Boiling Over Read online

  “I want to see my room,” she exclaimed as she ran, leaving dusty footprints on the polished floor.

  I sighed as I pried open the latches on the cage. Daisy shot out and up the stairs, no doubt very grateful to no longer be cooped up. I set the cage outside so the smell of ammonia didn’t permeate the interior of the house.

  When I came back in, I opened the closed door in the foyer. The room beyond was an airy and bright bedroom with two windows, one in front and one on the side. A double bed with a brass headboard took up most of the space, and the heavy wooden dresser sitting beside it was almost as large. A vanity mirror across reflected the door and myself.

  I blanched at my own image. Even from several feet away, the bags under my eyes and the spot I’d missed while shaving in a rush that morning were obvious. My hair, too, was a disaster of dust and sweat, making it at least two shades darker blond than usual. No wonder Sev had thought I needed a rest.

  Ignoring my own dishevelment, I wandered through the rest of the downstairs. There was nothing exciting about the living room. No china displays or knickknacks littered the mantle or shelves. No books, not even throw pillows. Either the Reeds had never bothered decorating a place they only lived in for three months out of the year or they had removed anything tempting enough to steal.

  The kitchen was far more impressive to me. Among the appliances was a refrigerator, not an icebox, in pale green. The oven and range were the same color, a matching set to the refrigerator. A phone was mounted on the wall, not green. The table in the center looked solid and had no cut marks. The counters were also unscarred. On the far wall was a back door, and when I pushed the curtain away from its window, I got a spectacular view of forested mountains.

  Another door was awkwardly placed on the wall opposite the sink. I opened it, expecting a closet, and instead found a bathroom. A peculiar place for one, but it was clearly a recent addition to the building, and one in a strange location was better than having none at all. I’d spent the majority of my childhood living in a slum with no running water, and functional plumbing was something I never took for granted.

  As I headed back toward the front, I heard the car pull up. A few moments later, Sev stepped in the door with two suitcases, and he brought the smell of rosewater and tobacco with him. Unlike me, he’d gotten a chance to groom before Bella swooped in, and he didn’t look as sweaty or scruffy as I did. Or maybe that was because his clothes were his own, tailored to fit his trim frame, unlike mine, which were secondhand and far too small. On seeing me, he smiled, his golden eyes acquiring crow’s feet at the corners.

  “Will you help me get the last of the bags?”

  I let him lead me back out to the car. There were two more: Pearl’s suitcase and some kind of wooden case Bella had brought for us. The case was heavier than I thought, and I almost dropped it. Cursing, I opened it to see what on earth she had decided to burden us with. It was a small typewriter. A scrap of paper had been left on it.

  I heard the police impounded yours—Bella.

  Sev read the note and smiled. “How sweet of her.”

  I snorted. He knew as well as I did nothing Bella did came purely from the goodness of her heart. Hell, he knew her temperament even better, having spent the better part of his adult life cowering under her iron fist. Still, he had a soft spot for her I couldn’t figure out. Every horrible thing she did, he forgave her, through and including getting him disowned. We had argued about how lightly he took her abuses before but tucked the issue away for some other time, and this wasn’t the moment to dig it up. I grabbed Pearl’s suitcase and got out of the way before my mouth ran away with me.

  The bag was so light, it was no problem to hustle up the stairs. Before I even got to the top, I heard Pearl chattering to Daisy. On reaching the landing, I realized the second floor was much smaller than the first and didn’t extend completely over the kitchen. The hall ended and had a door on either side. Pearl’s voice drifted through the open one on the left.

  She’d already made herself at home in the small, slant-ceilinged room by taking off her shoes and sitting cross-legged on the bed with a pillow in her lap. She’d also thrown open the window to catch a breeze. Daisy prowled along the top of a dresser, her nose twitching with every step.

  “This room is mine,” Pearl declared.

  “It’s all yours,” I answered as I swung the suitcase onto the foot of the bed. The new scar on my arm twinged.

  “Which room is going to be yours?” she asked. “The one downstairs is bigger, but the other one up here is closer to me, so I think you should have that one.”

  I had been too preoccupied with everything else to think about sleeping arrangements. I’d taken for granted that once we got out from under the stern eye of Sev’s great aunt, we could sleep wherever we wanted, but that couldn’t be the case. While Pearl, on her own, likely wouldn’t care or even think to ask why Sev and I shared a bed, she had a big mouth, and it was only a matter of time before someone else found out.

  “Yeah, sounds great,” I said. “Let’s have a look at it, shall we?”

  I edged into the hall and pushed open the other door. The room was the mirror image of Pearl’s with a bed with a wooden headboard tucked against one of the vertical walls and a wooden dresser against the other. Unfortunately for me, I was a good six feet tall, and the peaked ceiling made half the room inaccessible unless I wanted to start crawling. The things I did for this kid.

  “Perfect,” I said. “So, tell you what, why don’t you start putting your clothes away, and when you’re done, we’ll see about finding supper, all right?”

  Pearl nodded and snapped her luggage open before I even turned around. I headed back downstairs, taking small solace in the fact that at least she was still having a good time.

  “Sev?” I called once I hit the ground floor.

  “Ecco!” he answered from the bedroom.

  I followed his voice to find him poking around the vanity. He looked up and smiled at me through the mirror’s reflection. His eyes glinted gold in the sunlight. God, I could look at him forever.

  “Such a beautiful place, don’t you think?” he asked.

  I tried to reflect his smile. “Yeah, it’s great.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “You’re not a very good liar, caro. I wish you wouldn’t try. What don’t you like about it?”

  “I don’t not like it,” I said. I hoped the heat rising around my neck again wasn’t showing red on my skin. “It’s just… It’s a lot in one day. A month ago, we were living our lives, and at nine this morning, we were in Boston, and now we’re here. It’s too much, Sev. It’s just too much.”

  “I know it’s not what we wanted, but we are safe, and that’s what matters.” He crossed the room. He pulled me toward him and slid a hand behind my back. “Come, lay down with me.”

  I hesitated. “Pearl’s right above us.”

  He laughed softly. “I said lay down, not let me ravish you.” His hand drifted down and squeezed as his grin turned wicked. “Not that I don’t want to.”

  My skin immediately set on fire. Despite my grumpiness, I was absolutely starved for affection after a week in forced isolation. My lips met his, desperate and longing, and above all, anxious. Everything was terrible, terrifying, and he was the only brightness, the only thing I could see in the world. I needed him, body and soul.

  Too soon, he turned his face away. “I thought you wanted to be careful?”

  “I do.” I sighed. “Sorry.”

  He shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry for.” He ran his hand up and down my back. “Let’s lay down, just for a minute. I can see you’re tired.”

  Tired didn’t even cover half of it. He led me to the bed, and I slumped onto it. Sev crawled in after me, curling along my side with a hand on my chest. I clutched it with my own, hoping some of his calmness might transfer through our touch. It almost worked. Finally sensing a bit of safety, the ache in my ribs and shoulders started to ebb away. I kissed his he
ad and relished in the rosy scent of his curls. He chuckled and turned his face up to mine. I kissed his lips briefly, just long enough to feel their softness. He smiled against the kiss.

  “Did I tell you that you have beautiful eyes?” I asked once I gathered enough willpower to break away.

  A light blush spread up his cheeks along with a smile. “Only every day.”

  “Then did I tell you thank you for saving me?”

  The smile cooled slightly. “Also every day.” He kissed my shoulder. “Did I thank you for saving me?”

  “A crap job is a little different than a gun to your head.”

  “It wasn’t the job. Just because you didn’t see the gun didn’t mean it wasn’t there.” His fingers curled into my shirt as if that could make us closer. “A life of lies is a life in prison, just without the bars. And I would know, I have done both. With you, I am free.”

  My turn to blush and to try to pull him closer. “Then you’re welcome.”

  We lay in silence for a few minutes, dredging what comfort we could from each other, the breeze from the window cutting through the heat. It was almost like peace, but not quite, because even there, my brain flickered through possibilities and excuses. If Pearl appeared in the doorway, how would I explain this? What would we tell anyone? We had to look suspicious, or at the very least incongruous. We couldn’t hide and ride it out either. Too many people had already somehow heard of our coming. “Talk to me, caro,” Sev murmured. “I can tell you’re thinking of something. You’re making faces.”

  I knew he wouldn’t buy a lie, so I didn’t try one. I opened my eyes and twisted to look at him, careful to keep his hand in mine. “Don’t you think it’s weird half the town knew we were coming? Crista had to have told them.”

  He raised a shoulder. “Or maybe the Reeds told people. So, they know we’re here? They’d have to find out sometime. They’d certainly find out when I showed up at the factory tomorrow. Anyway, they don’t know why, and they don’t suspect anything.” He smirked and edged forward to kiss me. “Nothing at all.”

  The phone rang.

  I broke away from Sev with a curse.

  He huffed a laugh. “Someone should get that.”

  “It’s probably someone looking for the Reeds,” I said. “Ignore it.”

  The ringing persisted, jangling my already scattered brain out of sorts. I closed my eyes again and willed the ringing to stop.

  “Alex?” Pearl shouted from upstairs. “There’s a phone ringing.”

  A step creaked, and I clambered out of bed in case she had decided to take it upon herself to come down and answer the phone herself. I dove for the door. Yes, there stood Pearl about to descend the staircase. My heartbeat, only recently slowed, picked up again at the close call.

  “Yeah, I know,” I said. “It’s not for us though. We don’t—”

  “I will get it.” Sev brushed past me, dragging the ghost of the lost moment behind him. Annoyed, I followed him into the kitchen. He picked up the receiver with more grace in the movement than I had accumulated over my whole lifetime.

  “Hello?”

  “Tell them we’re not home.”

  He waved a hand to silence me. “Bella,” he mouthed.

  Bella? I checked my watch. We’d left her in Boston all of six hours ago. What could she want? Sev ignored my questioning looks, turning away and carrying on an overloud conversation in Italian. I huffed and sat in one of the chairs. It wobbled. Of course, I’d picked the broken one.

  He switched to English. “Fine, fine! Hold on.” He held the receiver out to me. “She wants to talk to you.”

  “What for?” I asked as I stood. “I’m not the one related to her. Hello?”

  “Alex.” Bella’s husky voice dripped syrup thick with a false sweetness that sent chills down my spine. “How are you?”

  “Why are you calling?”

  “I will assume not well.”

  I rolled my eyes and was grateful she couldn’t see me. “You expect me to believe you just wanted to check up on us?”

  “You know, if I didn’t want you alive, you wouldn’t be.”

  Touché. I sighed. “Thank you for getting us this place, signora.” I leaned heavily on her honorific but not enough she could be sure I did it sarcastically. “It’s very pretty. And rural.”

  “It’s close to the border, which is why you’re there and not still in Boston. Walter Trask will take care of you, and if the cops pick up the scent again, I will have him take you to Canada. He will be coming by your house in the evening to talk.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “I heard he never showed up for work this morning.”

  Another awkward pause. Apparently, he wasn’t on a job for her. “Put Severo back on.”

  Under any other circumstances, I would have been happy to get away from Bella, but her tone had a perplexed edge to it, and that worried me. Walter Trask disappearing was not part of her plan.

  Sev picked up the conversation again, but it didn’t last very long. Most of what I understood consisted of him protesting something. I was surprised. Bella didn’t like to be crossed. He put an end to the conversation and hung up with a grunt.

  “Do you believe her?” he exclaimed. “She wanted us to go looking for him. Ridiculous!”

  “You told Bella Bellissima her idea was ridiculous and you weren’t going to do it?”

  He opened his mouth then closed it. “Yes, I did.” He chuckled. “All it takes is three hundred miles between us.”

  “Still. I’m impressed. That was pretty brave.”

  He smirked and caught me around the waist. “I learned it from you.”

  I giggled against his lips like a lovesick teenager, all thoughts of jealousy banished. How could I have even let the thought into my mind? I was just jittery. He was right; we were finally safe.

  “Alex!” Pearl’s shrill shout echoed down the stairs. “Can you help me? The shelf is too high.”

  I groaned and let my face linger next to Sev’s for a moment before moving away. “I’ll be right there.”

  Sev laughed. “Children always know when you’re busy, don’t they?” He smacked my rear. “Go on before she comes looking.”

  Chapter Three

  Faced with an empty pantry, the three of us took a walk down the hill to eat supper at the diner and pick up a few groceries. I felt the eyes of the locals on us, scrutinizing everything we did. Sev didn’t seem to notice, though, nor did Pearl. So, I squirmed alone, sure someone sensed that not only were Sev and I a couple, but also that we were running from the cops.

  By the time we got back home, I was exhausted and wanted nothing so much as to fall into bed. Sev rolled his eyes when I explained to him how I’d need to stay upstairs, at least for the time being. I’d promised Pearl I’d be close to her, and that was what I would do.

  I came to regret making that promise within the hour. The room was boiling hot, so I cracked open the window. While the gap caught a slight breeze, it also let in several mosquitos, only a handful of which I managed to kill before they left little red welts across my arms and neck. And they weren’t the least of my bug problems. A million cicadas screamed unseen. Their chorus was worse than the traffic noise in Boston. So much for the quiet that had unnerved me on arrival.

  Eventually, I fell asleep or at least dozed. I’d had bad dreams almost every night since Donnie was murdered, and that night was no different. A basket of laundry strewn down the stairs. The white tablecloths of the Ostia spattered with blood. Broken glass crackling beneath my feet. Logan’s skull exploding into a million pieces as his daughter laughed behind me.

  I jolted awake and promptly smacked my head on the low, slanted ceiling. “Shit!”

  “Alex said a bad word!” Pearl’s voice echoed in the hallway.

  I blinked. Right, Vermont. And morning, judging by the sunlight filtering through the sagging curtains. The air had somehow gotten more stagnant and warmer overnight. The bugs, ho
wever, had thankfully flown off. I groaned as I unpeeled myself from my sweat-soaked sheets.

  Pearl appeared in the doorway, already dressed and with her brown hair done up in pigtails with red ribbons tied in bows. “Mr. Sev says breakfast is ready.”

  I contemplated trying to start coaching her on calling him Sev since he was supposed to be her stepfather, but I decided I was far too tired. Plus, the spikes of pain from the new goose egg on the top of my head rattled my thoughts.

  “Tell him I’ll be down in a minute,” I mumbled.

  Pearl nodded and slipped out, the tails of the ribbons fluttering. I groped for my alarm clock, realized I didn’t have one anymore, cursed again, and reached for my watch. Ten to seven. I sighed. Between the night job and the haphazard nature of writers, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d voluntarily woken up before nine. But this was a different life, and maybe Alex Carrow was a morning person. Likely not, but I’d at least give it a try. Positive side, at least this was definitely early enough to see Sev off to his new job. Job at what, I didn’t know. It certainly wasn’t managing a nightclub, which would be quite the change.

  Somehow, I managed to get dressed without smacking my head again or tripping into the unfamiliar furniture and stumbled down the stairs. Pearl sat on the parlor floor doing a puzzle, Daisy curled next to her on one side. Silently, I thanked Bella for showering the kid in toys and gifts. I knew the spoiling came from some weird transference, as Freud would say—Bella’s own daughter had died very young almost two decades ago—but the gifts kept Pearl quiet and amused, and I needed all the peace I could get.

  As I approached the kitchen, the smell of burned coffee reached me. The source became obvious when I discovered Sev scrubbing a percolator in the sink. Wet grounds were smeared across the counter. He had already dressed and styled in his gray suit—the one he’d been wearing when we met, the night Donnie died. I shook my head to try to uncouple the terrible memory from how handsome he looked.