Closer Than Blood

“I just wanted you to know that Tori Connelly was a total bitch. I might have deserved what she said, but I want you to know I felt that she making a serious threat. She looked at me with those ice-cube eyes of hers and told me basically that it wasn’t beyond her to make sure that no one got in her way.” Lissa stepped across the threshold of the elevator. She was more composed than she had been. It was as if getting the story out had eased her mind. And maybe her conscience.

“If she couldn’t have him, no one could,” Kaminski repeated.

“That’s right.”

“Did you think she was threatening to kill you?”

“No. Not at all. I think she was going to kill him.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Tacoma

The previous summer

Tori Connelly looked out the front window, the sun falling in patches over the precision-mowed lawn onto the street and into Darius Fulton’s front yard. She sipped a diet soda through a long red plastic straw. She’d bleached her teeth to an icy white and didn’t want to stain them. She was dressed in a filmy sleeveless blouse and capri pants. A strand of liquid silver coiled around her spray-tanned neck. There was a lot to think about. The summer was edging toward fall. Alex had been more distant than ever, and Tori wasn’t exactly sure why. She’d been so very careful, covering her tracks. Taking a lover right under their own roof had seemed reckless at first, but it had proved to be the cleverest solution to a problem that needed solving. Parker came down the stairs, showered and with a tiny piece of tissue red-glued onto his chin. He’d shaved, though he barely had to.

“Plans for the day?” she asked.

“We’re having dinner tonight with your dad at Indochine.”

“I hate Thai food,” he said.

“Oh, really? I thought you liked a little spice, now and then.” The teenager smiled, catching the sexy undercurrent of her words. He felt himself get hard. All she had to do was look at him in a certain way, turn her head, laugh, talk. Just about anything excited him to the point where he had no control over his body. At least what was below his belt buckle, anyway.

“You’re going to have to learn how to tame that,” she said, looking at his obvious arousal. He moved closer and touched her. She pulled back.

“What up?” he asked.

“I’ve been thinking,” she said.

“You might want to try using your other head.” She was irritated, but she hadn’t meant to hurt him. The look on his face told her she’d gone too far.

“That’s harsh,” he said.

“What I meant is that we need to figure a way out of this, and that will take two of us. I can’t be expected to do everything, Parker.”

“Just leave him. We can go away.”

“I’ve explained that to you. Maybe you just can’t grasp what I need you to.”

“I know what I want you to grasp,” he said.

“Knock it off, Parker.” She looked out the window again. She could see Darius Fulton move about the space of his open carriage-house garage. He was clearly organizing the things that his ex-wife had left behind.

“I’m going to wash the Lexus,” she said.

“I can do that for you,” Parker said. Tori shook her head and went toward the staircase.

“Why don’t you play a video game or something?”

“You can be such a bitch,” he said, softly, in the quiet voice that is still meant to be heard.

“I guess I can be,” she said. A few minutes later, she passed by Parker’s bedroom. She was wearing short shorts and a tank top sans bra.

“I hope I don’t get my top wet,” she said. He watched her from the window, as she lathered up the car, allowing the spray to fall over her. Darius Fulton was watching, too. They always did. Later that night after the strained dinner with Alex, Tori arched her back and Parker’s eyes landed on the scars under each of her breasts. They were thin, faint, but unmistakable reminders of the surgery that had made her look the trophy wife that his father had wanted. She had once told him that his father had always wanted triple Bs.

“Huh?” Parker had never heard of the size.

“Boobs, blond, and brainless,” she said.

“That makes me sick. I think you were probably perfect before,” he said. She wrapped her arms around her breasts and shook her head.

“I don’t like talking about it.”

“I’m sorry. I just think, well, that I would love you no matter what. You’re more than a beautiful body,” he said.

“Your father didn’t think so.”

“He’s an asshole.” He reached over and loosened her arms, to expose all that she was.

“He’s just wired like a lot of men, Parker. You’re not that way. You’re deeper, more evolved than those typical guys. That’s one of the reasons you fascinate me so.” Her words pleased him and he wanted to know more. It was as if whatever Tori had to say was like a giant candy bar; he’d always want another bite.

“I fascinate you?” he said. Tori smiled slightly, the kind of smirk that promised some kind of conspiratorial disclosure.

“Of course you do.” Parker kissed her.

“You really love me, don’t you?”

“I love you more than you will ever know,” she said, embracing him with a forceful hug.

“We are like those swans. We are forever.” Down the hall in the master bedroom, Alex Connelly woke up and turned to the empty place in his bed. He felt around, but nothing. Where is Tori? he thought. It took him a moment to compute that it was a sound, not spicy Thai food, that had awakened him in the first place. A thumping and voices. It was coming down the hall from the room where Parker was staying. The dark wood of the hallway floor made it difficult to navigate in the night, so he flipped on the lights. The noise stopped instantly. He turned the knob on his son’s door. Tori was sitting on the edge of the bed. Parker was under the covers, his face turned away.

“What’s going on?” Tori turned around and faced her husband.

“Oh, you startled me.”

“What’s happening here?” he said a second time.

“Did you know Parker has night terrors?” Tori patted the teen on the shoulder. Alex took a couple of steps closer. He noticed a candle was lit on the nightstand. A damp washcloth was folded next to it. Did the boy have a fever? The bed was so completely thrashed that it was clear that Parker had been in some kind of sleepless torment.

“Son, are you all right?” Parker seemed out of breath, but he answered.

“I’m okay.” Tori looked at her husband and then over at her stepson.

“I’m so glad I could be here for you, Parker. Let me know if you need anything more.” Parker lifted his head slightly from the pillow.

“Thanks, Tori. You really helped me a lot.” Tori and Alex backed out of the bedroom and returned to their own.

“I don’t think you should dress that way around Parker,” Alex said, indicating the short, thin nightgown. Underneath she wore no panties.

“Honestly,” Tori said, “how I dressed when I went to help him was the last thing on my mind. The boy needed me. Needed someone, for God’s sake. You wouldn’t know much about that, would you? You seem too wrapped up in work. Too wrapped up with that bitch Lissa in the office.”

“Let’s not go there. I was just saying . . .”

“Good night, Alex. You don’t have a clue how to be a decent person. Not to me. Not to your son.”

Parker lifted the top sheet and comforter that he and Tori hastily pulled over his naked torso when the hallway light went on. It was a close call. Somehow the fact that he and his stepmother-lover had almost been caught red-handed excited him. He reached for the washcloth and wiped up the semen. Tori had been there for him