Tempt Me - By Shiloh Walker Page 0,32
had passed with no new incidents...and no answers.
Clayton stood with Rocki in her shop, looking terribly uncomfortable and terribly out of place, especially with his sister standing a few feet away and holding up a new, modified corset that Rocki was putting out for the spring line.
With his face a brilliant shade of red, he deliberately turned his back on Lacey and said, “No. No news. There weren’t any prints on the box that we can link to Dwayne. Nobody reports seeing anybody fitting his description in the area. For the past five years, he’s lived in Seiverville—quite a ways from here.”
A ways, but still drivable, she thought. She’d rather just know one way or the other if it had been her ex who’d left the destroyed flowers, who’d sent the pictures.
“You haven’t gotten any new deliveries? No new cards?”
“No, Clayton.” She sighed and pushed her hair back.
He stared at her, a familiar look on his square face. Seconds ticked by and he didn’t blink.
“Damn it, you moron.” Irritated by the staring contest, Rocki shoved off the counter. “I said I’d tell you if anything happened and I meant it. There haven’t been any cards, any deliveries, not anything.”
He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair. “Sorry. It’s just...” His voice trailed off.
But the look in his eyes said everything. Rocki turned away, pressed a hand to her belly. “Clayton, I’m not ignoring this. I know how serious it is.”
“Do you?”
She looked back over her shoulder, trying to ignore the ache in her chest at the look in his eyes. But she couldn’t ignore the fear that lived inside her, couldn’t ignore the nerves or the anxiety. “Yes. I do.”
“But—”
Lacey came up to stand between them, and Rocki could see the indecision on her face. She wanted to side with both of them—her brother and his fear for Rocki, and Rocki, as well, because Rocki damn well knew Lacey likely wouldn’t have handled things much differently.
Lacey laid a hand on Clayton’s arm and said, “Ease up, bub. She’s being careful, okay?”
“Careful isn’t always enough.” Clayton shook his head. “Rocki—”
“No.” She held up a hand, cutting him off. “I don’t want to hear this. You think I don’t realize how badly I screwed up back then? I do, I get it. I screwed up then when I didn’t report him. It won’t happen again.”
“You sure about that?”
“Damn it, Clayton,” Lacey snapped. “Enough.”
“No.” Rocki shook her head, barely sparing Lacey a look. “This is between us now, Lacey. I appreciate the concern, but I can handle it.” Setting her jaw, she focused on Clayton, barely resisting the urge to throw something. At his head—that thick, rock-hard skull. “You think I don’t realize how serious this is.”
“I’m pretty damn certain you don’t.”
“And I’m pretty damn certain I do.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared at him.
“Then why didn’t you call when things first started getting weird?”
Rocki shoved both hands into her hair and tugged, a strangled scream escaping her. “Damn it, Clayton, you’re being an asshole, you know that? I got some fucking cards. Unsigned, with pictures of me. That was it. There was nothing written on them, nothing said. If I’d done anything then, a report would have been filed...and if it had been a cop who didn’t know me taking the report? I would have been brushed off and you damn well know it. As soon as I had something sort of concrete, I called.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Clayton mumbled under his breath.
“What?”
Lowering his hand, he glared at her. “Part of me is pissed off knowing that you may be right.”
“I know I am.”
“The other part is thinking that you’re a cop’s wife...” He paused, cleared his throat. “You were a cop’s wife. You know what to say, when to say, how to say it to make them take you seriously, Rock. And damn it, you could have just found out when I was on shift. You know I’m always there when you need me.”
“I do know that. And when I did need help, you were the one I called,” she said, her voice gentle. Sighing, she made herself think past the anger, the fear, the nerves. This was Clayton, her friend for so many years. She’d known him for as long as she’d known Lacey. He’d always been there for her. She knew he worried. “Clay, try to understand...I was doing what I thought was right—trying to be careful without jumping to conclusions.”
He looked down,