Chapter Eight
The door to the bar opened with an
accompanying blast of music. A moment later Mateo strolled under
the halo of light and stopped next to Delaney. He tilted his head
and studied Vance. No-Neck pushed himself to his feet.
“Looks like I missed the
fun.”
Vance brushed off his clothes and
jammed a hand into his pocket to pull out keys. “Fuck you. Fuck you
all.” He pointed at Mateo. “Don’t bother calling me for a job. No
way in fuck I’d hire you now. Or you.” He turned to point at
Walker. “We don’t hire ex-cons.”
“Damn, and I was so
looking forward to ditching my firefighter career to work for a
dipshit.” Mateo sighed heavily, then grinned. “Not.”
Vance swayed and Walker snatched the
keys from his grip. “You’re not driving.” He eyed No-Neck. “How
many you had?”
“None,” the man growled,
glaring at Delaney.
She held up her hands. “Hey, I
wouldn’t have tripped you if you weren’t going after my friend.”
She could already feel the bruise forming on her shin where he’d
connected to match the one Vance had given her on her wrist. But
taking him down was well worth a sore leg.
He turned to Walker. “I’m
sober.”
Walker studied him. “Give me your
name.”
The man glowered, but muttered, “Frank
Dicarlo.”
Walker handed over the keys. “This is
not the place for you or Norris to hang out, Frank.”
“I’ll hang out wherever
the fuck I want to hang out,” Vance sneered. He reached for the
keys, but Frank held them out of reach.
“No way, man. You’re
wasted. I’m driving.”
“You’ve been warned,
Norris,” Walker said.
Delaney stood flanked by Walker and
Mateo, watching the taillights of Vance’s car disappear.
“You doing okay, Laney?”
Mateo asked.
She rubbed her hands over her arms,
suddenly chilled. Vance could be petty, and she didn’t trust him
not to retaliate against her or Walker. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve got a
little adrenaline buzz going on, but I’m okay.” She bumped
shoulders with Mateo. “Thanks, pal.”
“Sure thing.” He cocked
his head at Walker. “You beat the shit out of that
dude?”
“He got in my
way.”
Delaney frowned. “How’d he get in your
way?”
“Norris came out after you
left so I followed. Dicarlo must have left the bar then too, or
maybe he was already outside. Anyway, I didn’t see him. He
sucker-punched me as soon as I came through the door.” He nodded to
Mateo. “Thanks for coming out. Things could’ve gotten dicey for
Laney if they’d both decided to take me on.”
“No problem. Bullies
suck.”
“Wait. Wait just a damn
minute.” Delaney pointed at Walker. “Are you hurt? Where’d he hit
you?”
“I’m fine. Bruised
knuckles, that’s all.”
“If you’re all good, I’m
going.” Mateo lifted his hand in a wave. “Glad you’re home, Walker.
We need you here. Later.” Mateo hunched his shoulders against the
cool breeze and took off down the sidewalk.
“What the hell does that
mean?” Walker shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around
Delaney’s shoulders.
“What are you
doing?”
“You’re cold. I’m making
you not cold.”
“If I didn’t bring a
sweater, it’s my problem. I don’t want you to take care of
me.”
“Wearing my jacket doesn’t
mean we’re going steady.”
Which made her rejection
of his gesture seem petty. She was
cold and his body heat clung to the leather. She
wished it didn’t smell so deliciously of him.
He looked at her, his gaze watchful,
and she felt self-conscious. The air between them seemed to hum
with tension. He’d be easier to resist if she didn’t find him so
insanely attractive.
His knit black shirt outlined his
strong shoulders and the wide plains of his chest to perfection. He
pushed his hair back from his forehead again and this time she
noticed his abraded knuckles.
She gripped his wrist and held his
hand to the light. “Jeez, Walker. That’s gotta hurt.” Keeping a
hold of his hand, she reached down and snagged the strap of her
purse. One handed, she opened it and found a fresh tissue. She
pressed it against the worst of the bleeding, then tipped up her
head. “Your jaw is really swollen now. I’ll get some ice from
Owen.”
When she would’ve released him, he
took the tissue and jammed it in his pocket, then changed his grip
so his fingers entwined with hers.
“I don’t need ice.” His
brought their clasped hands to his mouth and brushed his lips over
the back of her hand. “What’s going on, Delaney?”
Her heartbeat had finally begun to
slow when Vance left, but it sped up again, double time. “What do
you mean?”
“This thing that’s between
us.”
“There’s nothing between
us. I’d help anyone who was hurt.”
“There’s more going on
here than my bruised knuckles.”
“No, there’s not.” She
shook her head emphatically. There couldn’t be.
“Liar. You kissed
me.”
“I kissed you because I
was angry and wanted to prove a point.”
“I get you wanted to prove
a point. Do you kiss everyone like that when you’re
angry?”
“Of course not.
Besides, you kissed me.”
“Damn straight I did. I’ve
waited for that kiss for a long time. It didn’t
disappoint.”
“Now you’re the liar. You
left town without a backward glance. You made it clear we were over
well before you were sent to prison. I was just slow on the
uptake.”
His words rubbed her raw and made her
feel exposed.
His gaze stayed locked on hers as he
kissed her knuckles as if she’d been the one injured punching
No-Neck. “I need to explain. I owe you that.”
“Keep your explanations.
I’m not interested.”
“I want you to hear me
out, but not now.” He released her, and the tension between them
eased. He tipped his head to where Mateo had disappeared. “Where’s
Mateo going and what was that comment about?”
She pulled the jacket more closely
around her and wished it didn’t smell so richly of him.
“He lives a couple blocks
from here, so he walks home even if he’s only had one
drink.”
Understanding crossed Walker’s face.
When they’d been in high school, Mateo’s brother-in-law had been
hit head-on and killed by a drunk driver, leaving his sister the
single mom of twin boys. The tragedy had had a sobering
impact.
“What about the other. Why
the hell would he think I’m needed here? The people of this town
made it clear I didn’t belong. That won’t have changed.”
Delaney breathed out a sigh. If Walker
wanted to talk, they’d talk. It was safer than doing what she
really wanted, which was to move into his arms, press her face to
his neck, and hold on until the memory of Vance’s touch
faded.
She pushed the temptation aside and
answered his question. “You challenge the status quo. You always
have. You did that tonight by walking into Easy Money. Ten years
ago, you wouldn’t back down when Jerod Fetterly was hassling you
and Sawyer. Even though he was a sheriff’s deputy, you stood up to
him. Then James went with you to Sheriff Grafton and confronted
him. Told him he had a rogue deputy on his staff. You stood up for
what was right until—” Her throat closed, the swell of emotion
catching her off guard.
“Until I went to prison
for raping Melanie.”
Delaney swallowed. “You didn’t rape
Melanie.”
Face shadowed, he gave her an
enigmatic look she suspected served as a barrier to revealing what
he was feeling. “No, I didn’t. Not everyone believed
me.”
“There were some who
believed you.” She paused, then voiced a question that had bothered
her since he’d been falsely accused. “Do you think that’s why you
were framed? They used the accusation to get you out of the
way?”
He rubbed a hand over the back of his
neck, head tipped down like he was in deep thought. “Fetterly hated
my guts. I still don’t know why. So who the hell knows why I was
framed.”
“Maybe Melanie does. I’ve
been searching on the internet trying to locate her. She left here
and went to Portland. She was there about eight months. After that
it’s like she dropped off the face of the earth.” She hadn’t meant
to tell him what she she’d been doing. This whole conversation was
feeling a bit too intimate. Like the light from the overhead lamp
cast them in their own bubble where sharing was easier.
He gave her a sharp look. “Leave it
alone. Stay out of this, Laney. If there’s any digging to do, I’ll
do it.”
“Walker McGrath, alone
against the world again, is that right?”
“Fuck that. This is you
not getting involved in my shit where you could get
hurt.”
“I’m not getting involved
in your ‘shit.’ I’m looking for a person who was my friend and had
something awful happen to her. I don’t see how that’s going to get
me hurt. You didn’t rape her, but someone did, and that person got
away with a horrible crime. It’s not right.”
Walker shook his head. “That’s exactly
why you could be hurt. Avoiding prison is a big motivator for
someone to keep you from meddling. Leave it.” His gaze held hers as
he said, “Tell me what else is going on around here.”
She had the fleeting thought he was
trying to draw out the conversation, but dismissed the notion as
ridiculous. Entertaining ideas he wanted to spend time with her
made her heart yearn, and was enough to stir her emotions into a
jumbled mess.
Walker would disappear soon enough,
and it could be another long stretch before she saw him again. She
wished the attraction, connection, chemistry—whatever the hell it
was—had faded. This evening proved it hadn’t. She needed to proceed
with caution.
She couldn’t risk getting involved
with him and being shattered again when he moved on. She’d had
enough rejection in her life from men who didn’t stick around, and
had the scars to prove it.
She stepped back to give herself
distance before addressing his question. “There’s been tension in
the valley between property owners who want to preserve the
small-town nature of Sisters and keep the farms going, and others
who are looking to cash in on rising property values. The Norris
family has a development company, and they’ve bought up several
parcels.
“We’re close enough to
Sacramento, and people are buying homes here and commuting to jobs