Dangerous Delusion

by Rhonda Brewer

  “I’m scared too, sweetheart. I’ve always been the guy that my brothers and cousins teased … nevermind.” Nick’s cheeks turned the cutest shade of red.

  “Nick, I know you have a playboy reputation.” Lora smiled because he seemed embarrassed.

  “Aaron’s a hell of a lot worse than I ever was,” Nick grumbled.

  “Can I tell you something?” Lora cupped his face in her hands.

  “Anything,”

  “I don’t care about any of that. I'm no angel.” She watched the flare in his eyes.

  “Are you done with pictures in there?” John shouted through the door.

  “Shit,” Nick stood up straight. “We’ll finish this conversation at supper,” Nick whispered. “We were talking for a minute. I’m getting them now,” Nick shouted through the door.

  Lora pulled her arm out of her shirt sleeve to reveal both of her tattoos. Nick moved close with the camera and clicked a couple of photos of the one on the front of her shoulder, and then she turned around. She shivered as his finger grazed her skin when he brushed her hair out of the way. He clicked a couple more photos of the other tattoo, and then allowed her to fix her shirt.

  “I can still get a female to take the photos of the scar if you want.” Nick met her gaze as she unbuttoned her jeans.

  “I’m comfortable with you, but just try not to get grossed out by the stretch marks.” Lora pulled her thong down enough to show the scar.

  When she heard his intake of breath, her head snapped up. The arousal in his eyes said he wasn’t the least bit turned off by what he saw.

  “I can’t wait to see you in just those,” Nick growled as he crouched in front of her.

  After a couple of clicks of the camera, Nick stood up almost as quickly as he pulled her against him. He covered her mouth with his before she could refasten her jeans.

  “Fuck.” Nick pulled away from her lips and glanced down to where her jeans were still open. His finger ran along the edge of her thong, and she closed her eyes. “I’ve never seen a thong look so damn hot.”

  “Nick, what the fuck are you doing?” John grumbled through the door.

  “I think you better do them up before my brother crashes in here.” Nick gave her another quick kiss, adjusted himself and moved to open the door. “Here, I got a few of the two tattoos and the scar.”

  When Lora had her clothes presentable again, she followed Nick through the door. John’s smile told her he knew they were not merely taking pictures in his office. Time for a distraction from the intense arousal she felt.

  “What do I do now?” Lora asked.

  “We’ve got all the information we were missing.” John held up the camera. “Once we get a hard copy of these, we’ll put them in our files. Aaron has the name of the guy who did both your tattoos, and he’s going to go have a chat with him.”

  “Are you going to keep me in the loop?” Lora worried that once she left the station, they wouldn’t give her any more information.

  “Lora, you don’t have to worry about that. We’ll make sure Nick keeps you up to date on the investigation. This is not just a case to him or us. You’re family, and we protect our own.” John winked at her as he turned and dropped his hand on Nick’s shoulder.

  “Thanks, bro. I’m going to take Lora over to the pub and see if we can help with that situation.” Nick reached behind him and grabbed her hand in his. “You ready?”

  Lora nodded, and it was hard to hide the smile because the truth was, John’s comment on her being part of the family, and Nick’s unconscious act of taking her hand overjoyed her. Even with the stress of knowing it was a good possibility this guy was killing women because he couldn’t find her. The fact he was drawing on them as well as scarring them was beyond terrifying.

  “Is that okay with you?” Nick interrupted her thoughts as he opened the door to the truck.

  “I’m sorry, what?” She was lost in her thoughts and hadn’t heard a word he said.

  “Are you okay?” Nick gently took her chin in his fingers.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking about stuff.” Lora smiled.

  “I hope I’m included in that stuff.” Nick pressed his lips to hers.

  “You’re always in my thoughts. You have been since the first time I saw you.” Lora ran her hand down his cheek.

  “I know the feeling.” Nick gave her another quick kiss and opened the truck door for her.

  For the first time in almost a year, she felt free. It was stupid, because her stalker was still out there. Nobody knew who he was or when he would hurt another woman. Still, Lora felt free to move on with her life.

  “You still didn’t answer my question?” Nick chuckled as he drove toward the pub.

  “What question was that?” Lora lay her head back against the headrest and turned so she could see his profile.

  “If we could have our date this evening instead of tomorrow.” Nick glanced at her and then back to the road.

  “Oh, so we’re only going to have one date, huh?” Lora feigned a sigh.

  Nick didn’t say a word as he turned into the parking lot of the pub. He backed into a spot and turned off the truck. Lora reached for the door to get out, but before she could, Nick grabbed her hands and turned her toward him.

  “Not if I can help it. If it’s up to me, we’ll spend every evening together. I don’t care if it’s just you and me, or you, me and Molly, or the three of us and your mom. I don’t care if it’s in the middle of a flash mob, but we’ll definitely be having more than one date.” Nick gave her a quick kiss on the lips and pulled back.

  “I think if you’re with me all the time you’d eventually get sick of me.” Lora smiled at him.

  “I’ll never get sick of you, honey.” Nick cupped her cheeks and stared into her eyes.

  “We have an audience.” Lora glimpsed over his shoulder.

  Nick’s grandmother, mother and Cora stood in front of his truck with enormous smiles. He turned as all three women held up their fists in the air with thumbs pointing to the sky.

  “We got the thumbs up.” Nick shook his head as he opened the truck door, stepped out.

  “Why do I get the feeling I’m about to enter the lion’s den?” Lora snickered as she met Nick in the front of the truck.

  “You have no idea how right you are.” He linked his fingers with hers and winked.

  Inside the diner, trays of sandwiches and salads sat on the main counter and Nick’s sister-in-law, Billie, was near the door to direct everyone as they came inside.

  “Here are your orders, grab a plate, fill it with food, Jess or Isabelle will get you a drink, and then find a place to sit in the pub.” Billie rested her hands on her baby bump, and gave them a sweet smile.

  “Yes, ma-am.” Nick gave her a salute as he picked up two plates from the pile at the end of the counter.

  In his usual gentleman way, Nick held both plates while Lora filled them. It amazed her how much she piled onto his plate, because it would have fed Lora, her mom, and Molly. It obviously didn’t negatively affect him. The man didn’t have an ounce of fat on his body.

  “Hey, got a couple of seats over here next to us.” Another of Nick’s sisters-in-law called from the other side of the pub.

  “Hey, Steph,” Nick placed both plates on the table and held Lora’s chair for her to sit.

  “John told me you guys left the station, so I saved you a seat. He’s on the way with A.J.” Stephanie placed her baby boy on her knee and proceeded to sway back and forth.

  “Where are the rest of the kids?” Nick pulled his chair into the table.

  “They’re at the community center. Except for this guy, and Keith’s little fella. They have some games and stuff there. A few of the local teenagers organized it.” Stephanie cringed when little Brendan grabbed a handful of her blonde hair.

  “Molly used to love pulling my hair too.” Lora smiled at the baby when he giggled.

  “Yeah, he likes to pull hair, noses, ears and he particularly likes t
o pull his sister’s hair.” Stephanie stood the little boy on her lap. “Don’t you, my little prince.”

  A few minutes later Kurt’s familiar voice echoed through the speakers of the pub. Everyone in the room turned toward the small stage as they continued to eat.

  “Thank you, everyone, for coming today. I know most of you are on lunch break, or have shit to do, but I’m thankful you were able to come.” Kurt pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket and placed a pair of glasses on the tip of his nose.

  “He’s finally wearing the reading glasses.” Stephanie snickered as Jess sat down next to her.

  “If he wants to be able to read, he has no choice.” Jess laughed and gave Lora a little wave.

  “The good news is Alice is home. The bad news, I’m in the dog house because I wouldn’t bring her here today. You may receive a lot of calls or texts from her to make sure I followed her instructions.” Kurt snorted. “First, all of you who told her you could fill in while she’s off, she wanted me to thank you from the bottom of her heart. You have my deepest gratitude as well.”

  Lora scanned the crowd in the pub. She noticed not only were most of the adult O’Connors gathered there, but a number of the men from Keith’s construction company and security firm were as well. She could also see plenty of Alice’s customers, friends and a lot of the O’Connor in-laws.

  “Okay, here we go.” Kurt glanced at the paper again. “Kathleen, Cora, and Mudder are going to take over Alice’s duties in the kitchen with Kit. Stephanie and Marina’s mom, Janet, has volunteered to help in the kitchen as well. Emily’s mom, Lynn Ann, and Billie’s mom, Marg, will be helping in the pub and the diner. Thanks for that ladies. Kathleen has a schedule for the rest of this week. All you need to do is fill in your name where you can volunteer your time.” Kurt glanced at the paper again. “Lora, you'll work your same hours. Alice doesn’t want you to take time away from little Molly.”

  “I don’t mind filling in when you need it, Kurt.” Lora appreciated Alice’s concern, but it wouldn’t be permanent.

  “Nope, she was firm on that, but she said to thank your mom as well for agreeing to work the coat check at the pub on Saturdays.”

  Lora hadn’t realized her mother had volunteered, but since Lora didn’t work on the weekends, it would be good for her mom to get out of the house for something besides her regular card club or committee meetings.

  As Kurt listed off the duties for almost everyone in the pub, a lump formed in Lora’s throat. It moved her to see a family so close that they would give up their free time to help. Not that her family wasn’t the same.

  Before her father died, he would stay after school to help kids with studies or volunteer as a coach for sports teams, drama clubs, art clubs, and even the chess club. He didn’t play, but he said just because the school board cut back all extracurricular programs, didn’t mean the kids had to suffer.

  It made Lora want to volunteer her time at the school as well. Many of the teachers didn’t have time because of family commitments. So, whenever her dad said they needed extra help, Lora and Dallas would be there with a few volunteers. Some university students, and students’ parents would help too, but not nearly as many as was needed. According to Dallas, since Lora’s father passed away, the school had lost most of the volunteers.

  She wanted so much to go back to the school, but it was hard without her dad there. The kids would talk about how it wasn’t the same without him, and the other volunteers would say how much they missed him.

  “Lora, are you okay?” Nick touched her hand making her head snap in his direction.

  She hadn’t realized she’d gone off into a daze until he spoke to her. Lora was slightly embarrassed that she’d gone off in a daze again.

  “Sorry, I was thinking about Dad.” Lora sighed.

  “Do you want to leave? I know what I’m supposed to do.” Nick linked his fingers with hers.

  “No, I’m good. All this just reminded me of him. If he were alive, he’d be the first one in line to help.” Lora smiled.

  “Sounds like a great guy.” Nick lifted her hand and kissed the back of it.

  “He was.” Lora blinked back the tears.

  An hour later, everyone had a copy of the first week’s schedule. Kurt mentioned the Canada Day celebration may be cancelled, but he’d let everyone know once he talked to Alice. It was two weeks away, so there was still plenty of time to prepare if Alice was against it.

  “How’s your mom?” Lora asked Kristy as they made their way out of the pub.

  “Surprisingly in good spirits, but I have a feeling that will change real fast if dad keeps hovering.” Kristy laughed.

  “Just don’t give her a frying pan. She may beat him with it.” Nick laughed.

  “I’m keeping her out of the kitchen.” Kristy chuckled.

  “Where’s Bull?” Nick glanced around.

  Lora couldn’t remember seeing Kristy’s fiancé when she walked in, and it would be hard to miss the bald head. Plus, he rarely left Kristy's side when they were in the same room. He may be a big tough guy, but he was putty in Kristy’s hands.

  “He and Hannah went to make sure the old house is completely cleared out of their family’s things. It’s sold. They never want to go inside that place ever again after today.” Kristy shuddered.

  “Good,” Nick gave Lora’s hand a gentle squeeze.

  She wasn’t entirely sure what happened with Dean and his sister. All Lora knew was, Hannah’s husband faked his own death, and tried to frame Hannah for the murder. It was a big news story, because Dean’s family were one of the most well known in the province.

  The only thing Lora was sure about was Dean was madly in love with Kristy. When they were in the same room, it was as if nobody else existed. Dean’s sister was friendly and dropped by the restaurant often with a firefighter named Garrett. Although, she insisted he and her were just friends.

  “Hey, I just saw Keith come in. I need to ask him something.” Nick released her hand and left her standing next to Kristy.

  “Well, it’s about damn time.” Kristy nudged her elbow.

  “If you’re referring to Nick, yes, it's about damn time.” Jess appeared behind her sister.

  “Don’t go getting all excited. We haven’t even had our first date yet.” Lora rolled her eyes.

  “Oh honey, you two are so beyond dates now.” Jess wiggled her eyebrows.

  “What are you… wait…you think… hold on… we haven’t.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, because the truth was she craved Nick.

  “Oh, come on. A.J. said, you two were in John’s office forever.” Jess grinned.

  “Oh, Lord. The only thing that happened in that office was Nick took pictures and… well, a kiss.” Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire.

  She was so embarrassed Nick’s family thought they were fooling around in John's office. Well, they kind of were, but from the grin Jess gave her, Nick’s cousin thought they did a lot more than just kiss.

  “Seriously?” Jess sounded doubtful at first, but Lora turned to glare at Aaron as he strutted across the pub.

  “A.J.’s in so much trouble.” Kristy laughed.

  “Why is A.J. in trouble now?” Nick appeared behind her and grasped her hand.

  “I’ll let Lora tell you, but you guys were in there a long time, from what I heard.” Jess wiggled her fingers in a wave as she and Kristy walked away.

  “Want to tell me why I’ve got to beat the shit out of A.J.?” Nick glanced over her shoulder in the direction where Kristy and Jess had left.

  “Take me home, I’ll tell you on the way.” Lora wanted to get out of the restaurant before someone else said something.

  Nick didn’t say another word as they walked out of the pub and made their way to his truck. He waved to his family and from the grins on a lot of their faces, they’d heard Aaron’s little story. Facing them again was going to be humiliating.

  He was enraged. The bitch died before he had a chance to slit her throat
, but he probably shouldn’t have beaten her so severely. He was tired of being kept apart from his love and went too far.

  He studied Dulce’s beaten and bruised body. She was similar to his love, but her tattoos were different. He didn't know how to cover up tattoos, but something compelled him toward her.

  “I’m tired of weak imitations of you, my love. I need you, and no cheap whore is going to take your place.” He pushed Dulce’s shoulder.

  Her lifeless body tipped over in the chair and hit the concrete floor with a slap. He’d take care of the garbage later. It was Thursday night, and Sheila was a creature of habit. He would have to miss work, and if his boss gave him shit about it, he’d remind the bastard of the little video he currently possessed. The one that could ruin his employer’s career and life.

  His next step, surveillance outside that stuck up bitch’s house. Daphne Hobbs was the key to finding his love, and she was probably the one who convinced Sheila to hide her daughter. Daphne never liked him, but that didn’t anger him as much as it did when she snubbed him.

  He pulled the black hat over his head and shoved his arms into the jacket. Between the dark clothes and his tinted windows, he could sit on the side of the road for days before anyone would notice. After all, his car resembled the high-end vehicles the snobs on that street owned.

  As his garage door slowly went up, he got into his Black Mercedes Benz C-Class Coup. It was the one possession he owned that everyone admired. He’d used his family money to buy the one indulgence, even though he was mocked for wasting his money by his father.

  He didn’t care, because when he overheard his love say she’d love to get behind the wheel of one. He wanted to make all her dreams come true, and as soon as he found where they were hiding her, he’d let her drive his.

  Chapter 12

  Nick dropped Lora off at her home, but he was ready to explode. He hid his anger from Lora, even managing to make her laugh at the whole situation. Aaron didn’t mean any harm, and Nick knew that. His brother had probably been joking with Jess, but it didn’t calm his urge to pound the piss out of the ass.