by Lauren Dane
Sick dread hit her, replaced by fear and then by fury. “What the hell are you doing here?” Backing up a bit, she reached behind her and hit the 911 button on the phone.
“Oh Carly, or should I say Cassie, why ask questions you know the answer to?”
“How did you find me?”
He laughed and it crawled over her skin like an insect. “The second time I called I heard someone say Chase. And the last time I heard someone yell out Polly and then Shane. What do you know? When I did a search for Polly Chase I saw a newspaper clipping and a picture of an event in small town Petal, Georgia. A drive for the local food bank and who did I see in the background but my faithless wife. Only her name was not Carly Sunderland anymore, it was Cassie Gambol. So unimaginative.” He waved around. “I take it this is where you and Shane live? Nice. Not as nice as our house in the hills but for a small town backwater like this one, I expected shacks and hound dogs on the porch.”
“Go away, Terry. I don’t want you anymore!” In her pocket, she realized she’d dropped a pair of needle-nosed pliers she used to tie off findings on a necklace she’d been working on. She slipped her hand inside and held on.
“It’s not what you want, bitch! You fucked my life up. I gave you everything and you threw it back at me. You took my reputation and dragged it through the mud. I can’t practice medicine anymore and it’s all your fault.” He came toward her and she stabbed at him with the pliers, felt them dig into the flesh just below his shoulder.
He bellowed in pain and rage and she ran past him, hoping the call had gone through, hoping the security guard would drive past and see something amiss, hoping Shane would come home. For that moment though, she was on her own and she needed to get to the table next to the couch to get her gun.
A hand, slick with blood but with a sure grip, closed around her upper arm and the weight of him rode her body to the ground. She tasted blood as her lip split open when he punched her in the face.
“You bitch! You won’t make it this time. I’ll make sure you’re not breathing when I walk away.” His fingers moved to her throat and began to squeeze.
The world began to narrow as she lost oxygen. Desperately, she reached with both hands, trying to find something, anything to hit him with. Shane’s coffee mug! Grabbing it with the tip of her fingers she put all her remaining strength into it and hit Terry upside the head as hard as she could.
Air rushed into her lungs as she coughed when he fell to the side, losing his grip on her.
She began to scream over and over as she scrambled around the coffee table and got to the drawer where her gun was. Fumbling, she heard him right behind her as her fingers touched the cool metal and pulled it toward her.
Her head yanked back as she continued to scream. She couldn’t get to the safety to turn it off! Pain seared her as he bent one arm back so hard she felt the shoulder dislocate which probably numbed her enough not to feel the full impact when he broke her wrist. All she could think was thank goodness she knew enough to learn to shoot with her left hand. He hadn’t seen the gun she’d been holding in it just yet.
“You can’t have my life, you bastard. You got enough from me!” she screamed.
“I’m going to fuck you one last time, you whore, and then I’m going to kill you. Leave you for your loverboy to find.” His voice was in her ear, right behind her, and she pulled her head forward and threw it back as hard as she could, hearing the crunch of his nose.
His pain-filled scream gurgled as she realized she’d broken his nose. Time slowed as she rolled, flicking off the safety and pointing the gun, steadying herself as best she could one handed.
She came to peace with the fact that she was ready to take his life, breathing out as her finger squeezed. Just before her arm took the brunt of the shot, a red bloom covered his chest.
Confused, she watched as he hit the floor, her ears ringing as the shot deafened her. Blinking back the sweat, she saw Shane running toward her and one of his officers going to Terry’s slumped over body, checking for a pulse.
“Honey? Oh God, are you all right?” Cassie watched his lips more than heard him ask. Her hearing was still gone as Shane gently took the gun from her hand, wincing as he saw her other arm hanging at an odd angle.
“He’s dead?”
“He can’t hurt you ever again, Cassie. He’s dead,” the other officer told her as he stood up.
“Good. God damn it, good. My arm hurts now, Shane, I need to go to the hospital.”
Cassie related it in a matter-of-fact voice right before she passed out in his arms.
* * *
Hours later, at the hospital, he paced back and forth through the waiting room. Another officer came in and took over the investigation. Obviously Shane did not have the ability to judge the situation without bias. Looking at her history and Terry’s past and that they’d come in as he was attacking Cassie, Shane was sure his shooting would be justified. Still, he was placed on administrative leave while the shooting was investigated and that was all right with him.
Cassie’s weapon was discharged but had missed. They found the bullet in the wall behind where Terry had been standing. She would have hit him in the chest if he hadn’t begun to fall after Shane shot him. There wasn’t any reason to do anything but see her as a victim in the situation.
Another officer was questioning her as they patched up her arm. Shane wanted to be there but as he was the person who shot the suspect he couldn’t. So one of his father’s law partners was in with her and her therapist was on the way.
Chapter Nineteen
The months passed. Shane was cleared and came back to work right before Penny and Ryan’s wedding. Cassie bought a three quarters share in Paperbacks and More and began to take classes to pursue becoming a victim’s advocate.
Penny announced a week before Christmas that she was pregnant.
“Wow, you said you wanted to start on a family right away, you weren’t kidding.” Cassie laughed as she hugged her friend.
“We started a while before the wedding, don’t tell his mother. Anyway, it’s still new so don’t tell anyone just yet, okay? I had to tell someone and I couldn’t tell you over the phone.”
“I can’t wait to shop for baby clothes with you. Ryan must be over the moon.”
“He is. He’s already looking for a crib and I swear has a college fund started. I’m so happy, Cassie.”
“Oh, honey, you deserve it. I’m happy for you too.”
They agreed that Penny would tell everyone in Petal after New Year’s when the first trimester had safely passed. It was a delicious little gift for Cassie though, knowing that life continued even in the shadow of such ugliness.
Her cast came off three days before Christmas. “Thank goodness. I can only deal with so much. It’s stressful enough spending the night at the Chases’. I don’t want to think about doing it with a cast on too.”
Shane chuckled. “Honey, my mother loves you. My father loves you and my single brothers would steal you in a minute if I didn’t keep an eye on them every second. It’s no big deal. We live together, they know we sleep in the same bed.”
“I’m only agreeing to this because of presents you know.”
“I do know, you’re very easy. I like that in a girl.”
Cassie rolled her eyes.
* * *
Even being used to the Chases for a year and a half did not prepare her for the insanity of Christmas morning in their household. Last year they’d driven over in the morning but waking up there was a whole different story. While they’d had a bedroom to themselves along with Maggie and Kyle, relatives slept everywhere. The pleasing picture of people young and old in pajamas around the eight-foot high Christmas tree did her heart good. This was family. This was wonderful and normal and special all at once.
Brian smiled at her as she came and sat on the floor, restin
g her arms on Shane’s thighs.
Shane’s paternal grandfather handed out presents and the process took several hours as everyone ooohed and aaahed over each present from mundane to fabulous. The diamond bracelet Kyle gave Maggie was positively gorgeous and Cassie was proud that her jewelry was thoroughly loved by all recipients.
Still, she had to admit that her favorite moment was when Edward unwrapped the first edition Black’s Law Dictionary she’d found in an old bookstore in downtown Los Angeles when she’d visited Brian the month before.
“Holy cow! Girl, you’re too good to be true. Shane, boy, you’d better keep this one around.” Edward stroked the leather spine and beamed.
“She grabbed it before I could, Edward. Even with a broken arm and a bum shoulder she beat me to it.” Brian laughed.
“That’s my girl.” Edward winked.
“Oops, I didn’t see this last one. It’s for you, Cassie.” Pop handed the long, flat box to Cassie.
“From Shane, oooh!” Cassie set to unwrapping it. It was a card with a key attached. Use me. was written on it. She pulled the key off. The key to Shane’s truck.
Everyone followed her out to the driveway, standing back as she opened the truck. “You giving me this monster, Shane?”
“My truck?” He sounded horrified. “No! Follow the clues, darlin’.”
She saw a bow on the glove box and another note stuck there. I need a key.
Sliding the key into the lock she opened it and saw the light blue box. “Oh lordy! A blue box.” Delighted, she pulled it out and opened it up. It wasn’t until she saw the black velvet box inside the blue box that she realized what it was.
With trembling hands she cracked it open and a pear-shaped sapphire sat nestled in the velvet, diamonds on either side of the deep blue stone. She turned to face Shane but he was on one knee. Tears began to run down her face.
“Cassie, will you marry me?”
“Holy cripes! Hell yes, I’ll marry you.” She jumped into his arms and they toppled onto the cold, wet grass, laughing.
Reaching around her, he grabbed the box and slid the ring on her finger. “Perfect. I knew you’d look better in something other than a diamond. I saw it and had to get it for you.”
“You rock.”
He laughed again. “Thanks, darlin’, you do too. How about a Valentine’s Day wedding? In that little chapel just outside town? You seem to really like it.”
“Oh the one with the pretty stained glass? Do you think it would be available on such short notice?”
“Probably not but I booked it last year this time.”
She stopped. “You did? Oh my. Awfully sure of yourself.”
“We all know I’m an arrogant man, we established that early on. I wanted to ask you to marry me last Christmas but I knew you wouldn’t be ready. But I wanted that little chapel for you when you were ready. Just in case.”
“You’re a giant marshmallow, you know that?”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
* * * * *
To read more from Lauren Dane, visit www.LaurenDane.com.
Read on for a bonus, extended sneak peek of the final book in the WHISKEY SHARP trilogy
WHISKEY SHARP: TORN
Available from HQN and Lauren Dane
The deepest love can come as a surprise...
Whiskey Sharp: Torn
by Lauren Dane
CHAPTER ONE
Pointed west home beckons.
Waits for you like a lover.
NOT TOO MANY hours after getting off an airplane, Cora approached Whiskey Sharp—a barbershop and, in the evenings, a bar. The lazily swirling red-and-white candy-cane sign out front was illuminated and the interior lights cast a shine against the gold-toned flourish of the shop’s title on the front glass doors.
Inside, it smelled of sandalwood and amber, two of the more popular scents of the products used in hair and beards. Music played loud enough to feel like an embrace but it didn’t drown out the low hum of conversation from the people knotted around the bar area.
Alexsei Petrov, Maybe’s husband, but also Cora’s friend, owned and ran the place that had become another home for Cora. He saw her come in and smiled, tipping his chin to where Maybe stood, working at her station. Giving someone a shave by the looks of it.
Three months before, her friend’s hair had been platinum blond, but currently the tips were a brilliant teal blue that bled into a wash of purple.
It would have looked absurd on most people, but Maybe managed to make it seem retro and futuristic at the same time when she coupled it with high-waisted gray pinstripe pants and a crisp white button-down shirt.
Rachel stood, her hip resting against the table, a smile on her face reserved for who Cora now recognized as Rachel’s man, Vic, sitting in Maybe’s chair getting that shave.
The weight of the familiar was lovely and bloomed through her belly. This was another one of her places. Full of her people.
“You bitches are still the hottest chicks I know,” she said as she approached.
Rachel looked over, her eyes widening in pleasure and recognition. “You’re here!”
“I told you I’d come by,” Cora said, swallowed up into a hug.
“I know, but you’re here now. Yay!” Maybe took over the next hug, smacking a kiss right onto her lips before stepping back.
Laughing, she got hugs from the wild bearded Russians, as Rachel and Maybe referred to their dudes.
“Everyone missed you. Not more than us, naturally, but still,” Rachel said after Cora’d been loved up on by all her friends. “Three months is way too long to go without seeing you.”
“It’s nice to be missed.” She was pretty sure she’d just finished her last extended trip with her mother. Yes, it was travel for work and she liked to go new places. But these long stints meant she had avoided getting a dog or a cat. It wasn’t fair to have to leave them with someone for weeks and weeks. It meant that aside from one long-distance relationship that had ended two years before, Cora hadn’t really seen anyone seriously.
She wanted more roots. And a dog. And maybe someone to go on dates with.
She’d settle for a drink and some food as she hung out with her crew to start.
“Wren said she already invited you to dinner,” Maybe called out as she began to clean her station up.
“She informed me that one of their friends is cooking and that there’d be cake. So naturally I’m in.”
Gregori—another wild bearded Russian—was Vic and Alexsei’s cousin. He also happened to be a hugely successful artist that Cora had known for years through the local art scene. He and his wife, Wren—an artist in her own right—lived in a loft space above Whiskey Sharp.
“There’s always cake at their place. It’s like a little bit of heaven right upstairs,” Maybe said.
“It’s like what I imagine heaven to be, that’s for sure,” Cora answered.
“If there’s no cake, how can it be heaven?” Rachel said it like a sacred prayer and Cora agreed utterly.
“I can’t wait to hear all about your time in London but Wren said she wanted to hear it too and so not to visit too much without her.” Maybe hooked her arm through Cora’s. “I want to hear it now, so let’s get going. I’m also hungry.”
“You know how she gets when she’s hungry,” Alexsei said with a smirk at the corners of his mouth. Maybe rolled her eyes, but smiled as she did it so Cora knew she wasn’t offended.
And he was right because Maybe was lovely and sweet, but not when she was hungry.
They all headed out and down the sidewalk half a block to the doors leading to the small lobby where the residents of the lofts had their mailboxes and the elevator.
The scent of garlic and onions swirled around her senses as they got out on the right floor. Gregori and Wren’s door was
painted bright, shiny red and flew open before they were able to use the doorbell.
Wren, wearing a huge grin, rushed at Cora and hugged her tight. “Hi! Come have champagne and eat yummy food while you tell us all how the last three months were.”
“I can do that. You look fantastic,” Cora told her as they headed toward the kitchen area. “Marriage agrees with you.”
Her friends had come back from an impromptu trip right before Cora had left for London only to announce they’d gotten married along the way. After several years of living together it had been the right choice for their relationship.
“I look exactly the same except for the ring part and the way his mom gives me and then my belly a pointed look every time I see her,” Wren said.
“Welcome to my world,” Maybe said. “Irena has now taken to telling me about all the baby clothes she saw but didn’t buy because she had no grandchildren to wear them. I tried to get her obsessing about Rachel’s womb, but she’s too wily.”
“Mind your own womb. You’ve been with Alexsei longer than I’ve been with Vic. It’s your time to shine, bitch,” Rachel said with a laugh.
“I’m so messed up. I missed you all so much.” Cora hugged each one tightly.
“You’re the perfect kind of messed up,” Rachel said, linking her arm through Cora’s.
This was good. The best, happiest part of her life.
Her stomach growled as she sucked in the scents all around. “I need food.”
“We’ve got that covered,” Gregori called out to them. “Come, I’m pouring champagne.”
“No need to call me twice when there’s booze involved,” Cora murmured to Rachel, who snickered.
Fairy lights and candles made the loft glow. Plus it was the perfect light and her skin would look way better than the jet lag she knew smudged dark circles under her eyes.
“It’s all romantical in here and shit,” Cora said and then nearly swallowed all her spit when she caught sight of who stood at the stove.
CHAPTER TWO
There is wild joy in recognition.