The Best of Me: a Hope Valley novel

by Prince, Jessica

  We headed back to our group with our drinks in hand. Gypsy broke off to go gab with Eden at the other end of the tables while I plopped down in the chair beside Trick, scanning the crowd once more for that creepy guy.

  “Who are you lookin’ for?” he asked, hooking an arm around my shoulder as I took a sip of my beer.

  Redirecting my focus to him, I shook off the feeling that guy left behind and leaned into Trick’s embrace. “No one, just some creepster who tried hitting on me at the bar. Or, at least that’s what I think he was doing.”

  Trick grew stiff and alert, his head moving as he looked over the thick crush of people. “You see him?”

  “No. He left.” I placed my palm on his thigh and gave it a squeeze, drawing his attention back to me. “Seriously, it’s fine.”

  His brow furrowed in concern. “You sure?”

  “Absolutely.” I shot him a wink. “Not like he had a chance anyway. I mean, have you looked in a mirror lately? Trust me. I know what I have.”

  He laughed and went in for another kiss, and just like that, the weird guy was forgotten.

  Tempie and I started chatting while Trick talked with Hayes and another detective named Leo, and as the night wore on, I loosened up and let myself enjoy everything around me. The beer, the music, my friends, and most especially, my guy.

  “Check it out,” Tempie whispered a while later, lifting her chin. I looked down the table to where Cord was sitting with Lincoln and another one of his guys, Bryce. Cord wasn’t paying attention to a single thing the other guys were saying. He was too busy staring at the bar—more specifically at Rory—to notice anything else. “Something is happening there, and I’m dying to know what.”

  I turned to the bar to see Rory looking anywhere but in our direction. It was so obvious she was intentionally ignoring Cord’s existence, and I was starting to grow as antsy as my girls, wanting answers.

  I turned my eyes to Gypsy and Eden to see they had noticed too. “You aren’t the only one, doll.” I tipped my head toward down the table, and Tempie laughed.

  “Guess we’ll just have to give it time. This town’s like a real-life soap opera.”

  “Amen to that.” We clinked our glasses together, and I downed the last of my beer.

  “What are you two talkin’ about?” Trick asked, turning his attention back to me.

  I gave him a shrug and replied, “Oh, you know. Just being nosey. It’s our way.”

  He gave me a look like he wasn’t buying it. “Uh-huh. Well, whatever you two are gossipin’ about, do me a favor, and stay out of Cord and Rory’s business.”

  My back shot straight as I yelped, “You know?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You totally know!” I shot back, turning to Tempie and declaring, “He knows and he hasn’t said anything!”

  “I don’t know,” Trick insisted on a chuckle. “But I’m not blind, deaf, or dumb. I’m a detective, for Christ’s sake. I notice the shit goin’ on around me.”

  “Gah!” Tempie cried. “You and Hayes suck at gossip. You know that?”

  Hayes looked at his wife and winked. “Love you too, baby.”

  Trick shook his head. “All I’m sayin’ is stand back and let whatever’s happening with those two play out on its own.”

  I pouted and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know, I don’t like you very much when you’re being all rational and wise.”

  His smirk made my belly flip and my panties grow damp. “Yeah you do.”

  “Nuh-uh,” I continued to argue, but it came out sounding breathy as the haze of alcohol, coupled with the look in his eyes, made me hot enough to melt in my seat.

  He leaned in close, running the tip of his nose along the side of mine as he lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Then I guess I’ll just have to go about makin’ you like me again when we get home.”

  Well damn. “Yes, please.”

  He let out a husky chuckle that made me shiver. “You ready to call it a night?”

  Hell yeah I was.

  * * *

  Trick’s hot, hard chest pressed against the full length of my back as he took me from behind. I braced my hand on the headboard as the muscles in my thighs began to quiver from exertion.

  “Yeah, baby. Just like that,” I coaxed, urging him to drive into me hard and faster.

  His hands left my hips and came up to grip the headboard next to mine, the force of his hold turning his knuckles white as his cock powered in and out. God, he felt amazing.

  “Let me hear you, beautiful,” he grunted against my neck. “I wanna hear how much you love what I’m doin’ to you.”

  My head fell back against his shoulder on a loud, needy moan. For the first time in weeks, we had the house to ourselves, so there was no need to be quiet.

  “You feel so good,” I panted. “Fuck me hard, Trick.”

  One of his hands left the headboard and came down on my breast. His thumb and finger pinched and rolled my stiff nipple, sending a shock straight to my clit. I tilted my ass to take him even deeper, leaning toward the headboard to give myself the leverage I needed to drive myself back into his thrusts.

  “Christ, I love when my girl goes wild. You close, Nona?”

  “Yes,” I breathed. Every inch of my skin felt like it was on fire, and my pussy clenched around him as I drew closer and closer to that edge. “So close. Make me come, honey.”

  Trick pinched my nipple harder as his other hand slipped down my body, right to where we were connected. His fingers circled my clit with the perfect amount of pressure, and just like that, I went off, crying out Trick’s name until my throat burned and my voice grew hoarse.

  Before my release had even begun to wane, Trick pulled out, grabbed hold of me, and whipped me to my back with my head at the foot of the bed. He slammed back in with vengeance, and I came a second time as I wrapped my arms and legs around him.

  “Kiss me,” he demanded as he fucked me harder than he ever had before.

  I didn’t hesitate to give him what he wanted, lifting my head so his lips could crash down on mine. His tongue thrust against mine with the same rhythm of his cock, and I was lost to the incredible way he manipulated my body.

  His grunts turned into a groan as he drove in to the hilt and poured himself inside me. After having the talk where I informed him I was on the pill and had gotten myself checked after Chris cheated, we’d nixed the condoms. So when I had him, I had all of him. And it was fucking brilliant.

  We lay tangled in each other for a minute or two as we got our bearings. Once we could breathe normally, Trick pulled his head out of my neck and looked down at me with a warm expression. “So beautiful,” he murmured with a soft voice. “Luckiest man on earth.”

  “Then that makes me the luckiest woman on earth, handsome.”

  He pulled out and rolled from the bed, wrapping his arms around me and taking me with him. “Go get cleaned up,” he said before placing a kiss against my lips. “Then come back to me, yeah?”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” I said with a jaunty salute. The alcohol from earlier had long since worn off. Now I was completely drunk on Trick.

  That earned me a slap on the ass on my way, and I let out a squeak and started for the bathroom.

  Once I finished cleaning up, I slipped on another nightie and went about my nightly routine, washing and moisturizing my face, and scrubbing the taste of beer from my mouth.

  I made it back into the bedroom, ready to snuggle down with Trick just as his cell started ringing from the nightstand beside my bed.

  “Wanderly,” he answered, alerting me to the fact that it wasn’t one of his kids. If it had been Shawn or Hannah, his voice would’ve been totally different. He would have greeted with a “Bud,” or a “Banana,” spoken in a tone so sweet I’d swoon.

  There was no missing the ice in his voice as he snapped, “What?” I stopped in place as the air in the room suddenly grew thick, making it hard to breathe. “You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” he growl
ed, stomping over to his jeans on my bedroom floor.

  He looked at me as he clipped, “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” Then he hung up and started moving faster.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “I need you to get dressed, Nona,” he said. “We need to go.”

  My stomach plummeted, and the high I’d been riding thanks so a great night and even better sex deteriorated. “Is... Is it the kids?”

  “No, beautiful. The kids are good, but we need to move.”

  I wanted to pepper him with questions about what was going on, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes clear as day, so I flew into action.

  All the while, my stomach churned with an impending sense of dread.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Nona

  I loaded into Trick’s truck and quickly buckled my seat belt as Trick started it up and drove through the neighborhood.

  “Trick, what’s going on?” I asked in a small voice as he turned onto the road that would lead us back into town. “I don’t want to sound like a baby, but I’m kind of freaking out right now. Are you sure the kids are all right?”

  “The kids are fine,” he replied as my insides twisted into knots. “But I need you to brace.”

  A clammy sweat broke out across my skin. “Why?”

  “Well… shit, baby. I’m hate to tell you this, but it looks like your salon was broken into earlier tonight.”

  My back shot straight in my seat. “What?”

  “Calm, Nona.”

  “Oh my god.” Dropping my head into my hands, I sucked in a pained breath as my whole body began to shake.

  “You’re okay. It’s all gonna be okay.”

  I spent the rest of the drive trying to stave off a panic attack, and by the time we pulled up in front of Pure Elegance, I was barely holding it together.

  When Trick brought the truck to a stop, I lowered my hands and sucked in a broken, watery gasp. The front window was shattered. The pretty, swirly script I’d picked out for my logo was destroyed. I’d spent hours and hours and hours coming up with that design. It had taken months, but I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. It needed to represent everything I wanted Pure Elegance to be, and when I’d finally come up with it, I’d been so proud.

  I knew I was being ridiculous and petty, but seeing all that hard work shattered into hundreds of thousands of pieces killed me.

  Trick gave me a minute to collect myself before asking, “You ready?”

  A few tears broke free and trailed down my cheeks. “No,” I whimpered. “But let’s do this anyway.”

  I climbed out of the truck and met Trick at the front. He took my hand and led me to one of the uniformed officers standing at the sidewalk.

  “What do we got?”

  “Good news is the front window shattering triggered the alarm, so whoever busted in didn’t have much time.”

  The tension I’d been feeling for the past ten minutes finally started to loosen its vise grip on my chest. In the chaos, I’d forgotten all about the alarm I’d paid through the nose to have installed. It wasn’t on the level of work that Lincoln did, normal people could afford his kind of security system, but it was nothing to sneeze at.

  “Got any idea what they were after?”

  The cop looked at me with a sympathetic expression. “We’ll need Ms. Fanning to go through and see if anything is missing, but the guy seemed to know what he was looking for. From what we can tell, he went right for the register and the safe in the back.”

  I went on red alert. “What?”

  “Register looked to be cleaned out. Safe was beat to hell, but he didn’t have the time to get into it.”

  “That….” I gave my head a shake. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  Trick turned to me. “Why not?”

  “Well, because they were both empty. I empty the register every Friday and take that and all the money in the safe to the bank. I take everything collected on Saturdays and Sundays home with me to deposit on my way into work Monday morning. Anyone who knew what they were looking for should’ve known it was a waste of time. There wasn’t any cash in there, and there won’t be until we open tomorrow.”

  “You have surveillance cameras with that security system?” Trick asked.

  I bit my lip in shame before answering, “No. I didn’t think I’d ever need them, and they cost a small fortune. But you can bet your ass I’m calling first thing Monday and getting the security company on that.”

  Trick tugged on my hand, and I looked over at him as he gave me a soft, warm look. “You ready to go inside?”

  I didn’t think I was, but I sucked it up and nodded anyway. I used my key to unlock the front door, refusing to enter through the shattered window, and let out a sigh of relief at what I saw. The damage seemed to be minimal. Whoever broke in hadn’t trashed the place, thank god, but my register would have to be replaced, and it looked like someone had—unsuccessfully—taken a sledgehammer and crowbar to my safe. That and the window seemed to be all that was damaged. They hadn’t ransacked the place like I’d expected.

  The stations were all in working order, and if I got the mess cleaned up and plywood put over the window, my girls would still be able to keep the appointments they had booked for the following day.

  I walked through the whole salon, going over everything with a fine-tooth comb just to make sure before heading over to the officer we’d seen first upon arrival. “Everything else seems to be in order. It doesn’t look like there’s anything missing.”

  “You sure?”

  I let my eyes trail through the space once more, blowing out a huge exhale. “Yeah, I’m sure. It was just the register and safe.” I looked back to him and Trick. “It kind of feels like karma, this asshole making the effort to break into my place and ending up empty-handed.”

  The hardness that had been laced through Trick’s expression this whole time bled out, and just like me, he relaxed for the first time since getting the call. “And it’ll be even better when we catch this prick and arrest him, knowing he did it all for nothing.”

  I really liked the thought of that.

  The officers who had responded to the break-in were kind enough to stick around and help Trick and me get the salon back to rights. Fred Duncan, a patrolman who used to be an epic pain in the ass before turning over a new leaf when he was the responding officer on a grisly murder scene a while back, even ran out to get a couple sheets of plywood he had left over from a project at his house, then helped Trick and a few of the other guys board up my window.

  By the time I locked up, the salon almost looked like it hadn’t been touched, but my heart was still heavy that someone in the town I loved so much would be heartless enough to do something like this.

  Trick took us back to my house, releasing Diva from her kennel into the backyard so she could do her business while I changed out of my clothes and into my nightie. I’d just fallen face-first into my bed when he entered the room and dropped the pup on the mattress.

  As if sensing my sadness, Diva loped up the length of the bed, and I had to turn onto my side as she came to snuggle against my chest. Trick went about locking up and shutting off the lights, taking care of me in that way that was all his that I’d come to love so much. Once he finished, he climbed into the bed at my back, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight.

  I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be able to sleep after the events of the night, but with my man at my back, and a little diva at my front, I nodded off into dreamland within a minute.

  * * *

  Trick

  Hayes walked into the bullpen with two white paper coffee cups from Muffin Top in his hands. He placed one on my desk and walked around to take a seat at his.

  “Any word on the break-in at Nona’s place?”

  “No,” I grunted, rubbing at the back of my neck in frustration. I hated that something like that had happened to my woman, and there wasn’t a single goddamn thing I could do about it. It had
been two days since the break-in, and we were no closer to finding the guy than we had been the night of.

  My instincts were telling me Christian Fanning was involved. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that her place was burglarized just weeks after he asked her for fifteen grand, but there was no evidence. And when I ran the guys financials, nothing hit. The asshole was in the negative by a lot but there was no outstanding debt that I could find. No paper trail, no applications to open lines of credit.

  Nothing.

  Being helpless wasn’t something I was accustomed to, and it didn’t sit well that I couldn’t take care of this for Nona. She’d been through enough, been handed enough shit to last a lifetime. If I could, I’d make it so it was nothing but clear skies and easy sailing for her from here on out. As long as I had her, I’d do everything in my power to make sure every day was better than the last. So something like this pissed me off.

  “Fucker wore gloves so there wasn’t a single print.”

  “At least he didn’t get anything.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed and took a sip of my coffee, enjoying the heat and the charge the caffeine gave me. “And when I finally find the bastard, I’ll make sure he feels like the fuckin’ chump he is.”

  “Goddamn right, brother. In the meantime, how do you feel about shakin’ some junkie trees to see what falls loose?”

  My ears perked up. “You got a lead on the dealer we think’s workin’ for Black?”

  “No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t kick up some dust to find him.”

  A grin slowly pulled at my lips. “Like the way you think. Gimme a minute to—”

  His next words brought me to a stop. “Ah fuck. Don’t turn around, man. Actually, you should probably climb under your desk.”

  “The hell are you talking about? I’m not hiding under my—”

  “Patrick?”

  I should’ve hidden under my goddamn desk.