Vanishing Dreams: Vanishing Dreams (Devil's Bend #2) (19 page)

Since he hadn’t come face-to-face with her tonight, he had opted to do
a little investigative work on his own. It was funny how much a woman would
talk when she thought she was going to earn a big tip. And that was exactly
what Jessica, the blonde stripper with the big tits, had done for most of the
night. In his defense, he had left her a big tip. Bigger than he had originally
intended, but the information she had given him had cemented a few things for
him.

One of them being that it was time to confront Katie and figure out
just what the hell was going on.

Climbing out of his truck, Dalton took his time making his way behind
the vehicles. Rather than invite himself in, which he was pretty sure would get
him shot down in a heartbeat, he lowered the tailgate and took a seat while he
waited for her to join him. He didn’t care much that it was after three o’clock
in the morning; he just had the driving urge to talk to Katie, to understand
what was motivating her, to ask her why she felt she’d had to lie to him. The
conversation with the stripper at the club had told him so many things about
this woman. But everything he had learned just didn’t add up, which was why he
still had a hard time believing half of it.

Katie didn’t rush around to the back of the truck, and at one point,
Dalton thought she might’ve disappeared on him. He didn’t make a move to
encourage her to get out of her car, but he did toss a glance over his shoulder
to make sure she was still there.

She was.

Finally, after a good ten minutes, she exited the car and made her way
around, her eyes not meeting his as she approached.

“Hey,” he greeted, realizing she wasn’t going to speak to him. She’d
managed to avoid him completely on the phone as well, but he’d expected they
would have to say something to one another being face-to-face.

Clearly, she didn’t think so.

“Can we talk?” he asked when she didn’t respond.

“It’s a little late, don’t you think?” she retorted with a snap.

“I would’ve tried earlier,” he added snidely, “but you were working.”

He noticed Katie’s slight cringe at his statement, and he felt like a
world-class asshole.

“Fine,” she muttered. “What do you want to talk about?” Her gaze slid
up toward the second floor where he assumed her apartment was.

“Someone waiting for you?” he asked, not expecting the reaction that he
received.

Katie’s eyes widened, and she wrung her hands together in front of her,
but she didn’t answer. The heat that scorched his insides was laced with fury.
Did she have a guy up there? Was she seeing someone?

Surely, Tessa would’ve mentioned that she was. Or even Cooper. Based on
their conversation the other night at dinner, he had to assume they would’ve
said something. Then again, aside from trying to figure out why he wasn’t
seeing her anymore, they hadn’t actually talked about her. He had assumed that
was because
he
hadn’t been talking about her. Now he had to wonder.

“I’m really tired,” Katie finally stated.

“I bet,” he bit out.

Katie’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. As he watched her
face, he expected to see anger reflecting back at him. What he saw looked more
like regret.

“Shit,” he mouthed. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re tired. It’s been a long
day,” Dalton said, grabbing the back of his neck as he stared down at the
ground. He was sure she really was tired. He got that. It didn’t mean he wanted
to leave or that he wanted to let her walk away from him. He wanted to talk, to
find out what was going on with her, because damn it all to hell, he just
couldn’t fucking stop thinking about her.

No matter how hard he tried.

When it was evident she didn’t have anything to say to him, he dove
right in, not holding anything back. “Why are you workin’ there, Katie?”

The look he got would’ve singed the hairs on his head had he not had
his hat on. He’d never seen Katie pissed off, not even when she’d had to deal
with unruly cowboys at The Rusty Nail. No, this was an entirely different side
of the sweet woman he’d found himself unable to stop thinking about.

“That’s none of your business,” she snapped, her eyes slamming into
his.

“God, Katie, don’t you get it?” he asked rhetorically. “I want it to be
my business.”

“Why?” she asked, her eyes raking over his face.

“Because I… Damn it. Because I do,” he told her. Telling her that he
loved her wasn’t going to earn him any points, and he’d suffered enough at this
point. Making that public knowledge would only add to his pain. “I thought you
and I had something,” he added, his own frustration getting away from him.

Katie’s eyes darted down to the ground. “We did.”

Hope sparked in his chest.

“But this,” she said, motioning toward her face, “is why it can’t work.
You don’t deserve this, Dalton.”

“Don’t deserve what?” he asked, thoroughly confused.

“I’m a stripper, Dalton. That’s all I am.”

“That isn’t all you are,” he retorted.

“Really?” she questioned, her gray eyes sparkling. “You’ve seen me
workin’, Dalton. I think it’s safe to say that it’s true.”

“Fine, maybe you’re a stripper. But you could’ve told me. Could’ve
given me a chance to understand.”

“Are you serious?” she snapped. “I tried to explain myself, Dalton. You
ignored my phone calls, remember?’

“Hold up,” he said, almost pointing his finger at her but pulling it
back at the last minute. No, he couldn’t allow her to put this all on him.
“You’re the one who told me it was over. You turned your back on me the minute
I drove out of Devil’s Bend.”

“For your own good,” she replied, her eyes softening.

“How was it for my own good? You’d been lying to me the whole time. I
was the dumbass who thought we had something good going.”

“I never lied to you,” she bit out.

“No? You just conveniently forgot to mention that” — Dalton lowered his
voice slightly — “you were a fucking stripper?”

“You never asked,” she answered angrily.

“Oh, sorry,” he belted out. “I’ll have to remember to add that to the
list of first-date questions for the future.”

“You do that.”

Okay, great. He’d succeeded in widening the gap between them. And to
think it’d taken very little effort. Taking a deep breath, he tried to steer
the conversation back to less hostile topics. “I thought we were dating,
Katie.”

“No, we weren’t,” she countered. “We went on a couple of dates. That
does not constitute dating.”

Okay, she had a point there.

“Maybe not, but I kinda figured the sex constituted a relationship.”

“Well, you were wrong.” Katie looked as though she was hoping the
ground would open up and swallow her whole. She also looked as though she
didn’t believe a word of what she just said.

The sight made Dalton’s chest hurt. He took a deep breath, let it out
slowly. “Fine. We went on a couple of dates, had mind-blowing sex. And you know
good and damn well that it was going somewhere.”

“I didn’t know that,” she said harshly, and Dalton realized it for the
lie that it was.

Damn, the woman was hot. Especially when she was pissed. That was
strange enough to think, so Dalton opted not to tell her as much.

“Why do you have to be like that?” he asked. “I thought we were
friends.”

“Holy shit, Dalton!” Katie exclaimed. “One minute we’re dating, the
next we’re friends. Which is it? I’m getting whiplash trying to follow your
questions. I’m sure you have a point. Could you possibly get to it?”

Dalton ground his back teeth together. So maybe he shouldn’t have
followed her home. Maybe he should’ve waited until they had an opportunity for
a civil conversation at The Rusty Nail. Or even at a get-together with Tessa
and Cooper. It was obvious she didn’t want to be alone with him, and Dalton
still wondered whether it was because she was hiding something or someone. He
wouldn’t put it past her. She’d lied to him enough already.

When her gaze launched back toward the upstairs apartment, he realized
she
was
hiding something. “Why should I be surprised?” he blurted,
pushing himself to his feet before turning to close the tailgate. “You didn’t
bother to tell me you were a stripper, why would you bother telling me you had
a boyfriend?”

Katie’s eyes widened, but she didn’t tell him he was wrong. That hurt
worse than when he’d run into her at the strip club, half-naked and counting
her earnings for the night.

She took a step back when he came toward her. That made his stomach
hurt. Although she seemed to be convinced that what they’d had wasn’t the same
as what he thought it had been, Dalton really did think they’d made more
progress than this.

This woman had caught his eye and held it from the moment he’d seen
her. And the more he’d gotten to know her, the more he had liked her. And then
he’d gone and fallen in love with her.

She isn’t who you think she is.
“Yeah,
I get that,” he grumbled beneath his breath, answering the voices in his head.

“What?”

“Nothing. You better go inside.”

Katie turned toward the stairs but stopped. She looked over her
shoulder at him, and for half a second, Dalton thought he saw tears shimmering
in her eyes. But then they were gone.

Almost as fast as she was.

Katie slipped into her apartment, trying to be as quiet as possible.
She knew Sarah and Lexi would be asleep, and she didn’t want to wake them. Even
though she wished she could talk to her best friend, she knew it wasn’t fair to
do it in the middle of the night.

On tiptoe, she bypassed the tiny kitchen. She would have to forgo
dinner, or rather, breakfast. Or whatever a meal at this ungodly hour would be
considered. She just needed to get some shut-eye at this point, merely because
she was ready to shut her brain down for the day.

By the time she got ready for bed, showering because she hated the way
she felt after she came home from the club, Katie was wired. So much for the
closed-eye conversation she was going to have with her pillow.

As was habit, Katie stopped at Lexi’s doorway, leaning in to make sure
her sister was asleep. When she confirmed that she was, she padded barefoot
inside, making her way to Lexi’s bed. As gently as possible, she pulled the
soft, pink microfiber comforter up over her sister’s little body and then
slipped back out.

Sometimes, on nights like this, Katie just wanted to fall into bed and
cry at the injustice of it all. She’d gone from young adult to full adult far
too soon, having to become a mother figure at eighteen. And Lexi had lost so
much by losing her real mother, having to deal with an inexperienced and
not-quite-so-patient Katie. They’d managed to make their own little family,
though, and at this point, Katie didn’t know what she would do without her
sister, but sometimes, she daydreamed about all the possibilities the future had
once held.

All of those dreams she’d had: getting out of Devil’s Bend, going to
the big city, getting a place of her own, going to school, finding a job. Even
at eighteen, her motivation had been getting away from her crazy mother, and
how ironic was it that Katie had been planning to be the one to disappear and
her mother had just beaten her to it.

Katie crawled into bed, flipping off the bedside lamp before curling
beneath the heavy blanket. As she stared across the room, the orange glow from
the parking lot light filtering through the cheap plastic blinds, Katie fought
the urge to cry.

Why? Why her?

Why had all her dreams come crashing around her? She’d been a good kid,
made good grades, gone to school every day. And then when she’d turned
eighteen, she’d been planning to head off to college, get a degree, and make
something of herself.

Only that had never happened, and she’d resorted to stripping just to
make ends meet. Three years as a fucking stripper and she had nothing to show
but a steadily growing bank account, a baby on the way, and a broken heart that
continued to weigh her down more and more each day.

Oh, and now she could add liar to her repertoire of skills.

In her defense, providing for Lexi was the only thing that mattered to
her these days. Katie scrimped every last penny, trying to make it by on the
least she could so that Lexi would have what she needed. As far as Katie was
concerned, as long as she had food and clothes, then she was fine. Lexi was who
mattered. And now the baby.

Only, on occasion, Katie did need something. She needed that human
connection that she didn’t seem to have. That she’d
never
had.

Sweet little innocent stripper.

God, she was pathetic.

She hated the pity parties she had, and she hated even more that they’d
increased in number since the night Dalton had run into her at the club.
Tonight’s encounter wasn’t going to help, either. She still remembered the look
in his eyes, then and now. He’d been hurt and angry. Which was the only reason
she hadn’t told him about the baby. She had wanted to, but she didn’t want him
to take pity on  her. She was doing enough of that on her own.

Who the hell did he think he was just showing up at her apartment
anyway? Following her home like that? He had to have been at the club. How else
would he have known to follow her?

And now he knew where she lived, something she’d tried to hide from
everyone she knew because she didn’t want to disrupt Lexi’s life by having
friends. It was enough that she had Sarah, her best friend from high school.
And she had Tessa, Cooper, Eric, and Izzy, although they were more
acquaintances than anything else because even they didn’t know about Lexi.

Nor did they know where she lived. And she didn’t want them to, either,
which was why she used a post office box as her address, trying to keep herself
off the radar.

Until now, until Dalton, it had worked.

As her eyelids drooped, Katie forced the thoughts away, choosing
instead to focus on the good memories she had. The one she revisited most
frequently these days was the first real date she’d had with Dalton.

“Let’s get out of here,” Dalton whispered.

Katie glanced over at the handsome cowboy with the sexy voice and
smiled. It wasn’t easy to do, considering the situation, but just looking at
this man made things seem that much better.

Maybe not for Tessa and Cooper, who were currently having a hush-hush
conversation on the front porch. The night had gone terribly wrong, at least
for Tessa, but Katie was glad to see that Cooper was there for her.

Allowing Dalton to link their fingers together, she walked alongside
him toward his truck.

A few minutes later, they were pulling down the driveway and out onto
the main road.

“Where are we going?” she asked as she focused on the scenery outside
of the truck.

“The lake,” he informed her.

“The lake?” she asked, looking over at him.

His grin was enough to make her insides turn to mush.

“Yes, ma’am. I thought we’d go make out in the bed of my truck. That
is, if you’re game.”

They’d done a little making out, if that’s what some hot and heavy
kisses were considered these days, but not much more than that. Although she
was a bit nervous, Katie was more than happy to spend some alone time with
Dalton. For whatever reason, she enjoyed his company.

He made her feel safe. He made her feel important. And more so, he
didn’t treat her like she was just a sex object.

Then again, he had no reason to.

Katie tore her gaze off him and settled on watching the porch lights as
they passed by in a blur. She wasn’t going to think about the fact that she’d
never told him much about herself. At least not the important details.

It wasn’t the right time, she reminded herself.

Maybe one day. But not tonight.

Tonight she just wanted to enjoy their time together.

As Katie drifted off, she felt a single tear slide down her cheek.

The first of many.

∞ ∞
∞ ∞ ∞

By the time Dalton made it home, he was in a strange state of mind.

Not bad.

Not good.

After the argument he’d just had with Katie, he actually felt a little
numb.

Strange, because that had never happened to him before. At least not
that he could recall.

He was tempted to try to nail down the reason, but he couldn’t come up
with anything. Aside from the fact that his confrontation with Katie had
actually hurt. Like a physical ache that he hadn’t anticipated.

The only thing he knew for sure was that it all stemmed from what had
started between him and Katie. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, there
was no doubt in Dalton’s mind that what they had started wasn’t the usual brief
relationship. It was more than that. So much more.

Fucking hell.

Marching into his house, he slammed the front door behind him. Damn
good thing he lived in the country or he was sure someone would have questioned
him, even at four o’clock in the fucking morning.

Unable to keep himself upright, Dalton made his way to his bedroom,
still about the only room that was completely set up in his house. And the only
reason that had happened was because of Katie. He fell facedown onto the
mattress, fully clothed, and closed his eyes.

Katie.

Son of a bitch.

Why did he care so fucking much? Why couldn’t he just let it all go
rather than try to stir it up and make it worse? It was clear she didn’t want
to have anything to do with him. And if he thought about it long enough, he
should’ve been able to rationalize his reasons for not wanting her, either.

But he couldn’t get there.

Even knowing what he did, even after she’d pushed him away and put a
ridiculous amount of distance between them, he still wanted her. And it wasn’t
all just sex.

At least he didn’t think so.

As the memories of their time together swirled together, morphing into
one giant commemoration, Dalton took a deep breath. He could clearly remember
their first date, their second, and all of the others that followed. He
remembered the first time he’d made love to her in his truck, and the nights
she’d spent in his bed. He doubted he would ever forget any of it.

His mind drifted to that first night in his truck. What he had expected
to be a simple hour or two between friends just talking and enjoying one
another’s company had turned into one of the most memorable nights of his
entire life.

They’d had sex for the first time that night. And he knew … damn it, he
knew that she had been a virgin. But why wouldn’t she have said something? How
could she possibly just let that go?

Oh, hell, yes, he’d give his left arm for another few minutes with her
in his arms, but at that point, he wasn’t sure that was ever going to be an
option.

Yet he couldn’t shoulder all of the blame.

It was obvious that Katie was hiding something else; he just didn’t
know exactly what. Another man, maybe? It was possible, but he wasn’t so sure
that was the case.

An easy assumption, though, especially considering the way she’d
reacted tonight at her apartment. She’d wanted him gone; there was no doubt
about that.

But what about the look she’d given him when she’d turned to go? He’d
seen something there. Something that looked like remorse.

Or was that just wishful thinking on his part?

Flipping over to his back, Dalton toed off his boots and let them fall
to the floor with a thud, first one and then the other. As he stared at the
ceiling, he found himself thinking back to that night when he’d taken her to
the lake. The night he had taken her virginity.

Was that when things had started going wrong?

That was the first night that things had heated up between them,
turning into something so much more than just friendship. And it had been
hotter than hell. So much so that he’d been concerned that a fire extinguisher
might’ve been needed in order to keep them under control.

“Katie,” Dalton pleaded, pulling back, trying to hold himself together.
He didn’t want to push her too far. Didn’t want her to do something she might
regret tomorrow.

“Please don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t warn me that this isn’t the right
thing to do. That it isn’t the right time. That it isn’t the right place. You
and I both know those are just social niceties, and I’m so far past that—”

“Are you sure?” he asked, cutting her off midsentence.

“More than,” she answered, pulling him closer, pressing her breasts
firmly against his rock-hard chest while she nipped his lower lip.

“Oh, hell,” Dalton mumbled, launching to his feet, his hands cupping
her ass and holding her astride him.

Katie wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck
while he held her tightly.

“I’ve got you, Katie,” he muttered, his lips pressed to hers. He’d
always have her. He just didn’t know how to tell her that.

Pulling himself back to the present, Dalton placed his hands beneath
his head, sleep pulling him under. As much as he wanted to dig into the reasons
for his feelings for Katie, or why he still wanted her after all this time,
Dalton knew it was moot.

Katie didn’t want him anymore.

And that’s what bothered him the most.

So much so that as he fell into a deep sleep, he acknowledged one final
thing… He was in love with Katie Clarren.

What he was supposed to do with that knowledge, he really had no clue.