Slow & Steady #3: A Shameless Southern Nights Novel Page 5

  By the time she got there, I solemnly admitted defeat. “You were right. It’s no use. We need a bigger and better spatula.”

  Her wide smile had my heart kicking against my ribs. “We?” she asked.

  I walked over to her and kissed her deeply before I confirmed what she was asking. “We.”

  “I’ll be there,” she said before frowning at the mess I’d made. “How about I cook us breakfast while you go get cleaned up?”

  I snapped my fingers to my forehead in a quick salute as I turned away, pausing for a second in the doorway to admire the curve of her hips and her perfectly rounded ass. I noticed she was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday before I remembered with a pang that she didn’t have anything here anymore.

  “Do you want to borrow a shirt or something?”

  Shaking her head, she smiled at me over her shoulder. “I’ll go past my apartment on the way to work.”

  In short order, I’d showered, had breakfast and helped her clean up. Giving her a last kiss as I walked her to her car, I asked, “Call me later when you get off work?”

  “I will.” She wrapped her arms around my waist, a tiny crease appearing between her eyebrows. “Promise me you’ll be safe following up this lead today.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good,” she replied, sighing slightly. “Just let me know when you’re done. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  “I’m holding you to that,” I called as she slipped into her car. She winked at me, then turned her attention to backing out onto the road.

  Following her lead, I got to work. Darren had texted me Rylen’s address. It was in a nice part of town, near the lake we used to go fishing at when I was a kid. Most of the houses around there were weekend places, but a few people lived there permanently.

  I rang the doorbell, wondering if there was anyone home. It didn’t look like it from the outside, but that didn’t mean anything.

  Sure enough, less than a minute after I rang the bell, the door opened. It was only a crack, with the chain still attached as a man peeked out from inside. “Can I help you?”

  I could only see a sliver of his face through the crack, just enough to see a silver-haired man with beady eyes obscured behind thick glasses. “I’m looking for Rylen James.”

  “Who are you?” His voice was high pitched. Nervous, not curious.

  “Are you Rylen James?” I tried to be calm, but after several more minutes, it became abundantly clear the man had no interest in talking to me.

  “I don’t know who gave you the name of the person you’re asking for, but you’d best forget it and walk away right now, son.”

  “I’m not your son,” I countered, annoyed with his vague runaround. His use of the word only served to remind me why I was here and spurred me on. He started to shut the door, but before he could close it, I raised my leg and kicked it in.

  The weak chain didn’t hold for even one kick. Apparently, it was more for show than actual security. Rylen, or the man I was pretty sure was Rylen, was knocked back onto the floor and glowered up at me. “What do you think you’re doing? This is private property. I’ll call the police.”

  “Go right ahead,” I urged him, curious to see if he would follow through on his threat. If he did, I was screwed. Something told me he wouldn’t do it. Even if he did, it would be interesting to see who showed up and what they made of the situation. “Call the cops, Mr. James. Let’s see what they say when they get here.”

  He shook a fist at me, his face reddening. “What the hell do you want?”

  “I told you. I’m looking for Rylen James. You him?”

  Pushing himself up from the floor, he looked between his broken chain and me. “So what if I am?”

  I walked into his house, letting myself in. “You and I are going to have ourselves a nice, friendly chat.”

  “There’s nothing friendly about breaking into somebody’s house,” he seethed, his eyes bulging as a vein throbbed in his forehead. “I’m warning you, I’m—”

  “You’re what?” I asked cheerfully, betting on my gut feel that he wasn’t about to call the police on anyone. “You’re connected? You’re dangerous?”

  “Both.” He folded his arms across his chest and stared me down defiantly. Strangely, he didn’t try to make a move against me. “You have five minutes before I trip the silent alarm. This place will be swarming in no time.”

  I looked around the entrance hall, again going with my gut. It was a risky gamble, but if it paid off, it would be worth it. “I don’t think you even have a silent alarm. If you did, you would’ve called in the cavalry as soon as you realized I wasn’t going to go away.”

  “What do you want?” the man repeated, beady black eyes getting jumpy. “I don’t have time for games.”

  “Neither do I, Mr. James. I assure you, the faster you stop with your silly threats and talk to me, the sooner I’ll be out of your hair.” Hopefully, I would get what I came for and never have to return. “Tell me, what do you know about bank fraud?”

  The man paled, his skin taking on a grayish hue. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You don’t know what bank fraud is?” I’d looked him up; I knew his background. “Odd for an accountant who happens to also have an IT history not to know what bank fraud is.”

  He pushed his thick glasses up his nose. The black frames were so heavy they left indentations on his skin when he moved them. “I know what it is, you fool. I don’t know why you’re asking me about it.”

  “I’m asking because there’s currently an investigation into some high-ranking locals, one of the charges that will be brought is bank fraud. I think you might know something about that.”

  “I don’t know a thing,” he said, but his eyes gave him away. They wouldn’t hold my gaze for more than a split second and darted around constantly. “Even if I did, my clients are nothing to mess with.”

  I raised my brows, stunned the man gave up that fact so quickly. “Well, well. It looks like you do know a thing. Maybe even two. This is why I wanted to talk to you, Mr. James.”

  “I won’t tell you anything.”

  Taking a step closer to him, I let my forced smile fade. “You already have, and you’re about to tell me a lot more. Starting with Chief Harris. Is he one of the clients I shouldn’t mess with?”

  Rylen’s jaw loosened some. “How do you know he’s a client?”

  “Call it a lucky hunch,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I kept my gaze locked to him. “There’s no use in lying to me. I told you, there’s already an investigation pending.”

  “I’ve been pushing money from one of my clients to Harris for years,” he suddenly said, rubbing his hands together as his gaze grew steady. A disturbing, perhaps unhinged, grin spread on his lips. “Harris is in serious trouble right now, though.”

  “Why?” I was done beating around the bush. I didn’t know why the man’s demeanor kept changing, but almost as soon as my question was out, he was back to being jumpy and fidgeting with his hands, his clothes.

  He shook his head, trying to retreat. I stayed with him, following him deeper into the big house. There were curtains drawn over every window and dust swirled in the air as we moved. It smelled musty.

  We went back and forth a few more times, but it was like the man was becoming more unhinged right before my very eyes. The deeper we went into the house, the more he looked around as if he was convinced there was someone else in there, watching us.

  It sent a chill down my spine. My hand fell to my hip where my holster should’ve been. I felt naked without it. I was pretty good hand to hand, but I was also alone. If I got jumped, I might be in trouble. No. I couldn’t think that way.

  “I’ll tell you again, Mr. James. If you answer my questions, I’ll be on my way, and we can quit this little dance we’ve got going. Now, who’s your main client? Who’s the person you’ve been pushing money to Harris from?”

  “Don’t know,” he muttered, still refu
sing to meet my eyes. “I’ll never tell you.”

  An idea popped into my head, and I leaned against the door I was standing in, partially to pause and take in my surroundings once more before we moved further into the house. “Is it Ken Lyons?”

  Rylen stilled completely. “That name should stay out of your mouth, son. You’ve got no business speaking it.”

  Bingo. “Thank you, Mr. James. You have a nice day now.”

  I was starting to see how deep this rabbit hole went. Thanks to jumpy Rylen, I’d just managed to clear out another foot. Soon, I would get all the way to the bottom of it. I couldn’t fucking wait.

  Chapter Eight

  Niki

  “I hope you enjoy your surprise, Ms. Wise. Please let me know if you enjoy it.” I smiled at one of my regular customers, a young woman around my age who came in once a week. She was the third customer of the day who agreed to try out my new experiment at the library.

  I was calling it Blind Date with a Book, and so far, people loved it. I spent the morning wrapping books of all genres in brown paper and proceeded to write only the genre and a few keywords from the back cover on the wrapping paper.

  In the hour since I’d finished displaying the books on a small table set up right outside the library’s main doors, they’d drawn a small crowd of passersby. Pride lodged in my chest as I watched another woman pick up a book and approach me to check it out.

  Ms. Wise beamed at me, tucking her selection into a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. “I can’t wait. This was a great idea, Niki. I’ll definitely give you feedback.”

  She waved goodbye and left me to help the next customer, who had to apply for a library card since she didn’t have one. I happily helped her through the process, excited that my little endeavor was attracting new customers.

  It was no easy feat in this day and age, but it was also something we had to do. In breaks between checking customers out, I fetched another load of books and started wrapping them to replenish the table.

  “What are you doing?” Karen’s voice startled me, and I nearly dropped the mystery novel I was holding.

  She peered over my desk, her head swiveling between the people gathered around the table at the entrance and the small pile of reinforcements I had ready to go. “This looks interesting.”

  “I’m trying to entice people to start reading regardless of what the cover of a book looks like. All they know is what kind of novel they’re getting and a few keywords on the plot.”

  Her eyes lit up, grabbing the last book I added to the pile. “Fantasy. Witches. Orcs. Royal war for the crown.”

  Setting the book down, she rummaged around in her purse and emerged with her library card. “I’ll take it. My heart’s actually beating a little faster. This is kind of exciting. Like taking a risk where the worst thing that can happen is you’ll end up browsing on your phone instead of reading, yet it feels like the potential payoff could be wonderful.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” I checked her out, handing the book back to her with her card on top of it. “You have to tell me honestly what you thought. I’m a bit nervous about the keywords I chose.”

  She crossed her heart and winked. “You know I’ll tell you what I think. In the meantime, do you want to go grab some lunch?”

  I looked around the library, noticing the assistant who usually came in around lunch time to help out was laughing with a customer near the self-help section. “Sure, let me grab Gary. It’s his first week. They’re giving him a try as a temp.”

  “It’s about time you got some help around here.”

  Chuckling, I shook my head and gave her a pointed look. “Really? Because the library’s so busy?”

  She rolled her eyes, her lips kicking up into a smile. “No, but so you can go out to lunch with your best friend more often. We have so much to talk about.”

  “I just saw you yesterday.” Although, given everything that happened since then she was right. We had plenty to discuss. I gathered my things and went to tell Gary I would be back after lunch. “Let’s go. I don’t want to leave him here by himself for too long.”

  Lifting a brow, she scoffed as she looked around the mostly empty expanse. “There’s like, seven people max at your experiment table. Gary will manage, and if he doesn’t, it’s better to find those kinds of things out early. If he can’t take the pressure now, I’m not sure he’s the right man for the job.”

  “Good point,” I told her, linking our arms together as we walked to a sandwich place nearby. The sidewalks were always a little crowded during lunchtime, with people strolling from their workplaces to soak up the sunshine.

  Cypress Creek wasn’t a large town. People here didn’t march down the sidewalk without even looking your way. They smiled and nodded as they walked by, no one was ever in too much of a rush to say hello.

  Karen and I placed our orders at the sandwich shop and went to grab one of the last remaining tables out on the sidewalk. We sat down at the small, circular table and shifted our chairs to huddle under the shade provided by the small umbrella set up over our table.

  Karen cracked the top on the bottle of water she got when we ordered our food and rolled the cool bottle over her neck and cheeks, flushed from our walk in the sun, before taking a long sip. She smacked her lips when she was done, her gaze curious as she met mine. “So, what’s the word? Did you talk to Sonny yesterday?”

  I nodded, repeating her motions with her water bottle with my own. Except I wasn’t flushed because of the heat. “I went to his place after work. We talked, and I think we’re going to be okay.”

  She cocked her head slightly to the side, her assessing gaze locked on mine. “You’re back together?”

  “Yup,” I told her, unable to keep from smiling. “We’re back together.”

  “Was the make-up sex amazing? Please tell me it was incredible,” she gushed, waggling her eyebrows at me.

  “Karen!” I could feel my cheeks flush. “That’s between Sonny and me. We—”

  “Loosen up,” she laughed. “I’ll fill in the blanks for myself. One of these days, I’m going to get enough cocktails in you to hear all the dirty details, just you wait.”

  “Why would you want to? It’s private.” I knew Karen was more cavalier about the subject than I was, but those moments were shared by two people. Surely, they were meant to stay that way.

  “Relax, Niki. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Karen said, moving her water bottle out of the way for the waitress to deliver our food. Munching on a carrot stick from her side salad, she asked, “I’m glad you decided to give him a second chance, but can I ask why? You seemed pretty sure you didn’t want to go back to him.”

  “Because I love him.” The words leaped out of my mouth automatically, stunning me into silence. That wasn’t what I meant to say. I thought I would say I was bored without him, or that I missed him enough to at least hear what he had to say after all. “I mean—”

  My attempt at backtracking failed miserably. I had no idea what to say after that shocking revelation. “Why would that be the first thing out of my mouth?”

  Karen's lips curled up into a radiant smile. “It was the first thing out because that’s how you really feel. You went back to him because you really do love him.”

  “I can’t love him. I don’t even know him that well.” As soon as I said it, I knew that was a lie. Sonny and I knew each other intimately. We spent weeks living together, and we talked a lot. Sharing came naturally with him. Even when it was about the hard stuff. If Sonny had taught me one thing about relationships, it was about quality, not quantity. I might not have had that much time with him in the big scheme of things, but I knew him.

  Karen gave me a look that told me she knew I was full of it when I said I didn’t know him well enough. “Love isn’t always rational. Just because you don’t feel like you should love him, doesn’t mean you don’t.”

  “I guess.” I sighed. My sandwich was going cold on the plate in fro
nt of me, but suddenly I had no appetite. I love him.

  I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, and at the same time, I wanted to hide my head in the sand. What do I do now?

  Karen knew me well, drawing me out of the beginning stages of a panic attack. “You don’t have to tell him yet if you don’t want to. You can take it slow. If the opportunity ever presents itself, you tell him and see what happens.”

  “Is that all there is to it?” It seemed too simple to me. How could nothing happen or change after such a life-altering realization?

  Karen nodded, understanding brimming her eyes. “That’s all there is to it. Just be careful, okay? I don’t want to see anything happen to you because of everything he’s involved with. Loving him might make you feel like you should protect him at all costs, but you have to protect yourself first.”

  I didn’t see that happening, but I nodded my agreement anyway. She was right; I did feel protective of him. There was no way I would ever sit back if there were something I could do to help him. But I also knew he felt the same about me. “I’m safe with him. I promise.”

  “Make sure it stays that way. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Karen glanced down at her watch, and her eyes grew wide. “Crap. We’ve got to eat fast. I’m going to be late getting back.”

  We raced through lunch, though I didn’t even finish half of my sandwich. As it turned out, Karen was right, and Gary managed fine without me at the library during lunch. He raved about how almost all the “Blind Date with a Book” packages were gone and helped me wrap more for the table.

  I got home before Sonny, stopping at the grocery store on the way to pick up ingredients for tacos. Sonny loved them, and I wanted to do something nice for him. Realizing I loved him still made me feel like I should do something about it. This was something small and inconspicuous I could do to show him I cared without saying those three, potentially disastrous little words.