Count on Me (Petal, Georgia)

  All his protective instincts had been awakened, and they ran through his bloodstream like adrenaline. She’d known it and had appreciated it. Each beat of his heart was an echo of her name as he thrust into her.

  This rhythm was right.

  Each time they touched it was like that. That sudden click of knowing and of being known settled in.

  He was glad his hands had felt well enough to roam all over her body. He moaned as his fingertips found her clit. Still slick and puffy, and when he stroked it, she tightened around him so hard he cursed.

  She’d been threatened and he’d been there to help and he was pleased he was there to get in-between Caroline and danger. Pleased too she’d allowed it and had sought strength from it as well.

  And then he’d tied her up with his belt. She’d been as surprised and aroused by it as he had been.

  Not just the belt or the way he’d controlled her, but the way he’d stuck up for her. When she was in Petal, how many people could she count on like that? And yet she’d come back because she loved her family that much, and they didn’t all care for her nearly as much in return.

  He shoved that from his mind at that point.

  Right then it was just Royal and Caroline.

  She came violently enough that the clasp of her inner muscles was nearly painful.

  “Yes,” she sighed out.

  “Yes, indeed.”

  And then he was coming so hard his back teeth tingled.

  Loath to leave her, he kept his trip to get rid of the condom quick and was sliding between the sheets to find her within moments.

  This woman owned him.

  She’d blown into town, into his life and had turned everything catawampus. But she’d tucked her hand into his and they’d run together. Odd and unexpected, yes. But it was also totally right.

  “I don’t want to protect you because I think you’re weak. It’s the opposite. You’re more than capable of kicking ass. I’ve seen it often enough I’m not surprised by it anymore. But you’re too kind to the people who deliberately hurt you. And you give them a free pass because you’re related to them.”

  “This topic is messing with my post-orgasm buzz.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I just want people to respect you. It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it that someday people will know you were right.”

  “Once, my abuela said to me—we’d just lost a long-shot appeal and I was a mess—anyway, she hugged me, handed me a box of tissues and she said, ‘Survive now, cry later.’ When I prove he didn’t do it. When her real killer is in prison, I plan to take a week off and cry the hell out of it. Retreat to my bedroom with my TV and lots of junk food and alcohol and a case of tissues.”

  Caroline turned to face him.

  “It’s not that I feel nothing. But I have to keep a lid on it. That’s personal-ego shit. This thing with my dad? That’s so much more important than my feelings being hurt because someone likes my sister better than me or whatever.”

  “Just when I think, oh yeah that’s my favorite thing about her. That’s the moment when I just totally fell for her! Whatever, you know what I mean. Those moments that are when everything makes sense and you just look at her—or in your case, me—and you’re certain. So I’ve had a few so far. I was thinking, until right now it was the night when you had it out with Anne.” He grinned and then kissed her, hard. “You claimed me.”

  “Of course I did! Did you expect me to be all, oh no, she had him first and longer, I’ll just get out of the way?” She shook her head and then settled, resting on his biceps as she looked up at his face.

  “What did you think?”

  He’d said it like a tease, but he did want to know. He had entertained in the back of his mind that she could have reacted like that. Bowed to some weird idea of fair play.

  “I thought, fuck that, she had her chance and she threw him away. This man who is everything and she just let go. That she didn’t let go all the way didn’t matter to me because fuck fair.”

  Her expression went very serious. “I’m honest. I want you. I wanted you to choose me. Why would I not fight for it? You came into my life well after you ended your thing with her. You’ve had your affairs and short relationships between she and I. If it was going to happen, it would have. If she’d have really wanted you back, she’d have come and taken you back.” He winced and she frowned. “I’m sorry at how that came out. I just meant I wasn’t going to toss away this fantastic thing that I love and makes me happy for some dumbass movie idea of honor and fairness. She had her chance. You’re mine. I’m not giving you up. End of story.”

  He drew in a deep breath, snuggling her up to him. “I’m yours. And you’re mine. I’d have been a little pissed if you hadn’t gone about the thing with Anne the way you had. It’s hot when you claim me.”

  She laughed and he brushed his fingertips through her hair. “Fair warning, if I see Benji or Garrett there will be trouble. I’m saying that up front. I don’t care about how your grandparents feel. They’re the ones who should have handled this long before now in Garrett’s case. I want to be totally sure both men understand they need to keep away from you and not speak to you or about you. And then it’s over. If they do what they’re supposed to.”

  She sighed. “I hate this. The problem with a guy like Benji is that the attention only makes him worse.”

  “Whatever. I don’t care to play games with assholes. I most definitely need to underline that he’s going to be starting a war he can’t win so he needs to back up and keep away. Garrett is a shit stirrer but he’s a weasel. Goaded Benji on but kept behind him the whole time. And when it went too far, he panicked. He hadn’t even given thought to the possible outcomes of what he’d done. That recklessness makes him dangerous to you. He’s going to try to hide behind your grandparents, but that’s not going to stop me. They gave him a safe spot to snipe at you. I won’t let that continue.”

  “You know it’ll cause some sort of ruckus. He’s not worth it. He ran off to call my sister right away. He’ll scamper over there first thing and eat at their table while he frames the situation the way that serves him best. If you get in the middle of that, it only makes things more complicated. And pulls you into all that drama.”

  “First of all, if your objections were like, ‘I don’t want you to do this. This is my business,’ I’d back off. But you aren’t saying that. Second, yes he will rush over to Mindy and then to your grandparents. And there’s nothing you can do about it. They could ask around and get more information, and if they do they’ll know what really happened. But chances are they won’t. Shep will defend you. Do some asking himself and come to you. But they’ll still have a tendency to ally with Garrett and his version of events. My being involved won’t make that any worse. It only creates some boundaries. Caroline, these people can’t be allowed to do this to you. This is detrimental to your well-being.”

  Caroline knew if she just said the words—I don’t want you involved, this is my business—he’d back off.

  Knew too that he was right.

  “It just makes me cringe. Knowing you see all this stuff happening.”

  “It would reflect poorly on you if you ever instigated it. But you don’t.”

  “Jail sucks and you don’t have a rich daddy with guilt issues to bail you out.”

  “You wouldn’t part with your ill-begotten defense-attorney gold for me?”

  She laughed. “Maybe. But my rates are very dear and my enforcement is very…vigorous.”

  “Damn. Makes me want to go out and break rules to find out just exactly what that punishment would be. Would you keep me captive only to sexually pleasure you all day long?”

  “That sounds like something I need to add to my list.” She closed her eyes and sighed happily. “Good night, stud.”

  He kissed her. “Night, beautiful. Love you.”

  Caroline smiled, cracking an eye. “Love you too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Oh wait. Can we
stop by my place? I borrowed three books from Melissa and I need to take them back to her or I’ll forget. Again. Which is why I have three of them.”

  Royal had gotten up at five, and she’d tagged along with him as he’d worked. Mainly she watched and listened, but a few times she’d jumped in to help.

  It made for a much more fun showering process when she had to wash off all the dirt and dust too.

  But he was in a damned good mood between how well his crops were doing and having morning shower sex. “Of course.” He found a spot to park at the curb on Main a block or two up and walked. Circling back to find a cop car in the alley.

  Shane Chase came down the steps and saw them approaching.

  “What’s going on?”

  Royal kept his hand in hers and walked fast enough to stay ahead of her and between her and any trouble.

  “Were you here last night?” Shane asked as they reached him.

  She shook her head. “No. I was with Royal at his house until about fifteen-twenty minutes ago.”

  “When was the last time you were here?”

  “Last night. After I got off work, I came here to change for dinner with Royal. He arrived to pick me up at six thirty. We drove to his house, dropped my stuff off and then went to dinner. I’m sure you heard the details of that. And then at eleven thirty, we went back Royal’s place.”

  Shane wrote a few notes and then spoke, “Your apartment’s been broken into and ransacked. Your front door is broken so we know it happened after one when your neighbor came home. He said everything was fine when he got home from his date. But that date left at ten to ten this morning and noticed your door had been broken and only leaned against the jam. She told your neighbor who then called us.”

  Royal snarled. “Oh great. Sometime between two and ten? Ask Benji or Garrett. Both of those losers came at Caroline last night. I may have punched Benji. In self-defense though. I caught the fist he’d aimed at her head as she’d sat there, unaware he was going to sucker punch her in the temple.”

  “I’ve spoken with several people who saw what went down as well as to the officer on the scene and Elliot Charles over in Millersburg. They back up your account. But it wasn’t Benji. He went home and promptly got into a knock-down drag-out with his brother, who he’d found in bed with his girlfriend. He ended up in jail. Where he is even now.” Shane shrugged.

  Impatient, Caroline interrupted. “Can I go in and see what’s going on? I mean is this a buy some new sheets and repaint over graffiti thing or oh boy call the dead-body-clean-up specialists sort of situation?”

  Shane smiled at her joke and then got serious again. “More than the first and less than the last. Just brace yourself.”

  “What about Garrett?” Royal was satisfied, for the moment, with Benji’s alibi, but there was another person who’d be capable of this.

  “One of my guys is waiting at the golf course. I gave instructions not to go get him off the green. He’ll only make a big deal of it. We’ll intercept him as he leaves.”

  Royal had been about to be angry over that, but Caroline sighed, clearly relieved. “Thank you. He’s going to make a big deal no matter what, but I can’t even imagine what he’d do if you came up to him during his golf game. That audience is already predisposed to him anyway.”

  “He’s a pain in my ass.” Shane rubbed the back of his neck. “Come on and check it out. There’s not a lot to find. My crime-scene people left about three minutes before you two came around the corner.”

  Royal took her hand as they followed Shane up the stairs.

  She gasped when she saw her door. It looked like someone had messed with the jamb and wall where the locks were and punched around it. It wasn’t on both hinges though, so it leaned drunkenly against the wall.

  “Your landlord is out dealing with getting a new door, so someone should be by soon enough to get the old one out and the new one installed,” Shane explained.

  Inside, the sheer level of destruction was bad enough that even Royal gasped.

  All the pictures she’d had on walls and shelves had been pulled down and stomped or crushed with something. Broken glass from the frames was everywhere.

  Caroline had her hand pressed up to her belly. Royal took the other one.

  “This is personal.” She let go of her stomach to wave a hand around the room. “They could have stolen a lot of stuff they broke instead.”

  Shane nodded. “I won’t know for sure until I work through all the facts, but I’m leaning toward that, myself.”

  She carefully stepped around the remains of the recycled soda bottle glasses she drank her orange juice from every day. “I bought those glasses back in law school. It was a running joke that I have to buy new dishes once a year because I break them so often, but we’ve never actually broken one of those glasses.”

  Royal squeezed her hand.

  Her bedroom though. Caroline paused, not totally able to stop the sound at the sight of what they’d done.

  Her dresser had been emptied. Her panties and bras and shirts and pajamas and those few pieces of sexy lingerie she had lay strewn over every surface. Some of them had been cut to ribbons.

  Her pillows had been shredded, though her bedding had fared slightly better. But the antique perfume bottles she’d started collecting about seven years before had all been broken and stomped.

  The glitter of blue shards of glass made her heart break. Her favorite. “Oh.” She swallowed back her tears. “That was art nouveau. I bought it when I was able to pay myself the first time after setting up my firm back in Seattle. Such a silly splurge. But it was so pretty.”

  Royal heard the tears in her voice, even as she cleared her throat he could see how upset she was. Every few minutes a fine tremor worked through her, and her eyes were wider than they should have been.

  He knew she was trying to hold it together so he’d give her something to do. “Did you at least have renter’s insurance?”

  Caroline nodded, her vision clearing a little. “I do. But some things can’t be replaced. There just are fewer of those things left. That’s a real shame. Who does that?” Her last words were close to a sob.

  Shane stood in front of her, taking her attention from all the devastation. “Caroline. Hey. I’m sorry. This is terrible and I’m sorry it happened to you. But I need you to keep focus so I can figure out if anything is missing. Sometimes this sort of destruction can hide the theft of something small for weeks or months until everything gets cleaned up and it all starts getting replaced. People just don’t notice everything. I need your help.”

  She swallowed and straightened. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Um. I don’t have much expensive jewelry but I do have a lot of costume stuff.” She bent to pick up several bangle bracelets. “Like this. Doesn’t look broken so there’s that.” She stood and looked around. “Royal, can you take pictures, please? The insurance company might like that.”

  He hated to walk away from her but she had pulled herself together. He knew her motto about surviving first and crying later so he leaned in to kiss her. “All right.” This way was better anyway. He’d chronicle the damage, and she would be spared at least having to take pictures of it.

  “The few pieces of more expensive stuff, mainly art nouveau, some hair combs, a sapphire brooch and earrings to match. I wear the ring all the time though.” She raised her hand to show her right index finger.

  “This is my jewelry box, but I keep the valuable stuff along with my handgun in a safe attached to the underside of my bed.” She went to her knees and felt around. “Still here and closed.”

  “Just check to be sure.”

  She opened it and put the handgun on the bed along with a box of ammo and the clip, which was stored apart from the weapon. “I have all the necessary paperwork on it too.”

  “When did you get a gun?”

  “I’ve had it for several years. One of my old cases came complete with a crazy person and death threats. I got it and learned to use it then.
This is the same box of ammo I bought like four years ago. I haven’t even gone to the range in something like two years.” She flipped open the box holding the jewelry. “It’s all here. Like I said, it was just a few pieces.” She put it back and stood again, dusting off her pants.

  In the bathroom, it was a mess of her lotions and creams with soap and shampoo drizzled all over it. Some of her clothes had been tossed in the bathtub and then covered with whatever had been within reach. Her shoes had been tossed everywhere, and she nearly broke down when she saw that the ridiculously high and delicate stilettos she got in Paris had been totally destroyed.

  “I cannot even with this guy. He needs to be punched in the butthole a few times.”

  Shane barked out a surprised laugh.

  Royal spoke up from where he took pictures of the ruin in her closet. “She’s full of wisdom just like this.”

  “I’m special.” She opened her medicine chest. “Um, stuff missing. I had to get dental surgery and I had leftover pain meds from it. I also had leftovers from something else. They were both probably expired.”

  Shane wrote on his pad as she walked out into the hallway.

  “This whole hall was full of framed photographs,” she said, stepping carefully over the piles of broken wood and glass from the frames.

  The office was a mass of torn paper.

  “Those were strapped to the walls.” She looked at the wall where the bookcases had once stood.

  Shane looked close. “They’ve been cut. Hacked at, so probably a knife.”

  It was like that all over the place.

  An hour later after Shane and the rest of the police had left, she called her insurance company and arranged for someone to come over and for the police report and photographs taken to be sent to her agent. The door had been replaced and she had a set of new keys and she still did not feel safe in the slightest.

  She also found it interesting that Royal had taken on a hard outer shell over the last half an hour or so. She wasn’t sure if it was about her or him or what had happened, but as he was still being sweet to her, she figured it was anger at the situation and she sure empathized. She’d give him the space. Heaven knew she needed it right then as well.