Stitched Up Heart (Combat Hearts Book 1) (13 page)

Gran interrupted her thoughts. “What’s your new young man do?”

“He runs a non-profit for veterans. He organizes hunting, fishing, and camping trips.”

“Did you meet through work?”

“Kind of. One of my patients mentioned Jase’s company and I went by to see if I could get some information for referrals.” It was partly true, anyway.

“That’s lovely. You’re both passionate about helping others. When are you seeing him again?”

“Tonight. I actually need to run by the grocery store. I’m cooking him dinner at his house and I’m not sure what all he has.”

“Well don’t let me keep you, my dear. I’m sure that will be much more interesting than spending time at the old folks’ home,” Gran said as she stood.

“Don’t be silly, Gran. You know I love coming to visit.”

“I know, dear, but if I were you, I’d rather spend time with a stud muffin than my grandmother.”

Bree laughed. “Gran, no one says ‘stud muffin’ anymore.”

“What do they say?”

Probably not appropriate to say she and Denise had called him a walking orgasm. “I’m not sure. I just know it’s not ‘stud muffin’.”

“Well, whatever it is, go spend time with him.”

Gran sent Bree off with a kiss and hug and waved as she drove away. Bree pulled out her phone as she walked into the grocery store. She had left it in the car while she was at the retirement community. Twenty-three texts from Chad.

“Ugh. Take a hint.” She selected them all and hit the delete button. She received three more texts by the time she was finished shopping. Disgusted, she turned off her phone and threw it in her purse.

J
ase woke slowly, his hand already stroking his morning hard-on. Why stroke himself when he had a lush, willing woman in bed who could do it for him? He smiled to himself and reached for Bree. He eyes snapped open, blinking against the early morning light, when he found the bed empty. He glanced toward the bathroom - the light was off and there were no sounds coming that might indicate Bree was in there.

“Son of a bitch!” He scrambled out of bed, searching for his jeans and shirt he had discarded the night before. He glanced around the floor, looking for his shirt. He yanked open a drawer and grabbed a new one out of the dresser. He couldn’t believe she had taken off again. What the hell? He thought things were going well.

When she’d come back to his house yesterday, he’d been out in the yard playing fetch with Charlie. He’d been Jase’s shadow all day and his company actually made the day easier. It’d been nice having someone to talk to, even if it was just a dog.

Bree had made stuffed peppers and salad for dinner. He couldn’t even remember the last time someone had cooked for him - other than his mom on holidays. It was nice. Easy. They had relaxed on the hammock after dinner for a while before going to bed. The sex was phenomenal. Not so rushed, but Bree was still the hottest thing he could remember. She was so responsive and eager. Unselfconscious and, shit, when she came around his cock it was like a vice grip.

He turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and stopped short as he came into the kitchen. Bree stood at the stove in his shirt - the one he couldn’t find. The smell of sautéed onions and mushrooms mixed with bacon and coffee filled the room, while the dogs sat perfectly still by her side, watching her every move.

She glanced over her shoulder, the smile she had for him fading as she caught sight of his thunderous look.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“You weren’t in bed.” His heart was pounding.

“I couldn’t sleep. And I was hungry, so I figured I’d come down and make breakfast. I was going to bring it up to you.”

Jase stalked toward her, backing her into the counter as she turned to face him fully. He leaned close, his mouth barely brushing hers.

“Wake me up if you can’t sleep. Then we’ll come downstairs.”

“You were sound asleep,” she told him. “I tried waking you up and you didn’t budge.”

“Get creative next time. I guarantee I’ll wake up with the right incentive.”

Bree’s eyes flashed in what he could only describe as a devilish look.

Jase grinned and swept an arm around her waist, pulling her close while avoiding the spatula she held. He kissed her deep, the taste of coffee she’d had still on her tongue. Shit. If he could get enough caffeine from kissing her, he’d give up drinking it altogether.

She pulled back slightly, her gaze on his mouth. “The eggs are gonna burn,” she whispered.

“I have more eggs.” His tongue darted out to lick her full bottom lip.

She pulled her head back again. “You don’t have more bacon and if that burns, I’m going to be upset.”

Jase relaxed his tight hold and straightened to his full height. “Only because it’s bacon.” He gave her a quick kiss before releasing her to get a coffee mug. He turned in time to catch sight of her lace panties as she bent to remove a cookie sheet from the oven.

Fuck the bacon, he thought as he put the empty mug on the counter. A knock at the kitchen door waylaid his plans to drag her back upstairs. He walked over and unlocked the deadbolt and let his brother in.

“Bad timing, man,” he said with a growl.

“Seems like perfect timing to me. Ooh, bacon.” Tim snagged a piece off the cookie sheet on the stove before stepping fully into the kitchen and grabbing the empty mug off the counter. “You using this?” He didn’t wait for Jase to answer before filling it.

“You here for a reason?” Jase asked.

Tim turned around and leaned against the counter, his face serious. “Unfortunately, yes. I actually need to talk to Bree.”

“About the break-in?” she asked. “On a Sunday morning?”

“We’re not actually sure. I need to you look at a picture for me.” Tim pulled his phone from his pocket.

“O…kay.” Bree turned off the stove and moved the omelets she had finished folding onto plates.

Tim pulled up a photo of a woman and passed his phone to Bree. “Do you recognize her?”

“Yeah, I do,” Bree said. Jase heard the surprise in her voice. “She used to be a neighbor. One house down, on the other side of the street. She and her husband moved four or five months ago. Sold their house to a younger couple with two kids. Her name was…shoot, it begins with a ‘J’, but it’s escaping me right now.” She handed Tim back his phone. “Why, what happened?”

“Her name was Jaelynn and she’s dead,” he said solemnly.

“Oh no! Was she in an accident?” Bree asked.

“She was killed.”

“What does this have to do with Bree, other than this woman used to be her neighbor?” Jase asked.

“I need to show you something else.” Tim swiped across the screen of his phone. “A letter was found with the body. It was addressed to Dr. Brianna Marks. We thought at first it was from the victim, but it doesn’t appear to be from her.” He hesitated a moment before handing his phone back to Bree.

She kept her eyes on him as she took the phone. Jase wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him. Polly whined low and moved to Bree’s other side, leaning against her leg. She finally looked down at the screen.

Written in bold, block print letters on a standard sheet of white paper was: HE SHOULDN’T HAVE CHEATED. YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER.

“I don’t understand.” Bree handed Tim back his phone.

“You said you discovered your ex-fiance cheating on you and that was the reason you broke it off,” Tim said.

“Yes.”

“Was that…? Do you know…?” He stumbled on the question.

“Was that the only time he fucked around on me?” Bree finished.

“Yeah.”

Bree took a deep breath and let it out. “Honestly, I had my suspicions. Especially about Jaelynn. She’d always come over asking if Chad could help her with something around the house when her husband was out of town. Or, she’d invite us over for lunch or drinks when I had something going on, and Chad would go by himself. I asked him about it a couple times and he always brushed it off. Said she and her husband were having problems and she just needed a sympathetic ear. It seemed kind of sudden when they moved away.”

“Have you heard from your ex lately?” Tim asked.

“He’s been texting me several times a day, but I’ve just been deleting them.”

“Do you have your phone handy? Can you see if he’s tried to contact you in the last few hours?”

Bree shrugged. “Sure, it’s upstairs. I’ll go get it.” She placed her hand on Jase’s arm as she moved out of his hold. Polly followed her, keeping close to Bree’s side as she made her way around the corner.

“How serious is this?” Jase asked in a low voice.

“We aren’t sure,” Tim said.

“What do you mean, you aren’t sure?” Jase’s voice rose.

Tim glanced toward the hall leading to the stairs. “The note was found beside the body. She had been stabbed several times. She had rope marks on her wrists and, best we can tell, she had been tied to a rocking chair in her living room.”

“What’s the threat to Bree?” Jase asked, cutting to the chase.

“Man, I wish I could tell you she wasn’t in danger, but we really don’t know. We don’t know who did this or why. We’re pretty sure it’s not the ex, but we also don’t know why the letter was addressed to Bree. We’ve got the department shrink looking at it to get his take on it.”

Jase wanted to ask more questions but stopped when he heard Polly’s claws clicking on the wood as she followed Bree down the stairs. Thank fuck, she had put on some shorts.

Her phone pinged incessantly in her hand.

“I had it turned off, so all the text messages are coming in all at once,” she explained.

“How many do you have so far?” Jase asked.

“Far as I can tell, I have three from Denise, two from a couple of out-of-town friends, and eighteen so far from Chad.” She pursed her lips in annoyance as she waited for her phone to stop pinging.

“What do they say?” Jase crossed his arms and leaned his hips back against the counter.

“Same thing they’ve said for the last week. ‘I miss you.’ ‘I messed up.’ ‘Give us another chance.’ Blah, blah, blah.” Her phone stopped pinging.

“You haven’t responded back at all?” Tim asked.

“No. You’d think he’d have gotten the hint by now. I really don’t want to have to change my number. I’ve had it for almost ten years.”

“When was the last time he texted you or tried to call?” Tim asked.

Bree scrolled through the display. “Um, this morning around—”
ping
“—right now.” She glanced up from her phone at Tim. “Do you want me to call him?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. See where he is.”

Bree hit the button on her phone to call Chad and switched to speaker phone so Tim and Jase could hear. It rang once before Chad answered. “Bree, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

Bree cut him off. “What do you want, Chad?”

“I just want to see you. If I can just explain, I know we can work this out.”

Bree rolled her eyes and hit the mute button on her phone. “Do you want me to agree to meet him?” she asked Tim.

“No,” Jase said, at the same time Tim said, “Yes.”

Tim looked at Jase. “He may have information we can use.”

Bree glanced at Jase as she put the phone back on speakerphone. “Meet me at my house in an hour. We can talk there.”

“I can be there in fifteen minutes. I’ll fix you french toast and we can talk over breakfast.”

Bree rolled her eyes again. “I’m not there, Chad. And I don’t like french toast.”

Jase smiled at her irritable tone and stared at his feet. She’d obviously told her asshole ex that a few times.

“Oh, well, I can let myself in and I’ll make you some eggs or something,” Chad said.

Bree mouthed
locks
. Jase nodded.

“You can’t. I had the locks changed.”

“Why did you do that?”

“You’re kidding, right? Look, I need to go. Meet me there in an hour. We’ll talk then and you can get the rest of your stuff.” She hung up without saying goodbye.

“How long were you with that guy?” Tim asked.

“Too long,” Bree said.

She picked up one of the plates, taking a bite of omelet before continuing. “I’m going to take a shower. He’ll probably be there in about fifteen minutes and wait for me to show up. Denise is meeting me at ten to help me clean up my house anyway.”

Jase raised an eyebrow. “When were you going to tell me you were meeting Denise?”

“Probably around the time we ate breakfast.” She took another bite of eggs without breaking eye contact.

Tim came away from the counter and drained the last of his coffee. “As interesting as I think this conversation is going to get, I’m going to head out. I’ll meet you at your house.” He snagged another piece of bacon on his way out the door.

“I’m going with you.” Jase reached around her to pick up his plate.

“I figured as much. I’ll be in the shower when you’re done eating.” Bree placed her plate in the sink and turned on her toes. She pulled Jase’s shirt over her head as she rounded the corner, leaving him with a glimpse of the elegant line of her back.

Jase wolfed down the rest of his omelet and threw his plate in the sink.