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She could hear him coming closer, his even stride so much more confident than her fast, furious steps. “You’re going to need a friend here,” he said as she reached the front step. “Myra’s gone. David and Star are dead. And you don’t seem to have a long list of pals.”
Not ones she could count on. After Scott left, her friends’ so-called support had been nothing more than thinly disguised attempts to learn the juicy details of her breakup. She spun around to confront him. “I hope you’re enjoying your revenge. You have money and a successful business. I don’t have either one. I’m sure that makes you incredibly happy.”
He pulled on a solemn expression. “Would it make you happy to see somebody you once cared about in trouble?”
She thought of David and Star, how they’d hurt her, how fiercely she’d hated them, and how much she missed them. Pushing their images away, she focused on Scott and his nineteen-year-old hottie. “You bet I would.”
Mike surprised her by laughing. “Whether you want to admit it or not, you need me, so you’d better start acting like a friend. I’m picking you and Toby up on Sunday for church. Nine-thirty.”
“Church?”
“It’s the best place for you to get reacquainted with the locals. But there are some ground rules. Don’t disrespect me in public.” The steadiness in his fool’s eyes alarmed her. “Don’t make fun of anybody in the congregation, not even if some of them start talking in tongues. And if Ned Blakely shows up with his snake and starts quoting from the Bible, you’ll be polite. Church here isn’t what you’re used to in Bloomfield Hills, but this is Charity Island, and people worship with their whole hearts.”
Tongues? Snakes?
Mike smiled, not one of those unpleasant smirks she remembered, but a big smile. At her expense. “I’ve got to get this truck back to Hank Jenkins. I’ll see you on Sunday. Oh, and if you decide not to go, I’ll pass the word that you want to be left completely alone.”
“I do,” she said fiercely.
“Are you sure about that?” He was still smiling, congenial. “Winters are long, and people here only have one another to depend on if they drive into a ditch or run out of heating oil. Or if their kid—a kid like Toby—gets sick and has to be taken off the island.” He rubbed his chin. “You should be careful what you wish for, Bree.”
Blackmail. She wanted to throw something as he walked away, but she’d never been a thrower or a screamer. She’d never been much of anything except a mediocre student and Scott’s cheerleader.
After Mike left, she retrieved the wheelbarrow and the quilt she’d been using in her display. Only then did she see the present he’d left for her, the one he’d said would help her with her business. Not Skittles or Lemonheads. Mike Moody had stepped up to the major leagues. His current form of bribery was a new Mac notebook computer.
Chapter Thirteen
LUCY WRAPPED A TEENAGE MUTANT Ninja Turtle beach towel around her waist and stepped from the outdoor shower. She’d gone for a swim off the dock, but the lake water was still cold enough that she hadn’t stayed in long. As she latched the warped wooden door behind her, Panda came down the steps from the screened porch. His sweat-soaked T-shirt and damp hair indicated he’d just finished one of Temple’s workouts.
“I want my bedroom back,” he said, taking in her wet shoulders and the too-thin top of her cheap black swimsuit.
She pulled the towel under her armpits. “You’re guarding Temple. You need to be near her.”
“Temple sleeps like a log, and the food’s locked up.” He wandered closer, moving from shade into sunlight. “There are three empty bedrooms upstairs. Choose whichever one you like. Hell, you can sleep in all of them if you want.”
He had justice on his side, and she believed in fair play. But not about this. “It’s my room now, and I’m not giving it up.”
“Is that right?” He leaned closer, bringing with him the scent of clean sweat and male menace. “Evicting you won’t bother me one bit. Remember that I’m bigger than you, I’m stronger than you, and I have no principles.”
Not completely true but close enough. She didn’t like the nervous flutter in her stomach, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You could do that … but then you’d have to explain it to Temple.”
He still looked sinister but also a bit … sulky? “There’s a brand-new mattress on that bed.”
“Now we get to the crux of the matter.” The mattress was heaven. Not too soft, not too hard, and it had a cushy new feather-top, which still took second place to the room’s private entrance and exit. “It seems to be the only furnishing in the house you haven’t neglected.”
His glare wasn’t entirely convincing. “If I have to give up my bedroom, I want something in return.” His eyes lingered on her exposed collarbone. “What are you offering?”
What, indeed? “Decorating advice.”
“Forget it.”
“Sparkly windows.”
“Like I care.”
She thought hard, and then … Ka-ching. “Bread.”
A few seconds ticked by. He eased away, cocked his head. “I’m listening.”
