Chapter Four
Tilly
The door creaks open, and Tucker steps out of the shop, one heavy boot after the other. “The store looks good. Thanks for cleaning up.”
“You’re welcome,” I say, staring out at the turquoise lake set into the trees. I see why they call this place Serenity Pines. If I were in need of reflection, this is the first place I’d go. “What other physical labor would you like your front desk clerk to do today?”
He laughs under his breath and lowers his heavy frame down next to me on the steps, the breeze blowing his musk straight into my space, like it’s taunting me. Why does he have to smell so good?
“You’re probably good for today if you want to head home. We can start fresh in the morning.”
I glance toward him. “What happened with your friend?”
“Atlas?” He shakes his head. “What do you mean?”
“Seemed like there was some agitation. Did he not know you were hiring someone for the front desk?”
“He’s not in charge of front-end operations, so he doesn’t need to know.
” The giant glances toward me, his dark eyes on mine like he’s trying to see behind them.
“Why are you really here? I highly doubt you quit nursing to work at a camp store. This has something to do with your brother, doesn’t it?
He stopped by my house this morning, asking questions.
Then you showed up here looking for a job.
Not sure why you told me your brother was the sheriff. Could’ve kept that part a secret.”
My jaw tightens and my stomach flutters with nerves. “Why does it matter what my brother does?”
The man’s eyes bloom with a darkness that I can’t well describe. “Don’t play dumb, princess. It’s not very becoming.”
I stand from the porch, arms crossed as I stare back at him. I should’ve left my shirt off. This pink camp T-shirt isn’t going to keep him in line. “Don’t call me princess.”
“Don’t come onto my property and think you can flirt your way into some answers for your brother.”
I scoff and shake my head. “You know… I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”
“Thank you.” He nods and stands, his thick frame towering.
My clit betrays me, throbbing again as I take in his broad shoulders, wide stance, absorbing the cocky, arrogant attitude he won’t quit with. It’s gross. I should hate it. I do hate it. “That wasn’t a compliment.”
He shrugs. “So why are you here? The truth.”
“I’m here because I needed a job. Have you ever had twelve beds of people to care for?
It’s exhausting. One person wants their bed up, the other wants more meds, another to the bathroom, a family member wants to complain, and every single one of those people thinks whatever they need is the most important thing happening in my life. ”
He stares at me for a long second. “You know I could run a background check on you and find out the truth, right?”
I grin. “The truth about what? I told you the truth. Is there a reason my brother was at your house this morning? Did you do something wrong?”
He sighs low under his breath as dried leaves tumble in the wind. “I’ve done a lot of things wrong.”
“Like what?”
“Well,” he glances out at the campground, “this whole place is here because of my time in prison. I met this guy who used to be a priest. He had this dream to create this place for people to come and reconnect with nature. He fell in love with some girl, though, and now he’s gone.”
I nod slowly, remembering the stories my best friend Wren would tell me about Kade, the super hot, silver fox, biker priest.
“I remember him. There was a fan fiction going around town about him for a while. Never did find out who was running it, but the women around here were thirsty as hell for that guy.”
“Did not know that.” Tucker grins. “That’s hilarious.”
“So, what were you in prison for?” I already know, my brother gave me the rundown before I came out here, but hearing it all live and in person is a different experience.
“A heist gone bad. My buddy Atlas and I planned to rob a bank up in the Springs. We had every detail figured out until we didn’t.” There’s not an ounce of hesitation in his voice as he tells me what he’s done. No remorse either.
I nod slowly, suddenly realizing why my brother said coming out here was a horrible idea.
Who knows what this guy is capable of? Who knows what he’s done?
Wren is gone, Kade is gone, and this man was the last one to see them.
What the hell was I thinking? He could probably stare me straight in the face and not have an ounce of feeling about anything he’s done.
My skin itches and I want to ask him directly what happened to Kade and Wren, but considering I value my life, I decide to let that thought breathe.
“Why did you want to rob a bank?” Even that question makes my stomach churn a little.
He pauses and scrubs his hand down over his beard like he’s looking for the most socially acceptable way to tell me how greedy he is.
“I was trying to get enough money for a surgery the insurance wouldn’t approve for my grandfather, and my buddy Atlas had a family cabin he was trying to save.
We both felt screwed by the system, and we made a bad decision. ”
I nod slowly. Of course he was trying to get enough money for a surgery. Does this guy really think I’m that stupid? “How long were you in prison?”
“Three years.” He stretches back, the ink on his forearms flexing as he shifts. “You’re not afraid now, are you?”
“Afraid?” I swallow down the lump in my throat. “Of what?”
He shrugs his thick shoulders and leans one solid arm against the old cedar post holding up the porch. “Of me.”
“Why would I be afraid of you? Apparently, you’re a good guy who was trying to do the right thing by Grandpa.” I grin, butterflies swarming my stomach like locusts.
He laughs under his breath. “No one ever said I was doing the right thing. I was an idiot. In all the hoopla, I wasn’t even there when he died.
” He drags in a breath and lets it out slowly.
“Now, people tend to be afraid of me. The prison sentence, the tattoos, my size… I don’t make friends easily. ”
“I’m not afraid of you,” I say, chest tightening, clit throbbing like it’s screaming some forbidden language.
“Good,” he groans, turning away before tapping the whitewashed post as he moves. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bright and early.” He glances back, his gaze drawing down over me. “Wear that camp shirt again. I like it.”
My thighs squeeze together without thought, and I can’t quite figure why I want to hear him tell me more of what he likes. This isn’t how this is supposed to go. I’m supposed to seduce him, not the other way around. I’m here for answers, not soaking wet panties.
The sooner I get out of here, the better.
I’m crunching over leaves on my way to my car when my phone vibrates in my back pocket. It’s my brother. Considering I’ve been ignoring his texts all morning, I probably need to take this one.
“Hey,” I sigh, sliding into my little car quickly as though the entire camp is bugged and Tucker is waiting and ready to hear everything I tell Jack. “I’m alive. Don’t freak out.”
“I was about to lose it.” My brother’s voice sinks as he says, “We agreed you’d text me throughout the day.”
“I know, I planned to, but then he had me scrubbing floors and I didn’t get to my phone like I wanted.” I turn the engine to my little car and immediately twist the radio dial to silent. “He knows you’re my brother, though.”
“How? It’s your first day.” Jack’s voice rings with the same judgmental tone he was born with. “I thought you were going in undercover?”
The Bluetooth picks up on my car as I talk, allowing me to set the phone in the cradle by the air vent. “I told him I was your sister because I didn’t want him to find out later and think I was a liar. I figured if I—”
“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Jack groans. “I told you this was a stupid idea.”
“And you’ve got a smarter one?” I watch a pine tree in the back up camera until I’m far enough back that I can turn around.
“Trust me, okay? Another day or two and I’ll have him wrapped around my finger.
” I’m not sure if I believe this claim or not, but he did look me up and down before I walked away.
That could mean something. I’m pretty sure I saw his dick get hard when I stripped off my shirt in the shop, though I guess that could all be in my head.
“Why don’t I like the way you said that?
” My brother’s tone deepens. “Tilly, men like Tucker aren’t easily persuaded by anything.
Throwing yourself at him is dangerous. He’s had a lifetime of experience hanging with criminals.
He’s not stable. At one point, the court was trying to prove he’d murdered someone, but they couldn’t gather enough evidence. ”
Murder. Well, that’s not good.
“Maybe they couldn’t find the evidence because he didn’t do it.”
“Do you hear yourself?” my brother groans. “I know guys like Tucker. Let me handle this.”
“You’ve been handling it. Hell, the FBI was handling it at one point. I can’t let this—”
“Tilly,” he pauses, “do you hear yourself? The FBI couldn’t find the answers they needed. Why do you think you will?”
“The FBI wasn’t using sex appeal.” I grin. “All men eventually cave to sex. It’s a known fact of life.” I shrug and flick on my blinker before turning left out onto the dirt road away from the campground. “You’re all simple.”
“She’s right,” Mira, Jack’s wife, calls out from the background.
“When I met your brother, he was a traffic cop hell bent on following every law to the letter. He pulled me over for speeding and I was driving without a license. So, I fluttered my eyelashes a couple of times, told him how funny and good at his job he was, smiled a little, and bam… the whole problem disappeared,” she laughs.
“Now we’re married, and I’ve got him constantly looking for a place to start that youth center I’ve always dreamed of having.
If we can’t have our own babies, I want to help as many kids as I can. ”
I can’t help but smile widely. “See… told you! Men are simple.”
“Let her do her thing,” Mira says, something crinkling as she speaks. “We’re right here if she needs help. Plus, that ass of hers could probably solve a lot of crimes.”
“Mira!” I laugh as the shadows of pine trees fall over the dirt road ahead.
“What? You were born with it… you should use it! That’s all I’m saying.”
“Dear God,” Jack groans. “She’s only twenty-six years old, and this guy is an animal. You have no idea what he’s capable of. This isn’t safe.”
“She’ll be fine,” Mira presses, lightness in her tone. “We’re a phone call away, and you know damn well she’s going to do this whether you like it or not.”
“Right,” my brother sighs, his line of questioning refocused on me, “and what about your real job? Don’t you have to work tonight?”
“Yes,” I nod, gripping the wheel tighter and tighter the longer we talk. “I’m sleeping in Dr. Angie’s office until my shift. She’s not on tonight.”
“So, you’re going into a crazy Friday night hospital shift with little to no sleep and rolling straight into a psychopath’s playground tomorrow even more exhausted?
That’s smart.” There’s sarcasm in my brother’s voice, but I’m used to it.
He’s ten years older, and he’s always believed wholeheartedly that he knows far more than me about everything.
“Wren is my best friend, Jack.” I sigh as I turn down the main road toward the hospital. “We told each other everything. I’d have known if she was planning to leave, and you know as well as I do that this Tucker guy is involved.”
There’s a long pause where all I hear is the hum of the car and the dog at their house barking in the background.
“Why don’t you come over for dinner tomorrow night? We can talk about everything and go over the details we both have. You have the night off, right?”
“I’ll let you know what time,” I say, flicking on my blinker to turn into the hospital parking lot. “We’ll figure this all out.”
My brother exhales loudly. “I hate this. You know that, right? You do hear me saying that I think this is a horrible, dangerous idea, right?”
I nod as I glance back in my rear-view mirror to see a big, jacked up truck following close behind, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe Jack is right.
Maybe I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into.