Colton 911--Unlikely Alibi

by Lisa Childs

  Frustrated with the interruption, he pulled it from his pocket and dropped it on the counter. Gina’s name illuminated the screen, and he cursed.

  “That,” Kylie said. “Her.”

  “She called when I was in the kitchen last night?” he asked. What the hell had the woman said to her? After how Gina had reacted to finding them in bed together, he could only imagine how ugly it must have been. Feeling like he might need to sit down, he settled onto a stool at the counter.

  Kylie’s face flushed, and she shook her head. “No, she didn’t call then.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I—I might have peeked at your phone when you went to the kitchen,” she said.

  His brow creased. “Might have?”

  “I did,” she said. “I don’t mean to sound like her, like some crazy, possessive girlfriend, but I saw you ignore calls a few times and I wanted to see what was going on.”

  And he hadn’t told her about the calls, like he usually told her everything. Realization dawning, he nodded. “I understand.”

  She groaned and covered her flushed face with her hands. “I don’t...” she murmured. “I don’t understand why I’m acting like this, like her.”

  He chuckled. “You would never act like her,” he assured Kylie.

  She drew in a deep breath and pulled her hands from her face. “I know. I have no right. She really was your girlfriend and I’m just...”

  “What?” he asked, curious what she saw herself as now that he saw her as everything. She’d started out as his best friend; now she was his soul mate.

  “I’m your fake alibi,” she replied. “That’s all I am to you.”

  He shook his head. “You’re so much more,” he assured her. And he wanted to tell her what she was, what she meant to him. Today was the day to express his feelings, but unlike his promise to Jones, he would keep expressing them to her—if she stuck around once he confessed to falling for her.

  But when he opened his mouth to speak, she jumped in with a question. “What is she?” Kylie asked. “Is she your ex-girlfriend or your girlfriend?”

  He tensed. “What? You think I would be sleeping with you if I was still seeing her?” He felt like he had when his mom and aunt had sobbed at the funeral, like he could double over with the pain racking him. He jumped up from the stool and started out of the room. “I thought you knew me better than that. Hell, I thought you knew me better than anyone.”

  Good thing he hadn’t expressed his feelings to her because she obviously didn’t share them. And he’d thought his heart had broken when he’d identified the bodies of his dad and uncle.

  If it had, she must have healed it the past few days...only to break it again.

  * * *

  Heath hadn’t answered her question. With another man that might have roused Kylie’s suspicions even more. It might have made her think he was gaslighting her like so many men had gaslighted her mother.

  But this was Heath, and she did know him better than anyone. Before he could leave the kitchen, she stepped in front of him and blocked his escape.

  “I’m sorry,” she told him as she wound her arms around his lean waist and hugged him. “I’m so sorry.”

  His heart pounded hard beneath her cheek as she laid her head on his chest. He put his hands on her shoulders, but instead of pulling her closer, he gently eased her away from him. He still looked like he had when she’d asked that stupid question, like she’d slapped him.

  “I’m sorry,” she repeated. “You’re right. I do know you. And I know you’re not seeing Gina anymore.”

  He drew in a shaky breath and nodded. “Good.”

  His phone vibrated again against the counter where he’d left it. She pointed toward it. “Apparently she doesn’t know that, though. Why does she keep calling you?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t picked it up, and after playing her first ridiculous message, I haven’t played any more of them.”

  “Why not?” she asked.

  He sighed. “I can’t deal with her histrionics right now. Not with everything else.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I should have told you about her calls, but I didn’t want to talk about her—not with everything else going on, everything that’s so much more important.”

  Like the murders.

  And the attempts on their lives.

  She’d been a fool to let those missed calls play on her insecurities. “I understand,” she assured him. “But I don’t think ignoring her is going to make Gina go away. You’re going to have to talk to her.”

  He reached for his phone then. But she stopped him, just as she’d stopped him from leaving the room.

  “Maybe play her messages first, though,” she suggested. “Better to have an idea of what she wants before you talk to her.”

  She also needed to have an idea of what Heath wanted—from her. Was he looking for more than sex? Did he want a real relationship with her? And when he called Gina back, what would he tell her? Would he tell his ex that he’d moved on...with Kylie?

  She needed to ask all those questions. And she would, but she wanted to stall for a little time before she did, because asking them would leave her vulnerable in a way she’d never let herself be vulnerable before. It would expose her feelings to him.

  Her love...

  Her mouth dry, she reached for the pot of tea she’d left steeping on the counter. She quickly poured a cup and took a quick sip. It was hot.

  “Careful,” Heath said as he pointed at the steam rolling off the top of the small cup. “You’re going to burn yourself.”

  That was what she was worried about, that if she confessed her feelings she would get burned. “Don’t you want to play the messages?” she asked.

  He glanced down at his phone as if he’d forgotten all about it. Then he shrugged. “I really don’t care, but since you do...” He pressed the voice mail icon, scrolled back through and pressed Play.

  Despite the heat, Kylie took another sip of her tea—to brace herself as the other woman’s voice emanated from Heath’s phone. As she’d expected, Gina maligned her character and her intentions.

  I can’t believe you’ve fallen for her tricks, the woman said. She has always been after you. That’s why she broke us up.

  Kylie wasn’t surprised about that message. But they got steadily worse.

  She wants to take over Colton Connections, she said. That’s why she wants you. She’s probably the one who killed your dad and uncle.

  Kylie gasped and nearly choked on the sip of tea she’d just taken. How could anyone believe that of her? Would Heath...

  He was shaking his head in horror but clearly more over the messages than the woman herself. Gina ranted and raved and sounded totally unhinged.

  “Oh, my God,” Heath murmured, his eyes widening with alarm.

  That alarm shot through Kylie as well because her throat started feeling odd. Not just burnt but as if it was closing...

  She gasped again, but she couldn’t draw a breath. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t tell Heath what she’d just realized.

  Nobody had been trying to kill them. He had never been the target.

  Just her...

  Gina had been trying to kill her and she might have just succeeded.

  * * *

  Anger coursed through Gina. She should have been at his side during the funerals—not that little bitch. She should have been the one holding his hand, offering him comfort.

  Kylie had barely been able to stop her own crocodile tears long enough to pay him any attention. But Gina had been paying attention.

  She’d always paid attention to everything Heath had said and done and needed. He needed her. Not Kylie...

  So instead of openly attending the funeral, she’d slipped away from the cemetery unseen and she’d come back to the penthouse
while she knew they’d be out.

  And she’d used one of the many things Heath had told her about Kylie.

  She’d always hated how incessantly he had chattered on about his vice president—until he’d shared something useful about her. Like how she’d nearly died once when they were having lunch, because of her severe allergy to iodine.

  Just a small amount of it could kill her.

  Gina had even fantasized then about killing her. About slipping it into that damn tea she always drank.

  But she’d refrained from acting on that inclination then. After all, Heath had assured her over and over again that he had no interest in Little Miss Kylie Givens.

  Then Gina had caught them in bed together...

  And that white-hot rage had consumed her so much that she’d almost killed Heath with Kylie. She’d been stupid to try to run them down or shoot them.

  She didn’t want Heath dead. She just wanted Kylie gone forever.

  It would happen soon. She was sure of it, and unlike with the car and the gunfire, Heath wouldn’t be able to protect her and save her.

  Kylie Givens was finally going to get what she deserved: death.

  Chapter 24

  Heath was in shock from realizing that Gina was the one. She’d tried to run them down, had shot at them.

  How had he dated such a lunatic?

  “Oh, my God,” he said. But at least he could speak.

  Kylie could only make some strangled sound. He turned his full attention to her, and an even greater alarm gripped him. She was clawing at her throat, and her skin was bright red. Her bottom lip, tinged with blue, quivered. Fear had darkened her brown eyes even more, and that fear overwhelmed Heath.

  “Oh, my God...” he murmured again even as he rushed to her side.

  He was too late, though. She dropped to the floor before he could reach for her, her body lying limp and lifeless. Her throat must have closed up. He’d seen her have a reaction like this before, to iodine.

  Remembering what she’d done for it, he grabbed her purse off the counter. She always carried an EpiPen. Instead of rummaging through the bag, he upended it on the floor next to her.

  Every second that she wasn’t breathing...

  It would make it harder for her to come back to him.

  A small prescription bag lay among her wallet and phone and crumpled receipts. He ripped it open and pulled out the auto-injector. The needle would pop out of it once he pressed it against her thigh.

  She had stuck her thigh that day. Today she hadn’t even had the chance to reach for her purse. How the hell much iodine had she ingested?

  Would the EpiPen be enough to save her?

  He pushed up the hem of her dress and pressed the end she had used, the orange end, against her skin. He flinched at the thought of hurting her. But he had to...to save her.

  He tried to press the top of the injector but it didn’t go down. What the hell was wrong with it?

  He grabbed the directions from the pharmacy bag. “Okay...” There was another cap, the safety cap. He popped it off and pushed the orange end back against her skin. A soft click signaled the release of the needle.

  One.

  Two.

  Three...

  The injector looked empty. Had it been full? Was there enough in it? He leaned toward Kylie’s face, pressing his ear nearly against her blue-tinged lips. Was she breathing? His heart pounded so fast and hard with fear that he couldn’t hear anything but it, but the rushing of his blood through his veins along with his fear.

  He reached up to the counter and felt around for his cell phone. He had a call to make—9-1-1.

  “What’s your emergency?” a dispatcher asked as she answered.

  “My—my girlfriend has had an allergic reaction. She stopped breathing—”

  “Does she have an EpiPen?” the woman asked.

  “Yes, but I don’t know if I did it right. I don’t know if she’s breathing again.”

  Or if she was already dead. Her face was no longer red but so deathly pale.

  * * *

  He’d told them to stay close to each other, to stick together, to be careful. But yet here Joe was, responding to an emergency call at the penthouse.

  He parked behind an ambulance that sat at the curb outside the front doors of the apartment complex, lights flashing. Before he opened his door to step out, the back doors of the ambulance opened as an EMT lifted the head of a stretcher into it. His breath caught when he noticed the slight body lying limply on that stretcher.

  Kylie Givens.

  Parker jumped out and rushed up. “Is she okay?” he asked.

  An oxygen mask covered her mouth and nose—hell, most of her delicately featured face. She looked so small, so vulnerable, like Isaac when he was sleeping...

  But she might not have been just sleeping.

  “No, she’s not okay,” Heath Colton answered, his voice gruff with concern and fear. “My crazy ex-girlfriend might have killed her.”

  “You let her into your place?” Parker asked. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know where she is,” Heath said. “She had the code to the elevator and a key to the penthouse. I know I should have changed the locks, but I didn’t think she would do something like this. She poisoned Kylie.”

  “We have to go, sir,” one of the EMTs said.

  And Parker knew the situation was grave yet. Kylie might not make it.

  “Go,” Parker urged them.

  Heath had one foot inside the ambulance when he cursed and jumped down. “There she is!” He pointed across the street, and Joe whirled around to find a blonde watching them.

  Before Heath could start toward her, Parker shoved him back toward the ambulance. “Go with Kylie!”

  If this was who’d been trying to kill them, the woman had a gun since she’d fired the shots into his SUV and maybe into his dad and uncle.

  Joe drew his weapon before he started after her.

  “Be careful,” Heath called after him, just as the ambulance doors began to close. “She’s crazy!”

  Crazy scared Joe. It made a suspect too damn unpredictable and dangerous.

  * * *

  He hadn’t answered his phone...

  So Gina had had to come back to check on him. To check on that bitch, too. To find out if her plan had finally worked. If the bitch was finally dead...

  The sight of the ambulance, lights flashing, had filled her heart with hope. She’d breathed a deep sigh of relief and a smile had spread across her face.

  Until she’d seen that stretcher.

  Kylie was on it. Dead or alive?

  Wouldn’t they shut off the lights if she was dead?

  Or maybe they were just going through the motions to comfort Heath. He looked distraught. Like he’d really cared about that manipulator. How could he be so stupid?

  He hadn’t deserved Gina at all. He hadn’t deserved her love. She reached into the purse dangling from her shoulder and found the gun she’d fired at him before, the gun she would fire again now that she knew.

  He didn’t deserve her. He deserved the same thing his little girlfriend had gotten. Then he looked up and met her gaze, almost as if he’d felt her watching him. She snorted.

  She’d been watching him ever since she’d heard the news about his dad and uncle. She’d been watching them both, and they’d never noticed. They’d had no idea that she’d tracked their every damn movement.

  He started across the street, toward her, but the tall black man caught his arm and held him back.

  Detective Parker.

  She knew who he was, and she knew that when he reached beneath his jacket, he was pulling out his weapon. She could have fired at him.

  But she didn’t want him dead. She wanted Heath dead. Like Kylie...

  But the doors of the
ambulance closed and it pulled away from the curb with a squeal of tires, the siren wailing and the lights flashing.

  Maybe Kylie wasn’t dead.

  Gina would have to try again.

  Parker was attempting to cross the street, holding up his badge against the vehicles that kept driving. She laughed as she turned and ran. She would get away from him. Her car wasn’t parked far from the penthouse.

  She would get away from him and she’d get to the hospital before he could. She would finish what she’d started.

  No one was going to stop her.

  Chapter 25

  A strong hand gripped hers, gently squeezing her fingers. Kylie didn’t have the strength to squeeze back. Hell, she didn’t even have the strength to open her eyes. Her lids felt so damn heavy, too heavy to lift.

  And her throat. Was it still closed? Was she dead?

  “I’m so sorry,” a deep voice said.

  Heath.

  He was blaming himself. Hadn’t he realized what she had? That Gina Hogan was responsible?

  Gina had a key to the penthouse door. She’d used it that morning she’d found them in bed. And she must have let herself in some time over the past few days when they were gone. And she’d poisoned Kylie’s tea.

  “I’m so sorry,” Heath said again. “I should have been a man...”

  He was definitely a man. All man. And he’d given her more pleasure than any other man ever had. She tried again to open her eyes, but she just wasn’t strong enough.

  “I shouldn’t have been such a coward,” he continued. “I should have told you how I felt about you, how I must have always felt about you.”

  How?

  She tried to ask the question, but her tongue was too thick. It wouldn’t move. No sound emanated from her throat.

  But she had to know. How did he feel about her?

  “I love you,” he said. Almost as if he’d heard her.

  The two of them had always seemed to instinctively know what the other needed. And that chemistry hadn’t been just because of their working relationship or their friendship.