Cornelius continued to be preoccupied with the cross. “I only know her as the unseen one.”
Lucas’s frown turned into a full-blown predatory scowl. “Describe her.”
“I can’t, Lucas, she is unseen. Thank you for visiting me. I hope to see you again soon,” he said softly, and lay down on his cot, curling up and closing his eyes.
“Is there anything you need?” Stormy asked, feeling sorry for the younger man. He seemed so lost.
“A Bible, please.”
She looked up at Lucas, who drew a hand over his jaw and shrugged. “I’ll ask Mama, she’s the only one likely to have one,” he said and rose up to accompany Stormy out of the building.
“What’s going on here, Lucas?” she asked, once the door was shut and locked.
“Trying to figure it out, darlin’, trying to figure it out,” he muttered.
She tried to read his expression, but his face was emotionless, his voice flat.
That first night at the bar, even at the boutique, she’d seen him seamlessly morph from seductive and jovial to flat and threatening with little warning. She’d seen the same thing with Lynx at Red’s. Lucas’s tendency to turn his emotions on and off like a faucet reminded her of Chad, and it didn’t bode well for building a trusting relationship. Unlike with Chad, she reminded herself, she wasn’t trying to build a relationship with Lucas; their time together was finite which meant she didn’t have to ignore her concerns about a possibly innocent man being unfairly imprisoned.
“Why is Cornelius being detained in there? If he’s done something wrong, shouldn’t you all call the police?”
“Nope,” he said, reaching for her hand and steering her back toward the bar. “On the mountain we have our own system of justice. Police literally have no jurisdiction here and that’s the truth. Until we know why Cornelius is staking out our home, holding him ain’t illegal, it’s a matter of life-and-death.”
“Yes, but how could he possibly be a threat? I mean, he’s a freaking sai–”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “Come on, darlin’ let’s do a little of our own freaking…go find a sturdy tree and see if we can address more burning issues.”
“Man, didn’t I tell you to go to the clinic to get that condition checked out?” Stormy snapped.
Lucas’s bark of laughter was shocking in its suddenness and intensity. It filled her with the most exquisite feeling. If she wasn’t careful, she’d become obsessed with trying to keep him laughing. “And you need to go put some clothes on,” she groused, annoyed by how easily he was slipping into her affections.
His arm tightened around her waist and he lifted her, walking toward the side of Mama’s House, where he undoubtedly intended tofreakher against the side of the building.
At that moment, Mama and Terry emerged from the building, their somber gazes zeroing in on them, killing Stormy’s arousal and stopping Lucas where he stood. Sabrina and her boyfriend Zeus lingered in the door’s opening, looking as curious as she felt.
“What’s happened now?” Lucas asked, lowering her.
“Where’s your phone, son?” Terry asked, stepping down onto the graveled lot.
“My phone, what does my—?”
“It’s in the truck, both our phones are in the truck,” Stormy said. Lucas had barely put the truck in park when he’d made the mad dash to get inside Mama’s House for breakfast.
“There a reason you askin’, Terry?” Lucas asked.
“Merlee. She’s been calling you,” Mama said as she walked to stand beside Terry. “Seems there’s a problem out at your grandparents’ farmhouse.”
Lucas shot toward the truck with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible with his size and the instability of the ground, but he was inside the truck well before Stormy wondered who Merlee was. She definitely meant more to him than the four women he’d called during their drive, informing them that he was enacting his “no-contact” clause.
Stormy had a feeling he had no such clause with this Merlee woman. Was she the one who got away, the one he loved but couldn’t have, a childhood crush who possessed his heart and made all others settle for having contracted bits of his time and body?
Stop, she commanded herself as she watched Lucas rifle through the truck until he found his mobile. He walked back toward Terry and Mama as he made the call.
“Merlee darlin’, what’s going on?” he asked, putting the phone on speaker as he motioned for Stormy.
She hesitated to join the small group, glanced over her shoulder at the concrete building. It wasn’t her nature to shy away from danger but she was cautious; protecting others was almost biologically driven, even when she failed.
Would she be failing Cornelius if she left him here unprotected?
