Chapter 8
Anika
“I could’ve grabbed a cab.”
Beside me, Hog keeps his eyes on the road and ignores my comment, as he’s ignored me since basically forcing me into his truck.
I don’t have the energy to continue arguing anyway. Fatigue is hitting me like a ton of bricks, so I lay my head back against the seat and close my eyes. I can’t wait to get home, where I’ll probably head straight for bed.
Except, when the truck stops and I open my eyes, we’re not parked in front of my house. I can’t manage much more than a groan in protest.
Hog kills the engine and turns to me.
“Stay put, I won’t be long.”
Then he leans over the center console, presses a kiss to my forehead, and gets out of the truck. I watch him cross the street to the small, one-story house with the blue siding. I don’t recognize the silver sedan parked in front, but I know my brother’s GMC Jimmy right beside it.
I slide down in my seat a little. The last thing I want is my brother in my face. He’s normally pretty laid-back but can be a pain in the ass when his big-brother mode is triggered. The vandalism on my car or Hog spilling the beans on that kiss would be enough to trip his switch on their own. The two combined could get ugly, and I’m not in a good space to deal with him on a rant right now.
I close my eyes again and try to blank my mind, but that’s easier said than done. Inevitably, the image of…whatever the hell eviscerated remains were dumped in my car pops in my mind. The smell, good God, I’m never going to get that stench out of the upholstery.
Who does such a thing? Dumping a dead skunk in my car, its guts spilling all over. Bill figured it was probably roadkill some idiot picked up off the side of the road. I guess it’s better than killing an animal for the purpose of freaking me out, but still, you’d have to be a pretty sick individual.
I have to admit it looks more like a sick teenage prank than something an adult would come up with, but after what I’ve seen and heard of Chris Cooper, he’s still definitely a contender.
Evans explained the dead animal in my car elevated the incident from vandalism to an actual threat, which is why he decided to have the Mazda towed. He also asked me to think of anyone who might have a beef with me, but like I already told him, I wouldn’t know who.
Shit. I’m going to have to find a rental car.
I snap my eyes open and dig my phone from my pocket. Almost quarter to eight. I open Maps and look for rental car places. Less than a handful and the only ones open at this time are at the airport south of town. Maybe I should leave it for tomorrow morning, it’s probably smarter to first check my insurance to see what, if any, coverage I have. They’ll likely need a copy of the police report, which I should call Bill about.
My head starts to throb with all the things I should be thinking about, when my door is suddenly pulled open and Bodhi leans his body inside.
“What the fuck, Anika?”
I ward him off with a hand.
“Don’t start, Bodhi, it’s none of your business.”
“Are you kidding? This is the second time I have to hear from someone else about an incident involving my sister instead of hearing it from her.”
“Seriously? This literally just happened, and it’s not like I invite this stuff.”
“Be that as it may, you can’t blame me for wondering what the hell is going on. It’s not like I haven’t noticed you withdrawing lately. You miss more family dinners than you attend, and I don’t think we’ve exchanged more than a few words since Christmas.”
“I’ve been busy, Bodhi. I’m still working on my house and I also have a business to run, you know?”
It’s a lame excuse and I know it, but I feel cornered and defensive, which unfortunately turns me into a whiny teenager.
What is it about siblings, no matter how old they are, they seem to revert to bickering like adolescents at the slightest provocation? It’s like an ingrained behavior we never quite outgrow.
“Yeah. Except evidently, you’re not too busy for Hog,” Bodhi fires back.
“Hey,” Hog, who moves in behind my brother, intervenes. “That’s enough. Leave her be, I told you, she’s not the one who called me.”
Bodhi swings around on his friend, poking a finger in his chest. “Yeah, I know, Bill Evans called you. Apparently, he knows more than I do about you two.”
For a moment I wonder if I’m going to have to hold my idiot brother back if he decides to take a swing at his very large friend. Thankfully, he opts to push by Hog and marches toward his truck, only to stop and swing around in the middle of the road.
“You know what pisses me more than anything? When my family and my friends keep shit from me.”
With that he continues to his vehicle, hops inside, and pulls away from the house. He’s good and pissed—which is pretty rare—and he doesn’t even know my biggest secret yet.
Bickering is one thing, having the big brother I adore seriously angry at me is another. With my resistance already low, the tears come.
“Come on,” Hog says quietly. “Let me take you home.”
Then he tucks my legs back in the truck and closes the door, before getting in on the driver’s side. When we drive off, he reaches over and puts a hand on my knee.
“Give him some time, he got hit with it all at once. He needs a chance to process, but you know he won’t stay mad for long.”
No, he probably won’t, it’s not in his nature, but it still doesn’t feel good to have him angry at me.
Hog
By the time we get to Anika’s place, her tears have dried up but she looks drained.
“Thanks for the ride,” she says in a flat voice when I pull into her driveway.
As if I’m going to just drop her off and leave. Not even if all I had were friendly feelings for her.
“Any time,” I tell her, getting out from behind the wheel.
She’s already halfway out of the truck by the time I get to her door.
“I’m gonna see you inside,” I tell her firmly, when it looks like she might try to protest.
She doesn’t say anything, lets me lead her to the door, and doesn’t even object when I take the keys from her hand to unlock it. While she drops her purse on the bench in the hallway and kicks off her shoes, I walk past her, straight to the kitchen.
Her medication is not on the counter but, on a lucky guess, I find the containers in the cupboard over the fridge. Then I fill a glass under the faucet and place everything on the kitchen island just as Anika walks in.
For a moment, she simply looks at me, before measuring out her pills and washing them down with the water. Then she rounds the island to my side and to my surprise, walks straight into my arms.
I lean my cheek on the top of her head and stroke my hand over the thick, sleek hair hanging straight down her back.
I’m not sure how long we stand like that when, eventually, Anika takes a step back and looks up at me.
“You’re a good man, Noah.”
My eyebrows shoot up, I wasn’t expecting that.
“You know my name.”
She shrugs, lowering her eyes. “Yeah, you have a dental cleaning at nine thirty on the twenty-fifth of May.”
I chuckle. I tucked that appointment card under a magnet on my fridge after my last cleaning and haven’t looked at it since. Apparently, Anika did.
“You haven’t eaten anything, have you?” I ask when I catch her stifling a yawn.
I had an early dinner before I left home, but she came straight from work.
“I’m not that hungry. I may skip and go straight to bed.”
I reach out and run the pad of my thumb along her jaw.
“Your body needs fuel to heal. Give me ten minutes to fix you something to eat. You can go to bed right after. At least you won’t wake up in the middle of the night, starving.”
When she doesn’t answer, I tuck her under my arm and walk her to the couch in the living room.
“Take the load off. Ten minutes, that’s all.”
She sits down and pulls her legs up under her. I grab the remote off the coffee table and hand it to her, then I bend down and brush her lips with mine.
In the fridge I find eggs, a piece of goat cheese, baby spinach, and green onions. Enough to whip up an omelet.
“How was the house?” she asks me fifteen minutes later, after a few bites of dinner put some life back in her eyes.
“It’s okay. The two bedrooms are small, and there’s only the one bathroom, but living space is open concept, which works for me. Looks like it was all recently refinished. The best part is the location though; it’s got nice views of the river and is close to work.”
I get up and gather the dirty dishes, bringing them to the sink.
“Are you going to take it?”
“Probably.”
The owners are offering a six-month lease, which is fine by me. I wasn’t too keen on locking myself into a rental for too long, but six months gives me a chance to see if Durango suits me.
Glancing over at Anika, who is yawning again, I have a feeling I’m going to like living here just fine.
“You should get some sleep,” I suggest, wiping my hands on a kitchen towel. “I was thinking you’ll need wheels to tide you over. My next shift starts at seven tomorrow morning, so if I swing by here at quarter to, you can drop me off at the station and use my truck. It gives you some time to figure out what’s happening with yours. Then if you pick me up again Wednesday morning, we can maybe grab some breakfast before I drop you at the salon. We’ll sort out the rest then.”
She gets up from her seat and walks up to me, placing her hands on my chest. Then she lifts up on her toes and offers her mouth for a kiss. I don’t hesitate taking her up on the offer.
It’s that I know she’s exhausted and probably in pain, or I’d have had a hard time leaving it at a kiss. Knowing she’s not averse to seeing where this goes makes it much harder to be patient.
Still, I untangle myself from her arms, which have wound around me, give her a final, hard kiss on her lips, and make my way to the front door.
“Sweetheart, lock the door behind me.”
As tempting as it is to go back for another taste of those lips, she needs to get some sleep, and I should get home. I wait at the bottom of the steps until I hear the slide of the deadbolt before I make my way to the truck.
As I drive out of her neighborhood, I abruptly pull the truck off on the side of the road and call Evans.
“How is she?” is his first question.
“Shaken but okay. I just left her house and am second-guessing myself. Was it him? Cooper?”
“Doubtful. Looks like he and his brother spent the afternoon at the Sky Ute Casino in Ignacio, drinking. Lots of cameras around.”
“So you’re saying it was random vandalism?”
He snorts. “Nope, not saying that. I’m saying Cooper personally didn’t do it, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a hand in it. People don’t generally carry around roadkill to dump in a random car. It takes a certain level of dedication to scrape skunk corpses off the pavement. There was definite intent, but I’ll be damned if I know why. It’s gonna be another long night for me.”
“I’m turning around,” I announce. “I shouldn’t have left her in the first place.”
“Do what you need to, but we don’t even know if your girl was the target. Did you know Kim Cooper drives a small red car as well?”
No, I had no idea, but I see what he’s saying.
I could go back, sleep on her couch, but she’d still be alone tomorrow night when I’m on shift. She has an upgraded, state-of-the-art security system she put in right after buying the house she feels safe with.
If I show up on her doorstep, insist on staying the night, who am I doing it for?
“If it helps, I already have a patrol car doing some extra drive-bys at the salon, I can tell them to include her house as well.”
“It helps.”