3. Scarlett
SCARLETT
GAME OFF
Ishould’ve known my brother would see through my facade. I should’ve known he’d suspect my motives the instant our eyes met.
His literal, actual job is to glean secrets from unwilling speakers, to convince even the most experienced liars to divulge all they’re hiding.
But I can’t give up. I won’t give in.
Not until I figure out how to deal with my problem. So for now, I spend my time with Nova. And hell, it’s not a hardship to do so. Not even a little.
Last night, Lincoln helped her cook dinner, but the entire time I sat at their counter and faked a smile, he watched.
Unrelenting.
Disapproving.
Obstinate.
At bedtime, he showed me to the guest bedroom, carried my bags in, and stood guard as I unpacked my things.
He folded his muscular arms and gritted his jaw, unyielding while I slid clothes into the drawers set out for guests.
He glowered as I brushed my teeth and pretended I couldn’t see him in the mirror.
Good lord. The man is more insistent than a starved dog at a bone.
This morning, he cooked bacon and eggs on the stove. And he glared.
While I ate, he sneered.
While I attempted to load my dishes in the washer, he took charge, relieved me of my duties… and scowled.
As I wandered along the hall on my way to my room to get dressed for the day—and seriously considered packing my suitcase and escaping out the window—he watched me with suspicion burning in his dark eyes.
And the instant I closed my door, their other guest appeared. Heavy footsteps moved along the hall, then voices started up.
“God.” I lean against the door, tilting my head back until my skull raps against the hardwood with a thunk. I crush the heels of my palms to my eyes and groan, even as my heart pounds a painful beat inside my chest.
I just wanted somewhere to lose myself for a few days.
I wanted time with my big brother, to feel safe in this place, in this time, despite the rest of the world spinning out of control.
While my enemies plot and my past gleefully follows me everywhere I go, slapping me on the ass and callously nudging me toward insanity, I was hoping for a little reprieve and a whole lot of silence.
“I shouldn’t have come here.” I drop my hands and exhale a tired sigh. Blinking my vision clear, I study the notebook laid out on my bed, and scattered on top, the pens I’m not sure I could survive without.
Not with all my faculties in place, anyway.
My phone vibrates amongst the mess, buzzing against books and pens and whatever other crap I insist on carting around with me everywhere I go.
Nova’s voice joins the others in the kitchen, though hers edges toward shut the hell up and leave her alone, which is a pleasant alternative to give me ten minutes alone with her and a bottle of vinegar. I’ll get the information we need.
Tank said that.
Tank.
What kinda friggin’ name is Tank, anyway?
Shaking my head, I wander to my bed and scoop my phone up to find not just one text, but two.
Nova:
I’m gonna send them into town in a few minutes. We don’t need bread or milk, but I’m telling them we do. I won’t ask about the thing you’re not talking about. But if you wanna discuss it, I’m around.
And then a second text, received while I was in the kitchen swallowing pig meat and fried eggs.
Mills:
Heya, sweetheart. Just checking in. Hope you’re well.
Exhaling a noisy sigh, I flop onto my stomach and stare at the nonsensical scribbles all over my notebook. The colorful patterns and random squiggles.
I don’t cart notebooks around to jot down my deepest, darkest secrets. Nor are they to keep track of the things I want to remember.
No, I obsess over my paper and pen supply simply so I have something to keep my hands busy. A way to combat the spinning, sprinting, toiling thoughts making a mockery of my brain.
Ignoring Nova’s text for a moment, I tap on Mills’ instead.
Detective Cameron Mills, that is. He’s my dad’s age, has been on the force about as long as I’ve been alive, and he was the kind soul, the only cop, who had my back when my ex was hurting me.
While everyone else erred on the side of until he hits and leaves a mark, I can’t help you, Detective Mills was a beacon in the dark.
He declared himself a safe, fatherly figure for me to count on, especially when I was too ashamed to confess to my actual father the situation I’d gotten myself into.
If Detective Mills was on shift, he patrolled near my apartment. If he wasn’t, he made sure to check in with a text. While everyone else believed my ex’s convincing act of innocence, Detective Mills saw past the mask.
It’s entirely possible that what Lincoln and I did to my ex disqualifies us from entering the pearly gates at the end of this lifetime, but I don’t regret it.
Because it wasn’t premeditated. It was self-defense.
We didn’t start it. Lincoln simply finished it when he knocked on my door at the exact moment Roy’s thumb dug painfully against my voice box and the darkness took me under.
I worried that the last set of eyes I would look into were those of an evil man intent on taking back the control he lost when I left our relationship. In reality, the very next thing I saw was my brother, and immediately after that, one of those claw-on-one-side types of hammers.
Then we hurt Roy Daniels the way he hurt me.
But worse.
When Roy landed himself in a shallow grave, and those missing person reports rolled in, Detective Mills came to me first, not to accuse, but to make sure I was okay. And then he comforted me through what he assumed was grief for the man I once loved.
If remorse is necessary to enter Heaven’s gates, then I suppose I’ll make do on this side of eternity.
“Go!” Nova noisily bustles two men out the front door. I assume. “The house is secure, and we’re not going anywhere. Go to the store now, or I’ll hurt you both.”
In less than twenty-four hours of knowing her, I’ve come to understand exactly why my brother loves Nova Nichols.
Tapping on my darkening screen, I type up a fast response to my friend.
Me:
Hey. I’m good! I’m actually visiting Linc this week.
I had a little time off, so I figured hopping a flight and meeting his sweet new girlfriend would do my heart good. I was right.
I hope you and Martha are well. And tell Ricky good luck with his upcoming detective’s exam. He’s gonna do great.
The deep, vibrating hum of a beefy truck cuts through the side of the house and straight into my veins, just powerful enough to knock my nerves off balance.
Hitting send, I lie to another person I care about and set my phone face down on the bed, then I flip through my notebook and stop on the one loose sheet.
The reason I came here.
The heart attack just waiting to take me under.
I slide my fingertips across the face of the seemingly inoffensive sheet of paper, dragging my nails over the words hastily written.
I know what you did to Roy Daniels.
That’s it. That’s the entire message.
So short. So simple. So insanely threatening, I almost lost my lunch and burst into tears at its mere presence.
I didn’t do either of those things, though.
In reality, I snatched it off my apartment door, packed my bags, and caught a flight out of Colorado all in under an hour from the moment I discovered it.
And now here I am, hiding in my brother’s girlfriend’s guest bedroom, pretending I’m not scared to my bones.
Worse: my act is all for naught, because there isn’t a single soul in this house who believes me when I say I’m fine.
My phone vibrates with another incoming text, so I slap the paper back into my book and snatch up the device. Instead of receiving a reply from Mills, or even a follow-up from Nova, Lincoln’s is the name that flashes for attention.
Lincoln:
We don’t keep secrets from each other, Scar.
I’m your annoying older brother, and you’re my bratty baby sister. We irritate each other relentlessly. But we do NOT keep secrets.
While you’re locked up in your room, hoping I’ll forget the very basis of who we are, I want you to remember… you ran TO me. Not away. Let me in so I can help.
Tears burn my eyes, stinging until my breath catches in my lungs. But then more messages come.
Lincoln:
Nova hid an entire loaf of bread in the back of the pantry just to get me out of the house. I’m giving you this one chance to conspire without me. Then I’m coming back and taking charge.
You want some candy while I’m out? Sugar always makes you happy.
I choke out a pathetic snicker and tap reply.
Me:
Yes please.
Soft, socked feet shuffle along the hall on the other side of my closed door, then a gentle knock reverberates through until I feel it in my heart.
“Scarlett?” Nova’s sweet voice weaves on the warm air. She has the ability to turn her murmured words into a hug. Her prying inquisitions into something else entirely. “Can I come in? The guys are gone, so we have about half an hour until they’re back.”
Closing my notebook and slipping it beneath the covers of my bed, I push off the mattress and open my door to reveal the woman nothing like I expected my brother would fall head over heels in love with.
And yet… she’s exactly right for him. She carries two piping hot mugs, one in each hand, and smiles in a way that seems innocent.
Though I’m certain she’s anything but.
“Coffee?”
“Thanks.” I take the one in her left hand, and turning on my heels, I wander back to my bed and set the cup on the table beside it. Sitting with my back pressed to the wall, I watch her close the door and hover hesitantly in the middle of the room.
I could make her stand. I could make her leave.
Instead, I gesture. “Wanna take a seat and get comfortable before you grill me for state secrets?”
She giggles. But she sure as shit bustles closer.
Sitting by my feet and crossing her legs, she nurses her coffee in both hands and tips her head to the side until her messy bun flops with the movement.
“He worries about you.”
“I know.” Tilting back and staring up at the ceiling, I let out an exhausted sigh.
“I didn’t think this through. Obviously.
How silly of me to assume I could sneak in here and lie to the Lincoln Castro.
My only excuse for gross naiveté is the fact that I left in a rush and, evidently, forgot to pack my brain and bring it along for the ride. ”
“You could tell me… if you wanted to.” She brings her coffee higher and blows on the scalding liquid to cool it down.
“I’m not involved. I’m an objective third party.
And we only just met, so I have no preconceived beliefs or expectations for how you should conduct yourself.
” Her lips twitch with a silly grin. “I could grab a bible and look the other way, pretend we’re in confession.
Whatever you say in the box stays in the box. ”
“You’re very charming, you know that?” I lower my gaze and meet her eyes. “Sneaky charming. You tricked my brother into falling in love with you, didn’t you?”
“He didn’t even know it was happening until it was already too late,” she teases. “Now he’s stuck with me. Fortunately, we kinda like each other. And…” Leaning forward, she mock-whispers. “I’m pretty sure he’s gonna ask me to marry him.”
“What?” I shove up straight. “Did he say so? Did he ask you already?”
“No, but I’m sneaky, remember? Plus, I accidentally found a ring, which I guess he thought was hidden better than it actually was.
Foolish man.” She snickers. “I figure he’ll ask when he’s ready, and in the meantime, I’ll hold nothing back.
I’m determined to let him see the best and worst of me, so when he finally asks, he’ll have done it with his eyes wide open.
” She takes a sip of her coffee and ahhhhs at the flavor on her tongue.
“Now tell me what’s up. If you want an ally to stand beside you when you finally spill the beans, I can be that for you.
But it would be so much easier if I knew what I was fighting for. ”