Jarod pulled out his cell phone and started typing.
The fire was finally well under control, but he wasn’t.
Reid glanced down at Lia. He didn’t know exactly what time it was, his phone having long-since died, but he figured it was somewhere around three in the morning. Her eyes were closed and her arms were wrapped around his waist. Well, one of them was. The one in the brace was hanging at a strange angle while propped on his hip. She needed some sleep; they both did.
“Hey, do you guys want to crash on my sofa?” Jarod asked. Reid was touched by the offer. Jarod’s place was tiny, and had he been alone, he might have said yes. But he wanted something better for Lia.
“Thanks, bud, it’s kind of you, but I don’t want to impose. Any chance you can find us a place to stay while we talk to the cops? I know Fort Pierce doesn’t have the best selection, but if we can avoid a fucking motel, I’d be most grateful.”
“On it, Kenny,” he said.
Officer Grady Cole made his way over. They’d often worked together through the mentoring program, when Grady would swing by the club to talk with the kids. “Reid. I’m so sorry. I know how much that garage meant to you, and it really sucks. But I promise we’re going to do everything in our power to figure out what happened tonight. If criminal activity caused this, the perps will suffer to the fullest extent of the law.”
Reid shook the hand the officer had extended in his direction. His ability to make small talk had been burned up in the flames. He was usually great with crowds of people, but now—ironic as it might seem—he just wanted to stand and watch his garage burn. Like a captain and his ship, he felt the need to stand alongside the place that had given him a home when he’d needed it until the bitter end. If Jedi mind tricks were actually possible, he would have pulled one off by now. Something would have been saved. The cars of people who trusted him to do the repairs would still be safe. His laptop, filled with ideas for his business, would not be melted to dripping blobs of plastic and metal in what was left of his kitchen. And Lia’s drawing of the super bike would not be ashes on his living room floor.
But he was nothing more than human. And there was nothing he could do to stop the way the flames destroyed everything he had worked for. Insurance was cold comfort. It would take months to rebuild, during which time many of his clients would find somewhere else to have their cars serviced.
“Thank you, Grady,” he said. “Lia said she heard glass bottles shattering shortly before the fire. I don’t know what else we can tell you, but is there any chance we could get the fuck out of here? Because I don’t think I can watch the rest of this.”
“Sure thing, but one question: Is there anyone you can think of who would have done something like this to you? Did you have a disagreement with a supplier, fire an employee, anyone who would want to get back at you over something?”
Winston. He was convinced more than ever.
“Yeah. I had a disagreement with the father of the guy who’s in prison for assaulting my sister. The father’s name is Winston Bell. He’s out of Chicago. Fancy-ass lawyer with lots of cash.”
Lia looked up at him suddenly. “You think he’s involved?”
Reid nodded and quickly made the introductions between Lia and Grady.
“You argue enough for him to do this?”
“He wouldn’t do it himself. He’d get some monkey to do it for him. There was an incident in Miami two weeks ago. It’s how Lia hurt her arm.”
“But the police in Miami don’t think Winston had anything to do with it,” Lia said.
He knew that. And he’d even started to get his head around the idea that Winston wasn’t involved. Until someone had turned his garage into a pile of bent metal and ash.
“They don’t,” he said to Grady. “But do me a favor and call Detective Carter. I’ll text you his number so you can compare notes.”
“Will do. I’ll nail this for you. You’ve got my word.” Grady ushered them into the back of his police cruiser and drove them to the best of the three-star options in town that Jarod had found. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t a motel.
“I’ll swing by later in the day to get your full statements. Get some rest,” Grady said before jumping back into the car and turning around in the direction of his garage.
He could tell by the way Lia leaned against him, by the way she had very little to say, and by the way her eyes were closed every time he looked down at her, that she was exhausted.
“Let’s get you into bed,” he said, carrying both of their bags to the small lobby. Once he’d secured their room, they walked hand-in-hand to their floor. Reid swiped the key card and let them into the room. It was a utilitarian suite with a simple bed, a practical bathroom, and a cheap-looking coffeemaker with flat packets of coffee and powdered creamer. But it was a place to sleep that didn’t smell of smoke.
He sat on the end of the bed, head in his hands, trying to process the events of the evening. Was it really such a stretch to imagine that everything was connected to Winston Bell? People as wealthy as Bell didn’t need to do the dirty work themselves.
“Come with me,” Lia eventually said, and ushered him into the shower with her.
Lia undressed him carefully, and he let her, before helping her slip out of her dress and her brace. Reid turned the taps to start the shower and steam fill the small space. He stepped under the shower, then held out a hand to the woman who’d come to mean so much to him. They could have been killed. She could have been killed. Tears stung his eyes at the thought.
Hot water pounded down on his head, rinsing away the smell of smoke. Lia stepped under the spray, and wrapped her arm around him. They should soap up or something, but neither of them moved. Reid pulled her tightly against him as the reality of what happened hit him hard.
Everything he’d worked for was in ruins, but at least they were alive. He pressed his lips firmly against Lia’s wet hair, and felt her sob against his chest.
Gently, they soaped each other, chasing away the lingering scent of the fire. Touching her, running his hands over her skin, was a much-needed reminder to focus on what mattered. Intellectually he knew that bricks and mortar could be replaced. His heart was having a hard time catching up.
“I’m sorry, Lia,” he said as they dried off with scratchy white towels that made him yearn for the expensive Egyptian cotton towels in his apartment.
“Unless you planned all this,” Lia said with a yawn while climbing into bed, “you have nothing to be sorry for. Let’s just get into bed for now, get some sleep, and see what tomorrow brings.”
He followed Lia’s lead and collapsed into the bed. A strange numbness came over him and he couldn’t settle. There were employees who relied on him. Workers who had no other alternatives because of their criminal records. What was he going to tell them in the morning? How quickly could he be back on his feet?
They met in the middle of the uncomfortable mattress and pulled the thin comforter over themselves.
“Reid,” she said quietly, playing with the ends of her wet hair. “I don’t want you to worry, financially, I mean. I have enough money to help you out.”
He didn’t want to go there, not tonight. Confident there was a solution that didn’t involve taking money from his new, wealthy girlfriend, he rolled onto his back. “I appreciate that, babe, but this is something I have to figure out on my own.”
It would be easy to take her money and reopen somewhere new. But reading between the lines, that wasn’t really what Lia wanted. She wanted some kind of agreement that they were in this together, and he couldn’t make that kind of promise to her. If Winston really had tried to kill them tonight, the last place he wanted Lia to be was with him. He wanted her somewhere safe, far away from Fort Pierce and far away from him and the poison that was Winston.
The only way he knew how to do that was to break up with her. Even if it was only temporary while he figured things out.
* * *
Something had been very wro
ng about the way Reid had said good-bye. Sure, the guy had more on his mind than anyone should have to deal with, and she’d spent the entire drive back to Miami from Fort Pierce trying to convince herself that that was all there was to it. But something niggled her gut that he hadn’t let her stay and be there for him.
It started the moment they woke up, when he jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed without giving her so much as a peck on the cheek. Normally, he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and the looks he kept throwing her said he wanted to touch her desperately, but he rushed them through their separate showers, saying he needed to get back to the garage as soon as possible.
Lia hadn’t packed anything remotely appropriate for helping with cleanup. She’d looked through her suitcase hoping that a pair of jeans, and God forbid, a pair of sneakers had magically appeared overnight. Of course, they hadn’t. So she was left to decide which of the bright dresses would be least offensive and which of her heels were actually the lowest.
When Lia had offered to call them a cab to get back to the garage, Reid had blown her off and told her that he’d jog there to get her car for her. He’d clasped his hands to either side of her face and kissed her as though his life depended on it before abruptly ending the kiss to ask for her keys.
Jarod had been the one to return it, with a message that she should head on home.
Because it was Saturday, and because she couldn’t face going home to her cavernous apartment, she pulled up outside Trent and Harper’s condo and called her friend.
“Lia. Oh my God. Are you okay? Reid called me already,” Harper said at breakneck speed.
“I’m outside and just wondered if you are up for some company,” she said, fully aware that she hadn’t answered the question.
“Is it a chocolate-chip cookie kind of visit, or a double-fudge brownie?” Harper asked, her voice filled with sympathy.
“Definitely double-fudge brownie. Possibly also vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, and chocolate sprinkles.”
“Ouch. Okay, I’m on it. See you soon.”
By the time Lia had parked, buzzed in, and made her way to Harper’s front door, the smell of chocolate filled the hallway.
“That was quick,” Lia said, sniffing the air.
“Strangely I already had some in the oven when you called. You must be exhausted,” Harper said, giving her a hug. “Reid told me you guys really didn’t get much sleep last night.”
Lia shrugged. “Yeah, and it wasn’t even because of sexy shenanigans.”
“Well, not sure I need to hear about my brother’s sexy anything . . . but I do have hot fudge sauce and a buffet of brownie sundae accoutrements.”
Without having to be told twice, Lia began to build a sundae big enough to fill the pit in her stomach. Emotional eating be damned, right now she didn’t give a fuck. Harper handed her a spoon and they carried the sundaes out onto the balcony where the two of them sat at the large table and tucked in. No wonder Trent was in love with the woman. The brownie was dense and chocolaty, and the homemade fudge sauce delicious.
“How’s Reid holding up? He sounded like he was doing okay, but then, Reid was always good at hiding his feelings,” Harper said.
Was that what he had been doing that morning? His head must have been in a million different places, and he’d been distracted and eager to fix things. Which meant she’d been thinking like a needy girlfriend instead of a supportive one on the drive home.
She wondered how much she should tell Harper. Keeping secrets from her best friend didn’t feel right, and she didn’t want to start now.
“Reid’s convinced that Winston is somehow behind this. The good news is that your brother is really good friends with the police officer assigned to the case. They do volunteer work together. So Reid put him in touch with Detective Carter.”
Harper tapped her spoon on the side of her bowl. “I get his concern. That’s twice in two weeks that something bad has happened. And to be honest, while I was pretty certain that what happened two weeks ago had nothing to do with Winston, I did have some half-asleep moments in the early hours of the morning when I did wonder. But when I’m wide awake and clearheaded I see just how unlikely that is.”
“Reid’s garage was destroyed. I don’t know how bad the upstairs is, but the fire was on one side of the apartment when I first noticed it and the joining wall to the bedroom had started to smolder before we escaped.”
“For the first time in my life,” Harper said quietly, “I wonder what life would look like if I hadn’t run. I mean, don’t get me wrong, meeting Trent is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I don’t know how we would have met otherwise. But if I had stayed home, none of this would be happening right now. And if I hadn’t been so absorbed in what was going on in my life, perhaps I would’ve noticed just how down on Reid my dad had become.”
Lia put her spoon down and reached for Harper’s hand. “Don’t think about that for a second,” Lia said. “I know there’s this whole butterfly effect or whatever it’s called, like a butterfly flaps its wings in China and causes a typhoon in South America or some shit, but you can’t go back in time and second-guess all of your decisions.”
“But it’s true, Lia. If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have met you. And if I wasn’t here, Nathan wouldn’t have followed me here. There’d be no trial, and no reason for Winston to be here. So there would have been no one to fight with at your father’s event.”
“Stop that,” Lia mumbled through a mouthful of brownie. She took a moment to chew and swallow. “If you hadn’t come to Miami, Trent would never have met you. Without you, Cujo would never have met Drea. If Cujo had never met Drea, he would never have been reunited with his mom. And without Drea and Cujo’s mom working together, there’d be illegal fracking in the Everglades by now. And then think about the people you’ve mentored. There’s the girl at the café you helped. She managed to get a high school diploma because of you. If you hadn’t come here, so many lives would be so much poorer. So promise me you won’t think like that again.”
Harper looked shocked. “I guess I never thought of it that way. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now if only I could do something for Reid,” Lia said, more to herself than to Harper.
“Do you think there’s anything we can do to help?” Harper asked.
“I don’t think so. I mean, he was meeting somebody from the insurance company today. I offered to give him enough money to restart, but he didn’t want to accept it. I don’t know where he’s staying yet.” The more she talked things through, the more the need to talk to someone about Reid’s behavior that morning diminished. If anything, she owed him an apology for not being of more help. She should have driven to the nearest store, bought some jeans and sneakers, and returned to the garage. Even if she wasn’t much help inside, she could have ensured everyone was fed and watered.
Harper reached for her hand. “Would you be happy if he rebuilt in Fort Pierce?”
Lia thought about the question for a moment. They’d been a couple for a month, which was way too soon to be making life-changing decisions like one of them packing up and moving into the other one’s home. “It’s his home, he has roots there. And to answer the question I know is coming next, no, I don’t want to go live there. I love city living and have no intention of learning how to cook.”
“Well if this continues, one of you is going to have to budge.”
In romance books, this was the part of the story that was meant to be easy. Loving someone the way she loved Reid was supposed to make sacrifices easy, wasn’t it? But the idea of moving to Fort Pierce made her feel a little ill. She needed hustle, and noise. And takeout, and a community where people were prepared to pay big dollars for high-quality ink.
And that was most definitely Miami.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“We will shortly be approaching Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Local time is 2:58 P.M. Please ensure that your tray tables are up, your seat belts are f
astened, and any carry-ons that you may have used during the flight are safely stowed under the seat in front of you.”
Reid watched as Harper put away the book she was reading, some torturous tome that probably included lots of big words and long sentences meant to baffle the crap out of the average reader. “I feel like I gained IQ points just sitting here next to you.”
“I’m thinking of giving some of my students a project about it next term. They’re so smart, and I feel like the curriculum isn’t as advanced as they are.”
“Poor students,” Reid said with a laugh.
The plane’s descent was inversely proportional to the elevation of his heart rate. The farther they dropped, the faster his pulse raced. Reid had been reluctant to reunite with his parents. Well, with his father at least. But if what was happening to him had been caused by Winston Bell, he owed it to them to tell them.
In any case, Harper had forced his hand, threatening to otherwise invite their parents to Miami and then “accidentally” take a trip to Fort Pierce.
He hadn’t wanted his father to see him as he was now . . . the proud owner of a burnt-out garage. And seeing as there was nothing he could do until the insurance check cleared, he had a little time on his hands. Plus, the trip gave him an opportunity to put Lia off for just a little while longer. If somebody was out for revenge, he would make a move again soon.
They hustled their way out of the airport and jumped in a taxi. Harper gave the driver their parents’ address. Reid stared out the window.
“If it helps you keep your mind off Mom and Dad,” Harper said, “I can use the next forty minutes to tell you how shitty it is that you’re pushing Lia away.”
Reid gave her some side-eye but kept his elbow on the ledge of the window and his thumb and finger on his chin. Of course it was shitty. But he’d needed time to think. He’d seen the look in Lia’s eyes, the one that said she was sticking with him while they figured out the mess together, but until he knew where the threat was coming from, he didn’t want her to be anywhere around him.
The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) Page 23