by J. P. Comeau
“Elena. You’re way too nice. This guy is just a filthy rich jerk who deserved a good bite.” Payton stood up. “I’ll put the kids to bed and be right back. Don’t worry about this Riker guy, okay? Money is all that matters to guys like him. People’s feelings don’t.”
I watched her grab the kids and disappear into the hall, leaning back against my comfy couch. Payton had told me not to worry about Riker, and I really wasn’t worried about him…but I was thinking about him. He had been a jerk to me twice now. Part of his ire I had deserved, and part I really hadn’t. The paperwork delay hadn’t been my fault.
The office had two legal aids usually, but my coworker had called in sick yesterday, so I was working twice as hard to keep up with the day’s tasks. All the added responsibilities put me on edge, and Riker…well, he had been the last straw.
After his frosty words in the office, I had to take a moment for myself and just breathe. When I came back into the building, Devon had told me the guy’s name was Riker and that he had asked about me after noticing I was upset. Riker had some nerve, seeing as he was most of the reason for that. But I had just smiled at Devon and told him I was fine.
Really, I hadn’t lied. I was mostly fine. I had just been off-balance from all the things that had happened lately. And Riker was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Besides, I got the impression Riker had been angry and frustrated both times I ran into him. Despite Chauncey and the delay with the papers, my second sense told me there was more going on with his life, causing his anger to boil over. I had thought about looking at his file, but I decided against it since I was not assigned to his case. Yesterday, I was just delivering papers as I was told to do - plain and simple.
I knew what hurt looked like. I knew what hurt felt like. In Riker’s eyes, eyes of a brown so pale that they almost looked gray, I could see some of the pain I had suffered. He had lost someone or someone had done something to hurt him. He certainly didn’t have the look of one of the Hamptons’ filthy rich who loved their money and often used it to pave the way to their idea of happiness. If he could use money to fix his problems, he would have done that already.
He’s just a man, I reminded myself. Money doesn’t change that. It doesn’t make him something different. Underneath the mansion, expensive clothes and entitled anger, Riker had feelings and a personality. I had seen a little of that in his eyes.
I settled deeper into the couch cushions as I heard Payton start back down the hall. It would be interesting to find out who Riker was under his cold, rude exterior.
Payton sat down and gave me the thumbs up, and we began actually watching the movie. I gave a mental shrug and put Riker out of my mind. It wasn’t like I would ever see him again anyway.
Chapter Five
Riker
Ordinarily, I loved my job. This week, it had dragged on forever.
As CEO of Sunset Security, I had a lot of responsibilities. My dad had started me out in the company as a security guard, and I had enjoyed the years I spent learning the ins and outs of the business. As time went on, I had progressed to duties that required more expertise. Then, after my father passed, the board had unanimously voted to appoint me to the position of CEO.
Like my father, I had a knack for the security business. It was brawny and brainy at the same time, and I fit both descriptions. I liked holding the position of CEO of my father’s company. I really did. Sometimes, though, I wanted to go back to my roots and work a simple guard detail.
As CEO, I attended endless meetings, made quick decisions, and dealt with piles of paperwork and annoying issues every day. If I had to do that all day, four days a week, I went stir crazy. Unfortunately, this week had been one of those weeks. I couldn’t even spare the time to oversee the installation of a state-of-the-art security system in a new bank located nearby.
Last night, Nate and Zeke met at the club as usual. And for the first time in a long time, I had preferred to debark from my private jet, take my waiting car and crash the moment I reached my bed instead of joining them. Apparently, a lack of sleep was programmed into my brain, though, from the countless Thursday evenings I had spent drinking and staying out until the small hours of the morning because I was still wide awake at 5 AM. Not really knowing what to do with myself, I had spent the morning answering emails and watching TV.
Now, I was taking a late lunch out on the large, enclosed porch where I could listen to the sound of the ocean, but I still couldn’t relax. I’d been stuck in my office all week, leaving it only for a conference room or another office. I had been looking forward to spending today unwinding, but I was too keyed up.
My toes twitched, and I couldn’t sit still. I needed to get out and do something before I “jittered myself to pieces,” as my mother had always liked to say. I could work out at the Hamptons Peak’s massive members-only gym…
Or I could go on an afternoon run. Yes, that sounded perfect. I usually didn’t do anything active during the hotter part of the day, preferring to save working out for the evening. Today, I would shake things up a bit and go for an afternoon jog to build up my heat tolerance.
I changed into comfortable shorts, slipped on a T-shirt, and velcroed the armband around my bicep to hold my phone. Then, I called Nate. “Hey,” I said when he picked up. “Are you still driving to Amagansett this afternoon to go sailing?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You know, I really appreciate this. I decided to jog along Montauk Beach.” I convinced Nate to swing by and pick me up on his way, and shortly, I heard a car honk outside my front gate. Taking one last sip of water, I went out to meet him.
“Great day for jogging and sailing,” Nate remarked. “Do you plan to run all the way back?”
“Yep, I need a good workout. It’s been a busy week. It’ll give me a chance to work off some steam.”
“If you change your mind, call. I can swing by to pick you up.”
Shortly, Nate pulled into a parking lot with a trailhead marker, and I hopped out. I started with some dynamic stretches to warm up my muscles. Then I took off along the trail, letting my long strides eat away at the packed, sandy path.
I loved jogging, but I didn’t always have time to go as far as I wanted. Running a decent distance took time. Even though I skipped cardio occasionally, I was still in good shape. Jogging the distance from Amagansett to Montauk was nothing but a warm-up. I could feel my chest expanding to accommodate my need for more oxygen and my legs settling into an easy rhythm.
Once I hit Montauk Beach, I wasn’t exhausted, but I could feel the beginnings of fatigue setting in, and it felt incredible to push myself; working through the mental obstacles that arose from the exertion. Then it hit me – runner’s high. The feeling I could run around the entire world if a path existed. My footsteps quickened, and I felt like I could win a marathon at this pace. Nothing could stop me now.
A high-pitched, clear scream rose over the sound of waves and gulls.
I felt my ears twitch as they literally perked up. My focused gaze snapped from the beach in front of my feet and scanned the area around me. The sound had come from somewhere up ahead. So I sped up a bit, listening, and watching for the source of the scream.
Angry voices shattered the calm afternoon, and another shriek echoed from somewhere off to my left, over a cluster of high, grassy dunes.
I broke from a jog to a sprint and took the dunes like stairs, leaping up them like a mountain goat. My foot slipped on the sand at the top, and I had to steady myself before glancing up.
A clapboard house, a car, a second car and three people; my darting eyes noticed all the basics first, then soaked in the details. A young girl stood clutching a doll with tears streaming down her cheeks, calling out, “Mommy!”
One of the cars was still on, sitting empty to the side with the driver’s door open like the owner had jumped out in a hurry. And a man was pinning the same redhead from the beach and my lawyer’s office against the side of the other car, ignori
ng her attempts to push him away.
I saw red, and that red wasn’t Elena’s hair. “Get your hands off her!” My voice was loud, filled with rage even though I had just run several miles. Sand kicked up behind me as I barreled into a headlong sprint toward the scene.
The man jumped, loosening his grip on Elena, who shoved him and darted to the toddler. She turned back toward the man clearly ready to protect her child. In the meantime, the guy was jumping into his car. In his haste, he lost his grip on the door handle twice before slamming it and roaring away.
I slid to a stop on the sand a few feet away from the deep tire tracks, growling my annoyance at the guy’s quick getaway. If I had just run faster…or maybe not yelled and announced my presence. But I had to get the man away from Elena somehow. “Are you okay?” I asked, realizing for the first time that this might be awkward for both of us. “And your daughter? I mean, I assume she’s your daughter since I heard her calling out to you?”
“Yes, And we’re both fine,” she said shakily, crouching down to hug the little girl. “Thanks to you.” Elena’s arms shook as she tried to embrace her daughter. Instead of lifting the child, Elena bit her lip and nervously combed her fingers through the girl’s hair.
“Let me?” I asked, taking a step forward.
Elena took a deep breath. “No, I’ve got her. I’m just kinda shaken up.” Visibly forcing herself to calm down, she lifted the child to her hip. “It’s fine, Honey. Okay? He just wanted to talk to Mommy, and Mommy didn’t really want to talk to him.”
The girl looked at me with big blue eyes, hugging her doll tightly. “Why?”
“Because he’s bad. Remember how I told you about the bad ocean? He’s a bad man.”
Satisfied with the explanation, the child went about straightening the doll’s rumpled clothes and hugged it to her chest. Sirens wailed in the distance, and I realized that Elena must have called the police.
Moments later, a police car whirled around a group of dunes, slowing and then coming to a stop when the deputy realized he had reached his destination.
“Are you alright, Ma’am?” he asked, taking in the situation as he stepped out of his vehicle, realizing that I must not be the man she had called about.
“I am now. Thanks to him.” Elena nodded toward me.
She walked with the officer to his cruiser, gave her statement, and was answering a few questions. I couldn’t hear much of the conversation, but I could tell by her tone of voice that Elena wasn’t pleased. Since nothing had been stolen or damaged and the officer couldn’t do anything to apprehend the man at that moment, he soon left.
Pursing her lips, Elena shook her head as the officer drove away. Her face was still a bit ashen when she looked me up and down, and asked, “Will you- will you come inside for a minute? The least I can do is offer you a bottle of water. For helping us.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Honestly, I had expected Elena to ask me to leave. After all the things I had said to her, I hadn’t really thought she would forgive me after just yelling a couple words at some guy. And her cautious demeanor as she led me inside told me forgiveness might be a little longer in coming. At lease she didn’t hate me. That’s a start in the right direction.
“Do you- do you live here?” I wanted to slap a hand to my forehead as soon as I asked the ridiculous question. Of course, she lived here. One of her angry shouts at the man had been “get off my property.” If that hadn’t been enough of a giveaway, a picture of her holding her child was on the table near the door.
“Yeah,” Elena said from the kitchen as she was grabbing a water from the fridge. “I was just housesitting for your neighbors. My boss - Devon - he knows them and referred me. I guess, uh…I guess I didn’t do a very good job. And well, I guess he told you my name.”
Another twist of guilt and embarrassment gripped my heart. “Yeah, I asked him about you,” I said, leaning against the section of the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, “I’m sorry about the way I acted; at the law office, and about the dog. He was just trying to play, and I’m sure you were busy that morning.”
“It’s okay.” A surprised blush crept into her cheeks. “I should have been more careful with Chauncey.”
“No, I was a jerk. Let’s be honest,” I insisted. “Things happen. I didn’t need to act the way I did just because... Uh… I was having a rough day.”
“Yeah, me too,” Elena agreed. “I ended up letting Chauncey go outside by himself for a minute without keeping an eye on him. That’s when he found that hole.”
“Well, maybe I shouldn’t have been so lost in thought -” I closed my mouth, cutting myself off as I realized this was never going to end. Elena was too polite to let me have the last apology. “Let’s just call us even.” I suggested.
Elena nodded and craned her neck to find her daughter as she handed me the water bottle. “More than ever, after what you did for us. Again, thank you. Although thanks doesn’t really cut it… I don’t know what Oscar would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Oscar?” I asked casually, pleased to have a name for the asshole. So, now maybe I could find him and give him a piece of what I thought about people who assaulted women and scared children. Elena was surprisingly calm about it, though. Impressively calm. I had dealt with a lot of traumatized people in my business. People who had experienced a break-in or some kind of altercation usually acted panicky, tearful, terrified or angry. They shouted and cursed, angry at me for not showing up sooner and angry at the culprit for causing trouble.
Elena didn’t seem angry, just worried and tired. After she grabbed a water for herself, her eyes strayed to her daughter playing on the floor in the living room. Her face lightened visibly, and her angled brows relaxed, knowing her child was safe and sound.
Elena reminded me of my own mother. Beautiful, kind and willing to do anything for her child. How had I ever yelled at this woman?
“Yeah, Oscar. He’s my ex. Bree’s father.” The child heard her name and came toddling toward the kitchen, still clutching her doll. She watched me with curious, wonder-filled eyes as I came around the counter to hear Elena better when she moved across the kitchen. “You want some juice, Honey? Juice?”
That magical word brought Bree to Elena’s side in no time, and she filled some kind of a baby’s cup with juice as red as her hair. “There you go, sweetie.”
Bree looked from the doll in her hands to the cup of juice, then back again.
“Here, give Gloria to Mommy,” Elena coaxed, holding out her free hand.
Bree looked from the doll to her mother, then turned around and marched over to me. I froze, unsure of what to do. Bree looked up, her babyish face evaluating me, then held the doll out with both hands.
“Oh, wow. She wants you to hold Gloria for her. It’s a great honor,” Elena told me with a proud smile. “She never lets anyone but my best friend and me hold Gloria.”
I knelt down. At Bree’s level, everything looked bigger and taller, and I suddenly had a glimpse of how I must have looked to a little girl – a tall, imposing man with a big voice. But somehow, she could tell me apart from the other man, the one who had been yelling at her mother, and she had decided to trust me with one of her treasured toys.
I took the doll. I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t need to. I held her carefully with both hands, waiting for Bree to turn away, pleased before I stood up. “Really?” I answered her mother, still using both hands to hold the doll in case Bree turned around to check.
“Yeah. She likes you.”
I made a new friend. The thought put a smile on my face. This hadn’t been at all what I expected when I went on my afternoon run, but I didn’t regret any of it. Maybe two new friends, I realized, looking up at Elena, who had handed the cup to Bree and was watching as she made her way back into the living room to sit on the soft carpet. “I like her too. She might be the most adorable tiny human I’ve ever seen.”
Elena giggl
ed, seeming much more relaxed now. I hated to bring up her ex again, but I had to know. “What did your ex want? Why was he here?”
“Do you want to sit down?” We sat together at the dining room table. “He told me he wanted to be in Bree’s life. But he never wanted that before a few months ago, when he called and asked to see us. I told him, no, and I thought that was the end of it.” Elena watched Bree solemnly and intently raise her cup to her lips. “I guess it wasn’t.”
“Is this the first time he’s come here?” Some people just couldn’t take no for an answer. Maybe it would take a fist in his face or some jail time instead.
Elena hesitated. “No. He… I think he left me a note yesterday. And I think it was him who slashed the tires on my car two weeks ago. But the police weren’t much help. They told me since they couldn’t prove anything, they weren’t able to charge Oscar with property damage or stalking, yet. But they took my statement and said they would look for him. And if they found Oscar they would take him to the station for questioning.”
Rage ran like blood through my veins. “What kind of note?”
“A threatening one. But I didn’t think he would actually show up and do anything…” Elena’s voice trailed off, but her anxious glance through the front window said it all.
“Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m in the private security business. I want you to leave this to me and not worry about a thing.” I crushed the empty plastic water bottle and tossed it in the trash. “Just go about your life as normal, keep your doors and windows locked… I’ve got this.”
Elena looked a bit stunned. “Uh…thank you for the thought, but I could never afford to install a security system or anything like that right now.”
Smiling, I put my hands on my hips. “Like I said, just leave it to me and don’t worry about the money. It’s the least I can do for the way I acted last week.”