Disgruntled (17 page)

Brent surveyed his truck. It seemed fine. No worse for the
wear. He’d get it detailed later in the day. For the most part,
his scrubbing had done the trick. Fortunately, he’d been well
out of the vehicle when she’d lunged so there was no need
to clean the interior.
Leaving her in the brush by the creek
had been the only available hidden spot nearby. Based on
the overgrowth, he doubted anyone had been that way in
months.
Brent gassed it and headed home. The disbelief of what had
transpired weighed heavy on his mind.
You could have just
turned the music down, asshole,
he told himself. And of course he
could have. But it was
Reva
and she had issued yet another of
her multitude of orders. And expected him just to follow suit
without question. Who did she think she was to make
demands when he was on personal time? Not to mention
that she had been completely inflexible with his project
lately, forcing him to take on new staff and broaden the
scope to include more testing and additional steps. She
didn’t trust him.
Then it wasn’t Reva. It wasn’t anyone at all. A random
person that didn’t like loud music and fed birds in a park.
And he had pushed her. Hard. So hard that when she fell
against the metal railing around the lot, blood had seeped
through her hair within seconds.
“It hurts,” she had muttered.
With no one around to call for help, he panicked.
Brent tried his cell but the battery had died and he’d left the
charger
at home. Hospital, his
thoughts
suggested. She
wasn’t breathing. She wasn’t doing anything at all, just laid
there with blood flowing into her hair. He loaded her into
the back of the pickup and started toward the hospital.
The overgrown trail to the side of the park caught his
attention as if it had been lit up just for him. He had weighed
the scenarios available before turning down the path.
Now, surveying his cleanup job he felt the trembling hit his
hands first. Then his legs started knocking and he lunged
over in the grass of his backyard to empty his stomach.

***
Todd sprawled on the couch and flipped to the news. He
often skipped local news in favor of the political channels
and sports news. He grimaced. Much of the headlines were
too disturbing.
Two shot in convenience store robbery attempt. Local
mother of two and wildlife activist missing after night walk. Babysitter
arrested
after
child
found
unconscious
in
car.
He
sighed
and
changed the channel to sports.
Reva plopped down on the other end of the couch and
tucked a bare foot under her. The white shorts accentuated
her skin color. He couldn’t help but steal a quick glance.
“Officer Teckley called today,” she said.
He waited. “He
said Nick was at work the entire week and bowling with his
new girlfriend on the weekend.”
“So, they don’t think it was him in your yard?”
“Not unless he knows how to time travel or has a clone.”
“What do you think?” Todd asked.
“I’m not sure. I guess I never really thought it was him.
Something wasn’t right. If it
had
been, I think he’d want me
to know he’d been there. He would have done something to
signal that he knew where I was. He liked to instill fear as
much as he liked to instill pain.”
“You mean he’d taunt you?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“What a sick fuck.”
She stared at the glass of water in her hand and nodded.
“You have no idea.” She swirled the water and continued to
watch it slosh. Todd knew there was more she wanted to tell
him. He waited. The sofa bounced as she turned toward him
and pulled the other leg underneath her bottom.
“The answer to your question is no. Not the way you’re
talking about.”
“Just so we’re on the same page, do you want to expand on
that? What are we talking about now?”
“You asked if he’d wanted to please me. That’s a no.”
“Technically, I asked if anyone wanted to—not him. I wasn’t
sure if we were talking about Teckley’s call or well…that.
Listen, did Teckley have any idea who it was?” He knew she
wanted to talk about the other thing more, but it wasn’t near
as important. And for some reason, his stomach turned at
the
thought
of
such
a
relationship.
Knowing
who this
person was, and why they were after her seemed a bit more
critical. Especially if there was a potential for harm.
“Oh, um…no, he said they were going to interview the
neighbors and he asked me to make lists of people I’d had
altercations with or who seemed odd or new.”
“Am I on that list?”
Her eyes flew to his. “Of course not. Why’d you ask that?”
“Well, I’m new. We’ve only known each other a short
while.”
She frowned. “Are you trying to confuse me?”
He grinned. “So, you don’t consider me dangerous then?”
She lifted off her knees and crawled toward him, launching
against his chest. His breath let out in a whoosh.
“Dangerous?
Possibly.
Stalker
or
Peeping
Tom?”
She
glanced down his length. “I fail to see why you’d need to
resort to that, under the circumstances. You seem more than
capable of having a normal relationship without resorting to
hiding or following people.”
“A normal relationship,” he repeated. Todd slipped his
hands behind her and locked them around Reva’s waist.
“You mean one that
two
people choose to be in because it’s
mutually enjoyable.”
“Something like that.”
“I haven’t got a clue what that is,” he teased.
“Me either.”
A loud rap on the door startled them. Todd was about to
just call out for them to come in but he remembered he’d
started locking it when Reva arrived. He ignored the knock
and pulled her up to his lips so he could brush a kiss on
hers. A soft thump signaled whoever had knocked was still
waiting. The rasp of a key entering the doorknob caught his
attention. His dropped the hand that had grazed up Reva’s
back and lifted her off.
“Go to the back,” Todd ordered.
“But—”
“Go! I’ll be there in a min—” The door flew open.
“Hi Dad.” Eric smiled. His small face moved from Reva to
Todd. “Hi, Ms. Reva.”
“Hey, bud.” Todd looked past him at the car pulling away
from the drive. “What are you doing here?”
“Mom had to go on an overnight business thing. She said
you were going to take me rock climbing at the park.”
Todd squelched the frown, but clenched a hand around
Reva’s wrist so she wouldn’t remove herself from the room.
Damn Annie. No call, nothing. And she didn’t even check to
see if he was home! Or that he had company.
“Okay, well I don’t know about rock climbing but come on
in.” He reached for the bag. “You’re gonna have to share
with me though because Reva’s in your room right now.”
“Really? So you
did
move in with us? That’s great!” His eyes
swiveled from Todd to Reva. “Dad, why doesn’t she have to
share? It’s
my
room.”
Reva laughed. “He has a point, you know.”
Todd shifted the bag to his other arm and let go of her.
“Well, that’d only mean one thing, you know.”
She shook her head. “Nope. That’s not happening.”
He grinned. “I sleep on the couch.” It probably wasn’t a
good idea to remind her that they’d made good use of his
bed already. Not with Eric present.
Reva’s mouth dropped. “Oh, I thought you meant…”
“What? That I’d share a room with you when I hardly know
you? What would your mom and dad say?” he teased. But he
did know her. Every soft, silky inch and he craved them all.
Reva punched Todd in the arm and went to her/Eric’s
room. “I’ll take the couch,” she shot over her shoulder, “but
I’m sharing a bathroom with somebody. You guys decide.”
“Okay.” Todd heaved a fake sigh. “I guess I’ll let you use
mine.”
Reva dragged her bag of clothes and toiletries out to the
living room and dumped it against a wall. Todd watched as
she neatly laid open the lid and surveyed the contents. “You
can put those in the back room, if you want to.”
Sure, it was his room too, but she obviously had a hang-up
about Eric seeing them together.
“This is fine.”
“And makes the room look like a college dorm. Come on,
Eric. Let’s see what we can find to eat.” He pulled Eric into
the kitchen and they rummaged through the fridge.
“Do you want me to move it?” she called after them.
He didn’t really care. If he were expecting company maybe,
but—she
is
company. “It doesn’t matter. Put it wherever you
want.”
A few minutes later, she joined them in the kitchen. They
made dinner and ate. It was the first time Todd had had a
woman at the dinner table since Annie left. Not that he
hated cooking or specifically cooking for a woman, it just
never happened. He didn’t invite women home as a habit.
He hadn’t been celibate either—it just never appealed to
come here. Now, he had a scarred but enticing woman at his
table, and her make-up was tucked into a corner of his
bathroom. After Annie, that should scare him to death, but
it hadn’t. Admittedly, it was a strange but welcome feeling.
Her news had confounded him too. He thoroughly expected
the ex to be the stalker. As gorgeous as she was, he doubted
any man would give up easily. Yet, if Agent Teckley’s report
was accurate, and it must be, Nick had been ruled out. They
were stumped. No other likely candidate had surfaced from
the neighborhood either, or Teckley wouldn’t have asked
Reva for that list of names. Still, and for the life of him he
didn’t
know
why,
he
wanted
to
validate
the
guy’s
whereabouts.
“Time for bed, Eric.” Todd roused the boy from his halfsleep on the floor. Eric had constructed some sort of war
game from a collage of various pieces of plastic in a box by
the table. Once satisfied with the result, he’d simply settled
right in the middle of it and surveyed his territory. His tiny
eyelashes bobbled up and down in a fight to keep his eyes
open. Todd lifted him, cradled the tiny frame over his
shoulder and stepped across the construction toward the
back rooms.

Todd frowned at his computer screen. They had an order
for ten of the fountains he’d tested from a big hardware
store chain. Good news financially. Unfortunately, they’d
just discovered the bottom sections leak and water tended to
seep from them. He’d been on the phone with the vendor a
couple of times but they were unresponsive. Filling the order
would probably end up in returned merchandise and a loss if
they didn’t straighten it out. He sighed. Another small
disruption that compounded all the other things going on.
At what point were you going to tell me that you were living with
someone?
Annie was pissed. What business was it of hers
anyway? She had been screwing around on him after the
second year of marriage. Who was she to judge? Last he
checked, he was still single, thanks to her. He had told her as
much. Just before she dropped the ball that hammered
home the control she still had on his life. A reminder that
he’d merely imagined he had rid himself of her.
“Todd, that’s not the kind of environment I want Eric
exposed to. He needs stability. Not women running in and
out of your bedroom at your whim.” That was like the pot
calling the kettle…
“Stability, Annie?” He controlled his voice, but the severity
in tone made it impossible to hide his contempt. “You dump
him on me without even calling half the time, and flit off on
your next adventure with your
married
boyfriend. When
you’re gone, you don’t call and, frankly, I doubt you give a
shit what’s going on with him as long as you get your fling
out of your system. There is
nothing
stable in this boy’s life
right now
except
me. I am here—whenever he comes, no
matter what, no matter when. Don’t you dare condemn me
for helping Reva out of a bad situation. She’s not running in
and out of my bed on a whim. But she’s damned well here,
and if you don’t like it, you can just go fuck yourself, for all I
care.”
Silence had fallen over the phone and he heard the sound of
voices in the background. It occurred to him that she was
out enjoying herself while chastising him. The irony of the
situation angered him further.
“Well, I just don’t think Eric should get too attached when
she might be gone in a week. Maybe he shouldn’t come
around there for a while until you get your life straightened
out.”
“Get
my
life straightened out? You have to be kidding me.
There’s nothing to straighten out, Annie. I love Eric. I’m
here for him. Reva’s a friend and I care about her too. She
has something really bad going on and we’re helping her
through it. She’s not going to be gone in a week.” He had
ended the call to ensure he didn’t say worse.
He pondered that statement further as he sifted through the
emails about his fountain order. Truth was, he didn’t know if
she’d be gone in a week or even a day. And he had no idea if
he wanted her to stay anyway. She was only there until they
caught the person bothering her. He hadn’t thought about
what might happen if they didn’t. It was hard not to think
about her as he worked. The sex had been pretty damned
awesome even though she was inordinately obsessed with
his
satisfaction
over
her
own.
But
he
didn’t
want
a
relationship and she definitely didn’t either. She’d had her fill
of men. And since she’d been in his house, she’d barely
come near him.
That was a good thing, right?
More irony hit him. No, it wasn’t.
And why the hell not?
He
realized Annie’s entire life revolved around controlling and
manipulating the men around her. Reluctantly, he admitted
that she still pulled his strings. Reva hadn’t made any effort
at all to do so, yet here he was, fantasizing about her. He had
some undefined need to get rid of the asshole bothering her
too. For the life of him, he didn’t know why he needed it.
Or cared. Male ego maybe? Protective instincts?
The phone rang and rang, yet he didn’t attempt to pick up.
He didn’t have the stomach for more intense discussions
with customers at the moment. One of the others would get
it. He threw a pen across the desk. Damn. Both of these
women were so entrenched in his thoughts at the moment
that he’d taken his mind off work and had accomplished
nothing all morning. Dammit. This was
not
going to happen.
He had a business to run; he didn’t have time to idle away
precious minutes on a woman. Correction…women.
“Annie can go to hell for all I care,” he muttered. Still, the
woman had threatened to cut off his contact with Eric. In
fact, she’d flat out said he wasn’t coming over again until
Reva was gone. How dare she throw ultimatums at him?
And Reva. She’d settled into his living room and become
extraordinarily nice and complacent. Distant. Like a damn
valet or something. He wanted the woman that had made
him boost the fence. That’s the real girl. Not this cardboard
cutout that avoided contact. “And Reva too.”
But he didn’t mean it.