by Jenny Penn
“You want to tell me why you won’t meet the girl, yet you keep running off to stare at her?”
Nick didn’t have to be any more specific than that. They both knew that the girl he’d referred to was Patton and they both knew that Patton was his sister. That hadn’t been hard to find out. Not for GD. Not for the sheriff. Both of them had known where to look thanks to what Seth had shared. Kevin, on the other hand, didn’t share much.
He glanced up at Nick, blinked, and then shrugged, giving him the very answer he expected. Whatever was going on in that head of his, Kevin was keeping his thoughts deep and private. That didn’t mean they were a secret. Nick figured he could reason it out.
“Fine, let me take a guess.” Nick pulled in a deep breath and tried to consider the matter rationally. “Your mom must have told you about Patton and maybe you thought she had a better life and resented her? Or that she…oh, I know!”
It hit Nick with a sudden flash he almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all. “You thought she was a boy. Patton. Your mother never told you she named her girl like a boy…did she?”
“No,” Kevin answered honestly, not nearly as amused as Nick. The kid glanced up at him with a serious gaze that had Nick’s own smile fading. “Mom always said that I looked just like Patton, and I thought…”
“There was somebody out there like you,” Nick filled in, realizing in that second that it was loneliness haunting Kevin.
“I hate her.”
“Who? Patton?” Because that would certainly put a dangerous spin on the fire, but Nick’s alarm was quickly extinguished as Kevin shook his head.
“Mom.” Looking away, Kevin glanced down the lane. “She took everything away from us.”
“Then take it back. Go meet your sister,” Nick urged him, not bothering to argue with the kid that it hadn’t been his mom who had deprived him but the disease that had control of her.
Kevin would figure that out later in life when he was old enough to appreciate the lesson. Right then, the kid shot Nick a dirty look, as if he didn’t get it.
“Mom always said I reminded her of Patton, not Seth. He reminded her of his father, and I wonder…if Patton is a girl, what is it about me that reminded mom of her? Am I like her? Do I look like her? Act like her? Talk like her? What? What do we have in common?”
“Meet her and find out.”
“Seth says that if she learns about me, she’ll take me from him.”
Nick knew that was what Seth feared. It seemed to dawn on Seth that Patton might also want to get to know him, too. Even when Nick had tried to point that fact out, Seth had insisted that it was too dangerous to take the risk.
“I think I’ll just go back to camp.” Kevin shoved off the log and headed in that direction, leaving Nick to follow after him.
They made the whole trip in nearly perfect silence. Nick tried to hold a conversation, but Kevin barely responded. It unnerved Nick just how quiet the kid was, making him concerned that the boy was spending too much time in his own thoughts.
He needed to find a way to break the kid out of his shell, and Nick thought he just might have an idea. Of course, he had another problem he had to deal with, one GD quickly reminded Nick of when he and Kevin finally made it back to the camp.
So, under the big man’s watchful eye, Nick called up Rachel and explained that he’d thought over the argument she’d made when she’d interviewed him for the paper a couple months back and decided to consider actually hiring a woman to replace his lost English teacher.
Nick made it clear that he’d had enough of the out-of-towners who kept quitting on him every six months. He wanted a local. Sure enough, she did know somebody who might be interested in the job.
Chapter Nine
Sunday, June 1st
Kitty Anne woke up to the sound of a woman carrying on outside. Rolling out of bed, she snuck a peek out the window at the drama unfolding in the parking lot and spied GD, of all people, leaning against the railing right across from her door. His lips were curled into a disgusted smirk as he gazed down at another man trying futilely to disengage himself from a half-naked woman.
GD glanced back over his shoulder just in time to catch her spying and shot her a salute that Kitty Anne ignored as she retreated back to the bathroom, rushing to make herself presentable before he could knock on her door. She probably had only seconds, so she could forget the makeup and hope he hadn’t caught a look at the rat nest her hair had twisted into overnight.
A quick brush untangled the mess but also left her hair a frizzy ball that haloed around her head. Kitty Anne pinned it down into a tight bun and wasted no time in moving on to her teeth. They were brushed and her mouth minty fresh not two minutes later, and yet there were still no sounds, other than the ones coming through the wall.
She had a new noisy neighbor. The jerk had moved in two days before and she still hadn’t met him. Kitty Anne had heard him, though. He liked to listen to country rock and watched pornos until late into the night. She’d passed out hearing a woman moaning through the wall, along with the distinctive beat of porno music, which may have explained the erotic fantasies that had filled her dreams.
It was those dreams that had her more than eager as she peeked back through the gap in the curtains, but GD wasn’t there. He’d disappeared. Heaving a deep sigh that barely helped to vent her frustration, Kitty Anne unsnapped the collar she’d slipped on and turned to actually get dressed.
It was probably for the best that he’d left. After all, she had a breakfast date with Rachel. Thankfully, her neighbor left, allowing Kitty Anne to get ready in peaceful silence. She was just on her way out the door when her phone rang, and sure enough, it was GD, sounding as smug and happy as all get-out.
“Hey, beautiful, how you doing this morning?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” Kitty Anne retorted coolly, not afraid to approach any issue directly. “What happened to you this morning? You chicken out?”
“Chicken out?” GD laughed out loud at that insult. “Oh, beautiful, you sound a little grumpy. Didn’t you get a good night’s sleep?”
“No.” Kitty Anne sulked as she fumbled with her keys, trying to juggle them, her purse, and the phone as she unlocked her car and slid into the driver’s seat. “My neighbor kept me up most of the night with his TV. The sad sack was listening to lesbian porn all night. All I heard was giggling and moaning.”
“My poor Kitty,” GD crooned, not sounding the least bit sympathetic. “Did it give you naughty dreams?”
“I’m late,” Kitty Anne informed him haughtily, not about to dignify that question with a response. “So, if you have a point…”
“No,” GD admitted easily enough. “No point. Just missing you.”
“Oh, please,” Kitty Anne huffed, masking the smile gracing her lips with an indignant tone that GD heard right through. “You don’t really expect me to fall for that line, do you?”
“I think you already have.”
“Bye, GD.”
“Be seeing you, beautiful.”
She was sure that he would. Slipping her sunglasses down from the top of her head, Kitty Anne turned out of the motel parking lot eager to start her day. What better way to start a day than with a trip to the bakery? That was just where she planned to meet up with Rachel.
Filled with sweet scents and the warm welcome of low, murmured conversations, the Bread Box seemed to have a disproportionate amount of men filling it that morning. Never one to go unnoticed, Kitty Anne put an extra oomph in her walk, all too aware of the gazes following the sway of her ass as she headed toward where Rachel was already seated.
“Kitty Anne!” Rachel jumped up to give her a quick hug that Kitty Anne returned before sliding into her side of the booth. “I’m so sorry about what happened with Cole.”
“Save it.” Kitty Anne dismissed her apology off with a wave of her hand. “I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to try and set Cole up. My arrest is on me.”
“I still feel guilty,” Rachel admitted, settling back onto her seat.
“You don’t need to,” Kitty Anne assured her, knowing that her words were pointless.
Rachel was so sweet and honest and reliable and everything else that was good and wholesome. That was what Kitty Anne admired about her. Strangely enough, though, she abhorred any hint of those traits in herself, viewing them as weaknesses to be masked and hidden, lest the world take advantage of her.
“Yes, well, I will feel much better if I can help you get this job out at Camp D because, I’m telling you, the place is amazing.” Rachel paused to cast Kitty Anne a sly smile. “And so is the owner.”
“That’s…nice, but…I don’t think I’m on the market.” Kitty Anne took the plunge, knowing just how Rachel would react to that, and her friend didn’t fail her.
“Really? When did this happen? No, screw that. Who is it? How long have you been…oh, my God! What about Cole? And being arrested? Does he know about that?”
“Yes, he knows. Technically, he helped set me up, and you know him. It’s GD.”
“GD! That’s… Well, that…”
“What?” Kitty Anne stilled, unnerved by the frown beginning to darken Rachel’s brow. “What’s wrong with GD? I thought you liked him. You had nothing but good things to say about him before.”
“I do like him,” Rachel insisted. “Everybody likes him, and that is sort of my point. He has a way with women. They are always falling for him, and because he’s such a gentleman, they think he’s falling with them, but a few weeks later, he’s always on to his next conquest.”
That really wasn’t news. GD himself had pretty much assured her he knew all the lines, just as he’d assured her he wasn’t feeding her any. The real question was whether or not she trusted him. The truth was she did. It really wasn’t a matter of choice so much as simple instinct.
“Nick, on the other hand, would be perfect for you,” Rachel swore as she leaned in across the table. “Trust me, you’ll like him.”
“Rachel—”
“I mean, seriously, he dedicates his life to helping children…how sweet is that?”
“I—”
“And I swear, he’s not a dork. He’s hot, like…I don’t know, like…he’s hot!”
Kitty Anne didn’t even respond to that, just shot Rachel a look that had her caving.
“Okay, okay. The truth is it would be really great if you get this job because…” Glancing around at all the men surrounding them, Rachel leaned in closer over the table and dropped her voice lower. “I need some help on a story I’m working on.”
“What story?” Kitty Anne copied Rachel and tipped forward as she pressed for the juicy details. “Abuse? Neglect? Prostitution? Because I know about Nick Dickles.”
Everybody knew about Dickles. He’d gotten a full ride to some uppity college in the north. He hadn’t managed to get a degree, but he had managed to get arrested for running a prostitution ring. Maybe he was back to his old tricks.
“Don’t be sick,” Rachel snapped, appearing to read her mind. “He’s reformed.”
“Uh-huh.” Nobody was ever truly reformed as far as Kitty Anne was concerned.
“Look, the story isn’t about him. It’s about a guy who works out there. Seth Jones.”
Rachel paused as if that was supposed to mean something.
“Yeah?” Kitty Anne prodded her along because that name meant nothing to her. “And?”
“I think he’s Patton’s brother.”
“What? Why?”
“Patton’s mom ran off and left her when she was little,” Rachel explained as if Kitty Anne didn’t already know that story. Her mother’s abandonment, her father’s murder, everybody knew about Patton’s tragic origins. “Nobody knew what happened to her mom, but I’ve done some work, and it looks like the woman settled down in Louisiana.”
“Why did she leave?” Kitty Anne didn’t know why she cared, but her curiosity was caught.
“I really don’t know, but she did have a kid.” Rachel paused to frown as she admitted that things didn’t completely add up. “Though the name on the birth certificate is Kevin, and he’d be eleven.”
“I thought you said this guy was working out there,” Kitty Anne reminded her, wondering if she’d misunderstood something. Apparently not.
“I know it doesn’t all add up, but that’s why I need somebody on the inside to get me the real scoop,” Rachel stated with a pointed look. “I can’t get it because…”
“Because?”
“Adam and Killian have a history with Nick. They’re friends and if I spend too much time out at the camp, Adam and Killian will become suspicious..” Rachel shrugged, though Kitty Anne suspected there was a lot more to that story. “So, I need a little help.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to go out there and befriend this Seth guy and what? And find out if he knows about Patton?”
“Or maybe he doesn’t know,” Rachel countered. “That’s what I need to figure out.”
“And once you do?” Kitty Anne asked. “You going to tell Patton?”
“Of course. What would be better than a story that put a happy ending to the little lost girl without any family?”
* * * *
Nick absently listened as Kitty Anne prattled on at the other end of the phone about her work experience, focusing most of his attention on the pair of scissors he was swinging around his finger. With a snap of his wrist, he sent them flying outward, embedding them in a wall that already had several deep holes sliced into the drywall.
“That’s fantastic.” He spoke on cue as she fell silent. He didn’t need to think about his words, already having them basically scripted for him by GD. “You sound like an ideal fit, so I think maybe the best thing is for you to come on out to the camp and see if things continue to flow as smoothly.”
And so he could prove to GD that Venuses didn’t exist.
“That would be great!”
There was no denying the enthusiasm filling those words, and Nick cringed, unable to escape the sour bite of guilt her happiness filled him with. From what GD had said, the girl was in a desperate situation. It probably wasn’t right to waste her time or money on the gas, but he’d made a bet with GD. So, Nick would just have to reimburse her for the fuel because he didn’t back out of bets.
“Tomorrow would be—”
“My schedule’s packed tomorrow.” Nick cut her off, not about to waste her time by dragging out this situation. “It’d be best if you came out today.”
“But…but, it’s Sunday.”
Meaning she wasn’t ready to be interviewed. Nick had spent enough time around enough women to know how to translate what they were really saying. He’d spare her the effort and himself the extra temptation.
“I really must insist, Miss Allison. After all, flexibility and adaptability are two important traits necessary for this position.”
“Well, if you insist…”
“I do.”
“Very well then.”
Not sounding half as exuberant as she’d been moments ago, Kitty Anne agreed to meet with him just two hours from then. That might not have given her all the time she wanted to get herself together, but it gave Nick all he needed to get a workout in with some of the older boys on the obstacle course before checking in to assure that dinner service was on schedule and that the chapel was being prepped for the Sunday sermon that Father Lopez came out once a week to give.
Nick caught a quick shower before dressing in his preppiest outfit and was all but ready to walk out to go wait for GD’s Venus when he opened the door and found the big man standing there with an expectant look alighting his face and a fist raised to knock.
“What are you doing here?” Nick stepped back, caught completely off guard by GD’s sudden appearance.
“I’ve come to watch you go down.” GD paused as if considering his words and hearing the double meaning in them. His grin widened just as Nick’s scowl deepened.
It seemed impossible, but GD’s smile actually grew larger. He didn’t answer, though, but just shook his head.
“It’s a job interview,” Nick reminded him, exasperated by the big man’s attitude. “Nothing is going to happen.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I mean it.”
“Sure thing.” GD nodded.
“You can’t possibly believe that anything is going to happen here.”
“I’m going to go hide and spy on you.” With that GD turned to go, but paused to throw back one last warning. “Don’t let Kitty Anne know I’m here.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because then she’ll figure out my plan,” GD shot back, a “duh” sound in his tone as if Nick were the crazy one here.
“You have a plan?”
“Of course.”
“Well, tell me, because I can’t figure it out.”
“It’s simple. It’s you, me, and Kitty living happily ever after.”
That gave Nick pause. Forgetting that the idea itself was insane, he wasn’t exactly sure how setting Kitty Anne up with Nick and then spying on them accomplished that goal. He just didn’t know how to ask that question, so he went with a simple statement.
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s simple,” GD insisted with a hint of annoyance. “You’re about to get taken out. From here on out, you’re going to be Kitty’s pet. Trust me, you don’t want that woman in charge. She’s nuts.”
“She’s nuts?” Nick wondered if GD was listening to himself. Apparently not.
“That’s what I said. She’s crazy. I’m sorry, I can’t have crazy in charge. That means it’s up to me to be the enforcer of the relationship. To be able to command, I have to be respected.”
“Uh-huh.”
“So, I’m holding out on her.”
Again Nick was left dumbfounded by GD’s logic. It was almost laughable. From the things he said to the way he looked, GD proved that somebody had gone insane, but Nick didn’t think it was Kitty Anne.