by Leddy Harper
“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t need your help.” I set the phone on the desk.
He continued to stare at it with his hands in his lap. “Why?”
Either he was asking why I needed his help, or why I needed access to the phone; I wasn’t sure which. So instead, I gave him my own answer. “It was Maggie’s. The night she took off—before my arrest in Mississippi—she grabbed my phone and left hers. I’d forgotten about it until I just found it upstairs.”
“Then just give it to her and have her enter the password. There…problem solved.”
I hesitated for a moment, and then I decided he deserved my honesty. He’d heard some of it, close to half; still, there were parts of my history with Maggie that I hadn’t confided in him. Not because I didn’t trust him, simply because I didn’t want him to see her differently or judge her based on it. And those were the parts I’d have to explain now.
“I told you I picked her up from a gas station and offered to drive her to Florida. What I didn’t tell you was that she had stolen a bag of cash from someone. Don’t ask me who, because I don’t know. But I have a feeling the answer is on that phone.”
“And what are you going to do with that info?”
“Nothing. She says the guy is dead, and I believe her.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because I can’t imagine she’d be here if he weren’t.”
Jarrod nodded and took a deep breath. Once again, he returned his attention to me. “Why’d she steal his money?”
“From what she told me, it wasn’t intentional. She had no idea what she’d taken when she walked out. She went with some guy she was dating to his buddy’s house; they were doing drugs, so she left.”
His gaze narrowed with concern. “She was doing drugs?”
“No.” My answer seemed to appease him, though I felt the need to elaborate. “I don’t have the whole story, but for some reason, she left the house with the backpack. She didn’t have a ride, so she started walking, and at some point, she looked inside and found the money. It was around that time I ran into her.”
“Okay…so why do you think there’s anything of value on here?” Still, he didn’t touch the phone. He treated it as if it would infect him, and it made me feel like shit for even asking him to do this.
“After she bolted, but before meeting me, she turned off her phone because he kept texting her. The night she left me at the motel, she turned it on. And from what she told me, that’s when she got more texts, which is what caused her to take off. Basically, those are the messages I want.”
Jarrod scrubbed his stained hands over his face and then stared at the ceiling. “Whether you asked for it or not, I’m gonna give you my advice. This guy’s dead…right? Just leave it alone. There’s no point in digging it all up.”
“I appreciate that, and honestly, I wouldn’t care what was on there if I hadn’t found the phone. But now, I can’t ignore it.”
“And what will happen if you find out she lied to you?”
“About what? About the guy dying?”
“Anything, Talon.”
I hesitated, making sure I had the most truthful answer before giving one. “I seriously don’t think she’s lying about the guy being dead. That means the only thing she could’ve lied about is the money, which I saw it with my own two eyes. I’m certain it existed.”
“Okay, fine. She stole a bunch of cash. That doesn’t mean it happened the way she told you it did. And if you find out the truth about that, it could make you question everything about her. Are you prepared for that?”
“Whoever she took the money from came after her. He found her in Florida and put her in the hospital.”
“You’re sure of that?”
I pushed off the desk and moved to the wall, which wasn’t as far away as I would’ve liked. I needed more space to ward off the irritation that rolled through me. Jarrod meant well, and normally, I appreciated it. Right now, I really wished he would’ve stopped with the questions and just did what I asked. I didn’t care to doubt everything Maggie had ever told me, and the more he pressed, the worse it became.
“I saw the scars, man,” I argued through clenched teeth. “One of the windows in the living room of her grandfather’s house has obviously been replaced. She told me she was thrown through a window, so it makes sense. I have no reason to question her.”
He nodded slowly, his gaze falling to the floor before returning to my face. “Did she happen to tell you how he knew she’d be there?”
With my back against the wall, I felt pinned to it, like I couldn’t move. The air seeped from my lungs, and no matter how hard I fought, I couldn’t refill them. “She was dating him.”
“For how long?”
I shrugged. “Like a month or something.”
“How long have you known me?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Years, Talon. We’ve worked side by side for years—which is well over a month. Do you have any clue where my grandfather lives? Go ahead, just try to pick the state.” When I didn’t answer, he grabbed the phone off the desk and studied it for a moment. “My concern is that you’ll get answers you haven’t asked questions for. And all this”—he waved his hand toward the door—“will vanish. I’ve never seen you more content than you’ve been since you came home with your car. And as much as I’d love to believe your happiness is a result of having Tony’s four-four-two again, I’m not blind. That look is caused by a girl. And not just any girl, either. Your girl. Don’t get twisted up in this if you aren’t prepared to cut her loose.”
“If she’s lying to me—or has lied to me—why would I stick around?”
“Because she makes you feel invincible.” He dragged himself out of the chair. With a slap on my shoulder, he added, “I’m not stupid, Talon. From the moment Jess told me she was pregnant, I was aware it could be someone else’s kid. We’d been together for a few weeks when it happened, so there was a possibility it could be mine, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be another man’s.”
I was unable to do anything other than stand there and listen.
“I struggled with it. I won’t lie…there were moments I thought about leaving until I had proof I was the father, but at the end of the day, she’s my whole world. She makes me feel ten feet tall and made of steel. Better than any drug I’ve ever had. And for me, after all I’ve been through, that’s exactly what I need. I never wanted a kid, man. And now…I don’t give two shits what DNA that baby has, because no matter what, I’m the father. It’s my child.”
I nodded, not having any words to offer.
He squeezed my shoulder and stepped away. “Think about it. I’ll see what I can do about getting it unlocked, but before you read the texts, make sure you’ve thought long and hard about the consequences. I won’t be held responsible if you find something you aren’t prepared for.”
I thanked him and then left the office, needing a moment to process everything he’d dumped on my plate. It wasn’t his fault that I hadn’t considered any of this before, so he didn’t deserve to be affected by my mood. I clearly had a lot to mull over, and the best place to handle it was in my bay while working on my car. Some people did their best thinking in the shower or on the shitter. The only place that worked to clear my head was under a hood.
I walked into the garage and noticed Jess standing with one of the guys. She had her hand on her belly while she spoke, a smile plastered on her lips. It was easy to see that her feelings regarding the baby and Jarrod mirrored his.
“If you ever decide to kick that fucker to the curb, you give me a call,” Drew said to Jess as I walked past. It made me laugh under my breath and shake my head. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d heard him say that same thing to the women who came in—Maggie included.
“Watch it, Drew,” she warned with a teasing tone. “Jarrod just might leave me first.”
“Doubtful.”
Even though I was at the tool
box in my bay, I couldn’t have been more than three feet from Drew and Jess, so I was able to hear every word whether I tried to or not. At least it gave me a slight reprieve from the damaging thoughts that had bombarded me in the office.
“I’m well on my way to looking like a zebra, so it’s quite possible he’ll trade me in.” There was no question that she was kidding, even without seeing her expression.
Apparently, Drew didn’t quite pick up on it. “What? Why?”
“Haven’t you ever seen stretch marks? I’m already getting them on my hips, and if this baby keeps growing as fast as it has been, I’ll have them all along my stomach, as well.”
“Don’t people only get those when they gain a bunch of weight too fast?” Drew was quite the idiot. Then again, I started to believe the majority of the crew were clueless—at least when it came to women.
“Well, yes…that can also happen.”
“I guess I don’t understand what the big deal is.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jess lift the hem of her sweater. I turned to see what she was doing, suddenly worried that she’d expose herself in my garage. But once I saw the purple lines decorating her sides, I couldn’t look away—or speak.
“Holy shit!” Drew’s voice carried, and if I’d been able to, I would’ve told him to shut up. “The ones I’ve seen have never looked that that!”
Jess giggled and lowered her top, breaking the spell her scars had me under. “The color will fade, like all scars do. See what you have to look forward to if you knock someone up?”
“Good thing I wrap my junk.”
Jess laughed at him and then walked inside, while I remained rooted in place, unable to move. I felt like I’d been hit by a Mack truck. Any thought that floated into my head quickly vanished without sticking. I couldn’t seem to latch on to one thing before being smacked with another, and the harder I fought to control it, the worse it became.
I mindlessly worked on my car, unable to pay much attention to what I did. Every now and then, I’d check the clock. After about the third or fourth time, I realized I was checking to see when Maggie would be getting off work. I could’ve called or texted, but this was something I would have to do in person.
And about forty-five minutes before her shift ended, I hopped in the truck and took off.
Maggie
I loved Wednesdays as much as I dreaded them.
I hated going to bed alone on Tuesday nights, but since my shifts started so early the next morning, it was either that or I had to leave an hour earlier to make it to the diner on time. And based on the fact that we never got much sleep when we shared a bed, that would mean I’d be up all night and then have to work a full shift dead on my feet. And now, I was so tired, I almost wished I had stayed over at Talon’s. At least then I would’ve had a legitimate reason to be exhausted.
After climbing the stairs to my apartment, all I wanted to do was dive into my bed and sleep until tomorrow. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I had to get dressed and then head over to Uncle Danny’s house for our weekly dinner. It was his way of keeping up with me—not that there was much to keep up with. I went to work and then home. Well, as far as he was concerned, anyway. He was very overprotective, so if he had any inkling about Talon, things would get bad. Hell, he almost didn’t let me move out after he’d brought me home from the hospital in Florida. He only allowed it so he wouldn’t have to tiptoe around me anymore.
“Oh, look who’s home.” My sarcasm could not be missed when I walked inside and found my roommate slipping on her shoes. I swear, for living together, we never saw each other.
“Were you really at work? Or did you run off and need me to cover for you with your uncle again?”
I’d asked her one time to lie for me, and she made it sound like it was a weekly occurrence—okay fine, I also asked her to lie in the event he stopped by on a night I was in Fleetwood, not that it had happened yet.
I rolled my eyes and moved down the hallway toward my room. “Will you ever let that go?”
“Probably not.”
Stopping just shy of my door, I spun on the heel of my shoe to face her. “You do know I appreciate it, right?”
“Yeah, sure.” She shrugged, acting like it was no big deal. “Although, you still haven’t told me where you really were, or why you needed me to say you were here. If you truly want to assure me of how grateful you are…you’d tell me that.”
“I did tell you—I went on a weekend getaway with my boyfriend, and Uncle Danny likes to pretend I’m still a child and doesn’t care for me dating anyone.”
“See? I have a hard time believing that. Because before you left, you weren’t with anyone.”
“How would you know? You’re not around enough.”
“If that were true, I wouldn’t be able to mimic the exact sound you make when you come. Not to mention, I’m far too familiar with your handcuff obsession.” She wagged her brows, clearly aware of the humiliation that ran rampant in me. The mere suggestion of her being privy to such personal details of my sex life caused my entire body to overheat. “I gotta say…if it wouldn’t be creepy or anything, I could totally get my jollies off just listening to him talk to you in that demanding voice he uses.”
There was a good chance my face mimicked the horror I felt inside. “That’s disturbing.”
“Yeah, well…sometimes the truth is.”
“From now on, I’ll just make sure you aren’t here the same time he is.”
She waved me off with a laugh. “Whatever. It’s my reward for lying for you.”
I shook my head and went to my room.
Honestly, I was beyond grateful that she had done it—lie, not listen to what I did with Talon behind closed doors—because if she hadn’t, shit could’ve gotten bad. I wasn’t sure why he’d stopped by, or why he’d waited until after I had gotten home from Florida. He’d come knocking on my door, demanding to know if I had gone anywhere the week before. At the time, I was at work, but Willow had been home and answered the door. Later, I’d discovered that he had asked my boss, who for some undisclosed reason, also told him I had been there the whole time. I wasn’t, yet she lied anyway.
“See ya later,” she yelled before leaving the apartment.
Thank God. Peace and quiet for at least an hour.
I barely had my uniform off when someone knocked on the front door. And by the time I had my hoodie over my head, the knocking became louder, more impatient. I wasn’t sure how, but it was like Willow had a premonition of when someone would stop by, and made sure to be gone before they showed up, making me rush to answer the door.
I grabbed my leggings off the bed and stepped into them as I hopped down the hallway. By the sound of the incessant pounding, I feared whoever stood on the other side, praying it wasn’t my uncle. As soon as I peeked through the blinds and noticed Talon standing outside, my worry vanished, and in its place, relief set in—though not for long.
It took less than a second for the fear to resume. Not only was he not supposed to be in Billings at four on a Wednesday afternoon, but the warning in his dark eyes when I opened the door had my heart thundering in my chest. And when he stepped into me, forcing me backward until he stood in my apartment, panic smothered me.
“What’s wrong?” I reached out to him, ignoring the way my hand shook like a glass of water on a speaker at a concert. “Talon?”
“You were a virgin that first time with me…no?”
My throat was too dry to speak properly, so I croaked out, “Y-yeah.”
“And you weren’t with anyone else after that?”
“No one. Why?” I didn’t have the faintest idea where this had come from, or why he seemed angry, and I wanted nothing more than to assure him that I was telling the truth. I’d just seen him this morning, and he’d told me he loved me, so as far as I was aware, this had come out of nowhere. It left me completely blindsided.
His posture sagged as he leaned into me, pressing my back against the hallw
ay wall. His eyes softened, and his hands fell to my hips. He lowered his head to mine, his breaths fanning against my cheek in waves of intense heat until they had me drowning in him.
I gripped his shirt and raised my chin, hoping to see him better. He kept his gaze guarded, not allowing me the easy connection I’d grown accustomed to with him. That scared me more than anything. I had no clue how I’d managed to make it so long without him in my life, and now that I’d gotten a taste of Talon in the real world, at home, there was no way I’d survive if he left. And I worried that this was his way of leaving.
“Were you pregnant? After…after Mississippi the first time, were you pregnant?”
Tears that hadn’t been there prior to his question flooded my eyes until they cascaded down my face. I held my breath to keep him from hearing the pain that consumed me, and in turn, it kept me from answering.
“You said you told the guy who broke into the house that you were. You made it sound like it was a lie—never directly saying if you were or not—and I need to hear the truth. I’ve seen your body. I’ve seen all your scars. And until today, I believed they had all been from glass. I need an answer, Maggie. Please, sweetheart…tell me.”
“Y-yes.”
He stilled for a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice broke. “Yes? You were?”
I could only nod; the words were too painful to speak.
“With…my baby?” Embedded deep within his cracked voice was agony so severe it nearly crippled me. There was no doubt in my mind that tears filled his eyes, because they flooded his words and engulfed me in his suffering.
“Yes, Talon.”
He pulled away just enough to look at me, and then used his thumb to dry my cheek, ignoring the moisture on his own. “W-what happened?”
This was the part I tried to avoid, the part I was certain would kill him—because it had stolen the life out of me when it’d happened. “When I… When he…” I shook my head, hoping to push the memory far enough away to get the truth out. “I lost it.”