Chapter 4
Raven stood at the kitchen counter and read the text again.
Polly: Hey! Mags and I are going to Trap tonight. We’d love you to join us.
She’d gone to Trap with the women before and had a great night. Possibly the best night since arriving in Deep River.
Plus, the two women were the closest to friends she had. And she wanted friends. She wanted someone outside of her parents in this town.
So why was she hesitating?
Because the advance on her pay wasn’t due to hit her account for another day, meaning she had almost no money to spend on going out? But…she didn’t really need a lot of money to have a good time. Heck, she could survive on soda water.
Raven: I’d love to. What time?
Polly: Eight?
That gave her an hour to get ready. She could do that.
Raven: See you then.
Her lips curved into a smile, the first real one all day.
Quickly, she rushed to the bathroom to shower. It took her longer than she thought it would to get ready. But then, her hair was not cooperating, and she had to redo her makeup three times. She had no idea why, but nothing seemed to look good.
By the time she reached Trap, it was a quarter past and the place was packed. Still, it didn’t take long to find the women. They stood at a table near the pool table, three glasses in front of them.
Raven stopped beside them. “Hey. Sorry I’m late.”
“You’re here.” Polly’s gaze raked over Raven’s body. “And holy shit, woman, you look hot.”
Maggie nodded. “You look beautiful.”
“Really?” Raven glanced down at her soft, fitted sweater. It was beige, and she’d paired it with a black skirt, tights, and boots. “I thought I was going to be underdressed.”
Maggie shook her head. “No, it’s jeans all the way here.”
“How’s your week been?” Polly asked.
Stressful. Frustrating. Emotional to the point that she’d been on the verge of tears on at least three separate occasions. “Honestly? Shit.”
Maggie’s brows shot up, while Polly just pushed a drink in front of her. “You need this then.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“I got it for you. Cape Cod. That’s your drink, right?” Polly held up her beer. “It can’t be mine. I’m not into the sweet stuff.”
“I’m a whiskey sour girl.” Maggie sipped her drink.
“Oh. Um. Thank you.” She sipped the drink and closed her eyes, because God, she hadn’t had one of these since the last time these women had bought her one.
She probably shouldn’t be drinking it, seeing as she’d barely eaten.
She’d been living off noodles and toast these last few days and trying to stretch those foods as far as she could.
“It’s the least I can do after you saved my life,” Polly said.
Raven shook her head. “I didn’t do anything that anyone else wouldn’t have done.”
“You shot a person who was trying to kill me.” Polly set her hand over Raven’s. “I’m indebted to you for life.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. She’d had the gun, seen that Polly was being attacked…anyone would have acted. “How are you doing with it all now?”
“Just glad that the spineless prick who was killing women is behind bars.”
That made two of them.
Raven turned to Maggie. “And how are you? How’s that amazing travel business of yours?”
Maggie’s face lit up. Before coming back to Deep River, she’d been a flight attendant, so she knew more than most about travel.
Over the next twenty minutes, Raven talked and laughed with the two women, almost forgetting about every one of her million problems. She was just starting to relax when a deep, rumbly voice sounded behind her.
“Hey.”
Her spine shot ramrod straight.
And slowly, so slowly it was almost comical, she turned to see Connor. Tall, broad, beautiful, green-eyed Connor.
This man was everywhere—at the community center, the residence, and now here at the bar?
Ethan walked straight over to Maggie, while Joel slipped an arm around Polly. Ryan and Zac were already holding cues at the pool table.
Connor stepped beside her, the white of his shirt making his tanned skin glow. “Didn’t know you were coming out tonight.”
“That makes two of us. Polly and Maggie were nice enough to invite me.”
“I told you, you had to give us an hour,” Polly said sternly to Joel, lightly hitting him on the chest.
Joel lifted a shoulder. “It was almost an hour.”
“It was twenty minutes.” Maggie laughed, receiving a kiss on the neck from Ethan. She turned so that she leaned into his chest, then they kissed properly.
“They’re almost disgustingly cute, aren’t they?” Connor whispered into her ear, his breath brushing over her skin.
A shudder rolled over her as she willed herself the strength to look at him again.
And Lord almighty but his mouth was close.
His day-old stubble was so tempting, her fingers twitched to run over the rough surface.
And he smelled good. Really good. An earthy pine scent, like he’d been in the forest all day.
“I don’t know if cute can be disgusting. ”
“It’s a fine line, but I think they’re just about crossing it.”
She chuckled, and it actually felt good. Maybe a bit unfamiliar, considering how little she’d done it lately. “I assume you get to see a lot of it.”
“Oh yeah. If five minutes go by without them touching, I assume something’s wrong.” He nodded toward Joel and Polly. “Those two, particularly, like to fight and make up.”
“The kind of commitment others could only aspire to.”
“I know I do.” One side of his mouth lifted.
Eyes up, Raven.
She forced her gaze back to his, and of course his smile widened.
Oh, brother.
Over the next hour, Raven talked and laughed and drank with Connor and his friends.
And yet again, she relaxed. Not the forced untensing of her shoulders that took an hour of meditation and a good soak in the bath to achieve.
This was natural. Effortless. The ease of her limbs from the fight-or-flight mode she’d been in all week.
And God, it felt good. Really good.
“I think Anika and Mark are fighting again,” Maggie said, as she lifted her glass to her lips.
Polly shot a look over her shoulder. “Oh yeah. Sitting at opposite ends of the bar. Dead giveaway.”
While everyone peered at the bar, Connor didn’t. He looked at Raven. Her soft blonde locks that fell over her shoulders in waves. The small curve of her lips.
This was the most relaxed he’d seen her. And he liked it. He wanted more of it.
“Do they fight often?” Raven asked.
“More than me and Joel,” Polly said with a laugh.
“Hey.” Joel feigned hurt.
“But Polly and Joel also love each other a lot,” Maggie added.
Ethan sipped his beer. “Their good and bad days are very obvious.”
“Obvious to some,” Connor said, lifting his beer.
As the others continued to talk, Raven turned to Connor. “Not to you?”
“I’m not the best at reading people.”
“You were a Navy SEAL. Aren’t you trained in that?”
“That’s a different kind of reading people.
” That was seeing evil in a person’s eyes.
Noticing small actions and word choices that gave away their true nature and intentions.
He’d become really good at that. He glanced down at his beer.
“Relationships, I have no idea.” All you had to do was look at his relationship with Margaret to know that.
“You’re probably better than you think.”
Raven’s soft voice drew his gaze back to her. Damn, she was beautiful. Her blue eyes glowed in the dull bar light, and there was no crease between her brows tonight. No anxious glances around her or at her phone. No distant look, like she was carrying the weight of the world alone.
She was just…present.
Polly straightened. “Time for a new drink.” She grabbed Maggie and, as she passed, grabbed Raven’s arm, too.
“Oh, I don’t—”
“You absolutely do,” Polly sang, tugging both women forward.
Connor watched the back of Raven as she walked away.
He was glad he’d come out tonight. He’d almost stayed home. There wasn’t even a reason he hadn’t wanted to come. So that he could work on his shed? So he could drink beer alone?
No. This was better. Seeing this side of Raven, the carefree version who smiled with her eyes and held his gaze for more than a few seconds, was so worth dragging his ass out of the house.
“You look happy.” Zac came to stand beside him.
“I’ve got no reason not to be happy.” A damn understatement. He was working a job he loved with men he considered family. And tonight, he was making progress with a woman who had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen.
Life was good.
Zac glanced at the bar before looking back at him. “It’s good to see you smiling with another woman.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw at Zac’s use of the word another. It was fair though—he hadn’t exactly dated since Margaret. “That’s not intentional. I just haven’t met anyone.”
“Still…it’s good to see you happy and getting out there again.”
“Don’t get too excited yet. Raven and I are just friends.
” Even friends was a stretch. Tonight was the most they’d talked.
Raven had told him about her mother’s dementia and her father’s Parkinson’s.
She’d mentioned her work at the community center, and Lottie Fuller’s annoyance over not getting the job.
And he’d shared more about his life too.
About his sisters and mother. His work in the SAR team.
He shot his gaze to the bar, searching for her. But the second he saw the back of Raven, he also noticed something else. Not something—someone. One of the bartenders. A guy who looked to be in his early thirties, almost glaring at Raven.
“Who’s that?” Zac asked, obviously spotting the same guy.
“Don’t know. But a few months ago, I remember him ignoring her when she tried to order a drink.” The fucker hadn’t even tried to be subtle, just walked straight past her. “He’s also the one who heckles her at town meetings.”
Connor’s legs itched with the urge to be closer. To her. The bar. The situation in general. But then Dusty, the bar owner, served the women.
His muscles relaxed.
“You still planning to talk to Herbert again, Connor?”
Connor glanced over at Ethan. He’d reported back to the team what Herbert had said about Lila. Other than believing she was murdered, they hadn’t gotten any more information out of him that day. Connor had been wanting to go back and talk to him ever since. “I plan to visit him tomorrow.”
“At least now we know why he always goes to that spot,” Joel said.
Ryan cradled his beer. “We need to know why he’s so sure she was murdered.”
They needed to know a lot. Whether the five women missing or found dead over the last twenty-five years were connected. Whether they were all murdered. Who’d murdered them. And whether that person was still in the area or planning to take anyone else.
Connor’s fingers tightened around his beer as Gerome, the sheriff’s son, walked toward their table.
Jesus Christ. They were having a good night. He didn’t need this asshole changing that.
“Well, well, if it isn’t my dear search and rescue friends.” Gerome smiled, bottle of Scotch ale in hand.
“You here with actual friends, or are friends hard to come by for you?” Joel asked.
“You’re the funny guy, right?” Gerome lifted a brow. “And the guy who let a murderer lead him away from where his woman was locked in a cellar.”
Joel shot forward, but Ryan was faster, standing between them.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” Joel growled.
Gerome lifted his hands. “But am I wrong?”
“Joel saved Polly that day,” Connor said, a deadly quiet in his voice. “Which is more than anything your father did.”
Gerome looked him up and down. “You think you’re better than him?”
“And busier,” Ethan said.
There was a narrowing of Gerome’s eyes. “You should all watch your backs. Quite a few people have been killed since you got here. Any more and the town will lose faith in you.”
“I’m sure your big mouth will have something to do with that.”
Gerome just chuckled at Joel’s words before stepping back and downing some of his ale. “Have a good night, boys. Or don’t.”
“What was that about?” Polly asked as she returned, Maggie by her side.
Connor glanced around them. “Where’s Raven?”
“She’s—” Polly stopped. “She was right behind us.”
Connor turned and scanned the bar, but he couldn’t see her.
The fuck?
He weaved through the crowd, an uncomfortable pit forming in his gut, even though he wasn’t sure why.
He was just nearing the bar when he saw her in the corner—being crowded by the same asshole who’d been glaring at her from behind the bar.
That son of a bitch.