I look over to Tara. "Maybe her life wasn’t as perfect as we thought."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"I had a nightmare last night," Lindy says.
"What about?" Lucas asks.
"I dreamed the man that killed my daddy was under my bed."
LUCAS
"Damn! If they don’t get their asses in gear soon we aren’t even going to have a chance against the Gators next week," Dad shouts, as LSU intercepts another pass.
"Give them time. The quarter back is still green. He’ll get his shit together soon," I say.
Twenty minutes later, the Tide turns it over again and Dad shakes his head. "They didn’t even fuck up this bad when you were on the team."
"Thanks, Dad," I say with a chuckle.
"You’re welcome." Dad shoots me a smile then looks back to the game.
The Tide is finally starting to turn it around when my phone rings. I pull it out and see Kelsey’s name flash on the screen. Fuck! This bitch will just not stop. I hit the ignore button and stick it back in my pocket. Three minutes later, it rings again.
"Who in the hell is that?" Dad asks, as I hit ignore again.
I shake my head in frustration. "Kelsey’s bitch ass."
"She is still calling you?"
I nod. "Every damn day. I swear she just won’t give up. If she doesn’t stop, I’m going to have to change my fucking number."
"How long has this shit been going on?"
"It stopped for a bit after she cut Lindy’s tire, but other than that, she has been blowing my phone up. She stops by the shop. She is everywhere I fucking go, and I even saw her drive by the house a few times." I’m growing more pissed off with every word. "What the hell can I do? If she was a man, I’d beat her ass."
"You need to put a stop to it right fucking now. You are going to have to press charges, get a restraining order. Lindy don’t need this shit right now," Dad advises.
I nod. "I know I need to, but hell! It makes me look like a fucking pussy, needing the cops just to get rid of a woman."
Dad places his hand on my shoulder. "This is not just a woman. This bitch is crazy. You got Lindy and a kid on the way to think about."
I take a deep breath and blow it out slowly. "You’re right. I’ll come in to the station tomorrow and press charges. I just don’t know how in the hell I’m going to tell Lindy."
Dad shakes his head. "You’re not going to tell her a damn thing. It’s your job to protect her. You start by not giving her anything else to worry about. Handle this shit yourself."
I nod. "All right."
LINDY
It’s been nearly three weeks since we moved into our new home. I absolutely love it, and I wish I was there today, instead of sitting in the office at the shop. Abbie had to take Meagan to the doctor, and Paul and Chris are both on duty. Mom and Wanda offered to come to our house and stay with me, but all three men vetoed that idea. Lucas had no choice but to bring me here, but he will not let me in the shop, so I am stuck in the office.
Roger and I are playing crazy eights, and I am about to lay down the king of hearts, when I hear a commotion coming from the garage. I want to see what is going on, but Roger grabs my hand. "You sit your ass back down."
"There’s something going on out there," I try to explain.
"I got ears. I can hear that, just as good as you can. I am just not going to let you get into the middle of it. You got a young’un to think about," he says, nodding towards my rounded stomach.
I am just about to argue, when I hear a loud bang against the office door. Before I know what is going on, Roger has me shoved into the corner and is locking the door. He looks towards me. "You get on your phone and call the police. Tell them to get here as fast as they can."
I do just that. Within minutes, I hear sirens out front. Not long after that, Roger is unlocking the door and letting Lucas and Paul in. Lucas walks straight to me and pulls me into a hug. "Thank God you were here today."
I pull away and look up at him. "What was going on?"
"Kelsey’s dad showed up. He had already been to our house. If you had been there, he might have hurt you," Lucas explains.
"Why was Mr. Reynolds here?"
"I got something to tell you, and you are going to be pissed that I didn’t tell you before now. But there was just so much going on that I didn’t want you to have anything more to worry about." Lucas pulls me back to him.
"What are you talking about?" I know I’m not going to like the answer.
Lucas starts to explain, but Paul interrupts him. "I’m the one who told Luke not to tell you. If you are going to be pissed at anyone, be pissed at me. I figured you had enough shit in that head of yours lately. You didn’t need to have to deal with this too."
"No, I should’ve told her," Lucas says to his dad, then looks down to me. "Kelsey has been calling me nonstop. I told you before that if she didn’t stop her shit, I was going to press charges for harassment and that is what I did. The judge issued a temporary restraining order, and the papers were served to her this morning."
I am silent for a moment, considering what to say. Yes, he should have told me, but I know why he didn’t. It still pisses me off. I look around the room and realize that now is not the time to argue. "I understand why you didn’t tell me, but don’t do it again. We don’t keep secrets."
Lucas nods his head. "I won’t."
"That still doesn’t explain why Mr. Reynolds was here," I say, trying to get back on topic.
"He was mad because his daughter will have to go to court, so he came here to try to get me to drop the charges. When I refused, he flipped out."
I am about to ask him what he means, when I notice blood on his shirt. I immediately pull it up, looking for an injury.
Lucas brushes my hand away and shakes his head. "I’m not hurt. It’s that bastard’s blood. I broke his fucking nose when he took a swing at me."
"Give me your shirt," Paul says, while walking towards us.
"Why in the hell would you want my shirt?"
"George Reynolds was asked to provide a DNA sample for the Mirror Man case, but he refused. I’m not sure if we will be able to use this as evidence, but at least we will be able to rule him out."
"What made you ask him for his DNA?" Lucas asks his dad, as he pulls his tee shirt over his head.
"When we got the okay to start the testing, we didn’t have any suspects. Still don’t for that matter. The only thing we knew was that there was a black sedan seen outside of Kandy Morris’ home on the night she was attacked. So, we pulled the owners of all black sedans in the county. We got nearly two hundred hits. So we narrowed it down by gender. That still left us with more than a hundred. Considering that we believe this person also murdered Sammy, we figured that he had to be at least thirty. That took us down to seventy-eight. All but three gave their DNA willingly. George Reynolds was one of those three."
Lucas hands his shirt to Paul and shakes his head. "I can’t see him being the Mirror Man."
"Neither can I, son. But we need to rule him out."
LUCAS
I’m running across a field, covered with broken mirrors.
"Help me, Lucas," Lindy cries out.
I look around but all I can see are the broken mirrors.
"Where are you, baby?" I yell as I run towards her voice.
"I am where it all began."
"Wake up, Lucas!" Lindy says, as she shakes me.
I wake up with my heart pounding, and I can barely catch my breath. I look up and Lindy is leaning over me, with a look of concern on her face. I reach for her and pull her to me. "My God, baby. I thought I lost you."
"It was just dream. I’m right beside you," she says as she runs her fingers through my hair.
"Fuck! That was the worst damn nightmare I’ve ever had."
Lindy kisses my neck and whispers, "You want to talk about it?"
"No!" There is no damn way I am telling Lindy about my dream. It would freak her out as badly as it did me.
"It might help. My Mom always says that talking about nightmares helps make them go away."
I know that she is not going to give this shit up, so I decide to do something to get her mind off of it. I roll over, placing my body on top of hers. I hold myself up with my elbows, keeping my weight off of her stomach.
"I know a better way," I say and bring my lips to hers.
I work my way down her neck, placing soft kisses behind her ear. I slowly move to her chest, pushing her night gown up as I go. I pull her nipple into my mouth. As soon as I start to suck, Lindy pushes her hips into mine and moans. I push my hand into her panties and find her already damp.
"I love the way that you’re always wet for me, baby," I say, as I push a finger into her. I move it in and out of her in a slow rhythm.
I change to her other breast and bite down on her nipple. Her hips buck up, causing my fingers to go deeper. I hear her moan, and I smile against her skin. "Do you like that, baby?"
"Uh huh," she groans as she starts to move her hips up and down. "I like everything you do to me."
I feel her hand snaking its way between our bodies. She pushes my boxers down and wraps her fingers around my cock. She strokes me a few times before letting go and placing her hand on my balls. She gently massages them as she rocks her body into mine.
Within seconds, I am so fucking hard that I feel like I am going to explode. I pull my fingers out of her and grab my cock. I jerk her panties to the side and thrust into her. As soon as I feel the walls of her pussy wrap around my cock, I moan.
I stroke in and out of her slowly at first, but gain speed with each thrust. It doesn’t take long before I feel my orgasm start to build. Shit. I have never been like this with anyone else, but I swear that my cock wants to explode the minute it gets near Lindy’s pussy.
I reach between us and start to play with her clit. I can hear her breath quicken, and I know that she is close. I use my thumb to run small circles over her clit, adding just enough pressure to push her over the edge. As soon as I feel her convulse around me, I let myself go and moan my orgasm into her ear.
I take a moment to catch my breath, before giving her a gentle kiss on the lips. I roll off her and pull her against me. "Damn, baby! I think it gets better every fucking time."
Lindy giggles into my shoulder then raises her head to look at me. "You know that we won’t be able to do that much longer."
"What the fuck are you talking about?"
She smiles. "I don’t mean that we can’t do that. We just can’t do it like we just did."
I shake my head at her. "Again, what the fuck are you talking about?"
She takes my hand and places it on her growing stomach. "My belly is getting too big. It’s getting in the way. You already have to hold yourself up the whole time. Before long, that’s not going to work, and we are going to have to get creative."
The thought of being creative with Lindy has my dick getting hard again. I shoot her a smile then flip her around. I jerk down her panties and slide into her from behind. "I can be creative, baby."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
"Do you want to play Go Fish?" Lindy asks.
Lucas shakes his head. "Nope."
She looks towards him. "Why not?"
"'Cause you always win."
LINDY
I look over to Mom and smile. "Checkmate."
She narrows her eyes at me. "I think you cheat. I just haven’t figured out how yet."
"I don’t cheat. I’m just that good," I say with a smile.
"I am going to quit playing with you, because you always win. It’s no fun to always be the loser," Mom grumbles as she places her pieces into the case.
"Oh, Mom. Give it up. You taught me how to play chess, so you can’t blame anyone but yourself."
"You also taught her how to play cards. She always beats my ass at that too. Unless we are playing st
rip poker. Then she lets me win," Lucas says, as he walks into the kitchen.
I look towards Lucas and give him a wink. "That’s just because I know that if I get naked, you will to. It saves us time."
Mom shakes her head. "No talking about being naked in front of your mother!"
Lucas looks to M
om with a smile. "We didn’t have any clothes on when we made that grandbaby you are so excited about."
"Okay, I’m not listening to anymore of this. I’m going home," Mom says as she walks towards me and gives me kiss on the cheek.
She goes to Lucas next and pulls him into a hug, then goes to the door. She stops in the doorway and looks back. "Thanksgiving is next Thursday. Are we going to eat here or at my house? I don’t care, but please say we are not doing it at Wanda’s."
I look over to Lucas, and he just shrugs. "I don’t really give a shit where we do it, but I’m with Maggie. Let’s not have Ma do the cooking."
Mom smiles at me. "I think it would be nice to do it here in your new home. I can help you cook."
"I guess we can do Thanksgiving here, then."
"Good, I will let Wanda and Paul know," Mom says, as she walks out the door.
I look over to Lucas, and he is smiling. "I like this, Lindy Lou. We are going to have Thanksgiving in our new home, and I don’t have to eat Ma’s turkey."
I smile back at him. "You are not going to like it when you have to help cook."
"No way! Thanksgiving is the Turkey Day Classic. I am not going to miss the Tide play." He’s wearing an "over my dead body look."
I start to walk from room but stop to look over my shoulder and smile. Ignoring him, I wander away from the kitchen, but the temptation to tease is too much. "That’s fine! I guess you won’t be eating then."
I hear him mumble some
thing about a hard-headed woman as I walk into the bedroom.
*****
I wake up to the sound of Lucas’ phone ringing. I open my eyes, just as he hits talk. "It’s three o’clock in the fucking morning, and your ass is calling me again."
He is quiet for a second then starts to shout. "I hope you know your ass is going to go to jail for this shit."
He pushes the end button, powers down the phone, and turns his head towards me. "That bitch just won’t give up."
I roll towards him and throw my arm over his chest. "What did she want this time?"
"Same old shit. She needs to talk to me about something important. I don’t give a fuck what she has to say. I’m going to take my phone to Dad tomorrow. Let him arrest her ass. She knew better than to be calling me," he says through a yawn.
I snuggle closer into his side. "We can’t do anything about it right now, so just go back to sleep."
He bends his head and kisses the top of my head. "Okay, Lindy Lou."
It doesn’t take long before I feel his body relax. A few minutes later, he is sleeping. I gently move away from him and get up from the bed. I look towards his phone then back to him. I know that I shouldn’t do it, but I can’t stop myself. I grab the phone and make my way to the bathroom. After locking the door, I hit the power button.
As soon as it comes on, I click recent calls and start counting. I quit when I reach seventy. I look at the dates and realize that they all came in over the last week. I just shake my head and turn it off. I get back into bed, knowing that we have not seen the last of Kelsey.
LUCAS
"What about this one?"
I look over at Lindy, and she is pointing at the biggest turkey that I have ever seen. "I don’t give a shit what you get, but do you really think you need a turkey that fucking big just for us and our parents."
Lindy bites her lip and looks up at me. "I don’t know. I’ve never cooked a turkey before. I have no idea why I invited our parents and my mom over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. I’m going to screw it all up. We should have just all gone to Mom’s."
I notice the tears in her I eyes, and I start to chuckle. Only my woman would cry over something this stupid. I grab her and pull her into me. "Lindy Lou, you’ve eaten my Ma’s turkey. Do you really thing that you could screw up as bad as that?"
"You’ve got a point. That one year she forgot to turn the oven on, and she couldn’t figure out why it was taking so long to cook." She giggles at the memory.
I give her a squeeze, then grab a smaller turkey. I’m turning around to toss it in the cart, when I see Kelsey’s dad walking toward us. I drop the turkey and push Lindy behind me. "If he starts any shit, you get the fuck away."
Mr. Reynolds stops a few feet in front of me and shouts, "I hope you are happy. The little stunt you pulled has put my daughter under house arrest."
"I didn’t do shit. Kelsey did this to herself. If she would have just quit calling when the judge signed the order, she would have been just fine."
"She did! You lied about the phone calls to cause her trouble. You are going to pay for what you have done to her." He is shouting, his face turning red with rage.
I take a moment to think, then shake my head. "I am not going to do this shit with you. I am taking my woman and leaving. If you ever try to talk to me again, I will have you arrested. I
'm pretty sure that the school board would not be too happy with a superintendent who is arrested twice in the same year."
He keeps talking, but I ignore him and lead Lindy out the door. As soon we get inside the car, I lock the doors and look over at Lindy. She’s so scared that she is shaking.
"It’s going to be okay, baby. He’ll move on sooner or later," I say as I reach for her hand.
Lindy shakes her head. "I am not going back to work at that school. I will find a job somewhere close, but not anywhere that he is part of. I will not work for that man ever again."
"That’s fine, baby." I already know, damn good and well, that I had made that decision a long time ago.
*****
When we pull into the driveway, Dad walks out his door and comes across the street. As soon as he gets close, I know that something is wrong. I look over to Lindy. "Babe, can you give us a minute."
She looks to my dad and then back to me. "Yeah, but you
will
tell me what is going on later."
Dad waits until she gets into the house, then pulls out his cigarettes. He lights one up then looks at me. "We got a problem."
"What’s wrong?"
"We got the lab result back from Mobile. They fast tracked it after they found that the suspect was involved with Sammy’s murder." He takes a drag on the cigarette and releases it slowly.
"You’re finally going to get the motherfucker. I don’t see the problem."
"Can’t arrest him. The DA is not real thrilled with how the DNA sample was obtained," Dad explains.
"What do you mean?" I ask, but I have feeling that I already know.
"You know what I mean, son. George Reynolds is the Mirror Man."
I feel bile rise to my throat as I think about Lindy being just a few feet from her father’s murderer only moments ago. "What the fuck, Dad? If the DNA is his … I don’t understand."
"No one saw the bastard bleed on your shirt, except you and Daniel. No one saw him throw the first punch but you two either. His lawyer could argue that the whole thing was set up," Dad explains.
I start to ask another question but stop when I hear the door open. I turn my head and see Lindy walking toward us with two beers. As soon as she gets to us, she hands us each one then gives Dad a sad smile. "I know it is more bad news, but I would rather you just tell me than have to sit in the house and know it is coming."
Dad looks at me and nods his head. "I’m going to go get your Ma and Maggie. Let’s do this all at once."
Lindy watches Dad walk away before turning to me. "Is it that bad?"
It is that bad, but I don’t know how to tell her that. So I just nod my head.
Lindy wraps her arms around me. "Just make sure to hold my hand while he tells me."
I pull her in tight. "Okay, baby."
LINDY
We are sitting around the kitchen table talking. I am still so shocked that I can’t say a word. I just cannot believe that Mr. Reynolds killed my father. The fact that he was the high school principal, and my boss after that, sends cold chills down my spine. I cannot even count how many times that I have seen that man over the years.
Mom wipes a tear from her eye and looks to Paul. "The man that murdered my husband is going to get away with it, because the DA doesn’t like how you got the evidence."
Paul shakes his head. "That bastard isn’t going to get away with shit. We have officers watching him round the clock. He will slip up, and it won’t take long. In fact, I figure we will get what we need in the morning."
"What happens tomorrow?" Lucas asks.
A smile spreads across Paul’s face. "Trash day. Once it hits the curb, it’s ours. We already got an officer doing a ride along on the truck. As soon as he picks up the trash, we will take what we find straight to Mobile. They’ll rush it. If we are lucky, we could have what we need to arrest him in three days."
Lucas looks towards mom. "Until then, I want you staying here."
"I don’t think so. I didn’t let this monster scare me off when I lost Sammy. I am not going to let him scare me now." Mom has a determined look on her face.
"I’m not asking you to run. I just want you to be safe," Lucas explains.
Mom shakes her head. "Nope. I will be safe in my own home. I have to prove to this bastard and myself that I am not scared."
"If something does happen to you, what do I tell the baby? I guess I can always say that she doesn’t have her grandma, because you wanted to prove a point," Lucas says, sarcastically.
Mom leans backs in her chair and her eyes go wide. "That’s not fair."
Wanda reaches over and grabs Mom’s hand. "Maggie, I think Lucas is right. You don’t need to be in your house all alone right now."
Mom starts to say something, but Paul cuts her off. "I agree with Luke. If Reynolds finds out that we know he is the Mirror Man, he may go off the rails. He could come after you or Melinda."
"Please, stay with us. I don’t want to lose my mom too," I beg.
Mom looks at me, with tears in her eyes. "Nothing is going to happen to me
, sweetheart."
"I just need you here, Mom. I need to know you are safe."
Mom takes a deep breath and nods her head. "I’ll stay."
The conversation slowly dies down, and Paul and Wanda go home. Mom, Lucas and I make our way to bed. I lay there trying to go to sleep, but I can hear mom crying through the walls. "Do you think she will be okay?"
Lucas pulls me close and kisses my temple. "Yeah, baby. It’s just a lot for her to deal with. I know this is hard on you too."
I nod. "Yeah, it is, but it’s not all bad. My dad is finally going to get the justice he deserves. It freaks me out that I have been around his killer so many times, and I didn’t even know it. But I am glad all of this will be ending soon. Maybe Mom can finally move on."
Lucas gives me a squeeze. "That’s a good way to think of it."
"I think what is bothering me the worst is the stuff he wrote on Dad’s car. What sins did I commit?" I ask the question that has been running though my head all night.
Lucas pulls me over his body and places my face in front of his. "You don’t even think about that shit. The bastard is twisted. I don’t know why he wrote it, but I do know that you didn’t do a damn thing wrong."
"That’s what Mom said, but what if I did something and don’t even know it?"
He places his lips on mine for a soft kiss. "Lindy Lou, I don’t remember much about your dad, but I do remember how much he loved you. If he knew that you were even thinking such shit, he’d be mad as hell."