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“Park? What in the hell are you doing? Put the gun down. We’ve had enough gun encounters with Hank.”
When Brandy got about a foot away from Parker, her friend reached out and grabbed her. He jerked her to a position behind him, making her yelp in surprise, and kept the gun aimed on Reardon.
“Parker?” A curl of something—fear, maybe—uncoiled inside Brandy. It was not in Parker’s nature to tote a gun unless it was a tranq gun or have such a fierce look on his normally friendly face. “What is going on?”
“I don’t know. Let’s ask this…thisguy.” Parker motioned to Reardon with the nose of the rifle.
“Please,” Reardon said. “If I could have a word with Brandy—”
“You’re not havinganythingwith Brandy, buddy. You understand me?” Parker took a few steps closer. “Get on the ground.”
“Should I call the police?” Meredith kept Dylan at her side, a little bit behind her, and gaped at Parker with wide eyes.
“Yes,” Parker said.
“No,” Reardon said at the same time.
“You keep answering questions that are not for you.” Brandy stepped out from behind Parker, but he tugged her back by her tank top, and she almost stumbled.
“Do not go near him… whatever he is.” Parker’s grip tightened on the rifle and for a moment Brandy expected him to squeeze off a shot.
“Parker, I don’t understand what’s happening.”And now I’m kind of all out afraid.Which she did not like at all. Being mad at Reardon for not showing up last night was trivial compared to the level of fear rising up inside her now.
“If you’d let me talk to you privately, Brandy, I think things will get clearer.” Reardon’s green-gold gaze beseeched her, and she fell under its spell. As upset as she was about him standing her up, she couldn’t deny what looking at him did to her body. In a pair of jeans and a gray T-shirt that hugged his perfect physique in all the right places, what was a girl to do but want some? Maybe a great deal more thansome.
No. Stay strong. He jerked you around last night. He can’t get away with that.
“Brandy is not spending another second alone with you, Reardon… what the hell is your last name anyway?” Parker poked the rifle in the air between himself and Reardon.
“I’ll be happy to tell Brandy if you let me talk to her.” Reardon folded his arms across his chest, looking very intimidating, and for the first time, Brandy realized Reardon could probably crush Parker if he wanted to.
She couldn’t let that happen.
“Let me hear what he was to say, Park. I’ll be fine.” Again, she stepped out from behind Parker.
“Look at this first.” Parker reached his hand to his back pocket and extracted his cell phone. He pushed it into her hands. “Go to the security camera app.”
“I can look at this later.” She wiggled the phone between their faces. “Right now, I want to hear what Reardon thinks is so important that I hear. The sooner I hear it the sooner I can tell him to leave.”
A pained look flitted across Reardon’s face when he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Brandy couldn’t tell if her words had caused that expression or if he hurt physically somewhere.
Shit. What if he didn’t show because hewasin an accident of some kind?Maybe he’d gone straight to the hospital and hadn’t needed an ambulance. Colleen wouldn’t have had a record if that had been the case. This notion made her regret the cold shoulder she was giving him.
“Reardon, are you okay?”
“Is he okay? Is he okay?” Parker’s voice had risen in volume and pitch. “Open the damn security camera app, B. Please.” He pointed at Meredith who hadn’t moved with Dylan still glued to her side. “Call the police, Meredith. Do it.”
Meredith ushered Dylan inside as Brandy focused on Parker’s phone. She hit the security camera app, wondering what in the hell was going on. She was about to tell Reardon to start reciting his story of where he was last night, but a grainy, dark image wavered on Parker’s phone, garnering her attention.
“What am I seeing here?” She turned the phone to get the landscape view and brought it closer to her face.
“Keep watching. You’ll see it in a minute.” Parker took a few steps toward Reardon. “Get on the ground. Now.”
Slowly, Reardon lowered to his knees, another wince scrunching up his features. He held his hands out to his sides in a universal I-mean-no-harm gesture.
“Parker, aren’t you going a little overboard here? He only stood me up. He didn’t actually hurt me or anything.” She loved Parker for being so protective, but this was too much. She’d never seen him be… well, crazy.
“Keep watching that screen, B.” He didn’t turn to look at her, as if all his attention was laser-focused on Reardon.
