Lissa’s eyes widened. “Really? What did he say?”
“Basically, he thought we should make peace with each other. He always thought you were wonderful.”
Lissa’s eyes filled with tears again. “I love knowing that, but I’m still so sad. I will always hate that it was my car he’d stayed late for when this happened.”
Mack wiped the tears off her face.
“No, baby, no. He was murdered on the job. The car could have been anyone’s, and if it wasn’t that night, it would have been another one. And if Trey Jakes’ theory is right, his mother is also in danger.”
“What? Why?” Lissa asked.
“I’ll tell you about it over lunch, but it has to stay between us,” Mack said. He rubbed a thumb over the little mole above her lips, and then leaned down and kissed it. “For good luck, remember?”
“Yes, I remember...so much,” she said softly.
Mack’s gut knotted. He wanted her. It was the primal need of a man to claim his mate, but he was already feeling shaky. Damn the timing of all this.
Lissa saw the stress on his face and knew immediately what was wrong.
“You either come sit down in the kitchen or sit down in here. You choose,” she said.
“In the kitchen with you,” he said.
“Good,” she said as she picked up the plate of cookies, and together they moved into the kitchen, where Mack quickly sat.
Lissa helped him get the hoodie on, then zipped it about halfway up.
“How’s that?” she asked.
“Perfect.”
She continued to chatter as she reheated the Stroganoff and finished draining the noodles. Mack sat in near silence, answering when needed, but mostly he sat and watched while trying to absorb the fact he was actually going to spend the rest of his life with her.
* * *
Louis drove home with his belly full of soup and corn bread, but his heart was heavy. Something had to be done about Reece. He sort of wished he’d talked to his mother about that, but she was gone, and he didn’t want to go back and drag her into it. He parked and walked into the house in halting steps, just wanting to lie down until he felt better. The pain pills were in his bedroom, but the water was in the kitchen, so he made a detour.
He had the water in hand, ice clinking against the glass as he headed for his bedroom, with no thought in his mind but the pills. He downed them in one gulp, took off his shoes and jacket, and without bothering to undress, just stretched out on top of the bed and closed his eyes.
The silence was bliss, and then Reece started screaming. He could hear him coming, yelling at the top of his voice,
“Mama’s gone! Where did you take her? She never even said goodbye. What the fuck kind of woman comes begging for money, then leaves without so much as a thank-you? I’ll break her neck. I will break her fucking neck, so help me God!”
Louis groaned. He shouldn’t have come home, but it was too late now. He rolled over and sat up on the side of the bed, his hands over his ears, as if trying to block out the noise.
“Don’t you do that!” Reece yelled. “Take your damn hands down and listen to me. Where’s Mama?”
“Gone. She didn’t say where,” Louis said.
“Why didn’t you—”
“Stop screaming at me, Reece. I don’t feel good. I hurt, and I need to rest.”
“You were supposed to—”
Louis picked up the water glass and threw it across the room against a wall, splattering water and broken glass all over the floor.
Reece was so shocked, he stopped talking.
“Thank you,” Louis said calmly. “I hate when you shout. I have been doing exactly what you told me to do. I helped clean up Melissa Sherman’s house, and I want you to know, I have never been so ashamed in my life. The place looked like there was a riot inside. Blood and broken glass everywhere, and you tore up her things. You tore them up like they were nothing. She’s a nice lady, and now she won’t be teaching or living in her house again until you’re arrested and put in jail.”
Reece’s eyes narrowed angrily. “What do you mean, she’s not going back to school or her house?”
“Exactly what I said,” Louis snapped. “No one would, you idiot. You’ve been stalking her, and you tried to kill her boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend? She has a boyfriend?”
“Yes, the man you thought you killed—who, by the way you did not, and you better be glad. If you had killed him, I would have turned you in myself.”
Reece snorted aloud. “Listen to your stupid self. You can’t turn me in, and you know it.”
Louis’s eyes welled. “Go away, Reece. Go away. I don’t feel like talking. I need to sleep.”
“Fine, I’m leaving, but just remember, you try to fuck me over and I’ll kill you first.”
“Perfect,” Louis muttered. “Go ahead and do it. I’m tired of you. I’m tired of this life. This life hurts.”
And just like that, all the rage slid out of Reece’s voice. “I’m sorry, Louie. I didn’t mean it.”
“Yes, you did, because you’re bad. You’re bad, Reece, and I’m tired. Go away.”
Reece left. He couldn’t face his brother after what he’d said. He would never kill Louis. They were twins, halves of one whole. Even if Louis didn’t like him sometimes, he was the only one who understood him.
* * *
Pinky locked herself in her motel room and turned out the lights. She was in a precarious situation right now, and until she got out of Mystic, she could still wind up in Reece’s mess. She took all the money out of her purse except for a hundred dollars in twenties, and hid nine hundred in cash on her person, putting some in her bra, some inside her panty hose and some inside her shoes. She hid the cashier’s check and the other thousand in cash inside a small tear in the lining of her coat, and then pinned the tear together with a safety pin. She shoved a chair under the doorknob and then sat in the shadows, trying to figure out a way to get out of town without waiting two days for a bus.
Thirteen
The miracle of Mack and Lissa’s reunion was how easily they fell back into the comfort of being in love. They ate their lunch together without worrying about embarrassing themselves as people did on first dates, then ate peach pie à la mode while laughing about the first time they’d made love.
“I didn’t even have my pants zipped back up when Dad pulled into the drive,” Mack said.
“And my bra was undone in the back, and I had to stuff my panties down the front of my pants because I didn’t have time to put them back on.”
Mack threw back his head and laughed. “Dad had to know something was up when he walked in, but he never said a thing. What I never told you was that before I went to bed that night he walked into my bedroom, dropped a half dozen condoms in the drawer of my nightstand and walked out without saying a word.”
“Oh, my Lord, I would have died,” Lissa said.
“You know what bothered me the most? The fact that he had them on hand.”
Lissa’s eyes widened as she got the implication, and then she burst out laughing.
“I didn’t know your dad dated.”
“Yeah, neither did I,” Mack said, and then lifted his cup of coffee. “To Dad and his secrets. May they all come to light.”
Lissa lifted her cup as well, as the seriousness of the moment overcame the earlier mirth. “To your dad.” Moments later she set her cup down, reached across the table and took his hand. “They will figure out why this is happening and catch the killer. I have faith.”
“God, I hope so,” Mack said. “In the meantime, I need to make that call to my security company and get someone over here ASAP. Right now your safety is my top priority.”
“I’ll get your phone for you. Is it in the bedroom?”
“Yes, on the nightstand.”
She left the kitchen in a run and returned moments later with the phone. Before she could hand it over, he grabbed her around the waist with his good arm and pulled her down into his lap.
“Just one knock-my-socks-off kiss and I promise I won’t ask for more,” he said, as he nuzzled the side of her neck.
“Don’t make promises I don’t want you to keep,” Lissa said as she very carefully slid an arm around his neck and aimed for his mouth, then changed her mind at the last second and bit his lower lip instead. She followed that with a flick of her tongue to temper the nip, and then kissed him full-on while his lips were still parted in shock.
His eyes were still closed when she took his hand off her breast and handed him the phone.
“Love you, Matthew Jackson,” she said softly,
Mack shivered as her sweet voice wrapped around his heart. “Love you, too—so much.”
There was a lump in her throat as she began clearing off the table. If this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake up.
Mack eased himself up from the chair and walked into the living room as Lissa began cleaning up. He sat down, scanned through his contacts until he found Cain’s personal number. He got a recording when he made the call.
“This is Cain. Leave a name and number. If I like you, I’ll call back.”
Mack grinned. “Pick up, you jackass, it’s me, Mack Jackson. I need help.”