by J. H. Croix
“What?”
A grin pulled at the corners of her mouth. “Yup. I promised we were getting you at least one new outfit too. We should get you a few though, so you have something new to wear to the library in case Sonny comes back.”
“Right. Clothes aren’t going to make me more outgoing, you know?”
“I know.” She winked. “But you just might catch someone’s attention. Even Sonny Lovett’s.”
Well, that would be something. But I wasn’t going to hold my breath.
Chapter Seven
Sonny
Evan looked out from under the hood of the classic car he was restoring as I walked into the garage, wiping his hands on a rag he pulled from the back pocket of his jeans. “Sonny! Twice in one week. You miss me already?”
“Nah, but my truck does.” I grinned, taking in the peace at his garage late on a Saturday afternoon. He was the only one there, and his usually noisy place was quiet and peaceful. “I needed to get my oil changed, thought you might be able to help.”
“Of course, I can.” He unhooked the arm holding up the hood of the car he was working on and eased it shut. “You parked out front?”
“Yeah.”
Crossing the floor to the second garage door, he flipped the switch, and the electronic whirl of the door started immediately. “Go ahead and bring her in. I’ll get us some water.”
“Sounds good.”
I did as he asked, popping my own hood once I parked inside. Evan walked out from the back, carrying two bottles of water. He tossed one to me as he walked past, going over to the metal shelf in the corner that held a variety of bottles of oil.
“You didn’t have any more problems with that customer this week?” I asked.
Evan grabbed the oil he needed, smirking as he propped up my hood. “Nope. Told you I wouldn’t have more problems with the guy. I called him yesterday. He’s even paid for the repairs.”
“Good news.” I was glad he managed to sort it out. Evan always just wanted to get on with living his life. He had no appetite for drama or grudges, which made me think of another question I had to ask. “Anything else weird happen this week?”
He frowned, his light green eyes narrowing as they met mine. “Like what?”
“Like anyone coming by to ask you about dad.” Perhaps someone named Wayne Maclin. I wouldn’t involve Evan by giving him Wayne’s name if I didn’t have to.
He had started to open the bottle of oil and paused, arching a brow. “No, can’t say that’s happened in a while.”
I nodded. “Good to know.”
“You know me, I lay low. I haven’t been hounded by reporters or any of the people supposedly after dad. I like the quiet and the quiet likes me, but you know that, so why do you ask?”
Fuck. He wasn’t going to like my answer. “I’ve been looking into dad’s case. I have a feeling something’s been going on at another level and—”
Evan moved so fast I didn’t see it coming, despite all my training to anticipate people’s moves before they made them. Grabbing the front of my shirt, he bunched the material in his fist. “There’s nothing you can do, Sonny. Leave it alone,” he bit out.
He released me, spinning away with a glare. Going to pick up the bottle of oil he’d dropped, he unscrewed it and pulled the lid off. I shoved my hands in my pockets, bracing myself mentally because I had to tell him the truth.
“I found blacked out files, Evan. Lots of them. There was nothing classified about dad’s case that we knew of, but someone’s gone through a lot of trouble to make sure that information isn’t accessible to the public. It makes no sense.”
“The files don’t matter. Don’t you get it?” He buried his head in my engine compartment, getting right to work as he talked. “Dad went down the wrong path after Mom died. I hate what happened as much as you do. We’ve all been to hell and back because of him. The reporters, the public scrutiny? People we’ve known since grade school called us all criminals, ignored us, and gossiped about us.”
“I know, I just—”
“I’m not done,” he said, lifting his head out from under the hood to shoot me another glare as he crossed the garage floor to a workbench and collected a few tools. “Dad’s a selfish bastard. The man had enough money to last him, and us, for the rest our lives and what did he do? He had to go and steal more.”
“What if he didn’t?” My brothers didn’t want to believe our father was innocent, but he could be. I definitely sensed something was off, way off, with his case. “What if he didn’t do what we think he did?”
“Jesus,” Evan muttered, tools clanging as he worked on my truck, rolling under it on a backboard. I knew better than to say anything out loud, especially given that we were already having a heated conversation, but I hoped he wasn’t taking his frustration with me out on my truck.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Evan asked, rolling out from under the truck. “He did it, Sonny boy. There’s no two ways about it. Don’t try doing him any favors by making excuses for him or trying to get him out of it. He deserves everything he’s getting.”
“I’m not crazy. I’m calling it like I see it, and I see something going on. If there was nothing more to it, why would someone black out so much of the files?”
“Enough with the damn files,” Evan retorted, his expression dark. “Stop digging all this shit back up again. I’m not going back to that time of our lives, Sonny. I’m keeping away from Dad and everything about him. You should too. For all our sakes, leave it be.”
“Even if that means an innocent man is rotting away in prison?” I raised my brows, giving my brother a pointed look as I folded my arms. “Could you really walk away knowing he might be innocent?”
Evan’s shoulders dropped, the anger in his expression fading to a sad smile. “I can walk away because I know he’s not innocent, little brother. Maybe some people blacked some shit out, and maybe it’s just bureaucratic bullshit about some kinds of information not being made public. It doesn’t matter, do you know why?”
“Why?”
“The man was Tyson’s hero. Ty was his go-to son to help keep all of us under control after Mom died. And Ty was on the prosecution’s team. Whatever it was that’s blacked out now, Ty saw it, and he still joined the team that put Dad away.”
His words stung because he was making it sound like I didn’t trust Tyson, but that wasn’t what this was about. I trusted my brother with my life, but he was the low man on the totem pole back then. God only knew what they might’ve kept from him.
Evan saw my hesitation and some of his earlier fire crept back. “It’s not just Tyson being part of the case you have to think about. Look at what happened to Jeremy, and that wasn’t even too long ago.”
Again, he was right. Jeremy had been followed by men who claimed our father had stolen from them. They demanded Jeremy get their money back for them and threatened him and Marie if he didn’t.
They hadn’t been messing around either. Jeremy and Marie were caught up in a bogus custody suit with Marie’s ex at the time. Her ex claimed Marie had moved from Savannah to Cypress Creek in an attempt to withhold his son from him. It was pure bullshit, but he succeeded at first, and Marie had to move back to Savannah.
The men threatening Jeremy followed him there and saw him pretending to be friendly with Marie’s ex for the sake of the suit. Long story short, they murdered Marie’s ex on the mistaken belief it would frighten Jeremy into action if they killed his friend.
Presumably, either Jeremy or Marie would’ve been next if the men hadn’t been caught on a wire admitting to setting in motion the car accident that caused her ex’s death. There were genuine threats out there to our family because of what my father had done.
“You’re playing with fire, Sonny. I don’t want to see anything happening to you because of what Dad did,” Evan said, sighing as he finished up with my oil change and closed the hood. “All done. You ready to let this go?”
“I’m not.” Maybe I wa
s being stubborn, but threats or not, I at least had to show Evan what I’d found. “I’m going to the library on Monday. Let me just show you the blacked-out files. If you still think it’s nothing, we walk away.”
“I’m not going to the library with you, bro. I’m sorry, but I just want to forget about all of this. Seeing the blacked-out files isn’t going to change that. I trust you. If you say stuff’s been redacted, I believe you. Doesn’t mean the fact it’s been blacked out matters, not the way you’re hoping.”
“I can respect that,” I admitted grudgingly. If he didn’t want any part of this despite what I told him, and if he didn’t believe it would change his mind to see the evidence, I would leave him be. It was probably for the best anyway. “Thanks for helping me out with the truck.”
“No problem.” He raised a hand to squeeze my shoulder, a furrow between his eyes. “Be careful, okay? I know you’re going to keep at this, but promise me you won’t do anything rash.”
“I won’t.” I was damn tired of people telling me to be careful. I knew it was because the people my father dealt with were dangerous and they didn’t want to see me hurt, but it was frustrating. “I gotta go. Talk to you soon?”
“Soon,” Evan agreed, hitting the switch to open the garage door as I climbed into my truck.
I waved and tapped the horn in goodbye as I left the garage, thoughts of our conversation tumbling through my head. About two blocks later, I realized I was being followed.
A black sedan was a couple of car lengths behind me and made every turn I did. Fucking Wayne, it had to be him.
Checking that the coast was clear, I jammed my foot down on the gas and left him behind. He clung on for a few more blocks before I lost the tail.
“This fucking guy,” I muttered, wondering when the hell he was going to leave well enough alone.
Chapter Eight
Niki
The weekend raced by after my shopping trip with Karen. After the mortifying start, she’d made good on her promise, and we had a good time. I even bought a few of the outfits she’d suggested.
Soft rain was pelting on the library’s windows on Monday, the sky a dark gray outside. The library was usually relatively quiet, but with the rain it was even quieter than usual, which suited me just fine.
I settled in behind my desk, doing some research on several drives in the area working on improving reading literacy and skills in children. Karen and I talked about it on Saturday, and I was interested in seeing if there were any campaigns the library might be able to support.
Sipping on a cup of Chai tea, I was scrolling through pages and pages of local organizations I could contact when I felt a prickle on the back of my neck. When I looked up, I saw two men in suits coming up to the desk.
Two tall, imposing men—one with a shaved head, while the other was bald on top with a long ponytail hanging down his back.
I minimized the tabs on my computer and stood up, forcing a polite smile onto my face despite the unease rippling through me at their forbidding expressions. “May I help you?”
One of the men pulled a photograph from his inside pocket and slid it across the desk. “We’re looking for this man. Have you seen him?”
I picked up the picture, shocked when I saw Sonny’s smiling face printed on it. My mind went completely blank as I drew in a breath to compose myself. Lifting my eyes from the picture, I tried to keep my features neutral. “I’m sorry. I don’t think so. I have no idea who that is.”
The men narrowed their eyes, one studying me while the other looked around the library like he expected Sonny to appear at any minute.
“If you see him, please let us know,” the bald man said.
“I’ll keep an eye out,” I lied, proud of how smoothly the lie slipped out. These men were scary. My palms were clammy by the time they turned away. An unpleasant shiver ran down my spine as I watched them go.
It was only after they were gone I realized they’d asked me to let them know if I saw Sonny, but they hadn’t left me any contact details. I had no idea who they were.
Suppressing another shiver, I tried my best to shake off the encounter. Why I couldn’t be as brave as the heroines in some of the books I read, I didn’t know.
I released a shaky breath, determined to get back to work when I noticed another figure coming into the library. I froze, and my knees knocked. Oh, come on, you can’t be scared of every customer who comes to the library now.
Gripping the desk, I managed to keep myself upright on my unsteady legs and waited for the person to pull down the hood they were wearing to shield themselves from the rain. When the person was safely inside the doors, they reached up to flip back the hood.
I nearly cried from relief when I saw who it was. Not another intimidating man. Sonny Lovett flashed me a grin and then walked to the desk he was sitting at before.
The anxiety I felt minutes ago dissipated almost instantly, yet worry circled in my thoughts. Knowing Sonny was in the library shouldn’t have made me feel comforted, especially now that I’d twice been asked about his presence here in the library.
Yet somehow, his presence was a comfort. This time, I wasn’t going to let him go without warning him. He deserved to know these people were looking for him.
I made my way over to him slowly, swapping around books where I noticed people had slipped them into the incorrect spot here and there. Eventually though, I made it all the way to his desk.
Taking a quiet, steadying breath, I tried to steel myself to say something, but when nothing came, I shut my mouth again and pretended to be busy with a book on the shelf beside me. Take two!
On the heels of another breath, I managed a smile and closed the last few feet between where I was standing and the desk. “Can I help you with anything?”
He’d seemed to be deep in thought before, but when I spoke, he lifted his brilliant eyes to mine for the first time and smiled. “I’m fine, thanks. Sonny, by the way.”
“I know.” I flushed, wondering if I could hide my head under his desk without him noticing. “I mean, hi. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Niki.”
“I know,” he repeated my words, but he didn’t look nearly as embarrassed as I felt. If he was trying to make me feel more at ease, it worked. His simple words were like a balm the way he’d repeated the words so easily and so sincerely. “It’s nice to officially meet you too.”
His eyes locked with mine. Good Lord, those eyes.
My knees weakened, and a rush of heat seared through me. There was an almost unnatural warmth in his stare as his gaze caressed me, lighting little fires under the surface of my skin.
That’s it. You read too much. I scolded myself and held back an eye roll. He was not caressing me with his eyes, they were just warm. Forget it. End of story.
My cheeks heated the longer he held my gaze. It was incredible how profoundly striking his eyes were. The blue one was a clear, brilliant blue while the green one was flecked with brown around his pupil, and the iris was surrounded by a deep, almost emerald ring of color.
He cleared his throat, his voice deep and gravelly. “It’s called heterochromia.”
“Oh,” I squeaked. Oh god, I squeaked. “I mean, I’ve heard about it.” There, my voice was back to normal. “It’s remarkable.”
“It’s also a genetic chimerism. A defect, really.” Lips curling into an adorable smile, he kicked out the chair opposite him. “Want to have a seat?”
“It’s not a defect,” I scoffed, then wanted to bury my head again. Actually, talking to him was proving to myself that I was as pathetic where men were concerned as always. Some things never changed. Even so, I found myself lowering my butt into the chair he offered.
“Are you sure I can’t help you with anything?” I eyed the pile of papers he had spread out on the desk. “This is a lot of research you’re doing.”
“Yeah.” His gaze drifted down to the stack of paper in front of him. “Do you happen to know why some of the library’s papers would be black
ed out?”
I folded my hands primly in my lap, chewing on my lower lip as I thought about his question. “It’s rare for anything to be blacked out, but sometimes it happens for legal reasons.”
“Is there a record of the reasons kept somewhere about why something was blacked out?”
Shaking my head, I answered quickly. “No, if it’s been blacked out, we don’t get told why the document had to be redacted. If you want, I could help you look into it? Maybe there’s a way to read it after all.”
“No,” he said firmly. I blinked at the force of his voice, but he must’ve noticed how stunned I was at his adamant denial and softened it again. “It’s not something I would want you to get involved with.”
“Is that why the men in the suits were looking for you?” I blurted out. I’d meant to tell him about them, of course, I was just hoping to do it more tactfully.
He cocked his head to the side, curiosity more than fear or confusion in his expression. “Which men in suits would that be?”
“I don’t know. There were two of them who came by earlier, just before you got here actually. They had a picture of you, asking if I knew you or if I’d seen you around.”
“What did you tell them?” he asked carefully.
“That I didn’t know you and hadn’t seen you.” When they’d asked, it was true that I didn’t know him. As for seeing him around, that was a lie. “They were kind of intimidating. I didn’t want to tell them you were in here last week.”
“I appreciate that, more than you know.” He smiled, the earlier edge completely gone from his tone. “It’s nothing to worry about, but I do appreciate your discretion. Good thinking.”
“Thanks,” I murmured, letting my eyes drop to the desk, idly following the grain of the wood with my eyes. My gaze snagged on a mark there. Anxiety tightening in my chest, I forced myself to speak. “I’ll let you get back to your reading. Let me know if you need anything.”
“I’ll do that.”