She wished she could take back everything that had happened since the sun came up this morning.
Last night, while she had been cleaning her house, everything had been so perfect. She’d felt more positive about her future than she had since she was a very small girl before her parents died.
All because of Carter.
He had taken away some of the burden she’d carried around for so long. He had made her excited to get up in the morning, rather than just going through the motions. It was like he had turned her from a flat 2D image of a person into a real 3D human with feelings and emotions and hopes and joys. She wanted to be done with trying to squash her emotions and just survive. She’d thought Carter could be the one to help her do that, but now he was gone.
It had all happened so quickly.
One minute they were kissing and holding each other, and the next, they were arguing and Carter was walking out the door.
Maybe if she could try to analyze every second, everything she had said, and everything he had said, then she could—
A horn blared.
Tires screeched.
Hands curled around her upper arms and dragged her backward.
“What are you doing? You stepped right out into traffic without even looking.”
Rose blinked and looked up into Lincoln’s face.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” she replied, a little shakily. She must have been so lost in thought she hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing and stepped right out into the road.
“What were you thinking about? I called your name like three or four times and you didn't even hear me.”
She didn't really want to discuss Carter with Lincoln. It felt weird because Lincoln was her best friend and Carter was … well, technically, he wasn't anything, but she still felt uncomfortable talking to Lincoln about it.
“Yesterday afternoon I went to the lake; someone was there, following me. I rowed out onto the water and called the cops. They came but they found bodies in the water,” she explained. She’d meant to ask Carter about it, but hadn't had a chance because of their argument. Now she wouldn’t be able to find out what the cops had found and if it was related to Evie and her death. “After all of that, I couldn’t sleep. I guess I’m just tired and a little distracted.”
“Why didn't you call me?” Lincoln asked, looking upset.
Because she’d had Carter.
Had.
Past tense.
“Didn't want to worry you, I guess.” She shrugged.
“Well, I'm here now.” Lincoln smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. She’d hurt him by shutting him out. It seemed like no matter what she did, she ended up hurting someone. “You want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” She didn't want to think at all. She just wanted to close her eyes and rest. Good rest. Sleep without dreams. She didn't want to dream about Evie and what her final moments had been like, and she didn't want to dream about Carter and the future they might have had.
“Do you still want to have lunch?”
Rose mustered a smile for the friend who had always been there for her. “Of course I do. I'm sorry, Lincoln … I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings.”
Lincoln’s smiled eased into a genuine one. “It’s okay. I understand sometimes you like to deal with things on your own. Evie was your person to talk to and she’s gone now, but I'm still here, okay? Don’t shut me out.”
“Never,” Rose promised as she slid her hand into Lincoln’s.
“Let's go eat.”
Hand in hand, they crossed the street and headed for their favorite restaurant. “I can't believe that tomorrow we have to say goodbye to Evie forever.” Tomorrow morning was her best friend’s funeral, and Rose still hadn't even really come to terms with the idea that Evelyn was actually dead.
“Not forever, not even for a little while. You don’t have to say goodbye to Evie because she’s always going to be with us.”
He was right.
She was never going to forget Evie or everything they had been through or what her friend had meant to her. They’d had as many good times together as they’d had bad—more, probably, because Evie was so full of life and energy.
But Evie was gone.
They weren't going to go and sit by the lake and talk for hours. She wasn't going to get woken up in the middle of the night because Evie had a new man or a problem with one of her boyfriends. They weren't going to sit up in their pajamas and watch movies and eat popcorn. They weren't going to laugh and talk and share their secrets.
Rose wanted to share all those good times with Carter, but she didn't know where they stood. If Evie were here, she’d tell Rose to fight for what she wanted. To not be the same scared little girl who tried to blend into the background so no one would see her. She’d tell her to own her feelings.
Tomorrow was about Evie, but maybe after that, she would try to call Carter and see if they could come to a compromise that satisfied them both.
“Do you want me to take the lead?”
Carter resisted sighing heavily in exasperation, or even rolling his eyes, because Jade wouldn’t get off his case. “Do you feel like you need to take the lead?”
So maybe he held back visual dramatics, but he didn’t manage to leave it out of his tone.
One silky brow rose as she pursed her lips. Instead of responding, she opened her door and stepped out of the car.
Carter followed suit, his eyes narrowing at the scene unfolding in front of them. Standing near the steps to a mobile office in the middle of the construction area where they were told they could find Nathan, when they stopped by the main office was the man himself—and a woman, who didn’t appear too happy to be talking to him. Nathan stood at the bottom of the steps, the woman stood on the top step—only two steps present, unable to pass, it seemed. Her posture looked defensive, her eyes filled with a mixture of fear and anger.
“You know you want it. Come on, darling.”
The woman’s eyes rounded as Carter stepped right behind Nathan, who hadn’t noticed them yet. Maybe if he had, he wouldn’t have said what he did to the woman.
“What does she want?” Carter asked before Jade could take the lead. She glared at him out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing. Well, if she wanted him to hang out in the background she should’ve walked faster and spoke first.
Nathan jumped and turned around, yet, despite being startled, his expression didn’t show an ounce of surprise. “Detectives, hello.” Nathan took a step toward Jade. “You know, I don’t think I ever got your name the last time we spoke, beautiful.”
Carter didn’t care if Jade got upset with him. There was no way he was going to allow this prick to talk to her that way. He took a step in front of Jade. His eyes narrowed, his brows furrowed, his entire posture displayed the thin rope that was barely keeping him from layering punch after punch into this guy.
“It’s Detective. It’s nothing other than Detective. Do I make myself clear?”
Nathan stood taller, as if he were preparing for the nasty blow he wanted to give him. Then he cleared his throat and threw out a smile. “Of course. I just don’t recall you identifying yourselves the last time we spoke.”
“Detective Dixson and Hawkins. We have some questions for you.” Carter looked at the woman standing as still as a statute on the top step. “Is everything okay here, ma’am?”
“Everything’s fine,” Nathan said a little too quickly.
Carter shot him a vicious glare. “I wasn’t addressing you. Don’t speak.” He attempted to relax his features and offered the woman a smile. “Ma’am, are you okay?”
Her eyes darted frantically from Nathan, then back to him. She gave a tight nod. “I’m fine.”
Carter knew what Nathan said to her had been in a derogatory manner, yet she didn’t want to do anything about it. Here, she had help right in front of her, and she was willing to let this sleezeball get away with treating her that way.
<
br /> “Are you positive?”
Jade cleared her throat behind him, then stepped to his side and smiled at the woman. “Is there a bathroom I can use? Could you show me? I just can’t hold it any longer.”
The woman’s gaze darted between everyone before offering another stiff nod. “Sure. Right this way.” She went down the steps with quick footsteps and headed toward the right. Jade matched her pace.
Carter turned his full attention to Nathan. “My partner is very persuasive. If you did something to that woman, she’ll find out. And I will thoroughly enjoy arresting you.”
Nathan folded his arms as a smug smile touched his lips. “Good luck. She won’t have anything bad to say about me. I’m a great guy.”
A low chuckle floated out. Not that Carter found anything about this guy funny, except the audacity he thought he was untouchable.
“Let me guess. You want sex and you were threatening her job if she doesn’t put out. Am I right?”
His smug smile didn’t falter. “Wrong. I don’t need to threaten women.”
Carter couldn’t hold in a snicker as he looked Nathan up and down. Decent muscles lined his arms, not surprising since he worked construction. In fact, he looked toned all over, as if he might actually work out. That didn’t mean anything. The man was disgusting because his personality was downright repulsive.
“Jealous, Detective?”
“Annoyed and close to losing my patience.” Carter smiled. “You have quite the rap sheet. Sexual harassment, domestic violence … attempted rape.”
The arrogant grin slowly faded. “I wasn’t officially charged with rape.”
“Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
“What can I do for you, Detective? Is there a reason for this visit?”
“You didn’t have many nice things to say about Evelyn Marshall.”
“So? She was a tease. Why would I have nice things to say about her?”
Carter inhaled a deep breath before continuing. He could keep his cool. He promised Jade he would. But this guy rankled his nerves so much he just wanted to pummel him deep into the ground.
“We found six more bodies in the same lake we found Evelyn. Do you know anything about that?”
Nathan leaned back, his face filled with surprise. “You think I had something to do with that? Because Evie was a tease, I killed her and six other women? Get out of here.”
“You have a problem with women. With the word no.”
“I’m done here. Get off my property.” Nathan pointed his finger in the direction of his vehicle.
A muscle ticked in his cheek as he inhaled another deep breath to calm himself down. “Get your finger out of my face.”
With a sneer, Nathan wiggled his finger near him, then lowered his hand. “You don’t scare me, Detective. Get off my property before I call my lawyer and have your badge for harassment.”
Carter chuckled, hoping to relax the fury flowing through his veins to punch this guy. “I’d call that lawyer if I were you. You’re going to need them when I pin each and every one of these murders on you.”
“Good luck with that.” Nathan turned around and stalked up the two steps, then slammed the office door shut.
Staring at the door for a few seconds, debating whether he should grill him some more, he finally decided it’d probably be pressing his luck if he did. They didn’t have any evidence against Nathan. Just gut instinct and a nasty rap sheet. It didn’t prove he murdered those women, but it was enough for Carter.
He met Jade by the vehicle, meeting her stern gaze head on. “Well, what did the woman say?”
“That she has nothing bad to say about Nathan.” Jade’s eyes shimmered with concern. “She’s a single mom with three kids. She can’t afford to lose her job.” One shoulder lifted as a frown emerged. “She’s scared, Carter. I couldn’t get anything out of her.” Tossing her head toward the office, her brows then lifted. “What did you get out of him?”
“Not a confession, unfortunately.” He slowly grinned like the devil as he headed for the driver’s side. “And I didn’t hit him. Kept my cool.”
Jade eyed him with her signature glare before laughing. “How long do we think your cool is going to last?”
Rose’s beautiful face punctured his mind.
He needed to see her. He needed to apologize.
A heavy sigh released. “I hope for a little while longer.”
Because if he lost his control again with Rose, he had no doubts about what would happen.
She’d throw him out of her life.
If she hadn’t already decided to do that.
10
This was it.
Time to say goodbye.
It didn't feel real. Rose kept expecting her phone to buzz with a text from Evie or her phone to ring in the middle of the night because her friend needed a ride. Or a knock on her door saying that she needed a place to live for a while because she’d gotten divorced again or broken up with another boyfriend.
But she would never get any of those things again.
Whether it felt real or not, it was. Evelyn was really gone.
She hoped one day she would know why. She wanted answers. Evie was only twenty-nine—way too young to die. And it wasn't like she’d been struck down with some illness. As awful as that would have been, as least there would have been time to prepare. But this had come out of nowhere. She hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye. Knowing that her friend had been murdered was a lot to deal with. Especially knowing that the killer was still out there.
At least it was a comfort to know that whether they were together or not, Carter would do everything he could to find out who murdered her friend.
It would have been more of a comfort if Carter was here with her, though.
She missed him. It had only been twenty-four hours since the argument at her apartment, and she’d only known him for four days before that. What she was feeling was all so stupid when she thought about it logically. You couldn’t fall in love in four days. You couldn’t meet someone and just days later be dreaming about spending the rest of your lives together.
Could you?
Sometimes you just knew when you met someone for the first time that they were special, and that there was going to be something big between you.
That was how it had been the first day she met Evie.
They were nine years old, and Rose knew the second she saw Evie that they were going to be friends. It had been two and a half years since her parents had died, and she had already lived in ten different homes. Then she’d been taken out to a large house in the country. When they had pulled up the driveway, Evie had been sitting on a swing, her long red braids blowing in the wind. Evelyn had already been living at the house for a couple of months and when night had come and they had been tucked into their beds in the room that they shared, Evie had told her everything about the house that was now to be her home.
Ever since that night, they’d been friends. They had been there for one another no matter what, through good times and bad times and worse times.
Now it was over and Rose had to find a way to get through the bad times on her own. The first of those bad times being the potential ending of her budding relationship with Carter.
Rose rested a hand on the coffin. It was going to be a closed casket ceremony since Evie’s body had been badly damaged by the water. She had wanted to get here a little early, before everyone else, so she could have a chance to say her own goodbyes by herself.
“Thank you, Evie,” she whispered aloud. “For being the best friend a girl could ever ask for. For always being there for me when I needed you. For making me laugh and crying with me when I wept and keeping my secrets safe. I won't ever have another best friend like you.”
“Aww, so touching,” a voice sneered behind her.
She turned to find Nathan watching her.
What was he doing here? He certainly wasn't a friend of Evie’s, so why had he come to her funeral?
&nb
sp; “Go away, Nathan,” she said, deliberately turning her back on him. Nothing was going to mess with today, especially not something like that disgusting pig of a man. Today was about Evie and nothing else.
“Go away?” he growled, she could hear him stalking toward her; he stopped right behind her, close enough that she could smell his alcohol-laced breath. “No one tells me to go away.”
“You’ve been drinking. Don’t do anything stupid; it’s Evie’s funeral,” she said, willing herself to remain calm. Nathan freaked her out. Always had since they were kids and he was her foster brother.
“She got what was coming to her.” He grabbed her roughly around the waist and spun her around, shoving her up against the coffin. “You got something coming to you, too.”
“Let go of me.” She tried to squirm out of his grip, but it was like steel.
“No,” he said simply, his face just an inch from hers, his putrid breath hot against her skin. “You sent that cop boyfriend of yours to my job to harass me. I didn't like that. All those times you turned me down … all those times Lincoln or someone else interrupted us. This time, no one is going to stop me.”
His lips touched hers and she didn't think, she just reacted.
Rose rammed her knee up, connecting squarely with Nathan's groin, and he released her, springing backward.
Nathan’s face turned red, spit dotted the corners of his mouth, and he lunged toward her.
Hot-blooded rage filled his veins. All that calm he aimed for throughout the day yesterday disappeared in an instant when he saw Nathan’s filthy hands on Rose.
Before Nathan could lay another hand on her, he yanked on the back of his shirt and jerked him away.
A low grunt fell out as Nathan stumbled backward. Before he could gain his stance, Carter turned him around and landed a punch directly in his face.
Rose’s terrified face punctured his mind. It wouldn’t leave. Like a movie reel in slow motion—round eyes, fear glimmering like a bright star in the sky. It’s all he could see as his rage boiled over.
Whack!
Grunts and groans filled the room.
Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology Page 199
