Page 59 of Once Upon a Summer Night

Chapter Seventeen

Though the nightwas warm and Hannah’s body beside his even warmer, a shiver rattled Chase. This was one skeleton in his closet he’d kept locked away neatly for years, thanks to many, many hours of therapy. Now, in the course of a few weeks, he found himself on the brink of reliving it twice. And he would tell her, because she deserved to know the rest of the story. The truth.

“I’ll warn you, it’s not a pretty story.” Chase traced a thumb across the back of her hand. “But I need to tell you so I can finally be free from the secret, too.”

He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. At least with Hannah, he wouldn’t have to go into as much detail as he’d had to give the guys at the station; she’d grown up with him and knew the horrors of his childhood home better than anyone else ever should have. His therapist had encouraged him to divulge as many details as he was comfortable doing so. Most, he would leave in the shadows tonight.

“Not sure if you remember or not, but I kept my head down a lot at our graduation.”

Her hand balled into a fist. “Because of that shiner Lena had given you a few days before. Something about you not restocking her booze fast enough.”

Yeah, she remembered. “Well, the night after graduation, your dad offered me a ride home from the farm. Seemed odd, since I could have hitched a ride with Del or Mia, but I accepted. Little did I know, he’d arranged to have Earl meet us at my parents’ place to confront Lena about the abuse. I told them both to leave well enough alone, but your dad was insistent that it had to stop. So, he marched up our weed-covered sidewalk and pounded on the door loud enough to wake the dead. Which, if you remember, was about as hard as she’d sleep once the bottle ran dry.”

Hannah curled into him, and he almost stopped to spare her from hearing the rest. Those weren’t easy times for her, either. Instead, he went on, needing to finally get this off his chest.

“Lena finally woke and came to the door, smelling like she’d bathed in whiskey. When your dad and Earl asked her why I was always walking around with bruises and black eyes, she started crying. Swore to the good Lord almighty that she didn’t know because she would never hurt me.” Her voice echoed in his mind anew, but he pushed it aside, refusing to cower to her anymore. “I’d stood there waiting for lightning to strike her down for the lies, but none came.”

Hannah groaned. “And I’m sure you didn’t file charges because of your dad. I still remember him asking you to watch over her, and me thinking,more like, watchoutfor her.”

“Yep, I was young and naïve and thought it was my duty as a man to keep my promise to him. So, I kept my mouth shut. Knew it disappointed your dad, but I didn’t feel right, ratting her out like that. She gave me a hug and acted all lovey-dovey with me while they were there. The minute they left, she studied me for a long moment then went to her room and passed out for the night. Nothank you, noI’m sorry, no nothing.”

“Unbelievable. Actually, it being her, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Chase shrugged. “It was better than another beating, so I accepted it for what it was: a sign that it really was time to move out. I spent the rest of the night going through my things and packing what little I planned to take with me when I was to meet up with you and Beth. Then I pushed my duffel under the bed—I planned to grab it after I got back from your graduation party and checked on her one last time. Figured Dad would be back in town by early the next week, and she would have been out of booze long enough by then so she couldn’t get into too much trouble. My conscience was clear, and I was ready to go.”

“So, you really did want to go.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I had every intention of leaving. I savored my time with your family at the little graduation party cookout your aunt hosted, knowing it might be a while before I saw them all again, then headed home to wait until dark fell and Lena drank herself to sleep as usual.”

He’d walked in to find her sitting in her favorite recliner, a cigarette in one hand and a glass filled with ice and Jack in the other. She didn’t look up as he entered. He could nearly smell the stale cigarette aroma of their living room, hear thebeep beep beepingof the wheel going around on Lena’s favorite television game show.

Hannah stroked his arm, her touch keeping the darkness at bay. These were just memories, he reminded himself. They couldn’t hurt him anymore.

“Lena was watching TV when I got back,” he continued after a moment. “I let her know I’d brought her dinner and set the plate of leftovers I’d brought from the cookout on the kitchen table. She actually thanked me, and asked if I could be a dear and go down to the basement to bring up another Mason jar of the strawberry jam your aunt had given us. I did as she asked, and halfway down the stairs I started to wonder if sneaking off without saying good-bye was the right thing to do. After all, she could be okay when she wasn’t drinking, and I really didn’t want her to worry.” He huffed out a humorless laugh. “That’s when I heard the lock click behind me.”

“What?”

“Yep. She locked me in the basement, Han. Screamed at me through the door about the embarrassment I’d put her through the day before. I didn’t start to panic until her voice got eerily calm. That’s when she said that if I was going to act like an animal and not defend a lady’s honor, then I would be treated like one.”

It wasn’t until he’d given up on trying to pound the door down and gone to the bottom of the stairs that he’d understood what she meant. On the dirt floor in the corner was a pile of newspapers, a water bowl marked FIDO filled with stale water, and a can of wet dog food but no opener to go with it.

“Excuse me, butladiesdon’t lock people in their basements.” Hannah shook her head. “That woman is nothing more than a vile, horrible monster. How long did it take you to get out of there?”

“Three days.”

Hannah froze. “Threedays?”

He nodded. “Would have been longer if your dad hadn’t come looking for me. He saw Lena passed out on the couch and called 911, using his concern for her well-being as an excuse to get them to bust down the door. Needless to say, I missed our rendezvous point.”

“Oh, Chase.” Hannah clung to him tightly. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“You couldn’t have. I’d left my cell phone on the kitchen table, so there was no way to reach you or anyone else. Of course, Lena made sure to smash it for good measure.” He rubbed Hannah’s back, the action helping him refocus on the here and now. “That whole ordeal pretty much ensured I’ll never own a home with a basement.”

“I am so, so sorry. All this time I thought…”

He shook his head. “No, I hadn’t changed my mind, but life had other plans. Three days in the basement, two in the hospital to be treated for severe dehydration. By the time I was physically able to leave, you were long gone and I was a hot mess. And then there was your dad.”

Hannah shifted beside him. He’d warned her the story wasn’t pretty. She was suddenly afraid to hear the rest.

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