Chapter Fifteen
Vinnie stared at the entrance of the sheriff’s department, willing Cyrus to walk through it.
“What’s taking him so long?” Adam had his seat belt on but was tugging on the strap, getting more agitated by the second. That couldn’t be good.
“He’ll be along. Cyrus knows what he’s doing.” At least she hoped he did. The last thing she needed was the sheriff more antagonized than he already was. Her stomach was a mass of knots, and a pounding headache throbbed behind her eyes.
I quit my job. And told the sheriff she was leaving town.
She was both jobless and homeless. What have I done?
When she glanced at Adam a sense of calm came over her.
She’d done what she had to in order to protect her son.
It wasn’t the first time she’d found herself in dire straits.
Difference was this time she wasn’t a young, single mother but an older, wiser professional woman.
It also didn’t hurt to have Cyrus with them.
“Are we really going to leave town?” Adam swallowed heavily, shoulders slumping. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” Tears filling his eyes, he quickly looked away.
She rubbed his arm, wishing she could sugarcoat this for him, but they were long past that.
“We’ll talk more back at the house.” The decision had taken her by surprise, too.
A reaction to the situation, maybe, but the right one.
Getting Adam away from here before anyone got too interested in their business was her priority.
“This is all his fault.” Anger throbbed in his voice as he glared out the windshield at Cyrus, who was strolling down the walkway as though he didn’t have a care. “If it weren’t for him, none of this would have happened.”
“That’s enough, Adam.”
“You know it’s true. I’m a freak because of him,” he muttered.
“Without him, I wouldn’t have you, and I wouldn’t change that for anything.” Cyrus frowned in their direction, but she shook her head and backed out of the parking spot. She wasn’t having this discussion in public where anyone could overhear. The gossips would have a field day as it was.
Adam slumped in his seat and closed his eyes. She wished there was some way to ease the strain he was under. “I love you. Despite the fact you drive me crazy at times,” she teased. “And you always eat the last of the Oreos.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, but he remained silent on the drive home.
When the small white bungalow that had been home her entire life came into view, the ache in her chest grew.
It’s just a building, she consoled herself, but every memory she had of her parents and her son lived in that house.
So many celebrations—birthdays, Halloweens, Thanksgivings, and Christmases—had taken place there.
There’d been heartaches and celebrations, laughter and tears, quiet conversations and loud fights.
Adam had taken his first steps, had said his first word there.
The throbbing in her head grew worse when she saw a familiar truck in the driveway across the street.
Davis Wilkes was visiting his aunt. Great, that was all she needed to cap off the day.
As if he had radar—or as if someone, probably one of his buddies at the station, had called him—Davis stepped out of the house and started across the lawn.
After parking the car, she handed Adam her keys. “Leave your things and go inside. Don’t talk to Deputy Wilkes.” A confrontation between the two of them was the last thing she needed. With a nod, he got out and hurried toward the front door.
Vinnie took her time sliding out of the driver’s seat, heaving a sigh of gratitude when Cyrus’s SUV pulled in behind her vehicle. He swung out of the driver’s seat and came to stand beside her. She could deal with Wilkes but having him with her would make it easy.
“You’re back.” Wilkes’s gaze darted toward the house behind them. “I saw Adam go inside. You must be relieved to have found him.” Tall and fit, he’d been known to use his position as deputy to his advantage with the ladies and to intimidate men, and for some unknown reason he’d fixated on her.
“Yes, we found him and he’s safe. We just came from speaking with the sheriff.
” If she hadn’t known about the tracking device he’d planted and seen him stalking them through the woods, she’d have taken his concern at face value.
They’d had a decent enough working relationship when he wasn’t coming on to her or trying to undermine her, which when she thought about it, was most of the time.
Maybe it hadn’t been such a good working relationship after all.
“Sin.” Davis nodded at Cyrus. It probably hadn’t taken him long to learn Cyrus’s name. He’d probably run him through the system too, to dig up any dirt on him.
“Wilkes.” Wearing mirrored sunglasses and decked out in jeans, a tight black t-shirt, and boots, Cyrus looked badass ... and unimpressed with their visitor.
Wilkes took her arm. “We should talk.”
She tugged her arm away. “Another time. My son needs me.”
Rather than take the hint, he took a step closer, a muscle in his jaw working. “Do you think he should be here?” He canted his head toward Cyrus.
“What business is that of yours?” Talk about overstepping boundaries.
“I spent days trekking through the forest for Adam. I’m concerned about his welfare .
.. and yours.” There was a hint of possession in his tone that she found disturbing.
She’d never done anything to encourage it, the opposite, in fact.
She’d gone out of her way to discourage any suggestion of a relationship outside of work, but the more she put him off, the harder he tried to insinuate himself into her life.
“That’s your job,” she shot back and then got a grip on her temper. Adopting a conciliatory tone, she said, “I appreciate all your efforts, I truly do, but I need to get inside.”
“I don’t think I should leave you alone with him.”
The idea was so absurd she began to laugh. “Are you serious?” There wasn’t anyone in the world she was safer with than Cyrus. For all their issues, she knew to the marrow of her bones he’d protect her and their son.
“You have no idea who this guy is. I’ve done some digging, asked some questions. He’s dangerous, Vinnie, not a good influence on Adam.” He was like a belligerent bulldog, unwilling to budge.
He may have run him through the system, but Wilkes was the one who had no idea who Cyrus really was. He stood beside her, a silent sentinel, ready to pounce if necessary. “I know who he is, and I’m perfectly safe.”
Ignoring her, he turned to Cyrus. “You should leave.”
Cyrus slowly removed his sunglasses, folded them, and tucked one end in the front of his shirt.
“You’re the one who needs to go.” A slow smile spread across his face, causing her temperature to spike.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him smile before—a quick grin, a hint of one, but never a full-on smile.
It was lethal. It was also to provoke Wilkes.
“You don’t want to start anything with me,” Wilkes warned. “I’m an officer of the law. You’re nothing more than a bounty hunter.”
“That’s enough.” Vinnie put her hand on Cyrus’s chest and pushed him behind her.
“Hiding behind a woman,” Wilkes sneered.
“She’s protecting you, not me,” he softly taunted.
“That is enough.” She yanked out her phone. “If you don’t leave, I’m calling the sheriff.”
“He’ll take my side and you know it.”
And there it was, the not-so-subtle reality she’d lived with for years.
There was no doubt in either of their minds that the sheriff would take his side over hers.
But she no longer had to pretend it didn’t matter, that the reminder she’d never be viewed as good enough didn’t hurt.
She no longer had to swallow her anger to get along.
Those days were behind her. “I don’t care. ”
“You’re willing to make things difficult at work over this guy?”
“No, that’s what you’re trying to do, but since I no longer work for the sheriff’s department, I don’t care. You’re not welcome here, Wilkes.” Fire up, she pointed a finger at him. “You did your best to try to frame me for Adam’s disappearance.” She’d never forgive him for that.
“There was a reasonable doubt,” he insisted.
“No, there wasn’t. It was nothing more than a way to hurt me. You also entered my home when I wasn’t there. You didn’t have permission.”
“That’s a big accusation, and one you can’t prove.”
He was right, which made her all the angrier. “Sheriff said you came back to the woods to search for us.” She gave him a sugary smile. “Did you have a nice hike?”
His jaw tightened, but he couldn’t say anything without copping to the fact he’d done something illegal, or at least unethical by putting a tracker in her backpack.
If confronted, she was certain he’d deny the accusation.
Done with Wilkes, she waved Cyrus ahead of her. “Let’s go inside. We’re done here.”
“Child Protective Services might be interested in knowing you let dangerous men hang around your teenage son.”
Coming on the heels of the sheriff’s threats, Vinnie snapped.
“Go ahead and call them. You want this to end up in court? Once you open that can of worms there’s no telling what might crawl out.
You might want to think about that.” Leaving him silenced, for once, she strode up the driveway, very aware of Cyrus’s presence behind her.
****
Watching Vinnie in action was a thing of beauty.
She’d shut down Wilkes without breaking a sweat.
What Cyrus didn’t like was the hurt he’d sensed coming from her.
Wilkes’s gaze burrowed into his back. He was going to be trouble.
His kind never knew when to cut their losses.
Whatever his interest in Vinnie, she didn’t return it.