The Boarding House Read online

  “I don’t know . . . maybe a hundred dollars.”

  Ellie had that and more. “I don’t know how to shoot a gun.”

  “He’d show you.”

  It was worth considering. She needed backup, and everyone she’d thought she could depend on had let her down. A gun would definitely even the odds. “I might be interested.”

  “Do you work Friday night?” Tessa asked.

  “I work from three thirty to six.”

  “He might be stopping by around six, if you want to hang around a little longer.”

  Ellie’s heart raced. This was a scary thing she was doing, but her life was scary. What was the difference?

  “I could do that,” she said.

  “I’ll tell him.”

  Then Ellie added. “Tell him I don’t want anything complicated, and it needs to be small enough that I can carry it home in my purse.”

  “Okay,” Tessa said.

  Now that the deal was done, they were both a little ill at ease.

  “Oops, another order coming up. Better get busy,” Ellie said.

  “Right. Busy,” Tessa echoed, and the evening passed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Wyatt showed up for supper just after Ellie got home. She was in the bathroom when she heard him going into his room. There was a moment of panic, wondering how he would react when he saw her, but she was still hurt that he hadn’t been here when she needed him. If things had gone a little differently, she’d be dead and there would be no way of finding him to let him know.

  She hated that he’d removed himself from the house without giving her well-being a second thought. Besides that, she didn’t need Wyatt fighting her battles after the war was over. She was going to get a gun and take care of it herself.

  Wyatt was gone by the time Ellie came out of the bathroom, but when she walked into the kitchen, he was there.

  He heard her footsteps and looked up to say hello, then forgot to breathe.

  Ellie glared. She wouldn’t let herself be swayed by the sudden tears in his eyes.

  “Ellie. My God.”

  “She fell in the shower,” Sophie said, as she walked around the table laying place settings of their everyday cutlery.

  Ellie knew he didn’t buy that but now was not the time to elaborate—and then Daddy walked in.

  Wyatt felt Ellie’s instant disgust, which answered his question. She hadn’t fallen anywhere except into their father’s clutches.

  Wyatt grabbed Garrett by the arm. He knew Ellie didn’t want Sophie alerted, but he couldn’t just ignore it. “If you ever touch her again, I will kill you.”

  Garrett blinked. “You’re about a day late and a dollar short. And by the way, Ellie’s version was more original.”

  Wyatt didn’t know what that meant and there was no way to ask without giving themselves away.

  Sophie continued to set the table and Wyatt continued to glare. Garrett stood in the doorway, watching the people Ellie had drawn into her world and wishing there was a do-over button to life.

  It wasn’t until the meal was over and Ellie was back in her bedroom that Wyatt confronted her.

  “Is this door new?” he asked, as he shut and locked it behind him.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “That would be because he kicked the other one in.”

  Wyatt shuddered. The matter-of-fact tone in her voice was the exact opposite to what she must have felt when it happened.

  “I don’t get it. You were still letting him . . . I mean you guys were still . . .” He sighed. “Why did he freak out?”

  Ellie was so mad she was shaking. “Seriously? You’re asking me that question? You know how it works.”

  “But he never . . . I mean, it wasn’t . . .”

  When he reached toward her, she stepped back. “If you were ever here anymore, you’d know that he’s getting more and more paranoid about graduation. He’s trying to keep me here when he knows I don’t want to stay.”

  Wyatt touched the side of Ellie’s face with the tip of his finger. “But why hurt you?”

  She pushed him away. “I had a flat, Wyatt. I got raped and beaten because two guys stopped and changed it for me before he got there. He assumed I paid them with sex.”

  Wyatt felt sick. He’d let his personal feelings interfere with his duty to protect her, and Ellie had suffered the consequences. “I’m so sorry.”

  “So am I.”

  She turned her back on him and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. The distance between them was too great to bridge now. All her focus was on getting through the next six weeks of school, and then getting the hell out of Memphis.

  Ellie was a bundle of nerves by the time Friday arrived. She went to work after school with a hundred dollars in cash, telling herself she was doing the right thing.

  Tessa was already at work when Ellie arrived and instantly gave her a questioning look.

  Ellie nodded.

  Tessa gave her a thumbs-up.

  Ellie felt stupid—like they were playing spies or something, only this wasn’t a game and by buying this gun, she was committing a crime. It wasn’t what she’d ever expected to do when she’d gone to work in an ice cream shop.

  She worked with one eye on the clock and the other on the computer screen, making sundaes and malts and dipping cones in all flavors and sizes.

  Tessa seemed energized by the drama and actually worked at a decent pace. They stayed busy until Ellie’s quitting time. She was hanging up her apron in back when Tessa popped in the doorway and gave Ellie the word.

  “He’s out back in the alley—skinny white guy driving a red Dodge truck.”

  “You swear he’s okay? That he won’t try to hurt me?”

  Tessa eyed Ellie’s face then shook her head. “He’s a business man, not a hood, and anyway, Honey, someone else has already done that, remember?”

  Ellie was nervous as she slipped out the back door, her purse clutched against her breasts.

  “Damn, bitch. Someone did a number on you.”

  Ellie blinked. If the kid standing in front of her was old enough to drive, then she was a virgin and she didn’t like his attitude.

  “Do I look like a dumb-ass?”

  The kid frowned. “You look like shit, that’s for sure.”

  “I already know that, but if you think I’m gonna stand here and let you call me a bitch and then give you money, you’re dumber than you look.”

  The kid shifted nervously, moving back and forth on his feet like he was trying to dance. “Whatever . . . do you want it or not?”

  “Do you want my money?”

  He glared. “You got the dough?”

  Ellie nodded. “She said you would show me how it worked.”

  He frowned. “I didn’t sign up to give no lessons. Besides, it’s a .38 Special. You don’t need lessons. You just point and shoot.”

  “Show me.”

  He glanced around the alley, then opened the truck door, got a sack out of the console and dumped the contents onto the seat.

  Ellie picked it up. It fit the palm of her hand. “Is it loaded?”

  “No, but I’ll load the cylinder for free. Holds five rounds.”

  “Five?”

  “Yeah. Got a snappy recoil, but I’m guessing you’re not gonna use it for long-distance shooting.”

  “A hundred dollars, right?”

  “Yeah, and you’re getting a bargain. They go for four or five hundred.”

  “I’m getting a stolen gun, not a bargain at Walmart.”

  When the kid grinned, he flashed a mouthful of bad teeth. “You’re alright. Show me the money.”

  Ellie handed it over.

  He stuffed it in the pocket of his pants and then loaded the gun and handed it to her. “Aim and shoot. Aim and shoot.”

  Ellie dropped the gun into her purse as he drove away. She walked out of the alley to the employee parking lot, got in her car and headed home.

  All the
way she kept telling herself to drive slowly. Don’t do anything that would get her stopped. She didn’t breathe easy until she got home, then chose the back door rather than the front, only to come face to face with her father.

  Garrett was frying potatoes at the kitchen stove when Ellie walked in the back door. “Supper is nearly ready.”

  Ellie walked past him without comment. Once she got to the hall, she ran to her room and locked the door. She took the gun out of her purse, then stood in the middle of the room, trying to figure out where to hide it.

  Daddy prowled her room all of the time. No matter where she hid it, he would eventually find it. She glanced at Wyatt’s door. Maybe she’d hide it in his room. Daddy didn’t mess in Wyatt’s room. He didn’t care what Wyatt did anymore.

  She didn’t think he was home, but she checked anyway. “Wyatt?”

  No answer. She slipped inside his room and began going through closets and shelves, then the bathroom, then behind his bed, but everywhere she thought about, either Wyatt or Doris might run into it.

  Then she remembered his bed had slats underneath the box springs for added support. She got down on her back, then shoved the gun between the slat and the springs that was nearest the headboard.

  She didn’t know Wyatt was watching, or that when she came out from under the bed, he made himself scarce. As soon as Ellie left, Wyatt got down on his belly to see what she’d been doing. It took him a couple of minutes to find the gun, and when he did, he was shocked.

  Whatever Ellie had endured at their father’s hands must have been worse than he thought, but at least he knew what was on her mind.

  The gun gave Ellie an odd sense of power. She hadn’t spoken to her father in days and he wasn’t pushing the issue.

  Wyatt began showing up every evening and spending the nights in his room like he used to. Ellie was still mad at him, but she didn’t deny that she liked knowing he was within shouting distance.

  It wasn’t until Ellie came home from work with a friend that Garrett knew fate was taking him down a road he’d never wanted to go. Sophie was intrigued, and Wyatt was horrified. Not once in Ellie’s seventeen years had she ever brought a friend home from school, and then she showed up with a girl named Cinnamon.

  Doris was making dinner as Ellie came in the back door, dumped her book bag on the floor and headed for the refrigerator.

  “Doris, this is Cinnamon Hardy. She’s a friend of Tessa, the girl I work with at the shop. Cin, do you want something to drink?”

  “Any kind of pop as long as it has caffeine,” she said, then waved her index finger at Doris. “Hey.”

  Doris stared at Ellie for a moment, and then sighed. She’d been here too long to be shocked anymore. “Nice to meet you, Cinnamon.”

  The redhead laughed. “You can call me Cin . . . as in committing one, which I have most certainly done.”

  “Yes, well,” Doris muttered, and went back to her cooking.

  Ellie handed Cin a Pepsi. “Wanna see my room?”

  “Yeah, sure, why not?” Cin said, popped the top on the can and then took a long swallow before following Ellie.

  “Heaven help us,” Doris muttered, and kept on stirring.

  Ellie opened the door, then came to a stop. She hadn’t expected to see Wyatt. “I didn’t know you were home,” she said.

  “Obviously.”

  Ellie shrugged. “So, meet Cinnamon. She’s my new friend. You can call her Cin. Cin, this is my twin, Wyatt.”

  Wyatt didn’t bother to hide his distaste. He didn’t like Cin’s skanky smile or the way she stood, like she was purposefully drawing attention to her big boobs.

  Wyatt nodded.

  Cinnamon winked.

  Wyatt rolled his eyes and disappeared.

  Ellie giggled. “My brother can be a little antisocial, sorry.”

  Cinnamon smiled. “It doesn’t matter. He’s cute.”

  “I know, but he knows it too.”

  “Girl . . . don’t they all?” Cinnamon drawled, and then plopped down on the side of Ellie’s bed and downed the rest of her Pepsi. “So what’s the scoop on all the bruises on your face? Got a boyfriend who likes it rough?”

  “You could say that,” Ellie muttered, and changed the subject. “Wanna stay for supper?”

  “Yeah, sure. I don’t have anything better to do.”

  It wasn’t the most genuine comment she could have made, but at least she was honest.

  Ellie led the way back to the kitchen and she and Cinnamon began helping Doris finish supper and set the table.

  Wyatt hovered without getting involved, and when Sophie appeared and was introduced to Cinnamon, it was all he could do not to laugh. He could see the wheels turning in Sophie’s head. Cinnamon would be a serious reconstruction project.

  At that point, Garrett came home.

  The silence that followed his entrance was telling.

  Cinnamon gave Ellie an “introduce me” nudge. Ellie had no choice but to comply. “Daddy, this is Cinnamon Hardy, a new friend of mine, and she’s staying for dinner.”

  Garrett was speechless.

  Cinnamon was not. “Ellie, you don’t look a thing like him. I guess you took after your Momma.”

  “Thank God,” Ellie muttered.

  “What’s wrong, Dad . . . cat got your tongue?” Wyatt asked.

  Garrett looked at Doris, who shrugged. “Supper is ready.”

  “I’ll wash up.”

  Ellie moved her plate to the far end of the table. If she was going to have to eat with him, she wanted to be as far away as she could get.

  The meal was strained, to say the least. It was the first time Garrett and Ellie had shared a meal since that night, and he didn’t know whether to be happy or nervous. As it turned out, he didn’t have to worry. Ellie kept up a running dialogue with everyone but him. He just listened as he ate without inserting himself into the conversation.

  When the meal was over, Cinnamon glanced at her watch and got up. “Thanks for the chow, but I gotta run. See you tomorrow, Ellie?”

  “Absolutely,” Ellie said.

  And just like that, she was gone.

  Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief.

  Garrett gave Ellie a strange look then made himself scarce.

  As soon as she’d cleaned up the kitchen, Doris was the next to depart. “See you tomorrow,” she said and locked the door behind her as she left.

  “So that just leaves us,” Wyatt said.

  Ellie eyed him curiously. “What did you think of Cin?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  Ellie glared. “I should have known you wouldn’t like her.”

  “I can’t imagine why you do,” Wyatt snapped.

  Ellie shrugged. “She knows the score and she doesn’t lie, and she likes me.”

  Wyatt sighed. “I like you, too.”

  Ellie bit her lip. She didn’t want to feel guilty, but this was Wyatt, the other half of her soul. “I like you, too,” she said.

  “I know you do. Despite everything that’s gone on between us, I’ve never doubted that.”

  Ellie’s vision blurred. “I’m going to my room to watch TV.”

  “Want some company?” Wyatt asked.

  She shrugged.

  “I’m right behind you,” he said softly.

  Ellie wasn’t going to get all giggly, but it felt right to be doing this again.

  Ellie’s eye returned to normal size within a week, but it took two weeks for the last of the bruises to fade.

  The following Sunday Garrett found something else to do when it was time for church. He’d lost faith in Ellie’s ability to stay quiet about personal business and wasn’t going to put himself in the position of being outed.

  Ellie went alone, but the magic was gone. Even when she sat in the sunlight with a lap full of colors—even when the choir sang Washed in the Blood—even when she managed to find the words to pray—it wasn’t the same. She felt a growing sense of doom but didn’t know how to fight it. If
she only had a clue as to what might be wrong, she could be making a plan.

  As the date neared for Ellie and Wyatt’s eighteenth birthday, she wondered if her dread was connected to the event.

  Daddy was sitting at the breakfast table when Ellie came in to eat. Startled by his presence, she was about to go back to her room when he stopped her.

  “Wait, Ellie. Don’t leave.”

  Ellie sighed. Why was she always alone when no one else was around but Daddy?

  “What?”

  “Weren’t you coming to eat breakfast?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then eat, damn it. I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice shook. “I realize you have no reason to believe that, but I can promise it’s safe to eat a bowl of cereal in my presence.”

  “But that’s the problem, Daddy. I don’t want to be in your presence. Why would I? You’re asking me to sit down with my rapist. You’re expecting me to pour milk on my cereal and have a nutritious little breakfast with the person who hurt me in unspeakable ways.”

  Garrett paled. He set down his coffee cup and walked out of the kitchen without looking back. She didn’t move until she heard his car start.

  “That was cold,” Wyatt said.

  Ellie turned. “Where did you come from? I thought you were gone.”

  “Not far.” He moved to the pantry. “Rice Krispies or Raisin Bran?”

  “Rice Krispies, please.”

  “You get the bowls and spoons. I’ll get the rest.”

  Ellie smiled. It was good to have Wyatt back.

  “Do you know where Sophie is? She wasn’t in her room.”

  “The day is warm and sunny. I’d bet she’s out on one of her famous walks.”

  Ellie laughed. “Remember how mad you were when she came to live with us?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “It turned out okay, didn’t it?”

  Wyatt smiled. “Yeah, Ellie. It turned out just fine.”

  Ellie glanced at the clock. “I have to be at work in an hour, but I’m off early today. Wanna hang out afterward?”

  “Don’t take this wrong, but not if Cin’s going to be with you, okay? She gives me the creeps.”

  Ellie sighed. “She probably has a crush on you.”