We both were breathing deep, our breaths mingling between us, I could feel his on my sensitized lips and he had to feel mine.
Finally, he spoke. “Shit, Ace.”
“Shit what?” I whispered, staring into his eyes, so close, I could count the tawny flecks.
“This isn’t good,” he whispered back and I swallowed and felt a sour pit forming in my belly.
“It isn’t?”
“I gotta focus,” he went on whispering.
“On what?” I asked also whispering.
“On shit that doesn’t include what that mouth and tongue of yours could do to my cock.”
My hand at his back fisted. “Tate –”
“And if your pussy is as sweet as your mouth.”
“Tate –”
“Shit,” he muttered.
“Tate –”
“I gotta find this guy,” he told me.
“I know.”
“I get back, Lauren, you’re on the back of my bike.”
I blinked at what he said, mostly because I didn’t understand it, then I swayed because he let me go and without a word or looking back, the door to my room closed behind him.
Several moments later, when I could speak, I asked the door, “Get back from where?”
Like the hall earlier that day, the door didn’t have an answer.
Chapter Six
Trash
I was sitting, cross-legged in the middle of my bed at the hotel and staring at my laptop in front of me.
It had been a month since Tate’s kiss, a month where a lot had happened, a month since he’d walked out of my room and I hadn’t seen or heard from him again.
I’d spent the last however-many-hours finally going through over six months of e-mails.
I should have checked sooner.
My mother, father and sister all had my new location and the number to the cell phone Tate had bought me. I’d given up that information weeks ago. They had been in constant contact since then, first freaked way the heck out then settling in because they heard I was settling in. My folks were planning to come out and visit me at the end of the summer and Caroline and her partner Mack were thinking of coming with them. I liked this idea. They’d like Carnal and Betty and Ned could always do with the business.
That was all good, the rest of my e-mails were all bad.
First were the ones from my so-called friends sending so-called concerned e-mails about my quick exit from town, selling off all my stuff and cutting off my ties to my old life. Invitations to dinner and drinks abounded, they said so they could talk to me, find out if I was okay, make sure I was doing the right thing.
What they meant was so they could find out where my head was at and then inform Hayley. She knew I had the goods on Brad and I could make the divorce uncomfortable. She knew all I had to do was tell my attorneys to nail his ass (and they were practically begging me to do it) and I could wipe the floor with him.
But I didn’t. I signed the papers, took my half of our life, sold it within days of signing the papers and got the heck out of there.
But then the e-mails changed. Instead of seeming fake concerned, they seemed more concerned. Then they seemed contrite. Then they begged me to call, check in, touch base.
Something was happening, my old, fake, two-faced friend Audrey told me, something I needed to know.
She’d sent that e-mail just two weeks before.
Which was one week before Brad sent his one and only e-mail.
Ree, it began and just seeing his nickname for me typed on the screen sent a knife through my heart that hurt so much I almost couldn’t read on. Conversely, it also pissed me off so much I almost couldn’t read on.
I wished I didn’t. But I did.
The rest of it said:
Where are you? I’ve been calling your cell and it says I can’t leave a message. Your parents won’t tell me. I’ve called Caroline a dozen times and Mack won’t let me speak to her.
I can’t believe you left like that. Honey, you didn’t even say good-bye. We didn’t get to talk. There are things that needed to be said, things that were happening you needed to know, things that had changed. We needed to talk. Didn’t you get my messages before you left?
I need to speak to you, Ree, urgently, honey. When you get this, call me or tell me where you are.
I made a mistake, darling and I need to explain.
All my love,
B
He made a mistake? What mistake?
He needed to explain? Explain what?
Things had changed? What things?
All my love? What the fuck was that about?
I stared at the e-mail.
I got his messages before I left, I just ignored them. He had his nose so far up my ass in an effort to make our split amicable and not do anything to make me get angry that it’d take surgery to extricate him. I didn’t need his fake concern when he was not only fucking my best friend but had been for years and had left me to move in with her and had already started his new happy bubble life.
I needed to get out. So I got out.
Where in the Divorce Rulebook did it say I had to say good-bye? All the good-byes that needed to be said were said that night he told me he didn’t love me anymore but he loved the woman who I’d spent two years confiding in that I was worried something was wrong in my marriage and I would rather die than lose my husband.
I hit the cross at the top of the screen and closed the e-mail. Then I hit the cross on the viewing panel and closed the program. Then I shut down the machine and slapped the laptop closed.
Then my cell rang.
I picked it up and looked at the display. It said “Wood Calling”.
I hit the button to take the call and put it to my ear.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey baby,” he greeted in his gentle voice and my toes curled. “What chance I got that you’ll finish work tonight and drive to my place?”
I smiled into the phone. “I’m not done until after three in the morning, Wood.”
“Know that, Laurie.”
“I’ll be dead on my feet and only want to sleep.”
“I got a bed.”
“Yes, and you have a job where you go to work at seven. I have a job that I sleep until noon.”
“You’re tellin’ me this because…”
“I’ll crash and three hours later you’ll be gone.”
“And?”
“And Ned and Betty’ll worry about me.”
I listened to him laugh. He had a great laugh.
“I’ll swing by while you’re at work. Explain to Momma Betty and Poppa Ned that Baby Laurie’ll be safe with Uncle Wood.”
I asked through a light giggle, “Will I be safe?”
“Fuck no,” he answered and my giggle was no longer light.
Then I whispered, “I’ll come over.”
“That’s what I wanna hear, baby,” he said in his gentle voice.
I didn’t know why I did this dance. For the past week, nearly every night I ended my shift in Wood’s bed. I was not lying, all I wanted to do by the time I got there was crash which was all I did. And he got up and went to work before seven, half the time I didn’t know he left me.
He didn’t seem to mind about any of this. Then again, Krystal had hired two new girls and my constant work would end very soon since they both were starting the next couple of days. I figured Wood was hanging around, waiting for his reward.
“I’ll leave the door open,” he said and he would, he always did.
“I’ll see you later,” I replied.
“Later.”
Then he hung up.
I hit the button on my phone, threw it on the bed, looked at my alarm clock and swung my tanned legs off the bed.
It was time to get ready for work.
* * * * *
My life took another veer the day after Tate’s kiss.
I was on nights so I had all day which wasn’t a good thing because having all
day meant having all day to think about Tate’s ride and then Tate’s kiss and, when there was time left over, to think of all the other things about Tate.
So I went about the business of filling up my day so I wouldn’t think of Tate. After coffee and a chat with Betty, I swung by La-La Land for a different kind of coffee drink, another slightly weirder chat (since I suspected both Sunny and Shambles were a wee bit high) and a sampling of more of Shambles and Sunny’s wares (blueberry muffin with those crunchy bits on the top, divine, Shambles might be stoned but he still could bake). Then I walked down to the mechanics to belatedly get my car.
Wood wasn’t around so I paid an older but definitely still cool and sexy lady in the office who had obviously given half of the female population of Carnal their style training. She was biker babe times a thousand and I loved her look so much I told her so.
“Dominic, darlin’,” she replied. “Carnal Spa. It ain’t no spa, he just does hair and manis and pedis, none of that facial or massage shit, but he’s gay, as in flamin’, so he does great hair.”
She was right. Her hair, dark with fabulous blonde highlights and a wicked-cool cut, was perfect on her.
“Tell him Stella sent you,” she finished.
“Thanks,” I replied, smiled and waved my good-bye.
I was walking to my car when Wood pulled in on his Harley. His wasn’t black, though it looked to be the same model as Tate’s, it was silver.
He rounded my car and parked by it, swinging off the bike and standing there waiting for me in the space between his bike and my car.
“Hey,” I smiled but he didn’t smile back.
I knew why when I got close.
“Saw you ride out with Tate last night.”
I pulled in a quiet breath then said, “Wood.”
He looked away, running his hand along his hair, muttering, “Jesus, Lauren.”
“I –”
He looked back and cut me off. “He’s fuckin’ my sister.”
I felt my body still.
But he wasn’t done. “And she’s married and not to Tate.”
I went back on a foot like he’d struck a blow.
He took two steps toward me, claiming my space.
“You’re new in town but you’ll hear about it. Everybody knows. It’s better you hear about it now rather than later when he plays you and makes you look like a fuckin’ moron.”
“Wood –”
“Those two, fuck, it’s been so long, feels like forever those two been wound up, doin’ stupid shit, causin’ trouble, walkin’ all over people, breakin’ hearts while they went their merry fuckin’ way.”
It hit me.
“Neeta,” I whispered.
He stared at me, his face hard. “You already heard.”
“I saw them together at the hotel before –”
“Bet with you there, he don’t meet her there anymore.”
I felt my throat close.
He got closer and wrapped his hand around my neck. “For your own good, not fuckin’ mine ‘cause what I’m gonna tell you ain’t gonna make me your favorite person and I think you get this, baby, I want you on the back of my bike. But I want more not to see your face lookin’ like I slapped you, like it does right now, so you gotta know it all.”
“Wood –”
His face dipped close and his other hand curled into my waist. “Her name was Bethany, Chief of Police’s daughter. Caught Tate’s eye when he and Neeta were supposedly through, one of the many times they were off. Bethany, though, even though she knew it, lived it like the rest of us, she hoped. It was stupid, everyone knew it was. Tate hooked up with Bethany, they got tight and Neeta blew back into town. She wasn’t back a day, not even an hour, Laurie, before they were at each other. Bethany found out and slit her fuckin’ wrists.”
I sucked in a harsh breath and pulled back against his hand but it just tightened so I stopped.
“No,” I whispered.
“Yes,” he returned. “Her Dad found her and she survived. Moved to Colorado Springs. Neeta got a wild hair and quit Tate. Tate quit The Force, started hunting. Neeta comes back, though, regular and not to see Pop. And everyone knows it ‘cause you can see her car and his bike at Carnal Hotel when she does. She’s livin’ in Crested Butte but she comes to get her Tate fix, regular and often, and even though he knows she’s legally bound to a man in CB, he gives it to her.”
“I don’t –” I started but stopped when both his hands gave me a squeeze.
“This is my sister I’m talkin’ ‘bout, baby,” he said in his gentle voice. “And she’s trash. I’m sayin’ it, my Pop’ll say it. Neeta’s trash. The thing you gotta know before you climb back on the back of his bike is that Tate Jackson is trash too.”
After delivering that line, he let me go and stepped away. I remained silent and we stared at each other.
“Now you know,” he was still talking gentle. “You let that sink in and you make up your mind. You know where I am.”
With that, he walked away and I watched him do it until he disappeared in the office. I stayed where I was until I saw Stella leave the office and stand outside, her hand lifted to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. I knew she was looking at me and when she looked ready to make her approach, I got in my car and drove away.
* * * * *
It took two days of no Tate and no word to ask Krystal where he was.
We were at the bar and it was raining, a lot, a downpour that followed thunder and lightning, so much rain that no one wanted to be out and business at the bar was slow.
I was on with Jonelle and Jonelle had obviously heard what Tate did to Tonia because she came in on time, she wasn’t dressed one step up from streetwalker and she was actually waiting tables.
While she was busy but Krystal wasn’t, I stood beside Jim-Billy and called, “Hey Krystal, where’s Tate?”
I felt Jim-Billy straighten by my side and I saw Bubba, who was at the other end of the bar shooting the breeze with some patrons, turn to face us. Krystal looked at Jim-Billy then she looked at me.
Then she came to me as Bubba ambled our way.
“Didn’t he tell you, Lauren?” Krystal asked cautiously, her gaze sharp on my face.
“Um…” I mumbled. “No.”
“He’s huntin’, gorgeous,” Bubba entered the conversation.
“Yes, I know. Tonia’s killer,” I said.
Krystal looked up at Bubba but Bubba didn’t take his eyes off me.
Then he asked, “Coupla nights ago, weren’t you on the back of his bike?”
“Yes,” I answered and Bubba looked down at Krystal but I saw his brows go up.
“Shit,” Krystal muttered.
“What?” I asked and Bubba looked back at me and they all got closer. I even fancied Jim-Billy scooted nearer.
“Guy who did Tonia is serial,” Bubba said quietly so only our huddle could hear.
“Cereal?” I asked, perplexed.
“Serial, gorgeous. A serial killer. Tonia’s one of seven,” Bubba explained and my hand shot out so my fingers could wrap around the edge of the bar.
“Seven?” I whispered.
“Seven,” Bubba said. “Seven in four years. Pisses the Feds off since they don’t like nicknames but cops’re callin’ him the May-December Murderer. He kills in May then he kills in December.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
“They ain’t all in Colorado either,” Bubba went on. “But they’re all in the Rockies and Colorado is a hot spot. One in Utah, one in Wyoming, two in Nevada, the rest in Colorado.”
“Tonia,” I whispered thinking, for some asinine reason, this made her death all the more worse and it was bad enough already.
“They don’t got shit,” Bubba informed me. “Tonia was the one who lasted the longest. Dumped her alive, found her alive, that’s a first. She never regained consciousness so they couldn’t ask her questions. She was dumped away from where he hurt her, left no evidence at the scene. They don’t h
ave any witnesses, have no idea where he picked her up, her car was outside her apartment, keys on the kitchen counter, no forced entry, no fingerprints, last anyone saw of her she was in here. They haven’t found her clothes, her hair. They don’t have nothin’.”
My eyes stayed glued to him and I didn’t look at Krystal. “You know about her hair?”
“Tate came to us before he left, Lauren,” Krystal said in a voice that wasn’t very Krystal. There was a soft edge to it and my eyes finally went to her. “Explained things.”
He didn’t explain things to me.
“So Tate’s got a lot of ground to cover, he’s trackin’ this guy, puttin’ pieces together. Four years, four states and seven murders worth of ground to cover,” Bubba finished.
This made sense.
He still didn’t explain things to me.
I changed the subject and I did it after looking Bubba right in the eye.
“Do you know Neeta?”
Bubba’s upper body moved back, it was almost imperceptible but I saw it.
“Laurie,” Jim-Billy said quietly and put his hand on mine on the bar.
“Don’t you think about Neeta, Lauren,” Krystal ordered and I looked at her.
“Why would you say that?” I asked.
“People talk, don’t listen,” she replied.
“That’s history,” Bubba said, “way back, not worth thinkin’ about.”
“It wasn’t history two weeks ago when I was swimming in Ned and Betty’s pool and I watched Tate carry her into a room,” I returned.
I watched as Bubba closed his eyes and he did this slow. Then I felt a lump form to block my throat.
“Lauren,” Krystal said and her voice was full on soft now so I looked at her.
She looked sad and hard as nails Krystal looking at me like that said it all.
“Right,” I whispered around the lump, my word sounded strangled and I walked away.
* * * * *
It was closing that same night and Jim-Billy and I were getting ready to walk to the hotel when I went to get my purse.
I pulled it out of the filing cabinet, turned to the office door and saw Krystal there.
I walked toward her saying, “Good night,” but I had to stop because, when I arrived at the door, she didn’t move out of my way.
Sweet Dreams Page 12
