The A-List Collection. Victoria Fox
unyielding as it had ever been. She would not think about Robbie today, she would not let herself. Later, lying in bed, her thoughts would turn to him as they had for the past ten years, only this time with a sense of inevitable collision, like two cars running head-on in the night.
Next summer. Seven months.
After the women hung up, Lana lay down on her bed. She stared up at the blank ceiling for what felt like hours, listening to the quiet.
Belleville, Ohio, 1997
Every day for the next two months, Robbie turned up at the trailer park, wanting to talk to her. The first few times she walked straight past him, but after he followed her one afternoon and discovered exactly where she lived, he became harder to ignore.
It was a Friday and she had finished late at school. She knew Lester would be angry. No matter that it was her fifteenth birthday today, a secret she hadn’t told anyone.
She saw Robbie straight away, leaning against the side of the trailer, his dark hair falling over his eyes. He wore old blue jeans and a grey T-shirt, his strong arms bronzed by the sun.
‘What do you want? ‘
‘Finally she talks to me.’ He grinned. For the fifteen-millionth time she noticed the dimple in his chin.
Laura couldn’t tear her eyes from his. She had become accustomed to his handsomeness but still she couldn’t get used to the way it made her feel, like there were a thousand stars exploding in her blood.
Just then the door to the trailer burst open and Lester loomed into view, a bottle of beer in one hand and a smoke in the other. Her brother hadn’t washed or shaved in days, his skin and hair, now worn in a straggly long ponytail that lapped over his right shoulder, were grey with dirt and there were sunken purple shadows under both his eyes. His chest was bare and alarmingly thin, the ribs jutting out like a prehistoric thing.
‘Get in here, bitch,’ he ordered, ‘there’s things t’do.’ He took a swig from the bottle.
Laura’s eyes switched to Robbie, just in time to see his shocked expression. Lester’s gaze travelled sluggishly to the other man.
‘Who the fuck’s this?’ he snarled.
Robbie took control. ‘Robert Lewis,’ he said, holding out his hand.
‘You fucking my baby sister?’
It was an appalling question. Laura pushed past her brother and into the trailer, desperate to get away. How dare Lester say such a thing? She felt horrified when she thought of sweet, handsome Robbie and the dirt and grime of her own life. He would never want to see her again, that much was for sure.
‘How could you?’ she stormed, after Lester had slammed the door shut.
‘Lookin’ out for you, is all,’ he growled, wiping his hand across his mouth and slumping into a chair, its stuffing escaping at the seams. ‘There’s things a boy like that wants t’do, things you gotta look out for.’
He eyed her greedily. She was aware of how her body had changed over the past years–the growing fullness of her breasts and the pinch of her waist. Her chestnut hair had grown longer and thicker, her green eyes wide. Men stared at her when she went into town.
Laura was afraid: her brother liked to see her naked and he liked to hit her. Soon he would want to touch her. She knew what he did with those people he brought back in the middle of the night, severe things, painful things. Soon he would want to do them to her. The thought made bile swim in her throat.
Realising she could not go against him–that she did not want to risk the punishment–she fixed him his dinner and kept quiet. She could not eat a thing herself, could not stop thinking of Robbie Lewis and how whatever friendship they might have had would now be over. Why could nothing good ever last? It was her. She ruined everything.
A little over an hour later, when Lester had escaped to his nearest drinking hole, she stepped outside to clear her head. The trailer park was silent and dark, a warm wind rustling through the trees. She closed her eyes and thought of Arlene.
Happy birthday, Laura, she told herself. This year, you’re going to change your life.
A sound distracted her. It was a whisper, a crackle of leaves. Then a face was before her, bathed in the silver light of the moon, its features hidden. Robbie Lewis.
‘What are you doing?’ She panicked, looking about her, afraid someone would see. The community knew that Lester was a drunk and they probably thought as much of his sister, especially if she was caught sneaking around with a boy.
‘Did he do anything to you?’ Robbie asked urgently. ‘I tried to find a way in—’
She pulled him into the shadows. ‘You must never, ever do that,’ she commanded. She put a hand to her head. ‘My brother’s dangerous.’
Robbie’s eyes searched hers. ‘Then why are you living with him?’
She looked at him helplessly. ‘It’s a long story,’ she said eventually.
His hands were on her shoulders now, his touch as hot as the sun. ‘So tell me.’
Laura searched for a place to start, thinking how strange it was, this boy who she hardly knew but who had always been kind to her, wanting to listen and understand. He was so gentle, so patient, and he’d waited for her every night because, because … Because what? He wanted to be her friend, her saviour, something more?
Suddenly he was kissing her. She had never kissed anyone before and she had time to think, If I never kiss anyone ever again in my life, this will be enough. It started off gently, his lips soft on hers, unsure if she would respond. Then it became deeper and she felt his tongue slip around hers and it was the most exquisite, fragile thing she had known. Instinctively she put her arms around his neck and pulled him close, drawing in his delicious scent, feeling the skin on his arms. Only when that male part of him became hard did she pull away.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said throatily. ‘You’re just … you’re so goddamn beautiful. I’ll wait, you know I’ll wait.’
Lana caught her breath. She felt herself spinning.
‘It’s my birthday,’ she blurted, a propos of nothing.
‘Happy birthday,’ he said simply.
They laughed, uncertain of this new territory but wanting to explore it. He took her hand and led her to where a tree had been felled. They sat together on its rough bark.
‘I wanted to know you,’ he confessed. ‘As soon as we met I wanted that. What’s gone on all this time? Why didn’t you let me?’
Her eyes met his. She couldn’t hide any more.
She began with the story of her parents dying, how she and Lester had been sent to live with Arlene. Then how her brother had fallen apart with grief, turning to drugs and drink to the point where he had to be taken away. How they said he had got better and made her come live with him when he came of age. How things had been all right at first, except for the way he drank, and how, one time, he had been so out of it that he’d soiled the bed and she had been forced to clean him up. How recently she could tell he wanted other things from her, things that