Back To You (In Tune Book 1)

by Jessica Ruddick

  I felt bad about my deception, but truly, nothing would have been accomplished if they canceled their trip. Tyler was pumped because he’d never been to Vegas, and Gabe needed the distraction.

  It was only temporary deception though. When they got home, I’d play dumb and act like I hadn’t realized the tires were slashed. White lies never hurt anyone.

  Gabe called me the next morning right after I got out of the shower.

  “Babe!” he yelled into the phone, but then his voice became muffled. “No, Liam, she’s my babe, not yours. Find your own. No, I won’t share, you dumbass.”

  I quickly did the math in my head. It was just after seven here, which meant it was just after four in Las Vegas. Something told me the boys were having a late night instead of an early morning.

  I turned speakerphone on and propped the phone against the mirror so I could continue getting ready. “Having fun?”

  “Not as much as if you were here.” There was a pause, then his muffled voice again. “I’m not kissing up. It’s true.”

  Chuckling, I wondered if it was Tyler or Liam giving him shit. Perhaps both. I suspected those two were getting along famously. “I miss you too.”

  “You do?” Liam’s voice came through the phone. “Leah, babe, that’s so sweet.”

  “Give me my phone back, you tool!” Gabe yelled in the background. There were scuffling sounds.

  “It was probably a mistake to let us go to Vegas without you.” This time, it was Tyler’s voice on the phone.

  “I’m going to call the cops on your ass!” Liam shouted in the background. “Oh, wait. They’re already here.

  Tyler sighed. “Liam finds it amusing that I’m a cop. The joke has already gotten old.”

  I shimmied into my underwear and jeans. “I need to get going. Can you put Gabe back on?”

  “Um…hold on.” There was a pause. “That’s a negative. He’s currently in a headlock. But don’t worry. I’ve got this under control. After all, I’m a cop.”

  There was more scuffling in the background. Then the call dropped.

  They’d been gone less than twenty-four hours, but I missed my boys already. I would have liked to have gone, but it was good for them to have some guy time to do stupid guy things. I just hoped they didn’t get too stupid. Tyler was a cop, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get arrested right alongside Gabe and Liam. And their smooth superstar smiles would only get them so far.

  Plus, their trip was giving me time to get my head on straight. I hated the crushed look on Gabe’s face every time he talked about us leaving Cedar Creek but I couldn’t return the enthusiasm. I loved him, and I wanted to be with him, but I was coming to realize I wasn’t comfortable being one hundred percent dependent on him. I was used to relying on myself.

  I shoved my diner uniform into a bag. It was one of my busy days, and I wouldn’t have time to come home before my shift. At the last minute, I remembered to grab the stack of papers from my printer. Since I didn’t see my cleaning clients while on the job, I’d written a letter to leave for each of them, explaining that I was moving. I’d also typed up a resignation letter for the diner. I stared down at it, waiting for the second thoughts. I wasn’t leaving for another six weeks, but I wanted to give Sharon plenty of time. I could hold off on giving it to her.

  No. I was committed to being with Gabe, which meant going to California. Waiting would only make it harder for Sharon to find a suitable replacement. While there were more applicants than jobs in Cedar Creek, Sharon was particular. She wouldn’t hire just anyone. I supposed it was a compliment that she’d hired me all those years ago.

  As I was climbing into Tyler’s truck, Mr. Hannigan flagged me down. “Good morning, Leah.”

  “Hi, Mr. Hannigan. Is your knee still feeling okay?”

  He flexed it. “I hate to say it, but the missus was right. I should have gotten it fixed years ago.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “Say…” He rubbed his chin. “I noticed the tow truck pick up your car yesterday and that all four tires were flat.”

  “Yes. You remember Tyler, right? I’m borrowing his truck until my car is ready. It should be later today.”

  “Yes, Officer English.” Mr. Hannigan chuckled. “When he was in school, I never would have figured him to end up a cop. Anyway, I wondered how something like that could happen to your tires, so I pulled up the footage from our new video doorbell. I had one installed after your apartment was broken into. I figured it couldn’t hurt.”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t realized they’d gotten one of those.

  “I’ll send you the footage, so you can have a look for yourself.”

  “What’s on it?”

  He hesitated. “The picture isn’t crystal clear. I’ll let you decide what you want to do with it.”

  “Okay,” I said tentatively. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” His expression was kind but also contained pity. I hated when people gave me that look. I thought I’d become immune to it, but I guessed not.

  A link to the video had arrived in my email by the time I’d driven to my client’s house. Bracing myself, I clicked on it.

  I wasn’t at all surprised to see my father creeping around my car with a knife in his hand. I’d figured he’d skipped town with Debra’s gold jewelry, but apparently I’d been wrong.

  I didn’t get it, though. He had nothing to gain from slashing my tires. The car hadn’t been broken into, so he wasn’t looking for more money. If he had, he would have been disappointed because other than my cleaning supplies, I didn’t keep anything in the car.

  I had hoped it was random vandalism, but I should have known better. For whatever reason, my father wanted to hurt me. And though I told myself he didn’t have that power over me, it made me sad.

  The guys had taken a red-eye home, and unfortunately for Tyler, he had to work that morning. It was a testament to our friendship that he’d dragged his ass out half an hour early to meet me for coffee at the diner.

  “I kind of hate Gabe right now. He’s all snuggled up in his bed.” Tyler shook his second sugar packet then ripped it open and poured it into his mug.

  “He’d rather be working,” I said. “He’s tired of sitting around.”

  “Trust me,” Tyler said, “after the weekend we had, he’s happy to be right where he is. Now, what’s going on, Leah? You didn’t ask me to meet you here to shoot the shit.”

  I fiddled with a straw wrapper. “No. Thanks for meeting me.”

  “Come on. Out with it.”

  “My dad slashed my tires.”

  Despite how groggy he’d been a moment earlier, Tyler was suddenly alert. “Why do you think that?”

  “I don’t think it. I know it. I have the footage from the Hannigans’ video doorbell.”

  Tyler was silent, his expression full of pity. Damn it. “Aw, shit, Leah, I’m sorry. But damn it, why didn’t you say something? Gabe and I—”

  “Would have canceled your trip,” I finished for him. “There was no reason for that. And besides, I didn’t know it was him until after you were already gone.”

  “It wasn’t a fluke that two”—at my cringe, he gritted his teeth—“three… four of your tires were flat. Four, really? You didn’t think that having four of your tires tampered with was something to be concerned about?”

  “The fact that it was him honestly didn’t occur to me.”

  “He broke into your apartment,” Tyler protested. “Well, allegedly, anyway, to be official about it. Still, he would have been my first suspect for this.”

  I shrugged. “With the apartment, he wanted money. Nothing was stolen from my car, not that there was anything to steal. It could have been random vandals.”

  “In Cedar Creek?”

  “What about the SS Bandit?”

  “That was a little old lady with an ax to grind, writing on bathroom stalls with lipstick. This is something entirely different.”

  I ran my hands over my face.
“I know. That’s why I came to you.”

  “Okay.” He seemed relatively placated. “Hopefully, we can get a positive ID from the footage.”

  “I’ll send it to you. And Tyler? Do me a favor and don’t say anything to Gabe.”

  He blew out a breath. “Leah…”

  I put my hands up. “I’m going to tell him, but in my own time.”

  He was silent for a moment. “Fine,” he said grudgingly. “Just don’t wait too long. I don’t like being your secret keeper.”

  I sat at the table long after Tyler had left. It was one of those rare mornings that I didn’t have a cleaning job. My thoughts drifted to what Tyler said about Gabe being snuggled in bed. That sounded like a great place to be, so I drove to Aunt Rose’s house. Still wearing her pajamas, she let me in. I crept into Gabe’s room like a ninja and slid into bed next to him.

  Still half asleep, he scooted over to make room and wrapped his arms around me. “If this is a dream, don’t wake me up.”

  Smiling, I pressed my lips to his. He wasn’t going to be happy when I told him what had happened with my car. I wanted to enjoy this moment before I told him about the latest stunt my piece-of-trash father had pulled. Logically, I knew I wasn’t responsible for his actions, but I was still ashamed. No one could have blamed me for not wanting to share that shame with the love of my life.

  I cuddled with him all morning, dozing off and on while he slept hard. He definitely wasn’t lucid enough for me to tell him about the car. Talk about a rude awakening. The news could wait a few more hours. Too soon, I had to go to class, so I crept out of bed, careful not to wake him.

  I parked next to the admin building, and for a moment, I had the fleeting thought that I needed to schedule my next class. Then I remembered that I wouldn’t be there for the start of the next semester.

  I sighed. Though I wasn’t dead set on being a nurse, it was a shame to have come so far into the program and not finish it.

  Since I had about ten minutes before class started, I took out my phone to entertain myself. I was greeted by a very unwelcome text from my father.

  Before I could even open it, I saw red. What… the… fuck…

  The smart thing would have been to delete it without reading it. I was too angry to be smart, though. My fingers fumbled as I typed out a response. Fuck you.

  Before I hit Send, my eyes caught on a few key words, namely “Gabe’s mother.”

  As much as I wanted to ignore him, my dad had caught my attention. Gabe’s mom had taken off when he was twelve. He didn’t ever talk about it, which was how I knew it bothered him. Despite his great relationship with Aunt Rose, I didn’t think he’d ever fully gotten over his mother deserting him.

  I could relate.

  And now, my father was saying he knew where she was, and I felt sort of like I owed it to Gabe to find out what had happened to her.

  If the situation had been reversed, I would have wanted to know about my mom, and I would have been crushed if it turned out to be a cruel joke. I couldn’t bear to get Gabe’s hopes up only to let him down.

  My father was a lying sack of shit, so I couldn’t take him at his word. But he had run in the same social circles as Gabe’s parents, so I couldn’t completely discount his claim, either.

  Damn it. I’d never hated my father more. Gritting my teeth, I tapped out a response.

  ME: Prove it.

  And then, much to my chagrin, he did. Damn it.

  Chapter 24

  Gabe

  When I got to the diner and learned that Leah had called in sick, I was surprised and a little worried. I would have expected her to let me know if she was sick. She’d been fine that morning, though. Maybe it was something mild like a bad headache. I knew all too well how migraines took it out of you. Though come to think of it, I hadn’t had one in a long while. I smiled. Leah healed all things.

  I headed to her apartment. A police car was parked next to hers, and I didn’t think anything of it until I realized it wasn’t Tyler’s. My worry escalated to panic.

  I ran down the stairs to Leah’s apartment and threw open the door. A uniformed officer I didn’t recognize was standing in the living room, writing in an open notepad. Leah and Tyler sat on the couch, his arm wrapped around her. My pounding heart slowed when I saw she was okay. Then Leah looked up, and the curtain of hair that had been covering her face shifted. The entire left side of her face was swollen and bruised. For a moment, my heart stopped, and the world ceased to spin.

  Not caring that the officer seemed to be trying to take a statement, I rushed to kneel in front of her. “Baby, what happened?” I took her face in my hands, and she winced despite my attempts to be gentle. Damn it. But I needed to touch her to make sure she was in one piece.

  Her eyes met mine. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

  “Do you have anything else to add, Miss Jacobson?” the officer asked.

  Leah shook her head. “No, that’s everything.”

  The officer flipped his notepad closed. “Considering all the evidence, this should be an open-and-shut case. Unofficially, of course.”

  Tyler stood. “Thanks for coming. I would’ve taken her statement myself, but I didn’t want there to be a conflict of interest, just in case.”

  The officer nodded. “I understand. We don’t want to give this bastard any holes to slip through.” Tyler walked him out.

  My mind reeled, trying to connect all the dots and fit all the pieces together. But it was obvious I didn’t have all the information. With Leah injured in front of me, though, I found it hard to care. All I cared about was that my girl was in pain. “Should we take you to the hospital?”

  “No,” Leah said. “Honestly, it’s not that bad.”

  Since she seemed to be trying to keep things light, I tried for a joke. “Have you looked in the mirror?”

  Leah’s eyes filled with tears, and she looked away. Damn it. I was such a jackass. That was not the right thing to say.

  “Let me get you some ice,” Tyler said.

  Thank God he was there because out of the two of us, he seemed to know what to do. But why was he here instead of me? I hadn’t missed any calls from her. Despite my comments during the Chrisses conversation and when she’d gotten excited about meeting Liam, I wasn’t the jealous type. But it bothered me that she’d called Tyler and not me. Hell, a random cop knew more about the situation than I did. I should have been the first to know. Or at least, she should have wanted to turn to me first. Why hadn’t she?

  Leah wiped the tears from her eyes, and by the time Tyler had brought the ice pack over, I would have thought I’d imagined them by her even expression. She was way too cool and calm. She wasn’t prone to freak-outs, but her face looked like she had just gone a few rounds in a boxing ring. If that wasn’t a reason to freak out, I didn’t know what was. It was almost as if she’d been there before. I should have known, but I didn’t. There was something very wrong with that.

  She didn’t seem to want to be coddled, so I resisted the urge. Though her face looked horrible, she was more or less okay. So I would treat her like it.

  “What happened?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

  “It was my father.”

  “Son of a bitch. I’m going to kill him.” My hands instinctively curled into fists, and I had to force myself to relax my fingers. “When and where did this happen?”

  “He’s staying at a motel off Route 51. I went to see him there.”

  “What the hell?” I couldn’t hide my dismay. “Why the hell did you do that? And why would you go alone?” She might have been alone before, but she wasn’t anymore. I would move heaven and earth to keep her safe. But she hadn’t let me.

  “I had to.” Leah’s voice sounded small, and it also reminded me of something she’d said to me several weeks ago. I did what I had to do. This déjà vu couldn’t mean anything good.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Tyler and Leah exchanged a look, and I’d never felt
more in the dark. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be me and Leah against the world.

  “You need to tell him everything,” Tyler said.

  I didn’t like the sound of that, and I knew I wouldn’t like what she was about to tell me. But more than that, I already knew I didn’t like that she’d been keeping secrets from me. My heart seized in my chest like it had only one other time in my life.

  In a monotone, she explained how her flat tires had actually been caused by her father slashing them. Then she explained that shortly after I’d arrived in town, her father had broken into her apartment after she’d refused his attempt to blackmail her. While she could prove it was him with the tires, she couldn’t prove it with the burglary.

  Her words were coming in such a rush that I was having trouble following everything. Tyler didn’t seem to be having that trouble, though. He apparently had already known everything. Son of a bitch. I locked my emotions away so I could try to focus on the facts.

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “What did he have to blackmail you with? And what did he hope to gain? He should realize you don’t have much money.”

  “Not me,” Leah said softly. “You.”

  I shook my head. “I still don’t get it.”

  Leah took a shaky breath. “My father didn’t just hand Lacey over to me. It took a little… coaxing.”

  Dread filled my stomach. “What did you do?”

  “Blackmail wasn’t an original idea. He got it from me, because I blackmailed him to get Lacey.”

  “With what?” I wasn’t going to like the answer, but I needed to hear it.

  She didn’t look at me as she began speaking. She had already pulled away. “He came home drunk one night, so I picked a fight with him, knowing what he would do. Let’s just say he didn’t disappoint me. I documented everything and told him I wouldn’t press charges if he gave me Lacey. So this?” She pointed at her face. “It’s not that bad.”

  I felt sick to my stomach. “When did that happen?”

  “Right after I turned nineteen.”