Forbidden With Me - Leigh Lennon Page 0,31

what’s…”

“No, I’ll be more careful. I’m sorry. I mean, I’m trying to be respectful of your desires and your needs and your past.”

In her eyes, I see a sincerity I’ve been able to decipher over the years. Some would call me neurotic or roll their eyes at me. Some would simply talk behind my back, but with a few through the years, I could read true understanding, and Greenlyn does just this.

“Shit, Greenlyn, this is your place, too. I don’t want…”

“No, I’m good. I’ll be fine. I don’t have the past you do.”

I give her a little grin. “You mean baggage.”

With a little dig at my expense, we begin to laugh. “Come on.” She hops back on her bed. “Tell me about your day with your police angel.” I pull for my phone in my hand, and I send Wells a quick message before he sends a rescue party my way.

He’s one part of me I don’t want to share, or at least share much, but I give her bits and pieces, and she almost pees her pants when I explain how Wells scared the shit out of our waiter. I didn’t think I could trust another person or build a friendship, but with Greenlyn, I hope I can do just this.

I’d fallen asleep in my clothes as Greenlyn and I gossiped and laughed well past midnight. I was exhausted and didn’t want to jump out of bed to change. Greenlyn is long gone for practice when I decide to start my day.

I wake to a text from Wells, but since I’ll always refer to him as my police angel, it’s how I have him programmed in my phone.

Police Angel: I wanted to thank you for a fun day yesterday.

Me: No, you’re the one I should thank. You took me to dinner, defended my honor, and was with me as a comfort when I faced one of my biggest fears.

I wonder if he can hear the flirt in this text. In my mind, it’s as flirty as Georgia’s hair is fire engine red.

Police Angel: I’m off this weekend. Want to go to Deception Pass, about two hours north? It’s beautiful, and then I’ll introduce you to the quaint little town of Anacortes.

I know where Deception Pass is. I remember the walking trails my parents had taken us on when we camped near there the summer before the murders.

Me: I love that area. I remember it from when I was a kid. And I’d love it. Any chance Matt would let you borrow his BMW?

I love to tease him. Wells’s car is twenty times better than mine. But I also love when he teases back with names because it shows me I matter enough to annoy and mock him.

Police Angel: You’re such a brat.

Me: I know.

The texting stops, holding my phone close to my heart, as I’ve always held Wells.

Jumping from my bed, I move toward my desk. I still when I open my closet door and sitting on top of a pile of neatly folded clothes, as if it had been perfectly placed there, is my childhood doll my mom had bought for me two years before my family’s death for my birthday. I hadn’t seen it since the murders. In my nine-year-old mind, I needed this doll, and I cried terribly when my aunt couldn’t find her. I stand staring at it, unable to tear my eyes from a doll that looked so much like me as a child. Tears fall, and with my phone still in my hand, I call the only person I know who understands this pain deep inside me.

Chapter 11

Wells

I’m staring at this doll, the type that looks a lot like she had as a child, and I can’t break her trance on it. She looks at me when I ask her a specific question, and she’s aware of her surroundings, but when she’s left to silence, her gaze falls back on that doll.

I’m quiet, trying to concoct some sort of timeline in my head, some sort of reason this doll had been placed in her closet. My worry for Malia grows by the second as I don’t share Vanessa’s assumption from yesterday that this is some prank, not anymore. In my silence, I’m relieved I’d had the sense to bring Higgins with me, who is in full detective mode.

“What do you mean, you’ve not seen it since before…?” Stewart asks. I’d not planned to bring him, but as he reminded me when I flew