Crossing Danger: A Shelby Nichols Adventure (2 page)

“What? Are you kidding me? Of course you’d make a copy. You’re a famous reporter...that’s just something you’d do.” I smiled, hoping she’d buy my explanation, and that throwing in a little complement wouldn’t hurt either.

She was thinking that if I’d figured out she’d made a copy someone else could figure it out too. That could be bad.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. And since most people don’t know you as well as I do, I’m sure your secret’s safe with me.”

“That’s good to know,” she said, thinking I was sure good at picking up on things, since that was exactly what she’d been thinking.

“Well...we’d better get going,” I said. “It’s getting late.”

“Wait. Did you get any other premonitions about Addie? Like...who’s behind this or anything helpful?”

“Sorry...no. I only picked up that someone had threatened her if she didn’t leave town.”

Billie pursed her lips and nodded, then turned to leave. I followed her back to her car, and we drove to the dojo in silence. Mostly because Billie was thinking hard about the case and wondering who had taken the thumb-drive from her locked office desk and also threatened Addie. By the time she let me out at the dojo, I knew where she’d hidden the copy of the thumb-drive. I also knew who she thought was behind it.

“Thanks for your help, Shelby,” she said.

“Sure. Let me know if you need anything else.” She nodded, and I hurried to my car. As I drove home, I worried about Billie. It looked like things were escalating, and I didn’t want to see her get hurt. Had I done enough to help her?

Maybe I should have warned her about Addie’s threatening notes and phone calls...but then she would have wanted to know how I knew all of those details. There was just no easy answer. I could check up on the person she thought was behind it, though, and find out more about them.

I got home and greeted Chris with a kiss, glad to be home where I didn’t have to worry about keeping my mind-reading a secret, at least from him. My kids were a different story, but no way would I ever let them know their mom could read their minds. I shuddered at the thought.

“How was class?” he asked.

“Great! I learned how to break someone’s arm. Do you want me to show you how?”

“Um...no.” He was thinking
do I look stupid?

I chuckled. “You don’t think I’d really break your arm, do you?”

“You might,” he said, but hurried on to add, “Not on purpose though.” He was thinking my enthusiasm might get the best of me, and then who knew what could happen?

“I wouldn’t break your arm...geeze.”

His smile widened, and mischief brightened his eyes. “Okay then...you can show me.”

What a tease. I had him do the choke-hold on me and then pushed my way right out of it. I got a good hold on his arm and pulled it back and down. “This is where I could break your arm if I wanted to.”

“Yeah,” Chris said, his voice a little strained. “I can feel that...you can let me go now.”

I let up on him and tried to keep the satisfied smirk off my face. What was it about pushing a man around that gave me so much pleasure? “Let me show you something else. Grab my wrist like you’re trying to drag me away.”

His lips turned down in a frown, but he did as I asked. This time I put my other hand over his and twisted his wrist until he staggered back. “With this hold...I can break your wrist.”

“Yeah...I get it...lots of breaking things.”

“Isn’t this great?” I asked, letting him go. “And this was just my first class. Imagine how good I’ll get after a few months?”

Chris rubbed his wrist. “Yeah, that’s true.” He was thinking that maybe he should take lessons too, just so I couldn’t beat up on him.

I snickered. “That could be fun. Maybe the kids would like to learn too. Some basic self-defense is always a good thing, especially for a girl. Where are the kids anyway?”

“I think Savannah’s in her room, and Josh is playing video games downstairs.”

“Did he get his homework done first?” I asked. This was a rule I tried to enforce, and I hoped Chris had checked up on him.

“I think so,” Chris said. But he really had no idea.

“You don’t know?”

“Um...no, but I think he was working on something earlier, so he probably did.”

His mind was blank, so I knew he was blocking me out. “Okay...good.” I hated the role of “the mean parent,” so I let it go and yelled down the stairs for Josh to come up. Being fourteen, he wasn’t enthusiastic about losing his place in his game, so it took him several minutes before he came upstairs.

At twelve, Savannah was more than happy to see what I’d learned. It was also surprising that she had some of the same thoughts about beating up the guys that I did. As I showed her the wrist-grabbing move, she was thinking about the boy at school who’d grabbed her by the arm and shoved her into the boy’s bathroom.

I caught my breath to ‘hear’ that, and hot indignation surged over me. “Let’s practice that again so you’ve got it down before school tomorrow. In fact, I think you should start coming to Aikido with me.” I knew seventh grade was rough, but seriously? Who were these boys?

“Cool,” she said, excited about the prospect of breaking someone’s arm, or at least causing some pain so no one would want to mess with her.

“You got that right,” I said, giving her a high five. 

Josh thought it was cool too, but he wasn’t as enthusiastic as me and Savannah. His voice had dropped an octave, and he was growing like a weed. He’d even passed me up by a couple of inches. He’d also never had the same experience of getting shoved into the bathroom like Savannah had.

That’s when it hit me that men didn’t experience life the same way as women. Walking to a car at night, or being alone on a dark street, wasn’t a big deal to them. But I always felt fearful at times like that, and I thought most women did.

Good thing I was taking Aikido. Knowing how to defend myself would help me feel more in control and, after what I’d been through recently, it was definitely what I needed to cope with the times those dark memories fell over me like a shadow.

“Hey beautiful,” Chris said, lifting my chin to gaze into my eyes. He always seemed to know when I got lost in the dark and knew just what to say to bring me back. I smiled up at him, amazed that he put up with me most of the time.

The fact that I could read his mind had been a real trial for us, but somehow we’d managed to make it work, and my relationship with him was better than ever. Especially now, when he was thinking that I was beautiful, sweet, and...did I buy his favorite ice cream when I went to the store?

I narrowed my eyes. “I bought some ice cream, but I got my favorite this time.”

“That’s okay,” he drawled. “I especially like your flavor.” This time, he wasn’t talking about ice cream.

“Did someone say ice cream?” Josh piped up.

“Yeah,” I said, pulling away from Chris with a knowing smile. “Dad’s going to dish it up for everyone.”

“Sweet,” Josh said. His voice cracked, and we all laughed.

***

The next morning I got out of bed, surprised to find my muscles stiff from my workout at the dojo. At least I felt confident that if anyone grabbed Savannah’s arm today, she could handle herself. That put me in a good mood.

After Chris and the kids left, I got ready for my appointment with Uncle Joey. I only felt a little guilty that I hadn’t told Chris about it. But I’d learned that, where Uncle Joey was concerned, telling Chris as little as possible beforehand worked best, mostly because I didn’t want him to worry about me. I could fill him in after I knew what was going on...if I needed to. So really...it was for his own good that I didn’t tell him to begin with.

I had no idea what Uncle Joey wanted this time but, for the first time in a long while, I felt I stood on equal footing with him. Like I could speak my mind about whether or not I’d do something he wanted. Gone were the days when I might have groveled or tried to run. We were both in a different place now...and I was grateful for the change.

I pulled into the parking garage and walked with confidence to the elevators. On a whim, I peeked around the corner just to see if Ramos’ motorcycle was there. The sight of it brought a bit of longing to my heart.

The autumn leaves were cascading to the ground, leaving trails of color in the breeze. Even though the weather was a bit cooler now, it was still warm enough to go riding through the leaves, and I could imagine how nice it would be to sit behind Ramos and enjoy a brisk ride.

Full of nostalgia, I headed to the elevators and soon exited on the twenty-sixth floor. The words “Thrasher Development” spanned above the double doors and, with a smile, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“Shelby!” Jackie greeted me warmly. “How are you doing?”

“Great. How are you?”

“Things are going okay. I’m still here, even though Joe wanted me to quit.” She was thinking that now that everyone knew she’d married Joe, he thought it was inappropriate for his wife to be his secretary, and it drove her crazy. “Can you imagine someone else running this place? There’s no way I’m going to let that happen.”

“I totally agree,” I said. “If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll keep you right where you are.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Anyway, he’s with a client right now, but he should be done soon. You want a Diet Coke?”

“Sure.” I followed her to the end of the hall and through a door that opened up into a swanky apartment. It was done in black and white, with splashes of color on the walls and couches, and I knew Ramos often stayed there. 

As if thinking about him conjured him up, Ramos entered the kitchen from a back room. He stopped in surprise, and a small grin spread over his lips. “Babe.”

“Hey,” I replied. My stomach did a little flip-flop, and my heart raced. He had that effect on me. “We’re just here to get a Diet Coke.” I didn’t want him to think I was stalking him or anything.

“Oh...yeah, I see that.”

Jackie grabbed a couple of cans out of the fridge and set them on the counter while shaking her head. She was thinking that if we didn’t stop drooling over each other, she was going to be sick.

“How have you been?” he asked.

“Good.” I reached for the soda, but he got it first. “Hey...that’s mine.”

He smiled, but didn’t let it go, so I took the other can, and Jackie rolled her eyes before opening the fridge for another one.

“I’ll have you know I’m learning self-defense, so you’d better watch out.” He raised his brows, so I continued. “Yeah, I could probably break your arm if I wanted.”

“Really? You think you could take me?” He was thinking he’d like to see me try, and if I managed to take him down, he’d certainly be impressed.

“Sure,” I said.

“Okay then, show me what you’ve got.”

The living room floor was covered with thick, white carpet, and Ramos moved the coffee table to the side so there was lots of open space. I slipped off my shoes and set my purse on the counter, visualizing how fun it would be to throw Ramos over my shoulder. But since I didn’t know exactly how to do that yet, I decided to do the wrist-grab thing to take him down.

“Okay,” I said. “First you have to try and grab my arm.”

Ramos suppressed a grin before lunging for me. I squeaked and tried to jump out of the way but, before I knew what was happening, he’d grabbed me around the waist and, in one smooth move, pinned me to the ground. Even though the carpet was soft, it kind of knocked the breath out of me, and I stared up at him with surprised shock. As he easily held me down, a satisfied smirk twisted his lips.

“How did you do that?” I asked, a little breathless.

Before he could say a word, the flash of a camera caught me full in the face. I blinked up to find Uncle Joey standing there with a big grin on his face and his phone in his hand.

“Crap!”

Ramos grunted and quickly got up, then offered me his hand. After helping me to my feet, I glared at Uncle Joey. “You did not just take a picture of me.”

“I did,” he grinned. “But it might be a little blurry. Do you want to see it?”

“Yeah...sure...” I reached for the phone, but he held it out of my grasp while he pushed a few buttons.

“There it is...what do you think?”

He handed me the phone, and I nearly fainted to see myself in such a compromising position. The look of shock on my face wasn’t very flattering either. Before he could object, I found the delete icon and got rid of the photo.

“Shelby? Did you just delete that?”

“Of course I did! What were you thinking?”

He couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. “You should have seen your face. As long as I live, I’ll never forget that look.”

I glared at him, but he only laughed harder. I scowled before handing Uncle Joey his phone and turned toward the kitchen. “Where’s my Diet Coke?”

“Um...on the counter,” Jackie said. She was trying not to laugh, even though it was killing her. She also thought maybe that would teach me a lesson about keeping my distance from Ramos. After all, I was a married woman.

Clenching my teeth, I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my purse and soda, and took off out the door. They all followed behind, each entertaining amused thoughts about my little incident with Ramos. Jackie stopped at her desk, and Ramos continued down the hall to the security room, a happy grin on his face.