Beautiful Innocence (2 page)

“Are you Angela Scott, my Aunt?”

She shakes her head and holds up her hands. “It’s Angela Wilde now. Do you have proof?”

“What?” I ask, because I’m slightly astonished that she’s questioning me right off the bat. Where’s the warm hug? Where’s the unconditional love? Where’s the sweet, loving lady that my mom spoke about?

“Proof,” she states again.

“Yes, I have a picture of us, but its kind of old and I have her letter telling me she was leaving. Will that do?”

She holds out her hand, just as I reach into my back pocket and unfold the note. I smooth it out several times to get the wrinkles out before handing it and the photo to her.

She looks down but then back up too quickly. “What’s this?”

I step closer. “It’s her letter to me,” I whisper unsure of why she seems so determined not to believe me.

She holds it up, chuckling. “It’s typed. This isn’t proof.” She glances at the picture, but remains closed-lipped about it.

“Yes, it is,” I snap. “She worked at a office supply store. She typed everything, even our grocery lists. She liked to type.” I pause trying to think of something. “Look at my eyes. They’re the same as hers. The same as yours.” And we did share that one trait. We all had eyes the color of pale blue ice. My mom always called me Topaz because of the color when I was little, but she stopped by the time I turned thirteen. That was also the time that I think she started regretting leaving the Carolina’s and maybe even regretted having me a little. But that can just be my lack of confidence.

“I see your eyes.” She glares into them now that I’ve pointed them out, tilting her head from side to side. “Why did she leave without taking you?”

Fighting the tears, I take a seat back down on the cot. “I ask myself that everyday. I thought maybe she’d come here or at least would come back and help me.”

“Help you with what?” She keeps running her tongue around inside of her mouth while she debates back and forth with me, making me nervous.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Spill it.”

I lift my head to look up at her. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

“You want a place to stay?”

I nod, knowing she has me. I can’t afford anywhere else and apparently she was in no bargaining mood.

She gestures for me to answer her question. I wipe the tear away thinking about my mom, and decide I have no desire to be kicked aside. I want a family. I need her. “He took all her checks she made from work. Dropped her off there too and then picked her up. Work was the only time she was out of his sight.”

“Who?”

“Roger. Boyfriend number six.” I exhale. “He wasn’t a nice man to her. I think she finally got that one chance and took it.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “Just like you?”

Unable to look at her, I focus on my dirty shirt. “Yeah, just like me.”

“Can I keep this for a couple days?” She holds up my mother’s letter and picture.

I nod. “Sure, but I want them back.”

She sighs and sits next to me. Suddenly I feel an arm pulling me in, consoling me, and it feels like pure sunshine. “I live with my husband, Hank, in a small trailer. There’s no room other than a couch. It’s yours if you like, or you can stay upstairs. There’s a small room, but it has a clean shower and a small kitchen. I use it once in a while. You can work here and make some money, and then we’ll figure something out.”

“That’d be great. A place of my own? Are you sure? I don’t want to cause any problems.”

She tips my chin back and smiles gently. “It’s no problem, Ava.” She stops, but smiles again. “Jesus, you look just like her. How old are you, honey?”

“Twenty-one,” I tell her and I don’t know why I lie, but I do, afraid that I won’t be able to stay. It’s a bar and if there’s one thing I do know is that you have to be twenty-one to be inside of one.

“Like I said, it’s not much, but you can stay up there until we square you away.” She pulls me up to stand and glances around. “Where’s all your stuff?”

I chew on the corner of my lip. “Um, right there.”

She rolls her eyes and looks up to the ceiling without saying anything. “C’mon then, let me show you around.”

I can’t help but smile as I follow her out the door.

JOSH

“Man, stay for one more.”

“Nah, I need to get out of here.” I pat both my brothers on their shoulders, and then bump fists with Johnny. “Early day tomorrow.” Every Thursday we get together for a game or two of pool, to chill out and catch up. It’s their once a week hall pass to get out and blow off steam. Even though we all work together at my family’s private investigation firm, it still doesn’t leave much time for shooting the shit about nonessential stuff, like hunting or watching the big game and where.

I throw a twenty on the bar and start to head out, but a group of girls walk in. None that I recognize, which is odd, seeing as how this is a small town. It’s a rare thing to have some fresh blood showing up and stirring the boys in here a little. This fierce looking chick struts past me, catching my eye. She’s all black hair, round ass, slender waist, brown eyes and a body that is begging to be mine for the night. Just as she starts to pass by, her shoulder brushes mine. Our eyes instantly lock as she smiles up at me like she already knows what I want from her and she’s ready to hand it over.

Without hesitation, since this night doesn’t look like a total bust anymore, I turn back to my brothers and order another beer.

“I thought you were leaving?” Dane laughs as he punches my arm.

They know me too well. “Shut the fuck up.”

Jason, Dane, and an old buddy of mine who works for us, Johnny, are all of a sudden ordering shots of tequila, which surprises me since we all have to work early in the morning. I love my brothers, but usually by this time of night they’re home with their kids and in bed with their women. I love and adore them more than my own life, so much so that I think of those kids as mine half the time.

“She’s checking you out, brother. Why don’t you go for it?” Jason taunts.

I chug back my beer. “Why the hell would I do that? She’ll be over here in a minute.” Sure enough, she starts to make her way over. I can tell she’s nervous by the way she keeps looking back at the girls she walked in with and the way she’s chewing on her bottom lip without really making full eye contact with me. There are a few types of women in this world that I’ve come to know. There are the ones like my brothers wives, who if you’re lucky to find them, hold the fuck on, and there are the chicks that just want a good time and there are chicks that want a good time, but think they can change you by having you between their thighs. For the last fourteen years I’ve lived my life between a lot of women’s thighs, and not one has been able to make me want more.

“Unbelievable,” Dane mutters. “Every fucking time.”

When she finally does look up, I flinch some and do a double take. She’s pretty, but not as pretty as I thought she was and she looks young. “Hi, I’m Brooke,” she says softly regarding me and only me.

Someone nudges me forward, and this girl wraps her arm around my waist and grips my ass cheek. “I was wondering if you wanted to dance with me?”

Damn, this girl is bold and quick with trying to get what she wants.

Slowly, I take every inch of her in without saying anything at first, making her shift from one side to the other as I scrutinize every inch of her. Jason clears his throat, bringing me back to her. “I don’t dance.”

“Oh, well, um, okay then,” she whispers, pulling her arm away before turning on her heels and shaking her head at her friends all tightly gathered around a table.

“What the hell is your problem? Why didn’t you dance with her?” Dane chides me.

“Man, I don’t dance and you know it. If she wants some of this,” I grin. “She’ll wait until I go to her. I don’t like that take charge shit from women and you know it.”

Johnny, Jason and Dane all laugh out loud. Johnny puts his arm around me. “Man, sometimes it’s not so bad giving the little lady the control. Trust me when I tell you this. It can be downright fuckin’ hot. This one time my wife broke out the cuffs…”

I shove his arm off. “Man, I do not want to hear about you getting it on with your girl. You know what? I think I need a new group of friends. All your dicks are claimed by your women, and I highly doubt one of you let’s them have the power.” I shake my head and shrug. “I like to have the control, not the other way around, and that’s the way it’s staying.”

They go on ignoring me after my comment and start talking about an upcoming hunting trip they want to take in a few weeks. Finally, something I can concentrate on other than that little minx keeping her eyes on me. After another round of beers, a shot and the constant stare from across the room I’ve about had it.

“I’m out.”

I think about leaving her here, but that damn little horny devil on my shoulder sends me walking up to a table full of girls all doe-eyed and ready to pounce. There’s a booth behind them with a slight figure sipping on a drink by herself that I hadn’t noticed before. I check her our as fast I can, because she doesn’t fit in here. She seems so out of place-uncomfortable, but beautiful with a pair of eyes that slam right into me. She notices me staring and sinks into the vinyl seat of the booth. I force my eyes to flick back on the black haired minx from earlier, knowing she’s the sure thing for the night. “I’m leaving. You coming or what?”

All five mouths drop open at my blunt question, but she nods real fast. I can hear a few “be careful” and “call us later” words of wisdom, but she just scoots out from her friends and follows me to the parking lot.

“You never told me your name.”

“No, I guess I didn’t.” I open my truck door and hold out my hand. “Use the step bar to get on up,” I tell her grabbing her ass to scoot her in. “And watch my spit cup,” I yell up to her, remembering that I dipped on my way over. My truck, the one thing that is mine, and only mine is a decked out, jacked up Chevy black Silverado with chrome side steps, 35’ inch wheels that make my truck fucking big. And I love it.

Once in, I crank on the engine and head out onto the road. “So, Brooke is it?”

She nods, smiling as she inches her way closer. “Are you going to tell me your name?”

“Where you from?” I know she’s not from around here. It’s obvious in the way she speaks, her clothes and the lack of sass in her attitude.

“Pennsylvania. My friends and I are heading down to Daytona. It’s spring break.”

“So you’re in college still?”

“Yep,” she whispers as her hand runs up my thigh and her warm breath invades my space.

“You twenty-one at least?”

“My I.D says I am”

“That works for me.” Once I hit Meeting Street, something tells me I’m going to need to figure out how to get this one out tonight. I grin and pull up to my new apartment. I’d been living in the barn at the farm, but Dane and Ash starting belting out kid after kid, and since I was sick of being the designated babysitter all the time, I took my brother’s advice and moved out. It’s not much, but it’s private. It’s a small, two-bedroom apartment. I slip into my designated spot and turn, dangling my arm over the headrest. “So, where are you staying with your friends?”

“Oh, my friend Annie is from a town over. We’re staying there before we hit the road in the morning.”

“Do you have her address?”

She looks confused for a second, but tells me she does. “I don’t do the whole sleeping over thing, Brooke. You want a good time, I’ll take you inside, but once we’re done, I’m taking you wherever you need to go. If you planned on staying the night, I’ll take you to Annie’s now. So, what’s it’s gonna be?”

“How old are you?” she asks me.

“Don’t worry about how old I am. In or out?”

“In.” She smiles. Her hand reaches down and runs over the front of my pants.

I smile back at her. “We’ll get along just fine.”

It’s been a while since I had so much fun with a girl, and they’re plenty of girls I’ve had fun with around here. Last night, I ended up using the rest of the pack of condoms in my dresser, on one crazy ass, experimental girl named Brooke. But now she’s on her way down to Daytona to make some other dude crazy with the way she can use that mouth of hers.

I’m daydreaming the next morning about just how good when Dane walks into my office. “Hey, can you talk to Angie for a minute?”

I yank my feet off my desk and sit up to see her through the open door. “Angie Scott? What the hell is she doing here?”

“Don’t know yet. Can you or should I ask Johnny?”

I wave him off. “Nah, man. I got it. Send her in.” I shuffle a few papers around and grab hold of my notebook and find a pen.

Angie walks in a minute later after thanking Dane for helping. “Josh,” she sounds good so why does she need to see me? Angie and I get along, since I frequent her place and drop some dough there, but that’s about it. Either way, she’s a good woman and I’d be glad to help her.

“What can I do for you?”

She sits down in one of the chairs in front of my desk and places a raggedy piece of paper in front of me. “What’s this?”

“It’s supposed to be a goodbye letter from my sister to my niece. I’m not buying it. What mother types a letter to her child and takes off leaving her behind? Now I haven’t seen Lori in a real long time, but I just don’t think she’d do that.”

“You have a sister?”

“Yeah, I do. She took off when she was seventeen. Apparently she was pregnant and left with the man who knocked her up. At least that’s what we thought back then, I guess we were right.”

“So what, you want me to find her?”

“Yes, I do. I don’t have any recent pictures, but I have this and Ava looks just like her. Ava had this on her, but it’s from a long time ago.”

“And Ava is?”

“My niece. She showed up three nights ago. I already talked to Hank, and he’s with me on paying to bring Lori back. Just tell me how much?”

I swipe my hand over my face, thinking about this case and if I want it. “How long has it been?”

“Just about twenty-two years since I last saw her.”

“Angie, what about your niece, she has no idea that you’re here?”