Dangerous Proposition

by Jessica Lauryn

  Colin was just about to tell the little brat exactly what he could do with his bad attitude when the front door to the house swung open. Through it stepped a man with blond hair and green eyes. He was as tall as Colin and had once been just as built. Apparently he’d put on a bit of weight in the last decade.

  “Jeremy, what’s going on?” the man asked. Looking Colin’s way, his complexion became ghost white. “I’ll be damned. Colin Westwood. Well, you’re about the last person I expected to show up on my doorstep this morning. Did the never-ending well of female bed companions finally run dry? Oh”—he shot Julia a smile—“I guess not.”

  Colin snatched Julia’s hand, squeezing it so tightly he was afraid he’d cracked a bone. “I thought perhaps you’d developed some tact in your old age, Byron. Guess we’re both getting a surprise today.”

  “Jeremy, go inside,” Byron said sharply.

  “Dad—”

  “Now.”

  The young man strode from the front steps, shooting both Colin and Julia a glare before slamming the door to his family’s miniscule home shut.

  Sporting one of her infamous smiles, Julia looked from Colin to Byron. “So, the two of you used to be friends?”

  “Stay out of this, Julia,” Colin said. He released her, taking two hastened steps toward Byron.

  Byron opened his arms, as though daring him to come closer. “Are you going to tell me what the hell you’re doing on my property? Or are you just going to stand there all day?”

  A smile formed on Colin’s lips. “I haven’t decided yet.” Slipping his hands into his pockets, he moved about the small patch of grass that stood in front of Byron’s home. “Interesting place you’ve got here. Quite a step down from Park Avenue, I must say. What happened? Did you invest in some bad stock?”

  Byron took two hastened steps forward. Colin waited until he was within arm’s length then raised his fist. He struck a hard blow to his once best friend’s face. Byron stumbled back then lunged forward, taking Colin with him to the ground.

  Colin fought him, hitting him with all the rage that had been building inside of him for ten years. Working against Byron’s weak attempts to fight, he beat the son of a bitch into the dirt, feeling an enormous amount of satisfaction in doing so.

  “Hey!” Julia shouted. “Colin, stop it!”

  Taking advantage of his opponent’s sudden hesitation, Colin dove on top of him, hitting him square in the jaw. He was temporarily stunned as Julia dove in between them, landing herself in the middle of their brawl. He stopped swinging, dragging her to her feet. Looking her over, he checked her body for cuts and scratches. Good God, if he’d hurt her… He barely looked up as a woman with dark-blonde hair raced to Byron’s side.

  “Byron,” the woman gasped, putting her hand against Byron’s bloody face. “What in the world…”

  “What’s gotten into you?” Julia demanded, taking a tissue from her pocket. She held it to Colin’s cheek, wiping the blood where his skin was cut.

  Colin didn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on the woman who’d come running out of the house. Staring at her porcelain skin, it was as though he was looking at a ghost. She was just as he remembered her, her long, curly tendrils, her smooth bronze complexion. As she tended to the scratches on Byron’s arms, she looked up, her dark-brown irises expanding three sizes as she did so.

  “Colin?” She came slowly to her feet.

  “Erica.” Colin caught his breath. Clearing his throat, he shot Byron a look. “A little piece of information you might have shared with me.”

  “Oh yeah? And just why the hell should I have done that? It doesn’t seem to me I owe you a damn thing.”

  Colin looked from Byron to Erica, the agony of one of the most horrific moments of his life hitting him in one tumultuous explosion. He shut his eyes as it all came back to him, the feeling of dread as he walked back to his dorm room that cold December night, his insides coming into his throat as he opened the door.

  “I guess you don’t.” He started down the walkway.

  Julia followed him. Meeting him in front of the car, she caught him by the shoulders. “You’re just going to walk away? This guy was your friend. What happened that was so bad it pulled the two of you apart?”

  Colin didn’t answer. He just stood in place, feeling even more helpless than he had the night he realized Tucker had been abducted. It was as though he’d walked back in time and into a nightmare. And every time he tried to wake up, he only slipped that much further into the abyss.

  “Believe it or not, Mary Poppins, there are some things that can’t be fixed. This is one of those things.”

  “Was it about Erica?” Julia shut her mouth.

  Colin raised a brow. He was rather surprised that Julia cared either way, but decided it was only natural she would suspect as much. Of course, there was more to the story than just the obvious. Byron had lost a potential six figure salary from Westwood Industries when Colin’s father hadn’t come through for him. But that wasn’t the issue at hand.

  He chose his words carefully. “There was a time I called Byron my best friend. Come to think of it, he was my only friend. When your father owns half the town, people sort of expect you to follow in his footsteps. Byron understood that, because our fathers were a lot alike. I was supposed to go and work for my father after graduation. When I decided that wasn’t in the cards for me, everything changed.”

  “What happened?” Julia asked.

  Colin was about to answer, but something on the lawn grabbed his attention. A yellow For Sale sign—he was surprised he hadn’t noticed it earlier. He had a feeling it wasn’t there because the Murdocks were getting a bigger place in the Hamptons.

  “I guess there’s more than one secret going around today.” He stared at the sign then wandered up the walkway.

  Byron, who was climbing the front steps with his wife, looked back. “You didn’t get enough the first time?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me your house was going into foreclosure?” Colin asked.

  “It isn’t exactly something you shout from rooftops.”

  “What happened?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Colin said. “What matters is making sure you don’t lose it. Now, are you going to let us in or not?”

  * * * *

  Julia sat between Colin and Erica at the Murdocks’ dinner table later that evening. The kitchen was small, consisting of only a seating area, a stove, and a counter. The lack of space did make for some good claustrophobia. And it didn’t help much with the uncomfortable silence.

  Swallowing a bite of pot roast, Julia glanced at the clock on the wall. No one had said a word in almost ten minutes. Though Colin and Byron had had a long conversation earlier that afternoon, and Colin had agreed to help the Murdocks with their financial problems, the awkwardness in the room was immeasurably thick.

  Everyone was seated around the table—Julia and Colin, Byron and Erica, and their children, Jeremy and Nicole. And in spite of the tension in the air, Julia had decided to put her knife to better use. She’d cleared her plate twice and had two helpings of pot roast, a baked potato, and the most delicious apple pie she had ever eaten. Apparently Erica Murdock was an even better cook than Colin.

  She was probably the perfect wife, too, judging by what she had seen. Her kitchen was small, yet immaculate, much unlike her own. The countertops shined, and they were completely free of clutter. Dinner had been served promptly at six, and Julia got the feeling it was like that every night of the week.

  Nicole, just five years old, had the best table manners of any child she had ever seen. The girl had laid her napkin in her lap before starting, and she’d cut her meat without any help. Not once had she had to be told to stop playing or making a mess.

  But no one there was behaving more strangely than Colin. He’d had not two, but three helpings of pot roast. And before the uncomfortable period of silence began, he’d gone on for some time about how delicious it
was.

  There was something between the two of them. Julia had told herself that she was not going to go there, but there was something between Colin and Erica. Something deep, which brought on strange bouts of muteness every time they were together. Something that was driving her out of her mind.

  They’d probably dated. Probably did a lot more than date, she thought, feeling sick to her stomach. She shoved a bite of apple pie into her mouth, cursing under her breath as she tasted how good it was.

  When there was nothing left on the dessert plates but crumbs, Byron stood, indicating to all that the meal was finished. Following suit, Julia volunteered to help with the dishes. She wasn’t exactly sure who she’d be doing them with, but the thought of Colin and Erica doing them together was a more than she could stomach.

  “So,” she said, picking up a green-and-white checkered dishcloth a few moments later, “you guys were all friends back in the day?”

  Erica, who was even prettier with her wavy hair pinned up, looked at the dishes in her hands. She stared at them as she piled them into the sink. “That’s one way of putting it,” she muttered under her breath.

  Julia fought the urge to slap her own wrist. She had a perfect opportunity here. She could dig for information and find out what Colin had really been doing after college graduation. But all she could seem to think about was the question she wanted the answer to the most.

  “The guys just get together every so often and beat the crap out of each other?” She held her breath.

  Erica’s tanned cheeks grew scarlet. Drawing a long breath, she said, “Colin and I met when we were young. Both at odd points in our lives. I thought I was in love with him. In reality”—her voice lowered—“I guess I was looking for someone to save me.”

  Julia knew all too well about Colin’s hero complex. It didn’t surprise her in the least that he would have been eager to come to Erica’s rescue.

  Erica turned on the faucet. She washed a dish then passed it to Julia. “Not many people know this about me. But when I was a teenager, my older sister was killed in a car accident. It isn’t something I ever really got over. When I was in college, it hit me harder than ever. Some of that pain eased when I met Colin. He was stronger than anyone I’d ever known. He made me feel strong, too, like I wasn’t going to break all the time. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. But when I met Byron…it was different. I should have told Colin how I felt. But after everything he’d done for me, knowing how much he wanted things to work out, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. He walked in when Byron and I were—”

  Julia threw a hand over her open mouth. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Colin Westwood, a man she’d been positive didn’t know the meaning of affliction, had been betrayed by the two people he’d trusted the most. To boot, he’d walked in on them having sex with each other!

  There were definitely times she could have been a better friend to Abigail, but she could never do to her what Byron had done to Colin. He’d completely betrayed his trust. Erica, too—perhaps it was the reason Colin was so defensive all the time. Even if it wasn’t the whole story, it had clearly played a part in making him the man he was today.

  Colin wasn’t exactly her pick for man of the year, but he deserved better than what his so-called friends had dished out. A lot better.

  She sat at the table. “Erica, I’m very sorry you lost your sister. I don’t have siblings, but I can’t even begin to understand the pain you must have gone through. Still, you were a teenager. I can’t imagine you were a teenager when Colin walked in on you and Byron doing the horizontal hoo-ha.”

  “I was twenty-one,” Erica said, shooting Julia a glare.

  “Then I’m sure you’re well aware that you were responsible for your own actions. Wherever it happened, fraternity, back seat of Byron’s four-wheeler, it doesn’t matter. God, did you even stop and think about Colin’s feelings? How much it was going to hurt him to find out that his girlfriend was fooling around with his best friend? You were young and broken, I get that. But Colin has feelings, too. They’re buried somewhere beneath that armor he wears. I know you saw them, too, earlier today when Colin realized that you were married to his best friend.”

  “Mommy,” Nicole said, running into the room wearing a pair of purple pajamas. “Can I have some apple juice?”

  “Of course, sweetie.”

  Julia bit her lip as Erica opened the refrigerator and poured juice into a plastic cup with flowers. She placed it into her daughter’s small hands.

  Julia cringed. She wasn’t trying to traumatize the woman’s children, only to make a point. Clearly she couldn’t do that with toddlers running in and out of the room.

  After Nicole thanked her mother, she turned and hurried off. Erica walked around for a moment then sat at the table, taking the seat opposite Julia.

  “You have no idea what I was going through,” she said, tears in her dark-brown eyes. “It was hell when I lost Samantha. Hell. It always will be. I was looking for comfort. Colin understood that. At least, I thought Colin understood that.”

  “Did he, Erica? Did he understand it when he found you in bed with his best friend? Or is that just what you have to tell yourself so that you don’t have to feel guilty?” Julia released several short breaths. There were two sides to every story, but in this case, she could only seem to see one of them.

  She had no idea where all this anger was coming from, but she wasn’t finished yet. Not by a long shot. “Do you honestly think that a person can understand something like that? Why someone they love would stab them in the back and walk out of their life without so much as an explanation as to where they’re going?”

  A strange smile formed on Erica’s face. “You’re in love with Colin. Aren’t you?”

  “In love with Colin?” Julia laughed. “Not in this lifetime.”

  “Well maybe you ought to think about it, then. Because I think there’s a very good chance that Colin is in love with you.”

  “Colin, in love with me? That’s crazy,” Julia said, wondering how the conversation could have possibly taken such a ridiculous turn, or where Erica Murdock had gotten such a whacked-out idea. Surely anyone with eyes could see that she and Colin couldn’t stand each other. They were like oil and vinegar…on a good day! “We’ve only been here a few hours,” she said. “How could you possibly think that Colin is in love with me?”

  “The way he looks at you, like he’s falling prey to a dream. How he came to your rescue when you got between him and Byron on the lawn. Knowing how Colin feels toward Byron, he wouldn’t have stopped hitting him on just anyone’s account. Colin cares about you. A lot.”

  Perhaps there was a grain of truth to that statement. But it did not mean that Colin was in love with her. Colin had stopped attacking Byron when she’d jumped in the middle of their brawl because he didn’t want her messing up his fun, because he didn’t feel like wasting three grand on a hospital bill, wasn’t that right?

  While Erica got her daughter ready for bed, Colin and Byron talked in the living room, and Julia changed into the pajamas she’d been given, a floor-length nightgown and a robe. Looking at her reflection, she saw that the flannel garment draped over her body like a potato sack. She had either been given the most matronly thing that Erica owned, or else the woman had moved well beyond her slut days.

  She stepped through the bedroom door, entering a small space which contained a dresser and a closet. The room was a bit larger than the ones surrounding it, but all other thoughts escaped her when she discovered Colin lying on the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama pants and a grin. His chest was bare, showing off his pecs and large muscled arms. Smooth, tanned skin was complimented with the stubble of dark chest hair.

  Trembling, Julia came back a step. The Murdocks had only three bedrooms. And after a fair amount of resistance, their son Jeremy had agreed to sleep on the couch. Meaning, in spite of everything she’d done to avoid it, she was about to spend the
night in the same bed as Colin.

  “I won’t bite,” he said, holding up two fingers in scout’s honor position. “I promise.”

  Julia laughed. She shook her head and sat beside him, half-disappointed he didn’t attempt to “bite” her. Whatever that meant exactly.

  “Did you boys kiss and make up?” she asked, taking the pillow from the left side of the bed. She gave it a badly needed fluffing.

  “Byron’s agreed to let me give him a sizable loan. Not so much that he feels like he’s mooching, but enough to get his family back on its feet.”

  Julia smiled. It was heartwarming the way Colin had come to the Murdocks’ rescue, especially considering what she now knew about their history. He was really sticking his neck out. She got the feeling that wasn’t something he did every day.

  “Unfortunately for us,” he went on, “Byron doesn’t swing in the social circle he once did. He was, however, able to point me in the direction of a private investigator. The man’s name is Mateo Esposito, and he’s known for solving hard-to-crack cases in a short amount of time.”

  “So this Esposito guy,” Julia said, feeling a glimmer of hope, “do you really think he can help us find my dad?”

  Colin nodded, failing to look her in the eye. “Byron says he’s the best at what he does. He and I have had our differences, but I think he’s telling the truth on this one. You just have to be patient. I haven’t gotten you killed yet, have I?”

  Julia grinned, taking the pillow from where it rested. She tossed it at his head.

  Colin caught the fluffy object just before it hit. He tossed it back, causing a few locks of hair to spill across her face. Leaning on his elbows, he brushed them from her cheeks.

  A hot shiver shot up Julia’s spine. There was no clever comeback that could undo the jolt of electricity Colin ignited when he touched her. Blushing, she inched back and took the pillow from her lap, placing it behind her head it. She lay on her cheek, turning toward the outside of the bed.

  With her eyes shut, she breathed in and out, assuring herself that working with a private investigator was much more likely to come through for them than taking a suicide cruise to the wrong side of the tracks. Not that she believed Griffin’s offer was anything more than a trap.