Stay With Me (29 page)

“Hey, Savi,” Jim said. “Want some dinner?”

They were kicked back in big bamboo chairs, holding sweating beer bottles and eating turkey legs like cavemen. It was unfair how good the two of them looked out there, not giving a rat’s ass about their appearance. Their family genes were very blessed.

“Nah, thanks,” I said, smiling at my brother-in-law. Only him. Not Ian. “I need a little veggie in my life tonight. Lily around?”

“She just went in to change or something. Probably in the bedroom,” Jim said.

“Thanks.”

I closed the door while Ian was looking at his plate so I wouldn’t have that look of his on my brain. And I went in search of my sister. Their house wasn’t enormous, so it didn’t take long, but it was the way I found her that sent chills down my spine. She was sitting on her bed, staring into space.

“Lily?”

She started at my voice and made to get up, but I held a hand up and climbed up there with her instead. She chuckled silently and held my hand.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Lily shook her head slowly. “Nothing. And everything.”

“Well, that’s an easy one,” I said.

She giggled wearily and then moaned and flopped onto her back.

“When did life get so hard, Savi?” she said, closing her eyes. “The hard part was supposed to be raising the kids. Now it seems it’s just trying to make ends meet. Supplies are suddenly hard to get, meat prices have gone up, even the damn air conditioning at the shop hasn’t been cooling right.”

They’re fucking you over, leaning on your suppliers and draining your damn freon.
Anger seethed hot under my skin.

“Lily, we’re gonna get this worked out,” I said. “Don’t sweat it.”

She looked at me like I had horns. “And how do you plan to do that, wave a magic wand?”

“Nope,” I said, remembering what Ian said his plans were. “Just maybe stir up some dust. See what settles.”

“Don’t get involved, Savi,” she said. “It gets complicated. This town is so incestuous.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that,” I said, wondering if that meant she knew the details. “Believe me, this town gets smaller all the time.”

She sat up and gave me the head shake that meant she was moving on. “Did you find your pies?”

“I did not, did the guys eat them?”

“Nope,” she said. “I hid them.”

“You’re a genius.”

“Were they still out there pigging out?” she asked as she scooted off the bed.

“Unfortunately.”

She raised an eyebrow. “So is it just me, or—”

“The turkey legs?” I said. “Turkey legs and beer and they look that hot—fuck me.”

“Makes you want to just—”

Almost did that last night, actually. God, I sucked.
“But it’s them. Ugly men couldn’t pull that off, they’d just look like pigs.”

Chapter Nineteen

I approached my porch that evening with more than a little trepidation and a whole shitload of guilt. For what? Kissing another man? Okay, maybe letting said man feel me up? What about lying to me, to the town, to the board of veterinary medicine—my God, was he even licensed? Did Gracie get spayed by an imposter in scrubs? What about looking me straight in the face while I went on about his uncle? Yeah, what about that.

Gracie met me at the door with her wiggly bulk, ready for dinner and belly rubs.

“You should be happy I got you fixed, Gracie Lou,” I said, curling up on the couch with her. “Sex is bad. It makes you stupid.” She flipped over on her back and sprawled, spread-legged. “Such a slut.”

There was a knock at my door that pulled her off the couch and to her feet in seconds. But not a bark. Hmm, sure sign that it was someone she knew. I pulled my body off the couch, feeling like I had rocks in my bones, and went to the door, and then hesitated. She knew Duncan, and the thought of being alone with him in my house now gave me a little bit of the willies. I carefully leaned in and looked through the peephole.

Shit.

“Jesus, he’s trying to make me crazy,” I muttered, opening the door only partially and leaning on it. Then again, seeing him on my porch again set my blood to vibrating. “What are you doing here, Ian? Miss Slade busy tonight?”

He narrowed his eyes at me in a way that said I’d lost my mind. “What the hell?”

I had. No doubt of that. “You sure seemed cozy.”

“Jealous?” he said, his eyes flashing between arrogance and maybe something more vulnerable he didn’t want to show.

“Of her?” I said, feeling my skin heat up at his play on my words. “Hardly. She’s a snake.”

“Then why do you care?”

“Because she’s a snake who’s out to rip me off,” I said.

His jaw twitched and he shook his head and rubbed at his eyes, standing there in those damn worn-out jeans of his, arms crossed over a light gray T-shirt that clung to him, smelling slightly of turkey.

“Can I come in?”

“Depends,” I said. “What are you here to talk about?”

He met my eyes with a weary look. “Please.”

I moved out of the way and walked back to the couch, gesturing for him to come in.
Like inviting Satan over for tea.

“You know, if you’d get out of your own way, you’d see that what they are offering you is the best thing you could do,” Ian said.

I looked over my shoulder at him. “This again. Whose side are you on?”

“Always yours,” he said. “If you even have to ask that—”

“Well, right back at you,” I said. “If you even have to suggest selling out as a viable option, then you don’t know me at all.”

Ian sat across from me on an ottoman, leaning on his knees. I curled my legs under me and pulled a pillow on my lap for comfort. Gracie jumped on top, just in case I wasn’t comfortable enough. Or in case I lost my mind with Ian in the house. On my couch. Or the bedroom down the hall.

“Fine,” he said, shaking his head slightly as he kept his gaze on the floor. “Whatever. Up for one more job?” he said.

A giggle worked its way up, something borne out of stress and exhaustion. And whiplash.

“Job?” I said, laughing. “Do you hear yourself,
Mr. Smith,
because you sound like a spy movie.”

“Well, we’re kind of living in one,” he said.

“What’s your diabolical plan?” I asked.

There was a pause, and that’s when I realized the good or at least halfway decent vibes between us were about to disintegrate.

“Break into Duncan’s house and get proof of who he is.” He held up a finger as I shook my head. “Just hear me out.”

“I told you last night—”

“Did you look him up?” he said, cutting me off, his tone serious.

I pressed my lips together, unwilling to go there. Not with him. Not when I hadn’t even had the chance to go there with Duncan.

“I need to talk to him,” I said.

Another look. “Are you crazy?” He leaned forward as far as he could without touching me. “Savi, he’s lying about who he is, what he is, and who the hell knows why? You don’t know what he’s capable of.”

“Yes, I do,” I said, not actually fully believing my own words, but not willing to let Ian know that. “I—” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I can’t just string him up over a Google search. He deserves to tell his side.”

Ian regarded me with a searching expression. “Which you had all day to do, and didn’t,” he said. “You don’t trust him either.”

“I just don’t know how to bring it up,” I said. “I’m working on it.”

“Straight approach is best,” he said.

I smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You can’t go there alone, though, Sav,” he said. “Not here, either.”

It was my turn to give him a look. “I can’t exactly bring a chaperone, Ian.”

His eyes went steely. “This isn’t a game,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. “Why are you so hell-bent on believing in this guy? After what you know?”

I looked at him, appealing to the past. “I believed in you too,” I said, my voice going husky. “I knew things about you too. I heard all the trash talk about you, Ian. And loved you anyway.”

All the hardness went out of his eyes, replaced with the sting of memory and regret.

“You saying you’re in love with him?”

Bam.
Hard punch to the middle, followed by a fucking scissor kick to the head. All the breath went out of my body as I looked into Ian’s eyes. The hurt and the disbelief. The glazing over that followed immediately after. And the sound of those words banging around inside my head, bouncing off each other.

Was I?

“Maybe I’m just a sucker for the underdog,” I said softly.

“Maybe,” he said, raking his fingers through his hair and standing, restless, his eyes gone neutral. “My plan stays the same.”

I blew out a breath, frustrated. “You haven’t seen that house. It has state-of-the-art everything, Ian, there’s no getting in there.”

“Let’s go look.”

“What?” I said. “No. I’m telling you—and besides, why? Even if you had proof, what would you do with it?”

“Confront him,” Ian said. “Confront Georgie, Bobby. We get something good enough, we say leave us alone—leave your business alone—leave Copper Falls alone or we send it to the police.”

It actually had merit. It had solidity. It had something I could help Lily with. It had that rush to it that made me a little flushed.

“He doesn’t even have a computer there,” I said. “He does everything he needs from work.”

“So let’s look in his files then,” he said. “Come on, let’s just go look, Savi,” he said. “Just show it to me. We’ll make a call then.”

He wanted the rush of going, regardless of the circumstances. I stood up to face him, forcing Gracie over with a grunt.

“I’m not doing that,” I said, my voice trailing to a whisper. “You want to go? Look him up and go. You don’t need me for that.”

Realization settled in his face. I wasn’t going to be his Tonto. Our axis had shifted a little more, and I felt it too.

“Fair enough,” he said, his expression troubled. I suddenly wanted to wrap my arms around him and change my mind. Be how we knew to be. But that was the old me, reacting to the us that had always been. I had to think like a grown woman for once. Watching him back up a few steps then turn and leave, however, hurt my heart like—like maybe someone not so grown up.

I walked to my bedroom, to the chair that still held last night’s clothes. All of them. Like returning to the scene of the crime, I touched one of the boots, and I broke. I sank to my knees, buried my face in the dress I’d never wear again, and let the tears take me down. Cried for the woman that spent most of her life in love with Ian McMasters. Till there was nothing left. Then I got up, went to the bathroom and washed my face, and headed back to the living room.

“Back in a little while, Gracie girl,” I said softly, wincing at the words like they made what I was about to do real. They did. She jumped up as I picked up my keys, putting her paws on my stomach for some love. I hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “Good thoughts for Mom, okay?”

• • •

I sat in Duncan’s driveway for probably ten minutes, grateful he wasn’t like my dad, coming out to see who was loitering in his drive. Then again, he probably had a security camera hidden in a tree somewhere and was watching me and wondering what the hell I was doing.

I was wondering that too.

“Shit-fuck-damn-hell,” I muttered under my breath and shut my eyes tight. Just get on with it. Go.

I pushed open my door with numb hands, stepped out and walked up the sidewalk to the wooden double doors on numb feet, and after a second’s pause, rang the doorbell.

I closed my eyes and willed back the nerves, but my right heel was bouncing. “Don’t answer the door,” I whispered. “Don’t answer the—”

One of the doors swung open, revealing Duncan—or Michael—or Peter Pan, whoever he was, in old jeans and a Texas A&M T-shirt that was tight on his upper arms. His hair was a little spiky on top like maybe he’d been asleep on the couch or something. He looked messy and warm and fucking amazingly sexy. Especially with the smile that grew across his face.

“Hey,” he said, stepping forward. “This that dropping by you warned me about?”

“Hey,” I breathed, attempting a smile that flopped like a seal.

He faltered and gave me a questioning look. “You okay?”

I shook my head. “No.”

The question turned to worry, and he came forward the rest of the way. “Savanna, what’s the matter?” His hands landed on my arms, warm and gentle, and then one of them lifted my chin. “Baby, talk to me.”

I felt my face crumple as the burn won out and choked me.
Baby. He called me baby.
What the fuck was he doing? What was I?

“Don’t—” I began, taking his hands off me, but not letting go of them.