I put my hand on his chest. “I don’t think it’s odd. Who do you think it was?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Something about the way he’d said that had me questioning his honesty. “You’re not telling me something.”
A heavy sigh. “That’s because I don’t know how to tell you.”
I was on alert. This didn’t sound like it was going to be good.
“You know how I called you this afternoon?”
“Yes.”
He hadn’t sounded like himself.
“I had just left your father’s.”
This had me sitting up. “What?”
Maddox then proceeded to tell me everything that had happened.
“What an asshole! He actually offered you money to stay away from me?”
He grasped my hand and squeezed.
“And someone watched us have sex and took pictures.” I shuddered again. “It’s a good thing we haven’t been screwing all over town, or he’d have enough pictures to make a scrapbook.”
“I’m sorry, Addy. I hate that someone saw us like that.”
I squeezed his fingers back. “It’s not your fault. My father…well, he’s something else.” Something occurred to me. “You don’t think my father was the one in your apartment, do you?”
“I don’t know. Obviously, your father is lacking a few morals, but I can’t see him breaking in here. This is going to sound crazy, but I feel like he would think it’s beneath him.”
I laughed. “No, I totally understand what you mean. It doesn’t seem like my father. Bribery and blackmail are his style. Breaking and entering below his usual standards.” I lay back down, half on Maddox, half on the bed. “What are you going to do?”
“I didn’t think to call the Carsons. Maybe one of them stopped in.” His shoulder shrugged under my head. “I can hope anyway.”
I hoped, too, but I didn’t have a good feeling about it. I could hear in Maddox’s voice that he didn’t either.
Forty
Maddox
Addison left my bed around seven in the morning after being glued to my side all night. I loved sleeping with that woman, but I was going to have to invest in another fan. She sure made me hot. So much that it always woke me once or twice in the night.
But I just used it as a chance to make love to her. If she was going to wake me up even if it wasn’t purposely, she was going to give me her body. She never complained though, and I suspected she liked it.
I just stepped out of the shower when there was a knock at my door.
“One minute,” I yelled out of my open bathroom as I quickly threw on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
I took a quick glance at my watch to see it was only eight in the morning right before I opened the door.
Who’d be here this early?
There, standing on the landing, was Sheriff Whitlock with a pair of handcuffs in his hands.
“Maddox Wolfe?”
“You already know who I am.”
Prick.
“Please step outside and put your hands behind your back.”
“What the hell for?”
“You’re under arrest.”
Not again.
“I repeat, what the hell for?”
“The attempted murder of Brandon Taylor.”
Addison’s ex?
I had a sinking feeling that I was in a shitload of trouble.
“Where were you last night?”
It was twelve years ago all over again.
“Home.”
I sat in the interrogation room, handcuffed to the table like I was some sort of threat.
“Go through your day with me.”
“I woke up and went to my sister’s for brunch. I got home a little after noon, and Brantley’s lapdog asked me to come to Mr. Graham’s house.”
Whitlock snickered, and I knew he didn’t believe me about going to Graham’s house. To be fair, I wouldn’t have believed me either.
“Then, I went and worked out, came home and showered, and spent the rest of the evening at home, alone.”
“What about during the middle of the night?” The sheriff picked up a piece of paper and squinted. “Between the hours of eleven p.m. and six a.m.?”
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to say it, but it was the truth. “I was with Addison,” I said through clenched teeth.
Whitlock hooted with laughter. “I’ve seen the two of you around town together, but if you think she’s going to alibi you…” He laughed again. “Well, you know what happens when it comes to her vouching for you.” His laughter died, and he smiled at me. “Don’t you?”
I calmed myself. I knew Whitlock wanted to rile me up. I knew he wanted me to get mad. He wanted me to mess up somehow. Good thing for me, I’d been through SERE—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape—training. I could take whatever this asshole threw at me. As long as I didn’t let my soft spot—Addison—be affected too much.
I shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.” I looked toward the two-way mirror. “Have you called her yet?” I asked casually. “She’s kind of my lawyer, too.”
“Well, asshole, if you were with Addison last night, then why the hell did we find a handgun registered to you at the scene?”
Fuck. I had been right about someone being in my apartment. And it was worse than I could even imagine.
“I have a question for you,” I said. “Why would I shoot someone and leave my gun there, only to be caught? I’m obviously being set up.”
The sheriff shrugged. “Maybe you’re an idiot. Maybe he scared you, and you dropped it. I don’t know why you left your fucking weapon there. I just know you did. We have you red-handed. If you confess now, I’ll get them to go easy on you.”
Yeah, right.
“And what’s my motive?” I challenged him, ignoring his question.
Whitlock shrugged. “He’s fucking your girl.”
Don’t get mad, Wolfe. This jack-off is not worth it.
“He used to fuck her. He’s not fucking her now because she spends every night in my bed.”
“Except last night,” he said with a smirk. “Rumor has it, she was out of town.”
“She came back early.”
“You wish. But, even if she did, like I said, you’re probably on your own again. Just like you were twelve years ago.” He sat back in his seat and crossed his arms. “I know you think she’ll come forward because she held your hand at Brook Days. But this is her career, man. She’s not going to risk it for some loser like you.”
I knew the sheriff was just trying to goad me. I knew he was spewing shit from his mouth.
But there was a part of me that did worry. Would she come through for me?
Twelve years ago, she had been barely eighteen. She was thirty years old now. I’d seen her go to bat for her clients. She would do the same for me.
I hope.
And that little sliver of doubt had me wanting to jump over the table and strangle Sheriff Whitlock.
Part of me was glad I was in chains. It helped stop me from doing something stupid, and it would stop Whitlock from being right about the kind of person I was.