“Please, Keith. I don’t want this. I don’t want to kiss you.”
“You’ll get over it,” he said. When he leaned in, she turned away. He took hold of her upper arms. As he moved his lips toward her ear, Beth could feel her heart begin to hammer.
“You’re hurting me!” she gasped.
“Here’s the thing, Beth,” he whispered. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck. “If you don’t want to kiss me, that’s fine. I’ll accept that. But I’ve decided that I want to be a little more than friends.”
“Get out!” she hissed, and with a laugh, Keith let her go.
“Sure,” he said. He took a step back. “No problem. I’ll leave. But I should let you know what’s going to happen if we don’t work something out.”
“Just leave!” she shouted.
“I think we should go on a . . . date every now and then. And I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
The way he said “date” made her skin crawl. Beth couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“After all, I warned you about Thigh-bolt,” he added, “but where were you today? At his place.” He shook his head. “That was a big mistake. You see, it’s pretty easy for me to make a case that he stalked you and that he’s obsessive. Both of those things make him dangerous, but you’re obviously ignoring it. And that makes it dangerous for Ben to be forced to live with you.”
His expression was neutral. Beth was paralyzed by his words.
“I’d hate to have to go to the courts and tell them what you’re doing, but I will. And I’m sure they’ll grant me full custody this time.”
“You wouldn’t,” she whispered.
“I will. Unless.” His obvious enjoyment as he spoke made it that much more horrifying. He paused, letting it sink in, before speaking like a professor again. “Let me make sure you understand. First, you tell Thigh-bolt that you never want to see him again. Then you tell him to leave town. And after that, we’ll go out. For old times’ sake. It’s either that, or Ben’s going to live with me.”
“I’m not going to live with you!” a small voice shouted from the kitchen doorway.
Beth looked past Keith to see Ben, his expression horrified. Ben started to back away. “I’m not going to do it!”
Ben turned and ran, slamming the front door behind him as he raced into the storm.
37
Clayton
Beth tried to force her way past Clayton, but he reached for her arm again.
“We’re not done yet,” he growled. He wasn’t going to let her leave without making sure she understood.
“He ran outside!”
“He’ll be fine. I want to make sure you’re clear on how things are going to go with us.”
Beth didn’t hesitate, slapping him across the face with her free hand, and he recoiled. When he let go, she pushed him backward with all her might, sensing that he was still off balance.
“Get the hell out!” she screamed. As soon as he steadied his feet, she slammed him in the chest again. “I am so sick of you and your family telling me what I can and can’t do, and I’m not going to put up with it anymore!”
“Too bad,” he shot back, the words coming naturally. “You don’t have a choice. I’m not going to let Ben anywhere near that boyfriend of yours.”
Instead of answering, as if tired of listening to him, she pushed away and strode past him.
“Where are you going?” he demanded. “We’re not finished.”
She pounded through the living room. “I’m going to find Ben.”
“It’s just rain!”
“It’s flooding, in case you haven’t noticed.”
He watched her run out onto the porch, expecting her to find Ben there, but for some reason, she looked both ways and vanished from view. Lightning flashed, thunder echoing a moment later. Close. Too close. Clayton moved to the door and noticed that she’d headed to the far edge and was scanning the yard. Just then, he saw Nana approaching with an umbrella.
“Have you seen Ben?” Beth suddenly called out.
“No,” Nana answered, looking confused, rain pouring around her. “I just got here. What’s going on?” She stopped short at the sight of Clayton. “What’s he doing here?” she demanded.
“He didn’t go past you?” Beth asked, suddenly jogging toward the steps.
“It’s no big deal,” Clayton said, knowing he had to finish things with Beth. “He’ll be back. . . .”
Beth stopped suddenly and faced him. All at once, Clayton noticed her anger had been replaced by something close to terror. The noise of