by Gen Griffin
“I'm sorry for leaving the hospital without saying anything to you. I couldn't stand sitting there. Not for one second longer. I couldn't just sit there watching you cry and waiting to find out whether Addy was going to live or die. I had to take action. I had to do something.” David was practically vibrating with tension.
“Its okay.” Trish squeezed his fingers in his, surprised to realize that it was okay. In some strange, twisted way, she understood completely.
“No, it's not.” David looked down at her, tilting her chin up so that he was looking into her eyes. “I'm sorry.”
“I'm not mad at you,” Trish whispered. “I just thought you might hate me. I thought you left the hospital because I'd gotten your best friend killed.”
David frowned at her. “You are not responsible for Curtis shooting Addy.”
“Curtis came into your life because of me.”
“You came into my life because of him.” David reversed her words.
“What?” Trish didn't understand what he was saying.
“The good trades off with the bad, Trisha. If Curtis had been a decent guy, I never would have met you.”
“Oh.” Trish frowned thoughtfully. “You mean because-?”
“Because you would never have run away from him. You came to Possum Creek to get away from Curtis. You were riding with Addison on the night I met you because Curtis wrecked your car. If it weren't for Curtis, you never would have come into my life.”
“But if I had never come into your life, Addison would never have been shot.”
“Addison is going to live,” David said. “Besides, he told me that he wasn't paying attention to Curtis. He didn't even recognize him until he pulled the gun.”
“Oh my gosh. Really?”
“Addy may need to go back on his ADHD meds,” David mused with a slight smile. “Failing to recognize a known psychopath who you shot at less than a week previously is a clear sign that you haven't been paying enough attention to the people you've been working with.”
Trish shook her head. “Its Addy.”
“Exactly.”
“Is he mad at me?” Trish asked.
“No. He's worried about you. He's mad at me.”
“Because you didn't catch Curtis?” Trish wished he wasn't quite so cold to her touch. He was going to get sick if he didn't get out of his soaking wet clothes soon.
“How do you know that I didn't catch Curtis?” David looked down at her with obvious curiosity.
“Because the Sheriff told me he'd call me as soon as Curtis had been brought into custody. I just looked through my phone. He hasn't called.” Trish stared into David's eyes. “And you haven't killed Curtis.”
David snorted. “You sound pretty sure about that.”
“I am sure. You're tense all over. You wouldn't be so cagey if you'd just killed Curtis. You'd be calm. Or at least be pretending to be calm. Cal says you're really good at pretending to be calm while everyone else is panicking.”
“Cal talks too much.”
“No, he doesn't.” Trish touched David's cheek gently. “But you could stand to talk a little bit more.”
“I'm not good at talking. I suck at expressing my feelings.”
“You're not that bad,” Trish tightened her grip on his neck. “I really am sorry for dragging you into my mess.”
“Our mess.”
“Our mess?” Trish shook her head at him. “Pretty sure the 'mess' aspect of our relationship is entirely my fault.”
“My house burned down last week. My mother's corpse was under the front porch.” David smirked at her. “Having a dead parent under your porch qualifies as 'mess'.”
“And the million dollars of stolen jewelry that was in my box spring?”
“Stolen by my father with your grandfather as an accomplice.”
“Okay. Maybe the mess is a joint effort.” Trish couldn't help smiling at him.
“We're going to get through this, Trish. That is, if you still want me?”
“I'll always want you,” Trish promised. “I've been sitting here by myself all afternoon wondering if I should try to put my engagement ring back on my hand or if we were over. Are you sure you still want me?”
“We aren't over.” David ran his rough fingertips over the tops of her knuckles. The rest of her arm was wrapped in the cast. “We'll never be over. I love you.”
“To death 'til we part?” Trish gave him a small smile.
“To death 'til we part.” David closed the distance between them, his lips pressing tightly against hers. Trish slipped her tongue into his mouth and kissed him until neither one of them could breathe.
Chapter 16
“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Kerry demanded. Curtis was sprawled out in the hot tub on Kerry's back porch. He had a bottle of expensive bourbon sitting on the edge of the deck. Kerry couldn't tell whether or not the man was naked. He really didn't want to know.
“You've got a really nice place here.” Curtis lifted a tumbler to his lips and took a sloppy swig. “What's the par on the golf course?”
“No idea. I hate golf.” Kerry crossed his arms over his stained and wrinkled uniform shirt.
“I love golf. Amazing game. Perfect blend of politics and athletic prowess.” Curtis stretched out in the bubbling water. He had sparse blonde hair covering his pale, fleshy chest. His breasts, if Kerry had to guess, were probably about a C-cup.
“I hate politics,” Kerry grumbled.
“You hate politics?” Curtis made a clucking noise with his tongue. “This house doesn't say you hate politics. This house is a showplace. It says that you want to entertain. To press palm to palm. To shake flesh.”
“I inherited this house,” Kerry said tiredly. “My father liked politics. He also liked golf. I like neither.”
“And yet you still live here?” Curtis asked.
“My mother was attached to the house.”
“Was attached to the house?”
“She died a few months ago,” Kerry sat down on the edge of the hot tub and stared out onto the golf course. “My mother had severe medical problems. She'd basically been a vegetable since I was eight. Her living will prevented my father, and later myself, from disconnecting her from the machines that were keeping her alive or removing her from the house.”
“She died in this house?”
“We had a bad storm and the power got knocked out when lightning hit the house,” Kerry said. “The house has a generator that is supposed to come on automatically if that happens, but the lightning strike fried the generator as well. The part-time nurse who was on duty at the time didn't think to call an ambulance when the power went out. She kept thinking the generator would kick on. By the time she realized that the generator was dead, it had been almost 10 minutes since the power had gone off. She called an ambulance but the road was blocked by a fallen tree.”
“You're telling me that the ambulance couldn't get to your mother.”
“That is exactly what I'm telling you,” Kerry said with a shrug. Truth be told, he still wasn't quite sure how he felt about his mother's death or the clusterfuck of errors that were indirectly responsible for it. “They had to go the back way. Its a 20 mile detour. By the time the EMTs made it here, my mother was dead.”
“They try to save her?”
“No.” Kerry took a deep breath and then blinked. “She was already more or less a vegetable. I arrived here about five minutes before the ambulance. I asked them to just go ahead and pronounce her. It was for the best.”
“You pulled the plug on your own mother,” Curtis said snidely.
“No. I just-.”
“You just what?”
“I opted not to plug her back in,” Kerry confessed. “She hasn't been able to string two words together in more than 15 years. She has to have full time nursing staff. The only vocalization she was capable of at this point was screaming. She could scream until her throat bled, provided that she could get enough oxygen in her lungs to allo
w her to scream.”
“If you wanted to pull the plug on your mother, why hadn't you done it already?”
“Because she had a living will that expressly forbade it.”
“And you couldn't work around it?”
“I was in the process of having it voided through the court system,” Kerry acknowledged. “Going through proper legal channels takes time. Especially when you're dealing with a case that involves pulling an invalid off of life support.”
“Easier to just let her die in a power outage,” Curtis commented snidely.
“I didn't let her die in a power outage,” Kerry argued.
“Sure you didn't.” Curtis rolled his eyes. “You just benefited from her death.”
“I did not benefit from her death,” Kerry snapped.
“You just said that you inherited this house.”
“I hate this house.”
“It's an awesome house. Nine bedrooms. Five bathrooms. Four car garage. Man-cave in the basement. In-ground pool. Golf course for a backyard.”
“Its for sale. Three hundred thousand dollars and its yours.”
“Three hundred thousand?” Curtis looked at Kerry with surprise. “Are you crazy?”
“It's a reasonable price.”
“It's easily two-hundred thousand dollars less than this house is worth,” Curtis pointed out.
“I'm hoping for a quick sale.”
“A quick sale?” Curtis shook his head at Kerry. “You're giving this place away.”
“Assuming that I can find anyone with three hundred grand to blow who wants to live in Callahan County.”
“Eh. Good point. The location is a real downer. This town is a shit hole.”
“No kidding. I can't wait to get out of here,” Kerry said.
“You abandoning your esteemed position as a deputy for the Podunk Hellhole Sheriff's Department?” Curtis's voice dripped with sarcasm.
“I came home from law school because I needed to take care of my sick mother. She's dead. I've reapplied and am hoping to be back in class by the spring semester.”
“The spring semester?” Curtis made a scoffing noise. “That's almost a year away.”
“I missed the application date for fall,” Kerry grumbled. “I figure that I'll spend the next nine months tying up all my loose ends here in Possum Creek. Get justice for Casey.”
“You missed the deadline. That's rich.” Curtis ignored Kerry's comments about justice.
“Not as rich as the fact that I have a murderer in my hot tub, questioning me about my life decisions.”
“Accused murderer,” Curtis corrected. “I haven't been convicted. And like I said earlier, I won't be. Trish won't press charges.”
“You shot a cop.”
“He assaulted me and slept with my wife. It's going to be my word against his.”
“Your word against his in front of a judge who plays bridge with his grandmother,” Kerry commented snidely.
“Change of venue.”
“You really think you can get a change of venue?”
“Absolutely.” Curtis took another swig of his drink. “Especially once Trish corroborates my story.”
“Trish accused you of murdering her grandfather. You really think she's just going to change her mind?”
“I'm not going to give her a choice,” Curtis replied. “Tomorrow morning, Trish going to get back with my program.”
“What if she won't?” Kerry pressed the issue. He didn't want to be an accomplice to murder. He was starting to get very, very cold feet about his partnership with Curtis.
“She will.” There was no hint of doubt in Curtis's voice.
“And if she doesn't?”
“Trish is weak,” Curtis said flatly. “She's always been weak. Painfully shy and awkward girl. She'd never been on a date until I asked her to have dinner with me. No one had ever bought her flowers. No one had ever told her that she was pretty.”
“I don't think she's still having that problem,” Kerry grumbled. “Last I checked, she was playing eenie-meenie-miny-moe between Addison Malone and David Breedlove.”
“Wait, Trish is sleeping with the game warden I shot and your murderer?”
“David and Addy share everything,” Kerry said bluntly. “Women included.”
“Does Trish know that?” Curtis suddenly appeared very interested.
“What?”
“Does Trish know that they share girls?”
Kerry shrugged. “I have no idea. I kind of doubt it. The thing about David and Addison is that David and Addison only trust David and Addison. And Cal Walker.”
“Who the fuck is Cal Walker?”
“The mayor's son.”
“I'm starting to see why you don't like local politics,” Curtis mused. “Still, it doesn't matter. Trish won't like being played. She was a virgin when she and I first got together. She's terrified of being used and then dumped. If I tell her that her boy toy is planning on sharing her with his buddies and then discarding her like used tissues, she'll come running back to me.”
“That doesn't sound like much of a plan.”
“My backup plan involves slitting her throat and throwing her body in a sink hole where she can rot until I have her declared legally dead.” Curtis sounded almost bored. “I have a two million dollar insurance policy on her. Maybe I can buy this house. I really like this house.”
“You are one sick puppy,” Kerry said. He turned back towards the back door of the house. “I'm going to bed. Make yourself at home. It's obvious you're a lot more comfortable living here than I'll ever be.”
Chapter 17
“Faith's bright red vinyl high heels were less than six inches from the dusty blades of the ceiling fan. She gasped and moaned in a very over dramatic fashion as she writhed her bare ass across the glossy oak finish of the dining room table. Oh god. You are the man. Oh sweet baby you are the man! Oh my sweet holy-.”
“Go away,” Addison muttered.
“Go away?” A female voice let out a loud humph. “I guess that sex scene does suck then?”
Addison opened one eye and cast a glance to the chair that had been positioned to the left of his hospital bed. “Katie?”
“Um, yes. Who else would be sitting beside your hospital bed reading you dirty sex scenes?” She began scratching through several lines of writing on a battered black and white checked composition book. “I guess I'm back to square one on that scene. Too bad. I thought the kitchen table would be fun.”
“I think the kitchen table would be amazing. Especially with you naked on top of it.” Addison hunted around for the remote control that would raise up the bed. He found it and hit the wrong button, lifting his feet into the air several inches above his head. “Crud.”
“Hit the one at the top.” Katie set her notebook down and stood up beside him. She was tremendously pregnant. Her pale pink maternity shirt was stretched to its limits as she leaned over to take the remote from him.
“Fix me.” Addy tried not to pay attention to how good Katie's honey colored hair smelled as she plucked the remote from his fingers and pressed the correct buttons. His feet went back down and his head and chest were lifted up.
Moving hurt like hell. Addison let out a sharp hiss. Katie stopped what she was doing. “You don't have to sit up.”
“No, I need to,” Addy rasped. “My throat still hurts like hell and I have yet to figure out how to drink from a straw while laying flat on my back.”
Katie finished adjusting the bed. “You want me to go get a nurse? Or a drink? Or something?”
“I want you tell me why you were reading me sex scenes while I was asleep,” Addison teased. “Also, give me your tea.”
Katie picked up the large fountain-style to-go cup that was sitting on the bedside table. She handed it to him. Addison was relieved to discover he'd regained enough of his own strength that he could manage feeding himself.
“I wasn't actually reading it to you. I was sitting here working on my next nove
l and I needed to read the scene out loud so I could see how it flowed. Obviously, not well, since you woke up and told me to get out.”
“Last time I woke up to the sound of a woman's voice, my mother was sitting where you are. She was carrying on and on about how Gracie's birth ruined her life.”
“Oh. Nice.” Katie shook her head and blinked at him through her golden eyes. “Addy, can I ask you something weird?”
“Seeing as our relationship doesn't have any boundaries, sure.” Addy's chest hurt like hell but he didn't want to ask Katie to go get the nurse. The nurse would just pump him full of painkillers that would knock him unconscious again. He didn't want to be unconscious. He wanted to go home.
“Is your mom pregnant?”
“What?” Addison nearly dropped the tea.
“I'm just asking.” Katie held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Why are you asking?”
“Have you looked at her lately?” Katie pointed at her own baby bump, which was looking more like a baby mountain. Katie was less than two weeks away from her official due date and she was nearly as wide as she was tall. Of course, Katie was only five feet tall. “She looks like she's lost weight everywhere except in her stomach. Her hands are swollen to the point where she's not wearing any of her rings. Her skin was broken out. She's got to be 40-something. Women her age don't usually have acne.”
“Um. Shit. Maybe its menopause. I'm sure she's not pregnant. My parents haven't had sex in 7 years. If you don't believe me, ask them. They'll tell you.” Addison shook his head and frowned. “Though she was looking a little thick around the middle when I saw her earlier. Or was it yesterday?” Addison frowned. “How long have I been here?”
“Its both. Its a little after one in the morning,” Katie said.
“It's one in the morning?” Addy frowned at her. “Why are you here?”
“I've been having contractions all day. I thought maybe I was going into labor so I came down here. I waited around in the ER for an hour or so just to be told that I'm not in labor. I was going to go home but Ian's not there and I wasn't going to be able to sleep anyways. I normally just sit up and write, but-.”
“But?”