Chapter 16
Dan parked the Slatters’ van out in front of the Rollaway. Girls’ Night was always a big one, and they took turns taking the women home if their partners weren’t available.
He’d talked to his uncle about what he’d heard in there a week ago, but without more information, there wasn’t much they could do about it. Dan knew this, but it still worried him that Leah and Hudson could be the people the man had been talking about.
“I’m almost afraid to go inside,” JD said from his position leaning on the hood of his vehicle when Dan got out of the van. “I got a text from Bradford, who said they were trying to get him to dance in his shorts so they could put money down them.”
“It’s like these nights bring out all the crazy in them,” Dan said.
“My girl is the sanest person I know most of the time. Smart, sexy—”
“I warned you last time you mentioned that word in connection with my sister, JD, I’d punch you,” Dan said.
“You Dukes are so easy to get at,” the man said, smirking. “Anyway, she’s really smart too. But that all unravels on Girls’ Night. What’s with that?”
“I’ll tell you what’s with that,” a voice said from behind them.
Turning, they found Bart. He wasn’t wearing his running shorts, thank fuck.
“What?” JD asked.
“My sister told me Girls’ Night is like taking off a tight pair of shoes. You can just let it all hang out and no man is there to stop you or ask you to do something for them.”
“We’ve evolved, though, Bart. Some of us can even wash our own shorts and cook now,” JD drawled.
“Some, son, but not all. There are still a few simple ones out there walking among us.”
Dan snorted. He loved the older members of this community.
“Women are complex on the surface, but inside they’re not that hard to understand,” Bart added.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Dan said.
“Loyalty is important, and they want to be seen by their life mate, or any mate, actually. Want their men to understand when they’re feeling shitty.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear, Bart,” JD said, looking shocked.
“Which makes using a cuss word all the more powerful when I do,” Bart countered. “Women want to be looked after when they need looking after, but not coddled. Most of them are smarter than us.”
“Never in doubt,” JD agreed.
“Pick up your clothes occasionally and do the dishes. Cook a meal,” Bart said. “And I’m talking about you, Fox Gleeson. God gave you some brains in that head of yours. Try using them now and then.”
Fox was wandering toward the Rollaway no doubt to pick up his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Betsy. He stopped to look at them when he heard his name.
“Betsy may actually stay with you longer than a month if you make the effort to treat her right. Dress better, and hold her hand. Talk nice to her, for pity’s sake,” Bart snapped. “Or your mama will be stuck with you until she leaves us.”
“Ah….” Fox didn’t seem capable of finding any words.
“Poor role models!” Bart shouted. “It’s not an excuse to carry that trend on. Break the mold, Fox.”
Fox looked like a deer in the headlights now. He turned and ran toward the Rollaway.
“No relief in there,” Dan said, laughing. “You okay, there, Bart? Sounding pretty pissed off from where I’m standing.”
“I’m all good, Deputy Dan, but sometimes the foolish ways of the youngsters in this town rile me up. I had Betsy weeping all over me the other day because Fox dumped her again. Those two need their heads banged together.”
“True. We done with the lecture if I promise to treat the women in my life better?” Dan asked.
“Leah’s back. Make sure she stays this time. She’s perfect for you,” Bart said before following Fox inside the Rollaway.
“Well, fuck me,” JD said and then whistled. “What did he put in his coffee today?”
“Hell if I know, but I don’t want any.”
“From what I gather, he’s right, though,” JD added.
“About?” Dan was still looking at the door Bart had walked through.
“You and Leah. Sounds to me like you and her had a good thing.”
“Nope. We’re not going there,” Dan said. “You go in. I’m just checking around the back of the Rollaway to make sure no one is puking.”
“Never took you for a chicken, Deputy Dan,” JD said, clucking.
“I could drop you in a heartbeat, pretty boy, so maybe remember that. Or I’ll arrest you, and you’ll have to spend the night in the cell, which will play hell with your skincare regime and John Lobb loafers.”
“I don’t wear loafers,” JD said with a smirk.
Dan walked away, wondering who else thought he and Leah had something good going on before she’d left him.
It hadn’t just been good. It had been everything.
And after what had happened between them in her kitchen, he couldn’t leave it there.
He needed her to talk to him, to face what was still burning between them. But first, he had to get her alone.
Yawning, he took the narrow drive between buildings to the rear of the Rollaway. He’d just got off duty, and the night had been uneventful other than Mrs. Landers cutting off the power cord to her glue gun, which she used to make her ceramics, and Dan hadn’t had to do too much.
The loud thud of music accompanied him as he walked, and he knew that inside the Rollaway, there would be plenty of drunk, happy women. Leah was one of them. Well, he hoped she was happy.
Reaching the rear of the property, he heard no sounds of anyone throwing up, but he did hear something.
Almost like a soft moaning. No, crying maybe?
Moving closer, he saw a woman with her face pressed into the side of the Rollaway.
The security light a few feet to the right showed him her hair.
He knew those curls, even if they were pulled back.
“Leah, are you okay?”
She didn’t look his way. Dan saw her shoulders were shaking, which told him she was crying, but no sound came out. This time it didn’t look like panic, just tears.
“Are you okay, Leah?” he repeated.
“Go away.”
“I can’t do that until you tell me you’re okay.”
She didn’t speak, just kept crying.
“Hey, come on, now. Let’s get you back inside,” Dan said. He felt as helpless as the next man when faced with a woman’s tears, but especially this woman’s. It made his chest burn, seeing her pain.
Leah ignored him. She wasn’t making a lot of noise, but there was a desperation to the gentle sounds coming from her. These weren’t just drunken tears—they were heartbroken ones.
Dan touched her shoulder. “Let me help you, Leah.” He turned her with the hand on her shoulder.
She tried to fight him, but he won and saw the devastation on her face. Tears dampened her cheeks and had smeared mascara under her eyes.
“Leah? What’s happened?” A fist squeezed hard in his chest as she pressed a hand to her mouth to stop more tears.
“G-go,” she stammered out.
“No. Who hurt you?”
“Please.”
He shook his head. “Tell me why you are out here alone, crying like your heart has broken. Who hurt you?” The anger that anyone could have done this to her made him want to find them and extract retribution even as he knew the thought was not a rational one.
But then this was Leah. He’d never been rational around her.
The eyes she lifted to his were deep pools of despair.
“Leah,” he whispered her name.
“I miss her.”
He understood then. These tears were for Cassie. Sister and friend, and the only family who had loved her.
“I’m sorry you lost her,” he whispered, pulling her closer.
She tried to push him away again, but Dan was stronger, and soon he had her in his arms. “You can hate me after, but right now, you need this.”
“I need to hate you,” she said, but the words had no strength.
“No, you don’t,” he said, holding her.
She stopped fighting and slumped against him, crying again.
When Zoe cried, this was what she wanted. Just to be enveloped in a hug by someone who loved her…. Not that he loved Leah, but still, she had no one else to do this, and that thought made him both sad and angry.
“The first time I met Cassie was the week I started school. I was playing at lunch break,” Dan said.
“Carson Peters stuck out his foot when I ran past and tripped me. I fell hard. Luckily for him, none of my siblings were close, or he’d have had the hiding of his life.
But Cassie was there. Without saying a word, she helped me to my feet and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket.
She kneeled down and tied it gently around my bloodied knee, then straightened and turned a fierce glare on Carson.
“‘Bullies never grow up to have friends,’ she said, and I’ve always remembered those words.”
Leah’s sobs had eased to sniffs now as she listened to him, her cheek resting on his chest.
“I thanked her when I returned the handkerchief washed the next day, and she just gave me that smile of hers. The one that said what her words didn’t.”
“I loved her so mush… too mush,” Leah whispered, her words stumbling. The unevenness in her voice told Dan she’d had a few drinks at Girl’s Night before slipping out here.
“Is this the first time you’ve cried for her?” he asked, running a gentle hand down her curls. He loved the feel of them against his fingers, the faint scent of her wrapping around him. Holding Leah had always made sense. It still did.
She lifted her head, and for a long breathless stretch, they just looked at each other. Then Dan lowered his mouth to hers, brushing her lips with a soft kiss before easing back and letting her go.
“Go inside, Leah,” he said quietly. “Drink some water. Your ride will be here soon.”
Her chin tipped up at his words, defiance sparking even through the devastation in her eyes. The look made his chest burn.
She didn’t say a word. Just turned and walked back into the Rollaway, leaving Dan alone, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do about the youngest Reynold sister now.