Excerpt -- Maverick’s Stone by Amy McCorkle

 

      The painting hung in the hallway of their home. The colors muted and striking at the same time. Their father carrying their mother through the rain and wind. In the picture he was considerably older, their mother a child. The picture caught everyone’s attention who came to see them and visit them, but Lily and Nicolas refused to part with it. It was part of their history, their lineage, their life. It marked the moment their mother and father met and not everyone could claim to have something like that.

     ************************************************

Lily stood in front of the painting and stared for the longest time. She was no longer a child, she wasn’t even a teenager. She was an adult with grandchildren of her own. Nicolas held onto the book. But she preferred the paintings and the letters and the journal entries. She turned to them often these days. Her Jack had passed in the last year and she missed him. It was if there was a hole in her heart that couldn’t be filled. But when she thought of her mother and father she knew what she had with her Jack was much different than what her mother and father had shared. But she was determined to figure out the magic that Stone and Maverick had shared with their family.

     Lily smiled at the painting and walked into her parents old bedroom. Sitting on the bed were two large boxes. Opening the first one she drew out the top letter. Her hands were wrinkled and hard and the paper was crinkled and yellow. It was dated June 8, 1995. It started Dear Stone…

     Lily lowered to the bed, her mother’s words young and simple calling out to her, to finally understand just why her parents love was so simple, so strong, and so pure.

                                                    June 8, 1995

Dear Stone,

     I know you have given up a lot for me. That you have risked your life and your freedom so that I won’t go to jail and that my mother will never find me. I hope she never finds me. I think about her late at night when I can’t sleep. I have trouble sleeping all the time. I think about Dante and how he used to come to me at night and have do things that I didn’t want to do. How he would touch me and make me feel dirty and scared, how he made me stick his thing in my mouth. When he was finished he would make me take a shower while he watched. And if I didn’t pretend to like it he would hit me until I couldn’t stand up.

     I know I’m only ten. But I feel so old. The only time I feel safe is when I’m with you. You make me feel like anything is possible. You’re so strong, and you just wouldn’t let my mom hurt me. I still haven’t figured out why. Why did you help me? I think about that too when I can’t sleep. Is it because you want to hurt me like they did, only you want me to disappear like my dad did? He left my mom and me one day and never came back. Are you going to do that? Are you going to leave me alone? I trust you Stone. I trust that you won’t leave me.

     But I’m scared too. I don’t want to be scared anymore Stone. I don’t want to be scared ever again.

                                      Maverick

Chapter One:

MAVERICK’S LION

     Stone Ramsey rolled over to his side to face yet another woman on yet another morning. He was young to be doing what he was doing, but life had dealt him a certain hand and he was willing to accept it. Women liked him. Especially rich, older, women.

     Being a kept man wasn’t bad for a young man of Stone’s status. He wasn’t traditionally handsome. His face was broad and his hair sandy, curly. But his eyes were what really drew the women in. They could be anything his mark wanted them to be. Dangerous and seductive one moment, soft and sensitive the next. And even though he lived out of a bargain basement studio apartment, he ate well, drank well, and dressed better than half the city. However, right now, his fortunes laid in the hands of the woman he was curled up with.

     Laura Richardson, a raven haired, thirty-seven year old who’d taken a shine to him after she’d seen him hustling a friend out of twenty bucks.

     Stone had come to the point in this relationship that he always came to, just how much longer was this party going to last?

     “I’m thirsty baby. Get me something to drink.”

     Stone exhaled deeply. Being someone’s sex toy he didn’t mind. But he was no one’s man servant. No matter how much money the women in his life paid him.

     He lifted himself out of bed, exposing his skin as he walked over to the window. Pulling back the curtains, the sun flooded the posh, creme colored room nearly blinding him. Once his vision returned he allowed himself to take in what he loved about this situation. The land.

     Laura’s room over looked a garden filled with roses, lilacs, and daffodils. There were shrubs, and tall waves of grass that covered the property, in such a way that it seemed to invite him to stay in it’s sanctuary for as long as he wanted or needed to.

     Crossing his arms Stone regretted that he would be losing the luxuriousness of the home. Of how the central air would be on every night, and of how the silken sheets felt against his skin. His biggest worry now was would Laura pay him for his services, or had she come to see him as more than a lover? Her request for water intimated just what she thought of him. That she held him at arm’s length, but that she expected him to worship her. This was why the fling had to end.

     He liked the woman. Even enjoyed her company. However, he was not in love with her.

     Of course, he’d never been in love with any woman. Saying that at age twenty-one wasn’t a big surprise. Looking over his shoulder he realized what an old twenty-one year old he actually was. His heart would never belong to any woman. Being abandoned by your mother tended to do things like that to you.

     “Stone, I said I was thirsty. Didn’t you hear me?”

     He began to slip into his jeans and t-shirt. Now was the time to make the break. Walking over to the bed he sat down and kissed Laura’s forehead. When he spoke it was in a soft breath of understanding and sorrow.

     “I’ve always told you this morning would come.”

     At first the puzzlement rode across her face. It was obvious that she’d become attached.

     “But I thought we’d moved passed that barrier.”

     Stone touched her face tenderly. Three months did not a true love match make.

     “You knew the arrangement when we met. A thousand dollars a week until we parted ways. Or until I felt like the arrangement wasn’t being...um...honored.”

     Tears welled up in Laura’s eyes.

     “I’ll pay you two thousand a week to stay.”

     Her plea tugged at his heartstrings. However, the truth was cold. He did not love her. Nor would he ever. He could not, in good conscience, use the woman that way. He had learned too many secrets about Laura to make her into one of those monsters he had no problems using.

     Laura was rich. Laura was beautiful. And Laura was incredibly vain. But she was also insecure. That’s what had helped lead her to him. Things were different now. For Stone and Laura.

     “I love you Stone.”

     The words stung him. He had no desire to hurt her.

     “This is the end love, I need to be paid.”

     Laura seemed to deflate into the blankets, the fullness of her face and lips disappearing against the lushness of her blankets. She was utterly defeated.

     “You will find someone again. You’re too charming not to.”

     “And what about you?”

     “Oh,” his lips crooked into a half smile as he winked, “I’ll get by.”

     “You’re so young.”

     “Since when were you worried about how old I was?”

     A deep blush came over Laura’s face. Even a hint of a smile seemed to play on her lips.

     “That’s the Laura I know.”

     “You know where my pocketbook is, bring me my checks.”

     Stone eased up and headed for the far corner of the room. He thought about the things he and Laura had done in that corner. Wicked, sensual, even tender things.

     Pulling out a pen and a checkbook Stone strode for Laura. The blush had vanished and the smile was gone. As Laura began to fill out the check she looked up to Stone with a hopeful sigh.

     “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to stay?”

     Taking the check Stone kissed her lips one more time.

     “No love. I’m afraid our time is done.”

*

                Maverick pressed her face to the bookshop window, her palms splayed out and framing her cheeks. She wanted that book. The marvelous lion on the cover was a gateway for her imagination to take flight. If only she could get her mother’s attention away from the man on the corner.

     Looking over her shoulder she watched her mother hand over precious money in return for something small. Maverick’s shoulders began to sag. If her mom snorted whatever it was in her hand there was no chance she’d ever see that book.

     “Mom. Mom. Mom.”

     The woman stopped. One could see where she had once been a beautiful woman. Maybe her hair had been thick and wavy, now it was greasy and stringy. And her skin was old and tough were once it had been young and supple. She was agitated, irritable. The last thing she needed was a kid with an agenda. Maverick went over to her mother and tugged on her shirt.

     “The book Mom. The book. You promised.”

     Maverick’s mother looked around nervously and slipped the drugs into her pocket.

     “Come on. Your Dad’s waiting for us.”

     Maverick shrank back in fear. Dante was not her dad. Her dad was no where to be found. In fact, one of the only memories she had of her dad was of his taking her to the carnival and leaving her alone at the elephant ear stand.

     In a way it was the only time she could see her mother as she once was. Young, beautiful, and full of hope. When Mom was her mom.

     “Wipe that look off your face. Now come on,” her mom grabbed her hand and jerked hard in one direction as Maverick went in the opposite way.

     Pain shot through her arm as tiny shivers pulsated down her body. Maverick cried out.

     Her mother’s hand swung back, cracking her across the mouth. Something warm and liquid began to dribble down Maverick’s chin.

     Maverick’s hand went to her mouth. She was too shocked to cry. A few passers by looked away quickly. As hard as she searched the crowds for a friendly face, no one would come to her aid.

     Again her mother pulled on her arm. Maverick would not be beat. Even though the tears came it would not be sadness which egged her on. It was a rage she could not control. It was something she would pay for, but she wanted that book. And she would have it even if it meant taking the beating of her life from Dante.

     She twisted her own arm flailed up and came down.

Her mother grabbed her by her thick, silky hair. Screaming as she did so.

     “Maverick Elena Johnson I swear to God if you don’t come here you’re going to be sorrier than you’ve ever been in your ten year old life! Now cut it out!”

     Maverick stomped on her mother’s foot even as her mother backhanded her across her face yet again. More pain, like blinding white light. But she was free from her mother’s grasp, and now all her brain could shout was run.

*

                The little girl blew through the door, disrupting everything in her path. She was a tornado of energy, stumbling past those standing in line, racing to the back of the store. Hovering between shelves, Stone watched her as an older woman came in out of breath, clearly searching for the little girl.

     “Maverick!”

     The woman’s voice shattered what little stillness was left in the bookstore. She stormed to one side, the little girl slipped out of sight to the next.

     “I know you’re in here, there’s no way you’re getting out.”

     Stone could see the girl’s face as she moved closer to him. Her lower lip was swollen and bleeding, and there was a nasty welp developing on her cheek.

     Her line of sight strayed from her mother for only the briefest of moments. But even he could see what the girl wanted. There was a huge display of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Her eyes shone with the kind of desire only a child conjure up. His heart tightened and a lump formed in his throat. Normally he wasn’t one to get involved. It wasn’t his place.

     The pause would prove to be her downfall. The mother saw her. The little girl saw her mother. The mother’s eyes narrowed as her daughter’s eyes widened. Both of them bolted. The little girl ran smack into him.

     She toppled to the ground, trying to scramble to her feet. Her mother reached for her shirt.

     “If you touch her I will call the police.”

     “Get up Maverick.”

     The woman reached for her daughter again. Stone caught the mother’s arm, gripping it tightly.

     “Stand up Maverick,” Stone ordered.

     Maverick looked to her mother.

     “It’s okay love, she’s not going to hurt you. Get up, stand behind me.”

     “Maverick,” her mother warned.

     Maverick’s eyes searched his. Slowly she got to her feet and took her place behind him.

     “Now, I’m going to let go of you. But I expect you to stay where you are ma’am. Got it?”

     Jerking her arm free Maverick’s mother glared at her. Causing Maverick to hide behind to Stone’s leg.

     “I’m going to buy your daughter this book. She’s going to read it. And if I find out you’ve hurt her in any way I will come for you. I promise you, you will not like it.”

     “Don’t tell me what to do with my kid. I’m telling you for the last time Maverick, get over here.”

     Maverick took Stone’s hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back. This little girl had balls. Her mother looked like a meth head or an addict of some kind. Once he was gone her future couldn’t look good.

     “C’mon kid,” Stone spoke softly, leading Maverick by the hand towards the cashier’s counter.

     From out of the corner of his eye Stone watched the little girl’s mother reach for Maverick’s hair.

     “Lady.”

     His voice was still, ominous, warning of something even the woman couldn’t imagine. Maverick’s mother shrank at his command.

     Stone laid the book on the counter and leaned forward.

     “Do you have some paper and pen?”

     The bookstore owner was uncomfortable, but the last thing he wanted was a brawl in his shop. He had a reputation to uphold. So he nodded, pushing the requested items forward without a word.

     Stone scribbled on the slip of paper and slid it into the middle of the book then leaned back.

     The mother seethed. He could only hope the book made it home before she confiscated it, leaving the little girl with no way out.

     The owner rang the purchase up, put it in a bag and handed it to Stone. Stooping down to Maverick’s level Stone pushed her hair away from her ear and whispered.

     “If you’re ever in trouble turn to sixty-seven. Okay?”

     Stone pulled back, looking into the eyes of a bright, defiant, lost soul. He smiled at Maverick. She was a good kid struggling to survive, and now she had to return to a world she hadn’t asked to be born into. A pang of guilt rang through his chest.

     “Thank you Mister—“

     ”It’s Stone.”

     “Okay. Stone.”

     Then she smiled a most beatific smile and kissed him on the cheek. Her mother held out her hand and Maverick went to her.

     As they disappeared Stone rose up and watched them go. He could not get the little girl out of his mind. And that, that bothered him to no end.

*

     The dive in which Stone sat nursing a whiskey seemed like the perfect place for him to forget the little girl who’d made such an impression on him earlier. Rick was great at serving the drinks and not asking questions. Tony, the owner, was always good for a laugh. And Alexandra was a tough-as-nails-good-for-a-lay-when-you-really-needed-one waitress.

     But the drinks weren’t doing it tonight and Tony’s jokes weren’t really all that funny. As for Alexandra, he wasn’t in the mood for sex either. Slamming down the rest of the whiskey Stone tapped his shot glass to the counter then held it up.

     “Hey Rick.”

     Rick was a young bartender with an old school heart. And the ladies, well, the ladies liked him almost as much as they liked Stone. Almost.

     “I think it’s time to say no. You’ve had enough. Why don’t you go call Alexandra, I’m sure she’d be happy to take you home.

     “I’m not interested in that.”

     “All right. Tony!”

     The owner emerged from his office, a little too slick looking, a little too short, and a little too fat.

     “I think Stone here needs a ride home. Could you call a cab for him?”

     Tony sized up the situation. He never paid for anyone’s cab. And when someone did go home in a cab he had their car towed. But Stone, Stone was good business. Another thing, Stone could hurt them. He wasn’t just some drunk looking for a night away from the wife. He was a world weary guy, so tough he’d kill you just as soon as look at you.

     He’d seen men on the wrong side of Stone’s wrath. It wasn’t a place he cared to be.

     “Rick’s right friend. We’ll even pay for a ride in the morning so that you can pick up your wheels. I won’t have it towed or nothing.”

     Stone smiled. He knew Tony and Rick were right, but he couldn’t get Maverick out of his head. Her gutsy play born out of a simple desire for a book.

     Why had he intervened? Why hadn’t someone else stopped the mother? And that smile the little girl had given him. Jesus Christ this Maverick inspired more thought, more feeling than the women he slept with did. What was wrong with him?

     “Give me a bottle of Jack to take home and I’ll take that offer.”

     Rick and Tony looked at one another.

     “Ah c’mon, it’s not like I’m going anywhere tonight. I’ll pay for it.”

     Tony shrugged. “Go ahead, sell him the whiskey. I’ll call the cab.”

*

     “Get upstairs you worthless piece of shit. When Dante gets home you better pray you’ve found a place to hide that book because I’m going to tell him to burn it.”

     Maverick was in her room with the door locked in a matter of seconds. She opened the door to her closet, pushed her shoes out of the way and wiggled a loose floorboard as quietly as she could. It popped loose as she smiled and kissed the book. She would find a way to read the book. Just as she’d found a way to get the book. Stone. She would never forget him. Not as long as she lived.

     Gently she placed the book in the small spot the displaced board left. With careful precision she replaced the floorboard and the shoes. She smiled again. Nothing was amiss. At least nothing looked that way.

     Footsteps. Not of her mother. It had to be Dante. As quickly as she’d raced up the stairs Maverick closed the closet door and was on her bed.

     The thunderous blows to the other side of the door left no doubt in her mind as to who it was.

     “Maverick.”

     The door knob rattled once. It rattled twice. The door burst off its hinges as a huge bulk of a redneck heaved in front of her. He was high and tweaking. And the rage she saw in his eyes sent a special shiver of fear down her spine. It seemed to give her the knowledge that this battle with her mother’s boyfriend could be her last.

     In two steps he had his hands on her hair, lifting her up off of the bed. The first blow struck her hard, slapping her across an already tender face. The second blow struck just as hard as the first, if not harder.

     “Ungrateful bitch. Making your mom late.”

     Maverick’s head was spinning, she could not catch her breath.

     “Tell me where the book is.” Dante roared, shaking her like a rag doll.

     Maverick forced herself to take deep breaths until he stopped. Their eyes met. There was expectation in his eyes. It was then she knew she only had one way out. To risk it could cost her more than the book. Not to risk it, however, would mean certain death.

     Her tiny legs scrambled even as she flew through the air, the back of her head cracking the glass of the window. His hand released her, and even though she was disoriented Maverick slipped though Dante’s legs.

     She staggered, racing for her bedroom door. If she could make it to her Dad’s old office she knew she might stand a chance.

     Flying in she opened the top drawer. It was an old .38 Special with only one bullet. She didn’t remember much about her father. But she did remember this— aim for the head.

     The gun was heavy in her hand, the dust scattering beneath her touch. She whirled around. She fired.

     Dante grabbed his throat and blood squirted from between his fingers. His face twisted and contorted as he gasped for breath and fell forward, crashing to the ground, spraying Maverick with a fine mist of blood.

     She waited to hear her mother’s voice screaming for her. Or for the cops to come arrest her. But neither happened. So, she carried the gun with her into her room, got into her closet and removed the precious book. Turning to page sixty-seven Maverick knew that this lion was her only hope.

*

     He didn’t actually hear the phone ringing, but feel it reverberating through the stupor he’d put himself in. Stone thought about letting it ring into eternity, but, whoever it was on the other line might call him back and eternity might become the new word for hell.

     Reaching across the bed he picked up the receiver and put it up to his ear. Before he could say anything he heard the sounds of a little girl stifling sobs. A cold chill wracked his soul and he sat upright in bed. Suddenly the stupor was gone and he was very, very sober.

     “Maverick?”

     Sobs and hiccups continued for a time. He tried again.

     “Maverick.”

     Finally the sound of a little girl in distress calmed enough so that she could talk too.

     “Is this Stone?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Can you come pick me up?”

     “What’s going on?”

     Maverick began to cry again.

     “I shot my momma’s boyfriend. I think he’s dead and when she gets home—“

     Alarm bells rang though Stone’s head. What was he going to do? However, when he spoke his voice was as still as could be.

     “Maverick?”

     “Yes.”

     “Get the gun, the book, the piece off paper with my name and number on it, and some clothes and put them in a bag.”

     “Okay.”

     “Then wait for me.”

     “Then what?”

     “Just trust me.”

     “Stone.”

     “Yeah?”

     “Please hurry.”

     “Sure kid.”

*

     When Stone pulled up in front of the house it looked like a meth house. What struck him, however, was how Maverick sat there waiting for him. She stood up, peering into the night. It took him getting out of the car to get her to come running.

     The closer she got the more horrified he became. There was a reason she’d shot Dante, the evidence was all over her small body. Stone walked to the backseat of his brand new Taurus and opened the car door for her.

     Maverick looked back at her home one more time.

     “Stone.”

     “Yeah?”

     “Why are you helping me?”

     “I don’t know kid.”

     “Stone.”

     “Yes Maverick.”

     “Are you going to hurt me?”

     “No kid. Not now, not ever.”

     She climbed into the car and burrowed beneath a blanket he’d put back there. He watched her close her eyes and wondered what would come next.

     Stone turned the key. He was committing a felony. Of course, he’d committed felonies before, but never ones involving children.

     Maverick was different. Her spirit had called out to his. And now he owed it to her to protect it.

                                                 August 25, 1995

Maverick,

     I doubt you’ll ever see this letter, but it’s late at night and it’s one of those rare nights where you’re sleeping and I’m not. You’re eyes are always so sad and full of questions I’m never going to be able to answer. You’re so smart and sweet and full of the kind of trust and hope I don’t deserve. I’ve done so many things that call into question why you were ever to cross my path. I still don’t know why I caught your mother by the arm and kept her from striking you in that book store. I can’t even tell you why I gave you my name and number and told you if you ever needed me you could count on me to come help you. But over the last four months I’ve grown attached to you, even dependent on you. When I was your age I had my grandmother and she treated me like gold, even when I was a shithead. When she died I had no one worth anything to help me. I traveled down a very dark road, the kind of road you could’ve been sentenced to. I didn’t want to see that. I don’t want to see that.

     When you cry out at night it cuts me to the bone. Knowing that you are reliving the terror you’ve tried so hard to run away from breaks my heart. I want to take you to a therapist, but I fear our secret will be found out and you will be taken from me. And even though I’ve only had you in my life for a short time I don’t think I could bare the thought of you being taken from me. I could handle prison better than I could handle that. Well kid, it’s getting late. And school starts tomorrow. I better get some rest.

                                                          Stone