The Innocent Liar (17 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

“I
don’t know what more I can tell you, detective. I don’t know where she is or when she’ll return. It’s the holidays, and we’re never fully staffed this time of year.” Eli eyed the young detective across his desk the next day. He’d waited at the bar to see if Chris would be stupid enough to actually make good on calling the cops, and when he did, Eli left. He saw no sense in waiting around and making it easy for the cops to question him, but they wasted no time the next day finding him at the shop.

They’d knocked on Fiona’s door too, of course, and he even did them the favor of opening her door to prove she was gone. He was certain there was no chance in hell they believed him when he said he didn’t know where she was. He actually didn’t have a clue. When Mike had called him late the night before to let him know they were stopping, Eli hadn’t even asked. He didn’t want to know yet where they were, but given how long it took him to get there, they hadn’t made it much farther than a couple hundred miles or so.

“Mr. Hunter, she is your assistant, is she not? How is it that she’s simply missing, and you haven’t heard from her? The victim indicated you were present during the assault last night, so this game you’re playing is hardly convincing to me.”

Eli sneered at the little shit for half a second before he could stop himself. “I witnessed no assault last night, and I came upon Chris after the incident—”

“And yet you left the scene!”

“Chris was threatening to call the cops, and he was acting drunk and belligerent. I saw no reason to stick around to witness him acting like more of an ass than he already was, so yes, I left. I’d intended to already, so it seemed as good a time as any, and as I mentioned, I didn’t witness any assault on Chris. I did, however, witness him staggering around like a drunk, being lewd and obnoxious.”

“If she didn’t do anything wrong, why can’t we find her?”

“How the hell should I know? She’s a temp employee. It’s almost Christmas. Hell, I haven’t even gotten all her employment paperwork back yet. She hasn’t been here that long. I have no idea how long she even expects to stick around. You can’t possibly think I know where she is. But for the record, if she broke Chris’s nose, she likely did it for a reason. Did that ever occur to you? Have you seen how big that man is? She’s maybe five foot four, and she’s small.”

“Well, I couldn’t know, could I, because I can’t find her.” The detective stood then, glaring down at Eli, who pushed his luck by propping his hands on the back of his head casually.

“You have a good day, detective.” Eli stared at the man for a moment before looking away dismissively.

The moment he heard the man’s feet trampling down the steps, he picked up the phone and dialed.

“Hey, Mike. How far did you make it?”

“Cooke City. The little motel out on the highway. What’s our next move?”

“I’m going to stay here. See if I can put some pressure on Chris to let this thing go. You remember those cabins we furnished in Cooke City a couple years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to call the owner. See if he has one open. I’ll take care of the expense in cash once I’m able to get there. I’ll call you back when it’s set up.”

“Sounds good. Uh…You want to talk to her?”

He paused for a moment. He wanted to do more than talk to her. He wanted to see her, touch her, be near her, but at the moment, talking seemed difficult—impossible even. What the hell was he supposed to say? He couldn’t imagine having this conversation with her by phone. “No. I’ll see her soon enough.” He paused. Given the silence on the other end, Mike was contemplating how to take that. “Is she okay?”

“Sure. She’s a tough cookie.”

“Yes, she is. I’ll talk to you soon.”

He grabbed his coat as he bounded out the door. He had an agenda that he was hoping wouldn’t end up with his ass in jail, but if she was going to safely be able to come back here, and frankly, he could imagine her nowhere else, then he needed this mess to go away. He drove to Chris’s shitty little house, hoping like hell he’d catch him home.

When he knocked, he listened to their mean little dog yip at the door. The damn thing had bitten Eli twice in the past. He was almost dreading the fucking dog as much as Chris.

“What do ya want?” Chris was standing in the doorway, glaring at Eli through the screen door. His nose was taped up, and the inside corners of his eyes looked as bruised as Eli was guessing his nose was underneath the bandage.

“Need to talk to you.”

“What about? Told the cops everything already. Ain’t nothing else for you and me to say to one another.”

“If you’d have told the cops
everything
, you’d be in jail right now.”

“Fuck you. That bitch broke my fucking nose.”

“You deserved it, but you’re too fucking stupid to realize it.”

“I don’t need this bullshit. You can go fuck yourself.” He started closing the door in Eli’s face, but Eli wedged the toe of his shoe in the door.

“What’s Kathy think about you getting your ass kicked by a woman because you were sexually assaulting her in a bar?”

Chris stopped dead in his tracks, sniffing his nose in that cocky you-ain’t-got-shit-on-me manner.

“Oh, let me guess. You told her she was some jealous woman who came on to you, and she assaulted you when you rebuffed her advances? That shit actually work anymore?” He stared at Chris.

“My wife knows the tru—”

“No, she doesn’t. But she will. I’ll see to it. She likes to check up on you. What can I say? She doesn’t trust you. So you feed her your bullshit lies, and when she comes to see me, which she inevitably will, I’ll make sure she gets the
real
truth.”

“Fuck you.”

“Well, one of us will definitely be fucked when that happens, but it ain’t gonna be me.” Eli focused on Chris as Chris contemplated what Eli was threatening.

“If you talk to Kathy, I’m gonna—”

“You’re going to do nothing. You’re a chicken shit piece of garbage, and I should have fired your ass a long time ago. What you are going to do, if you have any interest in protecting your marriage, is explain to the cops just how drunk you were last night, and that maybe, just maybe, you didn’t remember things as clearly as you thought you did.”

“I remember that bitch clocking me.”

“Yeah? Well, how about you unremember it? Then maybe I won’t have much to say to Kathy when she comes to me.”

“I don’t work for you no more. You and Kathy ain’t got no reason to be talking.”

“She’s never needed a reason to pay me a visit before, can’t imagine your joblessness will stop her. And if she doesn’t pay me a visit, I’ll pay her one. She’s still working at that hotel, right?”

Chris said nothing for a moment as his yippy little dog snarled and nipped at the screen door, trying to get to Eli. “You stay away from her.”

“Listen, you’ve already lost your job, and you’re damn close to losing your marriage too. Why make a bad situation even worse? Might be time to cut your losses, know what I mean?”

Eli turned and started walking away then, but Chris stopped him.

“Fuck, man!”

Eli paused, turning back to him slowly. Chris was standing on the porch then, hugging his arms around his oversized frame.

“I’s drunk. I didn’t mean nothin’ by it. Kathy’d kill me for sure.”

“Fix it, and you won’t have to find out if that’s true.”

“I’m sorry, Eli.”

“Just fix it!” He yelled as Chris jumped, and then he turned and walked away, leaving the man shivering on his porch, bruised, broken, and even more of a mess than usual.

When Eli returned to the shop, it was business as usual, aside from his assistant being gone, Mike being gone, Chris being fired, and his only remaining two employees leering at him. Actually, that was fairly typical of Jake at this point, but even Aaron was studying him as though he might be crazy.

He ran up to Fiona’s loft, packing a bag of clothes for her, and when he came downstairs again, he stopped quickly. “I’m going to be gone for a few days, but Mike will be back tomorrow. You probably already know Chris is no longer employed here.” He said nothing else about it, and the guys watched him as he bounded up the stairs to his office.

He collected the four designs he was currently working on, rolling them up quickly before he headed back downstairs. “You guys can lock up whenever you’re at a good stopping point. Normal time tomorrow, and Mike’s in charge until I’m back.” He turned to leave but was interrupted.

“And Fiona?” He should have known Jake would have something to say about it.

“No, Jake. Fiona isn’t in charge yet.”

“Oh, come on. You know what I’m saying. Where the hell is she?”

“Out of town.” He kept his gaze trained coolly on Jake as Jake’s eyes drifted down to the bag of clothes he was carrying.

“And you’re going out of town. How convenient. Haven’t you done enough damage already?”

“Haven’t you?

“If you hurt her, you’ll answer to me.” Jake was trying to intimidate him.

“No, I’ll answer to her. And frankly, she scares me a hell of a lot more than you.” He left with Aaron and Jake staring after him.

He sped all the way home. He was anxious to get to her. He was also terrified to get to her. He’d fucked up. She had too, but he’d done it worse. That’s usually how it worked for him. For all of her lies, she’d never done it to be cruel or even because she wanted to lie to him. She’d made a mistake, and then he’d used it to destroy her. He didn’t deserve her, but it didn’t mean he was willing to lose her.

Chapter Thirty-Three

“I
t’s beautiful here.”

“Yes, it is.” Mike looked over at Fiona as they sat in the four season porch on the back of the cabin they were staying in. “Sam’s going to be here tomorrow.”

“I screwed up. He’s not going to be happy.”

“Oh, please, girl, he’s your father. He loves you.”

“You know about that?”

Mike looked at her again, smiling. “I know a lot of things.”

“You men and your secrets. How do you know Sam?”

“I know Sam through Eli’s stepfather, Tom. Tom and I have known one another since our days in the military. Sam was military too, though I didn’t know him at the time. Sam was career…well, you don’t need me to tell you that. Tom and I were just doing our time, but at some point, Tom and Sam worked together and became friends.”

“And Tom is Eli’s father…stepfather?”

“Yes. Since Eli was about twelve.”

“What happened to Eli’s biological father?”

Mike studied her for a moment, and his face fell. He looked sad, though she couldn’t possibly know why.

“That’s not a question I can answer for you, but it is one Eli needs to talk to you about.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t see that happening. Doesn’t much like me anymore.”

Mike actually erupted in laughter at that one. “Don’t you kid yourself, girl. That man loves you. Doesn’t quite have a clue what to do with that, but mark my word, you’re his weakness. Maybe his only one too. Course, that’s why he’s having such a hard time coping with it.”

She looked at him, unable to figure out exactly how to respond. She could only really dream of him loving her. She’d fucked up just a bit too much for him, and well, he just didn’t seem built for love. Built for sex, most definitely. Love? That was something entirely different.

“It’s bad, whatever it is in his past, isn’t it?”

Mike looked at her, and his face dropped a bit. He nodded but said nothing, and eventually, his gaze drifted back out the window to the deep snow. She could hear snowmobiles in the distance even through the double paned glass, and she was nearly shocked at just how alive this little mountain town was even in the dead of winter. She’d already seen a black bear up in the hills that morning when she’d sat down with her coffee. She’d left Mike hooting and laughing at her as she bounced around the room in a flurry of excitement. All they had in Salt Lake City was polygamy and religious zealots. This, she could get used to.

“I’m going to take off in a while, if you don’t mind. My clothes are going to walk away from me if I don’t find clean ones, and it’s time for me to get back to Beth. ’Sides, Sam’s going to be here tomorrow.”

She nodded. She was perfectly content to be here alone. Not that she didn’t like the company, but a nice long bath was what she wanted, and seeing as she had no clean clothes to put on either, she was thinking she’d wash out her clothes by hand and let them dry overnight. That meant an afternoon naked, but since she was out in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Cooke City, buried in the hills and the trees, and there was plenty of food in the fridge, she couldn’t seem to complain about a bit of nudity.

After Mike hugged her goodbye and left her alone, she quickly stoked the fire, washed her clothes out in the bathtub before wringing them out and draping them over a dining room chair by the fireplace. Then, she ran the tub full of hot water and sank into the heat, letting it envelope her all the way up to her brain. She closed her eyes, letting her body float and sway in the water with every deep breath she took. Her body would rise, pulled up by her inflated lungs as she inhaled, and then she’d sink back into the hot water as she let out her breath slowly.

It felt heavenly, and when she was sufficiently clean and pruned, she crawled out. Travel-sized toiletries were available for guests, so her teeth were clean, and she even had deodorant to put on, but she failed to find a brush to comb out her long thick hair. She gave up on finger combing and scrunched the natural waves into her best bed-head curl before roaming through the house naked to find some food.

They’d stocked up on junk food, and soon the small cabin was filled with the smell of frozen pizza cooking in the oven. She wandered around, looking at the furniture. She recognized the craftsmanship; she was looking at Eli’s work. She ran her hands over the smooth arch of a chair arm, and she admired the coffee table in the living room. She wasn’t sure how to feel about what Mike had told her. Could she actually believe the man loved her just because Mike said it was true? She trusted Mike, but what could he possibly know that she didn’t?

She eventually collapsed with a full belly on the large bed in the bedroom, and she fell asleep just as the sun was starting to disappear over the mountaintops. It was early, but she was too comfortable not to let her body drift away.

Fiona didn’t expect to be woken in the middle of the night by a warm hand traveling up the top of her thigh. She started for a moment. She was still recovering from Chris’s inappropriate groping, and in her half sleep, her body jolted as the memory of him smothering her hit her brain like a freight train. But then she heard Eli’s purring voice against her ear.

“It’s me.” He hushed her, but he didn’t pull back or stop touching her.

He wasn’t making any excuses for why he was touching her. He knew where to touch her, and how to touch her. The pressure was exquisite, the intense warmth that surged through her groin was so familiar, and she moaned as his palm traveled closer to that warmth, gliding a slow and taunting path. She needed to push him away. He deserved to be pushed away, but she’d be damned if she could get her body to comply with what her brain was screaming at her to do.

“I’m sorry.” His words were murmured against her ear as his hand retreated down toward her knee, torturing her. “I’m so sorry.” For a man who likely rarely apologized, his voice was more sincere than she imagined possible. “Please forgive me.”

She nodded her head. All she wanted was to forgive him. It didn’t really seem to matter that he’d been cruel to her. She understood well that her deception was her own brand of cruelty—not intentional like his, but it was the effect on him that mattered.

“Tell me something about yourself.” His voice was breathy as he spoke against her neck. His hand was still toying with her leg. He was naked, and he was pushing his body against her as the hard length of his erection rubbed against her hip. He climbed over her body, using his knees to part her legs wide open, and then he let his arousal entice the skin between her legs. “Anything. Please. I’m begging you.” He rolled his hips, and his cock slipped between her parted lips.

She was already wet at nothing more than the sound of his voice, and when he pushed her arms up above her head, pinning her wrists to the bed, she groaned.

“Say something. I promise, you won’t regret it.”

She whimpered. She wanted to give him every part of her, but there was so little she should. “My name—” She stopped herself from saying more.

“Yes…” He let his arousal pass between her lips, innervating her clit as it passed over the peak, and then the head found her entry. He nudged gently, barely passing into her. She cried out as he tormented her need. “Come on, baby.” His words sounded so encouraging, but his body was threatening to deny her.

“Brynn.” It came out as a whisper.

His body suddenly went rigid and still. He was panting as he pinned her to the bed mere inches from invading her body, and she swore she could hear his heart pounding in his chest. Perhaps it was her own heart beating furiously.

“Now that’s a name I can say when I’m coming inside you.” His voice was back to seductive. He whispered her name as he nudged marginally deeper. “Brynn.” The sound of her name alone sent a rush of wetness to her pussy. Her muscles tightened as her hands fought against his hold on her wrists, desperate to reach him and force him into her.

“Please.” She was wriggling and whimpering, and he was still withholding.

“Tell me you love me again.” He whispered it against her ear. His breath was as aroused and throaty as hers.

“I love you.” She groaned when he pulled back, leaving her body.

But he didn’t stay gone, and as he pushed steadily in, penetrating her to her core, he said it. “I. Love. You.” The words were as slow and as deliberate as the stroke of his cock into her body, and her mouth hung open as she felt the thick hot breadth of him sink into her.

He stilled, looking at her eyes and swallowing harshly. He pushed deeper, though she’d have thought he was as deep as she could take. She cried out at the harsh and consuming depth as the pain seared her before slowly calming and dissipating. Her body wanted him, regardless of his size, regardless of the fact he was seated so deep inside her body, and when he pulled slowly out, she instantly craved it again.

He inched in, kissing her gently as he pushed. It was dark aside from the bright moon shining in through her window. She could see him, but it was in a dark bluish haze, and he looked beautiful. His eyes, though dark and shrouded in shadow, focused on hers, and she was helpless to look away from him as he slid farther in. All she could think of was the first night he’d made love to her in the cabin in Cody. His breath was on her lips as he exhaled a quiet moan.

It was a damn good thing the headboard was wrought iron this time, and as he gripped the spindle, he pulled himself into her body. Then he started pounding and forcing his way into her, and she started whimpering. She could barely breathe as his thrusts sped. It was overwhelmingly intense as his hips pistoned between her legs. When he started moaning her name against her ear, it was all she could do to keep herself from crying. Instead she came, clenching around him as he released a deep and tortured groan. He came inside her the second her release passed, and with a final invasion, he collapsed on her, still murmuring
Brynn
against her ear. She loved the sound of her name on his voice—his masculine and desperate voice.

“I love you,” he murmured.

She held her breath as she listened to him say it again. She might have loved the sound of those words even more than her name.

“I think it’s against the law to profess loving someone when you’re still inside them. Could just be hormonal.”

He chuckled quietly. “Then I’ll wake you in an hour.”

And that he did. She was guessing it was an hour on the dot; it was just the type of man he was, and when she slowly woke he was murmuring it against her ear, over and over again. “I love you, Brynn.”

“I love you too.”

“Then don’t hurt me.”

She held his cheeks, pulling his mouth to hers.

“You have entirely too much control over me. Do you know that?”

“I know it feels that way to you.” She just wished he understood how much she didn’t need or want to take away his control.

“Trust is just hard.” He sounded so vulnerable in that moment that it almost broke her heart. She understood exactly how that felt.