by Vella Day
“Well, I’m glad I could be here for you, too.”
How sweet was that? It felt odd to be on the receiving end of advice, but she’d been pretty needy.
As if Pete had lived here for months, he found two plates and some paper napkins that he stacked in a pile on the table. He drew in an audible breath and his lids fluttered closed. “Smells awesome.”
“It does.” Feeling stronger, she pushed back her stool. “I’ll find some silverware.”
“Got chopsticks right here.” He waved them.
She was going to say they needed a fork to pile the food on their plate but tipping the container worked for her. “Care to share how you and Thad met?”
“You were the shrink who was with Thad during his sting operation, right?”
She found it interesting that he redirected the attention away from himself. Once her mind settled, she’d have to find out why. He seemed to know a lot about Thad’s cases, but if they roomed together, it made sense. “Guilty.”
Pete dumped a little food from each container on his plate. Make that a lot from each container. She didn’t mind, as she wasn’t a big eater.
“Was that weird?” he asked.
“Was what weird?”
“Talking to someone about shrink stuff when you know it’s fake.”
Most people would draw that conclusion. “That was the odd thing about it. It was, yet it wasn’t.” She scooped up some Lo Mein and took a bite. “I was there pretending to be Thad’s therapist. We left the door open in case the killer walked by. Though I had to ask questions that were related to death, we actually had some good talks. Thad is a deep person.”
“I know.” He immediately stuffed so many noodles into his mouth that his cheeks puffed out. He swallowed then grinned, probably because she’d widened her eyes at the amount of food he’d jammed in there.
Too many unanswered questions swam in her head. “So tell me how the owner of his own construction company ended up with a detective for a roommate.” She really wanted to know why some woman hadn’t snatched up either of them already. Thad was divorced, which meant he was eligible again. Or was she missing something? Men in their mid-thirties who had established careers didn’t usually live together unless they were a couple. Were they? Crap. And here, she really liked Thad. Hell, I think Pete is great, too.
“Well, let’s see. About eighteen months ago, I was finishing up the construction of a convenience store on Valley and Third when some thugs came in the middle of the night and broke the windows and sprayed graffiti everywhere. Fuck. It was a mess.”
“I bet that broke your heart.”
“Yes, and even though insurance paid for it, the lost time to repaint and reinstall those big plate glass windows set me back.”
From what Cade had told her, Thad worked for the Street Crime Unit. He was in charge of dealing with the gangs. “Was Thad the lead on the case?”
“You got it. Turns out it was a gang initiation stunt. We’d both grown up here, but our paths didn’t cross.” He held up his hand. “I knew of him in junior high, but since I was older, we didn’t associate with each other back then.”
“What about high school?” Age differences didn’t mean as much once a student entered ninth or tenth grade.
He waited a beat. “I went to private school.”
She smiled. “So did I.”
He gave her a high five. “Anyway, after we met again, we hit it off right away. At first we thought we had nothing in common, but after I ran into him at Banner’s Bar, we found out that we did. I used to hang out with his cousin.”
She’d become friends with people who had similar interests, too. “How did you decide to room together?” Being acquaintances was different from living together, unless they were gay.
“Thad was renting this dump when the landlord decided to sell it. A few years ago, my father announced that the four thousand square foot home my sister and I had been raised in was too small for them.” He pressed his lips together. “More proof the guy has his priorities all messed up. So he commissioned me to build him a mansion and paid me by giving me the old homestead.”
“Wow. That was generous.”
“Yes and no. It meant I couldn’t spend time on any other project. In the end, I did come out ahead, but not as much as one would think. Then I wondered, what the hell was I going to do with such a big place?”
She got it. “In walks Thad Dalton, a man who needed a place to live.”
He tapped his forehead. “Give the lady a prize.”
That probably worked out well. If Thad was anything like Cade Carter, his hours kept him working a lot. “It seems like you two keep busy. Do you ever get to spend time together?”
“When we’re both free we like to play darts, ride horses and motorcycles, shoot pool, you name it.”
Her sixth sense went into overdrive, and her curiosity could no longer be contained. “May I ask you something personal?”
A brief flash of indecision skated across his face. Way to go. She’d shared her fears with him—had been more open with him than with her own family—and foolishly thought he might want to share back. Zoey loved analyzing people and reverted to shrink mode too often.
He leaned back in his seat. “I’m an open book.” He upended the bottle and drank his beer.
That was what most people said, but they really weren’t. She could ask him something else, but she couldn’t help herself. She was obsessive about compartmentalizing people into personality types, but she didn’t want to jump to the wrong conclusion. “Are you and Thad a couple?”
He nearly spit out his beer. “Couple? Fuck no. We like to share our women.”
Her heart stopped.
Chapter Six
“You told her we shared?” Thad shook his head at Pete. “What the fuck were you thinking? The woman almost died yesterday. Hell, she witnessed two men get shot. One of them being me.” Thad tapped his chest.
That was the problem. Pete had just reacted. This might be Rock Hard, Montana where sharing was the norm rather than the exception, but he knew damn well that a woman like Dr. Zoey Donovan wouldn’t be into something like that. Christ. She was from freaking uptight Connecticut and even went to a prestigious boarding school.
Pete needed to explain. “She asked if you and I were a couple. Can you fucking imagine? I couldn’t let her think that was true.” There. He’d said it. It had taken a while to get over the embarrassment. He didn’t have anything against gays. Hell, two of his best workers were together. Pete just didn’t want a beautiful woman to think he swung that way.
“She thought we were gay?” Thad laughed so hard he had to grab his arm. “Shit, that hurts. Don’t make me laugh again.” He swiped his eye. “What made her think that?”
Pete understood why she’d drawn the conclusion. “She asked how you and I met and how we ended up being roommates. I told her about the convenience store defacement and about how the landlord kicked you out of your apartment. It makes sense she might think that.”
Thad dropped his head back on the hospital pillow. “So you mentioned sharing because you wanted to fucking prove to her you were straight.” It came out as a statement rather than a question.
If Pete was that transparent then why couldn’t Zoey see that? “Maybe. Yes. But I was upset and a bit disoriented. It’s not every day I have to comfort a woman who’s been through something so upsetting.” It wasn’t totally his fault. “She’s intriguing, you know, and quite distracting.”
“You know you fucked things up for us?”
His roommate had seemed quite taken with her during the sting. Now, Pete had probably ruined any chance of her ever going out with either of them. “Zoey seems like the type to forgive.”
“How do you fucking figure?”
“When I told her about me and Alex, she didn’t judge my dad—much.” He shook his head. “Shit. I’m grasping at straws, aren’t I?”
“Hell, yeah, you are.” Thad inhaled deeply, and then
blew out a long breath. “Don’t worry about it. She’s smart and nice. If she thinks about it, she might forgive you.”
“Me? What about you?”
“I don’t need forgiveness. I’ll just tell her you lied about sharing. Then I’ll ask her out for myself.”
Pete’s jaw hardened, and he gripped the seat of the chair. If Thad ever followed through, Pete would throw his sorry ass out on the street.
No he wouldn’t. But he’d think about it.
Thad laughed again. “Gotcha!”
“You’re a real shit, you know that?”
His roommate waved a hand. “Trying to lighten the mood, that’s all.”
Pete leaned back. “When she was crying, my heart broke for her. She was scared, man. It messed with my mind.”
Thad looked to the side, suddenly sobering. “I know. I watched every range of emotion cross her face during the exchange. That’s why I had to take down Garrett. Well, that and the fact he shot me first. But with the way he was waving his gun, he could have shot her just to piss me off.” He dragged his good hand down his chin. “I know I scared the crap out of her by taking that shot when she was standing so close to him, but shit, it was my only chance. Didn’t need him getting off a second round.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty. You did what you had to. It was self-defense and all. She appreciates that. Trust me.”
“Little good it will do us now.” Thad reached over for his Styrofoam cup and drank from it. “I’m curious. It may be a moot point, but what exactly did Zoey say after you told her we shared?”
“Nothing. That was the problem. She just stared at me with her hands clenched. Everything from despair to what looked like indecision crossed her face. It was like she wanted to talk about it, but wasn’t ready to.”
“Why didn’t you say you were kidding or something? You had to know she couldn’t possibly be in the right frame of mind. Hell. We never bring up the topic until we’ve both taken out the woman a few times.”
“I know. I messed up. Ego, maybe. What can I say?” He put his thumb and forefinger a half inch apart. “But the tiniest part of me needed to know if she might be interested. She’s a beautiful woman.”
“You’ve never been known for your patience, but Jesus, let’s get to know her first.”
“You’re right.” He’d always taken things too fast.
“I know what happened,” Thad said.
This was going to be good. “What?”
“When you spotted that long, flaming red hair, you figured I’d want to pursue her. You were just testing the waters for me.” Thad smiled.
He knew all about Thad’s fiasco with his first wife and how it had been her red hair that had attracted Thad to Peggy in the first place. “I wish I could claim that.” Pete chuckled. “In case you have your blinders on, Zoey is the total opposite of Peggy.” Pete inhaled. “Zoey likes you, you know.”
“As opposed to Peggy?”
“Haven’t spoken with her. From the way Zoey was acting so distraught after you called, I’d say she’s interested.”
“She might have been at one time, but she isn’t anymore I bet.” Thad closed his eyes for a moment. He then used his good hand to sit up straighter on the bed. “When we first met, we had this connection, but with what happened yesterday, she’ll keep her distance for sure. If she does stop by again, it’ll be out of guilt and nothing else.”
Pete shrugged. “She’s out of your league anyway, bozo.” He wanted to put the conversation back on a lighter track.
“You think so?”
At his roommate’s intense comment, Pete leaned closer. He knew that look. “What are you thinking?”
“I am a detective. Let me do a little investigating. We might be able to find a way to entice her. Find out what makes her tick.”
That didn’t seem like a good idea. “Are the drugs messing with your head? No woman I’ve ever met appreciates a man going behind her back to find dirt. She’s perceptive. She’ll know.”
“I didn’t say dirt.”
Perhaps it was best to wait until Thad was healed before they talked about pursuing Zoey. “You said Jeremy shot someone?”
Thad cocked a brow. “You know you suck at changing the subject?”
“Always worked on you before, dude.” Joking with Thad helped take the edge off Pete’s mistake.
That brought out a smile on Thad’s face, thank God. “The story’s the same old one.” Thad told him about the robbery and the subsequent shooting.
“How did Jeremy handle it?”
“He was shaken. It was his first time pulling the trigger and hitting someone.”
Pete couldn’t imagine what that would feel like. Hell. He had to be the only man in all of Montana who hadn’t even killed a deer. “Is he okay now?”
“He stopped by earlier. He’s a bit stunned. Turns out the thief he shot was Bobby Dench. Jeremy knew his older brother.”
“That sucks. Don’t recognize the name. He part of a gang?” Pete couldn’t keep track of which kids were good and which ones weren’t. Thad’s main job was to control them. Not that Rock Hard had a lot of gangs, but with any city close to fifty thousand, they had their share.
“Nick Rodgers called me right before you stopped in. He’s taken over lead because I got laid up. Dench said robbing the store was part of an initiation into the Blood Rights gang.”
“Shit. We didn’t have gangs back in our day.”
Thad laughed. “You rich boys just didn’t know about them, that’s all.”
Pete gave Thad the finger. His friend was going to be okay.
* * *
Zoey moved the tablet on her desk, fingers poised to take notes. “Kara, you said the tension in the operating room is getting worse? Can you be more specific?” This newest development worried her. If what her patient said were true, more than Kara would be affected.
“Dr. Carson keeps checking me out during the procedures.”
Dr. Avery Carson was the chief of cardiovascular surgery, and Kara was his assistant, so perhaps he was assessing her abilities, not her physical attributes. Each time Kara had come in for a session, her attention span had been getting shorter. The anxiety was slowly eating away at her. “Could it be that he wants to make sure you’re paying attention?”
“No. It’s not that kind of look.” Her lips pressed together and her fingers clasped the armchair until the vein in her forearms throbbed. “He also seems to find ways to… touch me.” The disgust in her tone was raw and real.
Zoey’s heart skipped a beat, but as she took notes she blanked her face. “Is he touching your arm to get your attention? Or is it more sexual?” She wanted to understand the true nature of the concern. As her therapist, she couldn’t merely take Kara’s interpretation of the events.
“Arm mostly, but there’s also been a pat on the butt along with a squeeze to my shoulder.”
Zoey noted the butt pat in her notes. “Do the other nurses or doctors comment about this behavior?” She wished she could speak with them to get their side, but that would be unethical.
“No. Even if you asked Dr. Carson, he’d tell you he was trying to include me in the joking that goes on. They’re always talking about sex and who got laid last night.”
Everyone? She couldn’t picture the females participating in this venture. “I thought many of the operations occurred in the operating theater.” LACE was a teaching hospital and students were always watching the top doctors perform their specialties.
“Dr. Carson is good when others are there. It’s only when no one is looking that he acts up.”
“Remember how we talked about not reacting when he touches you?” They’d tried many techniques, but none seemed to have worked. Zoey hoped that without a response, Dr. Carson would cease his aggressive behavior. Kara said she’d even confronted him but to no avail.
Her chin trembled. “I tried laughing and all, but it’s hard. His jokes are cruel and his comments sick.”
Kara
didn’t seem to be in the right space to consider other behavioral modifications. “Have you asked for a transfer to a different discipline like we talked about?” That would end Kara’s need to interact with Dr. Carson.
Her eyes widened as she shook her head. “I thought about it, but I love heart surgery.”
Or did she love Dr. Carson? Kara’s time was up. “For the next session, I want you to write down your emotions before and after the next occurrence of any inappropriate behavior. Be honest with yourself. Are you sending him any signals?”
Kara jumped up. “No. I hate him.”
This wasn’t the reaction Zoey had hoped for. “Try to keep an open mind.” The sudden shift in behavior was troublesome, but Zoey’s sister, Courtney, had a similar situation. Unfortunately, hers had ended in heartache.
“I’ll try.” Kara thanked her, but her words came out harsh and on edge.
Damn. Had Zoey pushed too hard? Her own nerves were still quite raw, so perhaps she had. If she hadn’t had a lot of patients on her calendar, she would have cancelled the rest of the day and gone home. As soon as Kara left, Zoey checked her office Outlook and noticed her two o’clock was crossed off. As much as she’d needed the break, this one worried her. Zoey called her secretary.
“Rachel, is Mrs. Fletcher okay?” The woman never cancelled.
“Her daughter was ill, so Mrs. Fletcher had to keep her home. She rescheduled for next week. I put it on the calendar.”
Zoey should have looked. “Perfect. Thanks.” That gave her the needed time to see Thad and then grab a bite.
On her way out, she told Rachel to text her if anything important came up.
As Zoey headed to Thad’s room, she didn’t want to arrive empty handed. It wasn’t in her nature. Having heard patients complain about the coffee the hospital served, she bet he’d welcome a good cup from Starbucks. When he was working undercover, he’d mentioned his need for his caffeine fix each morning.
At the small coffee stand in the lobby she purchased the strongest blend they had. She wasn’t sure if he liked sugar or cream, so she grabbed two sugar packets. There weren’t any creamer containers visible, so he’d have to do without.
