Cut Too Deep(41)
They walked around the park hand in hand, skirting the lake. Neither of them spoke, but the silence felt comfortable.
Eventually, Ryker said, “You’re not thinking about what happened back there, are you?”
She shrugged. “A little, I guess. I just don’t know what you see in me. You could have anyone. That girl in the coffee shop was right. It isn’t just the guys saying bad things.”
“No one should say bad things about you,” he growled, pulling her to a halt. He lowered his forehead to hers, his hands crept around her hips, and he stared into her eyes. “I think you’re incredibly sexy, Jenna.” His hands sneaked beneath her t-shirt and over the mounds of fat she thought of as her saddlebags, and hated. “See these parts?” He squeezed her flesh and she did her best not to pull out of his grip. “Grabbing your soft body when you’re on top of me makes me hornier than I’ve ever been in my life. Maybe some guys like skinny girls, and that’s their business, but it’s not my thing. I love how soft and full your breasts are, and how curvy your hips are, and how your bottom jiggles every time you move. It’s so fucking sexy.”
She wanted so desperately to believe him, to think for once in her life that she was all woman, and sexy and beautiful just as she was, without needing to change herself. But she couldn’t. Even if she could accept her curves, something else would always destroy all hopes of her being beautiful.
“But what about my scars?”
He stared down at her, his blue eyes focused on hers, drilling into her gaze so intensely she felt like he was seeing right into her soul. “What scars? All I see is you, Jenna Armstrong, and you’re fucking perfect just the way you are.”
A smile spread across her face and she threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him tight. “I think that’s just about the best thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Slung over her shoulder, her purse started to vibrate. It took her a couple of seconds to realize her phone was ringing, but when the penny dropped, she rummaged around in her purse and found the cell. She took a couple of steps from Ryker and then answered.
“Hello?”
“Jenna, I wasn’t sure whether to call you or not, but then I decided that if anything happened, I would never forgive myself.”
Her blood ran cold at the sound of his voice. “What is it, Detective Harlem? Just tell me.”
“You remember Stephen Francis?”
She brought to mind the twenty-three year old man—skinny, with a hollow-cheeked face, but wide, sincere eyes. He’d been in court to testify against Garrett, to explain how he’d seen Garrett push Jenna into the car, and how she’d seemed upset and had struggled against him. Afterward, the young man had approached Jenna and told her how sorry he was that they’d done nothing. It had eaten at him, he’d said, though the friend he’d been with had denied ever seeing anything, said he’d been faced in the wrong direction. Both Jenna and Stephen knew that wasn’t the truth, but there was nothing they could have done about it. Anyway, they hadn’t needed the friend’s testimony in the end. Jenna and Stephen’s testimonies, together with Garrett’s blood alcohol levels, had been enough to put him away.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “I remember him.”
“I’m sorry, Jenna, but he’s been found dead.”
She felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. “Dead? How?”
Ryker stared at her, motioning with his hand to get her to tell him what was happening, but she shook her head and turned away.
“We’re not exactly sure yet. He appears to have fallen down a flight of concrete steps, but some of the head injuries aren’t consistent with a fall. An autopsy is going to be conducted, and the case is being classified as suspicious.”
Her eyes swam with tears of fear. “It was Garrett.”
Nick Harlem’s tone grew hard. “Jenna, this is the reason I hesitated about calling you. I don’t want you to jump to conclusions. I just want you to be vigilant.”
“I’m always vigilant. I already told you that I’ve felt him around, and strange things have been happening.”
“How can Garrett be stalking you and killing Stephen Francis at the same time? I’m assuming you’re still hundreds of miles away?”
He had a point.
“Anyway,” he continued, “there’s no evidence, yet, that implicates Garrett in Stephen’s death. It’s probably just a coincidence that Garrett missed his parole meeting and then Stephen turned up dead.”
She snorted hysterical laughter. “You think?”