Throw Dylan from the Train (S.A.F.E. Detective Agency)

by Piper Davenport

  “Ash, will you and Jake give us a minute, please?” Dylan asked, peeling herself off my brother and pulling me into her room.

  “What?” I ground out.

  “You and I can go if you really can’t stand the idea of being with Jake,” Dylan offered, and I frowned. She would totally give up her alone time with Asher if I asked her to, but I knew she missed him and their relationship needed some tender loving care. “Your call, Addie.”

  I sighed. “No. You two need time. But I’m going on record that you owe me. I’m totally taking one for the team.”

  Dylan hugged me with a huge grin. “Thank you. I love you.”

  I jabbed a finger toward her. “You better have a broken hymen when I get back.”

  Dylan gasped, turning instantly red. “Ohmigod, you are so ridiculous! And gross. I can’t believe you said that.”

  Feeling a small sense of smug satisfaction that Asher would have to work a little harder now, I stepped back into my room and grabbed my keys. “If we’re going to go, we should go now.”

  Jake stood, holding his hand out. “I’ll drive.”

  “I’ll drive,” I countered.

  “Bab—”

  “No,” I interrupted. “Absolutely fucking not.”

  He sighed. “Addison,” he corrected. “I need you to fill me in on everything you know, and it would help me a great deal if you could do that while I drive.”

  “It’s my car.”

  “I can speed.”

  I crossed my arms. “Legally, you can’t speed.”

  “But if I happen to speed, I can get out of it,” he said, a smug smile on his face.

  He had a point. Damn it! I wrinkled my nose and slammed my keys into his palm. “Fine,” I snapped and gathered the file I had with copies of the missing jewelry.

  “I’ll book your rooms, Addie,” Dylan offered.

  “Thanks, bud.” After shoving my phone into my purse, I followed Jake out of the room and into the car. I couldn’t believe I was going to be stuck in an enclosed space with him for the next hour or so. Gah!

  * * *

  We’d been on the road for about twenty minutes when Jake asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “Nope.”

  It had only taken about five minutes to brief him on the case, and I’d been quiet ever since, getting my message across loud and clear with a choice-of-song battle. He’d find something he liked and I’d change it. He’d let my choice play, then look for something else. I’d change it again. Even if I liked the song, I’d push skip track on the MP3 player, just because I could.

  Jake flipped through again, but when I reached to change it he grabbed my hand. I pulled away, his touch like a shock to me, but he held firm.

  “I know what you’re doing,” he said.

  “Good for you.” I tugged on my hand again. “Can I have my hand back, please?”

  “No. I like holding your hand, baby. And we need to talk.”

  “Goddammit, Jake, stop calling me baby,” I ground out and tried to yank my hand away again. “And let go of my hand. You don’t need to touch me to talk.”

  “I miss you, Addie.”

  “Sucks for you.”

  “Can we get to the part where you forgive me?”

  I glared at him, trying to pull away again. “You haven’t even apologized!”

  He sighed and released my hand, pulling my car off the highway and onto a gravel side road. “What are you doing?”

  “We are going to talk.” Parking the car, he faced me, reaching out to take my hand again.

  I crossed my arms before he could take hold, however. “The pawn shops better not be closed by the time you’re done talking.”

  He smiled, my stomach flipped, and I felt my breath become shallow. “I love you, Addison. I wish I could go back and change the fact I was an asshole, but I can’t. All I can ask is that you forgive me, and promise I’ll never allow my fear of you being hurt cloud my judgment again...at least in the sense of ending what we have.”

  “We don’t have anything to end,” I pointed out.

  “You moved on with that Wyatt guy?” he asked, his expression guarded.

  “Ohmigod, Jake, it’s been less than a week. No, I have not moved on with Wyatt. But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to start back up with you.” This was a lie. I wanted him back so bad, my spleen felt like it might explode.

  “That’s fair,” he said.

  “It also doesn’t mean I don’t want to move on with Wyatt.” His expression darkened, and I felt an evil amount of satisfaction. Total lie, of course, but I wanted Jake to suffer a bit.

  After a few minutes of electric silence, Jake sighed. “I love you, Addie. Not sure that means a whole lot right now, but I’d really like the chance to make it up to you.”

  “I don’t know if you can.”

  “Well if that’s the case, I misjudged you.”

  “You don’t get to put this on me, Jake. That’s totally a dick move.”

  “I’m not trying to put anything on you, baby. I’m just saying that the woman I fell in love with has a big heart and I’m confident that she also has a great capacity to forgive those she loves even when they’re idiots.” He shrugged. “But maybe I’m wrong.”

  I felt my nose burn as the tears formed. “You’re not playing fair.”

  “I’m not playing at all, Addison.”

  “You broke my heart,” I whispered.

  “I know, honey.” He pried my arms from my body and lifted my hands to his mouth, kissing each palm. “I was a dick. You’re right. I have no excuse other than allowing my fears to take over my common sense.” He closed his eyes for a second. “But when I saw that slime-ball half naked and chasing you down...” He shook his head. “I lost my mind for a minute.”

  I took a deep breath and bit my lip. “You’re a cop, Jake. You don’t think I worry about you getting hurt too?”

  “Honey, it’s my job.”

  I pulled my hands from his. “As is this!”

  “I’d argue you could do your job in a way that wouldn’t get you shot at—”

  “Ohmigod!” I shoved my door open and climbed out of the car and onto the gravel road. At some point in time we’d gone from the desert to the forest and we were surrounded by enormous trees. I had nowhere to go and no way to get away from him. So I did the most rational thing I could think of and started walking down the gravel road.

  This was not at all how I thought this would go. Stupid me, of course, for believing he’d finally pulled his head out of his ass. I’d let down my guard enough to cry in front of him. I got about a hundred feet before my heel caught on gravel and made my ankle wobble. This probably wasn’t the best idea I’d ever had, but I needed a little space. I checked my phone. No service, and we had less than three hours to get to Klamath and hunt down the jewelry, so I stopped and headed back to the car. My feelings were going to have to take a backseat to the job at hand.

  Jake was leaning up against the passenger’s door, his arms crossed, his head down. I forced down my desire to burrow against his chest and make him hold me, and closed the distance between us.

  He was blocking my entrance, so I asked, “Are you ready?”

  Shaking his head, he slid his hand to my neck and tugged me gently forward. “I’m sorry, baby. I can’t seem to bury my burning need to protect you above everything else. But I know I have to stow it, because you’re good at what you do. It’s not fair for me to try to change your life just so I don’t have to worry.”

  “I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, Jake. So could you. You don’t really have much control over life or death.” I stared up at him, itching to touch him, but stopping myself from doing so.

  His expression was tortured as he nodded. “Doesn’t make me want to cover you in bubble wrap any less though.”

  “You drive me crazy, Jake. You know that, right?”

  “Back atya.” He kissed my forehead. “Will you give me a chance to make all this up to you?”

 
; No longer able to keep myself from touching him, I wrapped my arms around his waist and breathed in deep. Cologne and Jake...all man, all delicious, all mine. “You won’t get another chance, you know that, right? I can’t have my heart broken again.”

  “I know.” He stroked my hair. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

  “And I’m going to make your life hell for a little while.”

  He chuckled. “If you didn’t, I’d be disappointed.”

  I closed my eyes and burrowed deeper into his chest. “Then yes, I can forgive you and give you another chance. Your second and final chance. But you’re going to work your ass off to please me.”

  He slid his hand into my hair and tipped my head back, leaning down to kiss me, and I virtually melted into him. Lordy, I’d missed him. I reluctantly broke the kiss and sighed. “We really need to get to Klamath before everything closes.”

  “You’re probably right. Plus, if we don’t stop, I might forget our time constraints and take you in the back seat of your car.”

  I smacked his chest. “Jacob William Parker, do not say things like that to me! This vehicle is far too small for that kind of activity. Your truck bed, maybe, but not my tiny sedan.”

  He chuckled and pulled open my door. I climbed in and secured my seat belt, expecting him to close my door, but his face appeared in front of me instead. “I love you, minx.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I love you too, asshole. And for the record, Dylan was the one who got shot at. Me...I do the shooting when I’m in trouble. Now, let’s go.”

  Chuckling, he kissed me one more time, then closed my door and climbed into the driver’s seat.

  Dylan

  “YOUR FACE IS red,” Asher said, grabbing ahold of my belt loops and pulling me back to him.

  My cheeks only grew warmer. “Yeah. Your sister is out of control.”

  He laughed. “Don’t I know it. But I owe her big for taking off with Jake.”

  “We both do. I wonder if she’ll kill him before they make it to Klamath?”

  Asher shook his head. “She needs him for the pawnshop, so he’s good up until then. Besides, he’s a bit of a wreck, so I’m hoping they kiss and make up.”

  “And spare us the details,” I added.

  “There’s always hope.”

  “So, handsome, let’s talk about you for a minute. What brings a big-city hottie like you to a little one-horse town like this?”

  The hunger in his eyes both scared and excited me, releasing butterflies to race around my stomach. “I’m lookin’ at her,” he said.

  “How did you know I needed you?” I asked.

  “You need me?”

  I nodded. Stupid tears stung my eyes again as I thought about the task ahead of me. “Serious understatement.”

  He pulled me tight against him and kissed me again, making me suspect that his presence had something to do with him needing me too. I no longer had to worry about the butterflies, because that thought pretty much melted them.

  Asher pulled back and studied my expression. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t want to ruin our alone time by talking about it.” Truthfully, I planned to avoid telling my boyfriend that my dad was a thieving bastard altogether.

  “Okay,” he replied, letting me off the hook. “What is there to do around this town? I feel all dressed up with nowhere to go.”

  Thankful for the subject change, I checked out his threads and nodded approvingly. “This outfit is great, by the way. Where’d you get your hands on it?”

  “We stopped off in Bend. You dress up for me all the time, you know? I figured the least I could do is try to blend in while in your home town.”

  “I love you so much. Seriously, Ash, this was really sweet. You earned major points.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “I could have gone bigger. I wanted one of those button-down western shirts with the paisley print, but Jake said something about running me over with my own car if I bought it.”

  Just imagining it sent me into a fit of giggles that felt so good. I couldn’t believe how much better I felt with Asher here. Suddenly the task in front of me didn’t seem so ominous. With my sweet, sexy boy beside me, I could do anything. I plucked his cowboy hat from his head and settled it atop my own. “How do I look?”

  In answer, he attacked my neck. Laughing, I squirmed out of his arms and grabbed my jacket.

  “We going somewhere?” he asked.

  I looked him over and grinned. “Oh, hell yeah. I’m showing you off. You’re taking me to the fair and feeding me cotton candy and elephant ears. Then we’re going to make out while flipping in the Zipper.”

  “Kinky.”

  My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “You’re in my world now, city boy.”

  AC/DC’s song “Shook Me All Night Long” was playing when we got in line at the ticket booth, and I couldn’t suppress the smile tugging at my lips. It was amazing how some things never changed. Memories of roundups past flooded my senses, reminding me how much I’d loved the fair as a child.

  I saw a lot of faces I recognized, and a few people stopped to say hey and meet Asher. I kept introductions and conversations to a minimum, wishing I could build some sort of shield around us that deflected their advances. Even though I’d said I wanted to show Asher off, I really wanted to keep him to myself.

  We walked away from the entrance booth hand-in-hand sporting flimsy paper bracelets, and I tugged him toward the rigged games. “Hey, want me to win you a stuffed animal?” I asked.

  “Shouldn’t that be my line?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “You can try. But see that shooting game right there? And that hit the balloons with the darts one? I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I will own you.”

  “Is that supposed to deter me?” he asked, pulling me toward the shooting game. “Because that seems like a pretty sweet deal.”

  The way he looked at me set my cheeks on fire again.

  A woman shouted my name and I turned to see one of my many distant cousins approaching. “Hey, Dylan, I heard you were back.” She eyed Asher, looking a little too thirsty for my liking. “And who did you bring with you?”

  “Asher, this is my cousin, Allison. Allie, this is my boyfriend, Asher.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Boyfriend? Does Dak know about him? The way he was talkin’—”

  “We haven’t run into Dak yet,” I said, cutting her off. “But I’ll be sure to introduce him.”

  Her gaze drank Asher in for a few more moments. “Good luck with that,” she said before sauntering off.

  “Who’s Dak?” Asher asked.

  “A guy I grew up with.” I shrugged, not wanting to discuss Dakota or any of my other problems. But I didn’t want to hide anything from Asher, so I stopped and turned to face him. “We never dated, but our parents got it stuck in their minds that we’d grow up and get married someday.”

  “And...?” he asked.

  It was possible Asher knew me a little too well. Paired with his mad lawyer skills and my inability to tell a lie, I was screwed. “I’ve told him it’s not going to happen, but he hasn’t let it go yet.”

  “What’s this guy like?”

  “Nice. He’s a good guy, Ash, but there was never anything between us. I think he likes the idea of us way better than he ever liked me. He doesn’t even know me. I haven’t seen him in years.”

  “He sounds like a stalker.”

  “He’s harmless. Really.” Then, because my perfect night was falling to shit, I looked past Asher to see my dad heading toward us. “Dammit,” I growled.

  “What?” Asher looked over his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

  “My dad’s coming.”

  “Good. I want to talk to him.”

  Before I could stop him, Asher turned to wave to my father and I found myself wishing we’d never left the motel. “I don’t, Ash.”

  “What? Why not?” he asked.

  “Because I can’t be fake, and I’ll give us away.”

/>   “Us?” Hurt flashed in Asher’s eyes. “Your dad doesn’t know about us? Why do you care—?”

  Before I could correct Asher, Dad had his arm draped over my shoulder. Even with the crowd shifting around us, I could smell the whiskey on him. “Hey, honey,” he said.

  I shrugged away from him. “Hey. Dad, you remember Addie’s brother Asher?”

  Dad looked Asher over and nodded. “Come with me a minute. I think we need to have a man-to-man conversation.” He waved for Asher to follow him and started walking toward the fence, away from the crowd.

  I didn’t know what Dad had planned, but couldn’t imagine he’d be too welcoming. And before Asher went anywhere near my father, I needed to set the record straight and warn him. I stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “I don’t care what he or anyone else thinks. I love you. I tried to tell him about you several times, but he refused to listen. I sure as hell wouldn’t bring you here if I didn’t want anyone to know about you. Everyone in town knew as soon as we got out of your car together. It’ll probably be on the cover of tomorrow’s paper. That’s not what I was talking about.”

  “You comin’, boy?” Dad asked.

  Before I could say more, Asher stepped around me and joined my father. I didn’t know what to do. I watched as they walked to the fence and out of earshot.

  “Still biting your fingernails, huh?” Dakota said, tugging my hand away from my mouth and inspecting the damage. “That’s a bad habit, Dylan.”

  “I only do it when I’m in this town,” I retorted, snapping my hand away from him. “Besides, it’s not nearly as bad as chewing...or meth, Lakeview’s other drug of choice.”

  He chuckled and followed my gaze. “That’s the guy?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He scratched his head. “I thought you didn’t like cowboys.”

  “He’s so not a cowboy. He’s a lawyer. He dressed like that for me. He’s...” I couldn’t find the words to describe what Asher was to me.

  “I get it.”

  Surprised, I eyed Dakota. “You do?”

  “Yeah. I’ve known you my whole life, and I ain’t never seen you look at anyone like that. But you should probably go save him from your old man.”