Expired Cache - Lisa Phillips Page 0,13
at beatboxing.
Ellie winced.
The final words came after. “We need help!”
Dean turned back to his friend. His hands moved so fast she couldn’t see what he did before he had the gun. A move he’d been trained to do so thoroughly he barely had to think about how to do it.
Ellie’s body sagged against the side of the car, and she nearly wobbled, landing flat on her bottom from where she was crouching. Not good. She didn’t want to get Jess’s clothes torn up and dirty from rolling around in a gravel parking lot.
Twice in one day, at the scene where police were called. Was that what this would come to?
Dean said, “Let’s go, Stuart.”
His friend’s shoulders slumped. He didn’t have the gun, but that didn’t make him appear any less deadly. Not the kind of man Ellie would want to meet alone on a night like this. Too many shadows reminded her of yet another night.
That memory from long ago was little more than a blur, sensations. Smells. Pain.
She shook off the memories she carried around. Like that would make them go away. Instead, she focused on what was around her. The feel of the car against her shoulder. Cool air, tickling her skin. The way she could shift her toes in her socks to center herself.
All just tactics to be present in the here and now.
She braced against the car and stood.
Dean’s friend had turned away. He looked at the gun in his hands for a second, then shoved it in the back of his waistband. Dean looked up, his attention to her like a shock to her system.
She stepped back, colliding with the car, their gazes still locked. No, there might not be enough room in this spot, that was fair, but this wasn’t exactly about not having enough space. And she knew it. Maybe she would never know exactly what it was about Dean that kept her fumbling, but she was going to find out.
He’s stolen part of our inheritance, El.
As though this man was some kind of usurper, instead of a man who’d been a friend to her grandfather at a time when he’d had no family around him. Just Jess, on the NYPD, and Ellie busy with university life. Teaching. Studying.
Dean’s brows shifted together. He mouthed, “You okay?”
Ellie didn’t want to get into something that wasn’t top priority right now, not when he should be taking care of his friend. Stuart was clearly in greater need than she was.
She turned away so he could get back to what he needed to do. After opening the driver’s door of her own car, she spotted him pulling out onto the road. Stuart sat beside him.
Exhaustion weighed down on her, so by the time she got back to the house and crawled into the bed they’d made her in the guest room, Ellie fell into a fitful sleep. She dreamed of a car, speeding toward her. Dean sat in the driver’s seat, waving a gun around. Which made no sense.
She tossed and turned until she woke to the garage door rolling up. Jess was home.
Ellie couldn’t sleep anymore, not without adrenaline-laced dreams, so she took a hot shower. By the time she was out, her sister had cooked breakfast and the coffee pot was both full and steaming.
She poured herself a cup and sipped from it. “Bless you.”
Jess laughed. “What’s on your plan for today?”
“I’ve decided to go a whole day without thinking about Dean Cartwright.” When she turned and saw her sister’s face, Ellie said, “What?”
“Nothing.” Yeah, right. “You just…I knew it. That’s all. Yesterday, I could tell you thought he was attractive or something. You were mooning over him.”
“This isn’t not thinking about him. Addendum. No talking about him either.”
“Fine.” Jess shook her head and turned back to the toaster. “Those Cartwright boys.”
Ellie figured she was thinking about Ted, as she’d likely be angry or at least irritated if that was the case. Rather than if she was thinking about Dean. Maybe Jess had pushed everything from yesterday aside already while she had worked a long shift. Maybe she’d forgiven Dean.
“Are you going to eat and then go to bed?”
“Nah.” Jess handed her a plate. “I’m too wired to sleep.”
“I think getting wired helped suck up the last of my energy, so I did sleep.” Even though it hadn’t been particularly restful. “Bad shift?”
Jess scrunched up her nose. “It’s been like this the last month or so. There’s a local guy we’re trying to get a