‘I couldn’t steal from anyone else but you, Belle. If the authorities found out, I’d be arrested.’ Cooper had said those words to her as if they justified everything, but to Annabelle they were just the last step in a long line of excuses, steps toward the destruction that she had fought to save him from. No more. Now he was on his own and could go to hell for all she cared.
Her cell phone buzzed in her bag. Pulling it out, she saw it was Cooper calling, and shoved it back in. She knew the process; he’d always done this when he’d hurt her. He would call her constantly until she forgave him, but not this time. This time she was cutting him off.
Rubbing the sharp pain in her chest that thought gave her, she pushed aside visions of the sweet little boy he had once been, and then washed her face and repaired her makeup.
Christ, she’d just wept all over Ethan Gelderman, and now he’d be wondering why. Him of all people, the man who was a walking ball of hormones and had more women in his life than most men had socks.
He’d been nice to her, she had to give him that, and being held by him had been wonderful for the brief time she’d allowed it, but then reality had returned. She didn’t want his pity, or his help. She needed to sort this out for herself, like she always did. Besides, he was one man she’d always vowed not to get to close to.
“Pull yourself together, Annabelle,” she said, drawing back her shoulders.You’ve been in bad situations before. This is just one more in a long line.
Twenty minutes later she walked into the bank and asked to speak to the manager, in the hopes that she could secure a second loan, or top up the first. Annabelle wasn’t hopeful; because of Cooper, she’d done this twice before, and last time her bank manager had said they couldn’t do it again.
An hour later, she stood looking at her car. It was old but tidy, and Jake kept it running sweetly. She would have to try to sell it today, here in Brook, because if she did it in Howling, everyone would know and ask her why.
When the bank manager had said no to more money, Annabelle had simply smiled, shaken his hand and said that she would have to live with her old car for a few years longer. She was good at hiding her feelings.
She couldn’t get hold of Zach for a loan or to see if Cooper had cleaned him out too, as he was somewhere at sea. She was on her own, but she’d been there before, and she was a survivor.But I’m sick of surviving,a small voice inside her head said, which she ruthlessly squashed.
Yes, she had friends back in Howling who would want to help her if she told them what was going on, but she didn’t want to go there. It was stupid, and Cooper had done nothing to deserve her loyalty, but Annabelle didn’t want people judging him when he came back…if he came back to Howling. There was also her pride; seeing the pity in her friends’ eyes if she told them what had happened would destroy her. She’d grown up with pity, and remembered the acid taste it had left in her mouth.
Annabelle could feel the panic building inside her as she thought furiously of what to do next. If she sold her car then she would have no independence, no way to leave Howling without relying on someone else, but if she didn’t she’d have no money until her next payday, which was still two weeks away.
“It’s a car.”
Dear God, not him.Annabelle sucked in a deep breath to compose herself before she said, “Go away, Gelderman.”
“You were looking at it as if it held the answers to eternal youth, which by the way you don’t need, since you have that wholeyounger than you arelook working already.”
“Whatever.” Annabelle refused to acknowledge that her heart beat just a little faster when the tall, handsome Texan was near. She would not let that slow drawl slide down her spine like liquid honey.
“Need help with something?”
With a loud sigh, which she knew he heard, she turned to face him. The problem was, he was just so damned fine to look at. Annabelle didn’t have to look up to many people, but he was one of them, topping her by several inches. His black hair was cut short, blue eyes framed by black lashes and brows. His face was made up of angles, a square jaw, high cheekbones, and a long nose, but it all fit together so well that most women usually stopped to admire him when he walked by. The man was a walking, talking magnet for the female gender, young or old, and to top that off, he had a smile that flashed white teeth and a slow Texan drawl which he always used at precisely the right time in precisely the right tone, especially if it was accompanied by his smooth good manners.
“No…thanks.” Annabelle added the last because he’d been nice to her this morning when she’d really needed it. Of course, along with that niceness now came the knowledge of just how solid and well-formed that large body of his really was.
She watched as he looked around them before his eyes landed on her again.
“What?” Annabelle questioned him.
“I wanted a witness to that thanks. I’m pretty sure it’s the only one you’ve ever given me.”
“Nope, there was that one time when we were at Buster’s and you handed me the sugar.”
“You got a smart mouth on you, Annabelle Smith.” He looked at her lips and she felt them tingle. What would it feel like to be kissed by the man who had touched the mouths of more women than Casanova?
“I’ve decided to sell my car, Gelderman number 5, she said using the nickname his friends in Howling had given him, when they realized he was the 5thEthan Gelderman in his family."Do you know somewhere here in Brook I can take it?” Annabelle tried to stay calm as she said the words. She was desperate, and he lived in this town, so she’d ask him, and act like it was no big deal if he couldn’t help her.
In fact it was a huge deal, because even though Annabelle loved her home, the people, the place, sometimes she just needed some space, and an hour or two driving gave her that, but even that would be denied her now because of Cooper.
“Why do you want to sell your car?”
“Because I do. Can you help or not? A simple yes or no question, Tex. Even you can manage that.”
“I can only imagine what you were like as an older sister.”
“I’m a bitch, what can I say?” Annabelle looked away from him. “Yes or no?”
