“They would not laugh at you. They’d be surprised, but they wouldn’t laugh. They most certainly would try and hook you up with the first man to walk by, though.”
“An even better reason not to tell them.”
“Annie, phone!” called out Michael, interrupting our conversation.
“I promise not to tell,” I called out to Lola as I rushed behind the counter. I held the receiver to my ear as I reached for another clean rag, tossing the dirty one in a bag of things to be laundered.
“Annie speaking.”
“Is this Annie Lonergan?”
“It is. How can I help you?” I wiped a splash of spilt coffee off the counter.
“Princess, you can help me by depositing twenty-four thousand dollars into my bank account by the end of week.”
The rag in my hand stilled on the counter. “I beg your pardon?”
“I’m sure you heard me just fine. Do you have trouble hearing? Because if I don’t see that money by midnight this Friday, the first thing I am going to take from you is those pretty little ears, followed by your son.” Bile rose in my throat, and my heart beat so loud it drowned out the lunchtime chaos around me. “You don’t want to call the police. I have men watching you and your boy, so you need to be real careful how you handle this, princess, otherwise one of you will meet an unfortunate accident.”
“Who are you? I don’t owe anyone that kind of money.” It was a lie, I owed Jaxon a whole lot more than that, but I knew this call had nothing to do with Jaxon Carter.
“No, your husband, Phillip, owes me, and I can’t find him, so you’re it, princess. Midnight Friday, twenty-four thousand. I’ll call before the end of the week to give you the bank account details, unless you have the money now, in which case we can clear things up right away.”
“I don’t have that kind of money, not now, not even by the end of the week.”
“That’s a shame. An innocent boy shouldn’t have to die because his parents aren’t able to provide for him. Tell you what. I’ll call you back in a few days to see how you’re doing. If you are struggling to get the money together, maybe we can talk . . . maybe we can come to another arrangement.” The voice went quiet, but I knew he was still there, the heavy breathing giving him away. “It might be nice to have a lady around, to keep things clean . . . to keep things interesting.”
I knew what he was insinuating, and by the time my brain sent my lips the signal to speak, the line went dead. I stood there with the phone pressed against my ear, my mind spinning with incoherent thoughts. With a shaking hand, I placed the receiver back on the cradle against the wall.
“Annie?” Michael called out sounding harried.
“I need a minute,” I snapped, before racing down the short hallway and into the tiny storeroom out back. I slammed the door shut and stood in the room, it’s spinning making me ill. Leaning hard against the wall, I closed my eyes and drew long, deep breaths, in and out. My entire body shook, but as I stood there, reaching for calm, I gradually found it. Finally, my mind snapped into sharp focus. What the hell had Phillip done, and where the hell was he? I had to find him. He had to fix this. The business account currently had a little less than twelve thousand dollars in it. It was the end of the month and wages had to come out of that, bills had to be paid, and whatever was left went to Jaxon as a loan repayment. There was no way I could possibly come up with that kind of money, and the alternative was a hell-no! A tap on the door caught my attention, and I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing for a few more minutes to compose myself.
“Sunshine, you hiding in there?” Dillon. His voice alone filled me with a sense of security.
Maybe I could tell Dillon. The man on the phone had said no police, but Dillon wasn’t the police. What if Dillon told the police, though? What if the men supposedly watching me and Eli found out I had told Dillon and realized who and what he was? They would probably retaliate just as if I had told the police. No, I needed to keep this to myself for now, until I could locate Phillip and find out what he had gotten himself into. I had a few days until the mysterious caller got back in touch with me.
“Annie, you okay in there?” His voice had morphed from playful to concerned, so with one final breath, I pulled away from the wall, flattened my hands down my apron, and opened the door. “Are you alight?” His brow furrowed as his eyes checked me over for injury. To have someone care and worry about me like that was new, but welcome.
“I’m okay. It’s just been a crazy day. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and just needed a minute.” I could tell Dillon didn’t believe me so I tried a little harder to plaster on a fake smile. His eyes dropped to my lips, and his brow dipped lower with confusion. He knew my smile wasn’t real, but he stepped away from the door and nodded.
“I’m just grabbing some lunch. Thought I’d hang out here for a while. I was getting sick of staring at the walls in my office.”
“So you thought you’d stare at the glass walls of mine?”
The corner of Dillon’s mouth quirked up. “I had something else in mind to stare at.”
I blushed because, well, I wasn’t used to the unabashed and open compliments that Dillon was so comfortable giving me. He grabbed a sandwich from the fridge and I had Michael make him up the short black he preferred, then he took a seat at a corner booth where he remained for the rest of the day. He spent a little bit of time on his laptop and phone, but seemed to always be looking my way when I glanced over. As the afternoon dragged on, I was much jumpier than usual, my eyes constantly checking over my shoulder. Trying to look normal in the eyes of the people around me while continuously searching for an unknown threat was virtually impossible. By the time I was ready to close up, I was exhausted. When Charlie waltzed through the front doors with Eli in tow, I felt my body sag with relief.
“You tell your momma, okay?” I heard Charlie murmur to Eli.
“Tell your momma what?” I asked, kneeling down to wrap my arms around my boy. He was small for his age, but his wise old personality and wit made him seem so much older than eight.
“Nothing,” he said in a small voice.
“Little man,” Charlie practically growled.
Eli stood back and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Mrs. Wicker put me in the timeout chair for twenty minutes because I told Jordy Jackson that I was gonna kick him in the nuts.”
“Eli!” I gasped, shocked. Eli didn’t have a violent bone in his body. I couldn’t believe he would say or do such a thing.
“He was teasing Bella and told her she looked like an orangutan because she had red hair. Bella didn’t know what that was, but I did. It’s a monkey, and it wasn’t nice. Then he kept saying Bella ranga, Bella ranga over and over, and she started crying and no one else was doing anything. He was being a bully, and you told me bullying was not right. So, I told him to leave Bella alone or I’d kick him in the nuts, and I knew how ’cause Dillon showed me!” Eli was red in the face by the time he had finished, probably a combination of anger and lack of breath.
“Okay, settle down, Rambo. Firstly, I thought we agreed on not using the word nuts.”
“I didn’t agree,” Eli pouted.
“Secondly, bullying should not be tolerated, and I am so proud of you for standing up to Jordy and looking out for Bella.” His little brown eyes shot up to mine. “But, you really shouldn’t have threatened to kick him the n . . .” I almost said the damn word myself. “You shouldn’t have threatened him like you did. You can’t fix ugly words with more ugly words, Eli.”
“Then how am I supposed to fix it?”
“You need to be the bigger man, the one who takes Bella by the hand and walks away.”
“But then Jordy will tease her again tomorrow.”
“And tomorrow, you walk away. If you keep walking away, Jordy would get no enjoyment out of picking on Bella, and he would move on.”
“But then he would pick on someone else?”
I sighed. Eli was too smart for his own good. “Let’s go home, Bean. I�
�m really tired. Just don’t threaten to kick anybody in the nuts anymore.”
“You said nuts,” Eli giggled, and I couldn’t stop my smile.
“I heard it, little man. Your momma needs a spanking,” said Dillon from behind us. That made Eli laugh, and the cheeky look on Dillon’s face made me blush.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
Chapter 8
Dillon
Something was wrong. While it wasn’t unusual for Annie to have the occasional jittery day and her thoughts distant, she seemed to be balancing on a ledge right now and one wrong word would topple her over. I had driven Annie and Eli home from the coffee shop and when I had tried to leave, Annie asked me if I wanted to stay for dinner. It had been a long time since I had just hung out with them so casually, and while I was grateful for the chance, I was also beginning to think Annie had ulterior motives for asking me to stay. Now that Eli was tucked away in bed, Annie sat at the corner couch, pretending to watch a movie, while most of her concentration was focused out the window and on the street below.
“So, Sunshine, you going to tell me what has you so wired tonight?” My voice obviously startled her, and she spilled some of her coffee in her lap. “Shit,” I whispered, grabbing a wash cloth to help her clean up the spill. “Did you get burned?” I asked, brushing her hands away when she tried to take the cloth from me.
“Only a bit, it’s not bad at all.”
“Let me see.” I grabbed the bottom of her skirt and Annie’s hands frantically reached for mine to stop me.
“No way, mister, you just want a chance to peek under my skirt,” she huffed. God, she was adorable.
“Annie,” I said in my most stern voice, which when it came to Annie wasn’t very stern at all, “while the thought of getting a chance to glance up your skirt is somewhat appealing, I’m not going to use the excuse of a severe injury to do so.” She rolled her eyes, and it was so reminiscent of Eli that I actually laughed out loud. “I’m not going to peek at your sexy undergarments, my lady. I just want to check your leg to see if you need burn cream.” I pushed her reluctant hands away and gathered her skirt, drawing it over her knees. Her skin was so soft I had to force myself to keep my hands safely wrapped around the fabric. A nasty red mark marred her pretty skin. It wasn’t blistered, but it warranted burn cream. “Let me get something for this.” I had looked after Eli enough to know where the first aid kit was and grabbed it from the bathroom before kneeling back in front of Annie who was looking out the window again. I rubbed a little cream into the burn, stifled a groan, and lowered her skirt, so I wouldn’t jump the beauty like a rabid, sex-crazed dog. When I glanced up, Annie’s eyes were finally on me. I leaned forward and rubbed my thumb over the little line between her brows. “You want to tell me what created this?” I whispered.
“Just a bad day,” she lied. I could tell it was a lie; Annie couldn’t lie worth a damn. Her eyes moved away from mine and her body tensed.
“Hmmmm, you want to tell me what’s so interesting out that window? It’s enough to make a man feel vulnerable ignoring him the way you are.”
“I’m not ignoring you. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Sunshine, I know something’s got you scared. You don’t have to make excuses for me to stay. I’m happy to hang around, but I need you to tell me what’s bothering you so I can fix it.” Something flickered in her eyes, desperation? Hope? Then, like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere, her lips pressed hard against mine. I was so shocked it took me a moment to respond, and when I finally did, it felt wrong. The kiss wasn’t one of longing or want; it was one of desperation and confusion. With a gentle hand, I pushed her back, putting some space between us. “Annie, what’s going on?”
“I know it hasn’t been that long since you kissed a girl, Dillon,” she snapped, and it was so un-Annie-like it had me resting back on my heels, putting even more space between us.
“No, it hasn’t been, so I know when a woman is kissing me because she wants to and when a woman is kissing me because she needs to. That kiss was one of need, one of you needing me to stop asking questions.” Her pale cheeks flushed with anger, and she swiftly stood which had me falling back on my ass.
“You can leave now. I’m fine. I’m certain Melinda can give you the kisses you want if I’m not up to par.”
Her words pissed me off, but I understood this wasn’t my usual Annie talking. This was scared Annie, and I just wanted to know what the fuck had her feathers so damn ruffled. As much as she was pushing for an argument, I knew it wouldn’t solve anything. Annie was the type of woman to put a wide open field of space between her and anything that made her uncomfortable. I reigned in my temper and stood.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay if I leave? I’m happy to crash on the couch if you want.”
“No, you can go. I don’t want you to keep Melinda waiting.”
Okay, now she sounded like a damn jealous school girl. I didn’t like it and not because she sounded childish, but because I knew my rejection of our first kiss had upset her. I grabbed her chin and lifted her gaze to mine.
“Sunshine, I’m not seeing Melinda anymore and you know that, and that kiss . . . no matter if it was for all the wrong reasons, it eclipsed anything I’ve ever experienced with any other woman. When we kiss for all the right reasons, it’s going to bring you to your knees.” I kissed her cheek. “Now, last chance, do you want me to sleep on the couch?” She shook her head, apparently speechless. “Okay then, I’m going to head out, but I want you to call me for anything, even if you just want to hear my manly voice.” I winked and watched her lips curve up.
As I reached the door, I paused and saw the conflict on her face. But she didn’t say anything, and I wouldn’t push her. Leaving just about tore my heart out and I contemplated sleeping in my car in the street out front. I had to put faith in the security of her home, and I had to believe that Annie would call me if she needed me.
*
“What do you mean he’s missed his last three appointments? You are supposed to contact his parole officer the minute he misses one!” I was shouting, and I never shouted. I was renowned for not losing my shit. Sure I got impatient, I huffed and puffed a whole lot, and people moved right the hell out of my way when stress pushed me into a foul mood, but I never lost my shit.
Dr. Powalski sighed from her end of the phone. “I know, but he had done so well over the last eight months I wanted to give him a chance; he’s never been so much as late for a single appointment.”
“All the more reason to call it in when he’s a no-show!” I growled. Fuck, I needed to calm down.
“It was reported this morning. His wife called yesterday asking my receptionist for some information about Phillip. She was quite upset when we couldn’t help her, but she must understand we have an obligation to keep our client’s personal information private. Will you please pass on my apologies?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Annie had phoned about Phillip? “What kind of information was she after?”
“I think she was after a phone number, but due to patient confidentiality we just can’t give out the information. We can take her phone number and pass it on to Phillip if she wishes.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll talk to Annie. If you hear from Phillip, will you please let me know?”
“Of course, Mr. Montgomery.”
“Thank you.” I hung up before the doctor had a chance to say anything more. I was angry and completely confused. Annie would never initiate a meeting with Phillip, and yesterday she had been terrified. Phillip was missing; perhaps he had approached her first? I stood from my desk and growled—yep, actually fucking growled. I had an hour to get home, don a suit, and get to Annie’s to pick her and Gabbie up for the fundraiser tonight. My mind was whirling with questions, but they would have to wait. I wasn’t going to allow Phillip Lonergan to ruin my and Annie’s first date. Kicking my office door shut, I made my way down the elevator and to my car, the entire time
grumbling like a bear with a sore tooth.
*
Braiden shrugged, and his cavalier attitude pissed me off.
“She tried to contact him!” I said again a little more clearly.
“He is her husband.”
“Ex-husband.”
“They aren’t divorced, so they are still husband and wife.”
“Damn it, Braiden, I’m going to kick your ass!”
“For what, stating the truth?”
We were standing in the foyer and I was struggling with my tie. I hated ties. Emily stepped around Braiden and brushed my hands away.
“Maybe he threatened her, maybe that’s why she tried to call him?”
“And maybe she wants to make their separation final and divorce him; perhaps she called to let him know her intention.” Braiden said with a frustrating calm.
“She doesn’t need to let him know. A lawyer can take care of all that.”
“Annie can’t afford a lawyer, but perhaps Phillip can. Maybe she hoped he would offer to take care of it.”
“Fuck you, Braiden. Why do you have to be so damn logical all the time?”
He shrugged as Emily finished my tie and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back into his chest.
“Let him tie his own ties in the future,” he whispered into her neck. “He’s like a grumpy ol’ bear straight out of hibernation.”
Emily wrapped her hands around Braiden’s. “No, he’s a man in love and worried about his family. Stop being such an ass.”
I smiled, I couldn’t help myself. Sweet, mild, and meek Emily rarely cussed and never berated Braiden. As far as she was concerned, he could do little wrong. Whatever Braiden whispered in her ear made her turn ten shades of red, and a pang of jealousy flooded my veins. Not because I wanted Emily; I wanted what they had, the easy, loving comfort of one another. I grabbed my keys and shoved my phone in my jacket pocket.
“Dillon, go easy on her. Annie is a good woman. I’m sure she has a reason for trying to contact Phillip, and they would be fair reasons. This is supposed to be a special night for the two of you and the start of something new. Don’t go in guns blazing.” And again with the voice of reason!
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