Haunted (21 page)

That memory was coming back to me more vivid now that I’d seen her picture. Another reason I had no idea she could be Devon’s sister was that they looked nothing alike. Her hair was a dark, golden blonde, and curly. This was nothing like Devon’s straight, black hair and blue eyes. Marie and Devon looked so much alike. I guess she favored their father?

Devon was pacing and had almost sucked down the whole cigarette. I was sure this wouldn’t be the last one he smoked while we were out here.

“So what happened? What did she say to you?”  

I couldn’t tell what had him so upset. I wanted to get the rest of the story out and then maybe he would tell me.

“I got there and she was alone. Daryl and Katie were out with the girls. She told me what she wanted, a fleur de lis with angel wings, something to remind her of home. She told me she’d grown up here but was now living in California. We talked a little about California, places we liked. We talked about college. She never really said what she did for work. She mentioned she’d sort of had to run away to make the trip, that her husband wasn’t pleased she came since he didn’t see anything good about Louisiana.”

Devon grunted. “Thomas came out for the wedding and bitched about it the whole time. They left immediately after the reception and never came back. At least, I didn’t know she’d come back.” His eyes were wet, but he was still pacing angrily. “They got married three years ago and she barely saw Mama after that. He never wanted her to go anywhere without him.” There was venom in his voice when he talked about her husband. He grew silent so I told him the rest.

“The tattoo was on her right hip. She didn’t want it to show, she wanted it to be just for her. She said her husband was going to throw a fit, but she didn’t care. She missed home and wanted a piece of it to carry with her.”

Devon stopped pacing and stared down at me where I sat on the bench. He growled and cursed under his breath. “Why didn’t she ever tell me she came home? I would have come with her. He had her so fucking tied up in knots all the time. She had to sneak around to do what she wanted to do. Goddamn him. I swear, I never want to see that fucker again as long as I live.” His anger was so fierce. It was tangible in the air.

“What happened to him? After the accident?”  

He turned on me, his eyes full of hate. “What the fuck do you think happened to a rich white dude? He got fucking probation, some community service bullshit. Not even enough of a fine to be a pretend slap on the wrist.” He wiped at his eyes and ran his forearm under his nose. “His goddamn lawyer got the blood test thrown out in court and without that it was just an accident. He fucking killed her and he’s out there living his life.” He stopped and shook his head, rested his hands on his hips for a minute. Then he took out his pack and smacked it hard against his hand.

I knew this anger had to be inside him, but I was surprised at the vehemence in his voice. It was gone almost as soon as it surfaced, though, and his next words were sorrowful.

“The funny part is I’m the one who should have paid. I’m the one who sent her off with him that night.” His voice broke and he threw the pack against the wall. He collapsed onto a bench and dropped his head into his hands and pulled viciously at his hair. “If only I wasn’t such a dick that night.”

His body was trembling wildly. I hurried to his side and put my hand on his back, gently rubbing circles between his shoulder blades.

This was pain. Pure, guilt-laden suffering poured out of him. I wished I could take it all away from him.

“If you could change anything about that night, Devon, what would you have done differently?”  

His breathing slowed down a little as he tried to get himself back under control.

“I sure as hell wouldn’t have been so drunk. I wouldn’t have tried to talk to Richard about why he was remixing guitar parts at the last minute at that party. And when Maggie intervened, I never would have yelled at her like I did.” He looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot in the patio lights. “I killed my sister, Jaylene. As sure as I told her off, I sent her to her death.”

I held his face in my hands and he closed his eyes, trying to pull away. He wasn’t successful. “Devon, did Maggie listen to you, you know, when she was making decisions about her own life?”  

He looked at me puzzled. “No. I was her little brother. She could boss me around all she wanted, but she’d blow me off anytime I tried to talk to her about anything to do with her life.” His eyes were searching mine for where I was going with this.

“So if she never took advice from her little brother, what makes you think she would have listened to you that night? Especially if she thought you were being unreasonable?”  

He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, but, if I wasn’t so out of control that night I would have made sure she didn’t get into the car with him when he was high. That guy snorted so much coke his brain should be completely gone by now. But she was going to do what she was going to do.” He seemed so heartbroken.

“You just said it, Devon. She was going to do what she was going to do. Had you voiced your concerns to her about him? Had anyone?”  

He nodded. “All the time. We were ok with him when they were just dating but as soon as they moved in together he became a total control freak. She didn’t make a move without his permission, especially not after she went behind his back and got us signed. That’s when things got really bad. She tried desperately to get him to forgive her for that.”

“Devon, women who are in relationships like that rarely take the advice of the people who love them, especially if their partner convinces them that her family is out to keep them apart. She had to want out herself. It doesn’t sound like she was ready to get out. Especially when I met her. She was still head over heels in love with him and wanted desperately to please him. Sadly, I don’t think you or anyone could have gotten through to her until she was ready.”

Tears were spilling out of his eyes and his pain was so heavy that his head dropped from my hands and he rested it against my shoulder. I smoothed back his hair just trying to ease him however I could.

“I feel like I failed her. If I could have just talked to her, made her listen to me. Maybe she would have started taking better care of herself. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten in the car with him that night.” His voice was so weak it was breaking my heart. I took in a shallow breath and said what I knew he had to hear.

“Maybe. Or maybe she would have told you off and cut you out of her life because she felt like you didn’t understand, didn’t support her. I’ve seen it happen, Devon. I don’t know that anything you did could have changed things at that point.”

He looked up at me again, resignation starting to show in his eyes. I opened my arms to him and he leaned into me, letting me hug him and stroke his shoulder. He being so much taller than me made it a little awkward, but I held him to me and willed some solace into him.

“I miss her,” he whispered, his voice gone.

“I know, baby. I’m so sorry you lost her.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and heaved a huge sigh. We sat like that for a while until he seemed to be breathing normally again.

“I’m glad I got to meet her. I do recall she had an infectious energy about her.”

He took one last deep breath and the shuddering stopped. “She would have loved you. She would have tried to convince you to move to LA, change your style and possibly your name, and convince you the stars belonged to you because you were that good.” He chuckled. “In your case she’d be right.” He wiped his eyes with the bottom of his shirt and took one more deep breath. When he turned to me, his smile was terribly sad but hopeful. “Thanks, chère. I know I needed that, but it fucking hurts.”

I gave him a squeeze. “I know. It’s like when annoying people always say ‘the things in life that are painful are more worth it’ or some shit like that. Whatever.”

He chuckled again and turned in my arms to put his forehead against mine.

“You’re amazing, Jaylene. I feel like I can talk to you and I’m not going to die. It still hurts, but I can breathe when I’m with you. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t met you.” He reached up with his hand and grazed my cheek with his thumb.

I leaned forward and kissed his lower lip gently. “You are a brave man. I’m so glad I can be here for you. I just want you to feel better.”

He breathed out hard. “How much better?”  

This time I bit him on his lower lip. “You and that lip of yours are going to be in trouble if you don’t behave.”

He groaned. “But you make it so hard to be good.” He stuck his lip out further into a ridiculously sexy pout.

“Ugh, really? That was a Marcus Moment if I ever saw one.”

He grabbed me and pulled me on his lap, laughing. “He would be proud of that one.” He kissed me on my nose and then I made to stand up.

“Alright, Mr. Boudreaux. Time to get back to work. You haven’t picked out a picture yet.”

I might have swung my hips a little excessively as I walked to the door. This time I was sure he groaned.

“You’re killing me, Miss Charles! If I don’t behave, will I get detention?”  

I turned on him, one eyebrow raised pointedly. “No preferential treatment for you! Get inside, Mister, or no more private tutoring.”

He jumped up and hurried inside. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be a good boy from now on.” He winked as he scooted past me and I couldn’t resist kicking him in his perfect ass.

“Ow! Ok! I didn’t think corporal punishment was allowed in school anymore!” He ran into the room rubbing his backside, laughing. The other guys were huddled over a bunch of pictures. They barely looked up as we came in.

“Remember this one? Wasn’t this when Uncle Daryl caught her and Katie driving around in Aunt Marie’s car without a license?” Jade was showing Marcus a picture and they were all laughing.

“He was so pissed at them both! Maggie just kissed him on his cheek and said ‘Sorry, Uncle Daryl, we were just having fun.’ He totally forgave her, too! Not like when we got caught doing the same thing!”  

Marcus was holding the picture and shaking his head. “But remember, Jade, they were like 16 when they did it, we were 13 and 14! And it was his Cadillac! Kind of a difference from Aunt Marie’s Ford Taurus!” There were more snickers.

Mage held up one for the others to look at. “I remember this one! This was when we were going to Homecoming our freshman year and Maggie was a senior. Remember? She got her group of friends to take us. Man, I was sporting wood most of that night! Marcus was the only one who even got close to scoring.” Mage said the last with disgust.

The picture was of the four boys dressed in slacks and dress shirts with ties on. Four older girls, including Maggie, were wearing very mature dresses. The boys all looked adorable, fairly clean cut with the exception of Marcus’ remaining mullet. Maggie was posed with Star and he looked like he was flying. Jade was standing with Katie and the other two girls I didn’t recognize.

“So you four were all in the same grade?”  They nodded.

Jade explained, “Yeah. Marcus’ birthday is in January so he’s the oldest and mine followed in November, just making the cut-off, so we were in the same classes.” Jade seemed much younger but birth order had a lot to do with that.

I turned and looked at Devon. “Where were you that night?”  

He shrugged. ”Probably taking the pictures, I don’t know.”

Marcus snorted. “Yeah, I told you Devon had no interest in girls in high school. He was a year ahead of us and we rarely got him to go out to dances with us. He was eating, sleeping, and breathing music and his car.”

I looked back and smiled. “I’ve heard about this car. Do you still have it?”  

He gave me a half smile, but I saw the excitement in his eyes. “I do. She’s back in Houma. I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of her.”

I secretly hoped I’d get to see it before this was all over.

That thought left me with a sick feeling. When this was all over. No matter what Devon said, when my contract was up they’d all go back to business as usual. I’d be here, doing my thing without them. I felt unbelievably sad all of a sudden. I looked around for a clock. “What time is it anyway?”  

Mage had a watch on. “It’s 3:00 already. Shit! No wonder this felt like the longest day ever. I need sleep. Can we finish this in the morning?”  

I nodded and also turned to go upstairs, calling “goodnight guys,” over my shoulder. They called back and I heard chairs scraping as they got up to follow.

I went straight to my room and dropped off my sketchbook before going into the bathroom.

“Oops,” Devon said as we both entered at the same time. “You first.” He shut his door and I locked it, did my nighttime routine and then opened his door.

“All yours, Devon.”

He stepped to the door in just his jeans, shirt off. I sighed and turned to leave. It was a shame to have to walk away from that.

“Thanks. And thanks for earlier, I’m sorry I dumped all that on you.”

I turned to look at him from the doorway. “You don’t ever have to apologize for confiding in me, Devon. I want you to be able to talk to me.”

He gave me a small smile, his hands resting on his hips. Another sigh.

“Goodnight.”

“You too. Sleep well, chère.”

It was obvious neither of us wanted to go our separate ways, but I closed the door and a moment later I heard the lock click.

I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was exhausted from these past couple of days. My feelings for Devon had also left me drained. There were only so many ups and downs my emotions could take on so little sleep. But I was not meant for sleep that night.

About an hour later I heard Devon scream next door. I ran in to find him on his hands and knees on the floor next to the bed.

“God, No! Not, Maggie. Please, please...”

I crouched down next to him and touched his shoulder, unsure if he was awake from his dream. He instantly collapsed and curled up with his head in my lap, his arms crushing me to him.

“Please...please no…”

He kept repeating it over and over. Star opened the door and helped me get Devon back onto the bed.