Surprise filled his eyes. “You don’t want me to be king?”
I took a deep breath. “I’ve never made any secret of the fact that I’m constantly worried about you. Being in charge puts a target on your back.”
“You don’t want me to be king?” he asked more quietly, as though putting things together.
I didn’t answer.
“I’m never leavin’ this world, Rose. You have to know that. If you have some scheme cooked up to get me out of it—”
“I would never put you in danger. I would never try something underhanded.”
He put his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up to face him. “I’m never leavin’, Rose.”
That was the crux of our problems. “I know.”
“And yet you’re doin’ it anyway.”
“I’m keepin’ you safe.”
He dropped his hold on me and took a step back. “I never asked you to keep me safe.”
I slid off the stool. “You would do anything to keep me safe. You’ve proven that time and again. Why do you find it odd that I want to do the same for you?”
“You don’t get it, Rose. I’ve lived in this world for years and done just fine. I. Don’t. Need. You.” He paused. “Except in my bed. Turns out I need you there.”
I shook my head. “You can’t have it both ways. All of me or none.”
He paused. “And if I asked for all of you, would you give it to me?”
I really wanted to tell him yes, but the things that stood between us might as well be mountains or skyscrapers, and if we weren’t going to mow them down, I couldn’t see my way toward us being happy. So I didn’t say anything at all.
His eyes darkened. “I’m goin’ to ask you one more time. What does Buck Reynolds want you to do?”
“And I’m gonna tell you one more time that it’s none of your cotton-pickin’ business.”
His phone vibrated on the counter, and he reached over to pick it up. His face hardened as he tucked it into his pocket. “Time for you to go.”
I gasped in disbelief. “So you’re kicking me out because I won’t tell you?”
“No. I called Jed to pick you up, and he’s here.”
“What?”
“People are watchin’ you. It’s better if we’re not seen together.”
He was right, but I was still surprised and a little hurt. I’d thought we would have more time together.
“So you want me to go? Just like that?” My voice broke. Dammit. I didn’t want to cry, but my stupid eyes didn’t care what I wanted.
“No. God. No. I don’t want you to go. You know that.” He slipped his arms around my back and pulled me close. “But you’re right—this is what we agreed to, and you don’t seem inclined to change your mind. As much as I want this, I have to respect your decision.” His hold tightened. “I assume Reynolds has asked you to do something that relates to my brother. I don’t know what it is, but you have to know this is dangerous.”
I didn’t confirm or deny. Instead, I closed my eyes and tried to memorize the feel of him. His solid chest and arms. I never felt safer than when I was with him, and I was losing this. Probably forever.
“This was a mistake,” he said, his voice rough. “I’ve only made it worse for you. I’m a selfish asshole. See? I don’t deserve you.”
I tilted my head back to look up at him. “You deserve love, James. And whether you believe that or not, there are people who love you all the same.” I love you. But I couldn’t bring myself to say it. It wouldn’t help anything. “And this wasn’t a mistake. I’m grateful.”
“Grateful.” He nearly spat the word as he wrapped his arm around my back and led me to the front door. Sure enough, Jed’s car was idling in the circular driveway, and he was pacing the length of the car on the driver’s side.
The two men locked eyes silently, and a new tension filled the space between them, which made me even more worried about James. His brother had been kidnapped. He’d lost Jed. And now he was losing me. Panic set in.
James led me down the steps and reached for the back passenger-side door, but I grabbed his arm. “Wait.”
He stooped down and waited.
“You’ve lost everyone,” I whispered. “Scooter. Jed. Me. You don’t have anyone.”
He smiled at me with sad eyes. “I have Merv. I have people you don’t even know about. Don’t worry about me, Rose. I’m fine. You need to be worryin’ about yourself.” He paused. “If you get into trouble, I want you to call me.”
“You know I can’t.”
“That’s bullshit, and we both know it. Bein’ free of my name doesn’t mean jack shit if you’re dead.” His fingers dug into my arm and desperation filled his words. “Promise me.”
“I promise.”
He kissed me, hard and possessive, as though he couldn’t get enough of me. Then, just as abruptly, he released me and took a step back. He opened the door to the backseat.
I threw my arms around his neck and clung to him for several moments before I finally relented and got in the car. James shut the door behind me, turned around, and walked into the house without saying a word.
Jed got into the car and started to drive while I leaned my head against the back window.
“How’d you get roped into comin’ to get me?” I finally asked, trying to take my mind off the fact that I was driving away from the man I loved.
I was cursed. Maybe I needed to give up on men altogether.
“I didn’t get roped into it,” he said. “I came of my own free will.”
“But James called you, and you don’t work for him anymore.”
“You and I are friends. And me and Neely Kate . . .”
“Are good friends,” I finished with a halfhearted grin.
He caught my eye in the rearview mirror. “Neely Kate is worried.”
“Does she know anything about what happened?”
“She knows that you had a run-in and James picked you up and took you home with him. She’s goin’ to kill me when she finds out I knew more and didn’t tell her.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Because she would have wanted to call you, and honestly, Skeeter needed you more.”
I sat up at that. “What?”
“He’s been a mess since your fight at the parley, and when your call got disconnected last night . . . It wasn’t pretty.” He paused. “I have no idea what he would have done if something had happened to you.”
“You mean he would have been upset?”
“No, I mean there would have been a massacre. There was no way he was going to let Buck Reynolds hurt you and live to talk about it. Especially after Scooter.”
I laid my head on the back of the seat. “Buck Reynolds didn’t take Scooter.”
“The fact that he took you strongly hints otherwise.”
“Buck Reynolds saved me.” I told him what I’d told James, again leaving out what Buck had hired me to do.
“And you’re sure your vision proves he didn’t do it?”
“Positive. Does James have any enemies in Shreveport?”
“None that I know of, but he might have made some while he was working for J.R. Simmons.”
“I don’t think so. He seemed just as surprised by the Shreveport connection as I was.” I decided to try to ask him questions about Scooter, hoping I could play it off in a way that wouldn’t rouse his suspicions. Maybe it didn’t much matter either way. James already suspected something. “James said you got a lead on Scooter. Someone saw him get taken at Walmart. Was it another employee?”
“It was his girlfriend.”
“And she just came forward with that information?” I asked in disbelief.
Jed didn’t say anything for several seconds. “She says she was scared.”
“But you don’t believe her?”
“I’m not sure.”
Thanks to Bruce Wayne, I already had Scooter’s girlfriend’s name. I made a mental note to stop by Walmart to see if Jean
ne Putnam was working today. Maybe Bruce Wayne would have some more information about her too. “Joe knows Scooter’s missin’, but he says there’s no missing person report.”
“We take care of our own,” Jed said.
“Even though you’re not working for James?”
“We all go back further than me working for Skeeter. We’ve known each other since we were kids. Scooter’s my friend. I’m tryin’ to find him.”
“So what have you found?”
“A whole lot of nothin’. No one knows anything. This was the first solid lead we had.”
“Y’all were so certain Buck took him. How much effort were you puttin’ into pinnin’ it on Buck versus findin’ out who actually took him?”
Jed didn’t say anything, which was an answer in itself.
“Did James really fire you?”
“I told him that I was takin’ Neely Kate to Oklahoma, and he told me to come back or I was fired. There was no way I was leavin’ Neely Kate to deal with her past alone, so he fired me by default. He’s done this before, but this time I decided enough is enough.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of James leaving Neely Kate unprotected. Maybe he’d figured she’d come back with Jed. I’d probably never know now that I wouldn’t be talking to him anymore. The realization that our weekly talks were officially over left a gaping hole in my heart.
“You really don’t want to work for him anymore?” I asked.
“He’s treated you more like a partner than he’s ever treated me.” He tried to hide the pain in his voice, but I heard it just the same. “I think it’s time to move on.”
“Will you still be his friend?” I asked.
“I’m not sure Skeeter can be friends with someone who’s not an associate.”
“He and I have been friends since last winter,” I said.
He cast a dubious glance at me in the rearview mirror. “I’m worried about who’s got his ear. If you and I aren’t there talkin’ sense into him, I’m not sure anyone else will. Merv isn’t to be trusted.”
“Neely Kate said he got physical with her last week and that you intervened.”
Jed hesitated. “He hasn’t been right since he got shot last winter. He’s been hotheaded and argumentative. He was chompin’ at the bit to string Reynolds up for Scooter, and I barely got back from Oklahoma in time to stop him.”
“He really would have killed Buck Reynolds with no proof?”
“He’d already decided he was guilty and was well on his way to convincin’ Skeeter.”
“James would have fallen for it?”
“Merv can be persuasive, and Skeeter was already out of sorts over you. Add in Scooter’s disappearance and the fact that he was pissed at me . . .”
It was a recipe for disaster.
Jed found my gaze in the mirror. “Merv’s never been a fan of yours. Ever since the parley, Merv’s been usin’ the situation to his advantage, tryin’ to poison Skeeter against you.”
There was no love lost between Merv and me, so that didn’t come as much of a surprise.
“You need protection, Rose,” Jed said. “What’s to stop the person behind the kidnapping from tryin’ again?”
“That’s presumin’ those two guys were workin’ with someone else.” I paused. I’d already figured as much.
“I think we should make that assumption. I’m gonna stick tight to you and Neely Kate until this is resolved.”
I shook my head. “I understand why you want to watch over Neely Kate, but you can’t be watchin’ over me. I’m tryin’ to distance myself from James, and you’re too closely tied to him.”
“You think you’re goin’ around town without a bodyguard?”
“No,” I said, thinking of an impromptu plan that wasn’t half bad. “I know someone who would be perfect.”
Chapter 15
Jed dropped me off at the office and said he’d call and check on Neely Kate in an hour or so. He wanted to give me time to talk to Neely Kate about the night before.
It was still early, but she was already sitting at her desk. Her face lit up when she saw me, and she jumped out of her chair. “Are you all right? Other than your clothes.”
Ignoring her question—I was definitely not all right, but I was trying to feel like I was—I walked over and gave her a long hug. I was grateful James’ shorts were long enough to cover not only my stitches, but most of my bruises and scrapes.
Neely Kate had brought my dog to the office with her, and Muffy jumped up on my legs, wagging her tail like a wind-up dog.
Neely Kate’s arms wrapped around me, holding me tight. “What happened?”
Tears filled my eyes. I wondered how much I should tell her—then remembered the vow I’d made to stop keeping secrets. “I was kidnapped.”
“What? Oh, my word!”
I picked up Muffy and sat down in my office chair, cradling my little dog in my lap and rubbing her head. Then I told Neely Kate the whole story about the kidnapping, this time including the bit about Buck Reynolds wanting to hire me to look for Scooter.
“Do you want to investigate Scooter’s disappearance?” she asked.
“Yeah. I know Jed and Merv have been lookin’, but don’t you think those two burly guys are more likely to intimidate people into silence? Scooter’s girlfriend saw someone drive away with him on Wednesday, and she only came forward yesterday. I think we might be able to get more answers. People tend not to take us seriously.” She started to get worked up, but I held up my hand. “I say we use that to our advantage. They’ll be more likely to talk.”
“So you want to put Squawker on hold?”
“No. We only have a handful of appointments today. Let’s see if we can move some to the end of the week so we can focus on our two cases today.”
“I can’t believe you’re saying that,” she said, jumping up and down a little.
I shrugged. “I have good reason to look for Scooter. As for the parrot, we’ll see how he fits in with the rest of our day. Obviously he’s second priority.” But then again, when I thought about the circumstances of Squawker’s disappearance, I wondered if there was more to it. I stood and said, “But first I need to go home and change clothes.”
“I brought you clothes and shoes. Jed suggested it. He said you were spending the night with Skeeter.” She gave me a narrow-eyed look. “I thought you were pissed at him.”
“Turns out nearly gettin’ murdered makes you see things a bit differently.”
“So you forgave him?”
“Yeah.”
“And what does that mean exactly? Are you two together? What about Levi?”
Oh crap. Levi.
“I don’t know about Levi. I really like him, but there’s no spark, you know? I kept hopin’ it would show up, but instead I got kidnapped and then went home with the king of the Fenton County crime world and hardly spent any time sleeping.” I hadn’t really intended to say quite so much, but the words all came out in a rush.
Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “You and Skeeter . . . ?”
I nodded.
She still looked shocked. “And you hadn’t slept together before?”
Of course, it was at that exact moment that Joe decided to walk into the office with a takeout tray stacked with three coffee cups. Muffy jumped off my lap and took off running for him.
“I think I’ve interrupted something,” he said, looking uncomfortable.
“No,” Neely Kate gushed. “Going by what’s in your drink carrier, you’re here in the nick of time.”
Muffy continued to jump up on his legs, and he glanced down at her with a grin. “Just a minute, Muff.”
I sure hoped one of those cups literally had my name on it because I was about to pass out from exhaustion . . . and maybe die of embarrassment.
Joe handed a cup to Neely Kate, then wandered over to my desk and handed one to me. “A peace offering.”
“Oh!” Neely Kate gushed. “I want to hear the details of what prom
pted this!”
Joe took out the last cup and set the empty tray on Neely Kate’s desk. He squatted to rub Muffy’s head, his gaze squarely on her, and said, “Based on the conversation I walked in on, I thought you two were discussing Rose’s date.”
Neither of us said anything. No reason to open that kettle of worms.
“You were sayin’ something about a peace offerin’,” Neely Kate prodded.
“Uh, yeah.” Joe stood and turned toward me, and Muffy pranced over to her dog bed under my desk. “I want to apologize for my behavior last night. I have no idea why I got so antagonistic, especially since I had a great time with Dena.” He grinned.
“Oh, my word!” Neely Kate said. “You slept with her already.”
“So?” Joe asked, looking guilty despite his protest. “We’re consenting adults, and it had been a while for both of us.”
Neely Kate stuck her fingers in her ears and began to hum off-key. “I don’t want to hear about my brother’s sex life.”
Joe laughed. “Fair enough. But I plan on seeing her again, so that might tell you something about how my evening went.”
Neely Kate gave me a sideways glance, appraising my reaction, but I gave her a tiny smile. Sure, our encounter at the fair had been a little weird, but the thought of Joe dating Dena didn’t bother me. If anything, it made me feel happy for him.
Joe gave me a strange look. “I take it you spent the night with Levi, but I’m a little surprised you didn’t go home to change.” His gaze landed on the Harley-Davidson logo on my black T-shirt, something Levi probably wouldn’t be prone to wearing. I crossed my hands over my chest on impulse.
Neely Kate reached under her desk and pulled out a small bag. “Here you go.”
I got up and snagged it from her before heading back to the small bathroom. Neely Kate had packed me another dress, which surprised me. It was nothing like my typical work uniform, but then again, I only had that handful of consultation appointments on my schedule. Maybe she’d picked the dress because we were investigating . . . or maybe she was trying to set me up with Levi again.
For the Birds: Rose Gardner Investigations #2 (Rose Gardner Investigatons) Page 15