Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I t was pain that brought Shiloh back to the land of the living, but the murmur of voices had her pushing herself out of the warm covers she was tucked in.
“Ugh.” Putting a hand to her temple, Shiloh waited until the pounding had lessened enough for her to stand without falling over. As she shuffled her way to the door of the bedroom, it occurred to her that she had fallen asleep before she could take any medicine. “Amateur,” she grumbled.
Her eyes were struggling to focus, and with each step, her pain was getting stronger, until she was struggling to take in air. Pausing, she put a hand to the wall and bent over, breathing deeply to keep the rising nausea at bay.
“Light concussion, my foot.”
“Shiloh!”
Shiloh cringed at Zane’s elated shout before she could control her reaction, and she immediately regretted it.
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, stepping back, his face worried and his hands tightening around his tablet. “I…I didn’t mean to.”
Shiloh put up a hand and tried to smile, but she knew it wasn’t any better than her grimace. “No, no,” she rasped. “It’s fine. I just…my head hurts. Do you think you could get your dad?”
“No need,” Granger muttered.
He wasn’t walking heavily, but Shiloh would swear that she could feel each landing of his boot, as if the house were shaking under his disapproval.
“What are you doing out of bed?” he said, his tone low, but obviously annoyed. He swept her into his arms and started back to the room.
“Wait,” Shiloh whispered, holding her head again. “I need some pain pills.” She swallowed hard. “Please.”
Granger paused, then muttered a curse before going the other direction. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I totally forgot about it.”
“Me too,” Shiloh responded, squeezing her eyes shut. “It’s not your fault. I fell asleep before I could take anything.”
“Still, I should’ve known better.”
Someone gasped softly as Granger set her down in a chair. She opened her eyes just enough. Serenity and Luca stared at her. She offered another grimace/smile. “Hey, Ser. Long time no see.”
“I’ll be right back,” Granger said. “Just relax.”
Shiloh pursed her lips and nodded slightly. “Please tell Zane I’m fine.”
Granger grunted.
One side of Shiloh’s mouth pulled up. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you and Granger were one and the same,” Shiloh said, offering her comments to Luca.
Luca rolled his one good eye. “Something tells me you wouldn’t be happy with a guy who never let you get a word in.”
Shiloh raised her eyebrows, only to immediately pull them down. Moving muscles hurt. Got it. “Assassin boy, I think you’re right. Well done.”
“Shi…” Serenity whispered thickly. “Are you alright?”
Shiloh waved off her best friend’s concern. “Pssh. Nothing gets me down for long. You know that. Arthur is toast. I have the whole thing on video.”
“Here.” Granger reappeared with a couple of pills and a tall glass of blue drink. He frowned when Shiloh gave him a questioning look. “Electrolytes. That guy said to keep you hydrated.”
“Ah.” Shiloh dutifully took the medicine and drank some of the glass. “Thanks.” She sighed and leaned back, resting the glass on her leg. “By the way, Luca, I owe you big time. If you hadn’t been so fast in getting everything up, I’d have been in real trouble.”
Luca nodded. “You’re family, Shi. You know that.”
She smiled softly. “I always dreamed of being part of the McCoy family,” she joked. “It’s why I kept Serenity around so long.”
“Liar,” Serenity teased back, wiping at her eyes. “You were part of the Michaels family long before you were part of the McCoys.”
Shiloh shrugged and let her head fall to the side of the chair. “Tomato, tomahto. Those two were always meant to be one and the same.”
Serenity smiled, but it faded. “Seriously, though, Shi. What happened?”
Shiloh took a moment for a long breath before answering. She glanced at Granger, who was seated in a chair a few feet to her left. “Is Zane back in his room?”
Granger nodded.
She turned back to Serenity. “Mel and I were outside the front of the office, trying to figure out why there were sirens and what all the shouting was about.”
Serenity urged her on with a nod.
“I wasn’t going to leave, but Mel wasn’t about to be left out, so she grabbed her phone and ran off.”
“Why did you lose my call?” Granger interrupted.
“Oh. Yeah.” Shiloh scrunched her nose and rubbed her forehead. It was too early for the medicine to be working, but her stomach was already feeling better. She took another sip of the drink, figuring the hydration had to be doing her good. “The sirens kind of shocked me. There was so much noise, and I ended up dropping my phone and rushing out before ending the call normally.” She looked at Granger. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”
He nodded curtly.
“Anyway…” Shiloh took another breath. “As I reached for the door to go back inside, someone shoved me from behind, and I almost fell. Arthur came in after me with a hoodie hiding his face.”
Serenity put her hands over her mouth, but no one spoke.
“Basically, he and I fought, though I think we all know he was winning.” Shiloh tried to laugh, but the sound wouldn’t come. “My phone was on the floor, and my mace was in my purse. He’d obviously been waiting until I was alone. He must have known about the outdoor cameras, but I don’t think he realized you put them inside as well,” she told Luca.
He nodded, his face hard.
“I tried to make a break for the back exit, but Arthur caught my hair and pulled me to the ground.” Shiloh waved a hand toward Granger. “Superman here came in just a few minutes later, just as I was passing out.”
Granger closed his eyes and scrubbed his hands up and down his face. “Did he say what he wanted?” Granger asked, his voice dark and husky.
“He said I’d ruined his reputation,” Shiloh whispered. “That he was the laughing stock of the office. That I was overreacting. All he wanted was a date…” She swallowed. “And he claimed I led him on because I was a flirt.”
“That is not true!” Serenity shouted, leaning forward. Luca put out an arm to stop her from standing.
Shiloh rubbed her temple. “I don’t think I flirted with him either,” she said. “But we also all know that I’ve made a habit out of teasing and flirting most people in my path.” Tears stung her eyes. “Who’s to say that he didn’t truly feel led on?”
While she’d argued with Arthur in the office, Shiloh couldn’t help but feel a heavy sense of guilt. Had she done something wrong? Had she brought Arthur to this point?
They’d been professional rivals for a long time, but Shiloh had never been interested. She hadn’t been interested in anyone. Had her devil-may-care sass led him to believe she was simply playing hard to get?
Granger could see her spiraling. It was almost as if Shiloh’s pain was his pain, and he knew she was blaming herself for everything.
Stepping forward, he squatted next to the chair and put his trembling hand on her cheek. “Stop,” he croaked. “Stop it right now.”
Shiloh’s eyes widened as she looked at him. Her chest was heaving with heavy breaths, and a couple of tears trickled down her pale cheeks. “It’s my fault,” she whispered.
Granger shook his head firmly. “It’s not. I heard you with him. I heard him demand a date, and I heard you very clearly tell him you weren’t interested. There was no teasing, no leading him on.”
“But what about before?” Shiloh argued. “I didn’t mean to flirt with him. Even you said I flirt with everything. It was part of why you weren’t interested in the first place.”
Granger’s jaw clenched. “But I was wrong, Shiloh. You’ve shown me that over and over again.” His thumb wiped away another tear. “Even if Arthur misinterpreted something in the beginning, you were very clear every time he wanted to go out with you. He had the choice to accept your decision or to fight against it.” Granger’s teeth ground together. “He chose to fight, and that’s where he crossed a line. Normal guys don’t go around abusing women just to get a date.”
Shiloh closed her eyes and whimpered, more tears trickling through her eyelids.
“Shiloh, listen to me,” Granger said, purposefully making his voice the same one he used with Zane. “This. Is. Not. Your. Fault.” He tilted his head until she met his eyes. “Do you hear me? Not your fault. We all make choices. You didn’t coerce or manipulate. Arthur is an adult. He’s a professional. If he’s intelligent enough to make a career selling houses…and we all know you have to be very smart for that one…” He grinned when Shiloh gave him a polite laugh. “Then he’s smart enough to handle rejection like a man. He simply chose not to.”
Shiloh closed her eyes again, but there was less tension in her brow this time, and Granger found himself relaxing a little.
His thighs, on the other hand, were starting to burn. Dang, he was getting old. He shifted his weight but refused to move. Shiloh was worth a little pain.
“Dad?”
All heads, except for Shiloh, snapped toward the sound.
“Yeah, bud?”
Zane looked warily at Shiloh. “Is she okay?”
Shiloh held out her hand on the other side of the chair. “Come on, sweetie. I’m sorry I scared you earlier.”
Zane looked to his dad for permission, and Granger nodded. Zane’s usual exuberance wasn’t visible as he walked up to Shiloh. He took Shiloh’s hand, and she held on.
“My head is doing much better,” she told him. “I’m so sorry I scared you.”
“I’m sorry I yelled.” Zane’s lower lip trembled.
“Oh, honey.” Shiloh dropped Granger’s hand, allowing him to stand.
He kept his groan to himself.
Shiloh leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Zane, who was still trying valiantly to hold back his tears, but it appeared to be a losing battle.
Another sniffle caught his attention, and Serenity was openly crying as well, wiping frantically at her face.
Eyes wide, he met Luca’s resigned gaze. The large man shrugged, and Granger shook his head. Men weren’t equipped to handle this many tears at one time. He shuddered a little before stepping back to his chair, feeling helpless in the face of so much emotion.
Shiloh gave him an amused look from over Zane’s head, and one side of her lips curled.
Before he realized it, Granger was smiling back. That feeling that had hit him earlier, came back with such force, it nearly stole his breath.
This was what he wanted.
Him, Zane, and Shiloh.
How soon could he make it happen?
“So, what’s the plan now?” Serenity asked, taking a deep breath.
Shiloh blinked several times but didn’t answer, so Granger jumped in.
“First thing is to get Shiloh better, then we need to deal with the police.” Grimacing, Granger folded his arms over his chest and leaned back in his seat. “Montoya needs statements, and we’ll need to retrieve that footage.”
“Do you have Shiloh’s phone?” Luca asked.
Granger hesitated, then shook his head. “No. It wasn’t my priority at the moment.”
Luca nodded. “Understood. But we can access everything from the phone. Get that, and I’ll send the video to Montoya.”
“Great. Thanks.”
Luca nodded again.
“Shi, we should have another neighborhood watch meeting. We’ve all been taking precautions for our storefronts, but I don’t think any of us considered the cars on the street.” Serenity growled softly. “It’s so frustrating. Did you know that it’s another kid? Just a teenager.”
Granger frowned. “Really? Haven’t they all been pretty young?”
Serenity nodded. “Yeah. All of them. The one in my shop was eighteen, so he was tried as an adult, but the one who broke into Gemma’s was a minor and I think today’s was a minor as well.”
“What the heck are they teaching at that high school?” Shiloh muttered, pulling Zane closer. “Don’t you ever become a juvenile delinquent,” she told Zane. “You hear me?”
Zane nodded and settled in, perfectly comfortable on Shiloh’s lap, wrapped in her arms.
Granger had a momentary shock of jealousy. Of his own son. Idiot , he scolded himself.
“Okay…so we let Shiloh rest. We see things through with Officer Montoya,” Serenity said. “And then we have a watch meeting. This time, we try to figure out all angles. Maybe Grady will want to come back and help again. He’s been in the middle of the whole disaster.”
Shiloh yawned, and Granger frowned. She needed more sleep. Actually…she probably needed food, and then more sleep. Lunch had come and gone in all the chaos, and Shiloh was likely starving.
“Sounds good,” Shiloh murmured, her head tilting to the side.
Serenity smiled and stood, pulling Luca with her. “You go back to bed.” She grinned at Granger. “You’re in good hands, so I won’t demand you come home with me.”
Granger gave Serenity a faux salute, and she laughed a little.
“Take care of her, Zane. I’m counting on you.”
Zane nodded, but didn’t look ready to climb down from Shiloh’s lap. He was in for a rude awakening.
After seeing the guests out, Granger came back to the room and paused in the doorway. Shiloh’s head had tilted farther, now resting against the side of the chair, and her eyes were closed. Zane had obviously taken his cue from Shiloh, and his head was tucked under her chin, his eyes closed as well.
Granger closed his eyes and sighed. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t wake them up. The pain meds were the most important thing, and Shiloh had gotten those down. Lunch would simply have to wait.