My heart clenched as I read the latest message.
It wasn’t much different than the others, but it never stopped pulling at me. Never stopped calling to me.
Kira: Come home.
My thumb hovered over the keypad for seconds or maybe minutes before I loosed a harsh breath and tapped out of my messages without responding.
I reached for the handle of my door, my stare darting to the street and sidewalks around me out of habit and narrowing on the car rolling to a stop behind me.
I studied the driver in my rearview mirror as my free hand automatically moved toward my off-duty weapon where it rested on my hip. This was Colby, I wasn’t exactly worried something would happen here, but I’d been trained from a young age to always expect otherwise.
I noticed the sign for the car service on the windshield half a second before a blonde unfolded herself from the back.
A very hostile, tall blonde who had been plaguing my every thought.
With her alluring features and challenging expressions.
With the way she’d tormented me by moaning my name.
With the absolute mystery of her.
I opened my door and stepped out, brows already lifted in question before she ever noticed me.
“Stalking me?” I asked at the same time she sneered, “Fantastic.”
Jesus, she was just so damn angry.
She gestured to me. “And I really feel that whole ‘stalking’ bit might be misdirected.”
“That right?” When her anger poured from her and crept toward me, I took a step forward to meet it, embrace it. “I’d never seen you before last night, but there you were, in the place I’m at every Thursday night—and every other day for that matter. Then you came to my house.” Her lips parted, but I continued before she could speak. “The coffee shop I saw you at?”
“I was there first,” she tossed out stubbornly.
A disbelieving laugh rumbled in my chest. “But I run there every afternoon. A stalker would know that. And since we’re playing that game, I was here first.”
“I currently live here.”
I stilled at the unexpected comment.
Lala was the first to offer others everything she had, but I couldn’t imagine her taking in a stranger—especially without telling me.
She told me about her plants and what the neighbors were up to. She told me what she bought at the store and when she and Nora were going to be out of the house for a while in case I’d planned on swinging by during that time. She called to make sure Rowe and I had enough food for dinner, even if she’d just sent one of us home with enough food to last a week. The woman had a hard time keeping anything to herself, even though she swore up and down she wasn’t a gossip like the women across the street.
So, to have someone move into her home without telling me?
For all of us to have been in the same room without her or Nora mentioning it?
It didn’t make sense.
“How do you know Lala?” I finally asked, shock pulsing through me when I took in her soft face and wide, magnetic eyes behind all that anger and resentment. “Holy shit . . .”
Nora.
The girl’s head listed and her brows lifted knowingly.
“Nora’s your . . .”
Confusion and denial swirled in my chest as a wave of protectiveness slammed into me. Because I would do anything for that little girl—including keep her from the woman who’d abandoned her.
“Little sister,” she finished for me. “I gave Lala the name you all use so fondly.”
“Nora has a sister?” I asked, voice low with doubt even though it was there, in her eyes.
Lala and I talked about family often—too often. She’d been relentless in wanting to know why I’d shown up in Colby alone one day until I’d told her the whole story.
From the military to the job I’d been forbidden from having to the family I’d left due to dynamics no one would understand unless they’d lived it.
Everything.
In return, she’d pushed me to reconnect with my family nearly every time I saw her, saying family could be gone from your life in the blink of an eye.
Gone in the blink of an eye . . . that was all she had given me of her and Nora’s story—not that I had pushed for more. The rest, Nora had told me in bits and pieces over the past three years. And yet, another granddaughter was standing in front of me.
“Yeah, well, I just found out about Nora a couple days ago . . .” The girl laughed a soft sort of breathless sound, but it was filled with pain and frustration. “Don’t get too caught up on it. I would’ve been more surprised if Lala had told you about me.”
“And why’s that?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you here again?” With that, she headed toward the house, looking like she was walking down a runway rather than a stone path.
And, fuck me, because all I could do for a moment was stand there and watch her. Take her in. Study her.
Those damn shoes.
The clothes that hugged her slight curves perfectly.
The subtle sway of her hips as if her body were taunting me with each step.
The way her hair fell down her back in waves, practically begging for me to grab hold.
The energy that both drew me toward her and pushed me away that was already becoming so goddamn addicting.
I let my head fall back and raked my hands over my face, groaning up to the sky before jogging after her. I reached for the handle of the door before she could grab it and felt the corner of my mouth tip up at the surprise that stole across her face before she could send another glare my way. But it wasn’t like before.
The chill was gone. The hatred was missing.
She looked fucking adorable.
“Emma, honey, that you?” Lala called out when we stepped inside.
My smirk widened. “So, my stalker does have a name?”
“I’m not stalking you,” she bit out before responding louder, “Lala, you should seriously rethink locking your door since I wasn’t going to be the first one in here.”
There was a brief pause before Lala asked, “Oh, is Reed here?” Excitement wove through her tone and the house and clearly irritated the girl in front of me.
Emma.
It fit the doe eyes and innocent, wholesome-looking face.
The lethal glares and animosity clinging to her body? They didn’t seem to fit the name or the girl.
“Who else?” Emma asked, loud enough for Lala to hear her in the kitchen, but her eyes never left me. When she spoke again, her voice was nothing more than a whispered sneer. “Your precious Reed Ryan is here.”
“The hell?” I murmured at the genuine disdain dripping from her lips. When she started moving past me, I reached out to stop her—the reaction involuntary. But the moment I touched her arm, her palm slammed into my chest and she jerked away as if I’d shocked her.
“Don’t touch me,” she snapped, backing even farther away as she did. Eyes narrowed with disgust and loathing.
I stepped back, hand raised just as Nora came running through the living room, shouting, “My Reed, my Reed! You’re here!”
I wrapped my arm around her instinctively when she smacked into my side, but I couldn’t pull my stare from Emma as she hurried up the stairs and out of my sight. I didn’t look away from the staircase until Lala clicked her tongue from beside me.
“Don’t take offense.”
I glanced at her, but my attention darted to the stairs one last time. “I don’t know what I did.”
“What did you do?” Nora asked softly, wrapping her hand up in mine and twirling around.
“Nothing,” Lala answered her and then looked at me, her voice sad. “You did nothing. Come on, let me fix you a glass of tea.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you had another granddaughter?” I asked halfway to the kitchen. “Or that she was here?”
She faltered in her steps before continuing ahead. “Well, I do, and she is.”
“You mean that one?” Nora asked, tone getting soft the way it did when she spoke to people she didn’t know very well. When I looked down at her, her eyebrows were drawn together tightly. “Me and that one have the same mommy. I heard my Lala say so.”
That one.
Which meant Nora either didn’t like Emma or didn’t trust her yet.
Then again, Nora trusted very few people. Funnily enough, they were some of the people I trusted most. Kid was smart.
“Is that right?” I asked as if I hadn’t found that out just minutes before.
She nodded, the movement subtle. “That one was left too. But she wasn’t left with my Lala.”
“Nora,” Lala gasped, sounding horrified, “who told you that?”
“That one,” she explained, pointing upstairs.
Lala’s head moved in fast jerks and she pointed away. “I’m about to start on dinner. Go clean up whatever you were playing with.”
“But, my Reed—”
“Nope,” I cut her off, tapping on her shoulder and slanting my head when she looked at me. “Lala told you to do something. What do you say?”
Nora’s head lowered as she shuffled away, whispering, “Yes, ma’am.”
I leaned against one of the counters and folded my arms over my chest, waiting until I was sure Nora was out of hearing distance before I asked, “You don’t want Nora to know about Emma?”
Lala’s head snapped up from where it had lowered to stare at the floor as she rubbed at her head. “What kind of absurd question is that?” When I gestured to where Nora had left, she heaved a big sigh and said, “Nora knowing things . . . it scares me. I’ve always been afraid of the day when she would start saying things she shouldn’t know—worried it would mean her momma had shown up. Talked to her when she was playing outside . . . something.”
I nodded in understanding and lowered my voice, trying to soothe and reassure her. “But Emma’s here. You know that.”
“Emma doesn’t talk about her past. Ever.” She lifted her hand to her head again, her stare drifting. “She wouldn’t even talk about her life as it was happening.”
“Your head hurt?” When she looked at me with wide eyes, I nodded to where she had her fingers pressed to her temple.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes as her hand fell away. “Just the shock of Nora saying things she shouldn’t know.”
I grunted before asking again, “Why didn’t you tell me about Emma?”
For a while, she just stood there, chin trembling and eyes filling with tears. “It isn’t a happy story or one I like to remember.”
“But you trust her with Nora?” I asked, needing to confirm even though nothing about the girl upstairs put me on alert.
“Of course. I just can’t trust her not to disappear one day. But as long as she’s here . . .” She shrugged. “Her being here is a miracle of a blessing.”
“She disappear a lot?”
“I don’t know,” Lala said, sounding as if not knowing weighed heavily on her. “I don’t know her anymore, but I do know that you’ve done nothing wrong.”
A disbelieving huff burst from my chest. “The short conversations I’ve had with her say otherwise.”
“I won’t make excuses for what she’s said, but I need you to know it’s nothing you have done.” She pointed toward the ceiling for only a moment before clasping her hands together. “That girl has had a life neither you nor I can imagine. I don’t know most of the details, but I know she’s the way she is because men made her that way. Because they terrify her.”
“We’re talking about the same girl? The one who looks like she eats men for breakfast?”
Lala’s head shook in quick, subtle jerks as she turned to pull glasses down from the cupboard. “Don’t let that mask fool you. She’s terrified of them all—you especially.”
Doubt flooded me, but any response I might’ve had disappeared when the sound of someone walking across the upper hall and descending the stairs filtered into the kitchen.
Emma walked in, having changed the button-down to a loose-fitted shirt that fell just below her hips. The heels were gone too, and her hair was piled haphazardly on her head.
Christ, if it didn’t transform her completely—didn’t make the cold, unapproachable woman seem a little more approachable.
Until those slaying eyes found me and told me everything without her ever saying a word.
She hated me.
She wanted to know why I was there.
She wanted me gone.
None of which surprised me, but throughout it all, there was a reluctance that I couldn’t figure out.
Then her eyes dipped over me as if on impulse, and her reaction betrayed everything she was trying to keep hidden from me. She sucked in a quick, shuddering breath and her eyes darkened with a craving that only seemed to fuel her anger and bring to life the energy between us.
Just as fast, the look was replaced with indifference before she faced away.
But I had seen it. I could still feel it.
That unexplainable connection, filling the room and pulling at me . . . urging me closer to the girl in front of me.
Heavy, thick, and nearly impossible to resist.
As if I’d been running from shit my entire life to bring me there, to that girl, who hated the fucking sight of me.
It was probably for the best. Relationships were something I didn’t want to entertain.
“Can I get you to stay for dinner, Reed?” Lala asked as she started my way, glass of tea in hand. Before I could begin to respond, she casually tossed out the words that got me every time. “I was thinking breakfast for dinner.”
I pressed a hand to my chest. “You know the way to my heart, Lala, but I really was just stopping by to check on the two of you.”
She handed me the glass and shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “More pancakes for us then.”
A low, agonizing laugh crawled up my throat. “You’re cruel.”
“I know a lost cause when I see one,” she said on a dramatic sigh, but her smile was mischievous. “Though, I really could use some help with my porch swing since you’re here. It’s come loose on one side.” She waved dismissively toward the entrance of the kitchen. “The rope or the hook. Something. Don’t mind the smell of dinner, I’ll just be cooking your favorites.”
“Cruel,” I repeated and pulled her in for a hug. “Tell Nora I’ll say goodbye before I head out.”
I spared one last glance at Emma, arms folded under her chest and attention fixed on the island, then headed outside.
After setting the tea on the porch, I jogged over to my truck to grab the small box of tools I’d gathered over the last years for this exact reason. The homes in our neighborhood were beautiful but old, and there was always something that needed fixing.
Once I was back on the porch, I headed over to the large swing, studying it as I did.
It was level. The ropes looked fine. The hooks still seemed to be perfectly tightened.
My eyes narrowed suspiciously for a moment before I finally set down the toolbox and pressed my palms to the bench, putting more and more pressure until nearly all of my weight was on it.
Nothing.
I stood and went to the side, and then the other, inspecting where it was secured, before grabbing hold of one side of the ropes and pulling myself up.
Nothing.
When the other side proved the same without so much as a groan, I dropped to the porch with a laugh that was equally amused and frustrated.
Damn you, Lala.
The laugh abruptly ended when I caught sight of Emma standing in the doorway out of the corner of my eye.
“Stalker.”
Her eyes rolled, but the corners of her full mouth twitched into what might’ve been a smile. When she spoke, all traces of her earlier anger were gone. “I wanted to see what she was talking about. I’ve sat out here the last two nights, and it’s been fine.”
“Still is.” I jerked my c
hin toward the doorway. “One way for her to keep me around a little longer.”
“She do that often?”
“Not once.”
When Lala needed help, she asked for it. When I told her I was just stopping by, she accepted it. Until a leggy blonde crashed into my world like a ball of wrath and set my head spinning.
Lala knew exactly what she was doing tonight, but this was the last thing I needed right now. Then again, I was struggling to remember that with that energy snapping and pulling and fucking begging me to move closer to Emma.
It wasn’t until I was a foot away, watching the war rage within those wide eyes, that I realized I’d listened to it.
She swallowed slowly, the delicate movement of her throat wholly capturing my attention. “Nora was setting the table when I walked out . . . there’s a place for you.”
“Figures.” I bent to pick up my tea and leaned against the side opposite her. “You want me to leave.” It wasn’t a question. It’d been written on her face from the moment she saw me standing outside my truck.
“More than anything,” she said immediately, but her inner battle told me exactly how much of a lie lingered in those words.
I should’ve walked away then.
I should’ve driven away the moment I saw her get out of the car behind me.
But after just a few short encounters, I desperately wanted to figure out how to strip away Emma’s anger and resentment. I wanted to know what she tasted like. If she’d be sweet and addicting, or if the bitterness dripping from her would bleed from her lips.
“And if I stayed?”
I fought a smile at the way her eyes flared before she could drop her stare. Her tone lacking all bite when she asked, “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Someone to be entertaining?”
“Are you saying I’m not entertaining you?”
That gaze flashed up, all wide and innocent and holding me prisoner. Her full lips parting with a stuttered exhale as she whispered, “You know what I’m talking about.”
A knowing hum left me as I stepped closer, losing the fight as a smile tugged at my mouth when she pressed closer to the frame and heat crept up her cheeks. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Lie to Me Page 4