“You dragged me up here to tell me you want me to visit you more often?”
“Is that a problem?”
“You couldn’t tell me in a letter?”
“What would the fun be in that?”
I wasn’t getting anything, but then again, why was I surprised? She loved the smell of fear and desperation, and right now I reeked of it.
“I want weekly visits,” Kate said, examining her nail beds. “Bring fire-engine red nail polish and paint my nails next time. That’s something sisters do, right?”
I didn’t answer.
“And I want Joe to know about the visits, but he can’t come. Just you and me.” She flicked her finger toward Jed. “But you can bring him. He’s a pretty picture.” She got to her feet and slowly glided toward him. “If you make your weekly meetings, then the letters will stop and your secret will be safe.”
“Until you change the rules,” I said.
“Rules are always changing, sis.” She stopped in front of Jed and ran her fingers from his shoulder to the crook of his elbow. “You should have learned that lesson by now too.”
I wasn’t about to admit she was right.
Kate looked up into Jed’s face. “Do you have a name, handsome?”
To his credit, his expression of disinterest could have been carved from granite. “What do you know about the Murray portfolio?” he asked.
Her eyes flew wide and she burst out into gleeful laughter. “Oh, you are a surprise. I suppose meeting in this office was your doing?”
Jed didn’t respond.
“And what makes you think I know anything about the Murray portfolio?” Kate asked.
He remained silent.
“Does Neely Kate know about the Murray portfolio?” She glanced toward me. “No, I don’t think you do. But does your man know about Beasley?”
Panic demanded I do something, but there was nothing I could do. I was at her mercy, and we both knew it.
Kate ran her finger over Jed’s jaw. I wanted to snap it. “Did she tell you about Beasley?”
Jed didn’t say anything.
“So . . . you’re a man of few words. You must be a man of action.” Her finger brushed over his lip. “Maybe we can work out a deal. It’s very lonely in here.”
I expected Jed to shake her off like a flea, but he just stood there and let her touch him.
“So, you’re here to find out more about the Murray portfolio, are you? Since you’re here with Neely Kate, and my sister has befriended that terrible woman, Rose, I bet you work for James Malcolm.”
I was surprised she knew Skeeter’s real first name. No one but Rose used it.
“Tell Mr. Malcolm,” she continued, “I have needs that aren’t being met here. If he can help supply resources to fulfill those needs, I think we can work out an exchange.”
He glanced down at the desk. “Make a list, and I’ll let him know.”
She shook her head with a sly grin. “I couldn’t possibly come up with a list in so little time. Come back next week, and I’ll give it to you. Bring my sister with you.” She reached up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on Jed’s chin. “See you two next week.”
Then she sashayed out of the room.
“Okay,” Jed said as though she hadn’t nearly sexually assaulted him. “Let’s go.”
I stared up at him in disbelief.
“She’s not coming back, and the less time we’re here, the less likely we are to get caught.”
What he said made total sense, yet something was irritating the crap out of me. I told myself it wasn’t because Kate had come on to him so strong. It definitely wasn’t because I was pissed that he hadn’t shrugged her off.
I almost believed it.
I got out of the chair and started around the desk before realizing Jed wasn’t following me. I turned around and found him still standing behind the desk, holding my bag in his hand.
“What do you have in here anyway?” he asked, hefting it up and down.
The room suddenly felt like it was too hot and tight.
“None of your business.” I marched back and snatched the bag from him. “Let’s go.”
I stormed out, bolting back the way we’d come. When I made it to the elevator, I repeatedly jabbed the down button, hoping I could make my escape before Jed showed up.
I should have known better.
“I know you’re disappointed,” he said quietly.
“Is that what you think I am?” I snapped. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d come to get answers and barely gotten anything other than the demand I come back every week and the news that Beasley was out of jail.
How was Beasley out of jail?
But I hadn’t expected any real answers. Kate only spoke in riddles. This was just a last-ditch effort to find out what I could before I left.
The elevator doors opened. I entered the empty space with Jed on my heels, and he pressed the button for the lobby.
When the doors closed, he turned to me. “Who is Beasley?”
“None of your business.”
“Did you ever think maybe I could help you?”
“Why?” I looked up at him and demanded, “Why would you help me?”
He hesitated, then said, “Because you’re Rose’s friend.”
His answer made sense and my fluctuating emotions made none, yet I was still hurt to the core. I gave a knowing nod. “Because of Rose.”
“Neely Kate.”
I shook my head. “I’m not doing this. I’m not going to be Kate’s little puppet.”
“What does that mean?”
“If you think I’m going to come back here with you week after week and watch you two make out or worse, you have another think coming!”
Surprise filled his eyes and he leaned closer, lowering his voice. “What part of watching us make out would bother you?”
Me and my stupid mouth.
I backed up until the wall stopped me, but Jed advanced until he was only inches away. He leaned down, his face so close he would barely have to move to kiss me. “I don’t want to make out with Kate Simmons.”
“Well, I guess you have some standards,” I conceded dryly.
To my surprise, he laughed.
“We can’t do this, Jed,” I said, more to convince myself than him.
His amusement vanished, but he didn’t back out of my personal space. “We have to come back here, NK.”
I shook my head. “Maybe you do, but I don’t.”
The elevator door opened, and I gave Jed a shove as I walked out of the elevator. An elderly woman gave us a questioning look before she got on.
I needed to ditch Jed, but he was attached to me like a tick to a coon dog, and I had no doubt I’d lose a foot race. These sandals weren’t designed for running.
“We have a two-hour drive ahead,” I said. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Let’s get something to eat. You can go to the bathroom there.”
“I need to go now.”
“Okay.” He pointed to a restroom sign. “They’re that way. Let’s go.”
“What? Am I five years old? Wait in the lobby. I’ll be right back.”
He gave me a long look. “I’m not your enemy, Neely Kate.”
“I never said you were.”
“But you never said I wasn’t. I know you’re ashamed of—”
“Let’s continue this conversation when I get back.”
Disappointment washed over his face, but he nodded.
I spun on my heels and hurried away from him before I could change my mind. When I reached the restroom, I looked over my shoulder to make sure Jed wasn’t watching, then bolted down the hall and never looked back.
Chapter 7
I knew my escape had been too easy.
I’d slipped out the back door and walked to the nearby bus stop just as a bus was pulling up. I wasn’t sure it was the bus I needed, but I couldn’t risk Jed finding me, so I hopped on. Luck was on my side—I only had to swit
ch buses once—and I was at the Greyhound station within forty-five minutes. I had exactly twenty minutes before my bus to Texarkana left. If I missed this one, I’d be taking the red-eye. I was standing in line when I heard an all-too-familiar voice behind me.
“I know a faster way to Oklahoma.”
Well, crap on a stick.
I spun around, expecting to see Jed wearing a satisfied smirk, but his expression was as unreadable as usual. “I’m not going back to Henryetta.”
“And I believe I offered you a ride to Oklahoma, not Henryetta.”
“No, thanks.” I turned back around to face the front of the line, and Jed moved in place behind me. How had he figured out I was going to Oklahoma?
That was the thing about Jed. He didn’t say a whole lot most of the time, but he was sharp as a thumbtack.
I steeled my back. “I’m not gonna change my mind.”
“I never expected you to.”
“Then what are you still doin’ here?” I asked, still facing the front.
“Buying a bus ticket, same as you.”
I twisted at the waist to look back at him. “Why on God’s green earth would you do that when you have a perfectly good car?”
He searched my face. “One could ask why you would take a ten-hour bus ride when the trip would be a little over five hours—and a lot more comfortable—if you took me up on my offer.”
I sighed. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I need to do this on my own.”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Why? I know you think you’re going to lose Rose and Joe if they find out about your past, but you can’t scare me off with the big bad things you’ve supposedly done. I guarantee I’ve done worse.”
“There’s no supposedly about it, Jed.”
“Fine, then you’ve done some bad shit. So have I. Let’s go face it together.”
I was tempted for a lot of right reasons, but some wrong ones too.
I shook my head and turned back around. I expected Jed to try to convince me, but he was his typical quiet self. I reached the window and told the booth attendant I wanted a one-way ticket to Ardmore, Oklahoma.
“Make that two,” Jed said, putting two one-hundred-dollar bills through the window.
I glanced back at him. “What in the Sam Hill are you doin’, Jed Carlisle?”
“I’m buying our tickets to Ardmore.”
“Why on earth would you buy a ticket when your car’s parked right over there?” I pointed to the parking lot.
The attendant paid no mind to our conversation, but instead slid the two tickets and Jed’s change through the window. “Platform two. Your bus is already here and pulls out in ten minutes.”
Jed grabbed my bag from me and headed to the loading platforms.
“What the hell are you doin’?”
He turned to face me, walking backward as a boyish smile lit up his face. “I’m getting on the bus. I hear they have tight schedules.”
“Are you insane?”
He looked me up and down. “Probably.”
A wave of lust washed through my body, nearly making me stumble. But Jed had already turned around and was heading for the bus. I followed along like he was the Pied Piper. I told myself it was because he had not only my ticket but also my bag.
I knew better.
He boarded, making sure I’d caught up before he showed the driver our tickets.
The bus was half full and he headed toward the back, continuing down the aisle until he found two open seats together. He glanced back at me. “This good?”
I looked at him, waiting for him to tell me “gotcha.”
I’d spent most of my life waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me when good things happened. My mother had taught me by experience that they were often a trick—a fleeting one at that. For the life of me, I couldn’t see Jed making a ten-hour bus ride to appease me. At any moment, he was going to find some way to get me off—either physical manhandling or some kind of threat. But at the moment, he was simply expecting an answer.
“Uh . . . yeah.”
He lifted my bag to the overhead bin. “Window or aisle?”
“Uh . . . window.”
“Good,” he said. “I prefer the aisle, but lady’s choice.”
I slid in and took my seat. He sat next to me, our legs touching. Heat seeped through my body where his denim-covered leg touched my bare one.
Good God. I was going to have to travel ten hours like this. I suspected I’d be jumping him in the bathroom when we changed buses in Texarkana. And we only had a fifteen-minute layover.
He tried to stretch out his long legs, but there was nowhere for them to go. His knees were bent at an awkward angle, and I had a hunch there was no position he could contort himself into that would be comfortable. He moved his arm so his right hand rested partially on his leg, but partially on mine.
I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. Sweet Mother of Mercy.
He leaned into my ear and whispered, his breath fanning my neck and sending a shiver down my back. “You comfortable?”
My eyes flew open, and I gave him a look that suggested he’d just asked the most ridiculous question in the world. But any comment I’d thought to make got stuck in my throat when I realized our faces were only inches apart.
His eyes darkened, and I was sure he was going to kiss me, but then he shifted, moving back a few inches, making it look totally natural.
“You’re not,” I said, trying to slow down my rapid breathing.
“This isn’t about me,” he said, watching my expression. “This is about you.”
“Why are you doin’ this, Jed?” I asked, irritated my voice sounded so husky.
“Because I know in my gut you need someone with you on this trip. And while I recognize and appreciate that you feel like you need to do this alone, I’m going to be there behind you, giving you the support and backup you need.”
“Why? Because of Rose?”
He met my gaze and held it. “No. I promise you it’s not because of Rose.”
I released a short laugh despite myself.
He lifted a hand and softly brushed a stray hair from my face. “Is it so hard to believe someone could care enough to be that person for you?”
“Yes.”
Sadness filled his eyes. “Then you need me even more than I thought.”
Someone started coughing behind us, and the driver announced that the bus was about to pull out of the station. I realized the sacrifice he was making for me, accompanying me on this trip he didn’t really understand, sitting on this horrible bus for endless hours. Maybe, just maybe, Jed actually did want to do it for me, but part of me couldn’t help thinking it was because Skeeter wanted him to keep an eye on me—for personal gain, not necessarily for my protection. After all, Skeeter had insisted Jed come with me to Little Rock. And yet . . . that had been about Kate—what could either of them possibly hope to find in Ardmore?
Still, if Beasley really was out of prison—and Kate hadn’t lied to me yet—I supposed it didn’t matter what Jed’s motivations were. There was a chance I’d need backup.
“Okay. You can go with me,” I said, even though I knew this was a terrible idea. “But let’s get off this bus and take your car.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a shove. “Hurry or we’ll be stuck on here until we get to Texarkana.”
“Thank God,” he groaned, but he tempered it with a wink.
He slid out of his seat and grabbed my bag in one fell swoop, then reached a hand down to help me up.
I took his hand, trying to ignore the tingles that immediately shot through me.
The driver closed the door, and Jed kept hold of my hand, dragging me down the aisle. “We’re getting off.”
The driver gave us a scathing look, but he opened the door—probably because of Jed’s imposing stare. Jed hopped off, tugging me with him.
I landed on the pavement, and gravity pulled me forward
. I ended up with my chest pressed to his. I took some satisfaction from knowing he was just as affected by the contact as I was—his dilated pupils and parted mouth were a telltale clue—but I had to set some ground rules or this trip would quickly become a disaster.
“Are you coming with me because you want to sleep with me?” I asked, bold as I pleased.
There was that grin again—it was like the man had saved up all his smiles from the past decade and was now using them indiscriminately—and his arm slipped around my back, holding me in place. I could feel the evidence that I might be on the right track, but fool that I was, I didn’t pull away.
“We can’t sleep together, Jed.”
“Your trip. Your rules.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Okay. So this is probably a bad idea.”
“What?”
“Me plastered against you.”
“You’re free to step away at any time.”
I stepped back, taking a breath and trying to get myself together. “We’re not sleeping together.”
“You already said that,” he said, his voice laced with humor.
“I just want to make sure it’s clear.” But the fact that he wasn’t protesting made me second-guess myself. “You don’t want to sleep with me?”
“Neely Kate, I’ve gotten where I am today because I’m a patient man. I know when to bide my time.”
Another wave of lust washed through me, and I told myself to calm down. Jed was a good-looking man—a dangerously good-looking man—and he was tossing bread crumbs of attention my way. It had been a while since a man had pursued me. That was all.
But I knew that was a lie.
Carter Hale had made no secret of his desire to hook up with me, but the sad truth was that I’d be another conquest for someone like Carter. For Jed too. They saw through the walls I’d stacked so carefully in my pathetic attempt to be worthy of someone’s love, but it was like slapping paint on a pig—it didn’t disguise that deep down I was nothing but a whore.
Until Ronnie, none of the guys in my life had seen me as anything more than a hookup or a possession. Ronnie had been looking for forever, and I’d grabbed ahold of the bright shiny and hadn’t let go. How ironic that I had thought I was the one settling for the commitment I desperately craved. For a man who would never leave me.
Trailer Trash (Neely Kate Mystery Book 1) Page 5
