“I could lie and tell you it was nothing. And maybe it was, in retrospect. But not then. Then, I wasn’t prepared for the teasing and bullying.”
He swore. “Jesus, I’m sorry. If I could go back and kick my own ass, I’d do it.”
She shrugged. “It made me stronger in the end.”
“You were always strong.”
She gave him a sad smile. “No, I was just good at pretending.”
“I don’t believe that, Evie. You never let anything stop you back then.”
“Maybe I was just too scared to give up.”
“Sometimes that’s all it takes. There have been days—missions—when giving up would have been easier. But fear of the unknown stops you, and then you come out on the other side.”
“I suppose it’s a part of what made me who I am today. It wasn’t a picnic, Matt, but I’m not still crying myself to sleep over it at night.”
His throat worked as he swallowed. “You cried yourself to sleep?”
“I was sixteen. Of course I did. But not forever. These days, I never cry myself to sleep. I just deal.”
He frowned. “I’m sorry you lost your restaurant.”
“Thanks. But I’ll start again. Eventually. I lost my business, my life savings, a bit of my pride—but I’m determined to fight until things get better.”
Because she would fling herself at the brick wall again and again until she finally scaled it. She wasn’t the kind of girl who gave up. She liked that about herself.
Matt shook his head. “I should have never touched you, Evie.”
She laughed. “Matt, you were seventeen! What kind of seventeen-year-old boy is going to turn down sex when it’s offered?”
He pushed a hand through his hair and shot her a self-deprecating grin. “Yeah, not likely, is it?”
“Especially not a boy like you. Rich, spoiled, entitled.”
“Damn, you know how to jab a guy when he’s down.” He was smiling at her, but she knew it bothered him.
“If I’d been in your place, I’d have done the same thing. I don’t really blame you anymore, you know. It takes two, and I was definitely a participant.”
“If I could change it, I would.”
She reached over and squeezed his arm. His skin was warm, and a tingle slid over her. “I know.”
He glanced over at her one more time. “Now please tell me there’s not a secret baby stashed away somewhere.”
Evie stifled a groan. She’d heard that rumor. It had started a couple of years after she’d left Rochambeau, but so far as she’d known, Matt had never heard it. Clearly, she’d been wrong.
“Oh God no! Believe me, if I’d gotten pregnant, you’d have known. My mama would have marched out to Reynier’s Retreat and demanded that your daddy haul your ass back to Rochambeau.”
He laughed. “Yeah, and he’d have probably done it too. Nobody crosses Norma Breaux.”
Evie put her face in her hands. “Sometimes, this town. I had no idea you’d heard that one.”
“I figured if it had been true, things would have happened as you said.” He shrugged. And then he looked somber again. “I’m glad we didn’t make a baby, Evie. I don’t think either of us was prepared to deal with that back then.”
“Definitely not. Can you imagine? We’d have a nine-year-old right now.”
He looked… sad, she thought. Or maybe troubled. “My life is not conducive to raising children.”
“Is that why you’ve never married?”
He sighed. “It’s kind of hard to maintain a relationship doing what I do. Most women think twice before getting involved with a guy like me.”
Evie shook her head. “I still don’t get why you do it, but okay. Who am I to judge? If I’d done what I was supposed to do, I’d have stayed in Rochambeau and found a guy to settle down with.”
“But you aren’t the settling down type?”
“Oh, I think I probably am. Just not yet.” She toyed with the edge of the shorts she wore. “I still have to figure my own life out. See if I can accomplish my dreams without always running into a roadblock of my own making.”
“We all make mistakes, Evie. I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself for them. Could you have honestly known your partner was going to steal from you?”
She’d asked herself that before. Many times. “I like to think I might have realized it before he stole the payroll, but he was really good at what he did. He was patient too. I didn’t let him handle the money for months, but his advice was so damn good. I could see the profits coming in and after a while it just made sense to let him handle it. I looked at the books, but there was nothing wrong.”
“Two sets of books then.”
“Yes. I’d just like to get to that point in my life where the mistakes I make don’t have quite so many consequences. For now, I’m back in Rochambeau and trying to figure out how I can escape again.”
“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure. And just remember, it could always be worse.”
“I’m not sure how.” She sounded glum and she knew it.
He turned the car onto a dirt road and put his foot on the brake. And then he looked at her steadily, the harsh planes and angles of his face stark in the dimly lit interior. “When you make a mistake, no one dies. Nothing on this earth will make that kind of mistake better, I assure you.”
Evie swallowed back the lump in her throat. Matt was a soldier, the kind of man who lived with life-and-death decisions on a regular basis. How could she have forgotten that for even a moment? She suddenly felt petty and small. As if he knew what she was thinking, he reached out and ran his fingers along her cheek.
“You’ve made mistakes, and you have every right to regret them. But don’t let them own you, Evie. Don’t let them be more important than they are.”
Before she could say a word, he flashed her that famous smile again. “Now come on, let’s go cruise the make-out spots and see if we can track down your sister.”
He turned back to driving, but Evie couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away from him. He was definitely not the same boy he’d been ten years ago. She’d had a crush on that boy—that popular, gorgeous, unattainable boy.
But the man before her now was terrifying in ways that boy hadn’t been. The man was empathetic, authentic—and far more appealing than the boy had ever been.
Evie fixed her eyes on the dirt track in front of the headlights, her heart thrumming a little bit faster than it had before. He might be appealing, but she had to remember that Matthew Girard was just as unattainable as ever.
And far more dangerous.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEY SPENT OVER AN HOUR searching all the popular spots where teens hung out. The kids weren’t happy to see them, but a wad of cash waved under a few noses—thanks to Matt—made them more talkative. Still, the only thing Evie knew about Sarah at the end of it was that she was going out with a guy named Kyle Jenkins.
But Kyle had been seen only a half hour before and Sarah wasn’t with him. According to Mindy, Kyle had been pretty pissed off when he’d blown through their little group earlier. When Mindy asked where Sarah was, Kyle said they’d had a fight and he didn’t know or care.
Mindy had no idea where Kyle had dropped Sarah off, but it wasn’t with her. And it clearly wasn’t at home either. Or hadn’t been in the last couple of hours.
“Why don’t you call your mother,” Matt said as they drove away from the farmer’s field where Mindy and her friends claimed they were only drinking sodas and smoking cigarettes.
As if. She’d been sixteen once. She knew what they were doing.
“If she had a falling out with this Kyle guy, maybe she’s home by now,” Matt continued.
“I will. But we can’t leave those kids like that.” Evie turned to peer out the back window at the gathering of cars. “They have beer for sure. And who knows what else.”
Ten years ago, she’d have been doing the same thing and thinking it was perfectly acceptable. But get a little
older, get a little more righteous. It wasn’t acceptable and she couldn’t pretend it didn’t worry her.
“We won’t. I’ll call the RPD and have them send a cruiser out.”
While Matt made a quick call to the police, Evie punched in her mama’s number and waited as it rang and rang. When it clicked over to the answering machine, Evie hung up with a growl of frustration.
“No answer. Mama probably went out on her own. Or maybe Sarah called her from the convenience store.”
That was one place they hadn’t gone yet. The store was also a popular hangout for teens, who gathered in the parking lot in their cars. They listened to their radios, danced, and did whatever kids did. She’d spent many nights in that parking lot when she’d been a teen. The owner, Mr. Landry, said he’d rather have them there than out in a field somewhere. It worked for the ones who couldn’t get someone to buy them any alcohol.
“So we’ll check it out. Then we’ll head for your house. Keep trying.”
Evie’s phone blared suddenly. It startled her so much that she fumbled it. “Shit!” She scrambled to pick it up before it went to voice mail.
She punched the call button without looking at the display. “Mama?”
“Hey, baby.”
Evie’s heart throttled up as she nearly dropped the phone again. She clutched it tight and wished she could reach through the other end. If she could, she’d choke the bastard. “David? What the hell do you want?”
“Aw, is that any way to greet me, honey?”
Heat rolled inside her. Angry heat. He’d disappeared from her life months ago. She’d spent weeks imagining him behind bars, forced to listen while she told him how much she hated him and what a prick he was. She’d wasted enough breath on him in those imaginary conversations that she had no desire to repeat any of it now.
“Unless you plan to tell me you’ve brought my money back, I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. A lot of people didn’t get paid that night you disappeared. You stole from all of us, asshole.”
“Maybe you better listen anyway.” David’s voice shifted, becoming low and menacing. “If you want to live, that is.”
An arrow of fear sliced through her. Followed by a wave of fury. “You dare call me and threaten me after what you did? You think I believe you? You lied to me, stole my money, and ruined my business. No way in hell do I believe anything you say.”
David swore. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. You hate me. But listen, damn it, I’m not kidding. I need your help or we’re both dead. And maybe your mother and sister too. How about them, huh?”
Evie forced herself to breathe normally. Beside her, Matt was still, and she realized he’d pulled over to the side of the road. She glanced at him. He watched her with a single-minded focus that was almost unnerving.
“What do you want from me?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“You are talking to me.”
“No, I need to see you. It’s too dangerous to explain over the phone. Can you meet me?”
Evie trembled with fury. A cold shot of fear for Sarah traveled into the depths of her stomach and wouldn’t go away. Where was her sister?
She pressed a hand to her forehead. She didn’t want to do this, she really didn’t. Not right now. But what choice did she have? If she hung up on him, which she was sorely tempted to do, and he wasn’t kidding—then what? “Where and when?”
“How about at your mother’s house? You can come out on the porch and talk to me. I’ll see you in half an hour.”
“Wait—” He hung up and she dropped the phone into her lap. Shit. It was bad enough that he knew where her mother lived—that he was even close enough to be there in half an hour—but what was all that crap about lives in jeopardy? She had nothing left to steal. Nothing to give him. He’d drained her and he knew it. Even if his ties to organized crime were real—and the police had no evidence they were—what did it have to do with her?
“You want to tell me what that was about?”
She met Matt’s gaze. He was angry, but in control. Such fine control. Control she’d almost broken earlier. She shivered just thinking about it.
“I told you about my ex-partner. That was him.” She shook her head. Her hand curled into a fist in her lap. “Why now?”
“What did he want?”
“He…He’s in town. He wants to meet me. He says—” She swallowed hard.
“Says what, Evie?”
“He said he needs my help or something bad could happen.”
Matt’s voice was firm, commanding. “Tell me everything he said.”
She hesitated for a moment—but after everything that had happened tonight, she needed someone to share this with. And she could think of no better person than Matt. She told him everything David had said and how much money he’d drained her of before he’d fled—but she left out the part about organized crime. She simply couldn’t voice it without feeling sick. Besides, there’d been no evidence, only speculation.
Matt’s jaw was tight. “Anyone who stole over a hundred grand from you, skipped town, then calls you and wants to talk doesn’t have a friendly session of chitchat in mind. He must think you have more to give him.”
Evie nervously tapped her fingers against the armrest. “I don’t see where I have a choice except to meet him. Mama and Sarah could be there now and I damn sure don’t want them letting David into the house. I have to get home before he arrives.”
Matt popped the Beemer into gear. “Then I’m meeting this guy with you. If he’s desperate, he’ll come anyway. And if he’s trying to get you alone for something, he’ll skip out and try again. At the least, we’ll know his intentions by how he behaves. We’ll hit the convenience store and gas station on the way, in case Sarah’s there.”
Guilt reared its ugly head again. “This isn’t your problem, Matt. You came home for a wedding, not to bail me out of trouble all night.”
He flashed her a meaningful look. “Not up for negotiation. I’m going.”
*
Something didn’t feel right. Matt had learned over the course of three years as a covert operator to trust his gut. The one time he’d ignored it, the one time he’d convinced himself he had to be wrong, the shit had hit the fan in a spectacular way. Hell, he’d made mistakes tonight that pissed him off, but they were somehow smaller and less important than the feeling rolling through him right now.
Ignore this one, his instincts told him, and you’ll be on permanent leave. And so will the woman sitting beside you.
Sarah hadn’t been seen in town. She hadn’t stopped at the convenience store to call her mother, hadn’t popped up at Charlie’s Diner on the bayou. Nothing else was open this late, other than the quick mart and gas station about a mile out of town. They didn’t have time to hit that one yet, but they would as soon as they got this meeting over with.
Still, even if she’d been there, she wasn’t anymore. Of that he was certain. Sarah could have gone to a friend’s house, but it wasn’t likely, since her best friend was in a field with most of the kids they hung out with.
Chief Laurent had no doubt sent a cruiser out there by now, and the teens were dumping their beer and scattering like cockroaches—the ones who passed the sobriety tests, that is. He remembered doing the same thing at their age, and he’d been lucky it hadn’t killed him.
He’d gotten falling-down drunk more than once back then, too. And he’d certainly puked up his guts enough times after a night of partying. Moderation had not been a word in his vocabulary.
It’s also why he didn’t drink anymore.
He quit for good when he was recruited for HOT. He needed a clear head and a fit body, and alcohol did him no favors in either department. Some of the other guys could handle it just fine—drink that one beer and stop—but not him. No, if he cracked open a beer, he’d want the whole six-pack.
“That’s odd.” Evie was sitting forward, peering out the window as he turned into the driveway. She’d been tense since h
er ex-partner had called, but this was a whole new level of anxiety.
“What’s odd?”
“The exterior lights are out.”
“How many are there?”
“The porch light and two floods. And Mama’s usually obsessive about turning them on when it gets dark. No way would they all be out, even if one blew.”
The feeling in his gut went from a simmer to a boil. A flash of red reflectors at the rear of the house indicated a car sitting back there.
“Is that your mama’s car?”
“Yes.” The word sounded pinched, as if she had trouble getting it out.
And he could guess why. She didn’t have to remind him she’d been calling her mother regularly for the past fifteen minutes. Or that no one had answered the phone.
Matt braked and put the car into park. “I need you to stay here.” He reached for the knife he’d clipped to his belt before they’d left Reynier’s Retreat. Once unarmed tonight was enough.
“No way, not this time. We did it your way the last time and look what happened.”
He crushed his exasperation, carefully blanked his mind to everything except the job ahead. She was right, but he didn’t have time to argue with her. “I’ll be back in ten and you can come out then.”
“No.” She grasped his arm and held it hard. “This is my family, Matt. I’m not sitting here waiting for you to return. It didn’t do a damn bit of good before, and I won’t do it again.”
Her eyes glittered in the dash lights and her jaw perched at a stubborn angle. He wanted to shake her. And kiss her.
Yeah, arguing with this woman was useless. He got the feeling she’d go through him if he didn’t let her go with him. The next best thing he could do was make sure she stayed safe.
“When you exit the car, wait for me to come around to your side. We go together.”
Her hand dropped away, grasping the door handle. “Fine.”
Matt reached across her, popped open the glove compartment, and grabbed the small flashlight inside. When he got to her side of the car, she was waiting. He hadn’t been sure she would. He tucked her behind him and listened to the night sounds. Crickets and cicadas sang loud and strong, and an owl hooted in the trees. A good sign, though not foolproof.
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