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Zeke grunted at that. “You have a homemade detonation device set in your vehicle that created enough heat to burn your flesh off your bones, and you don’t know why?”
Crista’s stomach rolled threateningly.
“Hell, Zeke, go a little easier on her,” Dawg bit out. “She doesn’t know what the hell is going on, and neither do we. I heard the ignition click and jerked her out of the vehicle in time. It was that simple. I do have a bit of experience with these things, you know. ”
Zeke’s gaze lingered a little too long on Dawg before he turned back to Crista. “I’m going to have to start warning the women around here about getting mixed up with these boys. Bad things seem to follow them nowadays. ” He took the remaining chair, straddling it with an easy motion and leaning his darkly tanned forearms on the table as he stared back at Crista. “Why does someone want to kill you, Crista Ann?”
She felt the color leech from her face as Dawg’s arm suddenly came around her shoulders, his chair moving in closer to hers.
“For God’s sake, Zeke,” he snarled. “Have a little compassion here. ”
Zeke didn’t take his eyes off her. “Crista, you’re a smart girl,” he said softly. “Alex raised you to think on your feet. Let me help you. ”
She shook her head. She had already ignored Dawg once by leaving the store and coming out on her own. She had almost died because of it. She was too stunned now, too frightened, to consider ignoring him again.
“I don’t know why. ” Her lips felt numb, her body cold.
“Any strange goin’ ons?” Zeke’s gaze sharpened as Dawg’s hand tightened warningly on her shoulder.
She could feel his heat surrounding her, but it wasn’t touching the core of ice that seemed to solidify inside her chest.
She shook her head. Lying. She was lying through her teeth to friends now, covering up something that Zeke should know about.
“If nothing’s going on, then why did Alex call me last week and ask me to keep an extra eye on you?” he asked her then. “He said you had mentioned some strange things then, Crista. ” His voice was gentle but firm. He knew she was lying.
“I’m not used to living alone,” she whispered. “I was a little freaked out when I talked to him. The house sounds funny sometimes. ”
And it did. Sometimes, she could have sworn someone was moving around the house at night, though she had never been able to find any proof of it. That wasn’t a lie, but it felt like one, because she wasn’t telling Zeke the whole truth.
He sighed then. “Anyone from Virginia that you think might want to hurt you? What about that guy Alex said you were living with? Mark?”
“Mark Lessing. ” The tension around the table was suddenly thick enough to cut with a knife.
Dawg tightened subtly, his body seeming to shift with dangerous force.
She looked at him in confusion, seeing the glitter of an inner flame in his eyes that had the blood suddenly rushing through her body with dizzying force. She swallowed tightly before forcing her gaze back to Zeke.
“Mark wouldn’t hurt me. He has no reason to want to hurt me. ”
“So your relationship with him ended amicably?” Zeke asked curiously. “That’s a little unusual.
Relationships don’t just end with no anger on either side. ”
“Nothing ended. ” She shrugged. “I came home. Mark agreed it was time. End of story. ”
Zeke glanced at Dawg. “You believe that?”
“What kind of game are you playing, Zeke?” Dawg asked then.
Zeke blinked with a look of studied male mockery. “Just trying to figure out the rules of the game you’re playing, Dawg. Leave me in the dark, and that’s what I tend to do. ”
“He’s not playing any games. ” Crista clenched her fists in her lap as she fought to control the shaking of her limbs. “Nothing has been going on. Mark wouldn’t hurt me, and neither would anyone else I know. I don’t know what happened out there or why anyone would want to hurt me. ”
And she was a lousy liar.
Zeke breathed out wearily as he leaned back in his chair and regarded them all cynically. “When you think you can tell me the truth, Crista, you know how to get hold of me,” he finally said, then stared back at Dawg. “You know what Alex will do if she gets hurt, right? He’ll come down on the three of you like a wrecking ball. It won’t be pretty. ”
“Come on, Zeke, threats don’t work. ” Dawg rose from his seat before gripping Crista’s arm and drawing her up with him. “If you have any more questions, she’ll be on the boat with me or working in my office. ”
