by Piper Rayne
She moaned softly and ran her hands through my hair. “You’re going to spoil me. Then when you leave, I’m not going to know what to do with myself.”
Leaving. I forgot about that. I pulled back quickly, the reality of my world hitting me between the shoulder blades. “We don’t have to worry about that yet.”
She nodded slowly. The walls between us went back up. Mine, not hers. Maybe some of hers, too. We were both protecting ourselves.
“I’ll see you tonight,” I said. I gave her another quick kiss then walked around the front of my vehicle and got in. I waited until she backed out of her spot and left before I did the same, turning the opposite direction and going back to work.
When I walked back into the precinct, one of the young cops who was only with us part time said, “Hey, Captain Reynolds was looking for you.”
“I was out to lunch,” I told him.
“He wasn’t pissed. Just asked if anyone had seen you.”
“Thanks.”
The Captain’s door was closed so I knocked and waited for him to tell me I could come in.
“Masterson, good. I need to talk to you. Close the door,” Captain Reynolds said.
I closed the door and drew a breath. It was rarely good when he called me into his office. And after the lunch I had with Willow, I almost expected him to tell me I should stop seeing her.
“What can I do for you, sir?”
“Relax, Masterson. I got a call from Captain Bray.”
My heart kicked into overdrive and my palms instantly dampened. I was torn between wanting to make a run for it and wanting to throw up. All I knew was in that room was the last place I wanted to be. Captain Bray was my captain in Phoenix and a call from him meant an update.
“Take a breath, Masterson. It’s all good news.”
My hands shook but I nodded. Even good news wasn’t good news. Good news meant…I didn’t know what it meant.
“They cleared you of everything. Bray said your former partner laid everything out in a document they found on his personal computer. He kept records of everything he did. It sounds like it was only in the last year or so, but it was enough for them to determine you weren’t involved.”
I took a breath and nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
“This is good news, Masterson. Why do you look like I just told you someone is outside the door with cuffs for you?”
“It’s just a shock, sir. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything for a while. And I just…it’s good news.”
“You fell in love, didn’t you?” Reynolds said with a laugh. He leaned back in his chair and grinned.
“Excuse me?” How the fuck did he know that?
“MacKellar Cove sneaks up on people and grabs a hold of you. I get it.”
“Yes, sir,” I told him. I could run with that excuse.
“Let me take a look at my budget, Masterson. You’ve been an asset to us, and I’d hate to lose you if you have an interest in sticking around.”
I nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do. But you need to call Bray. You need to get the report from him.”
“I will. Thank you, sir.”
He turned back to his computer and I took the hint and left. I walked back to my desk woodenly, trying to wrap my head around the day.
Going back to Phoenix meant returning to my life. My old squad. Righting the wrongs done there. It also meant leaving Willow.
But staying? Could I give up everything for Willow? And that meant Reynolds finding a job for me.
I pushed the decision aside and went out to my MacKellar Cove SUV to call Bray. He was thrilled about the decision and ready for me to get back to work ASAP.
“If you have any cases you’re finishing up, I understand needing to stick around and close things,” Bray said.
“Thanks.”
“I don’t know how you handled being there this long. I was pushing to get this all wrapped up so you could come back to civilization. I bet you’re going out of your mind.” Bray chuckled.
“Something like that,” I told him.
“Listen, I know you’re worried about the guys here. I’ve been talking to them and telling everyone what happened. As much as I can. There are going to be some that give you shit, but for the most part, everything will be right back to normal. I don’t know who your new partner is going to be, but it’ll be fine. Everything will be fine,” Bray said.
I nodded and drew in a breath. I didn’t know how to tell him I wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back at all. Lucky for me, he kept talking and I didn’t have to say a thing.
“Hey, I gotta run. You know how things are. But it’s good to talk to you. We’ll be in touch soon.”
“Sounds good,” I said.
He hung up, already yelling at someone else before the phone turned off. For months, I missed the fast pace and the closure of solving a case and putting away the bad guys. But just like Willow, somewhere along the way, things changed. I changed.
Captain Reynolds was right. I was starting to think of MacKellar Cove as home. As the place I wanted to be. And leaving was a hard pill to swallow.
One I wasn’t sure I could.
I got to Willow’s later than I planned that evening. I got caught up at work since I was distracted all afternoon and needed to stay late to finish up paperwork from the day. I expected her to be mad at me.
“Um, hi,” she said when she answered the door. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a knot thing. She wore a hoodie that was about three sizes too big and leggings that hugged her thighs and made me hard.
“Hey,” I said. “Did you forget I was coming over?”
She shook her head and stepped back to let me in. “I just figured you weren’t coming when you didn’t show up earlier.”
“I had to work late. I should have reached out.”
“It’s fine,” she said.
Kiss of death. Nothing was ever fine with a woman. “I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t realize how late it was. We didn’t really set a time, so I had no idea there was a limit on when I could show up.”
She crossed her arms and stared up at me. The woman I’d fallen for wasn’t there. The woman looking back at me was beaten and bruised, defeated. She wanted to throw me out and tell me to go to hell, but she was too tired.
Her lips trembled for just a moment, then she clamped it between her teeth. She sucked in a breath and nodded. Dammit.
“I’m sorry, Willow. I’m on edge and taking it out on you. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s fine. You didn’t have to come. Maybe you should just leave.”
“I don’t want to leave,” I told her, moving closer to her. She didn’t back away, but she didn’t sink into me when I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her close. She stood still, stiff, uncomfortable with me.
I didn’t want to let her go, but I did anyway. I took a step back and looked at her. She closed her eyes and licked her lips.
“What happened?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“I don’t believe you.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. You’re leaving soon.”
“Did Captain Reynolds tell you? He shouldn’t have said anything about that. It’s not his news to share.”
She shook her head and leveled me with a glare. “I haven’t spoken to him. But obviously something happened today. Is that really why you’re late?”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I wanted to tell her everything. From falling for her to wanting to stay, but she was a runner. She didn’t know how to let me in. If I pushed too far too fast, she was going to disappear.
“My former captain called. I’ve been cleared of all charges.”
She forced a smile. “That’s great news. Congratulations.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“When are you leaving?”
“I don’t know yet.”
She nodded again. “Well, this is what you wanted. What you’ve been waiting for. It’s really great. I hope you’re happy.”
“Willow…”
“We should celebrate. Eat dinner. I think I have some beer in the fridge,” she said. She moved around me to the kitchen, avoiding touching me.
I wanted to reach out to her, but she was too far away. I needed her to ground me, to tell me what the best thing was, but she already wrote me off and had me leaving.
She grabbed two beer bottles and carried them to the couch. She started unpacking the food I brought over and resumed the show she was watching. I sat with her and tried to pretend nothing strange was going on.
We barely talked while we ate. She laughed at the show and acted like I wasn’t even there. When the show was over and the food was gone, she cleaned up and curled back into herself on the far side of the couch.
“I don’t want to leave,” I admitted quietly.
“What?”
“I don’t want to leave. I really like it here.” I looked at her, hoping she understood what I wasn’t saying.
She sucked in a breath and stared back at me. She understood. “You do?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I do. Especially if you start teaching yoga in the area and you stick around.”
She nodded slowly and finally moved closer to me. She rested her head on my shoulder and said, “I would really like that.”
I kissed the top of her head and slid my arm around her. This was where I was supposed to be. With Willow in the tiny town I’d never heard of before I was exiled there. With people who wormed their way into me and made this place home.
“Is there a job available for you?” Willow asked.
“Captain Reynolds is going to see what he can do.”
Willow nodded against my chest. “Well, until we know for sure, we need to make every moment we have together count.”
“Oh, yeah? And how do you plan to do that?” I asked.
She sat up and grinned, then crawled on my lap and kissed the hell out of me. Great minds definitely were thinking alike on that one.
13
O’Kelley’s was relatively quiet when I walked in Thursday night. The guys were already at the bar, talking and laughing at something Gavin said. I headed straight there, taking a seat on the end next to Ramsey.
Hudson set a beer down in front of me. I nodded at him in thanks and brought it to my lips as I listened to the conversation already in progress.
“Having my girlfriend work for you is trouble,” Gavin grumbled.
“Having my wife work here was no fun either,” Ramsey said.
“Melody worked here?” I asked.
Ramsey nodded. “For a few months when we were apart last year. She was starting up her business and wanted to have consistent income since we were separated. She only worked here during the day, but I hated every second of it.”
“I loved it,” Hudson said. “She kept everything in line. My books haven’t been that organized ever.”
“Maybe you should hire someone else to handle it,” Ian suggested. “Finley is a master at that stuff and will double check things for me. She’s got an incredible head for business.”
“Think she’d do it?” Hudson asked.
Ian shrugged. “You can always ask her.”
“I never thought I’d be unhappy that you and Melody worked things out,” Hudson said with a wry grin for Ramsey.
Ramsey chuckled. “You’re not alone.” He swung his gaze to me. “I hear you’re still seeing Willow. Mel said you met her for lunch the other day.”
I nodded. “Yep.”
“You’re not at all worried about being involved with her?”
I shook my head.
“Be careful. She doesn’t care who she hurts when it comes to getting what she wants,” Ramsey said.
“And you still think she wants you?” I asked.
He paused with a beer halfway to his lips. He set it down and looked at me. “I hope not. I really do. I liked Willow when she was young, before she kissed me. She was a great person. Funny and kind. After that, everything changed. I hope that person is still inside and that she can be happy.”
“Did you ever think maybe it’s your fault that she changed?” I asked him.
Ramsey pulled back and glared at me. The others sucked in a breath and froze. I didn’t like that Willow was the one who was berated and Ramsey walked around with his head held high like he was untouchable. Why? Why didn’t he have to answer for the way he treated her?
“How could I be to blame for Willow?” Ramsey asked.
I shrugged. “Maybe how great you thought she was made it seem like you wanted more from her. Maybe what you thought was being friendly was flirtatious in her mind.”
“I didn’t intend for it to be.”
“Intent only goes so far.”
Ramsey sighed. “You’re right. Maybe there was a part of me that liked the fact that Willow had me on a pedestal. But that was years ago. Melody and I have been married eleven years. Why did Willow hang onto that for so long? That’s not on me. I pulled back after she kissed me. I did everything I could, short of being cruel, to make her understand I was in love with Melody and not her. At some point, Willow has to accept responsibility for her actions and not blame them on me and whatever she thinks I did forever ago.”
I wanted to argue with him, but Ramsey was right. Willow was an adult. If she’d tried to break up Melody and Ramsey before they got married, I could almost see it as her being a jealous kid, but it had been years.
Did that mean she was still holding out hope that Ramsey would choose her?
I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted that answer.
I didn’t respond to Willow’s messages after I left O’Kelley’s. I was still processing everything Ramsey said. I was trying to make a decision about my future with a woman that I wasn’t sure wanted me in hers.
After I checked in at the precinct the next morning, I headed to Cracked for breakfast. I wasn’t hungry when I got up, but I was starving by the time I left, and Captain Reynolds never had an issue with us getting something to eat while we were on the clock.
Blake was pouring coffee and talking to the regulars when I walked in. I waved hello to a few people I recognized, still wondering when MacKellar Cove snuck up and grabbed a hold of me. I took a seat at a table alone, hoping I could eat a quick breakfast without having to talk to everyone in the restaurant.
“Coffee?” Blake asked, holding the pot up.
I nodded. “Please.”
She filled my mug and asked if I was ready to order.
“Not yet,” I said.
“I’ll grab the cream and sugar for you and be right back.”
I studied the menu while she checked in on other tables. Everything I’d had there was good. It was only a matter of narrowing down the options to decide what I was in the mood for.
The front door opened, but I ignored it in favor of the menu. Whoever it was wasn’t there to see me, and I wasn’t in a friendly mood, so it didn’t matter.
Until she took the seat across from me.
“Hey, Rowan,” Melody said.
I looked up. “Melody.”
“Can I join you?” she asked.
Blake came over and filled her mug without a word, leaving the cream and sugar on the table for us. She was gone before I could answer Melody.
“I guess you have, so sure.” I gave her a less than friendly smile. I liked Melody, but not when she was being nasty to Willow.
Melody picked up a menu from the center of the table and studied it. We ignored each other until Blake took our orders and we put our menus back and had no choice but to look at each other.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked her.
“I know you’ve been spending time with my sister.”
I raised an eyebrow because of course she knew. Not only did everyone in town know everyone else’s business, but she saw us together just a few days earlier.
/> “How is she?”
“Excuse me?”
Melody drew in a shaky breath. “Maybe it’s not fair of me to ask you, but I want to know how Willow is. Is she okay?”
“No, it’s not fair of you to ask me. Especially after you made her feel like shit the other day.”
Melody nodded and dropped her chin. “I know. I wish I hadn’t. I’m still…she hurt me.” Melody met my gaze with a watery one. A tear streaked down her cheek. She brushed it away quickly but another one followed. “She was my best friend. For my whole life, she was the one person I counted on. Growing up, she was there for me. Being five years apart never mattered that much. She was the person I told everything to. And losing her has been really hard.”
“You didn’t have to lose her,” I said.
Melody nodded, her brown hair falling forward over her shoulder. She tucked it behind her ears and forced a smile. “A part of me wishes I’d handled things with Willow differently. That I could have salvaged my relationship with her. But I don’t know how. I don’t know if it was really possible.”
“Why not?” I asked. I needed to know. Melody knew Willow better than anyone else. Her tears proved she still loved her sister. I wanted to know if Willow was the person I thought she was. If she was someone I could take a chance on. If I could risk loving her and have any hope that she felt the same.
“I love my sister. That will never change. But I don’t know if I can ever trust her again. She used my desire to have a family against me. She manipulated me into creating problems with my husband. How can I trust her?”
I sighed. Things were getting complicated with Willow. Maybe it was better I just leave. Go back to Phoenix and forget all about her. Because if Melody was right, or if Ramsey was right, and Willow couldn’t be trusted, it was because she still wanted Ramsey for herself.
“Can I trust my sister?” Melody asked quietly.
I met her gaze and saw the depth of her desire. She wanted to trust Willow again. She missed her sister. I could see it and feel it. She was as unhappy as Willow was. Which meant maybe they could repair their relationship.
“I don’t think I can answer that for you,” I told her.
