AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Just as he realized he would have no other choice. When this was finished, when she was safe, he would have no choice but to leave. In doing so, he would leave the last threads of his soul with her.
Rising from the chair, he held her close to his heart and moved to her bedroom, the big bed he had shared with her the night before, and the warmth he'd found in it. Laying her down, he couldn't help but grin at the drowsy kiss she laid on his lips before he straightened and moved to the bathroom.
Minutes later, he returned with a warm, damp cloth and towel. He cleaned her thighs and the delicate folds of her silken pussy before drying her gently.
"Why do you do that?" She stared back at him, her lashes heavy as he straightened.
"Because I can." As he moved back to the bathroom he wasn't about to tell her the truth. That nothing mattered but taking care of her, but showing her what she deserved, what she should have if she takes another man to her bed once he was gone. Of course she would, he told himself. She was a beautiful, vibrant woman. A 125
passionate woman. She couldn't live her life alone.
But the thought of another man sharing her bed had rage eating at his insides like battery acid. No other man could need her as he needed her. No other could touch her with the same hunger, with the same driving desperation that he knew he touched her with.
No other man would see the delicate fairy beneath the strong, determined young woman she was.
And no other man could possibly love her as much as he did. As much as he always would.
Inside, he froze. A part of his soul burned like a white-hot flame as the knowledge of that emotion slammed into his mind. Into his heart.
God help him.
He loved her.
126
Chapter 13
Nik's reason for being in Hagerstown and on the Nelson job site where Eddie Foreman had died wasn't a secret. When he arrived at the job site the next afternoon and began questioning the employees after stopping to talk to Robert Cronin, Nik also learned that mixed feelings existed among the men there, as well as the normal suspicion he had faced since beginning the job of finding a killer rather than a liar. Thankfully, Mikayla's brothers seemed to have gone a long way in loosening lips. As each man was pulled into the office trailer for Nik to talk to, he learned that the Martin brothers had already informed those they considered friends that Nik was more concerned with finding the killer and protecting Mikayla than he was with protecting anyone's reputation.
There were still those who weren't convinced, but at least they were talking to him.
"Mikayla always was a go-getter, even in school," one of the employees told him as he sat across from the small desk Nik was using to question the man.
"Yet you refused to discuss Eddie Foreman with her when she tried to talk to you," Nik stated as he leaned back in his chair and watched the younger man. David Melbourne was Mikayla's age. He'd graduated in the same high school class with her and known her most of her life. He was a friend of the Martin brothers and also known to have socialized with Eddie Foreman.
"Well, I didn't talk to her because her brothers didn't think she should be investigating things and I agreed with them." David shrugged with a grimace. "Hell, someone had already shot at her when he killed Eddie. I didn't want her hurt, and she was just poking her nose into trouble."
"So you'd rather Eddie's murderer went free?" Nik asked.
"That beats having Mikayla get hurt," David agreed with a definitive nod.
"Besides, Eddie was an asshole. Someone was bound to kill him eventually. Mikayla's nice, though, ya know? She didn't need more grief. And now, someone's tried to shoot her three times. She should drop it already."
"You heard someone shot into the store last night?" Nik asked. David nodded his shaggy head. "That's one of the reasons I'm willing talk to you now. Cops didn't want to hear what I had to say when Eddie was killed, but I figure you're going to hear it from someone else anyway."
"Such as?" Nik leaned forward, watching the other man carefully as suspicion reared its ugly head. Nik had rarely found anyone willing to talk just for the hell of it.
"Look, Eddie wasn't a great guy," David informed him. "He had a lot of enemies. He liked to make examples of people. Coupla weeks before he was killed he fired this one guy, Jarvis Dalton. I been thinking about that. Jarvis resembles Maddix a little bit. He's some kind of distant cousin to him. Anyway, Jarvis was here the day Eddie was killed, yellin' at him. Told Eddie if he didn't give him his job back, then he was going to pay for it. Maybe Jarvis made Eddie pay for it."
127
"There's a rumor that Maddix has been seen meeting a bookie in D.C. and possibly one here in Hagerstown. What do you know about that?" Nik asked, wondering if David could confirm the information Cronin had given him.
David shook his head. "I don't know anything about that one. But I don't mess with bookies, so what do I know?"
Nik wasn't certain how accurate the information either David or Robert offered could be. They weren't in the reports Nik had received from Maddix or the reports the investigating officer had made. But as the day progressed, it wasn't the first time Nik heard David's version, or the first time he couldn't confirm Cronin's. Just as it wasn't the first time that Nik had heard the reason none of the men had told Mikayla was because of her brothers' fears that she was going to get herself hurt. They'd prote
cted her, and Nik knew the hell she would rain down on them if she ever found out about it.
