Page 22 of Small Town Beast 2: Saverin's Duet

“So that’s what happens when you don’t tell me stuff,” she countered. “ I jump to my own conclusions and figure it out for myself.”

“You’re nosy as a jay, Lorraine, that’s what you are.”

“Tuh!”

He shrugged into a clean gray T-shirt. “You don’t know how that felt watching those motherfuckers stand over you.”

“I know how it felt, what the hell do you mean?”

“I’ve had guns pulled on me before, but that was different, Lorrie. Jesus, if they had hurt you…” His jaw knotted. “Pass me those boots under the bed.”

She passed them.

Not often did Absalom make such an open confession about his feelings. But that didn’t make a difference. What he’d done was unforgivable.

“Did you really get her pregnant, Absalom? Did you lie to me about sleeping with her?”

“No,” said Absalom. “I swore on your Bible and that was no lie.” His harsh gaze softened. “The only children I’ll ever have will be with you.”

Lorrie wiped away a few dangerous tears and turned her back to him. She heard him stepping into his second pair of boots, the ones with the steel caps he used for construction work.

And fighting.

“Lock the door after me,” he said. “And mind that window. Keep the lights off.”

Cool breeze washedover her through the broken window. Off went the light, and she made sure the door was locked before she huddled in the bed and dragged the blankets over herself. Sleep was not going to come. She kept seeing the dead man fumbling with his belt, spit collecting on the sides of his mouth as he imagined violating her body.

No, no…He’s gone. He’s dead.

She heard the gunshot. She saw Absalom emerge from the room with blood all over his clothes and an expression in his blue eyes that chilled her blood. He looked like a man that had never seen the sunlight.

“Let’s go,” he told her, and walked right out of that dirty place under the eyes of about thirty astonished rednecks. The redheaded one, Hiram, was among them. He raised his cup to Absalom as they left. He knew what had happened, he understood there had to be a trade-off for his own transgression. His “mistake”, which was only a mistake because Lorrie hadlied. Or had she? Anyway, nobody cared enough to question it. Nobody stopped them.

And Absalom is the new Deputy besides, Lorrie thought.This corrupt-ass town won’t care he just murdered somebody in front of witnesses.

He’s not the man you thought.

And for the second time, her thoughts turned to the man she had used to make Abi jealous— Mike.

The evening she’d been drinking her sorrows over Absalom’s betrayal, Mike happened to walk past her house. He saw Lorrie sitting on the porch and made a beeline towards her.

“Hi neighbor,” the warm smile on his face disappearing as he saw Lorrie’s blotchy cheeks and red eyes.

They had been neighbors for over a year but never exchanged more than a few words. Sometimes she sensed Mike watching her, but paid him dust since he was still in high school and she was in a relationship with Absalom – or so she thought.

Now Mike was in college and Absalom was apparently married. So she could stare right back at Mike. He was tall, not as tall as Absalom, but bearing the same wide shoulders and long-legged swagger. His reddish brown skin reminded her of polished cedar. The tight fade suited him a lot better than those frayed cornrows he used to rock in high school. And he’d pierced his ears. He was all dressed up like he was headed somewhere. He looked good.

“Are you crying, Miss Lorraine?”

“I’m not crying,” she sniffed. “It’s allergies.”

The liquor tried pushing the truth to her lips but she sealed them shut tight.

“I have sisters. I know you’re lying.” Mike sat down on the step just beneath her. That put him close enough to smell the cologne he was wearing. Absalom never wore cologne, which she loved, but this put-on smell wasn’t bad. It was just different.

“Where are you headed?” she asked Mike.

“I just arrived,” he said. “This right here is where I was headed. Not to be creepy or nothing, but I could see you from our kitchen.”

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