A Season in Purgatory
Chapter 47
Silence encroached on the house, the sound being more oppressive than her family's cold words. Shaking, Brooke finally stood up and made her way slowly to her closet. The valium and booze she'd taken earlier was still in her system, making the short trek to her massive walk in closet even more arduous. Wrapping her arms around what remained of her little red dress, she leaned against the door jam for support, knowing that she only had a limited amount of time. Giving up pretenses, Brooke slumped against her built in shoe racks as her chest heaved a few panicked breaths. Nate had given her precise instructions and she didn't want to be responsible for getting him in more trouble than he was already in. Knowing her mother, she'd already called Dan Scott about his sons' behavior.
Gaining strength, Brooke grabbed a random hoodie off a shelf, pulling the snug garment over the tattered remains of her red dress. Looking around, she grabbed a bottle of pills and her small, engraved silver flask from a drawer and stuffed them into the pockets of her black hoodie. Moving past the shattered remains of her bedroom doors, Brooke silently padded out into the hall, heading for the back stairs that led to the kitchen. Making sure she stepped lightly to avoid the creaky parts of the wooden staircase, she moved quickly toward the landing in the back of the house. This was strictly the servants' part of the house, a place where the family never ventured. Peaking around the corner, Brooke quickly moved through the large kitchen and out the back door. She walked through the shadows, across the yard and toward the waiting black SUV.
Nate pulled his SVU around the corner of Brooke's house, killing the engine so that the car blended in with the night. The silence grew on his companion. "Can you tell me why the hell we left Brooke back there?" Lucas asked, completely unhinged by the state he'd found his girlfriend in. He'd listened to her talk about how bad her home life was but he'd never dreamed it was verging on physical violence. Or maybe Luke had been so ensconced in his own family drama that he'd not really listened to Brooke's words about her home life. If he'd just paid more attention, Luke thought . . .
"We left her there because we were about to be arrested," Nathan patiently explained, his own emotions barely in control. He'd spent so much time focused on Brooke's stepfather that he'd not even considered that someone her age was hurting his friend. Sighing, he hit the steering wheel lightly, realizing that her actions had spoken louder than her words. He should have known something bad was going down with his friend. It was the only thing that explained her sudden personality change.
Lucas reluctantly sat back in the SUV's plush leather seats. He knew that whatever flaws his half brother had, he was very protective of Brooke. "I want her out of that house," he muttered, completely determined to remove his girlfriend from such a volatile situation.
Shaking his head, Nathan assessed the probability of that happening. "We'd never have gotten her out of the house directly. Besides, she doesn't have any place to go, Luke. Her father is in complete midlife crisis land and the only alternative is for her to go away to school," he explained, knowing that Brooke's mother had been threatening her with boarding school for years. Nate relaxed for a moment, realizing that going away to school might be the safest place for his friend.
"Her family is totally psycho," Lucas declared, looking out the window for any sign of life. He wanted out of this neighborhood, with its pristine sidewalks and giant mcmansions.
Sneaking a look at his older brother, Nathan decided to risk a comment on the night's events. "Psycho . . . like accusing your father of killing his family?" Nate asked, still upset by Luke's comments earlier that night. He glanced over at Luke, making sure that his brother understood just how upset he was. Not that Lucas cared what Nathan felt or thought.
Lucas sighed at the questions. If Nathan was that pissed about the nasty words he'd thrown at Dan, he could only imagine what his mother would have to say about the matter. "I didn't say anything that Dan the bastard didn't deserve," Lucas sardonically stated.
"Nice use of that word, by the way." Nathan turned away from the blond boy, looking out of his window. "You have no right using my mother and brother to cause him pain."
Something in Nate's tone caused Lucas to pause for a moment and reflect about how his brother must have felt about his mother's memory being thrown around like that. Something softened inside him, realizing that Nate probably didn't deserve that. "Look, I'm sorry that I dissed your mother like that. But I'm not sorry about what I said to Dan. He's a sleaze ball and I want him away from my mother."
Nathan turned back to face his brother, something in his tone causing the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. "What's your mother got to do with this?" He recalled the day of Keith's wedding, when he and Brooke watched Dan and Karen hug in the park. Nate was surprised that it had taken Lucas this long to get suspicious.
A troubled look crossed Luke's face, recalling the image of his parents kissing in the Café. His mother had never explained what they were doing or why. She was becoming the queen of avoidance. "I walked in on them kissing in the Café," he shared with his brother, realizing that this impacted Nate's life as much as it affected his own.
Nate sat back against his leather seat, completely taken aback. "Maybe you misinterpreted it," he lamely suggested, hoping that he could find some way to explain away the incident his brother was describing.
"Right, because seeing two people with their tongues down each other's throat is really open to interpretation." His words were harsh, his anger so very real at that moment. Lucas just found it impossible to let anything involving Dan go.
Shaking his head, Nate slowly exhaled, wondering what else could go wrong in his life. "I don't even know what to say," he slowly began before Lucas cut him off.
"There isn't anything you can say. The entire situation is screwed up," he offered, knowing that his mother would never do anything stupid like hook up with the guy. She might be preaching redemption for his sake, but she held Dan Scott responsible for most of the bad things that had happened in their lives. He had faith that her rationality would over rule Dan Scott's hormones and what ever past the two shared.
Before Nathan could agree, a noise drew their attention. Brooke slid into the backseat, relieved to be away from that house. "Sorry it took so long," she meekly offered, avoiding their worried glances by playing with the heat vents in the back seat. "Can you turn up the heat, Nate?"
Nathan complied with her request, a bit disquieted by the fact that she was still wearing the mangled red dress. "I thought you'd grab some stuff for the night, Brooke," he casually commented, not sure if she was in shock or not.
Brooke absently shrugged, not sure what she'd do for clothes and not really concerned about it. She just wanted to get away from that house. "Could we just leave and go some place," she suggested, looking over her shoulder to make sure they weren't coming after her.
"We can't go back to my place," Lucas replied. "My mom is probably wearing a path out in my bedroom, waiting to yell at me."
Nathan considered the options. "We can't go back to my house or the beach house because I'm not sure where my dad is." Dan tended to go to the beach house when he was upset but lately he was so unpredictable that Nathan didn't want to risk going to either place.
"There's a motel over on the edge of town that we could go to. They'll rent to me," she said, watching as both boys stared at her curiously. "What? I stayed there a few times during the divorce, when mom and dad were screaming at each other." She looked around the car for her purse, realizing that she'd left it, with all her money and credit cards in her room. "Great, I don't have any money." She looked at them expectantly.
Nathan got an idea and put the car into drive. "I know exactly where we can go," he said, driving off into the night.
Karen's arms twisted above her, insistent pleas giving away to a satisfied mewl of pleasure. Dan looked up from where he was, smiling at the complete satisfaction written on her face, before placing a gentle kiss on her inner thigh. He moved back up her body, alternating nips with kisses on first her hip bone, then her smooth stomach, before stretching out beside her.
"Were we this good 16 years ago?" she lazily asked, slowly coming down from her high. She rested her head against his broad chest, taking time to appreciate the closeness of another human body. She missed after sex cuddling nearly as much as she missed sex itself.
Dan absently played with her hair, letting the silky strands fall through his fingers. "No, definitely not this good. We were just kids fumbling around back then," he added for good measure.
Karen looked up at him in shock. "The great Dan Scott admitting that he's not perfect," she joked, running her hand across his chest to emphasize her point. He leaned down and captured her mouth, running his hand up her side as his mouth moved against hers. "I believe practice makes perfect," he retorted, mentally telling himself to slow down and not be so hormonal. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get Karen this close again, but he hoped that he'd have her for the rest of the night.
She rolled into his side, closing her eyes, letting his steady heart beat and the sound of the waves lull her into a peaceful state. He smiled down at her slight form, wondering why he'd ever left her side to begin with. "You look so serene."
She reluctantly opened her eyes and stared up at him. "It's good that I'm serene because when I go home, I'm going to go ballistic," she said, alluding to the ass kicking that their son was going to get for his actions at the Café earlier that night.
"Let it go, Kar," Dan finally replied. As angry as he was about Luke's crass accusations, he didn't want the boy grounded for life. "He's spent nearly every week of the past two months grounded." Dan was smart enough to realize that his oldest son's bad behavior coincided with the return of his father into his life.
Karen shook her head at Dan's words. "He's got to learn that he can't strike out at people when he's angry, Dan. He was vicious tonight and he's got to understand that there are repercussions for saying those kinds of things." For Karen it was a matter of control. She couldn't let Lucas run wild without trying to correct his actions.
Dan recalled the pain on his son's face from earlier that night. Pain from being abandoned, ignored and then reclaimed. "He's confused and hurt, Karen. Life is hard enough at that age without sudden parent syndrome causing chaos." His words were disparaging but true. He worried that his need to rectify his past actions wasn't easing his son's pain but rather perpetuating it.
"Hum…." Karen noncommittally replied, drawing his interest.
A vulnerable expression hovered over Dan, as he worried that he'd found some way to alienate Karen once again. "Do you think you can stay for the night?" he tentatively asked, feeling like a stupid school boy for the naked insecurity in his voice.
She reached out and grabbed his hand, clearly not wanting to discuss their son any longer. She and Dan had very different parenting styles. But parenting wasn't focus right now. For once, Karen was doing something for herself. Lucas could wait until tomorrow, after they'd both had time to calm down. She doubted that Lucas would seek her out tonight. He'd sulk in his room, preferring to avoid her rather than fight about his actions. That meant that she could safely spend the night at the beach house with Dan.
"I think I can stay the night," she softly replied, noting that his cautious words were not just an act. It was hard to let people in after you'd spent years building up barriers around your heart. Dan's request wasn't just an interest in sex and that was something she related to.
He didn't know what the hell they were doing. It was insane to think that anything good could come from them being together. But it felt so right to Dan. It felt like a part of him that had been missing for nearly two decades had come back home. He pulled her over so that her slight body rested on top of his. Their eyes locked for a moment, mutual understanding passing through them. This wasn't real. It was temporary. They both knew it.
But it didn't stop Dan from rolling her under him and kissing her passionately.
Haley glanced at the clock, wondering what kind of psycho Amway salesman knocked on doors after midnight. She ran down the stairs to the front door, wishing that her parents would occasionally come home. She threw the door open, shocked at the menagerie of people huddled together on her front porch.
Nathan looked hesitantly at his brother before turning back toward his new found girlfriend. "We need your help, Haley."
As always, replies are appreciated. I'm constantly amazed at the diversity of opinions this story gets. Things are heating up and moving to a new level of angst. Never fear, I'm sure the Karen hate will grow by leaps and bounds shortly. Thanks for reading!