“You have heard of sarcastic wit. Have you not?”
“You expect me to believe when you said, ‘I see you’re dressed and ready for our first date’ that you were joking?”
“He’s toying with you,” Brock said, glaring at Cash.
“I may be, Mr. Sheldon,” he said, turning his head the other way. When he faced them again, he added, “I guess we’ll never know.”
“Brock, you need to let me have a minute,” Trixie said, pointing to Mitch and Rory, who were standing with several officers a few feet from the car.
Brock thinned his lips.
“I rarely ask for much,” she said, willing him to give her a minute but realizing if he granted even one, he’d start the clock at sixty seconds and refuse her any leeway.
Brock stalked away and Trixie turned back to Cash. “I’d like to help you.”
“Help me?” He laughed. “Do you know what I am, Mrs. Trixie Cartwell Sheldon?”
She took a moment to gather her thoughts. Then, she said, “Mitch saw some good in you. If you were friends with Mitch, I have a feeling you and I could’ve been friends as well.”
“Do you?” he asked, chuckling. “Do you think we could’ve been close friends?”
“I…well, I don’t know.”
“Let me ask you something, Mrs. Trixie Cartwell Sheldon.” He slid across the seat and leaned to the window, turning his face up to the parted glass. “If we had been friends, for the sake of conversation, how would we have cultivated that friendship?”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking me.”
“Would you have invited me to your home?”
“Probably.”
“Would you have gone on outings with me and Mitch?”
“Why sure. Like I said, Mitch’s friends would’ve been my friends, too.”
A pure evil smile tilted his lips in a lopsided smile. “Yes, you said that indeed.” He glanced at the men behind her and then leaned closer. “Would you fear me then, Trixie?”
“Why would you want me to fear you?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he said, facing forward once more.
“I’m trying,” she said. “Don’t you see? I’m trying to help you here. I’m handing you a rope and hoping you take hold of it and help me save you.”
He laughed aloud. “Ah, but, sweet baby mama, you haven’t a clue. The rope you’re handing me is the very one I would use to tie and confine you. Then I would gag you. Bind you. Then, my sweet Trixie Cartwell Sheldon, I would fuck you. I would come all over you and fuck you again. I would make our loving so brutal, so painful, that you would never want a man to touch you again.”
Stunned, Trixie slowly backed away from the car. “I don’t understand.”
He snickered. “You really are a stupid girl.”
Mitch approached then. “Trixie, is everything all right?”
“Fine,” she replied, unable to stop the violent tremors rocking through her body.
“What’d you say to her?” Mitch demanded, stalking the car.
Cash focused on the seat in front of him. “I simply explained why that proverbial rope of hers wouldn’t save me.”
Mitch glanced at Trixie. “What’d he say?”
“It’s unimportant,” she replied, refusing to grant Cash what he apparently wanted most.
If he had hoped to instill fear in her men, he would need to find another way. She wouldn’t assume the role of messenger.
“Good-bye, Mr. Whitehead,” she said, tapping the top of the car.
“Farewell, Trixie,” he said, flashing a wide smile and plenty of teeth. “We will meet again.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Brock said, joining them.
Cash looked at him as if he were viewing him with true pity. “Mr. Sheldon, you won’t see me coming. You won’t hear me when I sneak up on you in the middle of the night. When I’m free again, I will come back for her.” He addressed Mitch directly then. “There isn’t a thing any of you can do to stop me. Remember, I expect my friends to share.” He released a dramatic sigh. “And how many times do I have to tell you? Mitch and I are friends.”
Chapter Thirty
Trixie went down by the lake to make a few phone calls while Brock, Rory, and Mitch stayed behind to answer a few questions. Before she took a seat on the bank, she couldn’t help but notice her fellows.
Each man took a defensive stance. A stranger could’ve taken one glance at them and known by their rigid bodies—they weren’t a force to be challenged.
She took a seat where they could see her and called home. After the first ring, her mother answered. “Trixie, is that you?”