Page 32 of Stone Deep
“Did you get a bad call or something?”
She shook her head. I crouched down next to the lounge and lifted her chin so I could see her face. “Was it something I did? I knew I should have asked before I ate that last drumstick.”
She laughed, but it was a short, sad sound that got lost behind the mild roar of the ocean below.
I perched on the edge of the lounge, facing her. Her tiny nose was pink from crying, and her eyes were a glassy brown. “Talk to me. Is it about our plan? Are you worried about facing the jerk who caused your sister’s death? I’ll be right there with you, Brit. Nothing is going to happen to you with me around.”
She nodded and stared down at the phone. “Damon didn’t have anything to do with Perris’s death.” A small sob shook her shoulders. She lifted her face. “It was my fault. Perris might still be alive—” The tears flowed faster. She took a deep breath to steady her words. “She left me a voicemail that night. The night she died. But I’d been dealing with my own problems, and another call came in right after. A call I needed to take. Everything in my life was going to hell, and in my usual state of self-absorption, I forgot to listen to Perris’s message. Until it was too late.” She hiccoughed between sobs. The tequila had definitely gotten to her.
I pressed my hands on both sides of her face and looked at her. “Britton, relax, take a breath. You’re not making much sense. In fact, I now know even less than when Istepped out here, except that there were some phone calls.”
She wiped at her tears and caught her breath. I hated seeing so much hurt in her face. “God, you must think I’m a loon. I’m sorry, Slade. I see now that I shouldn’t have dragged you on this silly, useless quest to appease my guilt. You’ve been so amazing starting from that first night, the first night of my descent into full-on madness.” She trailed her fingers over the stab wound, and her shoulders shook again. “I can’t believe I caused this.”
“I told you it wasn’t your fault.” I stood up. “Shit, Britton, you’ve got to tell me what the hell is going on? I’m this far into it now, so don’t keep me in the fucking dark anymore.”
She leaned back against the lounge and looked out at the water again as if she was contemplating her words. Her focus returned to her phone. “The night my sister died, she called me for help. At that time, I was living just a few blocks away from the apartment she shared with Damon. Because I was too busy dealing with my own pity party, I didn’t hear her message until it was too late. I’ve kept it on my phone to remind me that I’m a horrid, selfish person.” The sigh that followed was filled with anguish. “I’ll let you hear it.”
She slid her thumb over her phone and held it up for me to listen. The weak, wavering voice that came through was hard to hear over the sound of the ocean and the unexplained tapping noise in the background of the call. It sounded a lot like Britton. I leaned closer to the phone.
“Britty,” she said, “I’m in trouble. Can you come?” There were long, anguish-filled pauses. “I’m having a hard time staying conscious.” The words were getting softer,almost like a dying woman’s whisper. “I think Damon . . .” And that was it.
Britton crossed her arms around herself. “She needed me. I could have saved her.”
“Come on, Britton, you can’t blame yourself. Everyone misses an important text or call. It was the way things played out. It sucks, but you can’t keep beating yourself up about it. And that end remark?—”
She lifted her face. “I was sure she was trying to tell me that Damon had given her bad drugs or too much of something.”
“Too bad there wasn’t more.”
She shook her head. “The coroner’s report said she overdosed on sleeping pills, and the only other thing he noted on the report was that there was a contusion on her right cheek. They decided she must have hit it on the side of the chair when she passed out. Damon had been out with friends. They corroborated his story to the police. He refused to talk to me, and he never even bothered to show up at her funeral. I wanted to talk to him just to find out what had been going on between them. I knew he was abusive and a total prick, but Perris had pretended everything was all right. She had already spiraled out of control with drugs, and Damon had great connections that made him a steady supply source. Perris was counting on me. We have always been each other’s keeper, and I fucked up royally.” She curled her arms around herself. “We can turn back. Seeing Damon isn’t going to bring her back or answer any questions. He wasn’t there, so I’ve got to stop using him as a way to ease my guilt.” A shiver coursed through her, and she shrank down to avoid the damp air swirling around thedeck.
I stood up and gazed down at her. “The only thing more heartbreaking than a sad Tinkerbell, is a cold, sad Tinkerbell.” I leaned down and scooped her into my arms. She leaned her head against my shoulder and sighed.
“I’m a terrible person, and now I’ve got you dragged into this. And you’re so damn great, like the best, hottest, bravest, extremely skilled in bed guy all wrapped up in this really nice package.” Her warm tequila breath brushed across my face. “Do you know how damn sexy you are? And hot? And brave? Did I already say that?”
“Yep, Tink, think you might have had just one too many tiny bottles of liquor.”
“But those bottles are really small,” I said.
“Yes, but so are you.” I sat her on the bed and put her phone on the nightstand. She rested back against the pillows and watched me through heavy lids as I walked around to the other side and climbed in next to her.
“I think we should still go see Damon. Maybe he’ll at least talk to you and answer some questions. Might make you feel better. And you wanted to get your sister’s stuff, right? We’ll be in Palm Springs by late afternoon tomorrow.”
“But I feel silly taking up your time.” She yawned.
I took her into my arms. “Taking up my time? I was off work, remember? I could be playing video games and lifting weights. Or I could be hanging out with an extremely beautiful woman who makes me laugh and seems to enjoy wild sex as much as me. Pretty sure I made the right choice when I decided to take this road trip.”
She rested her head against my chest and was asleep before I could pull the covers up and over us. I lay there in the shadowy room watching her pretty face as she slept. I was fucking reeling at the mere thought of her and how badly I wanted to keep her with me. My brothers were never going to let me hear the end of it.
EIGHTEEN
BRITTON
Normally, long trips in the car made me antsy and bored. About the only time Perris and I ever fought was in the back of my dad’s Chevy van on one of our family trips. We always started out excited and giddy about the prospect of a summer vacation, but five or six hours into a long, hot drive, after the card games and I Spy games got old, we could hardly stand to look at each other. But our feuds were always short-lived. And by the time we reached out destination, we’d be laughing and smiling again.
There hadn’t been one boring minute in the car with Slade. I loved his company, and he seemed to feel the same. This whole thing felt like it was going in a more serious direction fast. Maybe too fast. It was something I wasn’t at all ready for. Of course, I reminded myself that I might just have been imagining it. A guy like Slade would have a trainload of girls waiting for him back home. There had never been any discussion ofusafter this unusual and hastily planned road trip was over. That was probably for the best, but my heart felt heavy at the thought of not seeing Slade afterward.
I took a sip of the cold concoction of banana and date ice cream. It was pure bliss and helped ease the flutter of nerves I’d been experiencing during our last leg of the road trip. It had been easy enough to find the main office for Blue Lagoon Pools near Palm Springs. Our amateur stakeout plan was to sit near the main office and wait for the work trucks to return from the construction site. Then we’d follow Damon back to his place. The one thing we ignorantly hadn’t taken into account was the triple digit temperatures in the California desert in the middle of summer. We’d chased every bit of shade we could. Not an easy task in a stretch of land where the only shade is provided by palm trees and spindly desert shrubs. According to the internet listing for the pool company, the office closed at five. We’d decided to spend an hour in a nearby store that was filled with nuts and dates and air conditioning.
