True to You

by Jennifer Ryan

  “Uncle Otis, I don’t want to get into this tonight. I came to see how you’re doing and find out if you need anything.”

  “I’m fine. You will be, too. I’ll make sure of it.”

  She didn’t like the menacing tone that underscored his promise. One she knew he intended to keep. After what Manny did to her, he’d sworn that he’d never let any other man take something from her again. “What does that mean?”

  “I will always look out for you. I won’t let anything else bad happen to you.”

  “I can look after myself.”

  “Then why did you send Flash off to look into what Tandy is doing without you? Why didn’t he want you there to see it for yourself? Or did you not want to face the reality of who your father is one more time, that he will taint and infringe upon your life, infecting it with his corruption and indifference until you finally have nothing left?” He wanted her to stay rooted in reality and not let hope cloud her judgment where her father was concerned. Iceman was who he was and that would never change no matter how hard it was for her to accept that simple but hard fact.

  Her wanting him to be different would never make it so.

  And when did she leave the hard stuff to someone else?

  That’s what her uncle really wanted her to see and understand. In some way she’d already given a piece of herself to Flash by allowing him to take care of this for her. For all the mistrust she’d shown him, deep down, she actually did trust him on some level. It surprised her. It irritated her because trusting him was one thing, but handing over the reins in any capacity meant she had to accept his word and an outcome she hadn’t been a part of herself.

  Her uncle read her displeasure in her frustrated sigh and the comfortable frown she wished to shed one day but feared would do as countless mothers warned children, “If you keep doing that with your face, it will stay that way.”

  “Start at the truck stop.”

  That telling statement sent a bolt of anger through her and made her bite out, “What will I find there?”

  “The truth. That your father’s business is much closer to you than you think.”

  Damn it, everyone was hiding something from her.

  She didn’t think her uncle had anything to do with her father, but apparently he did. That or he was out late at night following Iceman and Flash.

  Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time? And why was he spending his time doing this? That answer came easy enough. To protect her.

  Uncle Otis walked away, muttering under his breath in the way he did when something got under his skin. But his last words as he faded into the night scared her.

  “The end is near.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Flash sat in his truck hidden behind the gas station Dumpsters on one side and a huge tree on the other, casting his truck interior and him in shadows. As covers went, it wasn’t half-bad, except if someone pulled in on this side of the gas station lot to use the air pump. In the last three hours, not one of the sixteen cars that stopped at the pumps came to fill their tires. Lucky him.

  And Tandy hadn’t come out of her upstairs apartment over the coffee shop either. With all the blinds closed, he couldn’t even see into her place.

  “What the hell are you doing up there?”

  He shifted in his seat, hoping his ass hadn’t gone as flat as it felt. He wiggled his toes to get the circulation moving down his long legs. The truck wasn’t the ideal surveillance vehicle for a guy his height, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. His job was to stick to Cara and get any information he could on that end, not surveil Tandy, the ex-prostitute-turned-waitress possibly moonlighting as a drug dealer.

  She’d gone upstairs after closing the shop and hadn’t come back down since. No one went up. He knew the building from the ground up. Every nook and cranny of the place. He’d searched it for drugs and money just in case Iceman was stashing his assets there even if Cara didn’t know about it. He hadn’t found anything. Not even a secret compartment in a wall or floor.

  Tandy’s place, though sparsely furnished, clean but messy with clothes and miscellaneous crap strewn everywhere, didn’t have a back door. One way in, with two windows off the back that dropped straight down to the parking lot and a small bathroom window on the other side of the building. He didn’t think Tandy would go out a window wearing one of her short skirts and high heels she favored. He wouldn’t put it past her, but she had no reason to suspect anyone was watching her, so he didn’t worry about not calling in backup to cover the back of her place. He didn’t have enough information to know what the hell she was up to in the first place. For all he knew, she was up there snorting or smoking the drugs she’d received today.

  He didn’t think so, but hell, he’d busted a lot of users who hardly ever touched the stuff except for the occasional binge. They told themselves they weren’t addicts because they could go days and weeks without the drugs. Right up until the craving got so bad they had to have it. No different than an alcoholic who spends his weekends drunk only to go back to work for another week dry until he can party it up on the weekend all over again.

  Tandy lived her life the way she wanted out in the open. She wasn’t coy about who she was and what she liked and wanted. She went after it, the way she went after him day in and day out, flirting out in the open despite the fact he’d never reciprocated or made any move on her.

  Her openness drew you in, but it also made you hold back because she was that way with everyone.

  It didn’t take long for the truck cab to turn chilly as the stars sparked to life overhead. He took a deep breath and adjusted his position again, trying to keep from nodding off from sheer boredom. He picked up his phone and checked the time, then swiped the screen to call Agent Bennett and update him on this new development.

  Tandy walked out her front door the second he hit the Call button.

  “What’s up?” Agent Bennett asked on the other end of the line.

  “Sorry, man, I thought I’d kill some time while I staked out a potential lead. She’s on the move. Gotta go.”

  “What lead?”

  “Cara’s friend and waitress. Tandy’s been meeting with one of Iceman’s men.”

  Tandy locked her front door and made her way down the stairs toward her car in the parking lot, hips swinging.

  “I think she’s dealing for him.”

  “Do you need backup?”

  “I got this. Talk to you later. She’s on the move.”

  Tandy walked right past her car and headed for the road.

  “What the fuck?”

  “What’s happening?” Urgency filled Agent Bennett’s voice.

  “She didn’t get in her car. She’s walking toward the truck stop across the street.”

  “Headed for dinner? Looking for company?” Agent Bennett’s questions were good assumptions.

  “Maybe. I’m going to see which one she’s on the hunt for, or if she’s looking for some kind of trouble.”

  “Who’s watching Cara?”

  Flash took offense at Agent Bennett’s implied criticism that Flash wasn’t doing the job he’d been assigned. Namely, watching Cara to be sure she wasn’t involved with her father and turning her to their side to take him down. “She’s at home waiting for me to tell her if her best friend is stabbing her in the back.”

  “You sure she won’t tip off Tandy?”

  “Loyalty is more important to Cara than anything. If Tandy is involved with Iceman, it will crush her.”

  “You’re getting close to Cara.”

  “That’s the job, right?” Flash read between the lines to the question in Agent Bennett’s statement. Was he getting too close to Cara? Had he crossed the line? He’d straddled it with that kiss today. It saved him from Tandy thinking he’d been spying on her. It also proved how damn far Cara had worked her way into his system.

  “It is. You have to get close to people to get them to trust you. Just be sure your mission is clear.”

&
nbsp; “Cara’s too conflicted about her feelings for her father. Turning her against him seems easy, but it’s not. As you suggested, I found another route to get to Iceman. I’m going to follow it and see if it leads me to his end. That’s the mission. That’s the job. So let me do it my way.”

  “Never said you were doing it wrong. Just making sure you’re thinking with the right head.”

  Flash hung up on Agent Bennett, pissed off his buddy would even imply he’d compromise a case by sleeping with his . . . what? Cara was his assignment. Not a witness. Not an informant. But someone he was supposed to get close to and use to get information. He didn’t like it. She didn’t deserve to be used that way without her knowing who and what he was. But that was the job. He really wanted to go back to his old job, kicking down doors, taking down drug labs.

  He didn’t have the head or heart to keep things impersonal. Not when it came to an innocent woman like Cara.

  But right now, Tandy had his full attention. She stopped beside a red pickup, leaned in, said something to the driver who was too far away for Flash to identify, then deftly handed over a small plastic baggy and took a folded bill from the guy.

  He could bust her for dealing. Right out in the open. She didn’t even look around to be sure no one noticed the exchange. But the petty bust wouldn’t get him what he really wanted: Iceman on a platter and Cara safe and out of his world.

  The passenger door opened. Flash reacted without really thinking, pulling the gun from his back and pointing it directly in Cara’s face. Her eyes went wide with shock, then softened when he dropped his hand to the seat beside him and sighed out his relief that he hadn’t shot her.

  “The nickname is well deserved. You’re fast.”

  “Fuck, Cara. What the hell are you doing here?”

  She climbed in beside him and closed the door on the cold night, though things heated up in the cab from her proximity and the angry gaze she shot at him.

  “If your parole officer finds out you have a gun, you’ll be back in a cell.”

  He laughed under his breath at her concern. “Are you going to tell him?”

  It took her a second to answer, because it disappointed her to find out he’d done something that jeopardized his freedom and brought him one step closer to the guy he was that ended up in that cell in the first place. The guy she thought too close to being just like her father.

  “No. If you’re dealing with my father and his guys, it’s wise to be armed. But . . .”

  “It’s stupid to do this in the first place?”

  She wanted him to find out about Tandy. She wanted to know if what Tandy was doing connected to her father. She wanted her father out of her life. Taking down Iceman and his crew was dangerous. To do it, you needed a gun and evidence. Without either, Iceman would get away.

  She stared past him at Tandy across the street and sighed. “I can’t have it both ways, can I?”

  “No.”

  “She just sold that guy drugs, didn’t she?” Cara let the gun business go and frowned at Tandy. Regret and betrayal filled her blue eyes and made them even sadder than usual.

  “Yep.”

  “So, it’s true. She’s working for my father.”

  “Tandy is working for herself. Your father may be supplying her, but I think she’s just out here making some extra cash.”

  “Why? She’s got a job, makes great tips because she’s her.” Cara held her palm up, hand out toward Tandy, indicating the gregarious woman in the skimpy clothes who knew just how to work a customer to maximize her tips. “I gave her a place to stay, a job, a life that meant she’d never have to go back to the streets or jail. And this is how she spends her evenings.”

  Tandy blew a kiss to the driver as he drove out of the lot. She spun around, her short, flared skirt whirling around her thighs and nearly revealing the goods hidden beneath the slinky material. She headed for the rows of big rigs parked out behind the diner and gas pumps.

  “Tandy craves attention. She wants the focus on her. She wants to be wanted. She also likes sparkly things.” The gaudy jewelry dangling from Tandy’s ears and draped around her neck sparkled under the parking lot lights. Her clothes and jewelry drew attention as much as her curves and audacious personality.

  “She gets all the attention she needs at the shop.”

  “For someone like her, it’s never enough. She’s not doing this because she doesn’t appreciate what you provide. She’s not trying to hurt you. She’s not thinking about you at all.”

  Cara sighed, knowing the truth. Tandy did what Tandy did because Tandy was all about Tandy. In the back of her mind, Tandy knew Cara would fire her if she got caught but that knowledge didn’t override the desire to be reckless and defiant if Cara didn’t know about it.

  “What’s she doing?”

  Tandy made her way over to one of the truck cabs, climbed in, made another swift exchange with the driver—drugs for cash—then lingered to chat. They shared a few sips of the guy’s beer, Tandy laughing and flirting, sweeping her fingers across the top of her pushed-up breasts.

  “She’s doing what she does with every guy.” He pointed out the obvious, but this time something happened he should have expected but surprised him all the same.

  The guy leaned over, stuffed some money into Tandy’s bra, hooked his fingers in her shirt between her breasts, took a lock of her hair in his free hand, and pulled Tandy forward. The smile on her lips was inviting even from where he sat across the street. Spotlighted by the overhead lights, Tandy buried her face in the guy’s lap as he tangled his fingers in her hair.

  “Good God. He just paid her to . . . to . . . I need to get out of here.” Cara opened the door, but Flash held her arm and stopped her.

  As much as he wanted to see what else Tandy had planned for tonight, which he hoped included Iceman’s guy from the coffee shop today, he needed to take care of Cara and get her out of here. He didn’t want to expose her to more betrayals.

  “Where’s your truck?”

  “Out of sight back that way.” She tilted her head toward the other end of the service station.

  “Leave it. I’ll drive you home. We can drive into work together tomorrow. No one will know we were here tonight.”

  Cara closed the door and collapsed back against the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “Tandy will know when I fire her ass in the morning.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  Flash started the truck, kept the lights off, and drove out of his hiding spot and headed back to Cara’s place. He didn’t turn the lights on until they were headed down the main road and away from Tandy and her trucker. “I want to know if she’s in deeper than it appears with Iceman.”

  Cara stared out the side window, her elbow propped on the sill, her forehead supported by her long fingers. “She’s dealing drugs and giving blow jobs at the truck stop. She’s nothing but a Lot Lizard.” The disdain in those words didn’t mask the underlying hurt Cara tried to hide. “If she gets arrested, it’s nothing more than petty crimes to add to the list of others she’s committed, but I have rules.” She turned to face him. “You know that.” The warning wasn’t lost on him. He hoped she didn’t fire him over the gun and mess this whole thing up for him. “I can’t keep her on without putting myself, you, Tim and Ray, and my place at risk.”

  With Tim’s father behind bars, Tim hadn’t missed a single shift at the shop. He’d even signed up for an online college English course. One step forward toward that degree he wanted so he could keep his promise to his mother and possibly get a job with the DEA.

  “Give me a week to be sure she’s not more involved in your father’s business.”

  “What difference does it make? She’s dealing drugs and prostituting herself out to strangers in a parking lot out in the open.” She shook her head and huffed out her disgust on a ragged sigh.

  “Maybe he’s a regular.”

  “Because knowing the guy in five-minute bits is bet
ter?”

  At this point, Flash didn’t know what to say to make Cara feel better, or to make her give him the time he needed to investigate further.

  “Three days.”

  Surprised by her acquiescence, he turned his gaze from the dark road to her. “Can you make her believe you don’t know what’s going on that long?”

  “She’s used to my moods. She’ll probably blow it off as nothing more than I need to get laid.” She caught her breath at the implications of her bold statement.

  Drawn to her, he glanced over, taking in her taut thighs and the curve of her hip encased in tight jeans. The slenderness of her waist that gave way to her full breasts beneath the softly flowing purple top that revealed the swell of her breast as she held her breath. Her pulse jackhammered at the base of her neck where he’d like to place a soft kiss and follow the column up to her sweet, red lips and lose himself in her taste and the fantasies that plagued him day and night.

  Their eyes met. The inside of the truck turned molten hot.

  Embarrassment tinged her cheeks pink, highlighting those damn cute freckles, but she kept her eyes locked on him.

  He forced himself to turn back to the road before they hit something or swerved off the path. Before he stomped on the breaks and pulled her into his lap. Before he gave in to every gnawing need eating away at him to kiss her again and more.

  So much more.

  All of which was a bad idea.

  One taste of her left him in a state of wanting that made his whole being ache. Making love to her would be a pleasure beyond knowing and turn into a torturous reminder of what he’d had and lost once she found out the truth about why he was here.

  If the deep hurt and anger he saw in her about Tandy’s betrayal told him anything it was that she’d well and truly hate him for crossing the line and betraying her in such a personal and intimate way. He wouldn’t be that guy. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

  She placed her hand on his thigh. The bolt of electricity shook him. He placed his hand over hers before she moved it or took it away, knowing he shouldn’t, but needing to feel her anyway.