Beautifully Used (The Beaumont Brothers Book 2) (10 page)

Chapter 2
1

I awoke to the sounds of gunfire. Loud and obnoxious. I
squinted at the TV. Some sort of battle was going on with robots, and I realized it was right in the middle of one of the Transformer movies, though which one I had no clue. I picked up the remote and clicked the TV off. Gabrielle was all curled up and sound asleep on the other end of the sofa, the toes of my feet just inches from her calf. I pulled my feet closer to me, swung them off the couch and stood. A nice, welcomed, cool morning breeze flowed in through the window I’d left open, so I grabbed a light blanket and covered Gabrielle before going to the kitchen to make some coffee.

I’m fairly certain we both fell asleep
right toward the end of the movie. I don’t know where we got the energy to stay awake, but the movie kept us laughing and not thinking about what had happened earlier in the night, my ultimate goal. I enjoyed hearing Gabrielle laugh throughout most of the silly movie.

I’m surprised we stayed on the sofa all night. No, I’m not surprised I did, but I am surprised Gabrielle s
lept there. I was glad she agreed to stay the night. I was also glad she seemed to be okay. No long term emotional effects, but then I suppose things would have been different if he’d managed to get any further.

I finished filling the carafe with water and turned to pour it into the machine when Gabrielle came walking into the kitchen
rubbing her hands over her eyes. “Good morning,” she said through a yawn.

“
Morning to you,” I said, reaching into the cupboard for a couple of mugs.

She smiled
at me. That was a good sign.

“Coffee will be ready in a minute. Want something to eat?”

She shook her head. “Just coffee for now.” She sat at the table, elbow on the edge, her chin propped against her knuckles as she watched me.

I filled two cups with coffee and placed one in front of her before sitting down across from her.
Silence ensued as I sipped my coffee and tried not to stare at her, but it was impossible. The way the sunlight trickled in through the window and caught the red highlights in her hair gave her an ethereal appearance. She didn’t have any makeup on, just like last night after her shower. She was pretty with makeup, but she was beautiful without it, even with a busted up lip. Damn, fucking Jeff. Her lip wasn’t too bad though, no worse than my own. I still wanted to kill him for giving it to her.

“We must look a sight,” she said, breaking the silence.

I stared at her in amazement. “Are you psychic?”

“No.
Not that I’m aware. Why?”

“I was just thinking about
how you … we looked.”

And we both stared at each other
, and in unison, quoted Ben Stiller from Zoolander, “
Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?
” cracking us both up to the point of her getting a side ache.

It was good to laugh. God
knew we needed to. Gabrielle sipped her coffee and stared at the wall. I was about to say something, when all of a sudden she whispered, “Too bad good looks don’t convey what type of person someone is.” She looked at me. “Can’t judge a book by its cover, right?”

I nodded. Not sure what to say. I
figured she was thinking about how attracted she’d been to Jeff before he showed her his true colors. “No one would have guessed that about the guy, Gabrielle, so don’t beat yourself up about it.” When she only glanced at me briefly and shook her head at her coffee cup I added, “I asked Jackson about him, you know.”

Her eyes raised to meet mine in question. “When you were dancing with him. I asked Jackson about him. Nobody really knew him all that well.”

“Why was he invited to the wedding?”

I shrugged. “Jackson invited the whole soccer team. Hell, he invited the whole town.”

“You got there in time. He didn’t … he wasn’t … he never …”

“I’
m glad,” I interrupted, not wanting her to have to say it. She seemed grateful for that. “Gabrielle, I don’t … I mean, I’m not going to pretend to know how you feel about what happened, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t blame you if you broke down and cried or yelled or screamed. Got angry. Hell, I’m angry.”

“I am angry, Brodie. But I don’t know how to feel about it. He didn’t get to rape me. I’m glad about that, but at the same time
, I’m pissed because now he won’t go to jail.”

“He will for attempted rape and assault.”

She shook her head. “Not the same.” She stood, headed toward the door and turned toward me. “Look, Brodie, I appreciate what you did for me, but you heard him. He told the cops that he never intended to go that far. That he was never planning to screw me. That we were just having an intimate make out and fondling session until you came and interrupted us. It’s his word against mine, and what if they believe him?”

“We’ll just have to make sure they believe us
, your word and my word.”

“You weren’t there the entire time. You can’t
testify to something you didn’t see. He’s liable to say anything up until the point when you yanked him off of me and started fighting with him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so very grateful and glad that you stopped him, but another part of me is almost sorry because now he’s going to be free to do it to someone else because there is no proof of what he was going to do. He’ll do it to someone else, or worse yet …” She stopped and sucked in a sob. She didn’t need to complete the sentence. We both knew what her fear was, maybe it was my fear too; that he’d try to find her and finish what he started.

“Let’s get going and clean up the back yard. I have to find a place to live
, and I only have two weeks to do it.”

“You know Lena and Jackson won’t kick you out if you don’t find something by
the time they get back.”

“I know, but I don’t have the slightest desire to room with newlyweds either.”

“Why don’t you just stay here, then?” The words had left my mouth before I had a chance to think about them. Gabrielle and I have had our differences, but I didn’t like the idea of her staying alone at Lena and Jackson’s anyway after what happened.

“Here?”

“Sure.”

“You want me to stay here, with you
?”

I shrugged. “Not with me.” I suddenly felt like I needed to clarify that. I knew she didn’t like me all that much. Even if we had shared a dance and a movie last night. “But here. Yes. Why go to Jackson’s when all your stuff is already here? You can just stay in the same bedroom you’ve been staying in until you
find something.”

Chapter 2
2

Brodie and I took down all of the decorations and piled all the dirty glassware and dishes into the crates the rental company supplied. We sat
in the shade of a large oak tree on two teak Adirondack rocking chairs, sipping lemonade, watching as the two men from the rental company took the wooden planks of the dance floor apart and loaded them along with all the tables and chairs onto a truck. I was glad to see the dance floor go. Even though Brodie and I shared our first dance there, it also held some rather unpleasant memories since I’d danced with Jeff there too. I’d like to forget I ever thought he was attractive.

Brodie handed one of the guys an envelope that I knew held a sizable tip. One thing I’
d learned about Brodie over the past couple of weeks was that he never skimped on tips. I guess running a bar and relying on those everyday elevated the importance of them. I’d always considered myself a generous tipper until I met Brodie and Jackson.

Even a
fter the men finished loading up the truck and were long gone, I stayed outside on the chair while Brodie went inside to fill our glasses with more lemonade. Rufus lay by my feet, content to be in the shade. It turned out to be a fairly warm day, much like yesterday and the day before. The weather didn’t show much variation this time of year. It was either hot or extremely hot. I watched Brodie stroll out from the kitchen door, tray balanced on one hand, guitar case dangling from the other. We stayed outside in the shade of the tree most of the afternoon while Brodie strummed softly on Jackson’s guitar. He gave me a shhhh, holding his finger to his lips and said, “Don’t tell Jackson I played his guitar. He’s kinda OCD about other people touching it.”

I
grinned. “Okay. Mums the words.” I closed my eyes and listened to the soft tunes Brodie played. I’m almost certain I fell asleep. Maybe. Not completely, because the sudden silence jarred me awake and I sat up straight. Brodie still sat in the chair beside me, the guitar perched against the tree on his other side, his eyes closed. I sank back again and closed my eyes. We were both exhausted from all the work, not to mention the fact that we both had slept on the couch last night. It was nice having him there. I wondered why he stayed with me. Up until last night, he never really seemed to pay much attention to me. There was also the fact that he hadn’t been out with any of the women Lena claimed he spent so much time with, at least not since I’d been there.

A week and a half after the wedding,
I was still staying in Brodie’s spare room, and to my surprise, Brodie still stayed home every night. We ate dinner together when he wasn’t working at the bar, and even then I’d gone to the bar with him, mostly because I didn’t want to stay at the house alone. I lugged the laptop along with me a couple of times to work on the second book, but I did manage to have a few beers while I hung out and listened to the band. I even sang a few songs with them, since Lena and Jackson weren’t there.

Tonight would be one of those stay at home nights
. It was late afternoon. Brodie had taken the day shift at the bar and wasn’t home yet. I didn’t mind staying alone during the day. It was mostly at night, when the shadows lurked outside in-between the trees and in my mind that bothered me.

I opened the freezer to pull out some chicken to defrost. I’d said
I would cook dinner. I was going to make chicken parmesan, an old family recipe.

Music from m
y cell phone sang out the generic ringtone I’d programmed for unknown callers. I didn’t recognize the number but slid the answer switch across the screen.

“Hello?”

“Gabrielle Demeres?” It was a man’s voice and my back stiffened. The police said they’d be in touch about testifying against Jeff.

“
Yes?”

“You called about a room for rent. Are you still looking?”

My shoulders relaxed as if someone had removed the weight of a fifty-pound bag of potatoes from them. “Oh. Yes.”

“The room you called about last week just became available again. The other person didn’
t work out. So, if you want, you can come by and take a look.”

“Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Can you come by in about an hour?” I glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall above the window. It was four. Brodie said he’d be home around five. I didn’t have a car, so I’d need to wait.

“Um … can we make that about an hour and a half?”

“That’ll be fine.”

“Can I get the address?”

He rattled off the house number and street as I jotted them down. I hoped Brodie knew where this was, and I hoped he came home in time. The prospect of getting my own place was exciting. A room in a house where other people lived, but still my own room. I fished in the freezer for the chicken and placed it in a pot with hot tap water to speed up the defrosting. Satisfied with the way it sat covered in the water, I took off for my room to change into some jeans and a tank top. My shorts vibrated before the music from my cellphone sang out again. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone. I grimaced at yet another unfamiliar number. “Hello?” My voice sounded too shaky.

“Gabrielle
Demeres, please.” It was a female voice, but very austere sounding.

“Yes.”

“Hi Gabrielle. This is the county police department. We wanted to let you know that the case you have against Jeffrey Adams has been dismissed so there will be no need for you to come in to testify.”

“What?”

I listened to her repeat the sentence, but my mind escaped to a place a million miles away. “How … how is that possible?”

“I’m sorry. He had a witness come forward
… a Miss Kate Bradley. She said that she was with the two of you the entire time and that you were all out there having some fun. She said she left when you told her you wanted to be alone with Mr. Adams, and that you intended to … let’s see, her exact words were, ‘fuck him silly.’”

“That can’t be. There was no one there but us. There wasn’t anyone else there when the cops came. They saw.
How do you explain the bruises on my face? The cut lip? They saw what he had done to me!” My voice raised an octave on that last sentence and I had to calm myself before I started shouting at the woman on the phone. Before I flat out called her a liar.

“That’s all I know, ma’am.
Would you like the number of the district attorney’s office?”

“No. I have it. Thank you.”

I went to my room and picked up the card that the cop had given me from the top of the dresser. I decided to wait until Brodie came home before calling. I was too upset to even get the number entered into the phone correctly.

“They’d never believe you Gabby girl. You know that,” Thomas whispered in my ear.

I shook my head. This couldn’t be possible.

“Gabrielle?” I looked up to see Brodie standing in the doorway. “What’s wrong? Why didn’t you answer me? I’ve been calling you for about five minutes. I saw the chicken in the sink. It’s all defrosted. I put it in the fridge for now until we’re ready to cook it.” I didn’t say anything. My lips wouldn’t work. I could only stare at him. “Gabrielle? What’s wrong?” Brodie stepped into the room and came up to stand in front of me. He took the card from my fingers. “What happened?”

“They … she … um, a lady called from the police. She said Jeff has been released.”

“What?”

“They dismissed all the charges.”

“How? Why?” Brodie’s hands were on my shoulders and he led me to the edge of the bed and sat me down. Then he sat beside me.

I shook my head. I didn’t know how to explain what she had said. I didn’t know if I
could
explain what she had said.

“Gabrielle, tell me what
happened.” His hands were back on my shoulders and he was staring at me. I stared back into his blue eyes. Did those eyes really care about me? Would those eyes be any different than the ones who’d betrayed me before?

“She said he had a witness. Another female that claimed to have been with
us the entire night, and who said that we were all just having fun. She told them that I said I wanted to be alone with him. That I wanted to have sex with him.”

“How the hell can they believe that when there was no one
else there that night when they questioned us? And who is this girl?”

I shook my head.
Still too shocked to do anything more than that.