Page 91 of Tell Me You Love Me

“Don’t touch him.” I yank Franky around and place him behind my back for safekeeping. But when I feel him being pulled away, panic lances through my blood until I spin and find Fox’s hand holding his.

Panic makes way for relief. But relief only lasts until I meet her eyes and remember she knowseverything.She knows my childhood. My teen years. She knows all there is to know about Plainview and the Watkins family and the reason I left this town ten years ago.

She knows itall, including the role Grady Watkins played in the most important years of my life. And I think, most importantly, she knows I’m not that child anymore, defenseless and scared. She knows the murder I’ve prevented for a decade already, the one I was terrified Tommy would commit, may eventuate today.

But I’ll be the one who faces a jury of twelve when it’s all done.

“Come on.” She gently tugs Franky backward. “We’re leaving.”

“Mom!” Franky fights against her hold, reaching out and grabbing my wrist. “Come with us, Mommy.”

For a single moment, just a blip in the enormity of my life, Grady’s hand stops on my hip. I feel him in the way my blood cools. In the way my pulse skitters, and my stomach rebels.

But Tommy wrenches the parasite away, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him an inch off the grass. “The fuck are you doing here? You had no right to intrude.”

“Mom!” Franky demands, his eyes glittering with terror and, worse, knowledge. Because New York-me never lied to him. “You need to come with us! Now.”

“I suggest you take your hands off me, boy.” Grady’s voice hasvisited me in my nightmares for a decade. The lisp his dental hygiene creates, an added detail to join those I’ve obsessed on for three decades. “You forget respect since I was last in town?”

“Respect?” Tommy laughs. But the sound is anything but kind. “Motherfucker, the only thing you deserve is my boot down your throat.”

“Mom!”

Decided, I loop my left hand around Tommy’s belt, so when Fox tugs Franky, and Franky tugs me, I pull Tommy until he releases his father. Then I turn and walk, sucking fresh oxygen into my lungs and swallowing the nausea clawing mercilessly along my throat.

Chris follows without hesitation, leaving his father behind and creating a long line ofno fucking chance are we dealing with this shit today.Andbecause Eliza is a good girl beneath the fire, she steps in the way, closing ranks beside Ollie and Raquel, and stopping Grady and his taunting laugh from following us.

“Wait, don’t leave!” He calls out. “Tommy! Don’t you want to spend time with your dear old dad?”

Tommy changes our grip and speeds his steps, walkingwithme instead of forcing me to drag him along, and whether it’s a newfound maturity or a desire to protect me from an inevitable explosion, he controls his temper in a way that leaves me breathless.

“Okay, so we’ll just see you at Darlene’s, then?” Grady waves in my peripherals. Is he truly so delusional? Is it the drugs? Entitlement? Has he forgotten?

“God.” Disgust spreads throughout my stomach the way oil spreads on a smooth surface. Difficult to contain and all but impossible to clean up. Sweat beads on my brow as a million memories come sprinting back to the forefront of my mind, and with them, stars dance in my vision. The darkness wants to take me. To flatten me. To put me face-first on the grass and leave me vulnerable the way I have been in the past.

But when my knees shake, and my steps falter, Tommy catches me, dragging me close until I’m not sure I’m walking at all. Gliding, perhaps. Flying, but with my feet barely skimming the ground.

“We’redefinitelynot going to Darlene’s.” Eliza leaves Grady behind and jogs to my car, yanking the back door open and nodding when Chris climbs in first, and Franky follows right after.

Fox folds in third while Tommy walks me all the way to my door.

But he doesn’t open it yet. He doesn’t shove me inside.

“Hey?” He grabs my jaw, pulling my face around and forcing me tolook into his eyes. “Take a breath, Lana. You look like you’re about to fall on your ass.”

“Why is he here?” I try to turn. To search for the filth in the sea of faces. Was it only moments ago I held disdain for the false pretense and faked kindness? Did I seriously judge them so harshly when the likes of Grady Watkins exists? “I thought he moved away. My mom said?—”

“He did.” He strokes the underside of my jaw. “Haven’t seen him in years. Are you…” He frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t want to go to Darlene’s.” I step out of his steely grip and search for my son. His hand isn’t in mine. His little arm isn’t draped across my back. “Franky?”

“He’s with Chris and Fox. Hey?” He jerks me back around. “You need to take a fuckin’ breath. Why are you freaking out?”

Fox climbs out of my car and glares across the top. “Get in.”

“Alana—”

“Let’s go!” She slaps the roof. “Now.”

---