by Jenny Penn
The quiet was deafening, leaving no doubt of what she would find. The only question that remained was whether or not she really wanted to find it. The knots in her stomach had soured, and there seemed no reason to force herself to confront a truth she didn’t want to know.
Yet for some reason, Heather couldn’t explain, she had to know.
Starting across the room, she headed straight for the hall she instinctively knew would lead to the bedrooms. She made it to the mouth of that dark abyss when the bright wash of light spilled across the hardwood floors. The sound of an engine roaring up the driveway echoed through the front door, but Heather didn’t turn back.
Instead, she proceeded deeper down the hall, allowing her eyes to shift until she could make out the clear definition of doors cut into the wall. Little wisps of moonlight leaked through the blinds, casting enough of a glow for her to see easily enough into each room as she passed by them.
The first one held enough fireman paraphernalia to leave her in no doubt of who it belonged to—the man hollering after her. The sound of her name echoed through the night, following the slam of a truck door being closed and the mad rush of footsteps that pounded down the front path.
She paid him no mind as she passed by the open bathroom. A light had been left on, allowing enough to spill through into the adjacent bedroom that shared access with it to see the couple curled up in bed together. Heather stumbled to a halt as the ache in her heart sharpened into a piercing pain.
The voices in her head were all silent now. Numbed by the horror, they didn’t dare to whisper a single word. Heather wouldn’t have heard them if they had. She was barely aware of Konor shouting her name.
“Heather!” Konor slammed into the house, calling out for her with a desperate strain sounding in his tone, but it was too late.
Nothing could save her now.
“Heather!”
That shout drew a motion from the bed as Alex roused, lifting up onto his elbows as he glanced toward the door. “Heather?”
“Heather!”
She didn’t answer. Not either man. She didn’t have the ability—not to scream, not shout, not to flee. She wanted to do all three as Alex clicked on the bedside lamp and squinted at her, but all she could do was stand there with the tears gathering in her eyes and blurring the painful sight before her.
“Heather? What are you doing here?”
She didn’t have to answer that. She didn’t have to answer him. She didn’t have to, because the blonde pulling the sheet over her naked breasts as she struggled to clear the sleep from her eyes was all the answer that was needed.
“Gwen?” Alex’s confused stare quickly darkened into a scowl as he glared at the other woman. “What the hell—Oh, no,” Alex breathed out, his gaze cutting back to Heather as he shook his head. “No, no, no! This is not what it looks like. I swear it!”
His voice rose with each desperate lie that fell from his lips, but Heather wasn’t listening. She didn’t need to. She already knew how this story went. She was a fool, a fool for ever thinking she could trust him. He just wanted revenge, and now he’d had it.
“It’s not what it looks like! I swear it!” Alex repeated himself, sounding more desperate with each word.
He leapt from the bed, as naked as the day he’d been born, and stumbled toward her, but Heather had no interest in listening to anymore of his lies. She’d seen all she’d needed to.
“Heather, wait!” Alex grabbed onto her arm as she turned to flee. “Just give me—”
Heather didn’t give him anything other than a knee in his cheating balls. He went down with a high-pitched girlish shriek that matched Gwen’s shout as she shot across the bed to lean over the mattress and gape at him writhing on the floor.
“Alex!”
Heather ignored them both as she spun around and fled back down the hall. Konor caught her as she barreled into him, but whatever he had to say the words died on his lips as their gazes connected. She knew that despite the darkness he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks. It was a sign of her weakness, of her foolishness and the last thing she wanted anybody to witness.
Tearing free of his grip, Heather shoved past Konor and fled out into the night, ignoring him as he called after her.
* * * *
Konor watched as Heather sped off down the road until her taillights fishtailed around the corner at the end of the street. Even then, he could still hear the angry rev of her engine echoing through the neighborhood. The sound cut through him, a herald of all that was being lost. All the dreams, all his plans, the future he’d been working toward had just come crashing down. There was only one person to blame.
“Did she go?” Alex hobbled down the hall still naked and bent slightly over as he gripped his stomach in one hand and the wall with the other. “Is she gone?”
Konor didn’t answer, just stared, feeling the hard certainty that nothing could ever be the same. Not between him and Alex. Not between Alex and Heather. That hard, bitter certainty curled through him, tightening his fingers into fists as he felt his own pain and rage swell with a need to do some damage. With that intent he started forward.
“It isn’t what you think!” Alex stumbled backward, holding up a hand in a vain attempt to forestall Konor. “I went to bed alone.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I did!” Alex insisted, flushing a deep red as he all but pleaded with Konor. “I swear, man. I went to bed alone. I don’t know how Gwen—Gwen!”
It was the desperation in his tone more than his denial that had Konor hesitating, watching with a narrowed gaze as Alex turned on the woman rushing down the hall. Half-dressed and tottering on heels that emphasized the long length of her legs, Gwen nearly fell over when Alex latched onto her arm.
“What in the hell are you doing here?”
Alex’s eyes bulged outward with his roar, his muscles cording as he glared up at Gwen with undisguised disgust. Konor had never seen his friend so angry, so close to losing his temper. The sight had Konor hesitating, uncertain now as he watched Alex confront Gwen about just what was actually going on.
For her part, Gwen couldn’t have looked more guilty as she stuttered over her words, trying to find an answer. Not that Alex gave her much of a chance to come up with one.
“I…I…I…”
“How the hell did you get in here did you get in here?” Alex demanded to know, his tone sharp enough to elicit a quick enough response to be honest.
“The door was open, just like you said it would be.”
“I did not!”
“The door is always open, that’s what you said.”
“That was months ago!”
“Always is always.” Gwen explained helplessly, glancing down at her arm as Alex’s knuckles whitened around her pink flesh. “You’re hurting me.”
“Why?” Alex snarled, ignoring Gwen’s complaint as he began backing her up against the wall. “Why the hell did you come here? Why the hell did you crawl into my bed? What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I…I…I…”
Pale, shaking, and too terrified to get a single word out, Gwen stared helplessly up at Alex as he rose up to his full height, his rage masking the pain, no doubt, still throbbing in his balls. Konor suspected that wasn’t the only thing that ached. There was panic buried in the frenzy consuming Alex, proving that it wasn’t just Heather’s heart breaking tonight.
Unlike her, though, Alex wasn’t about to run out of the room with tears shining in his eyes. No. He looked ready to kill. Ready to kill Gwen. That wouldn’t help anything. They certainly couldn’t set things right with Alex in jail. That’s just where he’d end up, sheriff or not.
“Let her go, Alex.” Striding forward, Konor moved to interfere before Alex could do anything he’d regret. “This isn’t all her fault.”
“What?” Just as he knew it would, that loaded statement drew Alex’s attention away from Gwen as he focused his outrage squarely on Konor. “I didn’t do anything!
”
“True,” Konor agreed easily enough, not flinching away from Alex as he squared off with his best friend, leaving just enough room for Gwen to escape down the hall. He could hear her heels clicking in a rapid staccato across the hardwood floors toward the front door.
“But you are the one that Heather doesn’t trust, and that’s not Gwen’s fault.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that you’re the one that sowed this insecurity into Heather,” Konor retorted with calm reasonableness. “There is a reason she doesn’t trust you, a reason she believes the worst, and that is your fault.”
“I don’t even know what the fuck you are talking about,” Alex spat “I’m not the one who cheated. In fact, I’m the one turned Heather down because I didn’t want her to feel used when she found out about that stupid bet. I’m the stupid, noble bastard that got screwed over.”
“You’re also the coward who never told the woman you were in love with her,” Konor shot back. “The one who never tried to convince her that you cared about anything other than making her life miserable. Now you’re just the one who broke her heart... So? Are you happy now?”
That question had Alex growling before he turned and stormed off toward his room. Konor trailed behind him, certain that his friend hadn’t given up the battle yet. He wasn’t wrong. That became clear when, instead of climbing back into bed, Alex yanked his jeans off the coat rack he kept in the corner and began stomping into them.
“What are you doing?” Konor frowned, sensing the situation was about to go from bad to worse.
“What doesn’t it look like?”
It looked like Alex was getting dressed. That could only mean one thing.
“You can’t really be planning to chase after her.”
“And why the hell not?” Alex paused and jerked a T-shirt down over his head. He came out the other end barking and throwing Konor’s words back in his face.
“Aren’t you the one who just reamed me out for not proving how I feel to Heather? Well you won’t ever be able to accuse me of cowardice again.”
“No.”
“No?”
“This is a really bad idea,” Konor insisted, refusing to budge from the doorway as he continued to block Alex’s path.
“Why is that?”
“Because she’s lividly pissed at you and no good can come from trying to talk to her now. Because she probably went home, and if you go over there, you’ll wake up both her father and her son and no good can come from that either. Because you need a plan,” Konor capped off his lists of reasons, pausing only long enough to correct himself. “Because we need a plan. What you’re doing affects both of us and I have a right to have say in that.”
“Then what do you have to say?” Alex stilled, turning to face Konor as he impatiently awaited an answer. “Well?”
“I was planning on going with Taylor and Ralph to the church’s fair tomorrow,” Konor began slowly as he thought through the situation. “You’ll go in my stead.”
“I will?”
The hint of belligerent stubbornness crisping up those two words had Konor stilling for a moment as he met Alex’s gaze. “You will if you want to get your grandmother’s ring on Heather’s finger. So, I guess the question is, is that what you want?”
Alex stood there silently for a moment, his muscles tense, his features set. Then they caved, loosening into a look of despair. “Do you really think what I want matters anymore? You can’t plan your way out of this disaster, Konor, because there is no way. Heather will never let me escort her to some stupid church function.”
“She won’t be there,” Konor assured him.
“So what? I’m just supposed to go spend the day with her father and son like everything is all right?”
“Yes,” Konor shot back instantly. “You’re going to go have fun with the family and I’ll go talk to Heather.”
“You’ll go talk to Heather?” Alex repeated incredulously, the fading fire of his temper quickly reigniting.
“I’ll go talk to Heather.”
“And what the hell will that give me? I need to explain—”
“She’s not going to believe anything you say,” Konor pointed out with blunt, brutal honestly. “She might, however, believe me.”
“You?”
“Yes, me. I’ve never lied to her,” Konor reminded him. “And I sided with her when she told me about what happened between the two of you before. I’ve earned the right to a little of her trust.”
Alex snorted in obvious disbelief. “You’re insane if you believe that. You keep blaming the past, but that’s just an excuse, because Heather…she doesn’t trust anybody. That’s the problem with control freaks and you, of all people, should know that.”
Konor did and he didn’t bother to deny it. Neither did he bother to disagree that Heather shared the same sickness with him, but that’s just what allowed him to understand her well enough to know that Alex was the last person could fix this problem.
“Promise me,” Konor pressed. “Give me this chance, Alex. You owe it to me.”
“Fine,” Alex caved with ill grace, storming across the room as he gave in only so much. “You have one day to fix this mess. If you fail, then we do things my way.”
With that ultimatum given, Alex kicked his bedroom door closed, leaving Konor to fear just what the hell he meant by that.
* * * *
Alex glared at the back of the bedroom door, feeling the urge to rip his way through it clench his muscles tight. This was a disaster complete and utter disaster, and the truth was, it was his fault. Konor was right.
He was a coward.
Earlier that evening Heather had gazed up at him with something other than wariness and anger darkening her eyes. Instead, they’d been warm with a welcome that he had n ever dreamed of finding in her eyes. And what had he done?
He’d run.
Instead of taking her into his arms and proving that her trust was not misplaced, he had fled and left the door open to a past that he had shared with any woman that wouldn’t demand more than he could give. Now he could see the truth so clearly.
He couldn’t give any of those women more than his body, because everything else belonged to Heather. That truth was so clear to him now that he wondered over his own stupidity at not having seen it before. Disgust followed quickly until he couldn’t bear it anymore and without thought tore into his own bed.
Ripping through the sheets and all the memories of all the women that came with them, he tore the mattress from the box spring and heaved it through the window, not bothering to open it first. The glass shattered, spraying out across the yard, though, large chunks remained caught in the sill.
They cut into the mattress, releasing puffs of foam as Alex put all his weight behind it. He managed to shove it right out into the yard, but the box spring that followed jammed in the window frame, neither wooden structure giving and no matter how much muscle Alex put into the task.
Instead, he wore himself out with the effort and ended up panting and heaving as he sank down to the floor, exhausted enough to start to think more clearly. He may have screwed things up in the past, but he wasn’t going to be dumb enough to repeat those mistakes.
He’d let Heather get away once, but not this time. This time she would be his. All he needed was a plan...a plan and an ally or two, maybe even more. Whatever it took, that’s what Alex would give it.
Leaning to his side, Alex fished his phone out of his pocket and began rounding up his troops. It was time to play hardball.
Chapter 24
Monday, May 26th
Heather forced a smile for Mr. Bavis’s benefit as she slid a fresh piece of pie in front of him, not that the cantankerous old man returned the gesture. It really wasn’t for his benefit anyway. It was more for hers and her vain attempt to pretend like today was a good day, like she hadn’t spent all night sniffling into her pillow and fighting to hold back the tears, like her heart wasn�
��t breaking once again because she’d been stupid enough to fall for Alex Krane twice in a lifetime, like—
“Watch what you’re doing now, girl,” Bavis snapped. “I want a cup of coffee, not a saucer full, and that better not be canned whipped cream on my pie. You know I don’t like the fake stuff.”
“And you know I don’t serve it,” Heather returned as she focused on filling his coffee cup without spilling any on his saucer. “This was hand-whipped by me just this morning.”
“It better be, given how long I’ve had to wait for my pie,” Bavis groused as he pulled his pie closer.
“You barely waited a minute,” Heather frowned down at him, wondering if Bavis was expanding his repertoire of complaints. She wasn’t really in the mood this morning to hear them—old or new.
It had been a long night, one that had left her reeling with questions that she couldn’t even begin to guess at the answers. Had this been the plan all along? Had it been Alex’s plan or Konor’s plan? Perhaps it had been both of theirs and Gwen had been in on it. Maybe everything had been a lie.
Heather didn’t know. So, she did what she normally did when life became too much to cope with—she went to work. She’d been there since nearly four thirty that morning working on getting everything baked and ready for delivery.
Things had been so busy she’d actually managed to forget her problems for a while, but as the morning wore on, they came creeping back. Bavis’s grumpy disposition didn’t help. After all, he had his own complaints to add to her plate.
“I’m not talking about this morning,” he snapped, shooting her a crabby glare. “I’m talking about all those young bucks who been clogging up your bakery for the past few weeks. I swear there hasn’t even been any room at the bar for a decent man to get a decent meal.”
“Well.” Heather sucked in a deep breath and glanced pointedly around. “They’re not here now.”
There was little else she could say, little else she’d come up with despite the number of people who had echoed Bavis’s grievance over the past couple of weeks. The Bread Box had a loyal customer base, one that she relied on and didn’t want to upset, but how could she force the men to leave? GD might have an answer to that, or he better come up with one because Heather wasn’t betting her financial future on the fancy of a bunch of fickle playboys.
