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Shaking her head, she said, “No. I promise I drove like a granny the whole way.”
He seemed satisfied. “Tell us what happened, angel.”
She opened the manila envelope that contained the photos and a copy of the note from the anonymous asshole. They looked as furious as she’d felt earlier when they saw the compromising pictures.
Cody handled the photos carefully by the edges and slid them back in the envelope. “Maizy, would you be opposed to us getting Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier, and possibly Hank Stinson, involved in this?”
“Would they have to see those photos?” The thought of her private moments with them being seen by others was disturbing, especially men she’d only just recently met and respected a lot. “What will they think if they see those?”
Spencer stroked her shoulder and said, “Baby, in their line of work they see much worse on a regular basis. A similar scenario happened to Ace and Kemp when they first got together with Summer.”
“Oh. Oh.” She put her hand to her forehead, recalling the nightmare Patrick and PJ had lived through when Elizabeth’s duplicity had been exposed publicly. “I never knew all of the particulars. That was Elizabeth’s doing, wasn’t it?” Her ex-sister-in-law, the self-righteous psychopath, had been behind attacks on polyamorous groups a couple of years before and was serving time for it.
Cody nodded. “And they may recognize this work. I know it bothers you but they wouldn’t think less of you and it might help them figure out who’s behind this.”
“I can make a guess who it is,” Heath muttered.
“Yes, but with no proof, we can’t confront anyone,” Cody said. “And Maizy said Roberta never responded to her text message earlier.”
Maizy handed him the envelope. “If you think it’ll help. It’s just embarrassing. These are private moments.”
“They’d understand how you feel. Elizabeth’s lover, Leroy Paggs, took pictures of them with Summer in equally compromising positions and then she uploaded them to the Internet. They’ll handle the pictures with sensitivity. They wouldn’t want you to be embarrassed.”
Maizy nodded and shivered when a drop of rain dripped from her curls and soaked through her silky blouse.
Heath noticed and said, “Why don’t you put on dry clothes and come home with us for the evening, Maizy. We’ll bring you back here later.”
She nodded and slipped down the hall to her bedroom. While she changed, she contemplated how challenging the next couple of weeks were going to be. Part of her wanted to pack a bag and stay with them that night but her actions needed to stay completely aboveboard, otherwise she’d just strengthen the argument that she was unfit to teach young children. But damn, she wanted to be with them—needed to, in fact.
The rain had heralded a cold front so she slipped on the cozy sweater dress and zipped on her sleek black high-heeled dress boots.
They looked her over hungrily when she returned to the living room and Cody was the one who reacted when he saw the black lace encasing her legs above the tops of her boots and below the short hem of the dress.
“You’re wearing that catsuit, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” Spencer said. “She’s modeling it for us later.”
Maizy nodded as she put her arms around Cody. “I wish you were staying home tonight, too. It doesn’t much matter what I wear because I figured that I’ll be naked soon after I arrive.”
Cody caressed her chin as he smiled down at her and said, “You’re probably right, but you’re all mine Thursday night. Let’s get you home.”
He didn’t stay long once they arrived and she had a feeling that was because he planned to contact Ace and Kemp as soon as he was in his truck. There was nothing they could do about the fact that she had finally reached the point of having to resign her position. So they were doing what they could to rectify the potential harm and to distract her from the hurt. That was so like her bears.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Heath held the door open for Cody and Spencer as they carried in food and flowers for Maizy on her last day at school. She’d told them they didn’t have to do that, but he’d also seen the emotion in her eyes, as though she was surprised they’d go to the trouble for her. Silly woman. There wasn’t much they wouldn’t do for her.
