The Lies Between Us (The Devil's Dust #4)(35)

7:00 AM

“Shit.” I hurry into the room and pull on a black tank top with a white skull printed on the front, and shimmy on some shorts. I can’t say anything about Lip having secrets… ‘cause I have one. A big one.

One that is six years old and looks just like me, and I still haven’t told him about her. How can I?

***

Sitting in my car, I watch the little girl with strawberry-blonde hair trot down the stairs of her house. She’s wearing the clothes I gave her yesterday: a green skirt and a white top with a watermelon on it. Her father is a f*cking douchebag. He had her in clothes two sizes too big again, and they were boy clothes at that. I’ve wanted to tell Lip about her so many times over the years, but I just couldn’t. I was going to tell him about her, but I couldn’t while he was locked up. I should tell him now, but it doesn’t seem like the right time. I groan in frustration.

I drive to the trailer park, thoughts of Lip and Piper filling my head. Over the years, I came often during the week to see Piper; of course, it was in the morning after Eric left for work. I would see her off to school, and to see her grow over the years is a bittersweet moment. I bought a book about lawyering, trying to figure out a way around whatever I’m in, but I can’t even read the first f*cking chapter with so many legal terms. I pull up to the gas station across from the trailer park and turn the car off. I hate this f*cking trailer park. I will not leave my daughter here to grow up. I will figure something out. But that’s just it, I gotta figure it out, be smarter than Eric and that piss-brain judge. It’s risky showing up here, I know, but I can’t stay away. I’m her mother, and Eric obviously is not taking care of her like he should.

She looks up and spots me, her cute little freckled face beaming with energy.

I can’t help but smile and climb out of my red bug.

“Hey there, Piper! You look beautiful today.” She looks down at herself and smiles a toothless grin. “Did you lose a tooth?”

She touches the empty spot in her mouth and nods.

“It came out last night,” she slurs. I laugh, but a piece of me breaks. I should have been there to place her tooth under her pillow with her. I rest my hands on my hips and lift my head to the sky, trying to draw strength from the gods.

“Are you okay, Cherry?”

I blow out an emotional breath and muster a smile.

“Mmhmm. What did your dad say about the clothes?” I bite my lip, nervous.

Piper’s light of innocence fades into something sad. She shrugs, kicking the rocks in front of her.

“He didn’t even notice. He was drunk last night, and was passed out in his puke this morning.” I grind my teeth. I should kill him. I should take Piper and just run, goddamn it.

“Wait, is he home right now?” My body goes stiff.

“Yeah, but he’s passed –”

“I gotta go.” I give her a kiss on the forehead and turn to leave. The hair on my neck is raised in alarm, heart slamming against my chest in fear. He can’t know I’m here, that I’m alive.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” she yells. I turn my head and look over my shoulder. I try to see her every day before school, sometimes after. It’s hard because she’s not supposed to know about me. She doesn’t know me, actually. She knows Cherry… the biker lady who saved her from bullies and became her best friend. I’m all she has.

“Yes, I’ll be here.”

I climb in my car and peel out of the trailer park before Eric sees me.


LIP

I bring the cup of iced tea to my mouth and take a cool sip, the ice cubes sliding against the glass and cooling my lips as I watch a bunch of club whores washing the guys’ bikes. I’ve been at the club a lot lately. I can’t be around Cherry. Those eyes, the way they see right through me, cuts me. I’ve been meaning to sit her down and tell her something that has turned into the blackest lie, but she pins me with those gray eyes, and that loving smile, and I just… I f*cking can’t. I wanted to tell her before I was locked up, back when I realized I really cared for her and needed to get shit out in the open, but I kept telling myself one more day, or I’ll tell her tomorrow. Now that lie has grown from a small storm into a violent hurricane. I know I’m being a f*cking prick to her lately, and it pains me. But I’m in over my f*cking head. I can’t stand to lie to her anymore, but I just can’t be that guy she fell in love with either. It’s not me. I’m not gentle, and I’m not sweet. I have a filthy mouth, the urge to f*ck hard, and pull the trigger on my gun at any bastard that crosses me. I am not the man any woman should love, especially Cherry.

“Who’s that chick?” Bobby points out, grabbing me from my dark thoughts. I glance at him, curious how long he’s been standing beside me. He is the prime example of what a surfer should look like, only he’s got tattoos and a leather cut on.

“Which chick?” I reply, looking at my glass uninterested. I got enough shit to deal with right now.

“The one who looks like a f*cking doll.”

I raise my stare and look at the bunch of half-naked girls. One with dark hair that falls just above her tits stands out above the rest. Her cheek bones are a slight pink, standing out amongst her smooth porcelain skin, and her hair curls in the front. Just from standing back here, I can see her thick eyelashes. Her frame is slender and small, sporting a Harley Davidson bikini perfectly.