Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1) (26 page)

We are free of her, even if only for a few hours.

Flynn and I ask the twins if they want to go outside and play, like old times, but they tell us they’re too tired and hungry.

“Can we just sleep?” Callie asks, crawling into bed.

Flynn and I watch as Cody joins her. “I’m hungry,” he mutters as he closes his eyes, the dark circles under them almost black.

Flynn looks over at me. “You have anything stashed?”

We hide food where we can, especially for when the twins can’t take it anymore. Unfortunately, I’m tapped out.

“No.” I shake my head. “I had half a nutrition bar in a drawer, but I gave it to Callie this morning.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll steal as many as I can next chance I get.”

We both know that might not be for a while.

I look over at the twins, sleeping already. It’s only six in the evening, not even dark, and these kids are dead to the world. I could kill Allison for what she’s doing to them. Take it out on me and Flynn, I can live with that, but hurting Callie and Cody is beyond reprehensible.

On the nightstand, near my bed, lie the sharp metal scissors, the ones Flynn stole from the craft barn weeks ago. I entertain a hunger-induced fantasy of using them on Allison. I may do it, too, if pushed far enough, even if it’s only to threaten her with bodily harm to give the twins some goddamn food.

The twins roll toward each other, their now-frail arms interlocking. Flynn and I share a sad smile.

“We’ll have to separate them later,” he says, sighing. “Get them into their own beds before Allison returns.”

“I know. But even this little bit of time spent together is good for them.”

“Yeah, guess so.” Flynn sounds distracted and tired, and he leans on the wall closest to him for support.

I can’t help but notice his high cheekbones have never been more pronounced. This weight loss is like nothing we’ve ever experienced. I’m wearing a short dress Mandy left behind. It’s supposed to be form-fitting, but the floral fabric hangs on me. My ribs jut out sharply these days, and Flynn’s body is nothing but tight muscle stretched over bone.

To me, he is still a god.

“Let’s go up to our spot in the woods while the kids are sleeping,” I say.

Flynn smiles thinly. “Okay, Jaynie.”

I reach out to touch the little crescent-shaped scar on his cheek. “I don’t want to go up there to talk, Flynn.”

“Me neither.”

Flynn knows this is what we need—a salve to lessen the pain. Nourishment, not for our empty stomachs, but for our souls.

When we reach the cliff’s edge, we duck under the pines. The sun is setting, and it’s already dark in the circle. We come together, urgent kisses, and hands roaming everywhere.

When we break apart, I stumble back. And then I unzip my dress.

Flynn breathes heavily, exertion taking its toll on his starved body. But neither of us can stop. This need transcends all others. Giving in to our urges promises to blunt our pain, and that is motivation enough to keep going.

Flynn lifts his shirt over his head, kicks off his jeans, and then his boxers. He’s as ready for this as I am.

With a smile, I shimmy my dress up over my hips and peel my panties down my legs.

“Kick those damn things off and c’mere,” Flynn says huskily.

I do as he asks, and when I step toward him, he wraps his arms around me and hoists me up. I tighten my legs around him as we become one. “Flynn,” I sigh.

It’s the first time we’ve had sex since the day our lives fell apart, and this experience is far different. This act of love is tinged with desperation, the sex quickly turning raw and rough.

We tumble to the ground, somehow never breaking apart. “Don’t leave me,” I cry out, meaning so much more than our bodies joined as one.

“Never,” he rasps as he rolls on top of me.

The grass is soft, but pine needles stick to my sweaty back as Flynn drives into me, again and again. Peeling down the front of my unzipped dress, he rips open my bra. His mouth descends to a breast, and I reach down and grab his ass.

His muscles flex beneath my hand, and I urge, “Go faster.”

He does. Flynn fucks me—and that’s what this has become—into blissful oblivion. I know he feels it, too, our escape from hell.

When he comes, he’s inside me. Neither of us cares. We remain connected, needing to experience each other’s bliss in our now-barren world. Our love is the only good thing left to cherish.

“I love you, I love you,” he says to me over and over again.

And me, I can do nothing but cry.

Flynn never leaves me, remaining inside me as he kisses away my tears. And when he’s hard again and starts to move, I beg him, “Fill me again. Come inside me, and make me forget the hunger.”

He does, and for the first time in weeks, I feel full.

Flynn

A
s we approach the house at an almost run, I know it’s late. The moon is high in the sky.

“It has to be after midnight,” I say.

“I never meant to fall asleep,” Jaynie replies, out of breath.

“Me neither.”

We slow up and breathe a collective sigh of relief when we see Allison’s car is not in the driveway.

“Thank God for small favors.” Jaynie bends at her waist and places her hands on her knees.

There’s no time for a break. I have to keep her going.

“Hurry,” I urge, hand on her elbow. “We still need to get Cody back in my room.”

“Damn, I forgot.”

The next ten minutes are a blur—Jaynie and I racing into the house, running up the stairs, easing Cody out of the bed so as not to wake Callie, and then cradling him in my arms.

“He’s gotten so light,” I lament.

Jaynie, by my side, whispers, “Just go, Flynn. Go.”

When I turn around, something seems off. “We left the door open, right?”

Jaynie turns to the now half-closed door. “Shit, Allison is home.”

“That’s right,” Allison’s voice rings out. The door flies open and Allison is standing in the shadows, arms crossed.

Suddenly, all the night’s exertion and underlying exhaustion catch up to me. I crumple to the floor with Cody in my arms. The kid’s so out of it, he just mumbles something and falls back asleep.

“Flynn!” I hear Jaynie cry out.

I can barely keep my eyes open, but Allison’s pink heels come into focus as she steps next to me. “What’s going on in here?” she asks.

“It’s my fault, Allison.” Jaynie slumps down next to me. “I asked Flynn to bring Cody to the room for a little while.”

I gaze up at an angry Allison. She’s cleaned up for her night out. Even has on a matching shorts and tank outfit. Guess she was looking to reel in a new guy, or she’s trying to lure back the old one. In any case, it’s clear she was out fishing. Though from her miserable demeanor, I assume no one was biting.

I chuckle at my food analogy. Fuck, the hunger is screaming, ripping my stomach open from the inside out, like I swallowed razor blades.

“What are you laughing about?” Allison asks, her pointy pink shoe nudging me.

I can’t shake the whole fishing imagery, and in a hunger-induced delirium, I look up and say to the bitch, “You are one rank piece of bait. Do you want to know why the fish weren’t biting?”

Allison gapes at me, clearly confused by my outburst. Jaynie, meanwhile, shakes my shoulder. She’s trying to rouse me back to some semblance of sanity. “Flynn,” she hisses under her breath. “Stop it.”

But I can’t.

And suddenly, Allison gets it. “Do tell me, Flynn,” she grinds out between clenched teeth. “Why, as you put it, were the fish not biting?”

I sit up, chuckling. Cody is still sleeping in my arms.

“It’s simple, really,” I say. “Despite your okay outer appearance, you are rotten to the core inside. Those
fish
smell you a mile away”—I scrunch up my nose in disgust—“and they know you’re no good. They’d rather starve than take a bite of your rancid flesh.”

“That’s enough!”

I can’t tell whether it’s Allison speaking, or Jaynie. I’ve got nothing left in the tank and my body shuts down, leaving me no choice but to succumb to sleep.

As I fall to my side, Cody is wrenched from my arms.

And the last thing I hear is Jaynie and Callie screaming out, “No, no, no-o-o.”

Jaynie

A
fter the heart-wrenching scene of Allison dragging Cody back to his own room, and then Flynn being made to wake up and follow, Callie begs me to sleep with her.

“I can’t stand to be alone, Jaynie,” Callie says, her tone and inflection far beyond her years. “That was too much.”

“I know, honey,” I tell her as we crawl into the same bed.

We’re too restless to sleep, so we end up talking for a while.

“Where do you think Mandy is right now?” Callie asks.

Leaning my head against hers, I say, “Probably in Morgantown.”

“With Josh, you think?”

“I hope so, sweetie.”

Callie sighs contemplatively, reminding me of how far advanced she is. “I hope so, too,” she says. “Mandy deserves to be happy.”

“She does,” I agree. “And so do you, sweetheart.”

“I will be happy, Jaynie. When Cody and I get to go to live with Mandy and Josh, I’ll be happy.”

Drowsiness suddenly hits me like a hammer, and I murmur, “You’ll all be a family soon enough.”

“I can’t wait.” Callie yawns and snuggles in close to me. “I’m so tired, Jaynie,” she whispers.

“Then go to sleep, baby girl. Tomorrow will be better.”

My sleep is fitful, dreams morphing to nightmares. When I wake in the morning, I immediately sense something is wrong.

My bed feels too empty.

Jumping up, feet tangling in the covers, I stumble to the floor. “Callie? Callie?” I call out. “Where are you?”

As I untangle myself, I scan the room for Callie. She’s not in our small bedroom, that’s for sure.

“Oh, God, please, no. No, no, no.” Callie is gone, and this is Allison’s doing, I know it.

As I race to the door, Flynn swings it open from the other side. “Is Cody in here?” he asks. He sounds as frantic as I feel.

“No, Flynn. And Callie’s gone, too.”

“Fuck.”

“This is not good.”

Downstairs, we find Allison in the kitchen, guarding the nutrition bar box like her life depends on it.

When she hands one bar to Flynn, her sugary-sweet grin hiding the acid in her soul, he smacks it out of her hand.

“Ooh, testy today, aren’t we?” she says.

“Knock off the shit,” Flynn replies. “Where are the twins?”

Allison’s expression turns cold, her true nature revealed. Fine, I’d rather see the real side of her than all her phony masks.

Slowly, enunciating each word for effect, she says, “The twins…Are…Gone.”

“What?” I rasp.

“You heard me. They’re gone, for good. I drove them to the group home in Clarksburg late last night. In fact, I just got back.”

“What have you done?” Flynn’s voice cracks.

Allison jumps up on the counter, swinging her sweat pant-covered legs, carefree as ever. “It was just too much,” she says breezily. “Small children like that in my care. Without Mandy around, I wasn’t even sure how to start their home-schooling.”