Cross Falls Saga - Southern Suspense Box Set

by Mallory Crowe

  She laid her head back against the cold, white wall as she went through her options, the main one being to go back to Cross Falls and work the day away until she forgot about Jack altogether. That was the original plan, back when she'd been trying to forget how ridiculously sexy and annoying he was. Now she wanted to forget that he was lying in a hospital bed alone and injured.

  But every time she told herself she was going to leave, she remained exactly where she was. Sitting in the waiting room to see a man the hospital wouldn't let her see. So many doctors and nurses ran in and out of the closely monitored doors to the ER; sneaking in was out of the question. But if her less than legal teen years taught her anything, it was that there was always more ways into a building than the front entrance.

  Before she resorted to breaking into a hospital, a pretty blonde nurse approached her. "Mr. Cross is awake now," she said with a smile.

  Gabrie jumped up. "So I can see him?"

  The nurse nodded as she led the way to Jack. "When I told him you've been waiting out here, he insisted I bring you back. But rest is important right now. So try to keep it to ten minutes or less. You'll have all the time you need to talk with him when he gets better." She came to a halt in front of a room. "Here we are. Ten minutes or less now."

  Gabrie obediently nodded as she passed the nurse. "Got it." Her heart flipped over when she saw he was truly awake. Jack was sprawled on the hospital bed and flipped through channels with an irritated expression on his face.

  "Nothing on?" She approached the bed.

  He looked at her, and his scowl deepened. "Nothing sounds good when you have the headache I have right now."

  She bit her lip as her gaze roamed over him. A wrap-around bandage concealed most of his head, so she couldn't see how serious his injury was, but he was up and bitching about pain already, so he couldn't be too bad. There was some bruising on his face that would probably look worse before it looked better, and another bandage on his left arm. Though his legs were concealed by the sheet, it didn't look as though anything was in a cast or broken. "You look better than your car," she blurted out.

  Of course, he was attractive enough to pull off a few scrapes and bruises. His dark hair and eyes stood out through the marks, and his tanned skin and stubble-covered jaw would hide most of it.

  He winced. "You saw the car? Think it's totaled?"

  She raised a brow. "I think you're damn lucky you're not in a body bag."

  "Shit." Jack brought up a hand to rub his eyes but seemed to remember halfway through that his face was a no-touch zone at the moment.

  "It's how I knew you were here. I was getting some supplies to fix up the house and there was the tow truck driving by. I freaked out and chased down the driver. It firmly established me as the crazy new chick to all the locals."

  "You freaked?" For the first time, his scowl turned to a grin.

  She started to smile back, but stopped herself. This wasn't the brother she was supposed to smile at. This was the evil twin. The one she'd slept with by accident and then kissed on purpose. The one she'd been warned to stay away from. The one she'd already lied to the police for.

  She should turn and run to her car and not look back until she was safely in the room she'd claimed at Jack's family plantation. Instead of thinking about the brothers constantly, she needed to throw herself into work and get the house renovated like she'd promised.

  But then the image of the busted-up Crown Victoria came back to her. Jack had no one else to visit him except her. No friends in town. His only family was a brother he couldn't stand and a father who was dying in another wing of the hospital.

  "I was worried," she admitted. "I called Darren and told him where you were. He'll be here as soon as possible once he gets the message."

  His face hardened once more at her lie. "You didn't need to call him."

  "It seemed like the logical thing to do." She looked around at the empty other bed in the room and the view of the parking lot from his window. "You have a private room at least."

  "For the moment," he muttered. "They want to keep me overnight, so they're moving me out of the ER in a bit. Who knows where I'll end up? I told them to just let me go. If the crash didn't kill me immediately, I doubt this concussion will."

  She laughed. "I hope you never ever become a doctor."

  "Ms. Moss," said a masculine voice from behind her. "How nice to see you again."

  Gabrie twisted around as the sheriff stepped into the room. "Sir." She nodded.

  He frowned. "Oh, we're not that type of town. You can call me Chris."

  She narrowed her eyes. "So you're Chris and I'm Ms. Moss?"

  "Hate to break this up, Chris, but what the hell are you doing here?" Jack snapped. His irritated expression was gone, replaced with a blank stare at the cop. Not the utter surprise that most people would have to a police presence at their bedside.

  She shook her head. Exactly what kind of trouble had Jack gotten himself into?

  "Sorry about your car, Jack. That was quite an accident. Mind telling me what happened?" Chris maneuvered around Gabrie to get closer to Jack.

  "I swerved to avoid a deer and went into a tree." Jack shrugged.

  "And that's how the back end got banged in too?" asked Chris.

  Jack looked right into Chris's eyes. "The back end was dented to begin with. Besides, everything happened so suddenly, I don't remember a thing after I hit. Maybe the same deer ran into the road again and someone rear-ended me."

  Chris crossed his arms over his chest. "You're telling me you swerved to avoid a deer, slammed into a tree—going well over the speed limit, by the looks of it—and while you were passed out, another car ran into you and then fled the scene?"

  "And the bastard didn't even leave their insurance information. The nerve of some people, right?"

  Gabrie's mouth twitched at his blatant lies. But she quickly sobered when she realized that the only reason to lie to a cop was if he had something to hide.

  Chris smiled for a brief second before his expression got deadly serious. "So do you know anything about a fire at Drake's house last night?"

  "Drake's an ass," said Jack.

  "Hard to argue that," admitted Chris. "What about you, Gabrie? Have you heard anything about a fire at Drake's place?"

  For once, it seemed she didn't have to lie. "Who is Drake?"

  Chris looked between the two of them. "You didn't tell her about your old buddy?" Jack clenched his jaw but didn't say anything. "Jack and Drake used to be real tight back in his senior year. I was a junior at the time, so I remember it pretty well. Jack dropped off the football team—probably why they had one of their worst years ever—and started hanging out with the junkies and stoners. From what I heard, it was a miracle that he even graduated. So it seems like a big coincidence that the day after Jack gets back in town, Drake's homemade meth lab blows up. The house was a total loss and a few fighting dogs were taken off the property."

  Gabrie's eyes widened. "You said fire. You didn't say explosion."

  He shrugged. "The explosion caused a fire. Same difference."

  Gabrie looked at Jack as the memories from last night came back. He'd warned her away. Told her he was dangerous. But then she'd kissed him, and his warnings had faded to the background.

  Was this what he was warning her away from? His involvement with the Hampton Falls drug market? She took a step back. "I should really be going. The nurse said I shouldn't be here more than a few minutes."

  Jack sat up and winced at the pain. "Before you go. The gardening tools you asked about are in the shed on the back of the property. It's a ways back and on the east side, but you should find it easily enough."

  She masked any confusion on her face. "Sounds good. I'll be back later, Jack." She glanced over to the handsome sheriff. "I'd say it was nice seeing you again, but I try not to lie to cops."

  He raised a brow. "Try?"

  She crossed to the door. "Sorry, but I totally lied about what speed I thought I
was going the last time a trooper pulled me over. You caught me." She winked.

  Chris narrowed his eyes. "I'll keep it our little secret."

  Jack cleared his throat. "I'd rather be interrogated than listen to the two of you flirt."

  "Wish granted." Gabrie smiled as she slipped through the door.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jack stared at the empty space Gabrie just vacated, trying to figure out whether she was bullshitting him when she said she'd be back.

  "Cut the crap, Jack. Were you messing around with Drake again or not?" Chris moved into Jack's line of sight, cutting off his connection with Gabrie.

  "When did you meet her?" he asked, purposefully ignoring the sheriff's question.

  The sheriff narrowed his eyes, as though considering whether he was going to answer or not. "Up at Cross Falls this morning. I asked her what you were up to last night. You mind giving me your version of the night?"

  He leaned back, letting the pain show enough so that his concentration on forming a lie wouldn't be obvious.

  "Last night's a little fuzzy," he said honestly. He remembered Drake and his goons threatening him at Jim's Tavern. Said if he didn't pay some made-up debt, they'd come after him and the piece of ass he had staying with him at Cross Falls.

  Except Gabrie wasn't his piece of ass. She'd come there for his brother and found Jack instead. They were twins, so she hadn't thought twice about kissing him on sight. And he, being the bastard that he was, didn't think twice about kissing her back and fucking her right up against the wall.

  "Well, were you with Gabrie at all?"

  Jack closed his eyes as he remembered the kiss. Not the one when she thought he was Darren. The second kiss. Last night after he'd come home to tell her to get the hell out of town and ended up pulling her closer instead of pushing away. And she'd kissed him back. Even knowing he wasn't perfect Darren, she'd kissed him back.

  "I was with her," he said, the feel of her lips against his fresh in his mind.

  "Come on, Cross. You know the drill. How long were you with her?"

  Jack sighed. Hmm...he'd doused Drake's house with gas around eleven, came back to shower by eleven thirty and was run off the road by Drake's guys sometime after that. "I didn't look at a clock. It was late, though. I left Jim's as it started getting busy and talked with Gabrie for a bit back at the house."

  Chris pulled out a pad and jotted down a few notes. Figures—a podunk town like this, they wouldn't record interviews. Though it was more likely that he was recording and writing notes to appear less intimidating.

  Chris Benson always had been a smart one. During Jack's rebellious senior year, he'd been able to step out of the spotlight of being the star quarterback and actually watch others for once. Chris had taken his place on the team. The guy had sucked at first, but towards the end of the waste of a season, he showed real potential on the field.

  Word was he'd doubled as a tutor for a bunch of the guys because his grades were as good as his throwing arm. Shame he never got out of Hampton Falls.

  "Did you go to Drake's?"

  "Nope," said Jack. "I didn't much like him when we were friends, and I sure as hell don't want to be around him now."

  Chris raised a brow. "That sounds like motive to destroy his drug operations."

  Jack snorted. "You couldn't throw a rock in this town without hitting someone who had a beef with Drake. If motive is your sole lead so far, I pity your investigation. Besides, isn't this a good thing for you? Drake's in jail; you have solid evidence to get him out of your town for years. What's the big deal if his place went up?"

  "The idea of some psycho lighting houses on fire doesn't bother you?"

  Jack considered it for a moment. "Well, when you put it like that..."

  "For the sake of your safety, I want to point out that Drake isn't in jail at the moment. No one's seen Drake since you and him had your little talk at Jim's."

  Jack clenched his jaw. "Fuck. I need to get to Gabrie." As he pushed himself up, the sheriff set a hand on his shoulder to keep him right where he was.

  "Even if Drake was going to make a move on her, he wouldn't do it today. I have officers from three different counties helping look for him. And one of those officers will be sitting at the edge of Cross Falls property."

  Jack allowed himself to relax as much as possible. "Why would you do that?"

  "No choice. Drake is seen arguing with you hours before his operation goes boom? That's suspicious shit. If he does come back to fuck with you, we'll get him. And the second you slip up, we'll get you too, understand?"

  Jack nodded. Let the police watch his every move. He was okay with that.

  Because he never slipped up.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Gabrie wiped away another bead of sweat as she looked around at the overgrown grass and brush scattered around Cross Falls. The shed Jack mentioned wasn't anywhere in sight. Was it supposed to be code for something? Like, look in his closet?

  He said it was on the east side of the property, but Darren never had a chance to show her the outside borders of Cross Falls. She knew it was ten acres, but had no idea how far back ten acres went. Or how wide the property was for that matter.

  The farther she walked, the denser the grass became. And she'd already been pricked by a couple of particularly vicious plants. Besides, she didn't need to be dragged into Jack's problems. Who knew what he was leading her to? It was probably some evidence or something he didn't want the police to have. And she sure as hell wasn't concealing evidence from the cops for him.

  She would spend five more minutes looking. Out of respect for Jack somehow making it out of that wreck alive, she'd humor him. But after five minutes, she was gone. She had too much to take care of, and this horrendous yard was one more thing that needed to be added to her list.

  Careful not to step on any rodent or trip over a stray log, Gabrie ventured farther into the bush. The grass pricking her bare legs almost felt like little bug bites, and she swatted at insects that weren't there. Ugh. This was something she never had to deal with in the city. She only had one pair of jeans, and it was looking as if she'd have to invest in more. Despite the overwhelming heat and humidity, this was no place for shorts.

  Right as she reached her annoyance limit, a faded, old slab of wood caught her eye. She squinted to get a better view and sighed as she realized the damn shed really did exist.

  At least now she had an end goal. She maneuvered the thirty more yards to the weathered structure. The hulking plantation was barely visible through the trees and hills she'd had to walk over.

  The door had a simple metal handle, and she didn't see any sign of a lock. With a steadying breath, Gabrie wrapped her hand around the handle that was warm even in the shade of an oak tree and pulled the door open.

  She gasped at the stench. It wasn't mold or mildew like she expected. It smelled like...blood.

  As she pushed the door to let in more light, she stared in horror at what was being exposed. A beast of a dog was lying still on the floor, mean-looking lacerations covering his face and neck. His eyes opened, but he didn't lift his head off the floor. But he wasn't laying on the dirt. Towels and blankets were spread all over the floor of the shed to give the poor thing at least some comfort.

  Gabrie ran her fingers through her hair and took a step back. Fuck. What was she supposed to do with a dog? She didn't even like dogs!

  And this wasn't a fluffy puppy she was dealing with. This thing had to be at least ninety pounds of muscle. The short fur and cropped ears were undeniably from a long line of pit bulls in the dog's ancestry, but she'd never seen a pit that big before. And she'd seen plenty of pits in the city. Normally on chains, barking their asses off at her.

  This dog wasn't barking. He wasn't even moving. He looked defeated and ready to die.

  She took a deep breath. Jack sent her here for a reason. He must've put the dog here last night before his accident. So now she was here. The animal needed medical care. Definitely antibiot
ics, maybe stitches.

  And he really needed to be moved out of the shed. She looked back at Cross Falls and tried to figure out how the hell to get an injured and probably dangerous dog all the way back to the house. Well, Jack had to get him out here somehow. She took a few steps away from the shed and studied the field in front of her. The tire tracks from Jack's car were just visible.

  So she could bring her truck back here... and then what? Lift the thing into the truck bed? He'd probably rip her face off on a day he wasn't in intense pain.

  She should shut the door and go back to Cross Falls. It was what she'd been saying all day. Jack's problems were Jack's problems. She didn't owe him a damn thing, and he would need to fix this himself.

  Except he was stuck in a hospital, and that dog was dying. Fine. She'd bring the damn truck back, she told herself as she gently closed the door. Every step she took from the shed was harder and harder. Damn it. Even if she was resolved to let Jack deal with his own issues, she couldn't let the dog suffer because of it.

  Stupid man breaking the stupid law and bringing a stupid, injured pit bull into the stupid shed. Admittedly the shed was on his property, but it was still her dealing with it. She stomped into the house and grabbed her keys off the counter in the kitchen. As she crossed to the front entrance, the refrigerator caught her eye.

  The dog was probably hungry. If he was hungry enough, she could lure him into her truck bed. No lifting or mauling required. She studied the mostly barren contents of the refrigerator. Her options were limited to pickles or hot dogs. She frowned at the empty shelves as she pulled out the hot dogs. A quick sniff told her they weren't rotten, and she shut the door.

  A minute later, she was in her truck and maneuvered around to the back of the property. She made it to the shed so quickly, she cursed herself for not thinking of driving sooner. The dog was in the same exact position as he'd been in before—on his side. The only movement was his chest rising and falling and his eyes following her every movement.