Down & Dirty 2_A Shameless Southern Nights Novel

by Ali Parker

  Even if it hadn’t, and even if I didn’t spin around with a smile frozen in place to welcome whoever it was to the salon, my body’s response would’ve cued me that it was Jeremy. He was like my own personal magnet.

  My body tightened the moment I sensed him, heat blooming in my center and spreading through me. Framed in the doorway as he was with the early morning light reflecting from behind, he looked almost ethereal. My pulse lunged, but it was a mix of anxiety and desire. It hurt to see him and to experience such a powerful reaction. It only reminded me what I was missing.

  I couldn’t look away, my gaze absorbing him—coasting over his shaggy black curls, the chiseled planes of his face and his muscled body. My body vividly recalled the feel of his hands mapping my body as he sank inside of me. A full body blush raced through me. My mind and my body were definitely not on the same page. This was not the time to be reacting like this. Though telling myself that and actually doing it were two entirely different things.

  It didn’t help matters that I missed him. He’d made me feel so wanted, so protected, so safe. He’d allowed me to glimpse into an impossible future where Austin could have had a kind, loving father figure to grow up around, and I could’ve fallen asleep every night wrapped in his strong embrace.

  My traitorous unconscious kept dreaming about him—he tangled up in my thoughts any time I had a spare moment and filled my dreams. I’d woken yet again last night, slick with need for him. On the heels of that, my thoughts had spun like a broken record. It hurt to shut him out, to tell myself again and again it was the best thing to do. I couldn’t put him in danger, and it was best for Austin and me if I did whatever would keep the peace with Wesley.

  It felt as if my heart was being scored with paper cuts—every time my body had an instinctive reaction to the thought of Jeremy, every time that pesky hope in my heart tried to speak up, I had to shut it down. Each time my traitorous heart and body crossed the line, I had to remind myself of reality.

  Seeing him triggered a whole host of other emotions, such as panic and worry that Wesley was keeping tabs on me even now. If he was out there… If he was watching and saw that Jeremy was here, I didn’t know what he’d do.

  Jeremy paused just inside the door, his eyes catching mine. Just a look and it felt as if the air sizzled between us—all the way across the room. I wanted to look away, just in case Wesley was watching. I should’ve turned around and headed right for the back.

  But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

  My eyes were glued to his. I was frozen in place. Despite my resolve to let him go, all I wanted to do was run to him and launch myself into his arms. Time felt suspended as we stared at each other, a shiver running through me as his eyes darkened. But then, there was a flash of resolve, his gaze shuttering. I felt as if I’d been kicked right in the heart. He shut me out completely with nothing more than a look.

  Jeremy broke free from my gaze, his stoic and calm. Lifting his brilliant hazel eyes from mine, he scanned the salon, nodding at something behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah coming out of the back. He started toward her, meaning he had to walk right by my station.

  My breath hitched, my heart banging against my ribs as I watched him approach. He was almost to my station before his eyes flicked to mine. I could see nothing there. Nothing.

  “Hey,” he muttered as he walked past me, barely sparing a second glance my way.

  With my heart aching, I cringed, but I knew the awkwardness was all my fault. “Hi.”

  If I had any idea what to say to him, I would’ve said something else. I wanted to, but I couldn’t give him the explanation he deserved so I kept quiet instead. That was becoming a common theme for me this week. One I didn't care for too much.

  My hand lifted of its own accord as soon as he’d passed me by, wanting to reach out to him. I dropped it back to my side when I realized what I was doing. No matter how much I was aching to touch him, I couldn’t. He wasn’t mine to reach out for anymore, he barely ever had been.

  Tears pricked hot at the back of my eyes. The sense of loss I’d been wrestling with since the weekend hit me again. Blinking my tears back, I smiled down at my client brightly.

  To me, it felt like what had just happened, or more accurately not happened, between Jeremy and I had taken decades. In truth, it must’ve taken no more than a few seconds because my client didn’t even seem to realize I’d been distracted.

  “Are we trimming this week or just blowing it out?” I asked her, pushing all thoughts about Jeremy into a distant corner in my mind. If I could, I’d jam them in a box.

  “Just a quick dry,” she replied, smiling and going back to her magazine. At the same time, I heard Sarah calling out to Jeremy.

  “This is a surprise, dear. What can I do for you?” Sarah asked.

  I started drying my client’s hair, wondering about what Jeremy was doing here. I knew Sarah was delaying the renovations to the salon. We just couldn’t afford to finish it up right now. It had also helped set my mind at ease about not having to see him around work all the time so soon after breaking things off with him.

  Jeremy apparently had other plans. “I wanted to talk to you about the renovations.”

  She frowned, the brush in her hand still in the color she was mixing. “I don’t understand. We’re not continuing with those right now.”

  “You could be,” Jeremy said quietly, clearly trying to avoid the curious ears of the clients who were taking notice of the man in their midst. “Could we talk in private?”

  “Sure,” she replied, motioning him to the back area where his crew had been working the last few weeks. My station was close enough to its entrance that I could hear most of their conversation. “What’s going on Jeremy? What do you mean ‘it could be’? I told you, we can’t afford it right now.”

  “Doc signed the business over to me. Delivered the paperwork this morning.”

  Sarah was quiet for a minute. I assumed it was because she was surprised. Her voice was slightly strained as she said, “Congratulations. I know he’s been meaning to do that for some time. I guess I just wasn’t expecting him to actually retire.”

  “Neither was I,” Jeremy said, his voice low.

  More silence met his statement at first. Finally, I heard Sarah again.

  “I’m proud of him for taking the leap. And of you for taking over. I still don’t understand why that means I can carry on renovating, unless you’re working for free now?”

  “I’m not, but as the owner of the business I can extend credit to customers.”

  I suppressed a gasp. What he was offering Sarah was a huge opportunity. She was burning to finish with the renovations and introduce the new services she was planning on running from there. We also desperately needed the extra storage space she’d planned.

  Sarah seemed as surprised as I was, speaking in an octave at least twice as high as her voice usually was. “And you want to extend credit to me?”

  “I’ve already arranged a loan for you, if you’re interested.”

  “I...” she stammered. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say you’ll have us back.” I could hear his smile in his voice. He didn’t smile often enough, but when he did it was downright dangerous. I supposed it was a good thing I couldn’t see him.

  “Of course I will,” Sarah exclaimed. They were interrupted by a buzzing sound before Sarah spoke up again. “Excuse me, I have to take this. Especially if we’re continuing the renovations.”

  “No problem.” Jeremy popped out of the back room a second later, walking through the salon.

  I tried ignoring him, but it didn’t change how much it hurt to see him. I felt torn inside. I desperately wanted to see him, yet I couldn’t have anything I wanted with him. So seeing him only cornered my heart between what I wanted and what I couldn’t have. I could feel his presence, my skin prickling as he passed by.

  I had just finished up with my client, but I was so focused on Jeremy, I zoned out with th
e dryer in my hand. The sound of a throat clearing drew my attention away from him and I found the curious eyes of my client meeting mine in the mirror.

  “Are we done, dear?”

  “We’re done,” I managed with a smile, snapping my focus back to where it belonged.

  She smiled, gathering her purse and slinging it over her shoulder. We said our goodbyes after she paid, and I confirmed her next appointment.

  It was only once she disappeared onto the sidewalk that I realized with a start Jeremy and I were alone in the front of the shop now. Sarah must’ve taken her call in the very back, because I couldn’t hear her at all.

  The air conditioning hummed, the only sound as I turned to face Jeremy. He was leaning with his hip against a station near mine, watching me intently. My heart pounded, hard and fast, and I swallowed against the rush of emotion inside.

  “I know why you’re worried,” he said, a gleam in his eye that looked strangely protective. “I know what happened with your ex.”

  I didn’t immediately understand what he meant. How could he know anything? Was it possible that he really knew about Wesley?

  My jaw slackened as possibilities of what he knew and how he might’ve gotten the information raced through my mind. At the same time, my fingertips went ice cold and my hands started shaking.

  “What?”

  Holding up his hands with his palms toward me, he said gently, “I know that your ex is a threatening guy and that he’s been… around.”

  “You don’t know a thing.” Shock numbed me, but through it, licks of white-hot anger spread from my center. Wesley was my business, not Jeremy’s. I’d specifically kept him out of it, and for very good reason.

  Heat spread through me, blooming on my cheeks. I was mortified to realize he knew. He probably thought less of me now that I was some helpless damsel in distress who couldn’t take care of herself.

  “I can take care of myself,” I said, my voice rough and harsh.

  The golden flecks in his eyes flashed and he took a step back. “I know, I didn’t mean that you couldn’t.”

  “You didn’t? Because it…” The bell above the door jingled again, signaling the arrival of another customer and cutting me off.

  June, one of Sarah’s regular customers, stepped inside the salon and closed the door behind her. She stopped as soon as she saw us standing there, her eyes narrowing as she took in my tight posture and folded arms.

  “Am I interrupting something?”

  I relaxed my arms and released the tightness in my shoulders, forcing a smile to my lips. “Not at all. Jeremy was just here talking to Sarah about the renovations, he’s leaving now.”

  Lifting an eyebrow in question, he waited for me to nod before he did the same. “I was leaving, yes. It was good to see you Marie, June.”

  As he walked to the door, he kept his eyes on mine. It was clear in his eyes he had plenty more to say. On the other hand, I was ready to forget it ever happened. I was embarrassed enough as it was to have stumbled into the disaster of my relationship with Wesley. I didn’t want Jeremy to think less of me because of my past.

  Chapter Five

  Jeremy

  “Jeremy Lovett as I live and breathe. How you doing, man?” a familiar voice asked from behind me. I turned around to find the chocolate brown eyes of Stan Lester, an old friend I used to play ball with back in high school. They were lit up with the same mischief and humor they’d always contained.

  “Give me a sec, Leila,” I said to the bank’s owner, a woman way older than me who was always trying to get into my pants. Not that I was special, she’d climb down pretty much any pair in the state given half the chance.

  Without waiting for her to respond, I grasped the hand Stan held out to me and pulled him in for a one-armed hug. “I’m good, brother. You? It’s been forever, where’ve you been?”

  “It has,” he said, grinning from ear to ear as he stepped back and released me. “Moved down to Savannah with the family. I’m in town visiting my mom. Heard a rumor that old Doc was retiring, you ready to be a business owner?”

  “How’d you know? It only officially happened this morning.” The speed of gossip in small towns never ceased to amaze me. I’d only ever lived in this one, but I’d learned the hard way that word spread like a brush fire around here.

  Stan shrugged, lifting his shoulder innocently. “You know how it goes. Besides, I can’t help what I overhear. Congratulations, you deserve it.”

  “Thanks,” I grunted, not yet ready to hear those words. I was still coming to grips with Doc retiring.

  Stan and I talked for a while longer, catching up and reminiscing until we both realized we had to get going. Leila had lingered around us when we first started talking, but she quickly lost interest and moved on when neither of us spared her a second glance.

  Without her hovering and flirting, I got things done at the bank quickly after saying goodbye to Stan with promises to get a drink sometime. I didn’t get to Savannah very often and he didn’t visit here regularly, so we were unlikely to get that drink anytime soon. Stan was a good guy and I’d always liked hanging with him, so I hoped we’d get round to it eventually.

  Next stop on my errand list was visiting Sonny. He was working, so I went to meet him at the police station. It was located right in the center of town in an old brick building with a flat roof and a vegetable garden outside that was part of a community project.

  Inside, the station smelled of stale coffee, printer and copier ink and faintly of cleaning products. I made my way to Sonny’s desk, set right at the back of the station. He never complained about how he got treated by his colleagues like he was the one who’d been convicted of a crime and not our father.

  Several cops looked up at me as I passed, but no one said anything. Some waved, while others just nodded their heads in acknowledgment. Most of the law enforcement community seemed torn on how to treat us, since our father was a convicted criminal and our brother was the district attorney who’d prosecuted the case. They seemed divided in their thinking—we were either like our dad or like our brother, they just weren’t sure which one.

  Fuck them all. That was always my advice to Sonny. It wasn’t up to us to make up their minds for them. We were who we were, that was all.

  Sonny must’ve heard my footsteps coming toward him on the old wooden floors, because he turned around when I was a couple yards away from him. He flashed me a grin, raising an eyebrow curiously. “This is a surprise. What’s up?”

  He kicked a chair at the edge of his desk out, jerking his head at it. I sank down into it. Twisting to face me, he asked, “Coffee?”

  “Nah, too hot. Thanks.”

  “You’re not missing out on anything.” He grinned, shuddering as he glanced at the coffee machine in the break room behind me. “So, that’s one of my questions you’ve answered. Back to the first one, what’s up?”

  “I can’t just visit my brother at work?”

  Tilting his head, he folded his arms and gave me a pointed look. “You can, you just don’t. Something wrong?”

  My eyes drifted to the holding cell sitting in the corner behind him, slightly to my right. My father had been held there once. Seeing it brought back so many memories, none of which were good. Sonny noticed where I was looking, sighing as he sat back and waited for me to talk.

  “Not really,” I replied when I finally shook off the image of my father sitting in that cell, shoulders squared like he didn’t have a care in the world even when his own son was on the team of people working round the clock to put him away. “I wanted to talk to you about that Wesley guy. Marie’s ex.”

  Understanding lit up Sonny’s unusual eyes—blue and green—softening them around the edges as the different colors melted into one another.

  “What do you want to know?” he asked, already turning in his chair to face his computer. Fingers flying across the keys as he typed in a password and pulled up a database, he entered Wesley’s name.

  “I n
eed to know more about his background. I think he’s here in Cypress, and I’m worried about Marie and her son.”

  Sonny’s muscles tensed, his spine straightening. “I told you, dude’s a fucking stalker. I was hoping he wouldn’t have followed her here, but I’m not surprised if you think he has.”

  The computer screen started filling with information, a mug shot picture of a guy with longish blonde hair appearing at the right top corner. “Who am I looking at?”

  “Meet Wesley Poole,” Sonny said, jaw clenching as he stared at the dark brown eyes of the man in the picture. “Piece of shit father to Marie’s son and all around asshole.”

  Scrolling down, he pointed the screen. “This is his criminal background. Dude’s list of charges is so long I have to keep scrolling to get to them all.”

  Words jumped out at me and a low whistle escaped from my lips as I read. “Simple assault, aggravated assault, battery, intimidation. How is this guy not rotting in a cell somewhere?” I asked, my heart clenching to consider what he’d put Marie and Austin through.

  “No idea, man. Lack of evidence, probably. Look at that column over there,” he pointed at the screen again. “Those are the complainants. Multiple women have laid charges against him, but nothing has stuck. This is his detailed background, which means it shows his arrest record too and not only the cases that have resulted in convictions.”

  “If he’s done this to other women, why is he so hung up on Marie now?”

  Sonny shook his head, his expression grim. “I don’t think he’ll move on from her as quickly as he did from some of the others. My best guess? He thinks he has leverage with her because they have a kid together.”

  “If he thinks he has leverage, what are my options to help her?” An uneasy feeling was taking root in my gut, becoming worse as I watched Sonny’s eyes darken and his pulse hammer underneath his jaw.

  “It’s not what you want to hear, man.” My stomach rolled when he turned to face me fully. “There’s not much you can do until he actually does something again.”