Whispers (39 page)

“
What do you think you’re about?” he asked, sitting down opposite me.

“
Nothing, sir. I’m just waiting for a friendly game. Captain McCready has given me a job. I’ll be dealing cards at this table.”

Aiken laughed at that. “You got money?” I nodded, but my quick glance at the bar where Sawyer usually stood must have revealed my source. “You got him worked around your finger, don’t you?”

“
No sir. I don’t believe that’s possible.”

“
What would you say about coming to work for me since you’re interested in making some money?”

My sweaty palms made it difficult to shuffle the cards. I didn’t know where Sawyer had disappeared to, but I prayed he’d return soon.

“
Thank you for the offer, Mr. Tate, but I must decline.”

“
Ain’t no cause to be so formal,” he said. His eyes sparkled with humor and he looked to the unsuspecting eye like a kindly soul making innocent small talk. “You can call me Aiken. The other girls do.”

“
I’m not the other girls, Mr. Tate.”

He smiled and reached out to trap one of my hands beneath his. He gave the appearance of being a small man but as I looked at the hand holding mine, I realized it wasn’t true. He downplayed his size with his fussy suits and hats, but he was not diminutive by any stretch.

“
No, you’re most certainly not the others girls,” he said softly, watching me. “You’re special. I knew that the first time I saw you.”

I tried to pull my hand free and he immediately released me. “I’m not special, Mr. Tate. Just different.”

“
I didn’t know about your family,” he said. “I am heartsick over what happened. You’re lucky to be alive.”

I glanced up, frightened by this compassionate facade, but I saw no mockery or deceit in his face. In fact, he seemed to be sincere.

“
Yes, I am lucky to be alive,” I said. “My family was not so fortunate.”

“
If I had known, I would have fought harder to keep you safe that night. I assumed ...” He looked embarrassed for a moment, but I was not fooled. “The other girls have stumbled into my life through one means or another. I thought you’d come to me the same way.”

It took a moment to catch his meaning. He imagined I’d joined the ranks of the women intentionally. What a fool. “No, sir,” I said.

“
I know that now. Meaira set me straight last night. She tells me you’re too good for me, but not for the Captain.”

Startled, I looked up as a wariness settled deep in my bones. I remembered that Aiken had used Meaira to capture Honey. I felt sorry for her, but I didn’t trust her not to betray me if it meant Aiken would give her more of her drug. I would watch what I said around her.

“
Is that how it is?” he asked. “You belong to the Captain now?”

I belonged to no one, but for once judgment prevailed over my quick tongue. I was not the Captain’s woman, but if Aiken thought it was so, he would tread carefully around me.

“
Yes, that’s right,” I said, feeling the stain of my lie creep up my neck.

His eyes narrowed as he watched me and I knew he didn’t believe me. Leaning back, he gave me a slow, satisfied grin. I braced for him to call me out, but instead he switched tactics and caught me once more by surprise.

“
Meaira said you bargained with the Captain. You bargained my girls.”

Now I saw something hard and flinty in the sparkling eyes. I was already on guard, but this made me even more cautious.

“
I merely tried to keep them safe.”

“
You didn’t tell the girls they could work for the Captain?”

My mouth was very dry. I tried several times before I could swallow.

“
You didn’t tell the girls he’d let them keep their money?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he shushed me.

“
Don’t lie, now.”

He waited for me to say something so I tried to rationalize. “Is it so unreasonable that the girls get a share of their earnings?”

“
Now see, that’s what I’m talking about. They never thought of such things before, but now they think they should get something. I feed them. I clothe them. I make sure the men are presentable when they come knocking. That’s always been enough.”

How could I respond to that? It wasn’t enough anymore, and he was a monster to think it was?

“
What is it you expect me to say, Mr. Tate?”

He reached for my hand again and I was not quick enough to pull it away before he caught it. This time, he did not release at my tug.

“
You’re a beautiful woman, Ella,” he said, his voice low. That ring of sincerity was back and now it brought a terror I couldn’t describe. He gave me a bemused smile and leaned very close. I felt his hot breath at the skin beneath my ear. I could smell his hair tonic and the soap he used. But beneath it, there was something dark in his scent, something that shocked me and made me want to fight free.

“
Sometimes when I see a woman, I just have to have her.”

“
And what if she belongs to another?” I asked when I should have stayed quiet.

“
But she doesn’t,” he said, leaning so close his lips nearly touched my neck.

“
I’ve already told you, Mr. Tate. I belong with Sawyer.”

At last he pulled back and leveled those sparkling, blue eyes on my face. “I don’t think so, Ella.”

“
I assure you it is true.”

“
You believe that, girl. But he won’t fight for you. He ain’t got it in him to fight for something. He’d just as soon turn you over as do that.”

I knew the color had drained from my face, but I kept my chin up. “I don’t need a man to fight for me, Mr. Tate. I’m capable of doing that myself.”

“
You going to put a bullet through me?”

“
Are you going to force me to do so?” I asked.

He threw his head back and laughed. “You’re a sassy one. I like that.”

I didn’t want him to like it. I wanted him to think me trouble, and therefore, not worth his time.

“
See, you might have gotten away with shooting Lonnie Smith, but you can’t just go around killing people and not get caught.”

“
Can’t I?” I said, before I could stop myself.

He cocked his head and said, “No. But some people need things proved to them. I’m sensing you’re one of them.”

I bit back the challenge that longed to come out. I was smarter than that. I had to be or I would not survive.

“
You’re thinking hard, girlie. That’s good. Because there’s nothing you can dream up that I ain’t already thought of.” He leaned in and murmured, “You don’t think Honey’s tried to kill me before?”

I hadn’t thought her capable of such a thing. She wasn’t like me.

“
Oh, she has. Ask her what I did. She doesn’t try it no more.” He winked at me. “You won’t either.”

With that he stood, leaving me sitting at the table, trembling. He could not just take me, a part of my mind shouted. There was no need to be afraid. But I couldn’t stop remembering what Honey had told me. And I realized that nothing in my short life had prepared me to deal with such a man as Aiken Tate.

As he strolled away to the bar, Sawyer came from the back room with a box of whiskey in his hands. He glanced at me and then did a double-take as he noted of my new attire. I felt as naked as I had last night at the springs as those Mississippi eyes flowed over my bare skin. The look had a touch and feel that lit something deep inside me and I gave it back, responding from instinct to the desire he roused. For an instant, only he and I existed and the rest of the world fell away. Had my legs not been trembling, I would have stood and gone to him, consequences be damned.

Aiken moved then, breaking the spell that had taken me and distracting Sawyer from his concentrated inspection. Aiken gave me a dark look as he slid onto a barstool in front of Sawyer and lit a cigarette. I shuffled my cards and watched like a nervous bird as he leaned forward and spoke to Sawyer.

Whatever he said made Sawyer look up at him, a frown drawing his brows together. I read his expression and felt the blood rush to my face. Aiken had told him what I’d said. I thought of bolting but couldn’t find the courage to move. Sawyer turned his head to look at me once more and I braced myself for his rejection, but what I saw was not that.

Again, he let his gaze travel from my eyes to my throat to the bare skin above my breasts. The heat in my face spread throughout my body until the spark he’d started burst into flame. He locked eyes with me and I knew he saw all that I was thinking, feeling.

I’d said I was his woman to protect myself from Aiken. But I realized as I stared back at him, that I wanted it to be true.

Chapter Thirty-Three

IT took some convincing, but Gracie was finally able to escape to the bathroom in Grandma Beck’s room. Reilly had been diligent about his buddy system and wanted someone to go with her, but Juliet made it clear that Gracie would be safe in her custody.

“
You’re a good girl,” Gracie said, scratching the dog behind the ears.

Whether it was wise or not, Gracie just needed to be alone, if only for a few minutes.

Once the door was closed, Gracie leaned against it and counted to ten. It didn’t help. Somehow the Diablo had become a house of horrors and she didn’t know how to escape it. Chloe’s latest deranged proclamations only increased the feeling.

She thought of the picture and the likeness to the three of them—herself, Reilly, and Chloe. Even she couldn’t call it coincidence. But neither did it substantiate Chloe’s wild statements about spirits and links to the past. Still, denial didn’t erase the happenings of the past two days. She thought about that. First, Analise taking off for Diablo Springs, then the accident and the strange story she’d told about the cavern and being sucked down. Then there was Grandma Beck, struck by lightning not a hundred feet from where Brendan’s truck had gone in. And Brendan, somehow he seemed different now. Gracie couldn’t explain it, but she didn’t like it either. It was as if he were a different boy from the one who’d had dinner with them just last week.

She sighed and pushed away from the door. And what about the two phantom people she’d seen? First the old woman under the tree in her front yard and then the man in her room last night. Had she imagined them? Or was Chloe right and the Diablo was haunted by spirits from beyond?

God, how crazy could it get? She’d been asking herself that question since she’d seen Reilly standing in the entry of the Diablo. Since the first spark of tension had snapped between them and grown into this electric confusion she felt every time he was near. It all seemed somehow preordained, but she couldn’t explain it. She was a modern woman who knew that the world was filled with mysteries she could only guess at. But did she believe in ghosts? Did she think there was another dimension? Was destiny at work here?

She turned on the faucet and held her hands under the water for a long time. The warmth was soothing and yet she was too anxious to truly relax. The only thing she knew for certain was they were trapped here with endless questions and no answers.

As Gracie reached for a towel, Juliet stood and sniffed at the door. She growled. Gracie stilled and listened. Beyond the bathroom was Grandma Beck’s room. Had she closed the bedroom door? She couldn’t remember. Juliet looked at her, as if waiting for a command.

Slowly, Gracie reached for the door and opened it a crack. Grandma Beck’s room looked cramped and shadowed, but nothing moved. Juliet wiggled in front of her and pushed out. She sniffed the floor, made a high-pitched noise, and then sat. Her fur was down and she wasn’t growling anymore. Gracie took that as a good sign. Deciding she’d had enough alone time, she stepped into the hallway and nearly ran into Zach. She smothered a gasp at the sight of him.

He looked so much better than he had earlier, she almost didn’t recognize him. His color had returned to normal and at some point he’d showered. He smelled fresh and made her aware of just how wilted she felt.

“
Hey,” he said, giving her a gentle smile. “I was looking for you.”

“
Why?”

“
Just wanted to talk to you. See how you were holding up.”

“
I’m fine. How are you?”

“
Good as new. Whatever it was, it went as fast as it came.”

“
That’s great,” she said.

“
This old place is something else, isn’t it?” he said. “You’ve got your work cut out for you going through everything.”

“
I know. I’m trying not to think about it.”

She looked past him to the stairs. “Are you going down?” she asked.

“
Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you.”

“
About what?”

He smiled shyly and looked at his feet. “You know, talk.”

When he looked up, there was something sensuous in his light eyes and Reilly’s words came back to her.
He may look young, but he’s old enough to do everything he’s thinking about when he watches you.

“
I just...” He shrugged. “I know my timing sucks, but I’d really like to get to know you, Gracie. I think you’re pretty amazing.”