“Like my Reed?” Nora asked hesitantly, seeming to sense the gravity of what Emma was telling her.
Emma nodded. “And I didn’t get to go to school like you do, so no one taught me how to read either.”
“Oh,” Nora said sadly. “Maybe my Reed can teach you. He helps me, and so does my Lala.”
A shaky laugh left Emma. “I actually know how to read now—I taught myself. Every time we moved somewhere new, I found a library or a bookstore like this one. And a lot of days, I’d stay there all day long because it didn’t cost anything to hide in the corner with a book.”
My chest wrenched, but I forced my outward appearance to remain unchanged as she painted more of her past, helping me understand her that much more . . . like why it was so hard for her to accept help.
She’d spent most of her life trying to erase her mom’s debt, and everything she had—including basic skills that should’ve been taught to her—she’d attained on her own. All while taking care of her mom and defending herself from the pieces of shit lingering around.
“Did you read Fancy Nancy?” Nora asked.
“Fancy Nancy wasn’t around when I was doing that, but I think if she were, I probably would’ve liked her as much as you do.”
Nora lit up, just the slightest mention of the character and books making her so damn excited.
“But Ms. Donna gave me this loft to do with as I wanted, and since it’s quite a corner, I thought I’d make it your corner for when you come visit.” She tilted her head and pointed to the bookshelf beside her, drawing Nora’s attention there—and mine.
And my heart fucking stopped.
“Fancy Nancy!” Nora cried out and darted past Emma, dropping to her knees and letting her good hand flutter over the completely stocked shelves as if she was afraid to touch the books.
By the time I was able to look at Emma again, she was straightening from her crouch, a gentle smile touching her face that fell to worry when she glanced my way.
“When did you do this?” I asked, throat thick with emotion that built and built. Something I couldn’t understand because this was all new territory.
“Last week,” she mumbled warily. “That’s what I was doing when you came up here.”
I blinked slowly, trying to comprehend as I looked back to where Nora was still only studying the books—not touching them. “You did this for her?”
Her stare darted over to where Rowe was trying to make himself invisible and then back to me. “I know you buy her the books, and I’m not trying to take that away from you. I just thought she might also want them—”
I pressed my mouth to hers, silencing her apologetic ramble and swallowing her shock of surprise. “I fucking love you,” I whispered against her lips before kissing her again.
“You’re not mad?”
“Are you kidding?” I pressed my forehead to hers for a few seconds before pulling back, keeping my hand on her waist. “This is everything to her. No, I’m not mad.”
Relief fled from her on an exhale. “When I bought them, I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to show it to her. But I wanted it in case Lala brought her—speaking of, have you heard from her?”
“Yeah, she called just as we were headed over here.” The corner of my mouth lifted as I told her, “She tried to guilt me into getting her out of the hospital—saying you’re leaving her in there.”
“I am not,” she said defensively even as a breath of a laugh slipped free because it was such a Lala thing to say. “I talked to her doctor about an hour ago. He said they’re hoping she can come home tonight . . . unless she has another seizure.”
I curled my fingers tighter against her waist at the worry that flashed through her eyes. “Let’s hope she doesn’t. But we’re gonna head over there after lunch to check on her.”
She nodded after a moment and whispered, “Okay.”
“She’ll be home soon, bossing people around and getting in their business, and back in the kitchen for Thursdays in no time,” I said, trying to soothe her worries. “All right?”
A brief smile touched her lips. “If she were anyone else, I might not believe you.” Letting her fingers trail over my chest, she stepped away, her entire demeanor shifting back to excitement. “I almost forgot,” she said under her breath, “I got something for Nora.”
I gestured to the bookshelf as I turned to watch her take a step back toward the stairs. “More than the books?”
“Well, Donna and I thought the loft needed to feel more like hers,” Emma explained softly so her voice wouldn’t carry to Nora. “It’s a large, princess castle tent to relax and read in that has twinkle lights and big star lights. It’s very fancy.”
Wonder tugged at my chest as a smile stole across my face. “I’m never going to be able to get her out of there.”
She rolled her eyes, looking all playful and light. “I’ll be right back, it’s in the office.”
I watched her go, my heart racing the way it always did around her and twisting up because she was doing things for Nora. She’d been doing them even when Nora wanted nothing to do with her.
“Can I look at one, my Reed?” Nora asked, voice all reverence as she continued looking over what seemed to be every Fancy Nancy book ever made.
“Go for it,” I managed to say, gravel scratching up my words as I watched her carefully select one of her favorites and sit back with it right there in front of the shelf.
“Ryan, what the hell?” Rowe asked when he came up beside me. Shock and horror practically bursting from him and filling the open space. “What kind of life did she have?”
My head shook, but I didn’t look away from Nora.
“I knew she moved a lot, but . . .”
“Can’t do this, man,” I murmured low enough for the conversation to stay between us. “Not my story.”
Rowe was silent for more than a minute as we watched the little girl read the book to herself, mostly from memory. “Did you know?”
I released a slow breath. “Every day, I find out something new that tears at a piece of my soul.” Sparing him a glance, I muttered, “That wasn’t the worst. By far.”
Worry and sorrow bled from him, but he just stood still and silent beside me for a while before asking, “Have I mentioned I like her?”
A huff left me, and I rubbed my hand over my chest. Skin suddenly feeling too tight for my body.
“I like her,” he said resolutely, then mumbled, “Look what she did for the kid.” Awe wrapping around the words as Nora finished the book and put it back in the same place before searching out another.
A smile broke free only to falter when I realized Nora had already finished a book, and Emma still wasn’t back.
If she’d just been running to the office and back, that trip would’ve taken a minute.
“You good?”
I glanced over to see Rowe staring at where I was still rubbing at my chest. Hadn’t even realized I was until then.
“Emma should’ve been back,” I muttered, crossing the loft to look out over the store. Gaze shifting from person to person in quick succession before I was moving back across the space to where Rowe was waiting.
Years of working together on missions had him on high alert, but the guy was always so at ease that you’d never know anything was wrong unless you knew his tells. The way his head slightly dipped and slanted, listening for threats. Eyes trained on the only entrance to where we were, daring someone to come through it.
All so subtle while he stood there with a smirk and his arms folded casually across his chest.
“She out there?” he asked, feigning indifference. When I shook my head, he shrugged. “She could’ve gotten a call—maybe for Lala?”
My head continued to shake. “Feel like I’m crawling out of my skin,” I said as I backed up to the stairs, attention shifting to where Nora held the second book on her lap, completely unconcerned.
Rowe casually positioned himself between her and the doorway, silently letting m
e know he had her, and that was all I needed to go hurrying down the stairs.
Taking a step out of the hallway and into the store, I made a quick sweep to see if she might be there, but there was nothing. Just people walking throughout, oblivious to the feeling creeping across my body and growing stronger when I turned and moved down the long hall.
My steps slowed to a stop when I slipped up to the office and heard the deep, unmistakable tenor of a man seeping out of the cracked-open door.
Taunting.
Demanding.
Pressing up against the door, I glanced through the crack just large enough to show the back of a man . . . and Emma, pinned between him and the wall.
Rage exploded in my veins, but I forced myself to take a breath. To remember every second of training I’d endured so I wouldn’t put her at risk.
Pulling my gun from the holster hidden beneath my shirt, I chambered a round and slowly leaned against the door, letting it open enough for me to step through as the man spoke.
“I think it’s me who’s going to be doing the ruining, Ms. Wade.”
“Fuck you,” she breathed, voice twisting around the words. “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you.” She thrashed against him, and he laughed as he pressed her harder against the wall.
“That’s the idea,” he said as I edged around the desk, giving me a clear view of him for a moment when he pressed his nose to her neck and breathed her in, nearly causing me to stumble and forget fucking everything because someone was touching her.
Not just someone—Jarrod fucking Davis.
But I somehow managed to keep each step quick and careful.
Silent.
Still, I fought to keep my stare on him when it kept drawing back to Emma. Checking her, making sure she wasn’t hurt and getting stuck on the absolute terror in her eyes. Haunted and familiar . . . the steel she normally wore like armor shaking, struggling to remain in place.
“Rot in Hell,” she seethed and looked up at him, her face falling when she saw me there.
“Get the fuck away from her,” I demanded as I pressed the gun to the base of his spine and gripped his shoulder, digging my fingers into the pressure point there and walking him back when he arched away from her. “You okay?”
Emma just stared at us, expression vacant, chest pitching wildly.
“Babe, I need an answer.”
Her head moved in a mess of nods and shakes as she blinked away whatever she was seeing.
Jarrod hissed when I dug my fingers into the spot behind his collarbone even harder. “You’re making a mistake.”
“That right?” I asked through clenched teeth. “Except you were touching someone who isn’t yours. Someone who clearly didn’t want to be touched.”
He roughed out a low laugh. “That’s just her game, the little tease.”
I twisted and flung him back into the desk, punching him before he managed to catch himself on it.
“Reed!” Emma cried out, horrified.
Jarrod held a hand to his face, blood pouring free from his nose, and yelled, “I can destroy you like that.” Snapping his fingers. “Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t give a shit who you are. You touched my girl.”
He smiled through the blood and sneered, “You’re very focused on that. Or is that how it is with you? Touch it, it’s yours?” His stare shifted behind me. “If that’s the case, she was mine first.”
I hesitated, waiting for Emma to deny what Jarrod had said, then slowly placed my other hand back on the gun, securing my hold as I aimed at his stomach. My own clenching with unease.
“You can’t shoot me,” he seethed, “but I’m going to enjoy ruining your career and your life. You small-town, worthless excuse for a boy with a toy gun. I will slowly tear you down until you are nothing.”
“Is that right?” I asked with a soft twitch of my lips. Letting all the panic and fear coming from behind me wrap around me, I lowered my voice to something softer, more comforting. “Emma, now’s the time to tell me how you know him.”
“Oh, we just go way back. Isn’t that right, darlin’?” Jarrod asked as he swiped at his face and more blood pooled out.
“It’s going to be a very painful and slow death if I shoot you now,” I said in low warning. “I’d stop talking if I were you.”
“The oath you took to get your badge protects me from that.”
A smirk slowly stole across my face. “My family has a reputation for conveniently forgetting the law when necessary. From what Emma said about you before and what I just walked in on . . . I’m still figuring out if this is one of those necessary situations. And I’ll gladly lose my badge if it is.”
I stepped back and to the side, keeping my gun level and stare on Jarrod as I did until I could see Emma out of the corner of my eye.
Still back against the wall. Arms wrapped around herself.
“Emma, how do you know him?”
Jarrod’s eyes narrowed in obvious warning and challenge as they shifted to her.
“Babe,” I softly begged when a minute came and went in thick silence.
“Shit—what?” Rowe hissed when he stepped into the office, taking everything in.
“Nora,” I demanded without taking my stare from the man leaning against the desk.
“She’s with . . .” Rowe gestured to Jarrod, an irritated huff tumbling free as he positioned himself so he could better look at Jarrod while still guarding the door. “She’s with Leah—who was looking for you, by the way.”
When Jarrod rolled his eyes, Rowe rocked forward, hands curling into fists when he forced himself to move back a step instead.
“This might be your only chance,” I mumbled.
Rowe’s head snapped up, his surprise filling the room.
“He had Emma pinned against the wall,” I explained as Emma muttered my name in a soft plea for me to stop. “She clearly didn’t want him in here with her.”
Rowe was erasing the distance between him and Jarrod before I’d finished explaining. Grabbing the collar of his shirt when Jarrod stumbled over himself to get away and pulling him closer to deliver a hit to his jaw.
“You know exactly what that was for,” Rowe ground out.
“Reed, stop him,” Emma begged as Rowe continued.
“This? This is for the way you treat Leah.” The next punch sent Jarrod sprawling onto the floor, his grating laugh mixed with his panting breaths.
“Tell me,” Jarrod said, spitting blood onto the carpet before glaring up at Rowe, “the baby she’s carrying . . . is it mine?” He smirked even though it looked like it caused him more pain. “Because you’ve been drooling over her like a starved dog since you showed up in this town.”
“Some of us know when to keep our hands to ourselves.”
“I doubt that,” Jarrod goaded as I glanced back at Emma.
Brows drawing together and a fist clenching my stomach when she looked between Jarrod and Rowe as if she didn’t know what to do—didn’t know how to stop what was happening.
“How do you know him?” I asked, searching those hazel eyes when they dragged to me, pleading with me to end this.
“Reed, just let him go.”
Unease snaked through my veins as those demons continued dragging her back. “Emma, I saw you—I’m looking at you now.”
Her head moved in quick, tight jerks. “You need to let him go.”
My shoulders sagged when tears gathered in her eyes, but I forced myself to relax my stance and holster my gun.
Jarrod coughed out a laugh. “What was that you were saying about her being yours?”
I faced him again, but not before I saw the way Emma’s expression creased with pain and disgust at his words. “Have you forgotten you’re married?”
He huffed out a pained wheeze. “Leah knows her place.”
“Peter,” Emma cried out when he charged Jarrod again.
Chest heaving and hand clenched into a tight fist as he stared Jarrod down with pure rage.
“I need you to go,” Emma said, voice trembling.
I jerked my head at the mess of a man in front of me. “You heard her.”
“Reed,” she choked out. “Reed, I need you and Peter to go.”
A horrible mixture of ice and fire washed through me, stealing the air from my lungs and crushing my heart as I stood there. Every warning sign flashing. Every protective instinct locking me in place.
Triumph and pleasure and desire flashed across Jarrod’s expression before he glanced my way and mocked, “You heard her.”
“Reed—”
“I can’t,” I breathed, head shaking for a moment before I looked at Emma again. “I can’t leave you with him.”
“I need you to.” When I didn’t move, she straightened herself and tried pulling all that steel and ice around herself as she ground out, “I don’t want you here, can’t you understand that?”
But her eyes told me something else.
Gave me all that pain and sorrow and a fear that was so different from what haunted her while begging me to trust her.
Confusion swam through me as I studied her, but I just gave her the slightest dip of my head and muttered, “That’s what you really want?” Giving me another moment to try to figure out what I was missing.
“Get out,” she demanded, all venom wrapping around her sorrow.
I nodded more exaggeratedly and stepped back, holding her stare for a second longer before turning.
Rowe scoffed out a sound that was all disbelief and not at all him. Whatever Emma was trying to tell me, he saw it too. “Are you serious? You’re gonna leave her with this asshole?”
I let my glare slide to Jarrod before stalking toward the door, not responding as I slipped out into the hall and took a few thundering steps away before silently moving back to the doorway just as Rowe slammed the door and took his place beside me against the wall.
“It didn’t latch,” he said under his breath, then made a little motion as if wiggling a doorknob. “I held on.”
I nodded, then strained to listen.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea,” I answered, closing my eyes to better focus on the muted sounds coming from the room. “But if I try to kill him . . . don’t stop me.”
Lie to Me Page 39
