Kylie frowned. Boyfriend? She stopped walking and turned around. “What boyfriend? I don’t know who you’re talking about. I can’t even remember the last guy I went out with more than three times.” Then Kylie started thinking about Titus and all of the problems he’d been having with Hilary. “Good Lord! Do you think that Titus Holbrook and I are a couple?”
Kylie actually started laughing. It was more for show. Because honestly, would it have been that bad to be in a relationship with Titus? No. Not really. The guy was awesome. She loved hanging out with him. He was hot and totally yummy in underwear. Not to mention, probably a fantastic lover. But Titus was way out of Kylie’s league. She was sure of it. He never seemed really interested in her. Not as anything more than a friend.
Kylie’s laughter had a very pointed effect on Hilary. “Shut up!” Hilary hissed. “Shut. Up! I’ve seen you with him. Okay?”
“So, you are the prowler who has been sneaking around our neighborhood,” Kylie said sharply. “You’d better watch it. Mrs. Wankenfurter is going to slap you with a personal trespassing charge for breaking into her house. Why are you doing all this snooping around anyway?”
“I told you.” Hilary turned to go back into her office. “I told you straight up. Titus Holbrook is the devil! He’s a murderous werewolf and I’m going to see that he gets justice.”
With those final and very dramatic words, Hilary swept back into her office as well as possible when you’re pretending to be on crutches, which really dulls the effect of the huffy exit. Kylie watched Hilary disappear and then looked at Jeffrey. “Find your dad and talk to him, Jeffrey. This has gone on long enough.”
“Got it.”
Kylie left the paper office and went directly to the lawyer’s. He was in an office in a strip mall on the down side of the expressway. It was a bit like a roller coaster. Kylie felt her little SUV wanting to plunge into the street as she braked for traffic before crossing and heading right off the other side. If she was lucky, Hilary was sitting in her office right now, looking out the window and watching Kylie walk right into the lawyer’s place.
Douglas Thalman, attorney at law, had been a friend of Kylie’s parents back in the day. He was in his sixties, but still practicing law and being very successful at it. He usually did injury claims. But Kylie was hoping he would take her case. She certainly felt injured enough.
“Kylie!” Doug said heartily when Kylie walked in.
She gave him a quick hug and then took the seat he offered. “Sorry I didn’t call and make an appointment,” Kylie told him. “I was too upset to even begin.”
“Upset?” Doug had a fatherly look of concern on his face. “What happened?”
“Obviously, you didn’t see the Branson Register this morning.” Kylie knew he hadn’t, because the paper was still rolled up on his receptionist’s empty desk.
“Fran has the week off,” Doug explained. “She’s getting on in years and when her grandkids come to visit, she doesn’t want to work.”
Kylie got up and grabbed the paper and pulled off the plastic sleeve. Then she set it on Doug’s desk with the sensational photograph face up. Doug’s eyes widened at the dramatic shot of the woman with her eyes closed and the wine spraying her face. Then his lips began to move and Kylie knew he was skimming the article.
“Kylie, this says you got irritated with the woman for requesting too many samples and threw one into her face!” Doug gave her a look of pure mortification. “Did you do that?”
“No!” Kylie was actually offended that he’s asked.
He looked apologetic. “Sorry. It’s part of the job.”
“I’m sure,” Kylie muttered. “But I didn’t do it. Any of it. There is almost nothing in that story that’s real, Doug, and I want to sue her and the paper and I want to put a stop to it! They can’t keep doing this. It’s getting worse because nobody will do anything!”
“You’re not wrong,” Doug mused. “And this sort of slander certainly isn’t protected under the freedom of the press act. But it will be a lot of legwork and investigation. Are you sure you want to do this? It will be really expensive.”
“My neighbor owns Rock Wolf Investigations,” Kylie told Doug. She hadn’t actually asked Titus if he would help her with this. But surely, he would. It was in his best interest too. Right? “He’ll help me with the investigations.”
“Well, then,” Doug leaned back in his seat. “Let’s get a statement from you about what really happened, including witnesses who can confirm the actual series of events. And then we’ll start the paperwork for a libel complaint against the Branson Register.” Doug shook his head. “I hope you realize what a mess this is likely to be, Kylie.”
“Do you know the editor?” Kylie asked suddenly. Doug had lived in Branson nearly all his life. He’d been practicing here for ages. Surely, he would have come into contact with Jeffrey’s father.
“John Tutt?” Doug murmured. He looked very thoughtful. He sat back in his seat for a moment and seemed to be very carefully thinking about what he would say. “I’ve known John for a good number of years. We both arrived in town at nearly the same time. He used to cover all of his own events. His wife ran the office. They seemed to be a pretty happy mom and pop sort of operation. I think their son Jeffrey is looking forward to following in his father’s footsteps.” Doug got quiet. “Jeffrey was a late baby. I think John’s wife, Frances, was a bit hesitant to have any children. It was a big stumbling block in their marriage.”
Kylie swallowed back the lump in her throat. Funny how that kid thing always messed up relationships. It had been a real killer for Kylie’s romantic life ever since she could remember. But being diagnosed with a fertility condition when you were sixteen and having to go through a hysterectomy before eighteen changed things for her. Ever since then, Kylie had figured the whole marriage thing just wasn’t in the cards for her. She kept thinking as she got older she would find a guy who already had a family and didn’t want to have any more kids. But she was now in her thirties and had no luck. Maybe she was just out of practice.
“Kylie?”
“Sorry,” Kylie said quickly. “Rabbit hole. I was just thinking about Jeffrey. He’s a good kid, but he’s sick of Hilary running that office.”
“Yes, that was what I was getting to.” Doug looked grim now. He steepled his hands in front of him. “Hilary Allenwood arrived here about five years ago. She seemed to completely take over the place. It was like John just sort of disappeared. When he was around, he’d let her do whatever she wanted. She sold papers. He needed to sell papers. Newspapers were going by the wayside. He needed to up his circulation. She promised him a way to do it.”
Kylie shook her head. “That woman is bad news.”
“And while I absolutely hate the thought of having to sue my old friend, John, I think you’re right,” Doug decided. “Someone has to put a stop to Hilary. She’s been taking liberties with the truth in this town for far too long.”
“Thank you, Doug,” Kylie said earnestly. “And I know this will be expensive. I’ll do my best to make payments. But Hilary’s lies got me suspended from my job.”
“What?” Doug’s expression grew dark. “Then this is a serious case we have here. Let’s get started then. I’ll be tape recording your version of events and making lists of your witnesses. We will issue subpoenas and such as we go along. So, don’t be surprised if people mention it to you.”
“Can I warn them?”
“You can,” John said slowly. “As long as you don’t think they’ll try to do something to block it.”
Wow. The way he made it sound, this was all suddenly so much more real and serious. Kylie needed to put her big girl panties on and get ready to rumble.
Chapter Seven
The first time Titus had spied on Kylie Overton was during one of her backyard wine gatherings with her friends. It had only been a few weeks ago, maybe a month or more. It was hard to say. Often, time seemed to just run together until you couldn’t tell thi
s week from last week and last week from last month or last year.
Kylie had a lovely fence surrounding a portion of her back yard. It didn’t encompass the whole thing, only covered the section of yard that could have been viewed from the front of the house by looking down the hill from the street. There was a patio that came off a side entrance to the house and included a jacuzzi, a fire pit, and a lovely arrangement of lounge chairs. The other portion of the yard was open grass, which was where Titus usually did his spying. If he could call it that. Stalking. Spying. Creeping. He wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing, but nights like the other night when he had crept up to her window at four in the morning probably needed to happen a lot less.
Tonight though, Kylie was hanging out in the seclusion of her private patio. There were big trees all around it. The sort of trees a wolf shifter could climb if he was very determined. However, Titus opted to walk in through the gate like a regular human man.
“You know,” Kylie drawled without looking up from the fire crackling in the pit. “We call that trespassing. When you don’t use the front door? It’s supposed to be against the law.”
“Is it?” Titus took a seat on the end of one of her lounge chairs. “Why did you only fence off part of your yard? I’ve always wanted to ask you that.”
She paused a moment or two before answering. There was a half empty bottle of wine on the table beside her. She held a wine glass in her hand, swirling the contents and sipping as though she wasn’t really enjoying herself at all, even though she was obviously trying very hard to do so. “It wasn’t me, actually. This place was my parents’ retirement home. I was a freshman in college when they passed away. I came back to tie things up and just never left. I got the job at the winery because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next and I suppose I just never kept going.”
“That’s not true,” Titus said suddenly. She never kept going? She was going right now. All except the part where she was drinking wine. She’d told him once that she didn’t drink wine. “You’ve got a very nice life in a small town where you’re employed, you have a roof over your head, and your basic needs are met. Right?”
She didn’t respond to that. She went back to the fence question as though that were a safer topic right now. “My mother liked to be out here at night. But she was absolutely convinced people were prowling around the yard. Then they put in the jacuzzi because my dad had a bad back. So, mother refused to go in the thing with him unless there was a fence for privacy.”
“I see. But they still wanted the view out the back windows of the trees and the hill?”
“Yes. Exactly.” She nodded her head. “My father was so in love with my mother. It was absolutely ridiculous. He would have done anything for her. If she had told him to build a fence in the shape of a star, he would have done it.”
Titus smiled. He could not imagine a relationship like that. Not really. It wasn’t the way his people were wired. A woman was a breeder and nothing more. Nevertheless, when he was around Kylie, he felt as though there could be something more. As if it was okay just to enjoy her company without spending all of their time birthing pups and raising them into the shifter way to promote the species. It wasn’t that at all.
These were not the sort of thoughts he needed to be having. Titus tried to remember there was a reason he was there that had nothing to do with how much he craved Kylie’s company. “How did it go today?”
“We started the libel suit,” she murmured. “It’s going to be a long haul I think. But worthwhile, if I can get your help that is.”
“My help?”
“There is some investigation stuff that has to be done. Getting witnesses to come in, give a statement, that sort of thing.” She looked almost hesitant. “Will you help me? I’m not sure I can afford to hire someone else right now. Not after hiring Doug to represent me.”
“Is he expensive?” Titus felt concerned all of a sudden. He didn’t like the idea of Kylie having financial problems. That didn’t set well with him. She was too hard a worker to get stuck like that.
“He’s probably expensive,” Kylie began slowly. “But he’s also an old friend of my parents and he will likely discount things a lot and let me make payments as I can. As long as I pay my court costs.”
“It’s good to know people.” It was an interesting thought for Titus to have and he wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. “You’re lucky to have lived somewhere for so long that you have people you can call on for help.”
She gave him a very pointed stare as she took a sip of her wine. The liquid beaded on her full lips and she licked them clean. For some reason, his mind decided this was incredibly erotic. Then he realized what she was insinuating.
“You’re trying to tell me this is the reason I can’t just leave this area,” Titus said huskily. “But that’s not a good enough reason. Sometimes roots aren’t a good thing. They’re a bad thing.”
“Titus,” she said quietly, “it’s never good to run away.”
The way she said his name made him forget what they were actually talking about. He tried to stare at the flames. Sitting forward on his chair, he braced his elbows on his knees and forced himself to relax. No good would come of him getting tangled up with a woman like Kylie who had so much going for her. Or could have, when she met the right person. But somehow, the thought of Kylie with anyone else was just a horrible thought.
“Why aren’t you married?” The words seemed to slip right past his lips without checking in with his brain first. That left him really scurrying to come up with an apology. “I’m sorry. That is none of my business.”
“No. You’re fine.” She downed her glass of wine and poured another. “I’m too damaged to be in a relationship, Titus Holbrook. Can’t you tell?”
Was she fishing for compliments? What was she talking about? She wasn’t damaged at all. She was perfect. Titus cleared his throat. He could not say that out loud. It would give her the wrong impression. “I’m sorry. I don’t follow. How are you damaged? You look as though you’re just like any other pretty girl out there.”
“That’s because you don’t have x-ray vision,” she joked. Her words were getting a little slurred as though she’d had too much wine. She downed most of what was in her glass and then reached for the bottle again.
Titus reached out and snagged the bottle away from her. He downed the contents in one pull and felt the sweet wine swirling around inside him as his body hurried to process the stuff and push it out. He wouldn’t be drunk. He never was. His metabolism was just too fast for that.
“Hey!” she protested. “I was drinking that.”
“I think you’ve had enough,” Titus told her in a low tone. He got up and sat down again on a chair a little closer to hers. “And what is it you think I need to see with this x-ray vision that I don’t have?”
“My insides,” she whispered. She sipped from what little remained of her wine. “You can’t see my insides and that’s what keeps men from wanting me.”
“How?” he prodded gently.
Titus still could not imagine what could possibly be wrong with her. If she was diseased in any way, he would have smelled it on her. Disease had a fetid odor. A sick sort of smell that made him vaguely nauseous. That’s why hospitals were such a horrible place and why he tried as much as he could to avoid them. Except recently when he had to help out a friend. Hospitals. Bad places.
Kylie gazed at him for a long moment. “I had some female problems when I was a teenager. They had to remove some things. So, I can’t have kids. Ever. And let me tell you, that is a huge deal to a lot of guys out there. They go out with you. They seem to be having a good time. They want to get intimate after a few dates. It goes well. And then they start talking about the future.”
“Wait. Men don’t want to date you because you can’t have kids?” Titus found this somewhat unbelievable. “I would have thought it would be rather liberating to the guy you’re dating not to have to worry about accidental pregnancy.�
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Of course, he might have sounded put together and calm, but his mind was going absolutely insane trying to piece together what she’d told him. She was sterile? It felt like he’d just been struck by lightning. A once in a million chance and he’d just landed it!
Kylie’s bitter laugh caused Titus to take a step back. “Oh, they do find it liberating. I can see it on their faces. But it changes things. They immediately want to have sex without protection. They move me from the potential wife category to the booty call list. And so I go from being a cherished girlfriend prospect to the chick you text when it’s last call at the bar and you can’t find anyone else to sleep with.”
“I’m sorry.”
He left it at that because he was sorry. It was horrible to hear from someone that they had been treated this way by other men. She hadn’t done anything to deserve this. It wasn’t like it was her fault. And for someone like Titus, it was the best case scenario.
“I never want children,” Titus told her suddenly. He could not believe he’d let those words slip out of his mouth. What was wrong with him? He needed to keep quiet.
“You don’t?”
Her skepticism spurred him right onto saying something else that would have been better off unsaid. “No. My parents. My family… I can’t even describe to you how badly our bloodline needs to end. There was too much in the way of—oh let’s call it what it is.”
“What’s that?” She was wide-eyed and staring at him as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Inbreeding,” Titus said flatly. “It’s just how we were. For all those years, bred back and too close together and the result was—well, it wasn’t pretty. And now? I’ve decided there is no way in hell that I’m going to have children.”
“You’ll change your mind,” she murmured. “Most men do. All of them actually. They meet a girl that they fall for and they decide they want to have a family with her because she’s just so incredible and so wonderful that her genes are sure to wipe out the bad stuff in his.”
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 100