Texas Secrets, Lovers' Lies

by Karen Whiddon

  Eve glanced around and frowned. “The store is empty except for you.”

  Turning, Zoe saw Eve was correct. And still no sign of Brock. “That’s weird,” she said.

  “Maybe he doesn’t want to talk to you,” Eve suggested, her blue eyes wide. “I think you should go.”

  In the past, a younger Eve had idolized Zoe, following her and Brock around like a puppy. She’d been fourteen when Zoe had left and all dreamy eyed over some boy band. For the first time, Zoe realized her sudden departure had hurt Eve, too.

  “Eve, listen I—”

  “Are you ready, Zoe?” Brock appeared suddenly, making her wonder if he’d been lurking and listening again. At her nod, he took her arm. “Good. Come with me to my office. I’ve got a couple of minutes to spare.” He glanced at Eve, frowning. “Eve, can you watch the floor for me?”

  She nodded, her expression still troubled. “Of course.”

  “Good.” His gaze found Zoe. “Follow me.”

  The coldness in his bright blue eyes turned her insides to ice. Giving Eve one last look, Zoe turned and went after him.

  His well-worn Wrangler jeans fit him like a glove. She couldn’t help but admire his backside—that, at least, was one thing that hadn’t changed.

  They reached the double doors marked Employees Only that separated the retail part of the store from the storage and offices. They headed toward the office that used to belong to Brock’s father. It, too, had been cluttered and disorganized. Now, it was as tidy and neat as the rest of the store.

  Brock went around to sit behind the gunmetal-gray desk. “Take a seat,” he said, indicating a folding metal chair across from him. “And then tell me why you’re here.”

  Taking a deep breath, she supposed she should be relieved he wasn’t pretending to be friendly. At least this way, she knew exactly where she stood.

  Still...that desk. She tried like hell to avoid looking at it. Because when she did, she saw images of their bodies intertwined and she remembered the inventive, carnal things she and Brock had done on that very same desk.

  Her face flamed as she wondered if he remembered, too.

  “I need your help,” she said, trying to sound assertive, as if she was in New York and meeting with a prospective backer.

  Brock leaned forward, his expression unchanged. “With what?”

  “Finding Shayna.”

  A flicker of impatience crossed his face. “And?”

  Zoe took a deep breath. “I’ve been talking to Cristine. She says you’re aware that she and Shayna went out partying together a lot.”

  He nodded. “I know.”

  One brow raised, he waited. His chiseled features looked both stern and sexy. Her mouth went dry and she had to swallow hard, aware she wasn’t sure how he’d receive her words.

  In a rush, she told him what she’d learned. “Not only did Shayna have a fling with the sheriff, but apparently she and Cristine made a game out of picking up random men in bars.”

  He grimaced. “I’m sorry you had to learn about your friend that way. I was hoping that part of her lifestyle would stay quiet.”

  Shocked and surprised, she found herself at a loss for words. “You knew everything?”

  “Yes.” He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “How could I not? Shayna didn’t bother to hide what she was doing, and everyone in town was talking.”

  Once the gossip got going in a small place like Anniversary, it was hard to stop it.

  “They were? Even to you?” The instant she asked the question, a sudden, horrible suspicion seized her. “That must have made you feel...awful. Pissed off.”

  He gave a slow shake of his head. “More like embarrassed for her. We had already ended our relationship. She was still staying with me, until Cristine could upgrade to a two-bedroom apartment so Shayna could move in. We were more like roommates at that point.”

  Roommates. Blinking, Zoe tried to reconcile that with what Shayna had been telling her for the past eighteen months. “Wow. Considering what she said to me, I’m thinking she felt more connected than just roommates.”

  “I doubt it.” He gave her an amused look. “Especially since we had separate bedrooms and she paid half the rent.”

  Again, Zoe had the unsettling feeling that she’d stepped into some sort of alternate reality. “Okay, I guess I’m going to have to take your word for it. Tell me this—how long has Shayna been such a...party girl?”

  If she hadn’t known him so well, she would have missed the guilt that flashed across his handsome face. “A few months. Ever since she and Cristine started running around together.”

  “So before that, she was...normal?”

  Again the guilt. “I guess.”

  Zoe knew she had to press. “Do you know why she changed?”

  Though he didn’t answer, she could tell he knew.

  Chapter 5

  “What are you not telling me?”

  Instead of answering, Brock looked away and Zoe knew he wasn’t going to say. “I’m not sure why she changed. She claimed life was just too boring. She wanted to experience more, she said. More fun, drinks and drugs and, of course, more men. Life on the wild side.”

  Yet again, he’d managed to bewilder her. “You and she...discussed this?”

  “We lived together, Zoe. And while in the end we’d decided we weren’t soul mates, or even lovers any longer, Shayna and I were still good friends. In fact, except for Cristine, I probably knew her better than anyone. I cared about her, too.”

  A confusing mixture of relief and uncertainty flooded her. She had to curl her fingers into fists to keep from touching him. “We don’t have any facts, just a lot of supposition.”

  He nodded. “That’s right. Shayna isn’t here, that’s all we know. Whether she left voluntarily or not, we have no way of knowing.”

  Finally back on familiar ground, she nodded. “What do you think has happened to her?” Leaning forward, scooting up to the edge of her chair, she didn’t bother to hide her frustrated anger. “Half the town seems to think she just up and took off.”

  She couldn’t bear the flash of pity in his eyes and had to look away.

  “Zoe, it’s entirely possible Shayna did exactly that.”

  “But why would she? I don’t understand.”

  “Like I said, she was bored. Tired of life here in Anniversary. Maybe she did take off, looking for adventure and excitement.”

  Puzzled, Zoe tried to give serious consideration to the possibility. “Cristine said she didn’t have much money. Where would she go?”

  With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head. “To find you, Zoe. She thought you were living the kind of life she wanted. I don’t know if you were aware, but she’s jealous of you.”

  “Roger said something similar.” Zoe sighed. Not a single time in the entire five years since Zoe had run away from Anniversary and all she held dear, had Shayna even given her a hint of her unhappiness, restlessness or dissatisfaction. Not once had Shayna even mentioned the possibility of coming for a visit.

  Somehow, Zoe managed to give Brock a halfhearted smile. “While that’s certainly possible, I doubt it. All Shayna had to do was ask, which she never did.”

  A horrible blankness came over his face. The expression both terrified her and caused her pain. “I wasn’t aware you and she spoke much anymore. At least from what Shayna told me. She said you’d been backing away, as though you wanted to shed the last few people who connected you to your old life.”

  More lies. For a moment, Zoe was struck speechless. Had Shayna made a habit of lying, or was Brock the one telling falsehoods as a means of gaining some sort of petty revenge? The Brock she’d known would never have done such a thing, but then neither would Shayna.

  “Cristin
e has another theory,” she said, her voice cool as frost. Without pulling any punches, she relayed what Cristine had told her about Mike and the bar.

  Brock listened in silence. Trying to remain aloof, she found herself watching his features for a reaction—good, bad or in between. “Well,” he finally said. “We’re still no closer to finding her than we were before.”

  “That’s why I came to see you. We should go to the Hitching Post and try and find this Mike.”

  “We? How about I ask Roger Giles to take care of this? He or someone in his office would be better equipped to deal with trouble.”

  “Will he? When I talked to him, he didn’t seem willing to do anything.”

  “I’ll ask him and let you know.” The maddening hint of arrogance in his profile should have angered her. Instead, she wanted to reach across the desk and cover his mouth with hers.

  Damn. What was wrong with her?

  “Let me know what Roger says.” Getting up, she moved slowly to the door, careful not to look at Brock, stunned at the sheer strength of the simmering desire she felt for him.

  Her body ached for his touch, filling her entire being with a fierce and urgent wanting. Even now, when every ounce of her focus should be on finding her friend.

  She’d already lost so much when she’d had to leave town—her fiancé, her family, her friends and her home. She couldn’t bear losing Shayna, too.

  Brock didn’t call after her or follow her, and even though she hadn’t expected him to, she told herself she was glad. What had she expected? Nothing she was learning about Shayna added up.

  Zoe needed to regain her objectivity—about Brock, Cristine and Shayna. Until her friend was found—alive or...God help her...dead.

  Unfortunately, the more time that passed, the worse things were beginning to look. Zoe wasn’t even sure who she could trust. In five years, they’d all turned into strangers.

  Especially Shayna. As soon as she found that girl, Zoe was going to let her have a piece of her mind. After she apologized for not paying attention during that last, apparently desperate, phone call.

  Again, Zoe wondered if this was all her fault. As she got back inside Mama Bell’s car, she speculated. Had Shayna really gone looking for her without telling her? Or was Cristine’s theory more accurate? Had Shayna taken off with some biker named Mike?

  Instead of driving home, Zoe went to the public fishing pier, parking in a shaded spot, and walked out onto the wooden structure to sit on a bench near the edge. At that time of the day, only a few fishermen occupied the pier, intent on their lines. Though they nodded a greeting, no one spoke.

  Another blessing, for which she was glad. She needed silence, time to digest what Brock had told her, and to pick out truth from the increasingly tangled web that Shayna’s life had become.

  Fact one. Cristine had said Shayna had expressed fear and worry about the drug dealer to whom she’d owed money. Even though Cristine claimed to have satisfied the debt, Zoe needed to check that out.

  Fact two. Shayna had been seeing multiple men, apparently heedless of any emotions they might have toward her. Any one of these men, the sheriff notwithstanding, could have done something to Shayna in a jealous fit of rage.

  Fact three. Shayna had apparently confided in Brock her desire to leave town, possibly to find Zoe. Zoe wasn’t entirely sure what she thought about this statement. The last several times she’d spoken to Shayna, her friend had been full of talk about her wedding plans and the goings-on in Anniversary. She hadn’t sounded like a woman ready to leave town. At all.

  And honestly, if she were going in visit Zoe, wouldn’t she at least have said something? If Shayna had, Zoe would have told her to buy a plane ticket to come in at JFK or LaGuardia.

  Shayna had never asked. She’d never even hinted.

  And then there was Brock’s story. Zoe hated suspecting him, but his story made him seem as if he was trying to give Zoe a reason to give up the search.

  She had to wonder. Given what she’d learned about Shayna, had Brock done something to hurt the woman he claimed to view as only a friend? Even thinking such a thing hurt and felt like betrayal, but Zoe owed it to Shayna to find out the truth.

  She wouldn’t abandon her plan to visit some of the bars Shayna had frequented. If Brock wasn’t willing to accompany her, then she’d either go on her own or ask Cristine to go with her, even though the other woman claimed she couldn’t.

  Decision made, she pushed to her feet and went back to the car. She’d let Mama Bell know she’d be staying in town a while longer.

  She could work on her blog from here.

  Her blog! That would be a start. She could post Shayna’s picture, tell an abbreviated story of her disappearance and invite people to post possible sightings.

  Perfect. In a hurry to begin, she started the engine and backed from her parking spot. Her spirits felt higher than they’d been since she’d arrived back in town. Doing something, no matter how small, was always better than doing nothing.

  * * *

  Watching Zoe walk away, Brock swallowed back the riot of emotions threatening to swamp him. All he could think about was her.

  Zoe. Zoe. Zoe.

  Hellfire, he was doomed. All this time, he’d been telling himself he was over her. He’d convinced himself that he didn’t care that she’d never called or written to apologize or explain. Five years had passed.

  The first few months after she’d left had been rough. He still remembered the raw agony, the aching certainty that she’d kept something from him. He had to believe she would never have left him if something hadn’t happened that had forced her to leave the town and the people she’d loved. Turns out, he was right. Still, the fact that she hadn’t come back when the danger was over, still rankled. Zoe belonged here. She’d loved this town.

  Unlike Shayna, who’d made no secret of her desire to leave Anniversary behind. While he didn’t understand her apparent decision to take off without a word to anyone, if she was emulating Zoe, she’d done a damn good job.

  Again, Zoe. It always came back to her, somehow. Her return had sent his world into upheaval.

  Thanks to her, he no longer believed in love. He wasn’t the same man who’d viewed life through glasses colored by his love for the woman who’d abandoned him without a word. Zoe had proved real and lasting love didn’t exist. So he’d accepted his bland existence and learned to take one day at a time.

  In the five years since she’d ripped out his heart, he’d made a life for himself. It wasn’t perfect, but it was his. He valued stability, but in the blink of an eye, Shayna’s disappearance had changed everything. Zoe, back in town, treated him like a casual acquaintance, which should have been fine but wasn’t.

  He needed her. No, more than that, he craved her. All he could think about was how badly he wanted to get her naked, to feel those silky limbs wrapped around his while he buried himself deep inside her.

  Damn. Cursing, he fought to control his unruly body. He didn’t understand his still overwhelming attraction to Zoe. By all that was right and just in the world, he should be able to find indifference. Especially now, when she’d shown back up and tried to pretend nothing had ever happened between them.

  Had she erased their past from her mind, from her heart? Maybe for her, that was an option, but Brock would never forget the happiest time of his life. Nothing since compared. He had a sneaking suspicion that nothing ever would.

  Bad for him, but he’d learned his lesson. This time, he knew better. Zoe Onella would never hurt him again. During her no doubt brief stay in town, he’d consider her dangerous and do his damnedest to stay away.

  Standing, he stretched, wishing he could will away the ache that had bloomed in his chest. It had been his ever-present companion ever since Mrs. Bell had called to let him know Zoe was coming back to Anniversary.r />
  Even then, he’d believed he had a handle on his emotions. He’d thought he had himself firmly under control, that Zoe meant nothing to him anymore. He’d tried to hate her and, failing that, had worked hard to relegate her to nothing more than a memory. Until he’d seen her striding through the airport, all long-legged, beautiful confidence, and realized he was wrong.

  He wasn’t safe. He was in trouble. The less time he spent with Zoe, the better.

  As he turned to leave the office, his phone rang. Shayna. For a second his heart stopped as he stared at the caller ID.

  “Hello,” he answered, his voice breaking.

  “Brock, it’s Cristine.”

  Cristine? He cursed. “What the hell are you doing with Shayna’s cell phone?”

  Apologizing, she sounded agitated. “She left it in one of the bars where she and I hung out. I was there last night and the bartender gave it to me.”

  His heart sank. Shayna without her phone would be like him cutting off his right hand. “Why are you calling me?” he asked.

  “I redialed the last number that she called.” Cristine hesitated. “She called you, Brock.”

  He didn’t understand. “So? She called me all the time.”

  “True.” Audibly swallowing, she sounded strangely nervous. “That would make you one of the last people to talk to her on the night she went missing.”

  “So?” He didn’t bother to hide his impatience. “What are you trying to imply?”

  “Nothing,” Cristine practically yelped. “I’m going to let you go. I need to call Zoe.”

  Before he could respond, she ended the call.

  Slowly, Brock replaced the phone in its cradle. Had Cristine just suggested he’d somehow made Shayna disappear?

  * * *

  When Zoe saw Shayna’s number on her caller ID, she nearly dropped her phone. Pressing the accept button with trembling fingers, she took a deep breath. “You sure have a lot of explaining to do, woman.”

  “Whoa. Zoe, it’s Cristine. Sorry.”

  Listening as the other woman explained how she’d come by the phone, Zoe couldn’t stop shaking. She couldn’t believe Cristine could be so thoughtless to give her such a broken and utterly false hope.