes. “It’s for mine, you self-absorbed asshole,” I hissed as I wrenched away. I didn’t stop until I reached the doorway, where I nearly mowed Alex down as he entered the room. “Get me out of here.”

  He glanced behind me to see Drew approach. He nodded and grabbed my hand, and led me toward the front door before we risked another confrontation.

  Chapter Eight

  I had wrecked Jorge’s paintjob all the way back to the ranch with tears I could no longer withhold. Alex said nothing, even after we entered the house and I ran up to my room to pull off the ridiculous gown and scrub away any water resistant makeup that hadn’t already rubbed off. I slammed into my bedroom and didn’t come out again that night.

  There was no hiding from Max the following morning, who wanted all the details about my big night. Hours of crying had left me with a massive migraine, so Millicent distracted him. I had no doubt that Alex had confided in her how things went, and she effortlessly played interference to allow me time to lick my wounds.

  I didn’t emerge until Sunday morning, when I could ignore my growling stomach no longer. Max curled with me on the sectional sofa in the family room, doing whatever he could to make me feel better. It touched me so much the waterworks nearly started again. What a mess I had turned out to be.

  Alex finally brought me a cup of tea after Max headed to bed, and Millicent left us alone to talk. “Are you OK?” he asked softly.

  “No,” I answered as I rested my head on one of the throw pillows. “This must be punishment from a past life or something.”

  He chuckled. “If that’s true, we both must have really, really sucked.”

  I laughed in spite of myself. “Sorry for my meltdown.”

  “We’ve all been there,” he dismissed. “All part of being human.”

  “Yeah, well it bites the big one,” I said.

  “With relish,” he agreed with a grin.

  “And you want to know a horrible secret? You know what would honestly make it hurt less?” I asked. “If I knew he was suffering, too.”

  Alex studied my face. “Yeah, I know.”

  I cursed my trembling lip. “But he’s not, is he?”

  There was a long pause before he answered. “Probably not.”

  That started the waterworks again and Alex scooted closer to take me into his arms. I cried on his shoulder, though it mortified me to do so. He said nothing as he rubbed my back and let me get it all out of my system.

  I was flushing out the wound, and we both knew that was a painful process. But it was one more stage in letting go. I had to mourn.

  Gently he started to sing an old country song as he held me, and it quieted the soft sobs that racked my shoulders. By the time he finished, my tears were spent. He smiled at me and I returned it. When his head bent toward mine, I didn’t even move away. But his kiss landed on my forehead, a chaste gesture of our budding friendship. I hugged him tight to show him how grateful I was, which he held as long as I needed. He said nothing else as he rose to head off to bed.

  I felt a little better by the time Jonathan arrived that following morning. He was quiet as he carried his suitcase up to Max’s room. Our morning session was uneventful, with Jonathan not saying much about the party or my rapid departure. I debated on whether or not I wanted to address it. There were certain things I felt needed to be kept confidential, but I didn’t want him to fill up the silence with more bad stuff he had created in his own mind.

  Jonathan, however, showed no sign of communicating. He did the work I gave him without complaint, even did the chores around the house and the stables, but he often disappeared to answer an increasing number of phone calls.

  By afternoon, I understood why. Justin Deneke stood at the threshold of the entryway, having been invited by Jonathan to stay the night.

  It was an openly defiant gesture that showed disrespect for the house and for everyone in it. I knew things were going from bad to worse when Justin pushed his way through the doorway and entered the house like he owned the joint.

  He was tall and lanky for a fourteen-year-old, wearing garish chains around his neck like they were solid gold pythons. He wore his ball cap backward, a wife-beater shirt and baggy fatigues in black and gray. I figured his shoes cost around a thousand bucks, pricing his ensemble to more than some folks made in a year.

  “You must be Rachel,” he said as he glanced over his designer shades to give me a completely inappropriate once-over. “Not bad. But you should really lose about thirty pounds. Then you could be really hot.”

  “Excuse me?” I said.

  Jonathan ran in to grab his friend by the arm. “You’re here! Come on down and see the horses.”

  “Jonathan,” I tried to stop him, but he was already darting out the door.

  Justin sent me a smug grin as he followed behind. I went into the office to call Alex, but Millicent was already on her cell phone. She went upstairs to keep Max distracted so he wouldn’t be exposed to Justin, while I waited for Alex downstairs.

  He walked through the door about an hour later, after likely breaking dozens of traffic laws to get there from Pasadena. “Where are they?” he asked.

  “Down at the stables, I think. They’ve been all over,” I confided, having kept an eye on them as best I could.

  “Where’s Max?” he asked.

  “Millicent is keeping him upstairs in the play room.”

  He nodded. “Good. I’ll go send that little punk packing.”

  The minute we entered the family room, we saw the boys spread out on the sofa, playing a violent video game Jonathan was forbidden to play. I could tell by his eyes that he had indulged in some kind of intoxicant.

  “Hey, the ‘rents,” Justin drawled as we walked into the room.

  “Not my ‘rents,” Jonathan said and both boys broke into the giggles.

  “Jesus, how high are you?” Alex bit out as he walked around the sectional, knocking their feet off of the expensive ottoman.

  Both boys looked at him and said, “Yes,” before they dissolved in even more laughter.

  Alex turned to me. “Go get Millicent,” he said and I nodded. I met her in the hallway, as she found some leftover packages of synthetic incense popular among kids to get high. It had fallen out of Jonathan’s hoodie when she attempted to hang it up. “Go through his things,” I told her. “Get rid of all of it.”

  When I brought the empty package it to Alex, he exploded in anger. “How dare you bring this poison into my house around my son?” he demanded o
f Jonathan, who looked unmoved by his uncle’s outburst.

  He shrugged. “Just figured fair was fair. You destroyed my family. What difference would it make if I destroyed yours?”

  “What are you talking about?” Alex demanded.

  “After you and Rachel left the other night, Dad took me aside and told me everything,” Jonathan said as his eyes bore holes in Alex. “I know what you did with my mother, and that’s what broke up their marriage.” Alex was shocked silent. “Not so sanctimonious now, are you, asshole? You do nothing but attack Dad, but you’re nothing but a cheat and a thief.”

  Alex appeared thunderstruck by the confrontation. I walked over to him, which only drew more of Jonathan’s ire.

  “So you moved on to Rachel,” he filled in. “Just to bust up my family again.” The tears of a ten-year-old hovered in his bloodshot eyes as he stared at the man he had always trusted. “Why do you hate me, Alex?”

  I could feel Alex’s spirit crumple from two feet away. “I don’t hate you, buddy.”

  “Yeah, ‘buddy,’” Justin retorted. “He doesn’t hate you. He just likes pussy.”

  “Get the fuck out of my house!” Alex roared at our unwelcome guest.

  Jonathan popped up. “If he leaves, I go with him!”

  “Jonathan,” I cautioned but he wasn’t having any lectures from me, either.

  “Who are you to say anything?” he challenged. “You’re just the hired help. I probably won’t mean anything to you until I’m older and my balls drop.”

  “You can do better, Johnny,” Justin said. “That Olivia Guest is a hot little piece of ass. A real spinner. No heavy lifting required,” he smirked my direction.

  Alex lunged across the ottoman, and I had to pull him back. “He’s not worth it,” I said as I held him back.

  Alex yanked away to call for police reinforcement around the time Millicent ran into the room. “Alex, Rachel… Max is gone.”

  Alex swung around. “What do you mean, gone?”

  Millicent wrung her hands. “I left him in the play room while I cleaned up that other issue,” she said as she glanced at me. “When I went back, he was gone.”

  We forgot about Jonathan and Justin as we dispersed to find Max. We tore the house from top to bottom before we each headed outside. Alex raced down to the stables, Millicent jumped into the golf cart to take her down to the garden. I concentrated on the back yard. When I spotted the open door by the pool, my heart stopped.

  “No,” I whispered as I raced down the hill toward the fenced-in pool area that was no longer secure.

  I checked the hot tub first, but it was turned off and clear. I turned to the pool and there I saw my special little boy floating face-down in the water.

  I didn’t think twice as I raced around the deck, which was much slipperier than I had anticipated. My feet went out from under me as dove into water, grabbing for Max as my head hit hard concrete wall.

  My whole world went black.

  Chapter Nine

  I think I had been dreaming of Jason, which wasn’t unusual. I often dreamed of my baby boy as if I had never lost him at all. He would giggle heartily with those big chipmunk cheeks squished together in a happy smile that warmed my very soul. I knew from the first moment that they had put him in my arms that he was what I had been born for, to be his mother and to keep him safe.

  Only I hadn’t done that, had I?

  I had stayed in a loveless, emotionally abusive marriage to preserve some semblance of family, and it would cost me everything. I could still feel the chlorine burn my nostrils as I coughed up the water after diving in to save him, only to lose him in the end.

  It felt so real… as if it had just happened.

  Daylight cracked into my subconscious mind as I struggled to come back from a place hidden deep inside myself. I saw Alex hovering over me, his hands on my chest and tears in his eyes as he tried to pump air back into my body.

  Jonathan sobbed as he paced right behind his uncle, and I had to process what happened. The events flooded back as my consciousness returned, and I shot up to find Max.

  “Where is he?” I asked, and Alex pointed to where Millicent rocked the little boy in her arms as he coughed and sputtered.

  “Oh my God,” I exhaled as I wilted back to the ground. Alex pulled me into his arms and sobbed softly. “Jonathan saw you go in, so we all ran down to find you. You saved him, Rachel. You saved my baby,” he cried as he rocked me back and forth.

  I had no strength to hold him, though I really wanted to. I understood his terror better than anyone. “Oh, Alex,” I said softly and he just held me tighter.

  “Rachel?” Jonathan said uncertainly from where he stood behind Alex.

  I looked into his face, which was no longer defiant or even stoned. He had, in a very real way, been scared straight. I held out my hand and he ran to me. Alex moved away so I could hold my favorite boy close.

  “I’m so sorry,” he sobbed as he climbed into my lap like a small child. “It’s all my fault.”

  “Shh,” I told him as I used what little strength I had to comfort him. We could hear the sirens blast from the front yard, and Alex left us so he could fetch the paramedics. Police removed Justin from the premises as all of us rode in the back of the ambulance. Jonathan refused to leave my side. The gruff exterior had eroded, leaving behind the scared, lonely little boy I had stupidly abandoned mere months before.

  It took less than an hour for Elise to find us at the hospital in town. I cuddled Max on the emergency room gurney in a curtained-off cubicle. He was traumatized but otherwise fine. We had found him just in the nick of time. Millicent figured out that he discovered the pool gate was unlocked, no doubt left that way by Justin himself, so he went inside to play with one of his favorite toys poolside. The water I slipped on was from the splash after he had reached too far and fallen in. Obviously he had stopped thrashing and gone under around the time I headed outside to look for him.

  Alex crumpled into a nearby chair and wept silently how close we came to the unimaginable. Millicent hovered over him with her hand on his shoulder as she did likewise. I cuddled both my boys close and thanked God repeatedly that everyone was OK, the lump on my noggin aside. I didn’t so much care about myself; I would have given my last breath for either one of them.

  But Fate had cut us a break for once.

  Our relief was short-lived as Drew exploded through the curtain. “How the hell could you let that little punk get my son high?” he demanded of Alex, not even caring what his brother very nearly lost.

  It was more than Alex could take. He was still emotionally distraught and all his defenses were down. It was primal as he lunged at Drew and they fell out into the hall in a fistfight years in the making. I drew the boys into my chest so they couldn’t see anything, but all of us heard each sickening punch as they landed.

  “You selfish son of a bitch!” Alex growled as he wrestled Drew to the ground and put him in a chokehold. Drew easily maneuvered free and landed another uppercut right across Alex’s jaw. Orderlies and security guards rushed the scene to pull them apart. Millicent pulled the curtain back so the boys couldn’t watch. Elise tried to disentangle Jonathan to hold him, but he refused to leave my side. “I don’t wanna go,” he wailed into my shoulder as his arms locked around my neck.

  “I know,” I said. “But your mom is worried about you.” My eyes met Elise’s. She glared at me, resentful that I would have won his allegiance when she still struggled to do so. “Maybe if you go with your mom, it’ll help Alex,” I reasoned.

  He was uncertain as he pulled away. He flinched with every blow he overheard as his family dissolved in chaos just beyond the curtain. “Okay,” he relented, but I knew he was far from convinced. He could hear Drew screaming from the other side of the curtain that he’d never let Jonathan go back to Alex’s ranch again.

  Elise was able to remove him from the situation before it got any worse. Likewise, Millicent took Max and followed a nurse to a private room
just before Drew tore back the curtain and towered over me. “You’re coming home,” he told me.

  “I’m not going with you, Drew,” I informed him.

  “You’d stay with him?” he thundered. “After this?”

  “It was an accident,” I tried to explain, but he wasn’t having it.

  “My ass!” he exploded. “He allowed that juvenile delinquent into his home …” he started, but I was quick to cut him off.

  “That juvenile delinquent was in his home because Jonathan invited him there. He was pissed off by the things you told him about his mother and his uncle,” I spat. “That was information he shouldn’t even have. No ten-year-old kid needs to know about this stuff, especially since he did what any ten-year-old kid would do. He pushed the limit to punish the people he thinks betrayed him. And Alex damn near lost his son over it.”

  Drew backed up, shocked by my accusation.

  “I could have died, too, by the way, but we already know that means nothing to you, don’t we? I was fixing your mess, again, and this time it could have cost lives. This is all your fault, Drew. You think you can live above the rules but behavior has consequences. Welcome to cleaning up your own goddamn mess.” I turned to Alex, who stood a few feet behind his brother, nursing his bloody jaw. “Let’s go home,” I said.

  I knew I had struck below the belt, but I didn’t care anymore. The only things that mattered to me were the lives of the children I loved. I honestly couldn’t believe I had shed one damn tear over Drew Fullerton. Desire for him had possessed me like a sickness; that was all that it was… and all it ever could be.

  Paparazzi had gathered by the time the hospital released Max and me, so we had to fight through the throng of pushy press to a rented car that would take us back to the ranch. We were all subdued as we entered the house that looked a lot different than it had that morning.