The Darkest Link (Second Circle Tattoos) (24 page)

“Will do. I’ll nail this for you. You’ve got my word.” Grady ushered them into the back of his police cruiser and drove them to the best of the three-star options in town that Jarod had found. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t a motel.

“I’ll swing by later in the day to get your full statements. Get some rest,” Grady said before jumping back into the car and turning around in the direction of his garage.

He could tell by the way Lia leaned against him, by the way she had very little to say, and by the way her eyes were closed every time he looked down at her, that she was exhausted.

“Let’s get you into bed,” he said, carrying both of their bags to the small lobby. Once he’d secured their room, they walked hand-in-hand to their floor. Reid swiped the key card and let them into the room. It was a utilitarian suite with a simple bed, a practical bathroom, and a cheap-looking coffeemaker with flat packets of coffee and powdered creamer. But it was a place to sleep that didn’t smell of smoke.

He sat on the end of the bed, head in his hands, trying to process the events of the evening. Was it really such a stretch to imagine that everything was connected to Winston Bell? People as wealthy as Bell didn’t need to do the dirty work themselves.

“Come with me,” Lia eventually said, and ushered him into the shower with her.

Lia undressed him carefully, and he let her, before helping her slip out of her dress and her brace. Reid turned the taps to start the shower and steam fill the small space. He stepped under the shower, then held out a hand to the woman who’d come to mean so much to him. They could have been killed.
She
could have been killed. Tears stung his eyes at the thought.

Hot water pounded down on his head, rinsing away the smell of smoke. Lia stepped under the spray, and wrapped her arm around him. They should soap up or something, but neither of them moved. Reid pulled her tightly against him as the reality of what happened hit him hard.

Everything he’d worked for was in ruins, but at least they were alive. He pressed his lips firmly against Lia’s wet hair, and felt her sob against his chest.

Gently, they soaped each other, chasing away the lingering scent of the fire. Touching her, running his hands over her skin, was a much-needed reminder to focus on what mattered. Intellectually he knew that bricks and mortar could be replaced. His heart was having a hard time catching up.

“I’m sorry, Lia,” he said as they dried off with scratchy white towels that made him yearn for the expensive Egyptian cotton towels in his apartment.

“Unless you planned all this,” Lia said with a yawn while climbing into bed, “you have nothing to be sorry for. Let’s just get into bed for now, get some sleep, and see what tomorrow brings.”

He followed Lia’s lead and collapsed into the bed. A strange numbness came over him and he couldn’t settle. There were employees who relied on him. Workers who had no other alternatives because of their criminal records. What was he going to tell them in the morning? How quickly could he be back on his feet?

They met in the middle of the uncomfortable mattress and pulled the thin comforter over themselves.

“Reid,” she said quietly, playing with the ends of her wet hair. “I don’t want you to worry, financially, I mean. I have enough money to help you out.”

He didn’t want to go there, not tonight. Confident there was a solution that didn’t involve taking money from his new, wealthy girlfriend, he rolled onto his back. “I appreciate that, babe, but this is something I have to figure out on my own.”

It would be easy to take her money and reopen somewhere new. But reading between the lines, that wasn’t really what Lia wanted. She wanted some kind of agreement that they were in this together, and he couldn’t make that kind of promise to her. If Winston really had tried to kill them tonight, the last place he wanted Lia to be was with him. He wanted her somewhere safe, far away from Fort Pierce and far away from him and the poison that was Winston.

The only way he knew how to do that was to break up with her. Even if it was only temporary while he figured things out.

* * *

Something had been very wrong about the way Reid had said good-bye. Sure, the guy had more on his mind than anyone should have to deal with, and she’d spent the entire drive back to Miami from Fort Pierce trying to convince herself that that was all there was to it. But something niggled her gut that he hadn’t let her stay and be there for him.

It started the moment they woke up, when he jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed without giving her so much as a peck on the cheek. Normally, he couldn’t keep his hands off her, and the looks he kept throwing her said he wanted to touch her desperately, but he rushed them through their separate showers, saying he needed to get back to the garage as soon as possible.

Lia hadn’t packed anything remotely appropriate for helping with cleanup. She’d looked through her suitcase hoping that a pair of jeans, and God forbid, a pair of sneakers had magically appeared overnight. Of course, they hadn’t. So she was left to decide which of the bright dresses would be least offensive and which of her heels were actually the lowest.

When Lia had offered to call them a cab to get back to the garage, Reid had blown her off and told her that he’d jog there to get her car for her. He’d clasped his hands to either side of her face and kissed her as though his life depended on it before abruptly ending the kiss to ask for her keys.

Jarod had been the one to return it, with a message that she should head on home.

Because it was Saturday, and because she couldn’t face going home to her cavernous apartment, she pulled up outside Trent and Harper’s condo and called her friend.

“Lia. Oh my God. Are you okay? Reid called me already,” Harper said at breakneck speed.

“I’m outside and just wondered if you are up for some company,” she said, fully aware that she hadn’t answered the question.

“Is it a chocolate-chip cookie kind of visit, or a double-fudge brownie?” Harper asked, her voice filled with sympathy.

“Definitely double-fudge brownie. Possibly also vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, and chocolate sprinkles.”

“Ouch. Okay, I’m on it. See you soon.”

By the time Lia had parked, buzzed in, and made her way to Harper’s front door, the smell of chocolate filled the hallway.

“That was quick,” Lia said, sniffing the air.

“Strangely I already had some in the oven when you called. You must be exhausted,” Harper said, giving her a hug. “Reid told me you guys really didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Lia shrugged. “Yeah, and it wasn’t even because of sexy shenanigans.”

“Well, not sure I need to hear about my brother’s sexy anything . . . but I do have hot fudge sauce and a buffet of brownie sundae accoutrements.”

Without having to be told twice, Lia began to build a sundae big enough to fill the pit in her stomach. Emotional eating be damned, right now she didn’t give a fuck. Harper handed her a spoon and they carried the sundaes out onto the balcony where the two of them sat at the large table and tucked in. No wonder Trent was in love with the woman. The brownie was dense and chocolaty, and the homemade fudge sauce delicious.

“How’s Reid holding up? He sounded like he was doing okay, but then, Reid was always good at hiding his feelings,” Harper said.

Was that what he had been doing that morning? His head must have been in a million different places, and he’d been distracted and eager to fix things. Which meant she’d been thinking like a needy girlfriend instead of a supportive one on the drive home.

She wondered how much she should tell Harper. Keeping secrets from her best friend didn’t feel right, and she didn’t want to start now.

“Reid’s convinced that Winston is somehow behind this. The good news is that your brother is really good friends with the police officer assigned to the case. They do volunteer work together. So Reid put him in touch with Detective Carter.”

Harper tapped her spoon on the side of her bowl. “I get his concern. That’s twice in two weeks that something bad has happened. And to be honest, while I was pretty certain that what happened two weeks ago had nothing to do with Winston, I did have some half-asleep moments in the early hours of the morning when I did wonder. But when I’m wide awake and clearheaded I see just how unlikely that is.”

“Reid’s garage was destroyed. I don’t know how bad the upstairs is, but the fire was on one side of the apartment when I first noticed it and the joining wall to the bedroom had started to smolder before we escaped.”

“For the first time in my life,” Harper said quietly, “I wonder what life would look like if I hadn’t run. I mean, don’t get me wrong, meeting Trent is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I don’t know how we would have met otherwise. But if I had stayed home, none of this would be happening right now. And if I hadn’t been so absorbed in what was going on in my life, perhaps I would’ve noticed just how down on Reid my dad had become.”

Lia put her spoon down and reached for Harper’s hand. “Don’t think about that for a second,” Lia said. “I know there’s this whole butterfly effect or whatever it’s called, like a butterfly flaps its wings in China and causes a typhoon in South America or some shit, but you can’t go back in time and second-guess all of your decisions.”

“But it’s true, Lia. If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have met you. And if I wasn’t here, Nathan wouldn’t have followed me here. There’d be no trial, and no reason for Winston to be here. So there would have been no one to fight with at your father’s event.”

“Stop that,” Lia mumbled through a mouthful of brownie. She took a moment to chew and swallow. “If you hadn’t come to Miami, Trent would never have met you. Without you, Cujo would never have met Drea. If Cujo had never met Drea, he would never have been reunited with his mom. And without Drea and Cujo’s mom working together, there’d be illegal fracking in the Everglades by now. And then think about the people you’ve mentored. There’s the girl at the café you helped. She managed to get a high school diploma because of you. If you hadn’t come here, so many lives would be so much poorer. So promise me you won’t think like that again.”

Harper looked shocked. “I guess I never thought of it that way. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now if only I could do something for Reid,” Lia said, more to herself than to Harper.

“Do you think there’s anything we
can
do to help?” Harper asked.

“I don’t think so. I mean, he was meeting somebody from the insurance company today. I offered to give him enough money to restart, but he didn’t want to accept it. I don’t know where he’s staying yet.” The more she talked things through, the more the need to talk to someone about Reid’s behavior that morning diminished. If anything, she owed him an apology for not being of more help. She should have driven to the nearest store, bought some jeans and sneakers, and returned to the garage. Even if she wasn’t much help inside, she could have ensured everyone was fed and watered.

Harper reached for her hand. “Would you be happy if he rebuilt in Fort Pierce?”

Lia thought about the question for a moment. They’d been a couple for a month, which was way too soon to be making life-changing decisions like one of them packing up and moving into the other one’s home. “It’s his home, he has roots there. And to answer the question I know is coming next, no, I don’t want to go live there. I love city living and have no intention of learning how to cook.”

“Well if this continues, one of you is going to have to budge.”

In romance books, this was the part of the story that was meant to be easy. Loving someone the way she loved Reid was supposed to make sacrifices easy, wasn’t it? But the idea of moving to Fort Pierce made her feel a little ill. She needed hustle, and noise. And takeout, and a community where people were prepared to pay big dollars for high-quality ink.

And that was most definitely Miami.

“We will shortly be approaching Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Local time is 2:58
P.M.
Please ensure that your tray tables are up, your seat belts are fastened, and any carry-ons that you may have used during the flight are safely stowed under the seat in front of you.”

Reid watched as Harper put away the book she was reading, some torturous tome that probably included lots of big words and long sentences meant to baffle the crap out of the average reader. “I feel like I gained IQ points just sitting here next to you.”

“I’m thinking of giving some of my students a project about it next term. They’re so smart, and I feel like the curriculum isn’t as advanced as they are.”

“Poor students,” Reid said with a laugh.

The plane’s descent was inversely proportional to the elevation of his heart rate. The farther they dropped, the faster his pulse raced. Reid had been reluctant to reunite with his parents. Well, with his father at least. But if what was happening to him had been caused by Winston Bell, he owed it to them to tell them.

In any case, Harper had forced his hand, threatening to otherwise invite their parents to Miami and then “accidentally” take a trip to Fort Pierce.

He hadn’t wanted his father to see him as he was now . . . the proud owner of a burnt-out garage. And seeing as there was nothing he could do until the insurance check cleared, he had a little time on his hands. Plus, the trip gave him an opportunity to put Lia off for just a little while longer. If somebody was out for revenge, he would make a move again soon.

They hustled their way out of the airport and jumped in a taxi. Harper gave the driver their parents’ address. Reid stared out the window.

“If it helps you keep your mind off Mom and Dad,” Harper said, “I can use the next forty minutes to tell you how shitty it is that you’re pushing Lia away.”

Reid gave her some side-eye but kept his elbow on the ledge of the window and his thumb and finger on his chin. Of course it was shitty. But he’d needed time to think. He’d seen the look in Lia’s eyes, the one that said she was sticking with him while they figured out the mess together, but until he knew where the threat was coming from, he didn’t want her to be anywhere around him.

He’d done a terrible job of looking after Harper, but there was no way he was going to make that mistake with Lia.

“I mean,” Harper continued, “if you have nothing to say on the subject, I can fill the entire forty minutes. Well, probably thirty-five minutes now. So, let’s start with how she showed up on my doorstep the morning after the fire and devoured enough chocolate brownies to feed the entire fire department.”

He didn’t want to hear this. “Your timing sucks. And no, I don’t want you to fill the entire forty minutes. How about you just admire the architecture of the upcoming tollbooth?” he said.

“Or I could tell you that I’ve never seen Lia check her phone quite so often. But I guess that wouldn’t make any difference, either.”

“Harper,” he warned. “We’ve talked, I’ve texted, but I’ve been busy.” Plus, he had his pride. He didn’t want her to see the tears he’d shed at the loss of everything he’d worked for, everything he owned. Call it male ego, but he wasn’t ready for that.

“No you haven’t, you’ve been hiding.”

“I have not been—”

“Hiding! It takes one to know one, Reid. You think I don’t know what it’s like to leave people behind because you think you’re protecting them? Lie to yourself if you want, but don’t lie to me. Not now.”

Now it was his sister’s turn to look out the window. Goddammit. “Shit, Harper. I’m sorry. You’re right, obviously, because you’ve been a fucking know-it-all since you were ten.”

The corner of Harper’s mouth twitched a little, as if she were fighting a smile.

“I’m not exactly hiding, but I’m trying to keep Lia away from me. If this is Winston, and he is out for revenge, I don’t want Lia involved.”

Harper turned to face him. “I’ve done the whole keeping-secrets-to-protect-the-other-person thing. It rarely works out.”

“There’ll be time once this is all over to sort this out. But for now, I just want to handle this on my own.”

“You’re right, obviously, because you’ve been a martyr since
you
were ten.”

In spite of the seriousness of the conversation, Reid laughed. “Touché.”

“When we get back, can you go see her?”

They said nothing more on the subject for the rest of the drive along the highway.

He stared out of the window as they drove along the east side of Humboldt Park. “Hey, do you still run?” he asked, thinking of all the early mornings she’d leave the house in her sneakers.

“Yeah,” Harper said with a grin. “It’s part of my training now.”

“You’re certainly in better shape now than you were,” he acknowledged.

“I fight now. Did I not tell you that?”

“Define fight,” Reid said.

“MMA.”

“In a fucking cage?” Reid asked, incredulous. “You kidding me?”

“Nope. Won my first, lost my second, have my third in December.”

“That I have to see . . . I think. It might freak me out a little,” he said, amazed at the idea of his sister kicking the shit out of someone.

“You can keep Trent company. He can barely stand to watch,” she said with a laugh. “He doesn’t know Drea caught him on video at my first fight. The poor guy winced every time I took a hit and banned me from fighting between now and the wedding so I don’t look like he beat me up in the photographs.”

Reid had almost started to relax, but when they turned onto the tree-lined street of their family home his pulse began to race.

Despite Harper’s protests, he pulled a couple of bills from his wallet and handed them to the driver as they pulled up to the house. Their parents were expecting Harper under the guise of a pre-wedding shopping trip for her and their mom. They most definitely weren’t expecting him.

They retrieved their bags from the trunk of the cab and walked up the driveway. The old brick house still looked the same. The porch had a new coat of paint and the curtains hanging in the living room were a different color, but everything else was exactly as he remembered it. The wood front door swung open and his mother, who first saw Harper, began to squeal with excitement. Until she saw him. Her hand went to her mouth as she gasped out loud.

“Reid,” was all she said before she ran to him. He caught her in his arms, embarrassed by the tears that threatened to spill. She hugged him close. She smelled of Shalimar, the perfume she’d used for as long as he could remember and that made him think of comfort. Somewhere between her tears, and the way she kept saying
my boy
over and over, he realized he was finally home.

Until Jackson Kennedy walked out onto the porch. Reid kept his arm around his mom, but turned to fully face his father. Harper walked up the steps toward him and he held his arms open for an embrace, but she didn’t give him one.

“Daddy,” she said carefully, “over the last month, I’ve gotten to know my brother again. But in doing so, I’ve learned about a side of you I didn’t know existed. We thought it was only fair that we come home together and give you the opportunity to speak your piece and make it right.”

His mom looked at all three of them, surprise on her face. “What is it that I don’t know here?”

“I think we should step inside,” Jackson said, fatigue saturating his words.

“Am I welcome?” Reid asked, looking at his father.

“Just come inside, and we’ll talk.”

“What am I missing, Reid?” asked his mom, linking her arm through his.

He thought for a moment before he answered. “It’s about why I left.”

They followed Harper and Jackson up the steps and into the living room. They’d finally gotten around to replacing the old sofa, he noted, and a new flat-screen TV hung on the wall instead of the large one that used to stand on the old hutch.

“What’s going on, Reid? Why are you home? Where have you been?” his mother asked, sitting down next to his father.

Reid took one of the two armchairs. Harper took the other. “Let’s start at the beginning, Mom,” Reid said. “The first question is why I left. Want to answer that, Dad?”

His father had aged over the last six years. Gray peppered the temples of his dark hair, and lines were etched around his eyes. He sat forward and hung his head, but didn’t answer.

Reid let the silence hang. He had no intention of making this easy for his father. He hadn’t been there for Reid when he was in trouble, so Reid wasn’t going to soften the blows that were going to follow.

“Tell me that Reid misunderstood you, Dad,” Harper implored him.

His father shook his head over and over. “I knew this day would come,” he said.

“Jackson,” his mom said. “Please. This is scaring me.”

“I’m sorry, Louise,” his father said, reaching for her hand. “I told Reid to go.”

* * *

“Lia, I’m sorry.”

Lia held the phone to her ear and wandered out onto the balcony. She felt as restless as a cat in a cage, and although she’d been hoping for the call, it wasn’t making her feel any better about the whole shitty situation.

“Mom, sorry isn’t going to make it all go away. Not for us.”

“I believe you. But I’m sorry that your father yelled at you the way he did. The party fizzled out after you left. Guests began making their excuses. I think everyone just felt too awkward to stay. Franklin smashed several of the floral arrangements after the last guest had gone then disappeared into his study.”

Lia braced herself as fear and disgust dueled in her stomach. “You don’t have to live through this with him, Mom.”

“He made me go with him to a luncheon in Coconut Grove. Even picked out my outfit so we matched,” she whispered, embarrassment lacing her words. “I had to take two pills just to get through it.”

“Dad is going to suck you dry, and he’s attempting to do the same to me. This is just the beginning, you know.”

“What do you mean,
the beginning
?”

Surely her mother wasn’t that naive. “Think of it this way, Mom. It’s nearly three years until the next gubernatorial election. That’s thirty-six months of Dad attempting to drag you around the state to try and woo voters. The pressure is just going to get greater and greater.”

Lia was met with a wall of silence. She looked out over the ocean. She loved the view and loved the location of the condo. She loved it because Granny Emmeline had bought it for her and had even helped her with pieces to decorate it, but she wanted something smaller. The idea had been rattling around in her head for days—selling it or renting it out. In the meantime, she’d buy something with less square footage in the same building. And that gave her an idea.

“Mom, I’m thinking of downsizing. Selling the condo and finding something smaller. Let me split the money with you.”

“This conversation got us nowhere before, Lia. Your father was furious when you left. He threw my orchids to the ground and smashed the pots. It took me hours to clean up.”

“But don’t you see? That’s my point. Dad is getting angrier and angrier when it comes to this. His patience is getting shorter. Aren’t you worried?”

“Lia.” Her mother sighed. “Of course. But . . . I’m scared. I can’t even begin to think about how to leave him.”

“I can help you, Mom. Let me. I’ll come get you today. You can move in here for now. I’ll take care of you.”

“It’s all so overwhelming. The idea of leaving the house, even to travel such a short distance makes me feel ill . . . I can’t do this, Lia.”

There was something terribly troubling about her tone. It was almost hopeless. “Mom, I—”

“I have to go, Lia. I think I hear your father pulling onto the drive.”

With one click, her mom was gone.

Lia grabbed her things and headed out to Second Circle. Nearly three weeks off work had just about killed her, and she needed to get out of the condo before she went stir crazy. She walked to the studio. It was unlikely she was going to be able to do any big tattoos because the strength just wasn’t there in her hand to hold the skin taut for long periods of time. She’d started physical therapy with a sadist named Bruce, and knew she still had a long way to go. But she could draw up sketches for future work, help Pixie on the front desk, and hell, she could even answer the phone. Anything to avoid being alone.

“Welcome back, stranger,” Cujo said, giving her a gentle hug as she walked through the door.

“Yay, you’re back.” Pixie clapped.

“Yes, ma’am, I am. Not sure how much use I’m actually going to be, but I really need to be here today.” Lia walked toward the office, said hello to Drea who was just leaving, and waved to Truly, who was about to pierce a belly button. She pushed the door open and found Trent sitting at his desk staring off into space. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey, good to have you back. Just don’t overdo it today. And if you need to leave early, just say so.”

“What’s got you looking so glum?” she asked, putting her purse away in one of the cupboards.

“It feels weird. Over the last year, I’ve traveled a whole bunch for the show. And every time I’ve left Harper behind, I’ve managed to deal with it because I knew she was safe here. But now she’s off in Chicago—with Reid, who, no offense, left her alone for six years for reasons I only kind of understand—and I’m worried about her. Like, what if he pulls the same shit again, Lia? You’re getting to know him. What are the chances that things will sour further between him and his father? He wouldn’t just bail and leave her in Chicago again, would he?”

“Trent,” she started carefully. “Harper is a big girl. Stronger than ever now. Even if he did leave her, she’d be better than fine. What’s really going on?”

Trent looked out the window. “I want to be the one who looks after her . . . guess I don’t like the idea of sharing those duties with her brother.” He looked back over to her. “What do you think will happen?”

Lia and Reid had barely spoken over the last week. One time she’d video called him and he’d stood, looking like the walking dead, in the burned-out shell of the garage with lots of people milling around in the background, carrying out charred items. Another time she’d called him as he was on his way to the bank. Dark circles ringed his eyes and he’d yawned twice. The guy looked exhausted. She’d wanted to drive up to see him, even offering to attempt to cook him dinner, but he’d turned her down, politely saying she’d be a distraction and that there was no room for her at Jarod’s. In the past, she would have jumped in her car regardless, going to his house to demand some kind of explanation to help her understand why he was pushing her away. But she didn’t want to be that person anymore—the one always prepared for the breakup.