Settling an Old Score

by Delores Fossen

  The apology seemed sincere, and she thought that Dominick wanted her to respond with some kind of olive branch of her own. But he didn’t wait for that. Motioning for his lawyer to follow him, Dominick walked out.

  Just seeing the man leave helped Ashlyn settle some of her nerves. So did the hand that Eli ran down her back. It stilled her. And surprised her. After she’d just dropped the L-word bombshell, she’d figured he would try to put some distance between them. At least until after this interview. He didn’t. In fact, Eli dropped a quick kiss on her mouth before he left her in observation and went into interview.

  “I’m Scott Sanders,” the lawyer said, standing. “My client and I want a bail hearing ASAP.”

  “You and I both know your client won’t get bail.” Eli sat across from Waite. “He was carrying a gun, which is a violation of his parole. His parole officer has already been contacted.”

  The lawyer didn’t even react to that and instead looked at his phone screen—and frowned.

  “I found that gun,” Waite insisted. He was a wiry man with beady eyes that darted around as if he expected someone to jump out at him. Maybe he just needed a fix, but Ashlyn couldn’t see why anyone would have hired him to go after Remy or anyone else, for that matter.

  “You found it,” Eli repeated. He couldn’t have possibly sounded more skeptical.

  “Yeah. In the woods, there,” Waite added. Beneath the table, Ashlyn could see his legs fidgeting as much as the rest of him.” My car wouldn’t start so I started walking, looking for help. That’s when I found the gun.”

  Eli calmly leaned forward, and even though Ashlyn couldn’t see his face, she’d bet he was giving Waite a hard glare. “Why didn’t you just use your phone to call someone? You had a cell in your pocket.”

  Waite went stiff, and he looked up at the ceiling as if to find the answer there. Since he obviously didn’t, he didn’t say anything.

  “You had a tranq gun and duct tape on you,” Eli went on. “And before you give me some lame excuse to explain those things, I should probably tell you that a deputy sheriff had you under observation from the time you stepped onto the property. He saw enough that you’ll be headed back to a cage.”

  Eli leaned back and waited.

  It didn’t take long.

  “I want a deal,” Waite said, and he shook off the grip that his lawyer put on his arm.

  Eli didn’t jump on that, either. He just took his time. “What kind of deal?”

  “I tell you what I know, and I don’t go back to jail. I can’t go back there, man. You gotta give me a break.”

  “I don’t have to give you anything,” Eli assured him. “But if you tell me what you know, I’ll consider it. I’ll even put in a good word for you with the DA.”

  She hadn’t thought it possible, but Waite’s fidgeting got even worse. “Okay,” Waite said after giving that some thought. He shook off his lawyer again. “Someone paid me to go out there. I don’t know who,” Waite quickly added.

  “And what exactly were you supposed to do?” Eli pressed.

  “Just grab the guy and drop him off at that old abandoned gas station up the road. I wasn’t supposed to hurt him or nothing. It wasn’t even like a serious crime or anything.”

  “You were supposed to kidnap a man, tranq him, tie him up and put duct tape on his mouth. Sounds plenty serious to me.” Eli sat back again and waited. “I’ll bet it sounds even worse to the man you were supposed to kidnap.”

  Waite’s eyes darted around. “Well, I didn’t do it, and I’d changed my mind before you even got there and arrested me. I wasn’t going through with it.”

  “Right,” Eli grumbled. “Who’s the someone who hired you to do this? Give me a name, and I’ll push to get you a deal.”

  “No,” the lawyer blurted out. “Don’t tell him anything...not until he puts it in writing. You can’t trust him. He’ll lie to get the information he wants.”

  “I’ll put you back in a cage to get the information I want,” Eli calmly answered. “But I just offered you a deal, and I meant it. Give me a name, and if it pans out, you won’t be charged with a parole violation.”

  Waite kept his gaze nailed to Eli’s, and when he opened his mouth, Ashlyn automatically moved closer to the glass. Her heart was pounding now. Her breath, held. Maybe they would finally know the truth.

  However, before Waite could say anything, the lawyer’s phone dinged with a text message. Since she could clearly see Sanders, she thought maybe there was relief, as if this was something he’d been waiting for.

  Yes, definitely relief.

  Ashlyn saw even more of it when he silently read whatever was on his phone screen. Sanders showed the text to Waite, his eyes darting across the message, and he swallowed hard. Every drop of color seemed to drain from his face.

  “No deal,” Waite said. His voice was suddenly as shaky as he was. “I’m not saying another word to you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Eli had already used every curse word he knew. Multiple times. And he would have used them all over again if he’d thought it would help. It wouldn’t. No matter how hard he’d pressed Waite, the man had just clammed up.

  Or rather he’d been threatened if he continued to speak.

  Eli knew that in his gut.

  Waite had been ready to spill. Eli was absolutely certain of that. But the confession had been nixed because of whatever was in the text that Waite’s lawyer had shown him. Now, even after all that cursing and the phone calls, Eli still didn’t have proof of who’d sent that text.

  Eli reined in any urges to belt out more profanity, and he stopped pacing when Ashlyn came into the kitchen. The moment they’d gotten back to Jack’s house, she’d gone into the bedroom to check on Cora, and judging from her expression and the fact that it was a short check, everything seemed to be okay there. He figured her raised eyebrow was for him and not anything going on with the baby. Ashlyn wanted an update on the case, especially since the danger was breathing down their necks.

  “Nothing,” he volunteered, keeping his voice at a whisper since Gunnar was already asleep on the sofa. “It was a no-go on getting the lawyer to reveal any info about that text.”

  Of course, Eli hadn’t expected anything different. After all, the lawyer could claim it was client-attorney privilege, but it still riled him to the core. Waite and the lawyer were on the same payroll, and Eli wanted the murdering SOB who was paying them behind bars.

  “What about the tails you had on Oscar and Dominick?” Ashlyn asked. “Did they see anything?”

  “Oh, yeah.” And that was the second source of Eli’s extreme frustration. “According to the deputy on Oscar, she saw him use his phone right about the time of the text which means he could have been the one to tell Waite to shut up. Of course, Oscar isn’t willing to just hand over his phone, so I’m having to work on a court order to get that, too.”

  He’d get the court order, but if Oscar was truly behind this, then he’d likely used a burner, something that couldn’t be traced. Something that Oscar would have already ditched.

  “What about Dominick?” Ashlyn walked closer, and she slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Did he come up with the receipts for the renovations?”

  “More or less. There are receipts, all right, for the nursery redo, but we’ll have to check and make sure they’re legit. I still think that’s way too much cash for a single room.”

  Proving that, though, wouldn’t be easy, and like the text, it could be impossible to get to the truth. Someone like Dominick could have easily paid a contractor to falsify receipts.

  Since Eli didn’t want to dump that bad news on Ashlyn, he changed the subject. “Is Cora okay?”

  She nodded. “Whoever brought in the crib put it in the spare room where Gloria’s asleep.”

  “Good. It’s best if Cora’s not alone in th
e bedroom.”

  The moment Eli said the words, he wanted to wince. On the surface, it was an innocent thing to say, but Ashlyn and he weren’t anywhere near the “surface.” There was the blasted attraction. And more. It was what she’d said to him earlier.

  I’m in love with you, Eli.

  That was definitely deep stuff, and Eli knew he couldn’t continue to step around it. However, before he even had the chance to bring it up, his phone buzzed to indicate he had a call. He scowled when he saw the name on the screen and immediately showed it to Ashlyn.

  Remy.

  Since Eli definitely wanted to talk to him, he motioned for Ashlyn to follow him to the bedroom he’d been using. That way, the conversation wouldn’t wake up Gloria, the baby or Gunnar. Eli shut the door and put the call on speaker.

  “Hold on a second, Remy,” Eli told the man, and he texted dispatch so they could try to trace the call. “Where are you?” Eli demanded once he’d done that.

  Remy didn’t jump to answer, though. It took him several long moments. “I’m in hiding. Someone wants to kill me. That’s why I sneaked out of the barn and went on the run.”

  Eli huffed. “You’re sure you didn’t run because you’re guilty of the attacks?”

  “No.” Remy didn’t hesitate that time. “I didn’t have anything to do with them, I swear.”

  “Don’t hold your breath waiting for me to believe you about that. You stole Marta’s body, then hid it, and you’re on the run from the law. That’s three strikes in my book, and it doesn’t add up to someone I intend to trust. Now, where the hell are you?”

  “I don’t want to tell you because I don’t trust you, either. You haven’t done your job and fixed this. Someone was following me, and after everything that’s happened, that person might want me dead, too. Who’s doing this, Eli? Who wants to murder us?”

  Eli wasn’t buying into Remy’s denial, but the man certainly sounded afraid. Of course, fear could be faked, and Remy had a strong motive for wanting to kill him. Maybe Remy had stretched that motive to include Ashlyn as well, but if so, Remy was also coming after the baby, since she was in the middle of this mess.

  “You need to arrest whoever’s trying to kill us. Until you do that, I’m protecting myself, and it starts by not telling you where I am. Find him, Eli, or I will,” Remy warned him, and he ended the call.

  Eli groaned, and even though he knew Remy hadn’t been on the line long enough, he called dispatch anyway. “Nothing,” Eli had to relay to Ashlyn once he had his answer. “They weren’t able to trace it.”

  Frustrated, he put his phone back in his pocket and mentally replayed everything Remy had just told him. Which wasn’t much. However, if Remy did indeed try to play cop and find their attacker, then he could put himself right in the path of a killer. If Remy wasn’t the killer, that is. If he was, then his call had merely been an attempt to make himself look innocent.

  It hadn’t worked.

  He intended to keep the man on his suspect list.

  Eli looked up when he felt Ashlyn touch his arm, and he immediately saw the fresh concern in her eyes. He knew that she just wanted this to be over. So did he. But Remy was right about one thing. Eli did need to arrest the snake who kept putting them in danger. So far, they’d gotten lucky by getting away from the gunfire, but their luck might not hold out much longer.

  Ashlyn kept her gaze on him, and after a few seconds, Eli didn’t think her expression was only one of concern. Well, it wasn’t solely about the attacks anyway. That worry was there all right, but there was also something else.

  That I’m in love with you.

  “I know what you’re going to say,” Ashlyn blurted out before Eli could broach that subject. “You don’t want me to be in love with you, and I get that. Believe me, I get it,” she added in a frustrated mumble. “If I could change how I feel about you, I would.”

  Okay, that spelled it out for him. She wasn’t any happier about this than he was. But then she shook her head. “That’s not exactly true,” she amended. “I probably wouldn’t change things in the feelings department.”

  “You should,” he insisted right off. “I’m bad news, Ashlyn. I can’t make the past go away.”

  Her gaze came back to him, and she gave him a blank stare. “There were some good things in that past. And yes, I know it’s hard to see the good what with all the bad. I hung on to that bad for a very long time, blaming you for something that wasn’t your fault.” She stepped closer, laying her palm on his chest. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  He wanted to believe that. Better yet, Eli wanted her to believe it, but the hurt would always be there.

  And apparently so would the attraction.

  Certain parts of his body took her touch as some sort of signal that more should happen to tap into that attraction. Eli was almost certain he could have resisted, almost, if Ashlyn hadn’t come up on her toes and put her mouth close to his. She didn’t actually kiss him.

  So Eli kissed her.

  Even though he knew there was a high chance of regretting this, Eli dragged her to him and finished what Ashlyn had started. And there it was. That kick of heat so strong that he wondered how the heck he’d ever resisted her in the first place.

  Ashlyn melted right into the kiss. She melted right against him, too. With her hand trapped between them, she pressed her body to his, a reminder of just how well they fit together.

  Eli deepened the kiss, letting it fan the fire even more until the kiss and the body contact weren’t enough. He needed more, and judging from the way Ashlyn was struggling to touch more of him, she felt the same way.

  Her free hand slid down his back, urging him closer and closer, and the sound that she made in her throat was one of pure desire. Eli hadn’t needed anything else to rev him up, but that did it.

  He shoved up her top, lowered his head and kissed the tops of her breasts. All in all, that was a good way to take things to next level, but soon it wasn’t enough, either, and Eli found himself backing Ashlyn across the room. First, he locked the door, and then he led her in the direction of the bed—while he kissed her again.

  They fell back, sinking into the feather mattress while the sides of it swelled around them. Everything around them was soft. Except for Eli. And he could feel his body going steely hard.

  Ashlyn went after his neck, kissing him there, while she fought with his shirt to get the buttons undone. It wasn’t easy since Eli was waging his own battle against her clothes. He finally managed to peel off her top, then he pushed down her bra so he could kiss her breasts.

  She stopped with his buttons, arched her back to move her breasts even closer to his mouth, and she made another of those sounds of pleasure. Since it was something she obviously liked, Eli lingered there a few more seconds until the urgency kicked in again, and Ashlyn went after his zipper. As soon as she got it down, she slid her hand down into his boxers.

  He could have sworn his eyes crossed. It certainly robbed him of what little breath he had. Eli ground his teeth and let her touch spear the pleasure through him.

  Man, he wanted Ashlyn, and he wanted her now.

  Eli had to push her hand away so he could get his jeans unzipped. Ashlyn finally gave up her touching quest and helped him with that. Together, they shimmied off her jeans. Her panties, too.

  “Now,” she insisted.

  He definitely wanted to give her “now,” but Eli kissed her again and skimmed his hand from her breasts down to the inside of her thighs. That was pleasure for both of them, because Ashlyn ground herself against him, seeking the cure for the pressure cooker of heat that they’d built together.

  She repeated her “now” while she groped the waist of his jeans to get them down. As much as Eli was enjoying the kissing, he knew it was time to cut the foreplay and finish this. He got off his boots and jeans and remembered to take the condom from his wallet
before he tossed his clothes and boxers onto the floor.

  He kept it gentle as he slipped inside her and even stilled to give Ashlyn a moment to adjust to the pressure of him filling her. But Eli quickly learned that it wasn’t gentleness she wanted. Ashlyn hooked her leg around his lower back and gave him a push while she lifted her hips to meet his thrust.

  Eli took things from there. It was obvious she didn’t want him to treat her like someone fragile or broken, so he didn’t hold back. He gave her, and himself, exactly what they needed. The movement came harder. Faster. And with each plunge inside her, it took them closer and closer to the edge.

  Ashlyn went over first, the climax rippling through her and gripping on to him like a fist. After that, Eli couldn’t have hung on even if he’d wanted to. His body needed release.

  And he needed Ashlyn.

  Those ripples of her body coaxed and pushed him until Eli buried his face against her neck and let himself go.

  * * *

  ASHLYN HADN’T REMEMBERED to keep her scars hidden away. That was a first for her, but then sex with Eli apparently could rid her of any self-consciousness, including what she had about those scars from her gunshot wounds.

  Of course, he’d already seen them because she’d shown them to him. However, that’d been a quick glimpse, and it would likely be a whole lot more than that now what with her naked.

  The moment that Eli moved off her and dropped on his back next to her on the bed, Ashlyn reached for the cover to drape it over her body. Eli stopped her, though, by catching on to her hand. First, he frowned, and then he kissed her.

  Before he looked at those scars.

  His frown deepened for a moment before he leaned down, kissed them, too, and he got up, gathering up his jeans and boxers before he headed into the adjoining bathroom. Only then did Ashlyn release the breath she’d been holding.

  Thank goodness, the scars hadn’t brought back the memories of that awful night, and there’d been enough heat left in his eyes to tell her that they hadn’t been a turnoff, either. What could be a turnoff, though, was when he had time to think about this, because he would almost certainly see it as a mistake.