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“Thank you,” he whispered, and because he couldn’t bear not to hold her for another moment, he reached for her.
Weaving his fingers into her hair, he leaned forward and kissed her with relief and need, unable to get enough of her taste, of the lemon scent that was her. He breathed it in like it was life itself.
They continued to hold each other for several minutes before sitting down on the sofa, side by side. Needing to maintain contact, Cade kept his arm around her shoulders. It was sheer joy when Hope leaned against his strength. Shadow settled down on the floor in front of them, his chin resting on Hope’s foot.
“Does anyone know what caused the car fire?” he asked. He hadn’t been able to stay long enough to hear what had led up to the car fire.
“Not yet, although I have my suspicions. Callie was upset earlier in the day. She’d had some differences with Spencer and just needed someone to talk to about what was happening in her life. While we spoke, she said she’d been stressed over her brother and felt certain he was on drugs. She also seemed to believe she knew who was responsible for selling Ben the drugs. I immediately went to Dean Wilcox, and he sent for the coach. Coach had a lot of questions for me. I answered him as best I could. Callie had already left the school. She’s the one Coach and the dean really needed to talk to about all this.”
“And?”
“The three of us spent a good thirty minutes going over the information. Coach is convinced he’d know if any of his players were stupid enough to take drugs, let alone sell them.”
Cade paused as if to absorb this. “What was Dean Wilcox’s reaction?”
Hope released an irritated sigh. “He said he would personally talk to Scott about it, but then Coach reminded him that Callie had recently broken up with Scott, and this was likely a lie she’d invented to discredit Scott and get him kicked off the team.”
“And since you didn’t have any evidence other than what Callie said, they were inclined to let the matter drop.”
“Exactly. The thing is, I believe Callie. I don’t think she’d do anything that underhanded to retaliate against Scott.”
Hope grew quiet and intense. “The school has a no-tolerance drug policy and I’m afraid that pointing the finger at the school’s top athlete is going to be ignored by both Dean Wilcox and the coach. I did my due diligence and reported what Callie told me. I don’t know that I can do anything more.”
“What about talking to Sheriff Terrance?”
“I considered it, but going behind the administrative staff at the school would be professional suicide. All I can do at this point is wait it out. If what Callie said is true, and I don’t doubt that it is, then it will all come out in time.”
“You know how I feel about you putting yourself in danger.”
“I’ll be careful,” she promised. “I won’t do anything to make myself a target.”
“Did anyone see you when you went to talk to Dean Wilcox?” he pried.
Hope looked away.
“Hope?”
“Scott saw me talking to Callie and then followed me when I went to the dean’s office. I’m hoping he assumes this has to do with the car fire. By the time I left, Scott wasn’t anywhere around that I could see.”
“What about the car fire?” Cade asked.
“It’s under investigation, but my gut tells me Scott is the one behind it.” She broke away enough to look Cade in the eye. “Spencer believes he’s responsible, too. Soon after you left, he lost it. Before anyone could stop him, he went after Scott, shouting and shoving him.”
Cade knew the football player had a good forty pounds of muscle on Spencer. The kid was bound to lose in any physical confrontation. “That wasn’t even close to a fair fight.”
She bit her lower lip before speaking. “It was awful, Cade. Scott retaliated and hit Spencer. Then Callie jumped on Scott’s back. He tossed her off like she weighed nothing, and then Scott and Spencer went at it with fists. It took both Dean Wilcox and another teacher to break it up.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Spencer has a split lip, Callie had cuts and bruises. I don’t think Scott was hurt at all.”
“Why did Callie get involved?” The girl should have known better than to interfere in a physical altercation. She could have been badly hurt.
“Callie blames herself. It all goes back to the deal she made with Spencer regarding the homecoming dance. She needed him to find out who was responsible for getting Ben drugs and enlisted Spencer’s help.”
“You did what you could to help,” Cade said. Seeing her put herself in danger had nearly been his undoing. The terror was all too fresh in his mind.
“I tried. The one who really lost it, though, is Callie. She feels dreadful and blames herself for everything that happened.”
