“What?”
“Look, is this it?” He held it on the non-sticky side.
“Oh my God, Evan!” Her hand flew to her mouth. “We’ve had unprotected sex four times!”
“Hey Sug…”
Ginger turned around to see two sets of eyes staring at them, Nathan and Sam. She bowed her head as she shook it. “Maybe we should wait back in the office,” Sam said.
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. Give me a minute.”
“A minute? You think…”
Evan cut her off with a hand over her mouth. She was still speaking, but no one could make out her words. Nathan and Sam turned to walk back inside as Evan softly said in her ear, “You can walk to our room and we can talk, or I can carry you. Which option do you want, one or two?”
Ginger held up one finger. Evan released her mouth and grabbed her hand. Neither said a word until they were in their room. As soon as the door closed he asked, “How could that’ve happen?”
“I don’t really know. When we moved it I thought it stuck well enough, but maybe it didn’t. I’ve never had this happen before.”
He pulled her close to his body. “I’m sorry, darlin’. I don’t remember seeing it when we took a shower yesterday, but to be honest I wasn’t looking for it either. I should’ve paid better attention.”
“Neither of us was. I can’t believe I never felt it come off, though.”
“What’s next?”
“I’ll see if I can find something on the internet because I can’t call my doctor until Monday.”
“Ginger, I meant it when I said I love you. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you. I love you, too.”
Evan pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. She needed his strength, comfort, and support. “Darlin’, I’m good either way.”
She released his arms from around her back and walked to the other side of the room. When she turned back she said, “You can’t be serious! We haven’t known each other that long.”
“I don’t care. I know what I want, and that’s you. If a baby is a part of that package, he’s a bonus,” he said with a sincere smile.
“Positive?”
“More than positive.” His broad smile was contagious.
“You go talk to Nathan and Sam while I see what I can find out. We can talk more when they leave.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. They’re probably making bets on your level of freak out as we speak.”
“What freak out?”
“Go,” she said. She needed him gone so she could freak out.
“When you’re ready, come to the office.” His lips lingered on her forehead before he left the room.
As soon as the door closed, she quietly cried as she sat on the sofa. What had she done?
Evan was only supposed to be a fling. But she fell in love. Evan said he loved her. David had never said that. Her high school boyfriend did, and she ended up giving him her virginity. Look how that turned out. They were just kids, though. She and Evan were adults, and they’d handle this as adults. He said he wanted forever. She always thought she’d be married before she had children. Oh, God.
Ginger pulled herself together, opened her laptop, and searched her brand of patch. When she found the information on what to do if the patch came off, she took notes so she wouldn’t forget anything. The birth control should’ve been in her system yesterday, but most likely not today. She even chuckled to herself when she thought about how special she’d thought their night was earlier. She thought about Evan’s protective instinct—how much more will he be if she was pregnant? She shook her head and chastised herself for chasing those thoughts until they knew. She closed her laptop and regained control before she went to the office to see what they’d come up with.
10
As Evan walked toward the office, he knew his life was about to change. Ginger was a given, but a baby? As he let the possibility sink in, he found himself oddly calm. A father? Coud he do that? Only with her. With each step away from her, the ache in his heart grew stronger. Someone was following her, targeting her, and now they were calling her a whore. He wanted answers, which made him tenacious, focused, and thorough. If Ginger was pregnant, it wasn’t just her that needed his protection, but his child, too. By the time he reached the office, he was even more determined to find who was harassing her.
As soon as he broke the threshold of the door Nathan asked, “Man, you okay? I mean that out there with Ginger. She seemed a little…you know.”
Evan knew Nathan was concerned. Hell, he even knew Nathan was protective of Ginger after that night in the bar. Nathan joked about taking her from him, but he knew it was no different than he and Mitchell. It was a brotherly thing. “Yeah. Y’all heard what she said, so she’s doing some research because she can’t call her doctor until Monday.”
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are you going to have it if she is?”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“What the fuck you getting at?”
“Does she want to keep it?”
Evan stared Nathan in the eyes because he knew Nathan’s history. He assumed keeping the baby was a given, but they hadn’t discussed it. He’d make sure they did after she talked to the doctor’s office. Finally, he nodded at Nathan, “I’ll make sure.”
“Good. Now, do we have business to discuss tonight or do you need some time?”
“Business. You need to know what happened because it concerns you. Since Sam knows about Denver and Reno, I thought he should know in case someone connects him to us.”
Nathan’s brows furrowed and mouth pursed. “What does this have to do with Reno?”
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna tell y’all everything in hopes we can put the pieces together.” Evan showed them the picture of Ginger with Cowboy Heaven. As they studied the picture, he told them what Marcus had said.
“What do you know about the picture itself?” Sam asked.
“Ginger was seeing the guy with his arm around her, David. He’s their lead singer. The record company thought they’d bought up all known copies of the picture because the guy whispering in her ear was telling her David had been cheating on her. They didn’t like the appearance of betrayal.”
“Were they talking literally or about what he’s telling her?” Sam had a scowl on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“At first glance it looks like he’s trying to take the girl away from the star. It could be seen as betrayal. What she says is happening is betrayal on another level. I can see why they’d pull it. Did you know she dated David Whitehouse? Dude, Cowboy Heaven is your workout music.”
“No, I didn’t know who he was until Marcus told me yesterday. Guess I’m finding new workout music.”
Nathan studied the photo again. “So who had access to the photo?”
“Don’t know. Apparently, it was released for a short time, but pulled very quickly. Someone could’ve kept a copy I guess,” Evan said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“ATF still working on it?” Nathan asked.
“Doubt it unless we can tie it to this one,” Evan said as he showed them the email Ginger received. “I forwarded it to my computer after ATF researched the email on hers.”
“That’s Reno. That picture was never public.” Nathan ran his hand down his face. “What the fuck?”
“Exactly. Not only did they use a picture from the bust, but look at the arrow. They know more than what I do for a living. The words they chose were specific to mean either a sex club or between us. Marcus said AFT has backup security on photos of their agents, he didn’t say anything about the debriefing documents. We had to disclose what happened in Denver and Reno. That’s why they sent us to be tested. Hell, if the test results aren’t in those documents, they’re in our personnel files. Marcus said the person knew what they were doing and they’re not one of ours. Al
so his clearance had to be high enough to even allow him any access to ATF’s information.”
“Shit,” Nathan mumbled under his breath. “Okay, that explains the picture, but what about the email itself?”
Evan told them everything Marcus had said including how it came to Ginger and that ATF was still working it.
“When will he know something?” Nathan asked.
The look on Evan’s face said more than his words, “When he knows it. I don’t know how long this shit takes.”
“All right. What do we do in the meantime, hope our identities are revealed? Dammit, if this leaks out they may as well hang signs around our necks! I’m not having fucking surgery to continue working undercover, man.” Nathan’s California cool cracked.
“I know. Me neither, but listen, there’s more.”
“Oh, you’re just full of good news, aren’t you?” Nathan said.
“This has to do more with Ginger and me than anything else.” Evan had put the note in a plastic bag that he slid to Nathan who handed it to Sam. “That was given to the valet tonight just after we walked into the restaurant. He gave it to me when we picked up the car, but I haven’t let Ginger see it yet.”
“You had one before?” Sam chuckled.
“No. It’s a long story. I planned to tell Ginger about it before y’all got here, but we got sidetracked,” he said with a cocky smile.
“One of the four times?” Nathan asked with a shit eating grin on his face.
“Yeah,” Evan quietly said.
“Do we need the details or just the highlights?” Sam asked.
Evan gave them what they needed of the story because he only wanted Ginger to have the details. She deserved to have the whole story, or as much of it as she wanted. “So is this girl still in town?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah, but I haven’t seen her in years though.”
“She still in the business?” Sam asked.
“As far as I know.”
“Any ideas about the note?” Nathan asked with an angry tone. “I want to punch the asshole who said that about her.”
“You’ll have to wait in line, man,” Evan said. “This one feels different than the other two.”
“How so?” Nathan asked.
“The others are warnings. One to me, and the other to her. Look,” Evan said as he brought up both emails. “This is the email to me. It’s a warning that he knows who and where she is and can get to her anytime he wants. Maybe he’s challenging me to keep her safe, but it’s not disrespectful to her. This one is clearly a warning for her. Again, nothing disrespectful. These were sent remotely. Why would he hand deliver a note? Why would he change his MO, going from warning to calling her a whore?” The gasp from the door caused all three men’s heads to turn. Evan jumped out of his chair and was to her within a few strides. “Darlin’, I didn’t hear you walk up. I’m sorry you heard that.”
“Is that what the note said? He called me a whore?”
“Here, I’ll show you.” When he back away from her, Nathan rose to greet her.
“Hey, sugar. You okay?” Nathan kissed her on the cheek.
“Hey. I don’t know yet. Hey, Sam.”
“Hey, Ginger. Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”
Evan held out his hand to her and pulled her onto his lap. There was no way he wasn’t going to touch her. He slid the bag to her as he held her tight. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll tell you in a bit, okay? It’s a long story.”
Nathan looked at the emails and the note several times. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, my ranch hand saw a man today up where y’all flipped that Challenger looking over the ranch with binoculars. By the time he got close enough, the man drove off on a motorcycle. He said it wasn’t a crotch rocket, but wasn’t sure what it was either.”
“Could be custom made,” Sam responded.
“Can you trace those?”
“Yeah, those guys usually have something that’s a signature they do. For them the bikes are art, labors of love. Each one is personal.”
“So until we can find the bike, we don’t know how to trace it.”
“Exactly.”
Ginger snuggled in closer to Evan. She was quiet for a few minutes absorbing everything they said. In a quiet voice she asked, “Should I go home?”
Evan clinched his jaw several times. “No, I can’t protect you there. If he can find you here with me, then he sure as hell knows where you live.” Evan placed a fingertip under her chin and tilted her face up. She’d obviously not thought of that from the look of terror in her eyes. He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ve got you. No one’s gonna hurt you,” he said as he held her tighter.
“It’s late and sounds like you two have more to discuss so we’ll head out. What do you need?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t know yet. Mainly, I wanted you to know about the picture.”
“You got any state contacts?”
“Yeah. I’ll call them if I need them.”
They all made their way down the hall toward the door. As Evan shook Nathan’s hand he said, “You need me, call me. I’m here for both of you.” He turned and kissed Ginger’s cheek.
“Ditto, man,” Sam said before he kissed Ginger, too.
As soon as he locked the door Evan said, “It’s late. Let’s get some rest and I’ll tell you everything in the morning.”
“Please tell me now. Otherwise, my mind will run me crazy and I won’t get any sleep.”
“Okay, but in bed. I wanna touch you.”
“I like that idea.”
As they undressed for bed, Evan thought how he was going to tell her. What would he tell her? She needed to know so she’d never be blind-sided. If they were going to spend much time in Riverton Crossing, she deserved as much information as she wanted. He was in bed before she was so he reclined against the headboard with his eyes closed trying to focus on the important stuff. She didn’t need the details unless she wanted them. When he felt her climb on the bed, he opened his eyes and stared apprehensively at her.
He knew Ginger would wait until he was ready to speak. This was different than the sex club, but he wondered if she’d see it as worse. She took his hand as she slid under the covers. He watched her like he expected her to pack her bags and leave, but she entwined their fingers and squeezed.
He cleared his throat. “You said you needed honesty, and I can’t handle secrets. So if we’re gonna give this a go, there can’t be secrets between us and you need to understand why.” He looked into her eyes and saw hers bouncing back and forth between his.
“And that has to do with the note?”
“It’s the only explanation for the words they used.”
“Why?”
“Because the only girl I dated in high school turned into the town whore.”
“What?”
“My senior year in high school I dated Ruby Mae Johnson. Now she just goes by Ruby.”
“Did you love her?”
“I thought I did at the time. Did you love David?”
“I don’t know. I think I was just caught up in the excitement, but I did enjoy spending time with him. Tell me about Ruby Mae,” she said with a sad smile.
He stared off into space before he started talking. “She was assigned to tutor me in history so the coach wouldn’t bench me for a big game. Our deal was if I made a ‘B’ on the test, I’d take her out to celebrate. I made the grade, so true to my word we planned to go out after the game.
“We’d been seeing each other for a month before she let me pick her up and take her home because she was embarrassed about where she lived. I enjoyed being with her so it never mattered to me, but people talked because her family situation was the exact opposite of mine. Their house was little more than a shack with electricity. Anyway, the first night I took her home, one of our married teachers was leaving her house when we drove up, and that’s when I understood what the people at school were talking about. When I passed our teache
r on the way to open Ruby Mae’s door he said, ‘I hope the daughter is as good as her mother’. I didn’t know what to say. Hell, I was barely eighteen years old.”
He rubbed his hand down his face and slowly shook his head before he continued, “We’d dated for a while and even talked about sex. We’d agreed to wait until graduation, but as her birthday got closer she told me she didn’t think she could wait that long. I thought she just wanted to be with me, but later I found out differently.”
A look of disgust rolled across his face as he squeezed Ginger’s hand. “The night of her eighteenth birthday we made out. She begged me, but I stopped. I didn’t take it farther because it felt forced that night, and I didn’t want our first time to be that way so I took her home. She was pissed to say the least and told me I’d regret it. Then, I may have. But now I don’t.
“The next week got crazy and I didn’t see her much. I knew she wasn’t doing well in calculus, and Ms. Johnson arranged for her teacher to tutor Ruby Mae at home. I thought her mother was fucking the teacher for her to pass the class, but a few weeks later I heard talk about Ruby Mae so I offered to take her home from school. She was so excited because she’d made an ‘A’ on her last calculus test, and I was just as happy for her. I remember making a comment about all of her hard work paying off, and that’s when she looked me straight in the eye and told me just what that ‘A’ cost.” Evan locked eyes with Ginger as he said, “The payment was her virginity. The moment she told me I thought I was gonna be sick.”
“That’s why she didn’t think she’d be able to wait that night. She knew what her mother expected her to do,” Ginger whispered.
Evan closed his eyes and nodded. “The worst part was Ruby Mae was happy about it. She said she liked the power it gave her over men. I dropped her off that night and ended things. In that moment, all the questions and rumors made sense because everyone thought we were sleeping together too, but I hadn’t touched her since her birthday and never would again. It had been going on behind my back for weeks. Hell, even a couple guys around here hinted about it.”
Ginger placed both of her hands on Evan’s face so he was forced to look at her. “Evan, Kayla told me about you dating a girl in high school, but she didn’t tell me the details. I think she wanted me to hear them from you.”
Unfinished Business Page 7