by Jordan Marie
“It’s the weirdest thing, Black. She showed up outside, just a minute or two after you left.”
“She did? She knows where you live?”
“Well, yes, she drove me home with my groceries remember? And then later to Hank’s.”
“Yeah, sorry. What did she want?” I ask, because I can finally decipher what I heard in her voice earlier… fear.
“She was angry…”
“Angry? At you? What on earth for?”
“Because you were staying here I think. It was weird, Black. She was like… over the top. She said you were turning me into your whore, even.”
“She what?” I growl.
“I told you. Something about it just felt completely wrong and…”
“And what, Addie?” I ask when she breaks off. I’m mad as hell right now and I got a feeling whatever she says is only going to make it worse.
“She said I’d live to regret letting you… Well, I don’t know what she meant, but her face was so cold. It has me on edge. Do you think she’s… dangerous?”
“I’m not sure. I do know she doesn’t sound stable. I need you to promise me something, Addie.”
“What’s that?” she asks and I hate that I hear that fear leak into her voice again.
“Keep all the doors and windows locked, just to be safe.”
“Already done. Black, I’m sure it’s fine. She was extremely nice the other day. If she meant to cause me harm she had the chance then.”
“I know, but it’s better to be safe rather than sorry. You call me if she shows up again, and whatever you do, don’t open the door for her.”
“I won’t. You sure are bossy,” she complains, but I can tell that talking to me has eased her worries a little bit and I’m glad.
I’m worried enough for both of us.
Things happened in Dallas that have taught me never to take things at face value. I’ve never been witness to anything bad happening in Mason, but I don’t want to take the chance that Addie would be the first.
“I’m only bossy because I care about you, sweetheart.
“I… care about you too, Black,” she confesses quietly.
“I know baby. I’ll see you soon. You call me if you need me, okay?”
“Okay,” she agrees. “Talk to you later.”
“Later, Addie.”
I click off my cell with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Feelings like this, is what kept me alive as a detective. I look at the clock and it’s late, but Hank is probably still in the garage. I pick up my radio to call into Tani.
“Dispatch,” she answers over the static.
“Tani, I’m on duty, but I’m headed over to Hank’s. I need to talk to him about something that happened. If you call and can’t get me on my radio, I have my cell.”
“Got it, Black. It’s quiet so far, so you’re good.”
“Thanks,” I answer, distractedly. Intent only on talking to Hank and seeing exactly what he thought about her tire and spare tire. Addie downplayed the flat, but now I’m just wondering. It seems like an awful big coincidence that both her flat and her spare were cut and Lynn just happened to be waiting for her outside…
And if being a cop has taught me anything, it’s to not believe in coincidences.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Black
“Hello? Yeah, he’s right here, hang on.”
I hear Addie’s voice through a fog, I grumble and pull her body back to me. I can’t sleep if she’s not snuggled against me. I may have only been living here a couple of weeks but it’s time enough to know that I love her—even if I’ve been an idiot and not told her yet—and I can’t live without her. Shit, I’m addicted to her. There’s nothing else I can say about it. I’m addicted and I don’t even care. I may have had fear before I caved and let Addie in, but there’s no fear now. There’s only need and an excitement to see what each day brings.
“Black, it’s for you,” she mutters, settling back against me. I open my eyes only to find hers are still closed. I duck, but don’t quite make it as she slaps the phone next to my ear.
“Ow, damn it, Addie,” I grumble.
“Sorry,” she mumbles, kissing my chest. I doubt she has any idea what she’s sorry about. Her breathing instantly evens out and I know that she’s asleep. I’m not sure she was ever awake in the first place.
“Hello,” I say into the phone, taking the time to bend down and kiss the top of Addie’s head.
“Black, can you meet me out at your mom’s?”
“Mom’s? Why?” I ask, looking over at the bedside clock. “Jesus, Luka it’s only five in the morning and this is my day off.”
“We had a break in last night,” Luka says and now he has all of my attention.
“At the farm? Was mom hurt?” I ask, worrying about her. Green is still staying there and Jansen got back a couple of weeks ago, but still…
“Not at the farm. This is just where I brought Petal and the kids for the day so I could investigate. I don’t want her to be alone.”
“Petal? Was she—”
“It was her new shop. It was broken into and ransacked.”
“Fuck,” I growl. Petal worked hard to open up her own shop and she was so proud of it.
“Yeah, I was hoping you could meet me over here and we could go check out the shop together. I could use another set of eyes.”
“Sounds good, give me ten to get dressed and I’ll head on out that way.”
“That works, I’ll leave my Jeep here for Petal and the kids and get you to drive me back for my squad car afterwards.”
“On my way. You just take care of Petal.”
“I am, but when I find out who did this, I’m going to kill them.”
“You’re the sheriff, you can’t. I’ll do it for you,” I tell him, but he’s already hanging up.
“Christ,” I growl. So much for wanting to wake Addie up slow and easy this morning.
“What’s wrong?” Addie asks, wide awake now.
“Petal’s shop was broken into last night. Sounds like they fucked the place up pretty bad. Luka is pissed.”
“Oh my God. Is Petal okay?”
“Yeah, just upset. She’s at Mom’s. I’m going to head over there and pick Luka up and go look at the place.”
“I’m coming with you,” Addie says, jumping out of bed.
For a second, I can’t think because all I see is tits and ass—more specifically, Addie’s tits and ass and my brain turns to mush. Then, I shake it off and walk over to the closet to find some clothes.
“Princess, I love you but this is police work,” I tell her buttoning up my jeans.
“Not to the shop, idiot. I meant to the farm. I’ll stay with Petal there. She’s my friend. I don’t want her to be alone.”
“Have you seen the farm? There’s no way she’ll be alone.”
“Still, I want to be there,” she says pulling a long pink sleeveless dress on. She looks beautiful and she hasn’t even brushed her hair. “Unless,” she says stopping abruptly and there’s something on her face that I don’t like and haven’t seen there in the weeks that we’ve really been together. A look I do not like.
“Unless,” I prompt her, wanting her to get out whatever is bothering her so I can squash it before I leave. I don’t want anything coming between me and Addie.
“Unless you would rather I not go out to the farm. I mean it is your family and I—”
“And you’re my girlfriend,” I tell her walking over and taking hold of her arms to hold her still. “You’re mine, Addie. What we have is not temporary. You’re a part of my life. I don’t want you to ever doubt that.”
“Oh, but you—”
“It’s just that you were up late last night emailing your resume out and making a list of restaurants to take your resume to today. I thought you might want to sleep in,” I tell her and then another thought occurs to me. “Shit, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I won’t be able to go into Houston with you today.”
&nb
sp; “That’s okay. I’d rather be with your family. You and I can do Houston tomorrow or even the next day. It’s not like I haven’t been out of work this long. A little longer won’t hurt me, besides since you’ve moved in you keep insisting on paying all the bills.”
“It’s my job as the man,” I grumble, knowing if I’m not careful this will be another argument and I don’t want to fight with Addie. Though to be fair, we fuss a lot, but mostly because I love how we make up.
“Whatever. One day you need to become acquainted with the present century,” she laughs. “Let me go brush my teeth and throw on some makeup and I’ll be ready to go.”
“If you’re sure,” I tell her, making sure.
“I’m sure, but if you want to run into the kitchen and make us some coffee to go, I’ll love you forever,” she says carelessly, having no idea what affect her words just had on me.
“Hey, Addie?” I yell, as she starts to leave the room.
She stops at the bathroom door, still kind of rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
“Yeah?”
“I love you, sweetheart.”
Surprise comes over her face. My heart rattles in my chest wondering if I did the right thing. I’m not much on making myself vulnerable with a woman. I’d like to say it’s because of my past with Linda and maybe part of it is, but really, I think it’s because I’m a man and it’s engrained in our DNA.
She takes off running and hits my body in seconds. I catch her immediately, lifting her up, causing her dress to rise up to her thighs. Happiness is alive on her face, warming me in places I didn’t know were cold.
“I love you, Black Horn Lucas—with all of my heart,” she cries, kissing my face. I say my face because she’s kissing me everywhere, peppering me with them. Lips, nose, jaw, eyelids, eyebrows, forehead… I’m not sure she misses kissing me anywhere. “I love you,” she says again.
I pull away to look at her, using my hand to brush her hair and stare into her eyes, which have tears spilling out of them.
“Hey, no crying.”
“I’m just… happy,” she says.
“I am too, sweetheart. You make me happy.”
“You make me happy too,” she says, crying harder.
“I love you, Addie Harrington.”
“I love you, too!” she cries and for some reason the way she just repeats what I say makes me laugh.
“You going to be okay?” I ask her.
“Are you going to stop loving me?”
“Never,” I vow.
“Then, I’m going to be okay,” she says and I kiss her… simply because I have to.
“We better get going,” I tell her after the kiss, sliding her down my body and enjoying every second of it.
“Yeah,” she breathes.
“You need to go finish getting ready.”
“Yeah,” she breathes again, just looking at me.
“I’ll go make coffee,” I murmur, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. She’s just too damn cute.
“Yes, coffee,” she says and the mere mention of the word seems to bring her out of her trance. “Hey Black,” she calls just as I’m about to leave the room.
“Yeah, baby?”
“I’m not going to stop either, you know. Loving you, I mean.”
“I’m counting on it, Princess. I’m counting on it,” I tell her and despite the shit start to the day and worrying over Petal, I go make coffee feeling more content and happy than I thought was possible.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Black
“I’ll kill them.”
“Luka, calm down,” I tell him, because having him go off right now is not good.
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. Do you see this shit?”
I rub the back of my neck, anger and frustration running through me because I do see. The place is a complete mess. The windows have been busted out, the cords on the blow dryers have been cut in two, there are combs and brushes, picks and probably twenty other things scattered all over the floor that I don’t know what they are. All of the shampoo, conditioner and hair supplies have been turned upside down and spilled out onto the floor. The dryer tops have had a hammer taken to them and are broken into pieces. I know it’s a hammer because it’s stuck in the wall right beside some of the holes it made before getting stuck. Nail polish bottles have been crushed and are littered on the floor in an enormous array of colors. All of that is bad enough, but it’s the huge red spray painted words that bother me the most.
Addie wanted to come with me and Luka, but Petal and Mom convinced her to stay at the farm. After seeing this mess… I’m glad. I don’t want her exposed to this.
WHORE.
The word is everywhere, plastered on the wall with glaring red paint.
“I. Will. Kill. Them.”
“We have to find out who it is first, man.”
“I’ll find out and then… I’ll kill him.”
“I don’t think it’s a him,” I tell Luka, looking over the damage.
“You don’t?”
“Nah. Look at this? This much rage and the objects they took the time to destroy. I think it was a woman. A man wouldn’t be this… frenzied.”
“I’ve seen men do some pretty intense shit,” he argues and he’s right… but…
“Maybe, but their attacks are usually more personal,” I tell him and I walk over to the hammer and after putting on a plastic glove I pull it out of the wall. It takes a little effort, but not that much.
“I’ve seen that look on you before, Black. What are you thinking?”
“That I got this hammer out pretty easily, but it took a bit of effort… effort the average woman might not have managed.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Pretty much.”
“Who could hate Petal so much to do this kind of thing? You know as well as I do that she’s loved in this town.”
“That I can’t answer, but we’ll get some answers, buddy. That I know.”
“We better, because until we do I’m not letting my wife out of my sight and you know how happy that will make her.”
I sigh, because I do. Petal is about as independent as they come.
“It might be a good idea if you keep an eye on Addie too,” Luka says and I frown. I had already mentioned to him my thoughts on Lynn and the fact that Addie’s tires were pretty much slashed according to Hank.
“You think Addie’s tires and Petal’s shop are related?” I ask.
“I don’t think we can rule it out.”
I nod in reply because he’s right, we can’t.
“Addie was just here last night, Luka. This could be directed at her and Petal just got caught in the crossfire.”
“It’s possible, but it doesn’t matter,” he says and I nod agreement.
“Family is family.” I answer along with him.
“We can get Addie to give a description of this Lynn’s car. She doesn’t know her last name, but maybe we can track her through the vehicle,” I suggest.
“It’s worth a shot. In the meantime, do you still have any connections with the Dallas P.D.? I’d like to have their forensics team go through this place. Fingerprints or DNA sure would be nice.”
“I’ve got a few who will still help me out. I’ll put a call through to them.”
“Thanks, Black. I truly appreciate your help with this.”
“Man, it affects me too,” I tell him, still not believing the damage I’m seeing.
Luka grunts, and when I glance at him the look on his face probably mirrors mine.
There’s trouble here… a lot of trouble…
I just wish I knew the source.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Black
“So, we’re saying it’s another dead end?” Luka growls. Petal curls up further on his lap and pets his hair like she’s trying to calm an animal. Hell maybe that works for Luka, I’m not about to ask.
“Not exactly. We know that there is no Black Maxima with Texas tags reg
istered to a Lynn that fits the description that Addie gave,” I tell him.
“That right there is enough to make me stand up and take notice,” Luka responds.
“Me too,” I tell him. I was concerned before, but now I’m flat out worried.
“So, we think the vandalism at my shop was linked to Addie and whoever this Lynn person is?” Petal asks.
“I think there’s a very good possibility. Did you see her that day you were all shopping?” I ask, hoping she might know something more than Addie has been able to tell me.
“No, it was weird. I thought I saw someone walking away when we got there, but she was literally jogging into the crowd, so all I saw was her back.”
“Shit.”
“You know, just in case it hasn’t occurred to you two big fancy coppers and all, this could be Linda,” Petal murmurs, studying my face.
At the mere mention of Linda’s name my gut feels like there’s something sour in there and my body goes tense. Petal’s not wrong. It’s been months and months since I’ve heard a peep out of Linda, but she’s crazy so you can’t really go by that. Still, there are a few things that don’t line up.
“Linda doesn’t drive a Maxima,” I tell her.
“People do trade cars in, you know,” Petal says.
“But you said she had black hair,” I argue. “Linda was and always has been a blonde. She spent a fortune to keep it just the right shade.”
“Who does?” Addie says coming in at just the wrong time.
“Linda,” Petal supplies helpfully.
Addie’s face goes to mine. I can’t read it, but I can tell she’s not happy.
“Why are we discussing Linda?” she asks.
“Now, Addie, there’s no need to be jealous,” I tell her and from the hissing curse that comes out of her mouth—that was probably the wrong thing to say.
“Do I look like an idiot?” she asks, just as my mother comes in behind her.
Someone should just shoot me and put me out of my misery.
“Who called my Orchid an idiot?” Mom huffs.
“No one,” I groan. “I was just telling her there was no need to be jealous over Linda.”