Chapter 9
Prompt as usual, Jack rang the doorbell at exactly six-thirty. She threw open the door. “Come in, I just need to finish something I forgot about,” she said, running back into her office.
She had nothing to do on her computer, but a minute to compose herself was in order. Jack looked good. Too good. Too stylish.
He was wearing jeans and a navy polo shirt with a thin gray stripe across the chest, accentuating his broad muscular chest. She took another breath of scarce air before going back to him. Leaving him in the living room wasn’t something she would normally do, but it wasn’t like Jack hadn’t lived with them for six months.
“Sorry about that,” she said. “You look different, more suave.” Growling internally, she wanted to kick herself for telling him that. It might have been socially acceptable, but she didn’t want him to think she’d noticed.
“Thanks. You’re hot tonight. I like the hair. It’s different than the ponytail you usually wear.”
She smiled at him, a genuine smile that felt too big, too happy. “I’ll save the ponytail for when I know you better.”
He took a step closer to her so he was only a foot from her. “You know me well enough to be yourself. That’s all I want,” he said, leaning in for a kiss.
It was coming, but she didn’t move, couldn’t. She wanted to feel the connection with someone. A person who wasn’t embroiled in too much drama. But, at the last second, she turned her head. The kiss landed on her cheek. She felt Jack stiffen and pull away. She gave him a quick smile.
“Let’s go,” he said, putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her to the door.
She remembered to grab her purse and lock the door before they left. Jack drove with confidence, taking the roads a bit too fast. She watched him with a sideways glance. With the windows closed against the chilly night air, she was enveloped in his spicy scent, so different from Colin’s muskiness.
He turned a corner and an oncoming car swung into their lane. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed, swerving the car into the soft shoulder. He jammed on the brakes before turning to catch a description of the car. Cop types were all the same. Descriptions and plate numbers. “That A-hole almost hit us. He was probably drunk. I didn’t get the plate number because he was going too fast around that corner. Damn.”
“We’re okay,” Regan said, her heart still pounding in her chest. She told herself it was a random act of careless driving, nothing more. Mentioning anything about the case or the guy following her to Jack wasn’t necessary, she concluded. For a night, she didn’t want to think about any of that. Jack was right. It was probably some drunk guy on his way home.
“You sure you’re okay? That was too close for comfort.”
Regan gave a light chuckle. “I’m great. Let’s forget about it.” She added forced brightness into her voice. “Really. I’m starving, let’s eat.”
He smiled back at her. “You got it.”
Regan was enjoying her dinner. Jack was easy to get along with and they had a bunch of things in common, including the PD. They talked about people from work, careful to avoid discussing the person they had most in common.
When dessert came, they both looked from one another to the waitress, a teenager, who was probably home from college. “We didn’t order dessert,” they said at the same time, then laughed.
“I know,” she said, sounding bored. “That couple over there sent it over to you.”
Regan got a sick feeling in her stomach even before she turned around. Jack waved, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes. She studied his face.
He gave a slight nod. “You can look,” he said. “It’s him.”
Turning around like she was in slow motion, she finally made eye contact with Colin. She flashed him a smile. Was he following her now? Then she saw the blonde bimbo he was with. Looking closer, she recognized Rebecca Holmes from the department. She had gotten her talons into Regan’s man.
Jack cleared his throat behind her. “I didn’t know they were coming here,” he said, his hand raised in a scout salute.
“How? Who? What?”
“I had an idea that they were going to be out tonight, but I didn’t think he’d bring her here. You know, he’s more of a bar guy. Pub food is high on his list of necessities.”
“Did you know they were going on a date?” she asked, hurt. Not sure if she was upset at Jack for not telling her or Colin for going out with the first whore who looked twice at him. Rebecca was young, probably just out of high school. Colin was pushing thirty.
“I saw them talking about it in the hallway today. I guess it was supposed to be some casual thing, but that doesn’t look casual to me.”
Regan took a deep steadying breath. “I think we should get out of here. I don’t care about his dessert.”
Jack put cash on the table and took her hand as they left the restaurant. Regan couldn’t look back at Colin. She concentrated on making it to the door with Jack’s comforting presence next to her.
“Regan,” Colin said, grabbing her sleeve.
“Let go of my arm,” she gritted from between clenched teeth, not looking up at him.
Jack put a hand on Colin’s chest. “Not now, man.”
“This has nothing to do with you, buddy,” Colin said, adding sarcasm to the final word.
Regan tried to keep moving away from them, but Colin still had a hold on her.
“It’s not how it looks,” he said.
She spun on him, nose to nose. “This is exactly what it looks like,” she said. “Jack and I are on a date and you are ruining it. So, run back to your little hootchie and enjoy your night, Colin.” This time when she walked away, Colin’s hand fell to his side. She felt his eyes bore into her back, but she stood tall, her head up, back straight, and she forced herself to not look back.
“That sucked,” Jack said when they were out of the building.
“Ya think?” Regan answered, storming down the street to where he’d parked the car. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and wrapped her holder she had in her pocket around the thick hair.
“A ponytail?”
“Please, Jack. I need a minute to . . . I don’t know, I just need a minute.” She shook her hands and strode as fast as she could to expend some of her excess energy.
Jack was a nice guy, but he wasn’t Colin. He didn’t give her that all-consuming need to be with him. Jack was good company, like a comfy pair of slippers. She heaved one final sigh and returned to Jack.
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t ready to see him on a date.”
“I understand.” He clasped her hand again and they went back to his car.
“I don’t want to get serious about anyone. You understand that, right?” she asked into the dark night.
“I hear you. I’ve waited this long, I guess I can hold out longer. Patience is my middle name.” He smiled at her and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“I’ve seen that woman around, but I don’t know much about her.”
Jack sighed. “Rebecca Holmes. She’s a nice girl. Young, but cheery. He’ll have fun with her.”
That was the last thing Regan wanted to hear right now. Bile rose in her throat. Colin was not supposed to have fun with anyone else. And what kind of fun were they talking about? She considered running back to explain to Colin that he wasn’t allowed to have that kind of “fun”, but he wouldn’t have appreciated that.
“Don’t worry about it, Regan.”
“Right. Sure. I think I’d better get home,” she said as they arrived at his car, just in case he decided they should have some “fun” too.
He drove to her house without saying anything. It wasn’t until he was parked in her driveway and turned toward her that he spoke. “I like you, Regan, and I hope what I said earlier didn’t freak you out, but I am patient and would enjoy just being friends who go out. You know you need a friend right now. I’m offering my services.”
Regan reached out to place her hand on his thigh. “I appreciate that. I’ll keep you in mind after I’ve interviewed all the candidates.” She let her fake composure slip and she grinned. “You’ve always been a good friend to both of us, Colin and me. I don’t want to come between you two, though. Are you sure he’s okay with this?”
“You’re a grown up. You get to make your own decisions. Just because Colin and I are friends and co-workers doesn’t mean he gets to dictate to me. As long as you and I are okay with it, too bad for him.”
He leaned in to kiss her. She was getting good spotting the signs that he was moving in for some lip action. His eyebrows rose in question before he closed the distance without waiting for an answer.
She tilted her head to the side so that when his lips met her, he was just to the left of her mouth. She pulled back, her hand reaching for the door handle. “Good night, Jack. Thanks for dinner.” She got out of the car and headed for the door. Someone came around the side of the house, scaring the be-jeezus out of her. Her scream pierced the night air.
Jack was at her side, gun drawn before she stopped screaming.
“Who the hell are you?” Jack asked in his demanding cop voice.
“I’m Dirk. Security,” he added, pointing to his uniform and badge.
Jack glanced at her.
She nodded.
He lowered his weapon, then turned back to her. “You didn’t tell me you hired security. Has there been any trouble?”
She shook her head. “My brother hired Dirk to watch out for me. I didn’t know he was here. Where is your car?” she asked Dirk.
“I parked it down the street, hoping that someone might come by if they thought you were alone, then I could get them.”
Regan rolled her eyes in Jack’s direction.
“I don’t know who you’re protecting Regan from, but you might want to leave the real police work to the pros.”
“Sure thing,” he said, his eyes not leaving Jack’s gun.
“I’ll be going in now,” she said to the men.
She smiled as they watched her unlock the house and go inside. They were cute to be worried about her walking twenty feet into her own house. She flipped on the light and saw a letter that had been slipped under her front door. Picking it up, her heart thumped and her mind started racing.
She tripped into the living room, fell on the couch, the letter clutched in her hands. Where had the letter come from? And who had written it? She opened the blue envelope and pulled out the lined paper.
Regan,
We’ve been observing you and the activity at your house with interest. Be careful. You never know who’s watching and waiting for you.
It wasn’t signed. A shiver ran through her body from the top of her head to her baby toes. Calling Dirk and Jack into the house would be the best thing to do at that moment, but she couldn’t. Didn’t want to. She wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until it was safe for Colin to come rescue her.
Someone knocked on the door. She jumped. “Who is it?”
“It’s Dirk.”
“Just a minute.” She slipped the letter between the pages of a magazine on the coffee table and went to the door.
Unlocking the door, she greeted her rent-a-cop through a crack between the door and casing.
“I just wanted to let you know that I was going to go get my car. I’ll be right back. I didn’t want you to wonder where I was.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Are you okay? You look very pale.”
Regan was surprised at Dirk’s observation. He didn’t seem the type to notice anything. Maybe he did have a future in police work.
“I’m fine. Just tired,” she said, closing the door before he could ask her anything else.
She crashed back on to the couch. This was not how she saw her life going. She wanted her biggest worry to be about dinner times and what type of lingerie she should wear to bed. She didn’t want to worry about trials, security guards, and freaky letters under her door. She needed to have Colin at home in her bed. Having this break, spending time with Jack, only made her realize how much she loved Colin.
~ ~ ~
Colin slammed the door to Jack’s house. This was not working out, at all. From the divorce to living with Jack and going out with women from the station. He hit his head with the palm of his hand and fell into the couch.
“Jack, you here?”
There was no answer and part of him was happy with that. It was good to be alone, but the other half was freaking out that Jack was over at Regan’s house with her, cuddled up on her couch, touching her, kissing her. The more he visualized what could be happening, the more furious he became. He started pacing the floor. His feet slapped the wood in the living room to the linoleum in the kitchen, back to the wood.
He had worked for three years to convince Regan to love him, to marry him. Three years. He was the one who talked her into buying the house she was living in. Him, not Jack.
His cell phone rang as he was headed back into the kitchen. “Rourke,” he barked into the phone.
“Colin?”
He sighed and stopped with one foot on the wood and one on the linoleum. “Regan.” All of his senses went on high alert.
“Hi. I was so jealous when I saw you tonight. I needed to tell you that I wanted to claw that woman’s eyes out.”
He leaned his back against the arch between the two rooms and slid to the floor, his legs bent, his head back. Her words warmed his heart and made his body react. It had been too long since he’d seen her, held her, satiated his body in hers.
“Why are we doing this?” he asked, his eyes closed so he could imagine her sitting on their bed waiting for him.
“We have to, Colin. I want us to have a future, to have children, and we can’t do that if we don’t have our house, our savings . . . you know what I mean?”
“I know it was tough for you not to have a home to come to after your parents died. I know we’ve talked about having a family of our own, but these things happen. My job isn’t going to change just because I get sued. We could live in a shack in the middle of the woods and I would be content just to be with you.”
He heard soft muffles through the phone and his heart tightened and twisted in his chest. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. I know how hard this is.”
“For you it’s court, lawyers, and the guys at work ribbing you, but for me,” she choked back a sob. “For me, it’s rent-a-cops, stalkers, seeing you with other women, and creepy letters.”
He paused to take in what she’d said. “Creepy letters? What are you talking about?”
“Never mind,” she said. “I’ve got to go.”
“When will I see you again?” he asked.
“I guess at work.” She hung up without saying goodbye.
His phone went dark. “Shit.” Keeping himself from driving over there was close to impossible. The door opened and he whipped his head around.
“You okay, man?” Jack asked, approaching him.
“Not really. I want this trial to be over, so I can go back to my life.”
Jack stepped over him and went to the fridge, pulled out a beer, and flipped the top. “What do you mean, go back? I thought you were moving forward with Rebecca. You’re divorced so there’s no going back to Regan.”
Colin hated hearing the words. He felt his blood begin to simmer. He was going back to Regan. He wondered if he should tell Jack the truth so he’d back off from Regan. It would help his blood pressure not to imagine Jack and Regan together all the time, or run into them in town.
He knew how important this fake divorce was to Regan and her view of their future, so he kept his mouth shut. Having Jack take care of her created an air of legitimacy on their relationship. Just like people seeing him take Rebecca out tonight made them think that he was moving on after Regan.
“You’re right. Did you see Rebecca tonight? I didn’t know she had all that hair.”
“You get some?”
Colin tsked. “Did you?”
Jack sat on the couch and looked back toward him. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this stuff.”
“You’ve been my best friend for years, since we were roommates at the academy.” Colin pushed against the wall, climbing up until he was standing. He came over to stand in front of Jack, knowing that standing in front of his host, while he was still sitting was seen as a power play. “I’m glad you’re being a friend to Regan, taking her out to dinner, making her smile, but if you ever—I mean ever—cross the line with her, we are done.” He punctuated each word to make his point. His breathing was under control, his heart rate had slowed, but he made sure that the way he looked at his friend left no doubt he was serious.
Jack didn’t say a word, only took another swig of his beer.