by Lainey Reese
“I was home with Bill and the kids. Before that we were at a ball game. Bill coaches for our youngest and we all go to help out at the concession stand.” She crossed her arms over herself in a protective gesture. “Am I a suspect, Detective?”
“I’m asking the whereabouts of everyone connected. What time was the game over?”
Brice watched her eyes dart around the room. “Nine o’clock.”
“Late for a Little League game, wasn’t it?”
She bit her lip and answered, “Not really. It got over earlier than that, but we had to help out. You know, close out the stand and clean up and stuff.” She tugged at one ear and then scratched at her neck. She was awful fidgety for a mom recounting her kid’s Little League game.
“Care to tell me why you’re so nervous?” He pointed to her hand that was now scratching at her leg and she visibly forced herself to relax.
“It’s just…” A huge sob broke from her chest. “Just that I‘m scared. I’m scared that my shop is going to close down because no one is coming here for coffee anymore and—and—and what if he comes after me next?”
She crumpled. Brice watched in horror as she simply dropped out of view and disappeared behind the counter. He heard her sobbing voice float up from the floor. “I’m next, I know it and I got kids and my husband and I don’t wanna lose my shop and I’m scared and what am I going to do?”
With all the caution he would use approaching a bomb, Brice leaned over the counter and looked down. She was hunched over with her arms clasped around her middle, sitting cross-legged. She rocked back and forth and continued to sob out her misery to the floor. “I’m a terrible person. I should be worried about my poor girls. Katie and Amber and now poor sweet Angie but all I can think about is me and my stupid business. I’m awful. I-I-I-I’m a bad person.” Then the rest was lost in some pretty impressive wailing.
The bell above the door chimed. Brice looked over to watch the customer who came in pause and go wide-eyed at the sound of weeping. She looked at Brice and he just shrugged and pointed over the counter to where Jenny continued to bawl.
“Maybe you should come back later,” he told her even as she turned and fled. He walked back to the door and locked it behind her. When he came back, Jenny was pulling herself up with both hands and looked like she’d aged about twenty years in the last ten minutes.
“I don’t even know why I opened today. I should have stayed home. I should have. Bill told me to.” She gave a watery huff. “Shit, Bill told me to close permanently and sell.” She looked at him with her heart in her eyes. “I can’t sell. I love this place. And, Detective, believe it or not, part of why I love this place is my girls. I do. I love my girls and I can’t take this.” She seemed to steel herself and then asked, “Are you arresting me?”
Brice grabbed a napkin from the counter and handed it to her. “No. I’m not arresting you.” Yet. “Your back door is locked with a deadbolt.”
She blew her nose and answered, “Yes.”
“Any way for it to be locked without a key?”
Another blow and snuffle. “No.”
“Can you explain how Angie was out in the alley with her keys inside and yet you had to come let everybody in?”
The blowing stopped and Jenny looked at him with fresh horror.
“Whoever attacked Angie locked up before they left. Seems the killer loves this shop too.”
In the family waiting area of the hospital, Brice sat knee to knee with Kent and filled him in on his little talk with Jenny. “Mandy is the only other employee and therefore key we have left. I went back through the belongings of the first two and both of their keys are accounted for.”
“So unless someone made a copy, we are down to two suspects.” Kent was haggard and wrung-out, but now he also looked determined.
“That’s a big unless, but yeah. That’s my take too.” He motioned with his chin to the ICU. “How is she? Any change?”
“No.” Kent ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “They have her in a medically induced coma. They said it’s supposed to give her time for the brain swelling to go down. But with that they have to have a machine breathing for her and they can’t get an accurate reading of her brainwaves, so they have no idea if she’s going to come out of this a vegetable or not. Doc said the damn bastard beat the shit out of her skull. They said it’s a miracle she didn’t die on impact because her whole skull is a fucking spider web of cracks.”
His shoulders slumped and he dropped his head into his hands with a barely controlled sob. Brice reached out and squeezed his shoulder in comfort. “Her right elbow was shattered, collarbone too, and a couple ribs. They had to remove her spleen—it was demolished.” Kent looked up and locked eyes with him. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do if she doesn’t make it. She has to fucking make it.” With another compressed sob, he shoved to his feet and paced to the window.
Brice sat where he was and watched helplessly while his partner battled the grief and worry. He knew Kent had been seeing Angie since Katie's funeral and if he’d had any doubts before about how serious it was, seeing the shape he was in right now eradicated them. They’d been partners for years and he knew that Kent needed the space to pull himself together. Giving him his space didn’t stop his heart from breaking for him, though, didn’t even come close.
After several painful moments, Kent wiped an angry hand under his nose and said, “I can’t leave here yet. Not this soon. Leave me the background files and I’ll go over them again. You go home.”
“I’ll stay,” Brice said with a frown. Did Kent honestly think he’d leave him like this?
“No, really.” Kent sat back down and faced him again. “You’ve been working this all day. Go. I’m here and re-reading these will take my mind off some of the worry, if I’m lucky. I saw Gage last night at the scene. Go. Go spend time with your friend and get some sleep. I’m fine.”
Brice just got up and walked to the coffee station on the back counter. “So, you want any coffee with your sugar or should I just bring you this?” He held the sugar container up and wagged it back and forth without looking back.
Kent pushed back to his feet and joined him. “I’ll make my own.” Brice shook his head in wonder—guy shouldn’t have a tooth left in his head with all that sugar. “Thanks,” Kent said, staring into his coffee as he stirred.
“We’re partners,” Brice said with a shrug. “Thick and thin, right?”
“Right.” Then the two of them sat down with the files and got back to the hunt for a killer.
Chapter Fifteen
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid bat! Why did I use a bat? How stupid. Now she’s not dead, the stupid bitch is in the hospital and everyone is all worried and praying for her and hoping she’ll pull through. Everyone is as stupid as the bat. Why do they even care? The world is without one more slut once she stops being stupid and dies. I can’t believe she didn’t just die. Bitch.
Terryn walked into the Surf-N-Slurp not knowing what to expect. She’d come on an impulse. She felt so bad for Jenny. None of this was her fault—some sicko was targeting the girls that worked here and Terryn just knew this was killing her.
Maybe she was crazy. Maybe she was taking a useless risk, but Katie had loved Jenny and loved this place and Terryn did too. Not to the same extent that Katie did, but enough that when Jenny looked up from behind the counter the first thing she said was, “So, can I get free coffee through my whole shift or am I limited to just one a day?”
“Huh?” Jenny looked like she hadn’t slept for the last week. Her confusion and exhaustion were plain on her face.
“Coffee?” Terryn said as she stepped behind the counter and reached for one of the aprons hanging on the back wall. It was brown and had a slogan on it that read: “There’s too much blood in my caffeine system.” All the aprons were fun and came in a rainbow of colors with a different saying or picture on each one. It was a trademark of the Surf-N-Slurp and one of the things that made the café stand out. “I know
the girls all get free coffee as a perk. What I wanna know is if I’m limited to one a day or is it a no-holds-barred kind of thing?”
“You want to come work here?” Jenny’s hazel eyes filled and her bottom lip quivered. “That’s so sweet. You would do that for me? Really?”
Terryn wrapped her in a hug. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Jenny let out a watery snort and gave her a look that comment deserved. “Well, maybe not of course. I’m not stupid. But Katie loved you and I love you and I honestly think a full third of the population of New York will die of caffeine withdrawal if you close down. I can’t in good conscience let that happen. So I’m here to help.”
“You sweet thing.” Jenny cupped a hand on Terryn’s face. Terryn had seen her do it dozens of times to her daughters and the girls who worked for her. “I love you for offering. But it’s too dangerous. As much as I need you, I can’t let you or anyone else take that kind of risk.” She looked around at the deserted dining area with a watery sigh. “I can’t just shut down, but I won’t put anyone else in harm’s way. I’ll be working open to close and Bill will be dropping me off and then coming in to close with me every night. It’ll be hard for a while, but I can’t stand the thought of anyone else getting hurt.”
Terryn looked at the circles under her eyes and said, “You’ll have to teach me how to work the machine because I can barely make drip coffee that’s drinkable. The baking will be cake, though.” She smiled and gave Jenny a nudge to move her to the side so she could wash her hands in the small sink. “I have always been a wiz at baking.”
Jenny shook her head and before she could add in more objections, Terryn barreled on. “It’s only short term and only part-time. I work Monday through Friday at the center and I’ve arranged to cut back my hours so I can be here by four three days a week. I’ll also work every other weekend for you —that way you can have some time with your family.” She faced Jenny straight-on and looked her right in the eye. “We can’t let him win. I know you are worried, but just like you have Bill, I’ll have Brice.” Terryn mentally crossed her fingers on this part because she was only hoping that he could come through. After all, she knew his work was highly unpredictable, so she would cross that bridge when she got to it. “I’ll have him be here to close with me the way Bill will be here to close with you.”
“I don’t know, Terryn,” Jenny hedged. “You are so sweet to offer, but I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt trying to help me.”
“Look, Jenny,” Terryn said, “I know there is risk. I know to be careful. The others didn’t. I won’t let my guard down and I am dating the detective who’s going to put this psycho in a cage, so I think I’m pretty safe. Let me help.”
Three and a half hours later, Terryn thought her feet were going to fall off. Right after her spine snapped in two. She was a quick study and had pretty much conquered the coffee-making part, so much so that Jenny had left her to mind the counter while she went back to the kitchen. Business was steady and even though she knew it was slow compared to what they normally did, it was more than enough to keep her on her toes.
She had just finished serving the last person in line when she heard the bell over the door chime. Mustering a smile, she looked up to greet more people and let go of her mini fantasy involving a break stretched out on the couch in the employee area. The smile froze when she saw who had just walked in.
Brice stood in the doorway looking confused for about thirty seconds. Then the confusion melted away and a murderous scowl darkened his handsome face.
Terryn upped the wattage on her smile and decided to brazen her way through. “Hey there, Detective. What can I get for you?”
“You can get your ass out from behind that counter, for one thing. For another, you can tell me just what in the hell you think you’re doing.” It was then that Terryn realized that maybe she should’ve mentioned to him what she had planned ahead of time.
“Jenny?” she called. “I need to take a quick break, if that’s all right.” Jenny hollered back that that was fine, so Terryn calmly stepped out from behind the counter and motioned for Brice to follow her to the break area in back. As soon as the door closed, she turned to face him.
“Look,” she began, “I didn’t plan this out very well. Looking at your expression right now, I’m thinking maybe I should have discussed my plans with you before I put this in motion.”
She ignored his, “Damn right you should have,” and kept talking.
“Jenny needs help. With what’s happened, there’s no way she’s going to get anyone in here to work until that psycho is caught. Jenny is going to make herself sick trying to work this place with only Mandy to help.” She reached out and laid a hand on his chest. “I have to help her. I have to. For Katie.”
Brice layered his hand over hers and said in a soft and dangerous voice, “Over my dead body.” Terryn gasped and tried to pull back, but he tightened his grip and she got nowhere. “This isn’t a game and this isn’t a movie. It’s real live life and death going on here.” His grip tightened more and he said, “Katie is dead, Terryn. Dead. Amber too and Angie is in a coma with a skull that looks like a piñata after Cinco de Mayo. You know what those poor girls had in common? Working here. That’s it. That’s the tie and there is nothing you say that’s going to make me okay with you working here and putting yourself next in line.”
Her gasp was loud and filled with temper. “You don’t know that. You don’t know for certain that is the only thing linking them together. And I know there’s a risk. But you can’t stop me from working here, Brice, you can’t.”
“Try me, Red.” He gave her a look that promised she would be sorry if she did, but Terryn had already made up her mind. Even though she liked being bullied in the bedroom, she wasn’t about to let him bully her out of it. “You think I won’t close this place down? You think I can’t? I can and I will if that’s what it would take to keep you safe.”
Terryn believed him. He wasn’t just a highly respected detective—he was also from an extremely wealthy and well-connected family. Hell, at dinner he’d been chatting about the mayor and a bunch of other people who could easily follow through on his threat. He had a look in his eyes that convinced her he wasn’t bluffing. She reached for patience and tried to focus on the fact that he was acting this way out of fear for her. It didn’t change her mind or lessen her belief that she was doing the right thing, but it did help her remember to try and reason with him instead of fight. Fighting would just end up not only hurting them, but it could also close Jenny down.
“I thought about the risks. I was hoping you would help me there.” She looked up at him and tried a small smile, thinking to herself that the old adage about bees and honey was a cliché for a reason. “I know that you work so hard already, but I was hoping that on the nights when I have to close you might be able to see me home. You know, kinda like my very own bodyguard. That way I won’t be scared and you will be here to make sure I’m safe.”
She could see him think about it. She watched as he struggled to overcome his preference and consider what she wanted.
“I don’t like it, Terryn. I don’t like you anywhere near here until we catch this guy.” His brows furrowed and he softened his grip on her hand while he brushed her hair from her cheek with his free hand. “Terryn, for me being a Dom isn’t something that I turn on and off at will. It’s in my blood—it’s what makes me who I am. For some men, it’s just a sexual preference and has nothing to do with the person they are on the inside. But for me and guys like Gage and my cousin, it’s different. Deeper.” He took a moment to kiss her forehead and tuck her head under his chin. Then she felt his arms come around her warm and secure while he said the rest.
“We’re protective to a fault, overbearing, and in case you haven’t noticed we like getting our way.” He ignored her snort and continued, “I became a cop for a lot of reasons, but the underlying factor is that it serves the part of myself that needs to protect. Putting yourself in the crosshai
rs like this is going to shred every ounce of my focus. Because, Red, of all the people I want to protect, you’ve become the one that matters the most.”
Terryn squeezed her eyes shut to keep tears back. His words were comforting and moving and made her hope for things with him that she was afraid to let take form in her heart. She couldn’t let them sway her, though. She needed to stand strong and she needed him to be okay with that. It was more than helping Jenny now. Now it was also about him trusting her to make her own choices even when he didn’t agree with them.
“I know we’ve only been seeing each other for like a second, but what I feel for you, Sir, is bigger and more real than anything I’ve felt with any other man. I want to be your sub. I want it in and out of the bedroom. There’s a part of me that wants to sit up and say ‘yes, Sir’ to any and everything you ask of me.” She paused for a moment and added, “That scares me to death. I need to know that being your sub doesn’t mean I stop being me. You are the one with all the experience and I trust you to help me find the right balance here.” She pulled back just enough to look him straight in the eye. “I need you to help me learn how to be your sub without losing who I am.”
His eyes closed on a groan and those big strong hands that she loved so much slid up her arms and suddenly clutched around her neck. With a squeal of shock, she clasped on to his wrists just as he bent her over and started shaking her with mock growls.
She started laughing which only caused him to shake harder, and over her giggles she heard, “Why? Why did you have to put it that way?” Another couple of shakes and then he stopped to kiss her senseless. “I almost had you cowed. I could’ve gotten my way and kept you outta this, but you had to go and ask me to help you. Help you tell me no.” He looked incredulous at that. “You actually got me to shut up and let you put yourself in danger then fixed it so you think I’m essentially doing something nice for you.”
