Risky Pleasures (13 page)

He moved towards her, unable to make out her expression. Was she unhappy he was there? Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and smoothed his thumb over her damp skin.

“I am so proud of you, Delicia,” he murmured.

“Why are you here?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t come?” he countered.

“You were sleeping when I left.”

A smile turned up one corner of his mouth. “Delicia,” he began. “I always know when you leave the bed. Always.” He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. She moaned slightly before pulling back. “What?” he asked, frustrated she ended it.

“I’m all sweaty.”

Yes, she was. He chuckled and pulled her flush against him. “I don’t give a damn, Delicia.” He closed his eyes when her arms went around him and for a moment, the world belonged to the two of them. No racers. No spectators. No news crew. Nothing but him and her.

It was short lived, for soon people wanted to talk to her. He waited while she answered questions and posed for pictures. Then he waited some more while she went to grab her bag and take a short shower. When they finally made it to his truck, she looked beyond beat.

“Do you need to eat?” he asked as he held the door for her.

“I should, but damn it, I’m so exhausted.”

“Sleep while we go somewhere.”

He closed the door and hastened to the driver’s side. She’d already reclined the seat back and had her eyes shut. So he started the engine and with the AC on low, he drove away and back towards McKingley.

They stopped for dinner an hour later and Delicia still looked worn and drawn, but she gave him a smile. They ate slowly and when they were on dessert, he placed his fork on his plate. He leant forward and stared at her. She took a bite of her cheesecake and lifted her brows.

“What? Did I embarrass you with how much I ate?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Do you have any idea how impressed I am with what you did today?”

She began to wave it off, but he refused to let her.

“No. I mean it, Delicia, you were…are amazing.”

“Please don’t,” she said.

“Why don’t you like compliments?”

She shifted and didn’t look at him.

“Delicia?”

“I just don’t like them.”

He sighed but let it go. There was something so innocent about her sitting there. He wanted to gather her close and never let her go. “Okay, Delicia.” He paid and they carried the dessert with them. Once she was back in the truck, he brushed his lips over hers then got them back on the road.

It was dark when they made it back to McKingley and as he turned up the street towards her house, he reached over, and shook her awake. “Wake up, Delicia.”

“Are we home?”

Three words which he’d never thought would make him so happy. “Yeah, we’re home.”

“I’m ready to sleep for a week,” she muttered.

He smiled. Only to have it wiped away in the next second when he heard her gasp.

“What is it?”

“Something’s not right. Let me out here then block the driveway so he can’t leave.”

He frowned but listened. She jumped out and he did as she’d ordered before shutting off the engine and scrambling after her. Delicia ran up her drive and to the front door.

“What is it?” he whispered in her ear when he caught up to her.

She didn’t respond, instead burst into her house, and yelled, “Damn you, Justin! Where the hell are you?”

All protective instincts went on full alert the moment she mentioned Justin. The bastard stuck his head around the corner and there was shock on his features, which smoothed away to be replaced by false cheer.

“What’s up, Lis?” Justin asked, then glared at him.

“You’ve been stealing from me, haven’t you?” Delicia thundered, moving towards her shiftless cousin.

His eyes narrowed on her and he shrugged. “You didn’t even miss the stuff. Besides, I needed the money.”

“Then go out and get a fucking job, Justin.” Another step.

“You’re just like your brothers, always on their high horse about what I should do. You have money, I should have money.”

“I have it because I work for it, dumbass. I don’t drive a Ferrari and I don’t live in a house I can’t afford.”

His expression morphed into something pathetic. “You won’t tell will you, Lis?” he whined.

“Yes, I will, Justin. You’ve abused my goodwill for the last time. You’ve erased my messages and stolen from under my nose. Call Leo, Archer.”

Justin looked at him with a feral glint in his eyes.

“You call your brother, Delicia. I’ll keep an eye on Justin.”

Justin popped his neck and sneered. “You think you can take me, boy?”

Archer moved around Delicia and held his gaze, the anger he’d had at this piece of trash his entire life flaring to the surface. “I know I can. I kicked your ass when we played football against one another and I can do it now.”

Justin let out a primal cry and charged at him. Archer braced himself for the hit, more than ready to deal with this confrontation, years in the making.

Delicia cringed as she watched her coffee table—one she’d made herself, using pictures she’d taken as the top under a clear lacquer—became kindling underneath the thrashing grown men. She’d called her brother and now stood to the side waiting for him to arrive.

She didn’t try to stop them—she knew this went way beyond Justin being in her house uninvited—again. However, watching them went against everything she stood for. She’d become an EMT to help people, not to stand there and watch them beat the shit out of one another.

Flashing lights and sirens grabbed her attention and she went to open the door. She cringed as Leo’s car drove up on her front yard. Two others followed him and she stepped back as her brother shouldered his way into her house.

“Jeez, couldn’t you not ruin my yard?”

“Really, Lis? You want to do this now?” He held out a hand to the two deputies behind him and said, “Hang on a minute. Go check his car to see if he put things in it.”

“What about them?”

“I’ll stop them.”

The men left and Delicia looked at her brother. “Would you stop them, please?”

The look he gave her told her he’d rather let Archer continue to pummel the shit out of Justin, but he sighed and stepped closer to them. “Break it up!” he said in a deep voice that did wonders in large crowds. The men kept fighting. “Damn it, Archer, I said break it up!”

A final crunch filled the air and Delicia inhaled deeply as Archer shoved to his feet, leaving Justin on the floor. Blood streamed from the cuts on his face, but Archer definitely looked better than Justin did. Her cousin appeared to have gone through a meat grinder.

“Arrest him!” Justin squealed. “He attacked me for no reason.”

“Shut up, Justin,” she and Leo said at the same time.

“Sheriff?” Dave stepped back in the room. “We found some paintings in there.”

“Catalogue it and then you can go. I’ll handle this.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Delicia walked by her brother and moved closer to where Justin stood, only to stop at Archer’s touch. He pulled her to him and kept her anchored to his side. She looked up at him and said, “Let me get my bag and I’ll clean you up.”

“Sheriff!” the call came from outside full of urgency.

Everyone ran out and Delicia’s breath caught in her throat. In her now-open garage stood Lacy, beaten and bruised with torn clothes.
Oh my God.

“Lacy!” Archer’s voice seemed torn from his chest and he shoved by her heading towards the woman.

“No!” Justin screamed, his voice high and strained to the point it was no longer human.

Time seemed to slow as Delicia saw her cousin, who even looked like a wild animal, grab a sidearm from the other cop who’d come to the door. In a split second, Leo’s was on him.

“Drop it, Justin.”

“Archer!” The word was laced with venom.

The other cop who’d been with Lacy appeared with his gun drawn as well. Two guns on Justin and one on Archer. Honestly, the only one Delicia gave a damn about was the one on Archer.

He turned slowly, hands outstretched. “You just had to go back and do it again, didn’t you, Justin?”

Again? What was he talking about?

“You self-righteous bastard. Lacy was mine. You came between us.”

Delicia frowned but stepped back out of the way at Leo’s look.

“No. I stopped you from beating on a woman. I should have said something then.”

“No one would have believed her anyway. I’m a Wright, she’s nothing but a slutty Donavon.”

“I will never stand by and watch as a man hits a woman. I don’t give a damn what his last name is,” Archer growled.

“Which is why I’m going to kill you.”

Fear ballooned in her chest. Justin said it with such calm, so matter-of-fact, it chilled her to the bone.

“Put the gun down, Justin,” Leo said again.

Justin didn’t seem to hear him—he lifted the gun a bit higher. Delicia didn’t think time could move any slower, but it did. The shots were almost simultaneous and she screamed, unable to stop the noise from racing from her chest.

Justin went down and Leo was at his side immediately, kicking the gun away and pushing her back. She looked for Archer and found him. Alive, holding Lacy in his arms. Radios crackled beside her and she heard them calling for the ambulance.

She ignored her cousin lying there and neared Archer and his ex-wife. “Come on, Lady,” he crooned in a deep, comforting voice. “Don’t leave me.”

That was when she noticed it. The large bloodstain growing on Lacy’s chest. Her training kicked in and she ran all out, despite her exhaustion, to her house where she grabbed her bag from its resting place by the door and headed back out to Lacy.

“Lay her back, Archer and get out of my way,” she ordered.

He did as he was told only to settle by her head and stroke her face. “Why, Lacy? Why?”

“I miss Tony so much,” she wheezed. “Now I can go be with him.”

She flicked her eyes to Archer’s face. He was totally focused on the woman who’d both borne and taken his son from him. Shutting them out, along with the pain the emotion on his face caused her, she got to work.

Five minutes later, she skimmed her lower lip with her tongue and sat back on her haunches. She’d failed. Lacy Donavon lay in her front yard, dead. She wanted to scream, cry and yell, but she did none of those things. She closed the woman’s eyes and drew a sheet, given to her by one of the cops, up over her.

Archer knelt beside her, head down, bloodied hands resting on his thighs. She wanted to touch him, to offer comfort, but he seemed to be within himself.

“I’m so sorry, Archer,” she whispered when the cop left.

He lifted his head, but those amazing indigo eyes seemed to see right through her. “I know you did everything you could, Lis.”

Her heart broke as he pushed to his feet and headed for his truck. Leo reached out a hand to stop him only to drop it when she shook her head. She didn’t move as he got in then drove away.

Lis. He’d called her Lis.

Leo approached and helped her to her feet. “You okay, Lis?”

“I tried to save her, Leo.”

He pulled her close. “I know you did. You always do.” He kissed her cheek. “I have to go take care of the Justin thing.”

She stared at her dead cousin with dispassionate eyes. “Good. Get his fucking car off my property as soon as you can.” With a heavy heart, she went to gather up her things.

Delicia sat on her porch until all the flashing lights left, all the lookie-loos went back inside their own homes and all that was left was her and her exhaustion. She’d spoken to her family and told them not to come over—all she wanted to do was sleep. But now that she sat there alone, she realised alone was the last thing she wanted to be. She wanted Archer, but him calling her Lis and staring through her, didn’t inspire much confidence.

Exhaustion pushing her, she stumbled to her feet and went inside her house. After a long hot shower, she crawled into bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow. When morning came, she was still alone and there was no sign of Archer.

With a groan, she got up and ready for work before walking slowly to her Jeep. She could still see some of the blood on her rocks, but she ignored it, making a mental note to clean it up.

* * * *

Over the next five weeks, things progressed in the same way. Yes, she saw Archer, but he’d become different. Distant. His mother had left—where, she didn’t know or care, but Archer had withdrawn into himself. And honestly, she didn’t have the energy to fight right now. When they did spend time together, he was subdued and quiet.

Saddened and feeling alone, she met Thom at the ambulance after a very uneventful weekend. Thankfully, he was as he always was, just what she needed. When they were on the road, he handed her a card and she looked at it before glancing back to him.

“What is this for?”

“Remember the two men I introduced you to about a year ago? The Kline brothers?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. They had the training facility in Washington State.”

“They’re here in town and want to talk to you.”

Delicia swallowed once then nodded. Last year had been extremely rough on her and she’d debated whether she should even stay in McKingley. Thom had got her in touch with these two men. Maybe it might be worth talking to them.

“Set it up.”

Thom smiled. “Already did. Meeting them tonight at Bella’s.”

“Thank you, Thom.”

He reached across the interior and squeezed her leg. “You know I love you, Lis. I just wish you’d tell me what’s wrong and what I can do to help you get through this.”

It was tempting to tell him, but she kept it to herself. She was private. Always had been. Always would be. “I love you too, Thom. And thank you. We just have to get over this hurdle.” However, she wasn’t even sure that would be enough.

The day passed with surprising quickness and soon she found herself heading for her brother’s law office. When she was waved back, she cracked the door open and peered around the edge. “Got a minute?”

“For you, Lis, always.” Jonathon closed the file and gestured her in while getting up to greet her. After sharing a hug and kiss, he gestured her to the leather couch and sat nearby on a matching chair. “What’s up?”