Blood And Bone (14 page)

Despite his flat tone, his words held a hint of sentimentality. Des could barely refer to Anderson by name, and never as his father. Sam still called him Dad. He must have felt some affection for the man.

“How was your father with your mother?”

He jerked a shoulder. “They fought a lot.”

“Do you remember about what?”

“Shit. Nothing. Everything. They were both miserable. It was no secret they had to get married because he’d knocked her up. Toward the end, I think they hated each other.”

Some men never learned, it seemed. After all, twelve years later Anderson would find himself married to Gwen for the same reason. Christ, had he never heard of a condom?

“Did you notice a change in him once he met Gwen?”

“I might have if I’d seen him. But he was a little too busy with his new family.”

“How did your mother react when he left?”

He rolled his eyes. “How the hell do you think she reacted? She might not have felt a damned thing for him, but do you think she wanted to be out on her own with a kid to take care of?”

Finding oneself replaced in one’s marriage was a scenario with which she was sadly all too familiar with. “Didn’t your father offer any kind of support?”

“Sure, but he was raising three other kids. He only made so much money. There wasn’t a lot to spread around.”

Shayne frowned. “But Gwen had money of her own.”

He snorted. “Not once the old woman cut her off. And her first husband didn’t have anything to do with those kids.”

Financial tension, blended families, a new baby. The couple would have been under tremendous stress. A recipe for disaster with the wrong man. “Do you remember anything from the night of the murders?”

His tinkering with the engine ceased. “Not the night of the murders, but the next day when word about what had happened started to spread. Mom got scared. She packed us up and took off to my aunt’s. She never came back.”

An odd shiver raced over her skin and the hair at the back of her neck prickled. “Did she ever tell you what had frightened her?”

He shook his head. “Never, but for awhile, until my dad confessed, I wondered if she might have been the one, you know?”

“Was she still angry, even two years later?” Would she still be angry with Travis in two years? God, she hoped not. She didn’t want to wind up bitter.

“Not about his leaving. She had a man she was seeing and was leaving me alone a lot at night. I was almost thirteen and fine by myself, but Dad started making noises about wanting me to go live with him.”

The first decent thing she’d heard Anderson had done. “Were you worried she was angry enough that she might have hurt Gwen?”

“Yeah, it was stupid, but I was a kid.”

“What changed your mind?”

He leaned back against the workbench, his brows drawing together and his mouth curling into a perplexed smile. “He confessed.”

“Of course.” She nodded. “Would you have wanted to live with your father?”

“No, I hated him. Hated Gwen. Hated all of them. There was no way in hell I would have lived there.” He spoke with an oddly casual tone that seemed out of place given the seriousness of his words. “Ended up being a good thing in the long run. If I’d been living there, I might have wound up dead too.”

Chapter Ten

“After their mother’s murder, the surviving children were taken by their maternal grandmother and shielded from the media frenzy that followed. No one suspected the fine line between life and death both children walked daily.”

—excerpt from
Blood and Bone
by Shayne Reynolds

Des stood on the curb in front of the realty office and waved at the young couple as their car drove away, a stiff smile pulling at his mouth until his cheeks hurt. Once they were out of sight, he dropped his arm to his side.

Shit, that was painful. He hated showing houses to indecisive people who couldn’t match what they wanted with what they could afford. Actually, he hated showing houses period. To anyone. In fact, he hated everything to do with houses. At this point, when he left Dark Water, he’d move into a tent.

At least now there was a light at the end of his tunnel. Of course, he had to screw Shayne over to get there. A lousy, sick sensation rolled over him.

But he wasn’t helping Heddi to get out of paying back the money his sister owed. He wanted to protect Shayne. He didn’t want Tic anywhere near her. He would never have taken Heddi’s offer if not for Tic.

Why then did he feel like the biggest sack of shit there ever was?

Would he feel better if he wasn’t escaping from under Heddi’s thumb too? Maybe. But he just didn’t have the strength of character to turn her down.

With a sigh, he went inside, but, as soon as he hit the lobby, he froze. His Aunt Vivian was leaning over Heather’s desk, the hem of her slip peeking out from under her dark pink skirt.

“I want to know where the hell he is.” Vivian’s shrill voice set his teeth on edge. “You think I don’t know you cover for him? You’re probably sleeping with him too.”

Her words slurred slightly, and Des took a tentative step back toward the door.

“That’s not true, Mrs. Grey. I don’t know where your husband is. I’ve tried calling, but his phone is off.” Heather’s voice hitched and Des stopped his retreat. Crap. He made his way to the desk.

Heather’s glassy gaze fell on him and she pointed. “There’s Des. Maybe he knows where Mr. Grey is.”

Vivian spun around too quickly and teetered on her glossy black heels. For a second, she pitched sideways. Des reached out, ready to grab her and keep her from hitting the ground, but she caught her balance and steadied herself.

Some of her dry blonde hair stuck out oddly on one side. Her black satin blouse gapped between her breasts, buttons threatening to pop. Her dark eyes narrowed and pinned him where he stood. “You wouldn’t tell me, anyway.”

“I don’t know where he is either, Vivian.” A wave of exhaustion swept over him. God, he couldn’t wait to get away from these people. They were like vampires, sucking the life out him, draining him until only a withered husk of who he once was, or who he might have been, remained.

“What else are you going to say? You Greys are all the same. You stick together.”

Denying he was a Grey danced on the tip of his tongue, but that left Anderson, and he didn’t want to claim that name either.

“Everyone knows what you’ve been doing, or should I say
who
?” Vivian chuckled at her own bad pun. “God, you’re disgusting.”

He didn’t argue with her. He actually agreed with his aunt, even if she was way off in her reasoning. Sleeping with Shayne wouldn’t have made him disgusting. Lying to her and sabotaging her work on the other hand… Christ, he’d dug himself a deep hole this time, and he had no idea how to climb out.

“It’s genetic, you know?” Vivian’s words broke into his thoughts. “The way you all spread yourselves around. None of you can keep it in your pants. Even your dear mother, and you’re living proof.”

Des rolled his eyes and started away from the woman’s bitter tirade. Under Heddi’s tyrannical rule, he’d lived his whole life hearing how he’d been responsible for his mother’s death, how his unfortunate conception brought about his saintly mother’s downfall. He’d hardened himself to his parents years ago. Nothing Vivian could say bothered him anymore.

“You know what?” Vivian followed. The clatter of her high heels as she scurried after him was like a small, yipping dog’s nails on the wood. “As awful as your mother and Ian were, even your thief sister, you take the cake. How can you sleep with that woman knowing what she is?”

He rounded on his aunt, a wave of fury washing through him. Not because of what she’d said about him, but what she’d said about Shayne. This so-called family of his took delight in exploiting each other’s weaknesses and fears. They lied and manipulated, used each other up for no other purpose but to destroy. Shayne had been honest and fair. She’d been kind to him. Yet in the end, he’d sided with the poison blood pumping through his veins.

He took a step forward, narrowed his eyes, and Vivian stumbled back, her skin whitening beneath the thick layer of makeup.

“Why do you stay with him, Vivian?” Des asked, his voice low and hard even to his own ears. He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Is it the money? The name? My God, look at what he’s turned you into. A miserable, bitter woman who people avoid like they do a telemarketer.”

She blinked rapidly, opened her mouth as if to respond, then snapped it shut again.

“You keep asking where the hell he is, like you’re hoping to catch him in the act, but what would you do if you did? You’re right, we all know he’s screwing around on you, but you do too. Hell, you
did
catch him two years ago, and nothing changed. Do us all a favor, either leave him or shut up.”

Des turned to head into his office and nearly collided with Kate. She stood, arms crossed and lips pursed. He waited for his cousin to let him have it for telling her mother off. Instead, Kate looked past him and spoke to Vivian.

“Wait for me in the car. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Yes, I will,” Vivian replied. With his back to her, Des couldn’t see her expression, but ice laced her stiff voice.

As he moved around Kate and into his office, she turned and followed.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Kate said, shutting the door behind her.

Des snorted, holding himself rigid against the twinge of guilt twisting low in his gut. “Yeah, you think that was bad? You should have heard the first part of the conversation. What were you doing in my office?”

“Leaving you a note.” Kate plucked a scrap of paper from his desk and crumpled it into a ball. “I wasn’t sure when you’d be back. How did the showings go, by the way? Any offers?”

He shook his head.

She snorted. “Surprise, surprise. I guess it’s a good thing you took Heddi up on her deal.”

Kate knew. The question was, how much? She didn’t elaborate, though. She’d played Heddi’s games for so long she’d adopted a few of their grandmother’s techniques. Still, using them on him was a wasted effort.

He dropped into the chair behind his desk, leaned back and met Kate’s hard gaze. When he didn’t speak, she continued. “I’ve spoken to Heddi about your assignment. She wants me to arrange the payouts. You’re to report to me with the contact names. Given my involvement with this office, we should be able to meet here fairly regularly without attracting suspicion. Does the writer already trust you enough to tell you what you need to know?”

He shook his head. “No, but she will.”

Speaking the words out loud turned his stomach. Could he actually do this? Betray her? Look her in the eye and lie? What choice did he have? He could destroy her work, or Tic could destroy her. Yeah, he could lie if it meant keeping that psycho away from her.

“Did Heddi deal with Tic?”

Kate shrugged. “I think she was planning to send Hudson to speak with him this afternoon.”

Planning and doing weren’t the same thing. Des would go see the man himself and make sure Heddi had done whatever was necessary to call him off.

“Is that it?” He wanted Kate to go and leave him alone with his self-loathing.

“I guess.” She studied him with narrowed green eyes. “I don’t know what you’re so pissy about. You’re getting what you want. You’ll be out of here and away from Heddi, with Julia in the clear until the next time she screws up and you have to fix things.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he bit out. “I’m not helping Heddi to get out of paying the money back. I’m doing this to keep a psychopath away from Shayne.” He shouldn’t have said that. He might as well have announced his intentions to Heddi directly. Still, he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth shut. He wanted someone to know his motives were not entirely self-serving. But who was he trying hardest to convince, Kate or himself?

“Why not agree to help Heddi without her writing off the loan if you’re so goddamned noble?” Kate smiled wide, her voice dripping with mockery.

“If Heddi knew I was in this to protect Shayne, she’d use it. I expect you to keep your mouth shut. After all, you owe me.”

“Why? Because I didn’t cover up Julia’s stealing?”

“No, because you didn’t keep a better eye on her in the first place.”

She threw her hands in the air. “Fine. Do what you’re supposed to do, and I’ll have no reason to mention to Heddi you have a soft spot for that woman.”

“Good. We’re done now?”

“Yes, yes, I’m going. I’ll be back in a couple of days. You better have something for me.”

After Kate left, he wasted the next forty-five minutes playing Tetris on his computer. As the hour neared six, he stood, grabbed his jacket and started for the door. Heather was shutting down her computer for the night when he strode through the lobby.

“Des,” she called, “I’m sorry about siccing Vivian on you.”

He stopped. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Those things she said… She was wrong.”

Des shook his head. “No, she wasn’t.” He would have slept with Shayne, given the chance, book or no book. God knew he wanted her. Even knowing what he had to do, he still would have loved nothing more than to strip her out of her clothes and wrap himself around her naked body. What a bastard he was. “She actually pegged me pretty damn close to the mark.”

Des walked out into the warm summer evening and found Shayne sitting on the bench outside the office. The same bench he’d been sitting on when they’d met.

With her head turned, she watched three boys about ten years old eating giant freezies and bragging on their skateboarding skills. She didn’t notice Des right away. A faint, bemused smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. The pinkish-gold glow from the sinking sun cast a warm luminance over her skin.

The three boys glided between them on their skateboards and her gaze followed until her eyes locked with his. Something in his chest clenched tightly. His hands itched to pull her up from the bench and against him. He wanted to press his mouth to hers and lose himself in another long, devouring kiss.

Great idea. And when he was done, he could destroy her career.