He started on the hair.If he’d had his pens with him, he could have added some color to it.Miss Murray had always said his eye for color was the artistic equivalent of being pitch perfect.It was why he had been accepted into the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.Not that he ever made it to Illinois.He shook the thought away.He definitely did not need to be thinking about that right now.
The dirty straw color and uneven curls took some time to capture the subtleties every shade of charcoal would allow.
“Done.”He pushed the drawing toward Drea.Her opinion mattered.“What do you think?”
Drea pulled the paper closer, turning it as she dragged it across the counter.Her eyes widened, pupils flared in surprise.“Oh my God, Brody.It looks just like him.”She studied the image.“You’re incredible.”
Carter took the paper out of her hands.“Thanks for this.Saves everyone the effort.”He put his cup down on the counter with a bang but delivered a forced smile.Drea jump at the sound.Perhaps he could piss Carter off and do something to ease the tension wringing Drea to pieces.
Cujo laughed.
“Something funny, Mr.Matthews?”
“Nah.Nothing at all,Detective,” he said then turned to Drea.“I was thinking… all that time I had you in the closet and never got a feel of…”
“Cujo,” Drea threw the dishcloth she was using to clean the counter at him.But she laughed.Briefly.And after the night they’d had, it was the sweetest fucking sound.
***
Drea breathed a sigh of relief.Her shift was over, the sun was shining, and she was finally outside.Every time she’d walked past the damn closet, she’d thought of the previous evening and her pulse had raced.José encouraged her leave early, seeing straight through her attempts to act normal.Her coworkers offered their support while fishing for additional details she wasn’t ready or able to share.
Cujo pulled up outside the café at the time they agreed.She opened the truck door and handed him the two coffees she’d brought, and then climbed inside before fastening her seatbelt.
“Thanks for the coffee.How’d you sleep?”Cujo steered his truck away from José’s.
“Not the greatest.You?”Drea took a sip of coffee from her travel mug.
“Same.Sleeping with a baseball bat is one thing.Waking up with one is altogether different,” he said.
“Not a spooner?”she asked.
“It was when it kissed my neck, shit got real.”
Drea’s laughter broke free.“There’s a visual I don’t need.”
“Are you okay?We didn’t get much chance to talk once the cops got there.”
Drea didn’t like it when Cujo got serious, because she liked serious Cujo.Effed up logic all round, but when he was human and nice, not a jerk, he was… something she shouldn’t be thinking about.
“You got some protection at home?Good locks?A gun?Sounded like he knew where you lived.”
Drea shuddered at the thought of a gun.Yesterday was the closest she ever wanted to come to one.Instead, she’d triple checked all the locks and kept a kitchen knife handy.
“He took my driver’s license.He knew all that other stuff about me.I’d guess he pretty much knows my shoe size by now.”She chewed down the side of her thumbnail.
“Drea?I can help you get some better security stuff.Or Trent can when he gets back, but I don’t think you should wait that long.”
She hated pity, even when it was done under the guise of friendship.
“Or,” he said before she had time to answer, “you could come stay with me, or I could come stay over at your mom’s.At least until some of the heat dies down.”
“Honestly, I’m fine.”Even though she wasn’t.Even though her insides still felt like they’d been drawn across a rack and ironed.She couldn’t afford any better security.The side of her thumbnail was raw.Biting it when stressed was a childhood bad habit.
“Yeah, and I’m LeBron James,” he replied.“Not wanting to answer is one thing.Lying to me is something different.”
Cujo’s words stung, but putting on her game face had been her coping strategy for the last ten years.Pretending everything was fine was as natural to her as breathing.
Snake’s words replayed through her head all night.Dreams of a woman running, the back alley behind the café cast in darkness, a man with a gun, the bullet hitting the woman, only for her to turn into Cujo.Her brain was a confused mess.
