Ravenous

by HELEN HARDT

  But he loved me.

  And that changed everything.

  No way was I leaving him. Not when he needed me. He’d sent his mother and son away, but Evelyn was a senior citizen and Henry a baby. They needed protecting.

  I didn’t.

  I was a sister to three older brothers, daughter to a father who’d resisted at first but had succumbed to my determination and taught me everything he’d taught my brothers. I could run this ranch as well as any of them. I simply didn’t want to. It wasn’t my interest. It wasn’t in my soul the way it was in theirs.

  But I’d done all the chores, learned all the ropes, and I’d built a lot of tenacity along the way.

  I could hold my own.

  I needed to hold my own.

  I needed to be here for the man I loved.

  Not to mention my best friend and my brothers. And, though she didn’t recognize me, my mother.

  They all needed me, and I would not desert them.

  Paris would still be there tomorrow. Next week. Next year. Next decade, even. I was young.

  Besides, another brain helping to figure out what was going on now would be an asset.

  Bryce had sworn me to secrecy about Justin Valente, and I would keep his confidence. He’d tell Joe, I knew. My brother would be angry, but in the end, he’d be okay. He was Bryce’s best friend. He of all people knew what a good man Bryce was.

  Bryce would take care of me, and I would take care of him. We’d take care of each other as equal partners.

  Oh, he’d get all Alpha on me sometimes. He’d grown up around my brothers, after all. But I’d also grown up around my brothers. I knew my way around a Steel man, and Bryce was an honorary Steel man. He always had been.

  What to do?

  First, I’d tell Jade about Bryce and me. As she was the only person who knew how I felt about him, she’d be thrilled.

  She’d expect me to be ecstatic. Indeed, I was.

  I was also freaked out and frightened.

  This wasn’t over. Colin had been right. There was more to come.

  I’d already showered, so I went to Jade’s bedroom. I knocked quietly and then entered. The whoosh of the shower wafted toward me. She was busy, so I went back to the kitchen and drank a glass of water.

  I needed to take the edge off, expend some energy. Bryce was at work for his first day at his new job, so I couldn’t bother him.

  The gym. I was already dressed in leggings and a tank. I hurriedly put on my cross-trainers and set out.

  I didn’t have a session booked with Dominic this morning, but maybe he’d be available. If not, I’d do my own workout. Maybe try some of the circuits Ruby had put together for me. I drove the half hour into Snow Creek, parked, and walked inside the fitness center.

  Dominic wasn’t in the trainers’ office, so I took off for an elliptical machine. That thing always kicked my ass, and what I needed this morning was a good ass kicking. Something to punch the tension out of my body.

  I grabbed an extra towel and my water bottle and started to set up a program on the machine.

  “Hey, stranger.”

  I turned, dropping the towel with my locker key pinned on it on the floor next to the machine. Dominic James stood beside me.

  “I didn’t know you were here,” I said.

  “Yeah. I’m not on duty. I had an early morning baseball practice.”

  “You play?”

  “Not anymore. I help coach the high school kids.”

  “Oh? That’s cool.”

  “I love the game. I was all state in high school and had a scholarship for college, but I couldn’t finish because of an injury. I’d love a real coaching job, but for now I make more doing training part-time. The school job pays a little.”

  “That’s good.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. I hardly knew the guy.

  “I think so. Sure, I’d have loved a chance at the majors, but it is what it is.”

  “True enough.” If only he knew.

  “You just starting? Or can I interest you in a breakfast smoothie?”

  I cleared my throat. A breakfast smoothie sounded great, but I was off the market now that Bryce and I had declared our love for each other. “I have to pass.”

  He reached toward me. “Let me twist your arm a little.”

  I jerked away from him. “I know we had a deal for my training. Lunches and stuff. But I feel I should tell you. I’m in a relationship now.”

  “In two days?”

  “Well…yeah. I didn’t think it could happen, but it did.” I couldn’t help smiling.

  “I can’t say I’m not disappointed,” he said, “but we can still be friends. And I can still buy you a smoothie, right?”

  I laughed. “I’ll take the smoothie, but I’ll buy my own. After my workout, okay?”

  “Perfect. Meet me down by the spa. An hour?”

  I nodded. “Sounds good.”

  I watched his perfect ass as he walked off. He was built like a male model, but then, so was Bryce. And I much preferred a male ass in regular jeans than in workout spandex. Still, I was flattered. No reason existed that I could see why I shouldn’t still train with Dominic. I’d pay him, of course. Ruby didn’t have time to work with me, so I needed a good trainer.

  Now I had one.

  I set the timer and started my workout.

  I guzzled from my water bottle and wiped my face with one of my towels as I made my way down to the women’s locker room. I’d pinned the key to a towel, so I—

  “Shit,” I said aloud.

  My locker key was gone. It must have fallen off. I retraced my steps back to the machine I’d been using. No key.

  No biggie. I stopped at the front desk, and a clerk with a master key walked with me to the locker room and opened my locker. After she left, I checked my purse and wallet. Everything was still there, and nothing seemed amiss. Clearly I just hadn’t pinned the key securely to the towel. I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes until I was supposed to meet Dominic downstairs. Time enough for a quick steam and shower.

  The steam room was my favorite. I loved inhaling the steam perfumed with spearmint and eucalyptus, even when I didn’t need to clear my sinuses. After five minutes, I felt relaxed—as relaxed as I was going to get, anyway—so I took a quick shower and dressed in some jeans and a cardigan I’d brought along.

  Dominic was waiting at the front desk, as he’d promised. My hair was wet, and I’d pulled it up in a sloppy bun on top of my head. I wasn’t out to impress any man except Bryce Simpson.

  Still, Dominic said, “You look amazing.”

  I laughed. “Wet hair and all. Thanks, I guess.”

  “Just telling the truth.”

  Should I mention my relationship again? I didn’t want to seem repetitive. I kept quiet as we headed to the smoothie shop.

  I’d eaten breakfast, but I was always ready to eat after a workout. He didn’t try to touch me again as we walked the few buildings to the shop.

  “I’ll have the vanilla raspberry,” I told the clerk.

  She looked to Dominic.

  “These are separate,” I said.

  “Oh, sorry.”

  I paid quickly and found a small table by the front window. Bryce was on the ranch at his first day of work, but why should I hide anyway? This was completely innocent.

  Dominic finished ordering and sat down across from me. “What are you up to today?” he asked.

  Good question. What was I up to? So many things swirled in my mind, none of which I could tell the man sitting with me. Before I could think of something to say, our smoothies were ready. Dominic went to get them and then brought them to the table.

  I sucked the fruity goodness through the straw.

  “I’m working this afternoon,” he said.

  I nodded. Was I supposed to react to that?

  Unease swept over me. Something didn’t feel right about being here, and it went beyond the fact that I was now committed to Bryce.

  Dominic was as af
fable as I remembered, and nothing seemed out of place at the shop. Yet I couldn’t shake the niggling like little insects underneath the skin of my neck. It was creeping me out.

  “I lost the key to my locker,” I heard myself saying without knowing why.

  “Oh? Did you find it?”

  “No. The desk clerk had a master key and opened it for me.”

  “Was anything stolen?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good. It probably just fell out of a pocket or something.”

  I shook my head. “I pinned it to the towel I was using. It was sitting on the floor next to my machine the whole time. It should have been, anyway.”

  He sipped his smoothie. “That’s strange.”

  “I know.”

  “This is such a small town. I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of crime. People probably leave their doors unlocked.” Dominic’s phone buzzed on the table. He picked it up.

  “Some do. We’re a little more careful these days.”

  “Oh? Why?”

  Yeah, I’d said a little too much. I really wasn’t in the mood to go through the entire saga of our esteemed mayor being exposed as a psychopathic rapist and murderer—who was also the father of the man I was in love with.

  “Just some stuff happened here recently.” And might still be going on, though I couldn’t say anything more.

  “Uh…okay. You want to elaborate? I mean, I just got here, and I’ve got jobs I love. Are you telling me to leave?”

  “No. Of course not. It’s just… Our mayor, who’s dead now, was involved in some pretty illegal stuff. I don’t really want to talk about it. I’m sure you can get the whole story somewhere else.”

  “Sure. I understand.” He went back to his phone as if I’d said something as simple as the sun was shining.

  Which I found extremely odd.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Bryce

  Chills traveled down my spine at light speed. “News.” A statement.

  “Yeah.”

  “What is it?”

  “He doesn’t say. He’ll send it in a different document.”

  “Okay. When?”

  “He didn’t say.”

  “Great.”

  “Ease up, Bryce. We’ll just wait here until he sends it. In the meantime, I’ll ask about the stuff in the bin.”

  I nodded, trying not to hyperventilate. We wouldn’t get through this if one or both of us lost it.

  “Anything yet?” I asked after a few seconds.

  “Nope.”

  I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “Now?”

  “Ease up, I said.”

  Five more minutes—that seemed like hours—passed. “What the hell is taking him so long?”

  “I don’t know.” Joe stared at his phone. “Nothing’s coming through on the account.”

  “Maybe he has to type it up.”

  Joe didn’t reply.

  “Or maybe something came up that he had to attend to. A sick kid or something.”

  Again, no answer.

  “I mean, we don’t know anything about this guy.”

  Finally, Joe regarded me. “We don’t know him, but I do know the guy who recommended him, and I trust him.”

  “A guy you met at a BDSM club? Really?” I paced a few steps.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yeah, I do, damn it. If you’d ever been a part of that community, you’d know how trustworthy they are. I met senators there, Bryce, and others. People whose careers would be ruined if the general public knew how they spent some of their free time. We all trust each other to keep quiet. No one in Snow Creek knows I’ve been there, do they?”

  “Not that I know of. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’d probably be thinking the same thing. But the guy is trustworthy, and if he says the Spider is trustworthy, he is.”

  “For the record, man, no judgment here.”

  “I know that. I wouldn’t have told you otherwise.”

  “And it’s safe with me.”

  “I know that too.”

  “I’m sorry I told Marj about the other stuff.”

  “I know. I’m sorry I told Melanie. Except that I’m not.”

  “Me neither.”

  “You better treat my sister right. I’ve never laid a hand on you in my whole life, but I will if she sheds a single tear over you.”

  She’d already shed many, but Joe didn’t need to know that. I simply nodded. I’d felt like kicking the shit out of myself for making Marjorie feel even a morsel of sadness.

  It wouldn’t happen again.

  “Still nothing,” Joe said.

  “He must have gotten sidetracked.”

  “I don’t like this.” Joe shoved his phone back into his pocket.

  “Me neither. Nothing we can do about it now. I should get to work.”

  “There’s plenty of it. I’ll check in with you later.”

  I nodded and walked back to the office building, leaving Joe staring at the ground.

  Joe wasn’t kidding. Plenty of work awaited me, and it kept my mind occupied, thank God, until my cell phone chimed midafternoon. My mother.

  “We’re here at Vicky’s, safe and sound,” she said.

  “Good news. Can I speak to Henry?”

  “Sure. Come here, honey. Daddy wants to say hi.”

  “Hi, buddy,” I said, already missing him terribly. “Did you have fun on the airplane with Ga-ga?”

  He gurgled into the phone.

  “Daddy misses you,” I said.

  “Da-da.”

  I smiled. I had a Henry-sized hole in my heart, but I was happy he was safe in Florida and away from the mess my life had become.

  My mom got back on the phone. “He’s still teething badly. Fussy. Vicky got him some of those large plastic beads…”

  She went on, but I was struck by the word “beads.” The jewelry from the cabin popped into my head.

  “Mom, I have a question.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did Dad ever give you any jewelry?”

  “Jewelry? Nothing other than my engagement and wedding rings. Why do you ask?”

  “It’s just… I was at the old cabin, and I found some stuff. A lot of jewelry, actually.”

  Silence for a few seconds.

  Then, “What kind of jewelry, Bryce?”

  “Some pendants. Some loose gems. I found a bunch of stuff hidden in the cabin.”

  Silence again.

  “Mom?”

  “Unbelievable,” she finally said softly.

  “What’s unbelievable?”

  “I haven’t thought about this in years.”

  My skin tightened. “Thought about what in years?”

  “You were just a kid at the time, but about thirty years ago, our house was robbed.”

  I lifted my eyebrows. Total news to me. “Robbed? In Snow Creek? Was this before or after…”

  Even I had trouble saying the words sometimes.

  “Before Luke disappeared,” she said. “You would have been seven or eight at the time.”

  Crime was almost unheard of in Snow Creek until Luke disappeared, so a robbery would have been very unusual.

  “Did we even have anything to steal?” I asked.

  “At that time, yes. An old great-aunt had died and left some things to Vicky and me.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “Jewelry. And some loose gems.” Her voice was icy.

  My neck chilled. “Was it worth anything?”

  “A lot, actually. Our great-aunt had married into money but hadn’t had any kids. Most of her assets went to charity, but her jewelry went to Vicky and me. It was a pretty big haul. Vicky and I were both thrilled.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Since we were both living in Snow Creek, the stuff was shipped to me. We never had the chance to divide it up. We were robbed a day later, and they took everything.”
>
  “Someone knew you had the stuff in the house.”

  “Yeah. Someone.” My mother paused a moment. “Damn him.”

  My mother almost never cursed.

  “I hadn’t looked through everything,” she continued. “It all happened so fast. Aunt Esther was fond of diamonds, and her husband bought her anything she wanted.”

  I cleared my throat. “Yellow diamonds?”

  “Probably. Like I said, I didn’t get the chance to go through everything.”

  “Would you recognize any of the jewelry if you saw it again?”

  “Bryce, it’s been thirty years.”

  “Think back. Would you recognize any of them?”

  “It’s been forever. I think there was a ruby pendant and matching earrings. Several diamond rings. Pouches of loose stones. Maybe some emeralds. Oh! There was this gorgeous brooch with a large pink stone. I never knew what it was, but it was going to be my first pick when Vicky and I divided it.”

  Big pink stone. In a brooch.

  A pink sapphire, according to Marjorie.

  Unbelievable, as my mother had said.

  My father had robbed my mother. Perhaps he’d used some of the stones to finance his other life, though I doubted it. From all accounts, he’d been very well paid for his work. Still…he had the safe house where Joe had found him and Colin, the place where Melanie had nearly been killed, and who knew what other properties? Whether he’d used the jewelry or not, much of it clearly remained.

  It belonged to my mother and Aunt Vicky.

  This was good news for them. Good news for all of us. This wasn’t dirty money. It was stolen property that belonged to our family.

  “Looks like you and Aunt Vicky can still go through your inheritance,” I said. “I’ll get it into a safe-deposit box as soon as I can.”

  The only problem was…I was being watched.

  Someone was watching me.

  No one else could know about the jewels, or they’d have leverage to extort from me. My father had left us with next to nothing, and he’d left my aunt childless. I was going to make sure my mother and aunt got their inheritance, even if it was thirty years late.

  “I have to go, Mom. First day of work and all. Give Henry a kiss, and I’ll call him this evening to say good night.”