Hunted (6 page)

“I could waste my time and give you a name, but it wouldn’t be my real one. So let’s just skip it.”

He appraised her, his eyes bright with appreciation. “All right. I’ll make a deal with you. If I ever save you again, you have to give me your name. Your real one.”

Will looked like he was about to come over any minute.

The man saw her frustration and laughed. “It’s a safe bet. What are the chances I’ll ever save you again, let alone see you?”

He was right. She had a better chance of winning the lottery. “Okay.”

His hand reached across the table. “Shake on it.”

“Fine,” she grumbled as she gave him her hand. His hand grasped hers, turned it over, and brought her knuckles to his lips, his mouth lingering. A shiver ran down her arm, like an electrical current, and her head swam.

“Until we meet again,” he said in a serious tone before he released his grip.

Chills prickled up Emma’s spine. The way he said it made her think it was a possibility.

He stood up and walked toward the front door without looking back.

Two encounters with the man were too much. Her mind reeled. Before she had time to dwell on it, her mother turned to see what had captured Will’s attention, her eyes locking with Emma’s. Dread and fear strangled the breath out of her. Her mother’s mouth dropped open and she mouthed Emma’s name. Her chest squeezed in anticipation.

Will shook his head as her mother got up and walked over to her table.

Her mother placed her hand on her hip and glared at Emma with contempt. “I should have known.”

Emma studied her for the first time in almost six years. She looked older and harder. Years of cigarette smoking added more crow’s feet around her eyes and lines around her mouth, which her mother tried to caulk with layers of makeup. Her blouse was low-cut, exposing her ample breasts. Her hair, dry and brittle from years of chemicals, was teased into a towering mess.

“You always did try to steal my men.”

Emma shook her head, her eyes wide with denial. Her mother always had the ability to turn her into a pile of mush. “No…”

She snorted in disgust. “Bullshit. What are you doin’ right now? I’m talking to this fine man and imagine my surprise to see he’s not payin’ attention to me anymore, he’s busy lookin’ at you.”

People nearby began to stare, adding to Emma’s humiliation.

“Brandy, why don’t we sit down and discuss this.” Will approached from behind, placing his hand on her mother’s back.

“What are you doin’ here, Emmanuella?” Her mother leaned over the table, her eyes narrowing with hatred.

Emma cringed at the use of her given name. Every time she heard that name, horror was usually close behind.

“Brandy.” Will’s voice was stern and direct.

Emma was surprised she actually obeyed. Will grabbed a chair and sat at the table, blocking her in.

Brandy gasped and turned to Will. “You in on this?”

Will leaned close to her, lowering his voice in a soothing tone. “How about another beer, Brandy?”

She didn’t answer, which Will took as affirmation. He flagged down a waitress and ordered two bottles.

Brandy sneered at Emma. “You still too high and mighty to drink beer?”

Emma remained silent, her pulse pounding in her temple. She swore she’d never let her mother treat her like this again. And here she was reliving every childhood nightmare all over again.

“What are you doin’ here Emma?” she asked again. “Going off the questions he’s been askin’ me, I take it your snooping’ for information on your father.”

“Why did you name me Emmanuella?”

Her mother looked puzzled. “Really? That’s your question?”

The waitress showed up with the beers. Brandy grabbed the bottle and took a swig. “Your father insisted on it. That’s why. The only thing he contributed, other than his monthly checks.”

“He sent monthly checks?” She had always said her father abandoned them.

“Yeah, up until you came home and told me you were pregnant with my man’s baby.”

Will’s eyebrows shot up.

“Mom, I was
not
pregnant with your boyfriend’s baby. I never even came home after I started the fall semester and I told you at Christmas. How could he be the father?”

Her mother bristled and she took another swig. “I know how he looked at you. How all of them looked at you after you turned fourteen. Besides, tell me how your father knew you were pregnant if it wasn’t with my man?”

A wave of dizziness hit her. “What do you mean, ‘how did he know’?”

“Right before you came home for Christmas, your father called me and he
never
called me. He said you was pregnant and he wanted me to give you his name and phone number. He wanted you to call him.”

“What? Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“Because, he stopped paying me and if I wasn’t getting money, I sure wasn’t giving him what he wanted.”

“But what about me, Mom? What about what I wanted?”

Her mother shrugged and took another drink.

“We’re going to need that name, Brandy,” Will said, his voice hard.

She scrunched her face and laughed. “Why in the hell would I give you that?”

“Because it’s the decent thing to do?” Will’s eyebrows rose.

Brandy pointed a finger toward Emma. “Do you have any idea what that girl did to me? How she ruined my life? I woulda got rid of her a long time ago, but he wouldn’t let me.”

“He being her father?”

Brandy downed the rest of her beer and slammed the bottle on the table.“Yep.”

“Sounds like you were compensated pretty well for your trouble.”

“Hmm…”

Will’s face hardened for a brief moment, long enough for Emma to notice the throbbing vein on his forehead before the player’s smile spread seductively. He leaned his mouth close to Brandy’s ear. “What if I could get you more money?” His voice was silken with suggestion. “More compensation for your inconvenience.”

She sat up straighter and turned to face him, their noses inches apart. Her eyes narrowed but Emma recognized the familiar gleam. Her mother thought she’d found her next mark. “What makes you think you can do that?”

“I’m sure he’s still looking for her,” Will tilted his head, his words soft and seductive. “I bet he’d give a nice finder’s fee.”

Her mother grabbed Will’s beer and stared at the mouth of the bottle. “He kept callin’, lookin’ for her. I didn’t know where she was so I couldn’t tell him. He seemed pretty upset I didn’t know.”

“When was the last time he called?”

“Last month.”

Emma gasped, and her mother’s eyes raised and leveled on her.

“If I couldn’t have him, you sure as hell weren’t goin’ to.”

Finally, after all the miserable years she had a better understanding of why her mother hated her.

“Did you love him, Mom?”

Her mother’s eyes softened and grew glassy before she picked up the bottle and took a swig. “What the hell does love have to do with anything. Love is for weak, short-sighted people. Love never got anyone anywhere but a mess of pain and heartache.”

“Why do you think Emma’s father wanted her, Brandy?” Will asked.

Brandy rolled her eyes. “God only knows. Never asked him.”

“He paid you all those years. Do you think he has a lot of money?”

Her face lit up at the suggestion of money. “He was powerful.”

“You mean wealthy?”

“Yeah, that too, but he was different. Like
real
power just oozed off him. I ain’t never been with a man like him. Sometimes when he touched me it was like electricity shot through me.”

Will shot Emma a knowing glance. They had stumbled upon something.

Her face darkened. “But he wasn’t around long. Long enough to get me knocked up and then leave.”

Covering Brandy’s hand, Will softened his face and lowered his voice. “Brandy, why don’t you let me help you? I can help you get the financial compensation you deserve. All you have to do is give me his name and number.”

Her eyes narrowed as she turned from Will to Emma. “Why the sudden interest in your father, Emmanuella? Does this have anything to do with the men who’ve been comin’ around lookin’ for you?”

Will stiffened. “What men?”

Her mother glared at Emma. “The apple don’t fall far from the tree, ain’t that right, Emma? Like mother, like daughter. You always acted so high and mighty, like you was royalty. Like you was too good for me but look at ya now. You can’t stick with one man, Emmanuella. It’s not in your blood.”

“Brandy, what men?” Will’s voice lowered in menacing tone.

She raised her hands in mock surrender. “Don’t be takin’ it out on the messenger. I can’t help it if Emma’s whorin’ around.”

Will’s face reddened.

Emma worried that Will was going to physically hurt her mother. Not that she didn’t want to herself. “Mom, what men? What did they want?”

“They was lookin’ for you. Wanted to know if I saw you. Asked me to call them if I saw you. Told me you was in some kind of trouble and they wanted to help you out. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into? You get yourself knocked up again?”

Emma felt the color drain from her face.

“You did, didn’t you?” Her mother asked, grinning.

“Brandy, those men want to hurt Emma. Can you give me their number?”

A look of annoyance crossed her face. “I don’t have their number. I threw it away. I never thought I’d see her again.”

“What about her father’s number?”

“I ain’t got it either.”

Will pulled a slip of paper out of his back pocket and set it on the table by her mother’s hand. “If you happen across either of those numbers, I would appreciate it if you’d give me a call.”

Brandy placed her hand over Will’s as she took the note. “You know she won’t stay with you. It ain’t in her blood to stay with one man.”

Will slid his hand away as though Brandy were a snake getting ready to strike. He stood up and pulled Emma out of the seat. “Emma, I think it’s time to go.”

“Don’t be comin’ back again, Emmanuella. You ain’t welcome here.”

Emma felt Will’s indecision and spoke before he could. “Don’t worry, Mom. I won’t be bothering you again." She tugged on Will’s arm and pulled him to the exit.

Will put his arm around her back and walked into the parking lot. “Oh God, Emma. I am so sorry. You said she was bad but I had no idea.” He pulled her into a hug.

She stiffened, feeling defensive after her encounter with her mother. She broke his embrace, moving to the car. “It’s okay. It wasn’t anything I didn’t expect.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

She stopped and looked into his face. He was upset. For her. She knew that for whatever reason, whether he really loved her as he claimed or because of the mark on his arm that mystically chained him to her, she knew he would do anything to protect her. While it sounded great in theory, and part of her relished turning over her struggles to someone else, she knew it made him dangerous. He would hide things from her. He would ignore challenges that needed to be faced to save her the pain. “Because we wouldn’t have seen her. You would have changed your mind and we wouldn’t have gotten the information we did.”

“It wasn’t enough. It wasn’t worth it.”

Her anger flared. “I’m not a china doll, Will. I’ve taken care of myself for nearly twenty-seven years. I don’t need you to take care of me.” He reached for her and she shoved off his hands. “It was worth it and you know it. We got information and sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than I’ve ever gotten in all the years I lived with her.”

He ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“This isn’t going to work, Will.”

Hurt then anger washed over his features as he lowered his arm. “What the fuck are you talking about, Emma?”

“Us, this isn’t going to work.”

His eyes narrowed. “What the hell do you propose? We go our separate ways? Like you suggested weeks ago in Kansas? It seems I’ve more than proved my loyalty to you.”

“No. Yes.” She heaved in annoyance. “But I can’t trust you if you try to shield me from things you think will hurt me. I’m not a child and we have to make decisions together.”

“My job is to protect you.”

“How are you protecting me if you don’t pursue leads because you worry they’ll hurt me? You’re thinking with your heart and not with your head. I need you to think with your head.”

Will spun away from her, cursing under his breath as he walked to the car. “Let’s go.”

Emma followed and they sat in the car. He stared out the front window while she tried to sort through her emotions, unsure which one to trust.

Will jammed the key in the ignition. “Do you think she was lying? Do you think she still has the numbers?”

“No, I doubt it. She tends to live in the moment, never thinking about the long term. I’m sure she never thought she’d need them again.”

He started the car. “She was wrong, you know. You’re not like her.”

She turned to him, caught by surprise. Was she? She’d never been with a man long enough to prove her mother right or wrong. Then again, maybe that fact alone was enough.

His voice softened. “You’re
nothing
like her.” He drove back to the hotel in silence.

Emma wanted to believe him, but her dream played on a looped tape in her head.

Chapter Six