Run to Ground(9)

“Yes, please.” He gave his mug a small nudge in her direction. The beige stranger had a voice as unremarkable as the rest of him. “I’m Norman Rounds.”

“Jules,” she replied automatically as she poured his coffee. Although she hadn’t blurted out her last name, she still mentally reprimanded herself. Julie Jackson. Julie Jackson. Julie Jackson. Juliet Young was no more, and her family’s safety depended on her remembering that.

Norman’s voice brought her out of her head. “You’re new.”

“Yes.” She felt so noticed. Maybe Dennis should’ve sent them to a bigger city, where they could’ve blended into the crowd.

“Where’re you from?”

“Arkansas.” The lie rolled off her tongue, and she resisted the urge to smile proudly. That was better. Now she just had to learn to do that when faced with a cute cop.

“Really?” Norman’s tone barely changed, but the faintest note of skepticism made Jules’s inner alarm begin to chirp. Why would he question that? He leaned toward her, and his expressionless face suddenly seemed unnerving rather than bland. “You running from something?”

Barely resisting the urge to lurch back a step, Jules frantically reran their conversation in her head. There was nothing she’d said that had given her away, so why had he jumped to that conclusion unless he knew something? Even the nosy, hot cop hadn’t guessed, and she’d been a lot calmer—normal, even—with Norman Rounds. Did he know? She stared at him, as if her gaze could strip off his overly normal exterior and reveal his true intentions. Had her stepmother hired him? Was he a private investigator? He couldn’t be—right?

Norman leaned even closer, and this time, Jules couldn’t stop herself from taking a step back. She could barely keep herself from racing out of the diner, from grabbing the kids and running out of this whole town. As if sensing that Jules was about to flee, Norman froze, his unnerving gaze locked on her.

He doesn’t know. If he did, he’d be dragging me out of the diner himself, or calling for the cops a few booths away to arrest me. With a huge effort of will, Jules stood still, clutching the coffeepot, trying to calm her racing mind and think of how to answer, what to say to keep him from being even more suspicious.

Norman shifted ever so slightly, his body tensing as the mild mask slipped even more. He knows. Although she tried to tell herself she was being paranoid again, that he was just a harmless, oblivious guy—albeit a strange one—it didn’t work. Her instincts were shouting at her that she and the kids were in danger.

She opened her mouth, still unsure of the best way to reply, when a growly voice interrupted. “What’s going on here?”

Her head whipped around. Theo was standing right next to her, so close that his arm was almost touching hers. This time, however, Theo’s glare wasn’t directed at her. Instead, all of his angry attention was focused on Norman.

“Are you bothering this woman?” Theo demanded, shifting so he was ever so slightly in front of Jules, as if shielding her from harm.

A rush of relief and gratitude hit her. Theo’s take-charge manner was exponentially more attractive when he was defending her.

Norman’s bland expression had returned, which upped Jules’s suspicions even more. A normal person would at least flinch. As she knew from firsthand experience, Theo was hugely intimidating. “Of course not. Jules and I were just getting to know each other.”

With Theo’s back to her, Jules couldn’t see his expression, but there was disbelief in the tight lines of his shoulders. His very broad shoulders. Jules quickly shook the thought out of her head. Now was not the time. In fact, there was never a good time for her to be attracted to a cop.

“Why don’t you just let her do her job, Rounds?” Theo’s voice was even and calm, but there was a menace to him that would’ve left her shaking if it had been directed at her.

Instead of looking worried, Norman seemed almost amused. “Of course. Carry on, Jules. We can talk later.”

“No,” Theo snapped. “No talking later. Just eat your breakfast peacefully and then leave.”

There was a tense silence before Norman said, “Sure.”

After a long moment, Theo turned to face Jules, and she was startled by his proximity. It wasn’t nearly as scary as it had been earlier, when Megan had saved her from him. Now Theo had turned into her hero…and the oddness of that made her smile. Theo’s gaze lowered to her mouth, pausing there for a moment before he abruptly turned and headed back to his booth.

Jules watched him join the other two cops. Looking up, Hugh caught Jules’s gaze. His expression changed before she could get a bead on what he was thinking, and he widened his eyes in an exaggerated pleading expression. “Can we order now? Please? We’re so hungry it’s possible we might die if we’re not fed soon.”