Impact (Suncoast Society #32)(49)

Tilly closed her eyes and fought the urge to cry.

“You’re getting tough love from me because I damn well know you’d be giving it to me if our positions were reversed. Sofia was pretty damned eager to give up that baby to you guys. Altruistically it’s wonderful to believe it’s because she wanted to do the right thing. Realistically, her past would lead me to think she wanted the baby safely out of her way so she could get on with living. No guilt, because she’d handed her off to someone she suspected could take care of her. Or what if it was Monroe’s plan all along to try to get in touch with her cousin and finger him for money? He never counted on you. Maybe you farked their plans by stepping in. Assholes like Monroe think they can walk all over women and get away with it without burning for it later.”

Something about Loren’s tone made Tilly look at her.

The woman wore a dark, hard expression that she’d never seen on her friend’s face before.

“Katie didn’t lose her mother, Tilly, because you are her mother. Cris and Landry are her dads. This way, you can lie to Katie and tell her that her mom was a good person who got mixed up with bad people. She’ll never have to know the truth, that her mom was little more than a dirtbag.”

“Okay,” Tilly quietly said. “I get it.”

“Do you? Do you really? Because my Tilly wouldn’t have let this get under her skin. My Tilly would be fighting mad right now and not feeling sorry for herself. My Tilly damn sure wouldn’t accept blame that wasn’t hers to carry. Not your circus, not your monkeys. Isn’t that one of your mantras?”

Tilly took a deep breath and nodded.

“Then nut up, baby. The ride’s going to get bumpy. I’m going to be here for you all the way. You can lean on me, as much and as long as you need to, but you’ve got to understand I am going to call bullshit where I see it. I know you wouldn’t want me to ignore it, because you wouldn’t ignore it. Right?”

“Right.” Tilly took another deep breath and pointed. “There’s our parking lot, right there.”

Loren turned in and headed for Tilly’s reserved space. Their office was located in a three-story building with about fifteen other tenants. While their parking lot was marked for tenants and clients only and had posted no trespassing signs, there were no actual barriers to keep someone out who wanted to walk right in. When Tilly got out, she was startled to find a camera suddenly shoved in her face, the shutter sound of burst-shots firing off in rapid succession.

“Tilly Cardinal. How’d you wreck your car? Why were you named in a custody lawsuit filed last week?”

Before she could take a swing at the guy, Loren appeared there, between her and Archie Lounds, shoving the diaper bag and laptop case into Tilly’s hands and spinning her around, pushing her toward the building.

“Go,” Loren told her.

The guy was pinned between the vehicles, blocked in by Loren. “Is that the baby?” the man asked, followed by the sound of more shutter clicks.

Tilly glanced over her shoulder.

“Excuse me,” Loren said, opening the back passenger door so hard and fast that it knocked the camera out of the guy’s hand where it shattered on the ground. “Oops. Sorry about that, dude.”

“You did that on purpose!” Archie Lounds yelled.

“Nope. You got in my way. My apologies.”

“You’ll pay for that—”

That was all Tilly heard as the side door swung shut on the confrontation. Her heart pounded in her chest, pulse racing, until Loren came through the door a few minutes later with the baby carrier in her hands.

She handed the carrier off to Tilly. “Go. Now.”

“What happened?”

“I called 911 and reported an attack by the guy.”

“What?”

“Just go. Upstairs. Now. And stay up there until I get up there.”

Tilly didn’t even wait for the elevator. She bolted up the stairs and emerged on the third floor, trembling and out of breath.

When she walked into the reception area of their office, Leigh met her there. “What the hell’s going on, Tilly? I got Landry’s call, and then I looked outside, is that Loren fighting with a guy?”

Without even setting the baby carrier down, Tilly pushed past Leigh and into her office, which overlooked the parking lot. Loren leaned against the trunk of Tilly’s car, Archie Lounds apparently ranting and raving at her. Loren had her cell phone up, recording everything if Tilly had to guess from the way Loren held it.

A marked cruiser arrived a few minutes later. Archie Lounds waved his hands, pointing at Loren and holding up the mangled remains of his camera while Loren seemed to serenely talk to the cop.

Then, Loren showed him her phone.

The cop watched for a moment.

Next thing Tilly knew, Archie Lounds was face down over the front of the squad car, getting his wrists cuffed behind him. From the way his mouth was moving, Tilly suspected he was running it a mile a minute.

“Holy f*ck,” Leigh muttered. “She’s more devious than you.”

“Where do you think I learned it from? Ross is a master tactician. Cris is no slouch himself, and he learned from Landry.”

“Remind me never to piss her or Ross off. Or you, for that matter.”

Katie started fussing in her carrier.