Blackwater Read Free Page B

like him. It's better than being married to a cad.
    I don’t care what Angie says, I know Martin will be like my daddy, he already is so like him. No one would ever know my daddy has mistresses. Most people believe him to be madly in love with my momma. He doesn’t embarrass her, ever. Well, except for with his weird war paranoia but that’s a common one with Southern men.
    Momma is very good at not being caught with her lovers too, but we know she has them. We know our parents aren’t in love. They never have been I don’t think. But the marriage is perfect. From the outside looking in, everything is bliss. That's all I ask for in mine.
    If I am honest, I can't picture Martin as my only lover. I can't even try to imagine his hands inside of my blouse or lifting my skirt. I can't see his lips sliding up and down my throat, as he pulls me into his lap. Not the way I can imagine it with Marcello. Not the way it is in the dirty books Angie's granny has. Martin's manners have always been perfect and sweet. The epitome of charming.
    No, with Martin it'll be part of the act. The act of liking each other and loving each other. The act of enjoying his grunting on top of me, like my momma told me was expected of me. Martin is refined and proper and a true gentleman. It's why I can't imagine him with Margery Banks. Not when I constantly have to hide my hillbilly Baton Rouge ways from him.
    A bead of sweat trickles down my cheek, just as the car lurches and stops. I'm thrown forward.
    Ramón is cussing in Cajun French and slamming on the wheel.
    "It's overheated, Cher. I'll walk to the next house and call a tow and a ride."
    I look around at the forest and greenery. We're miles from the nearest house. He took the shortcut he always takes when we stop by his grandmamma's house in the bayou. It leads through a swampy area with no real population.
    "Ramón, it's too hot to walk out there. You'll have to wait for nightfall. Stay in the shade of the car. You'll burn to death out there. It must be over a hundred today. Someone will come."
    He smiles back at me. "I can't let you stay out in this. It's too hot for that. We'll both dehydrate if I don't go. Your greedy ass drank all the sweet tea."
    I laugh and nod but I'm worried. I don’t want to be alone on the side of the road and I don’t like him going alone into the woods.
    He takes his shirt off and leaves in his undershirt only. I grimace as the smell of his man-sweat fills the car. I lean my head out the window and wait. The side of the road is just thick woods. The old bent oaks and thick moss and bushes make it extra creepy. I watch him walk away from the car, getting smaller and smaller until he's gone. I can see the heat waves coming off the pavement.
    I pull my head back in. I'm exhausted and needing my nap. I close my eyes and visualize what I want, just like Grandmamma Holt taught me to. I imagine I'm in my room with the fans blowing the air down on me in my thin nightgown. I have fresh sweet tea or lemonade next to me. The glass has ice in it and beads of condensation dripping down the sides of the tall glass. The ice cracks in the heat and dilutes my drink. I take a refreshing sip. The ice clangs against the glass and burns against my lips, because it is so cold. I sigh and lie back to try to sleep. In my mind I am cool and bunny is around my throat protecting me.

Chapter Two

    "Lorelei, wake up. Wake up. Danger."
    The voices stir me. I pull away from them shivering but then I hear someone else.
    "Miss, you alright?" It's a man.
    I sit up and sway. "Ramón?" My eyelids stick together.
    When I pry them open I can barely see through my fuzzy eyes and the fact it's now dark.
    I'm trembling and shaking. I rub my hands over my clothes and feel that I'm soaked, like I've been swimming.
    My eyes are blurry and nothing makes sense. I'm aching from sleeping on my side. I look around, confused.
    "Where am I?"
    My head feels thick and then it starts to pound. I wince and put a hand