by Claire Adams
“Can you think of any motive that person might have had?”
I frowned and shook my head. “It just doesn't make sense to me,” I admitted. “I'm just an artist. I don't really have any enemies. And Josh isn't the kind of guy to make enemies, either. He's good about his investments. He doesn't screw people over.”
But I trailed off, thinking it through. “Then again, this is Josh Green we're talking about.”
“What does that mean?” the police officer asked.
“He's a billionaire,” I said slowly. “It could be that someone is after his money, and they think that they can get it if they hurt Josh. Or maybe their real motive is to make it look like any accidents are Josh's fault, so that he has to pay them back.” I shook my head again. “But that wouldn't explain why they came after me.”
“Tell me more about Josh's business dealings,” Officer Sanders suggested.
“I don't know much about it,” I admitted, laughing a little. “I know Josh carefully researches the companies that he plans to invest in, and I know that he has some sort of office with employees. I don't think he's ever had to fire an employee, though. They're not that big of a company. So, there's no one who would hold a grudge against him there, that I know of.”
“What about rival companies?”
I blinked, mouth forming into a little 'o.' “That could be it!” I agreed. I frowned, thinking about the deal that Josh had been working on during the road trip. What was the company again? Biogen Tech.
“When we were on the road trip, Josh was working on fleshing out an investment opportunity with this company called Biogen Tech,” I said slowly. “Things seemed like they were going really well for him when we left LA, but then midway through the trip, he said that there were some complications and that he might have to leave early, to go handle things in person. That's exactly what ended up happening.” That still didn’t explain my ex’s neighbor having a very similar truck to the one I kept seeing. It seemed too damn ‘conspiracy theory’ to bring it up. The guy probably already thought I was an idiot.
I frowned, trying to put the pieces together. “Josh didn't specify why he had to go sort out the deal in person,” I said. “I don't think he does that for all of his deals. And since he wasn't already investing in this company, he could easily have just walked away from it. Maybe someone else wanted that position that Josh ended up getting, and they were looking to drive Josh out of the picture. Literally.”
“That's a good lead,” Officer Sanders said. “Corporate espionage can definitely turn ugly.”
I shook my head, hardly able to believe that Josh may have gotten me involved in something like that. There was just one detail that I couldn't wrap my head around. If this other person had enough money to invest in Biogen Tech, why was he driving such a beat-up pickup truck? He could have a Lamborghini or some other fancy car, just like Josh did.
I gave a mental shrug, though. Probably, whoever it was just thought that he was more inconspicuous in such a worn-down car.
“All right, I think that's all the questions I have for you right now,” Officer Sanders said, standing up and holding out his hand for me to shake. “If I have any other questions, I'll call you. Otherwise, rest assured that we're doing everything in our power to rectify this situation. You stay safe out there.”
“I will,” I agreed, nodding my head solemnly.
I left the police station, but I couldn't bring myself to get back into my car. Finally, I ordered an Uber. It was silly of me to do that. I didn't want to get anyone else mixed up in this situation, and I knew that if the dude in the blue truck had already been able to track me down everywhere between here and Nebraska, he'd have no trouble finding me in an Uber. He could be lurking somewhere now, his eyes already trained on me.
I shuddered and tried to put that thought out of my head.
It was better that I didn't get behind the wheel, though, with my emotions all over the place. I wasn't in the right mental state to be driving anywhere.
I wanted to go straight back to the hospital and demand to see Josh. I wanted to ask him what he thought, if this might be about corporate espionage. But I also knew that his health was still somewhat shaky, and I didn't want to worry him or cause him any unpleasantness.
No, I'd keep this to myself for now, and I'd hope that the police sorted everything out quickly. They had the car's license plate number, so I imagined that it couldn't take them too long to track down the man behind the wheel of that truck. Everything was going to be all right.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Josh
I smiled at Kylie as she came back into the room, carrying two cups of hot chocolate.
“I even put marshmallows in them this time,” she told me proudly as she set my mug down on the tray in front of me.
I couldn't help laughing at how proud she was of herself. “Thanks,” I said, just glad to have a warm drink in front of me. Not that the hospital was cold, but the warm drink was comforting, I had to admit.
“So, what did Dr. Flannigan say?” Kylie asked, fussing with my blanket for a moment, rearranging it over my lap, and then sitting in the chair next to the bed.
“The doctors and nurses are all surprised at how quickly I'm healing,” I told her. “And about the positive results in all of the tests that they've run so far. Dr. Flannigan said, if he didn't know better, he would think that I hadn't been in an accident at all.”
Kylie grinned. “That's good,” she said, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. “That's exactly what I want to hear.” She paused. “How are you really feeling, though?”
I laughed. “I'm good,” I insisted. “I've got three hot nurses fussing with me day and night, and during the day, I get to see you.” I saw the jealousy in her eyes before she even spoke, and I couldn't help grinning at her. “You know I'm only joking about the hot nurses,” I told her. “They do fuss over me, but they've got nothing on you, baby.”
Kylie blushed and ducked her head, looking embarrassed but pleased. I didn't think I was ever going to get used to how cute she was when I complimented her.
“So, do they have any idea when you'll be able to get out of here?” Kylie asked.
“Probably just another few days,” I said, shrugging one shoulder.
“Good,” Kylie said, nodding her head. Then, she frowned. “Except that once you're out of here, you're a target again. In here, I haven't had to worry about you as much because I knew that no one was going to be able to come in here and injure you without the whole ward knowing it. But once you go back home, if that guy's still out there, who knows what he could do.”
I frowned at her, wondering what she knew and wasn't saying. “What do you mean, who knows what he could do?” I asked her. “It was just some asshole LA driver. There was no deeper motive to it. He just didn't accurately assess the length of my car and the speed that I was traveling at.” I shook my head. “But it is good that I'll be getting out of here soon. To be honest, I'm going a little stir crazy. And the police have gotten their hands on the surveillance tape between my office and my home. They're hoping they can find some identification for the driver.”
Kylie looked nervous when I said that, as though she knew something that I didn't. But whatever it was, she didn't elaborate. I knew this was hard on her, and I didn't want to press. At the same time, though, I knew that I needed to.
“What are you thinking?” I asked her. “How do you know that this guy wasn't just trying to get home in a hurry?”
Kylie bit her lower lip and ducked her head. “I got followed the other night, when I was on my way out of here,” she admitted.
“What?” I snapped, pushing myself up against the pillows. “Why didn't you tell me?”
“It was fine,” Kylie said, but I could tell from her face and from how pale she was just thinking about it, that things most definitely weren't 'fine.' “He just followed me for a little while. I did a lot of turns to make sure that he was actually following me.”
; “What did you do?” I asked.
“I drove to the police station and took a picture of the truck. I told them everything I knew about it, license plate number and description.” She shook her head. “It was another really big, rusty blue truck. Remember how I said that thing was following us? I'm pretty sure it really was.”
I frowned, getting the feeling that there was something more to it than that. “What else aren't you telling me?”
Kylie paused and chewed her lip. “Officer Sanders asked me if I could think of any sort of motive that they may have had,” she said. “And we talked about how you were clearly the original target.”
“So, someone's after my money?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “That's typical.”
“But then why would they come after me, if they were after your money?” Kylie asked. “And why would they try to run you off the road and land you in the hospital? It would make more sense for them to try to break into your home or steal your credit card details.”
I frowned. She was right, of course. “I don't have any big enemies,” I said.
“I didn't think you did,” Kylie said, smiling a little. She took a deep breath. “What happened with the Biogen Tech investment?” she asked. “It seemed like everything was going well, and then suddenly it wasn't. Do you think that someone wanted to take the place as primary investor in that project and wanted you out of the picture?”
I snorted. “Everyone who was interested in investing was at the meeting I went to,” I told her. “We all fleshed out an agreement, beneficial to all parties. It's more likely that one of the scientists didn't want any sort of corporate investment in the company and tried to make sure that I knew it.” I paused. “But I don't really believe one of the scientists would try to hurt me, like you're suggesting. And they wouldn't have been in LA to start with.” I frowned. “If this blue truck followed us all the way from LA to Nebraska and then back to LA again, it has to be someone who's from here.”
“That's a good point,” Kylie said, looking thoughtful. She sighed. “But then we're right back to square one. We don't have any sort of lead.”
“I'm going to hire bodyguards to protect you,” I said firmly. “And a professional driver, in case this creep decides to follow you again.”
“You don't have to do that,” Kylie protested.
I frowned at her. “Kylie, it's not like I don't have the money to protect you. And it would kill me if anything happened to you, especially if it was because of something to do with my work or my financial situation.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, still looking uncertain.
“Kylie, I'd do anything to protect the woman that I love,” I told her.
We both sat there in shock for a moment. I couldn't believe I had just outright admitted that I loved her. That went beyond telling her that I had feelings for her. That definitely went outside the bounds of friendship, or even friends with benefits. I swallowed hard, watching her expression carefully, wondering what she would say in response.
“The woman you love?” Kylie finally asked, awe in her voice.
“The woman I love,” I agreed, nodding my head, because it wasn't like I could go back on it now. “Kylie, we both know the friends with benefits thing was a farce. We've known one another for too long, and we both have too many feelings wrapped up in our relationship for us to be just friends, all benefits aside.”
“What are you saying?” Kylie asked, looking as though she was holding her breath, sitting on the edge of her seat.
“I'm saying that I want something more,” I said, as though that weren't already obvious. But I supposed we both needed to hear it said out loud, after so many years of hiding our feelings for one another. “I want something more because I love you. And I think that you want something more as well.”
Kylie continued to stare at me and then quickly nodded her head. “Yes, Josh,” she breathed. “Yes, I want something more.” She laughed and ran a hand back through her hair. “I love you, too. I think that maybe, I was always running away from my feelings for you. I wasn't ready to admit them yet. I've had such strong feelings for you for so long.”
I grinned at her. “So, because of your uncertainty and my worry, we've wasted years when we could have been together?”
Kylie laughed again. “I guess that's true,” she said. “But we got there in the end.”
“And everyone else already knew we would,” I mused. “Mandy was livid when I screwed up the road trip.”
Kylie groaned. “She and Jasmine both tried to tell me that it was obvious to everyone except me that you loved me,” she said. “I thought they were just meddling.”
“I guess it's obvious how compatible we are,” I said, reaching over to take her hand, stroking it softly. “And like you said, we got there in the end.” I paused. “I still feel like a homewrecker when it comes to the Andrew thing. I had a feeling that he was going to propose to you, but I thought that you'd say yes. I'm sorry that I got in the way of that.”
Kylie shrugged. “You didn't actively try to break us up,” she reminded me. “Anyway, I feel bad about that situation because I feel like I deceived him from the start. I should have realized that I had feelings for you a lot sooner, before some other dude proposed to me.”
“Come here,” I told her, tugging at her hand.
Kylie frowned. “You're still hooked up to all of these machines,” she said. “I don't want to mess anything up. I want you to get better so that you can get out of here.”
“I just want a kiss,” I told her.
Kylie smiled and stood up, bending over so that she could kiss me softly on the lips. The kiss was sweet and languid, a promise of more to come once I was out of this hospital bed. I smiled against her lips, watching as she pulled back and her eyes slid open again. She looked shy, like she still didn't believe she could actually just do that.
I grinned at her. “Once I'm out of here, I think we're going to need to spend a whole month in bed together, making up for lost time,” I told her.
I could picture it now, her spread out over the sheets, smiling sweetly up at me, her bare breasts just peeking out behind the material. We'd have lazy Sunday mornings with breakfast in bed, and maybe when the weather got a little warmer, we could picnic out on my back deck.
I twined my fingers with Kylie's, my eyes staring deeply into hers.
Unfortunately, the moment was broken by the entrance of a stern-looking police officer.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kylie
There was so much more that I wanted to say to Josh, and so much more that I wanted to do, but I supposed all of that would have to wait until after Josh was out of the hospital. But the entrance of Officer Sanders interrupted the whole conversation.
“Officer,” Josh greeted, nodding his head and trying to push himself up higher against the pillows.
“Josh Green?” the officer asked, and my heart stopped. Wasn't that the way that things went in all those police shows? 'Mr. So-and-so, you are under arrest.' What could Josh have possibly done, though?
“And Ms. Summers,” Officer Sanders went on to say. “I wanted to personally let the two of you know that we've located the truck that you were followed by the other day, Ms. Summers.”
My heart leaped into my chest, beating wildly. “You did?” I asked.
“Tell me that you also found the fucker who was messing with her,” Josh growled.
“The truck was abandoned in a parking lot,” the police officer said, ignoring Josh's question for now. “The damage on the front of it was consistent with what you reported, Ms. Summers. And after talking to our experts, it's also consistent with the vehicle having collided with another vehicle recently. And the paint scraped onto the truck’s fender matches the paint on Mr. Green’s car.”
I hissed in a breath, looking over at Josh. Josh was staring grimly up at the officer, but his hand found mine, squeezing tightly.
“You can trace the license plate, though, can't you?” Josh
asked. “And figure out who the car belongs to.”
“Unfortunately, the truck was reported stolen back in early December,” Officer Sanders said, frowning. “The owner, an elderly man by the name of Gerrard Flemming, can't be traced to the two of you in any way.”
I sighed. “So, we're back to square one.”
“Well, that's just it,” Officer Sanders said, shaking his head. “Surprisingly enough, the police already knew who the vehicle's thief was. In fact, we apprehended the man shortly after the theft occurred. But the truck had already changed hands by then.”
“This is like a soap opera,” Josh muttered, and I couldn't help smiling.
It did feel that way, with all the twists and turns that the case had apparently taken. I had a feeling there were going to be more twists before Officer Sanders finished, too.
“We talked to the original thief, but he didn't know the guy that he had sold the truck to. He met him on some online forum. And he had a rock-solid alibi for the time of Mr. Green's accident as well. The man was in jail already. He couldn't have been the one to run you off the road.”
“Were you able to figure out who the truck was sold to?” Josh pressed.
“Our thief didn't keep a record,” Officer Sanders said, shaking his head, and I felt my heart drop with disappointment.
Josh made a scoffing noise. “So, what you're telling us is that someone tried to kill me, and that someone might still be after Kylie, but you guys are stumped?” he asked incredulously. “The next thing I know, you're going to tell me that 'due to budget cuts' or 'due to the fact that this is LA, and there are more pressing matters,' you don't have the manpower to devote to this, and it's up to us to keep ourselves safe.”
“I didn't say that we're stumped,” Officer Sanders said, looking as though he'd like to roll his eyes. “From the video surveillance, we were able to pull a good shot of the suspect driving the car. When we showed that shot to the car thief, it jogged his memory, and he was able to provide us with a name. Do either of you happen to know an Andrew Simon?”