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“Want to tell me what’s going on?”
She looked at the large hands that held the steering wheel and tried to focus, tried to force the sickening pain inside her aside.
Joanie’s dead.
“Talk to me, Piper. For all you think the opposite, I’m a good guy, I promise. No criminal record, and I like small children and animals. Okay, maybe I’m an emotional void, but like I said, I’m working on that and building relationships with my sisters. Plus, there’s that hot, amazing sex we shared. That’s got to buy me something.”
It was the mention of children that got her. Seconds later she was sobbing uncontrollably.
She heard Dylan swear softly, and then pull off the road. He released her seat belt, then lifted her into his lap.
“It’s okay.” He held her close, running a hand down her hair. Soothing, reassuring. It was bliss to be held this way when her insides were in turmoil. Her oldest friend had died. “Sssh, now.”
When the tears started to ease, Piper just lay against his broad chest and rested. Her heart hurt, but the release felt good. Whatever she was about to face, she needed to do so with her head on straight, and crying had helped steady her.
“Want to tell me what’s going on now?”
The rumble of his voice against her cheek made her look up. Concern darkened his blue eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I don’t usually fall apart like that.”
He touched her cheek, the contact light, but she felt it.
“Everyone falls apart now and again. No man, or woman, is an island.”
She managed to tilt her lips into a smile before easing upright and back into her seat. He belted her in, and then they were on the road again.
“Joanie was my best friend before I came to Ryker. We shared everything, and most often she stayed with me and Mom. We helped each other through some pretty tough times. When I left she was eleven, two years younger than me, and had settled into a nice foster home and things were going well. We made a vow to stay in contact, and saw each other every month or two.”
“Good that you stayed in touch.”
“It was. We shared everything, and then one day she hooked up with this guy called Jace.”
“I’m guessing things started to slide after that?”
Piper sighed. “They did. He got her back into drugs and alcohol. I tried to straighten her out so many times. Even brought her to Ryker, and she seemed happy there, and then he lured her back.”
“When the drugs get their hooks into you, it takes a strong person to walk away, Piper.”
“I know that, and Joanie had kicked the habit, but she’d always been vulnerable. Maybe because she’d never really had anyone to call her own but me, and even then I had the others. I think Jace was someone she wanted just for her.”
“It’s usually the weak that assholes prey on.”
“I saw her that day I first met you in the diner, and while she said she wasn’t using I had my doubts. But Grace looked happy, and I thought Joanie looked better too so I let it go.”
“Grace?”
“Her one-year-old daughter.”
Dylan remained silent, but his face told the story.
“I got a call just before I ran into you today. Joanie was found dead from an overdose.”
Chapter 18
