Free Secrets by Leanne Davis Page A

Did he tolerate it because he liked her so much? Or for Angie’s sake?
    And how is it, on the day Angie finds out about her baby, old Grandma Vanessa is here? Of all the places to ditch your pregnant, teenage daughter, Vanessa picks here? This shit hole? Sarah held her tongue. She didn’t want Scott mad at her again, especially for the sake of Vanessa Peters. Scott warmed up to her this evening, and she didn’t want him soured yet again. For some reason it seemed hugely important that Scott like her.
    “Wait here.”
    Sarah glanced at the rusted tin door. “Is he dangerous?”
    “Her boyfriend? No.”
    “Have you been here before?
    “Yeah. They fight a lot. She doesn’t drive here and he refuses to take her home. He’s an immature asshole.”
    He was out his door before he finished mumbling. His long legs ate up the knee high grass. His brown work pants clung to his ass. What was the matter with her? Scott was not her type. But here she was staring after him. He walked right into the trailer. What must the inside look and smell like? How could Vanessa stand it?
    She was completely alone and in total darkness when the headlights clicked off. The vegetation blocked out any neighbors or cars passing by. Cookie licked the hand Sarah had clamped around the dog’s body for warmth and comfort. It felt so wrong sitting there waiting, staring at the trailer that got uglier and more threatening the longer she stared. Spider-like fingers pressed up her spine. She shook her head and chided herself. She was scared. Ridiculous . She was an adult, she did not get scared. But glancing around…she was.
    Finally, she decided to go in and find Scott who she felt completely safe with, completely protected with, for reasons she just knew at gut level. He might complain about her, but he would never let harm befall her. Not the kind of harm her vivid imagination was conjuring up as she sat there in the dark lot.
    She ran across the grass, and up the porch as if she expected a rat to grab at her feet. She swung open the door. Her eyes took a moment to adjust. The lights were bright, blocked by blackout curtains from shining outside. Scott stood in the center of a messy room, holding Vanessa’s small frame against him. She came mid-chest on him, like a delicate china doll. The very tenderness of their shared embrace was instantly obvious. She had barged in on them in a very private moment. Tears glinted on Vanessa’s cheeks as she snapped her head toward Sarah’s abrupt entry. Vanessa’s gaze turned fierce.
    “What is she doing here?” Vanessa hissed.
    “We were together when you called. You said to hurry.”
    Sarah hated the defensiveness in Scott’s voice. Her hackles rose instantly that he felt he had to explain her being there when Vanessa was the one willingly in the shit hole as Scott so adequately described it. They were still embracing and staring at her. It quickly became evident that she was the intruder here, not Vanessa.
    “You should have waited in the truck.” His mouth twisted and his eyes flashed in annoyance.
    Sarah turned on her heel too embarrassed to utter she’d gotten scared. It almost felt like she’d walked in on them having sex.
    Sarah cuddled back up with Cookie in the truck glad at least for the company. After a few more minutes, Scott and Vanessa came out of the trailer together. Sarah wished she could crawl into the bed of the truck. They separated at the hood of the truck and opened the doors on both sides of the truck, at the same moment. She shivered at the night air, she had no jacket. She scooted to the center of the bench seat. Where else was there to go? So there she was now in the middle of them like some kind of wayward child between their parents. Scott threw Cookie into the back of the truck.
    Scott glanced at her in the darkened interior. He settled in and started the truck, the silence thick now between all three of them. She was wedged close to Scott. Far closer than she was to