Perfect Kiss (29 page)

Small-town living did have its perks.

Looking down the bar, she saw that there were over a dozen patrons waiting to be served. She seriously needed to get her head out of her ass and back in the game.

With a smile on her face, she made her way down the row of thirsty drink-seekers. She filled all of their orders in record time by making three or four drinks at a time. Once she’d dug herself out, she glanced at the floor to make sure no one was trying to get either her or Levi’s attention.

Nope. Everyone looked happy.

She took another scan to see if anyone was taking pictures or seemed to be a little too interested in what she was doing behind the bar. All day, she’d been looking over her shoulder, paying extra close attention to her surroundings. Even if Kevin wasn’t here, someone was following her. Someone was taking pictures of her. If she really let herself think about that, it would make her go crazy. Freak out. Panic. That wouldn’t help anything. She needed to deal with this with a level head.

Just as she was taking a deep breath to collect herself, Levi slid behind her. She could feel the hard planes of his abs and the broad strength of his shoulders against her back as he grabbed the clean pint glasses that were stored at her end of the bar.

A tremor ran down her body, and she—totally involuntarily—melted against him. It didn’t matter that they were totally clothed, working in a room full of people. He affected her as much in this scenario as he did when they were naked, alone, and making love. Her body always wanted to be closer to him. As close to him as physically possible.

“Did you have a good day?” he asked.

“Mmm, hmm,” Shelby mumbled as she nodded.

She could tell by the tone in his voice that he knew she hadn’t followed his prescription of eating, sleeping, and relaxing. Not that she’d needed to hear his voice to know that he was aware that she hadn’t been at the cabin today. When she’d rushed home to change before starting her shift, she’d seen that he’d finished the crown molding in the dining room. Seeing the finished room had given her a glimmer of hope that receiving the pictures that morning had extinguished.

Even though it might be ridiculous, watching the cabin come together was cathartic for her. Levi had basically taken the structure down to its bare bones and was rebuilding it piece by piece. Maybe she was just latching on to something that wasn’t there, but whatever the case was, she drew parallels between herself and that cabin.

She’d been stripped bare and was now rebuilding herself baby step by baby step. Her hope was that, just like the cabin, she would come out on the other side stronger, better, improved.

When Levi’s hand slipped around her hip, pulling her even closer to him, he bent down so that he could whisper in her ear. She forgot all about the cabin, the pictures, the threat, the police station, the bar. The entire world disappeared.

“I missed you today.”

His chest vibrated against her back as he spoke. She didn’t trust herself to speak, so she only nodded her head.

“I know something’s wrong. We can talk about it later. But I want you to know that I’m here. You’re safe. No one is ever going to hurt you again.”

No way could she talk now. Her emotions were welling up, so full in her throat that they were practically choking her. So, feeling like she was becoming a bobblehead, she nodded again as she sucked in a shaky breath.

After a quick kiss on the top of her head, Levi stepped away and continued working as if they hadn’t just had a private moment.

Guilt flooded through her. This afternoon, she’d tried to handle the situation on her own for Levi’s benefit. But, since her plan A had crashed and burned, she had to tell him what was going on. This was too big to sweep under the rug.

Tonight. She’d tell him after they closed tonight.

*

“Hey, man. You got a sec?” Adam asked as Levi was closing out his last tab.

Looking over at Shelby, he saw that she was chatting with Eli and Casey as they finished their beers. Last call had been ten minutes ago, and the only people left in the bar were the firefighter duo of Shelby-admirers and the couple whose credit card he was running.

“Yeah. I’ll meet you in the office,” he told his cousin.

After the couple signed the receipt, he thanked them for coming in.

Levi cleared his throat. “I’m going in the back for a sec. I’ll be right back.”

Shelby smiled, and the guys made jokes about how they would take care of her and handle things from there. He knew they were joking, but the truth was that the only reason he felt comfortable was because they were the only ones in the bar. He knew that, despite their bad jokes, they were good guys. Womanizing good guys, but good guys nonetheless. They’d never let anything happen to Shelby.

“Lock up after Beavis and Butthead leave,” he instructed.

Shelby smiled a smile he was sure could solve all the world’s problems as she nodded her head in agreement. Eli crumpled up a cocktail napkin and threw it at him, while Casey imitated the cartoon character he’d referenced, saying, “He, he, he, he. Fire. Fire.”

Levi laughed as he turned the corner and stepped inside his office, but his laughter quickly died when he saw the serious look on Adam’s face. Whatever he’d uncovered was not good. His first instinct was to shut the door to give them complete privacy, but even with Beavis and Butthead still there, he wanted to be able to hear if there were any issues.

So he left the door open about an inch.

“What did you find?” Levi spoke quietly as he crossed his arms.

Adam, who’d taken a seat, stood and lifted his iPad. On the screen, a good-looking guy in his early thirties popped up.

“Kevin Peterson. He’s a cop.”

“Shit,” Levi breathed out. No wonder Shelby was so afraid of him. A fucking cop.

“It took some digging. He has family connections. An uncle who’s a judge. A cousin who’s a congressman. It looks like they clean up any messes he can’t get taken care of through the force.

“There was only one incident called in connection with Shelby. It’s not on the books, but when I was running Shelby’s phone records, I saw it and was able to get the recording. It was tagged as a domestic disturbance call before it disappeared. After that, nothing.

“She quit her job not long after that call. He had an alert placed on her bank account. Her phone was tapped. He had a LowJack on her car. She must have known about it, because it was disconnected in Phoenix at two a.m. in the morning and she was admitted to University Hospital at eleven a.m. in San Diego the same day.

Adam stopped talking and looked up from his screen. He seemed like he had more to say but did not want to continue. “I don’t know how much you want to know about her injuries.”

“All of it.” Levi knew he was crossing a line, but he had to know if this guy was still a threat to her and if she needed to get a restraining order.

He didn’t want to upset her by forcing her to talk about it. But he needed to know. She was his now. His to love. His to protect. The only way he could do that was if he knew everything.

Adam motioned to the two chairs. “You might want to sit down.”

Levi shook his head. “I’m fine.”

After clearing his throat, Adam relayed the details in a low whisper. “She had several fractures. Two deep abrasions that needed stitches. She also had internal bleeding, which was operated on. They were able to stop the bleeding before any permanent damage was done, but they weren’t able to save the fetus.”

“The fetus?” Levi couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Shelby was four weeks pregnant.”

“I’m going to kill that asshole,” Levi growled, and he meant it. He would gladly spend the rest of his life in jail for manslaughter if it meant putting that piece of shit below ground.

Wishing he’d taken his cousin up on his offer, Levi lowered himself into the chair as Adam continued. Quietly, he tried to wrap his mind around everything Shelby had been through. Not only what she’d endured during the time she’d been with that asshole, but that she’d driven herself in the dead of night to a hospital hundreds of miles away with broken bones and internal bleeding.

No wonder she’d spent
weeks
recovering. When she’d told him that time frame, he hadn’t been sure if she’d stayed in L.A. to heal emotionally or physically before coming to Hope Falls. Now, he knew that it was both.

“There’s something you need to see.” Adam handed the iPad to Levi.

Looking down, he saw pictures of himself and Shelby taken over the time that she’d been working at the bar. But they weren’t only pictures of them at the bar—they were at the cabin, too. One of them was even from when they’d left Matt and Amy’s after babysitting.

“What the…” As he continued flipping through the photos, he saw that some had words calling Shelby all kinds of horrible names written on them. “How did he… Who?” Levi couldn’t even think straight.

“He opened an ‘unofficial’ investigation into Shelby’s whereabouts after she left, claiming that she was a person of interest in an open case. These were taken by a private investigator hired with taxpayers’ money.”

While Levi continued scrolling, his cousin dropped a bomb on him.

“He sent these to her this morning.”

“He did what?”

When Levi had gone to check on Shelby and she hadn’t been there, he’d figured she’d been over at her brother’s house. But when he’d talked to Sue Ann and found out that Amy and the girls had been with Nikki and Rosalie all day, he’d become worried. He’d been relieved when Kensie had called in and Shelby had to pick up her shift, but that relief had been short-lived when he’d noticed how distracted and upset Shelby seemed. Then he’d gotten really worried.

Where the hell had she gone today? Had she contacted Kevin? He hoped to God she wouldn’t try to take this fucker on her own.

“He sent them right before he was arrested.” Adam said, finally giving Levi some good news.

“He was arrested?” He wanted to make sure he had heard him right.

Adam nodded. “He has impressive connections. I have better ones.”

“How did you do that? What are the charges?”

“Shelby wasn’t the only girl Kevin has stalked. I discovered two other victims. One wanted to come forward if I could promise that I could protect her and her mother. It turns out she’d also gotten pregnant, and discovered that Kevin had tampered with her protection. She suffered a miscarriage as well. He still contacts her and she wants to have her life back.

“But, the domestic violence and stalking charges aren’t the only things he’s being charged with. The prosecutor has a much larger case including extortion, unlawful entry, and homicide in an apparent home invasion case where Kevin shot an unarmed man who has turned out to be one of his ex’s current boyfriends.”

“What about his uncle and cousin? Are they going to be able to make this go away?”

Adam let out a little laugh as he shook his head. “The D.A. has a solid case on the extortion and unlawful entry. However, on the assault, harassment, and stalking charges, Shelby may be asked to testify. He has got a laundry list of offenses, and I have a feeling it’s just going to keep getting longer. His days of being a free man are over. Even
I
couldn’t make this go away.”

Levi knew he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, but he had to ask, “What
do
you
do
?”

“I’m an IT specialist,” Adam answered with a straight face.

Levi shook his head and looked back down at the device that displayed dozens of pictures of him and Shelby. “Thanks for doing this, man.” He handed the iPad back to his cousin.

“Do you want me to talk to Shelby?”

“No, I’ll tell her.” Levi wasn’t sure how, and he hoped that she understood why he’d done what he had.

Adam nodded. “She needs to know she may be called as a witness for the prosecution.”

“She knows,” Shelby said flatly, with zero emotion, from the doorway, startling him and Adam.

Levi turned in his chair as Adam stood up.

His cousin looked between Levi and Shelby before mumbling, “I’ll give you guys some privacy.” Then, with his head down, he left the office faster than Levi had ever seen someone vacate an area, shutting the door behind him.

Standing slowly, Levi knew he needed to explain. He knew this looked bad. Especially after what he’d heard about all the crazy, psycho things her ex had done. He did not want this to come off looking like he was doing the same things. Yes. He had gone behind her back to find out personal information, but it was because he wanted to protect her, not control and hurt her.

He prayed that she saw it that way.

Chapter 27

‡

S
o many feelings were rushing through Shelby that she had no idea where to start. So many thoughts were fighting for attention in her brain that she didn’t know what to think.

When she’d gone looking for Levi to tell him about the pictures, she was right outside his office door when she’d heard Adam say, “…running Shelby’s phone records.” She’d almost pushed the door open to confront the two of them, but something had stopped her. So, instead of announcing her presence, she listened.

Hearing what Adam had uncovered had surprised her. Not because she’d thought she’d covered her tracks so well or she’d doubted his ability to do…whatever it was he did. What had shocked her was that it had sounded like he’d been describing someone else’s life. Logically, she knew that the things he’d said
had
happened to
her
, but she wasn’t the same person she’d been then.

Even though so many questions were filling her muddled mind, she knew exactly which one to ask first.

“Kevin’s been arrested?” Even as she said the words out loud, she didn’t really believe that it could be true.

“Yes. He was taken into custody this afternoon.”

Well, that explained why the pictures had stopped rolling in. It was probably a lot harder to harass someone when you were in handcuffs.

Moving on to the next question that was on the top of her list, Shelby asked, “When did you ask Adam to dig into my past?”