Fateful Attractions

by Lucretia Stanhope

She wanted him happy, always, and she knew they couldn’t be together, but he was her rock. Her best friend. She did love him. He loved her. Didn’t he? Why would he lie? Why not tell her about Ronda? Was that what bothered her, or was it them here? Mel’s was not exclusive to them.

  Shane’s hand brushed her forehead. “You any better? Want a coffee or some soda?”

  “No, take me home. Please.” Her eyes left them and landed on Shane. “Thank you.”

  He gathered the cakes and they started for the door. On the way out, Dillon nodded at them, but didn’t even say goodbye.

  “I don’t understand.” Gwen looked out the window as they drove.

  “What is it? Did you learn something at the yarn group?”

  “No, well yes. Dear god those ladies can gossip. I learned all about the new street cleaner, who only knows how to push dirt around. There is a new neighbor by Pam who plays music too loud, but not after hours so she can’t get Dillon to…” Her voice choked on his name. She turned back to Shane. “Why would he lie? Why keep secrets from me?”

  “Who lied, honey, is this about the dead man?” His hand reached over the console and rested on her knee.

  “No, Dillon. I told you he was going to pick me up. He said he wanted cake and a chat, and then I called and he said something more important came up.” Her lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears again. She traced her finger on the door handle. “I’m sorry, it’s just. More important? Really?”

  Shane pulled his hand back and feigned shock. “You and Dillon are a thing?”

  Her attention stayed focused on the way the plastic felt. “No, it’s not that. There is no thing. We are just friends. It’s just, why lie?”

  “Maybe he wanted to keep his options opened. Sounds like a bad move. I don’t know the guy like you do.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Takes all kinds I guess.”

  “That’s just it, it’s not like him. He’s sweet and, I thought I knew him.” Her eyes drifted to the passing trees and then came back to Shane. Shane had been there, even when she asked him to go. “Hey, let’s just go have cake and try to figure out a murder mystery. I owe you a deerstalker hat too.”

  “I think I could rock one. It’d be seriously sexy.” He grinned and put his hand back on her leg. “And a cape. You could wear the cape. Just the cape. In fact, you should let me pick out the cape.”

  She chuckled. “Thank you. I know you dropped everything to be here with me and it’s just been one disaster after another. If I were you, I would have left long ago.”

  He shook his head. “No you wouldn’t have. You are a beautiful person inside and out. You deserve better. I know you just had a little heartbreak, and it’s hard not to go back there and punch his face for you. In lieu of that, I hear that the best cure is cake with a side of sexy redhead.”

  She arched one brow and smiled at him. “I do know cake helps.”

  “Ouch, you should at least try the redhead, didn’t you learn anything from breakfast?”

  “Yes, I learned cereal is for baking, not for food.”

  He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah well, I like it. If we get some of that chocolate cereal I think you might change your mind.”

  The playful tone he used and the way he looked at her made her blush and she decided to shift gears. “Is your shop really going to be okay for this long?”

  “Yep. For as long as it needs to be.”

  “Turn here.” She pointed to a small dirt road.

  He did, and then asked, “Where are we going?”

  “I want you to see something.”

  They drove until the trees started to clear a little and she told him to pull over. They got out and walked a small way into the woods. When they came to a clearing she stopped and held his hand.

  He was about to ask what they were looking for, when he notice a few lights flash. It wasn’t long before they were surrounded by fireflies.

  “Isn’t it beautiful?” She turned to him with an uneasy peace back in her eyes.

  “Almost as beautiful as the way your whole face lights up when you smile.” One of his hands ran through her hair and he leaned her head back. “I want to be the reason you smile.”

  The kiss that followed was deep and passionate as they all were. The magic between them mingled and tugged them both. Combined with the beautiful night and crisp sweet smelling air, the effect was intoxicating.

  “Shane I…” she started to say but he kissed her again. The sensation of his kiss reached her soul and his magic pressed against her, the buzz raced across her skin.

  He looked at her and saw that she felt the same magic he had. That, mixed with the vulnerability, might never happen again. Still holding her hands, he took a few steps back and laid down on the grass, pulling her with him.

  They made love under the stars, while fireflies danced around them. Moonlight shined across their faces, reflecting the ecstasy they shared.

  Around them flowers bloomed and grew from nothing. The wind blew, carrying a gentle drizzle as they held each other, washed in pleasure.

  Neither said anything for a few long moments as they watched the lights flashing and let reality come back.

  “You are magical.” He kissed her neck and shoulders before he gave her a hand to stand. “You did this?” He gestured to the little white wild flowers that had grown where there was only grass before.

  “We did that.” She leaned against him while they walked back to his car, not sure what to say.

  Casual sex wasn’t something she believed in.

  Her intention when they came there was just to relax and look at the beautiful night.

  The magic between them reminded her of how she felt when she first learned to grow things. Happy, peaceful. They made magic together, that meant something.

  He helped her in the car and they started back toward the house. “I…” she started, and repeated it a few times, not sure what to say.

  She couldn’t deny it was beautiful. Magical. She also couldn’t deny it shouldn’t have happened. Not as a result of her feeling abandoned by Dillon.

  That wasn’t fair to anyone.

  “You are perfect. Let’s go refuel with some cake.” His eyes stayed on the road.

  Chapter Six

  W hen Gwen and Shane pulled in the driveway, they both sighed at seeing the patrol car parked near the house with Dillon stood beside it.

  “What now?” she muttered.

  “Maybe he wants to say sorry for lying to you? Getting busted makes a man sorry pretty fast.” He reached over the console and put a hand on her leg. “I’m here for you. What do you want me to do?”

  With two fingers she rubbed her forehead. “I know you are. Let me handle this.” She reached for her door handle.

  “Sure, but let me get your door, sweetheart.” He got out and walked around, looking back at Dillon with narrowed eyes. He didn’t sense Sergei anywhere around, but he usually didn’t until he was right on him.

  When she stepped from the car, she tried to straighten her hair and clothes.

  Dillon walked over to them, the sound of his steps heavy. “Where have you been?”

  She locked eyes with him. “That is none of your business.”

  Shane grinned at the exchange and stepped beside her. “Dillon.” He nodded.

  “Shane. Where were you two?” Dillon looked at his happy face and found the urge to hit him came on way too strong for his own liking.

  Shane looked at Gwen, wondering how much she wanted to tell him.

  She shook her head and focused back on Dillon. “What do you want, Dillon?” Her tone was cold.

  “I need you both to go to the station.” Dillon swallowed a lump that started to rise as he realized what they might have been doing. His eyes scrutinized them both and he finalized his assessment. It was as the monster wanted, he pushed her into the arms of Shane. He looked back to Gwen and a ball of regret tightened in his stomach. “There’s another body.”

  Gwen stepped back against
Shane, who wrapped his arms around her.

  “It’s okay, I’m here. Not going anywhere.” Shane looked at Dillon with worry now. “Where? Who? Is it related?”

  “Her lake. Too close for comfort. I got the call as soon as you left. I’ve been looking for you since.” Dillon wished he could be more comforting, but the instructions were clear, the colder he was, the safer she would be. Now there was another body, and he had to wonder if it was related to the creature who said it was hungry. Maybe he hadn’t been cold enough and this was the result.

  “Like before? Dillon, is it like before?” Gwen’s tone lost the coldness.

  He nodded and stepped back before the urge to reach out for her grew too strong. “Look, Shane, can you drive her? I’ll clean up here, Agent Linder will be there to question you both. With it being serial, they are likely going to take over.”

  “Sure, I’ll take her.” Shane barely finished his thought when an older man walked over.

  In a smooth Mediterranean voice, he said, “Mi belleza.”

  Gwen stepped to him and let his arms fold around her. “Sebastian, what is happening? At our lake?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t hear a thing.” Sebastian held her against him, she felt down and weak, so he did what he could to fix that without drawing too much attention to them.

  Shane could feel the magic coming off of him and wondered if this old man was really the neighbor she had a romantic past with. Two dead bodies and two love interests, not the ideal way he wanted to end their first night together.

  Aware of his magic against her, Gwen stepped back. “I’m going to the station with Shane, are you going?”

  He looked to Shane, smiled, and shook his hand. “Shane.” He knew from Sergei this was her chosen mate, which made the smile harder to find as he wondered if she knew, or agreed to it. “I’ve already talked with them. Can I do anything here for you?”

  “No, we’ll be back. I’ll talk to you then. I’ll call if it’s not too late.” She nodded at him and frowned at Dillon, before she and Shane got back in the car. “I’m so sorry. Even considering what happened tonight, I understand if you want to drop me at the station and go home. I’ll find my own way back.”

  He chuckled and leaned over the console, kissing her before he started the car. His attention focused on Sebastian and Dillon talking, before he started to back out.

  When Dillon glanced over, Shane saw there was a pained look in his eyes. Too bad, sweetestheart, Shane thought.

  He wasn’t too worried about Sebastian, he apparently answered to Dmitry and shouldn’t be a problem. He wasn’t worried about the bodies too much either. Once Sergei told Dmitry, he had a feeling it would be handled. “You keep trying, but you won’t get rid of me. You need more cake and an extra dose of redhead to get over this awful turn. Eat your cake while I drive. Later for the rest.”

  “D o you know this man?” Agent Linder asked.

  Gwen glanced around the room. She’d spent a lot of time at the station house, mostly in the lobby, occasionally in Dillon’s office. The last few days she spent far too much time in the interrogation room. The gray walls seemed to blend with the flat gray floor tiles, both absorbed the harsh light of the fluorescents above them.

  The little table she sat at had a file, which the agent pulled a picture from. She looked at him first, thinking he reminded her of the man that helped her with supplies at the hardware store. They both had peppered black hair and bushy eyebrows. He stood beside his chair and looked at her with hardened, yet concerned brown eyes. The red lines within and dark circles beneath them gave away that he needed to catch up on sleep.

  His long, slim fingers tapped the picture. “Miss Hensley?”

  She looked at the picture on the table, sucked in a sharp breath, and tears filled her eyes. “I do.”

  The man sat down across from her and watched her eyes glaze over. “I understand you knew the first man as well?”

  “I did. I don’t understand.” She looked around, looking for anything familiar or soothing to calm herself.

  There was nothing comforting, these rooms were deliberately designed to make people uneasy. Her hands searched for the shawl that wasn’t there, it was tucked safely in a chest in her bedroom.

  She reached out to Sebastian, but without the shawl and in her distracted state she couldn’t feel him.

  Her eyes looked up at the agent. “Do you know what is going on?”

  “Tell me how you know him.”

  “I dated him. He was my first boyfriend. My first date. That’s Barry Machaon.” She started to cry again, this time the sobs grew deeper.

  He handed her a handkerchief. “When did you last talk to Barry?” He scribbled some notes while he talked.

  “Freshman year, high school. I never saw him after we broke up. He was older than me and moved on after he graduated.”

  “So, you were a freshman and he was a senior?”

  “Yes.” She wiped her tears and tried to regain some composure.

  “Was it a bad break?”

  “No. We agreed it wasn’t working and he had a college offer to play ball, so we just cut ties.” She looked at the picture again. “Was he found like the other? Was it bad?”

  “I’m afraid that is not something I can say. You don’t want details like that, ma’am.” He tapped his pen against his lips. “Have you had any jilted lovers lately, anyone who might target your ex-boyfriend?”

  “We had no connections.” She paused and sighed while looking at the picture. When she looked up he was watching her, waiting for an answer. “No, I don’t have jilted lovers.”

  “Did you date Bradly Harrison?”

  She gasped and her eyes grew wide. “No, of course not. He was much older than me. He was my middle school English teacher.”

  “Do you know of any connection between the two men, other than they knew you in school?”

  “No, I’m sorry. It wasn’t even the same school.” Her cheeks grew warm and she looked away. “I did have a crush on him, Bradly, but how would anyone know that? All the girls did. I just don’t understand.”

  “Any lovers between Bradly and Barry?”

  She watched him scribble some more notes. “No, Barry was my first boyfriend, we were not lovers. That’s why we fought, well, I was just a child.”

  He looked up and cocked his head. “Freshman in high school?”

  “Yes. I told you that.” Her eyes kept coming back to the picture.

  Barry and her had absolutely no contact after he went to college. She didn’t know what he studied, or if he did play ball, it had been a clean break. “He was found at my lake? Is there a crime scene at my lake?”

  He put the picture back in his file. “Yes, ma’am. I suggest you give us some time to clean it up.”

  “Bad? At my house? Why is this at my house?”

  He shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “Is Shane staying with you?”

  “Yes, yes, am I safe? Is my house safe? Will there be police watching it?”

  He chewed the end of the pen cap and rifled a few pages, his eyes scanning for something. “Where was Shane tonight?”

  “With me. I went to my knitting group and afterward he picked me up, we went for cake at Mel’s, we saw Dillon there.”

  “Dillon, the sheriff?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then?”

  Her finger played with the edge of her shirt. “We drove home and he was waiting for us there.”

  “You left the diner at the same time. Did you know he was leaving to go to a crime scene?”

  “No, we left before he did. I wasn’t feeling well after all that’s happened and decided to have the cake to go.” No matter what he asked or her answers, his face stayed exactly the same.

  “He beat you home, the sheriff did, even though you left before he did?”

  She looked down and blushed. “We stopped to look at fireflies, and we spent some time together there.” She looked back at him, still feeling heat in her
cheeks. “That’s a private matter, agent.”

  “I’m sorry to pry, ma’am. I just want to cover all the bases, so that I don’t have to bother you again.” His face softened for a second before he started making notes again.

  After a few more questions she met Shane in the lobby. Her eyes were still red and puffy. “You okay? What’s happened? What did you do to her?” Shane looked at the agent over her head as he tucked her in his arms.

  “I’m Agent Linder, can I ask you a few questions, Mr.?”

  “Callaghan.” He kissed the top of her head. “Will you be okay, sweetheart?”

  Gwen looked over to see Ronda and frowned. “Yes, go. I’ll be fine. Ronda, is there coffee?”

  Ronda nodded. “You know where it is. You okay to get it yourself since I am alone tonight?”

  “Yes, thank you.” Gwen turned without looking back to the agent or Shane.

  Linder watched as she took small, measured steps. “She knows her way around the station?”

  Shane turned his full attention to the older agent. “Dillon is her best friend. Like a brother to her.”

  “I see. Follow me.” They walked down the bright, bland corridor back to the interrogation room.

  “Is that why you are doing this, because she knows all the regular police here?” Shane asked once they were behind the shut door.

  He looked at Shane appraising him with a careful stare. “No, I am here because I specialize in occult crimes.”

  “Oh, was this another strange one?”

  The file was still on the table and he slid out the same picture of Barry. “Can’t say. Do you know this man?”

  Shane looked at the picture and back to him. “Nope, never seen him.”

  “This man?” He pushed over the picture of Bradly.

  Shane looked at the old man in the picture. “No, sorry.”

  “How long have you been dating Miss Hensley?”

  “Gwen? Casually? a few weeks. Seriously? a few days.” He looked at the first picture again. The guy looked pretty close to his age, if not a little older. He had dark, neatly cut hair and plain brown eyes.

  “Tell me about your night.”

  Shane watched the man with his pen poised to write. “I shopped while she knitted, gifts for mom, a few surprises for Gwen. She called and I picked her up, took her to Mel’s, we grabbed cake, and headed home.” He paused and watched as the man scribbled furiously. “We stopped off to watch the fireflies and got carried away by the setting, if you follow. We found Dillon in the drive when we pulled in. I thought some nosy passerby might have spotted us in the woods to be honest.”