Rumor Has It (An Animal Magnetism Novel) (23 page)

She stared at him. “There is something seriously wrong with you if you think my life is perfect.”

“You have a family who loves and adores you.”

“You think Donald doesn’t love you?”

He shrugged. “I thought I could come here and make it right. But I’m not his son. I’ll never be his son.”

“Griffin . . . look at who you’ve become. You’re brave and strong and giving and heroic . . . You’re the best person I know. So does it really matter who provided the one-in-a-million sperm that hit the egg?”

He stared at her for a long beat during which time she allowed herself a kernel of hope because she could see things in his gaze. Affection. Need. Even love.

But then that all vanished, and his expression went blank. The soldier’s expression. “This wasn’t my intention,” he said. “Falling for you.”

“No?” she asked. “What was your intention?”

He didn’t answer her directly. “I got carried away in the moment. You were so . . . open and warm and—”

“Oh my God. If you say sweet,” she warned.

A very small smile curved his mouth. “Hot. Smart. Irresistible.” His smile made its way to his eyes. “A pain in my ass.” He held her gaze. “You’re dangerous to me, Kate.”

He was a demolitions expert, and he thought she was dangerous. It was a bitter pill, even though she knew exactly what he meant.

She was dangerous to his heart.

Well, join the club
, she thought.

“I have to do this,” he said. “I have a flight out tomorrow.”

“So this is good-bye, then,” she said with far more calm than she felt. Stupid man . . .

“We’ll see each other,” he said.

“When? How?”

“You want a plan?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I can’t give you one. We’ll be on opposite sides of the country. But there’s e-mail,” he said. “Skype. Texts.”

As sure as she knew she loved him, she also knew she’d never be happy like this. She shook her head. Going to him, she cupped his face, kissed him softly, then headed to the door.

“Kate.”

She walked out and he didn’t stop her. Driving home on autopilot, she let herself in, slid to the floor, and let herself have a good cry. Then, still sniffling and hiccupping, she went to her computer and did it. She hit Send on her acceptance letter.

She stared at the sent e-mail until it blurred, and then she called Ryan. “Did it.”

“Did what?” he asked.

“Sent my acceptance letter.”

There was a beat of silence. “Are you crying?” he asked warily

“No.”

“Good,” he said with a huge sigh of relief.

She burst into tears.

“Ah, Christ,” he said. “What the hell happened?”

“Griffin said I was a pain in his ass.”

“You’re a pain in everyone’s ass.”

“I b—broke up with him,” she sobbed.

There was a pained silence. “Is that why you sent your letter?” he asked.

“No.” She swiped her nose on her sleeve. “I want to dissect cow brains.”

“Good answer. Do you need anything?”

“If I said yes, would you come over with ice cream?”

“No. But I’d send Holly.”

She disconnected.

H
olly showed up at Kate’s less
than an hour later. Her eyes were as red-rimmed as Kate’s, and she held a gallon of ice cream.

“He’s still my brother,” Holly said.

“Of course he is,” Kate said.

“And he’s still your . . .” She trailed off when Kate’s eyes filled and she shook her head.

“Oh, honey,” Holly whispered, reaching for her. “He’ll come around.”

Again Kate shook her head.

They watched
Friends
season ten on DVD, their go-to stress reliever. Later, after Holly was gone, Kate’s phone rang. She allowed her heart to leap into her throat, but it wasn’t Griffin. And why would it be? She’d walked away, told him to go. He wouldn’t want to cause her any further pain. He’d give her what she asked for.

Damn, stupid, shortsighted, stubborn man.

It was her dad, and he sounded a little stressed as he asked her to come over ASAP. Kate rushed over there and then came to a startled stop in the kitchen when her dad, Tommy, and Ashley popped up with a cake and yelled, “Surprise!”

Well, Ashley and Tommy yelled
surprise
, her dad yelled
congratulations
, and then he sighed. “We forgot to work on that part.” He pushed the lit cake toward Kate. “Ryan told us you’d accepted at UCSD. We’re celebrating.”

“We didn’t burn the cake,” Tommy said proudly.

“And it only took three tries,” Ashley said.

Kate blew out the candles and tried to smile, but she got all choked up and couldn’t talk.

“Uh-oh,” Tommy said, and well-versed in women, even at the tender age of seven, he hauled out a box of tissues and gingerly pushed it toward her before escaping the room.

Ashley went to the freezer for ice cream, making Kate laugh through her tears. “I’m okay, Ashley.”

“Okay,” her sister said, obviously relieved that they didn’t have to talk about it. “Well . . . I’ve gotta . . .” She gestured vaguely to the other room and then vanished.

Kate blew her nose and looked at her dad. “You want to run off, too?”

“Nah. Not much scares me.” He paused. “You’re still worried about going?”

“No.”

“You upset with us?”

“No! Never.”

He gave her a long look.

“Okay, sometimes,” she admitted, “but that’s not it.”

“Griffin?” he asked.

She went still and then pulled free.

“Bingo,” he said quietly. “You broke up?”

“We weren’t ever together, not really.”

He looked into her eyes for a long moment. “I see.”

She didn’t know how he could when she didn’t.

“I really hope you’re going away for you,” he said. “Not because you need to run away.”

“I don’t need to go anywhere. Griffin’s going. To DC for a job—” She broke off when her phone rang.

It was Kel, the local sheriff. “Dustin Anders has gone missing,” he said without preamble. “Do you have any information on where he might be?”

* * *

The incident command was set up outside of the Anders’s home and, by the time Kate drove home, the search had been organized and was under way.

Trevan grabbed Kate by the arm the second she arrived, dragged her off to the side of the controlled chaos. “He’s not with you?” he demanded.

“No. Why would he be?” She struggled to free herself, but he held tight.

“He left the house to see you,” Trevan said, low and rough in her ear. His face was hard and carved from stone, his expression dialed to pissed off. “So where the hell did he go?”

She felt a presence at her back and knew without looking that it was Griffin.

“Let go of her,” he said with dead calm.

Trevan’s eyes darkened, but he let go of Kate.

“Why was Dustin coming to see me?” Kate asked Trevan.

“He’d finished his math and wanted to show you. Wanted to make sure you knew he was trying to pass.”

Kel appeared and nodded to Trevan. “Need to ask you a few more questions.”

Trevan gave Kate one last hard look and went with Kel. When they were gone, she turned to face Grif.

He had his blank face on.

She didn’t have a blank face or anything close to it. Tension shimmered between them. Or maybe that was just her need to smack him. “I had that under control,” she said stiffly. “In fact I was just about to use one of the moves you taught me to level him flat as a pancake.” She was proud of her even voice when she really just wanted to throw herself into his arms and seek comfort. Griffin gave good comfort.

But he wasn’t hers.

“I’d have liked to see that,” he said. “Sorry I robbed you of the pleasure.”

“You’re forgiven.” She paused. “For all of it.”

“All of it?”

“For you being a complete stubborn ass and all.”

“Ah,” he said, something funny in his voice that she couldn’t quite place. Tension, certainly. Regret? Maybe . . . She tried to figure out what he might be thinking, but she’d never had much luck with that. Her stomach jittered. Nerves, unhappiness, emptiness, pick one.

So this is what it felt like to have a hot fling go bad . . .

“Adam’s got a crew in the woods and search dogs,” he said. “I’m going to join him.”

That’s when she realized he was dressed in S&R gear. Nodding, she hugged herself as he started to go. Then he paused. “This isn’t your fault,” he said.

She shook her head. “You don’t know that. Maybe he ran away because of his bad grade in spelling.”

“Don’t do that, Kate. Don’t doubt yourself. You know who you are and what a great teacher you are.”

She looked to the woods instead of into his eyes because she was afraid she might break. “Just find him.”

She’d never asked him for a single thing, and they both knew it. A muscle in his jaw bunched, but he didn’t say anything else before he left.

The street filled with people who wanted to help, including her family, Ryan, Holly and Jade, Donald Reid. Hell, half the town, it seemed. With dark coming, people organized into search groups and fanned out in every possible direction.

And then the unbelievable happened.

Tommy came up missing as well.

It was like a nightmare, a bad
Criminal Minds
episode. One minute he was there, and then the next he was gone. Kate turned in a slow circle on her street, the warm, cozy, wonderful street she’d been so happy living on, as a shiver of dread raced up her spine.

This isn’t your fault.

Grif had told her that himself, and he never said anything that wasn’t one hundred percent true.

But she still felt responsible.

Tommy had gone after Dustin himself. She knew that. No man left behind, but the thought of him out there in the woods terrified her. She called Griffin.

“I already know,” he answered. “I’m on it.”

“Your app,” she said. “You can find him that way, right?”

“Yes. Kate, I want you to trust me on this. It’s going to be okay,” he promised, sounding so calm and absolutely confident that she found herself nodding as if he could actually see her. She did trust him. Damn him. She disconnected and then nearly jumped out of her skin when someone slid an arm around her waist.

Ashley.

Her sister smiled wanly at her and handed her a steaming cup of hot chocolate. “You holding up okay?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s going to be okay,” Kate assured her. “I think Griffin and Adam know where they are.”

Ashley nodded. “Just in case, I’ve got Dad researching all the known trails that fan out from these woods.” She made Kate take the mug. “Drink it,” she said. “You’re cold and the sugar will help.”

Kate took a sip, looking at her sister over the lid of the cup.

“I know,” Ashley said. “I’m good in an emergency, right? Who knew?” She paused. “They’re going to find them. Tommy’s going to be okay.”

Kate’s throat went tight. “I know.”

“He has to be.” Ashley swallowed hard and looked away. “We’ve already lost mom. We can’t lose him, too.”

Kate set the mug down and hugged her sister hard. “We won’t.” Her phone rang from her back pocket.

“The boys are safe, and physically okay,” Adam said.

Kate let out a relieved breath and had to lock her knees. “They’re together?”

“Yep. Grif’s got them. He just called it into me and wanted me to call you right away. Kel’s calling Trevan Anders now.”

She hung up and realized Adam had said “physically okay,” which relieved a lot of her angst but certainly not all, not by a long shot. She wanted to go to them but, one, she didn’t know where they were, and two, she had Ashley standing there looking terrified. She gave her the news and then they told their dad.

Ashley let down her tough-girl guard to shed a few tears. “I do love that little freakazoid.” She clung for a moment. “Kate?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t wanna go away to college.” She said this in a rush and then sucked up another breath. “That’s your dream, not mine.”

Kate squeezed her and pulled back just enough to look into Ashley’s eyes. “You’ve been holding on to that.”

“Yeah.”

Kate smoothed Ashley’s hair back from her face. “Are you ever going to tell me what your dream is?”

“WSU Spokane.”

Washington State University was only thirty minutes from home. A good, solid school.

“I could commute,” Ashley said. “And stay at home. I love it at home. Is that weird? Wanting to stay close to Dad and Tommy? I just feel like it’s my place, you know?”

Kate swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled, then pulled Ashley in tight again. “It’s wonderful. I—” She broke off, going still. Her place. “Oh my God.” She pulled free.

“What?”

“I know where they are.” She should have known sooner. Clearly Griffin had caught on immediately. With “physically okay” echoing in her brain, she took off running around the back of her building to the trail she used for her torture slash exercise. Past the park and Larry’s bench.

Larry sat up as she passed.

“Hey,” he said. “Popcorn?”

“Later, Larry, I promise!” She kept going, up to the dam, and once there, she pulled out her phone, calling Griffin. She heard it ring in her ear and . . . nearby.

From her place, her spot. Her tree.

She disconnected and stared at Griffin, who pointed up to the tree house.

She craned her neck. “Tommy?” she called. “Dustin?”

There was no movement, but she sensed four eyes peering down at her in the dark. “I know you’re up there.”

Still nothing, and Griffin just raised a brow at her.

“No one’s mad,” she said to the silence. “Everyone just wants to see you both.” She paused. “Please don’t make me climb up there. Because I will, and you both know I hate heights. I might cry all over the both of you.”

The beat of silence was short this time, and then there was some rustling. Tommy’s face appeared, pale and anxious. “Dustin wants you to pinkie swear that he’s not in trouble. Not for this and not for before.”

“Before?” Kate asked.

“When he almost got caught by you the last time he hid up here.”

Kate went still. “The day of the wedding? When someone ran behind me in the woods? That was Dustin?”

Tommy nodded solemnly.

Kate let out a long, shuddering breath. “Dustin?” she called. “You have no idea how happy I am that it was you that day. You’re not in trouble for that. And you’re not in trouble now. Pinkie promise.”

“You have to come up here to do it,” Tommy said.

“Tommy,” Kate said. “I’m not going up there. Now get down here. I want a hug, and then I want to smack you upside the head. I am not climbing a tree.”

“Have to,” Tommy said solemnly.

Kate looked at Griffin. “Can’t you do your S&R thing?”

“I already did.”

She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the tree. “I’m in a skirt.”

“I won’t let you fall,” Griffin said.

Famous last words. Because it was far too late. She’d fallen for him a long time ago. But then again, he knew that. He knew everything.

The stubborn ass.

Saying not a single word, he crouched down and put his hands together, fingers laced. A foothold.

A stubborn ass who was still there for her when she needed him. “Are you going to pinkie swear not to look up my skirt?” she asked him.

“I don’t make promises.”

Of course not. She placed her boot in his hands and her hands on his very capable shoulders. He hoisted her with ease, holding her perfectly still, perfectly steady as she fumbled to pull herself up, knowing the whole damn while he had a view straight up her skirt. She was wearing a peach lace thong today, which was a little bit like wearing nothing at all. Was he kicking himself for what he’d given up? Wishing he’d thrown himself at her feet and declared his undying love? Planning to fling himself to his death now that he’d let her and her peach thong go?

Hopefully all of the above, she thought, and if he got a case of blue balls from the view, she wouldn’t mind that either.

As if maybe he’d read her mind, he gave her a sudden, unexpected—and entirely unnecessary—boost, and she fell into the tree house. She sat up and stared at Tommy and Dustin. Dustin’s face was streaked with dried tears.

“He hurt his ankle,” Tommy said. “Not bad, but it’s a little swollen. His dad’s going to kill him cuz he has a game tomorrow.”