Chapter 11
Raven met Connor’s gaze from across the community center. The hall was filled with locals from Deep River. But then, town meetings always brought in a crowd.
Connor sent a smile her way before turning back to the guys. They stood to the side of the stage, talking to Ferris, while she waited at the back after putting the last few chairs out.
It had been a week of staying at his house. A week of sleeping in the bedroom right beside his. Of waking to a hot breakfast in the kitchen. A few mornings, she’d caught him walking around shirtless, and every time she had to use every scrap of her willpower to look away.
There’d been no more kisses. But the tension… God, the tension felt so much worse.
“Raven Price?”
She turned to look at a man who appeared to be in his fifties. He wore jeans and an oil-stained shirt. “Hi. Do I know you?”
“I’m Rob, the mechanic who’s been looking at your car.”
“Oh. Rob. Hi, yes, Connor told me you’d picked it up. How does it look?”
“It’s all fine. You had a small coolant leak. Nothing dramatic.”
“Thank God! How much do I owe you?” Nerves tickled her spine. It would be a lot. Most car problems were, right?
“Nothing. Connor took care of it.”
She stiffened. “He did?”
“Yep. Good guy, that one.”
She glanced at Connor again. He was already watching the exchange between her and Rob.
He kept saving her. Why? There was no reason for him to do so.
She’d pay him back. She wasn’t sure how or when, but she would.
Rob inched closer. “But there’s something I need to tell you. I haven’t shared this with Connor yet. Figured it’s your car, so I should tell you first.”
She swallowed, already knowing she wouldn’t like what came next. “Okay.”
“There was a tracking device behind the back wheel.”
Air stalled in her lungs. “What?”
“Yeah.” He scratched his head, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “It’s at the station. I’ll tell Connor and he can—”
“No. I’ll grab it.” If he found out, he’d just push harder for answers she couldn’t give him. “He doesn’t need to know.”
“Oh. Uh, okay. It’s your call. Come by anytime to pick it up.”
When Rob walked away, Connor looked like he was about to head over, but Ferris turned to show them something on a laptop.
Connor used a hand to wave her over, but she shook her head. She needed a second to wrap her head around what Rob had just told her.
A tracking device. God. Was it Xander? Of course it was. Who else would have put it there? But when? Before they’d broken up? When she’d said she was leaving?
She felt sick. She’d never tried to hide her location from him. If she’d wanted to, she wouldn’t have come back to Deep River. But knowing he’d been tracking her this entire time, knowing he’d had her exact location down to the street address, was so…violating.
When Ferris took the stage and started the meeting, her head was still a mess.
Then, because obviously things could always get worse, Lottie came to stand beside her.
“There are spare seats,” Raven said under her breath.
“I know.”
Lottie had been furious when things hadn’t gone her way last week. She’d dragged Ferris into the community center with the intention of catching Raven sleeping in the office. She’d wanted Raven fired.
Thank God she’d stayed at Connor’s the night before. That was the only reason she’d been able to convince Ferris that the blanket and pillow were just being stored there, not used.
“You think you’ve won, don’t you?” Lottie whispered, arms crossed over her chest.
“Won what?”
“Everything. You got my job. You run my programs.”
“I run my programs. And I didn’t take anything from you. I applied for a job and I was hired.”
Lottie scowled. “We’ll see how long you last. You’re a charity case at best.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ferris gave you the job because he’s been friends with your father for thirty years and knows the old man has Parkinson’s. You’re a charity case with Connor too, you know.”
“Okay, Lottie.”
“Don’t believe me? I heard some of his friends saying Connor has a savior complex. Apparently, he tried to save an ex but couldn’t. Looks like you’re his new little project.”
Raven refused to look at Lottie. She didn’t want to believe anything this awful woman said. But that small photo flickered in her mind. The one of him and his ex. The one he hadn’t wanted to talk about.
“Enjoy it all while it lasts.” With those parting words, Lottie strolled off to sit in the back row.
Argh. That woman…
She was lying about Connor. Trying to get a reaction out of her.
Still, she glanced at where he stood on the side of the stage with the guys.
Raven had secrets…it was certainly possible he did, too.
She spent the next hour trying to concentrate on Ferris and the meeting agenda. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t. Thoughts of the tracking device on her car, and what Lottie had said about Connor, took her entire concentration.
When the meeting finally ended, Raven was ready to leave. Past ready. Townspeople stood en masse, the hall so crowded she could barely see a path in front of her.
She started to weave through the crowd, searching for Connor, only to freeze at the sight of a sweatshirt. It was just the back, but it was familiar. Navy with a bobcat in the center. The hood was up, but the man wearing the sweatshirt was the right height and size.
A buzzing started between her ears, deafening the loud chatter around her. The figure slipped through the crowd. She followed. She had to follow.
She sidestepped locals, working hard to keep the sweatshirt within her sights.
Her heart pumped hard, panic speeding her steps.
The guy headed outside, and so did Raven.
He was just rounding the building when she grabbed his arm. “Xander—”
He spun.
Not Xander.
“Nathaniel?”
“What the hell are you doing, Raven?”
She glanced down at the Montana State Bobcats sweatshirt. It was exactly the same as Xander’s. Did they just own the same sweatshirt, or…
Her gaze shot back up to his. “Is he here? Is that his sweatshirt?”
“Get the fuck away from me.” He turned to walk away.
She grabbed his arm again. “Is he here?”
Suddenly, he shoved her against the building—hard. Her head hit the brick wall, pain shooting through her skull as her teeth rattled. “What the fuck do you not understand about get away from me?”
Where was Raven? One second she’d been in his sights, the next, the crowd had swelled and she’d disappeared.
Connor swept through the hall, searching.
He paused by Maggie and Polly. “Have you guys seen Raven?”
“Um, she was standing at the back during the meeting, but I haven’t seen her since it finished,” Maggie said.
Polly lowered her voice. “Is something wrong?”
“Can you just let me know if you see her?”
Both women nodded.
He continued to scan the large space. When he was sure she wasn’t there, he stepped outside. Throngs of people littered the area. None of them Raven.
Shit.
He rounded the corner…
Just in time to see Nathaniel throw Raven against the wall before shouting, “What the fuck do you not understand about get away from me?”
Fury ripped through Connor like a flame. He was beside the asshole in a second, grabbing him by the back of his shirt. He pulled the guy off her and punched him square in the jaw.
Nathaniel dropped, holding his cheek before rolling to the side. “Fuck!”
Connor lunged forward, ready to finish the piece of shit, but Ryan grabbed him before he could touch the guy again.
“Stop.” Ryan’s voice was low and measured. “He’s not worth it.”
“The fuck he isn’t! He put his hands on her. He threw her into the fucking wall!”
The sheriff’s voice suddenly boomed from behind them. “What’s going on here?”
“The prick assaulted me!” Nathaniel scrambled to his feet, hand still on his cheek. “I want to press charges.”
“If you do that, I’ll press charges against you,” Raven said, stepping beside Connor.
Nathaniel spluttered. “For what?”
“For throwing me into the wall.” There was almost a challenge in Raven’s voice. “For assaulting me.”
The asshole scowled. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
The red in Nathaniel’s cheeks darkened, and his chest puffed up.
Yeah, the asshole didn’t like losing.
“Fuck you.” Then he glared at Connor and Ryan. “Fuck all of you.”
“Touch her again and I’ll do more than bruise your cheek.” Yeah, he was threatening the guy in front of the sheriff. He didn’t give a shit.
“Now, boys.” Ward lifted his hands. “Let’s all take a moment to—”
“I’m done here.” Nathaniel stormed off.
The second Nathaniel left, Connor turned to Raven and scanned her from head to toe. “Are you hurt?” The voices of Ryan and Ward continued behind him, but he put all his attention on Raven.
“No, I’m okay.” She swallowed. “Just a bit shocked.”
He lifted his hand and ran it over the back of her head. Thankfully, there was no bump. Thank God. He’d have been tempted to go after the asshole again…and break his nose this time.
“You should have pressed charges,” he growled.
She shook her head. “No. It was far more exciting watching you nail the guy.”
She may have been going for humor, but he didn’t crack so much as a smile. “What happened?”
She glanced at where Nathaniel had disappeared. “That sweatshirt…my ex had one exactly the same. I saw the back of it and I thought it was… I thought he was Xander.”
Connor’s frown deepened. “Was the sweatshirt Xander’s?”
Her eyes flared, like she wondered the same thing. “I don’t know.”
He slipped an arm around her waist. “Come on. Let’s get home.”
He scanned the streets, then the large patch of green, almost expecting someone to jump out and threaten them.
When they reached his truck, he helped Raven in before moving over to his own side. He lasted about two minutes before he couldn’t keep his question inside any longer. “Are you in trouble, Raven?”
“What?”
“Are you in trouble? The dangerous kind? Is your life at risk?”
At her silence, he shot her a glance.
“I’m not sure,” she finally said.
Tension tightened his muscles. “What happened between you and your ex?”
He didn’t need to look at her to catch the reaction this time. Her entire body became rigid. She was so still he wasn’t even sure she was breathing.
The silence stretched to the point he was certain she wouldn’t answer.
But finally, she said, “I can’t tell you.”
His fingers clenched the wheel, frustration simmering beneath his skin. “Why not?”
“We made a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Yes. And I can’t break it. I can’t risk…”
He shot her another glance, catching the fear in her eyes. “You can’t risk what? What would happen if he found out you broke this…deal?”
“Lives would be at risk.”
It wasn’t enough information, dammit. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know what I’m protecting you from.”
“I’m not asking you to protect me.”
Was she scared of what her ex would do to her? What he’d do to her parents? Or was there something else entirely at risk here?
“I don’t like secrets, Raven. I’ve been burned by them before, and I don’t want to go down that road again.”
After a pause, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”
That was it. That was all she said. Like if he wanted to be a part of her life, there were going to be secrets and he’d just have to deal with it.
He didn’t like it. He couldn’t have a repeat of what happened with Margaret. He wouldn’t survive it.