Till Death(31)

“He’s filing a report,” he said, glancing down at his cellphone before he slipped it into his pocket. “That’s the best they’re going to be able to do right now.”

Nodding, I leaned against the sink and folded my arms. “I don’t know why you called them.”

He stopped at the edge of the kitchen island and raised his brows. “Someone picked up a deer that looked like it lost a fight with a Mack truck and placed it inside your truck.”

I flinched as my stomach turned. Yep. That sounded about right. And that poor deer had been dead. For a while.

“There needs to be a report of that,” he finished.

A weird taste coated the sides of my mouth. “I don’t even . . . I don’t know what to say right now.”

Cole didn’t respond to that as he walked into the kitchen. I tensed as he passed me and headed for the fridge. He pulled out two bottles of water. Facing me, he handed one over. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“I want to hear you say it,” he said, voice gentle but firm.

I opened my mouth and then gave a little shake of my head. I wasn’t okay. I shivered. This was totally messed up. “That’s my mom’s truck. What in the hell am I going to tell her? She’s going to flip out.”

He took a drink of the water. “I got a buddy in town who does car detailing. I called him while I was outside and filled him in on what happened. The deer is out of the truck, and he’ll come by tomorrow morning and get to work on it. He’ll have it like new by tomorrow afternoon. It will be like nothing happened.”

That was good to hear, but there was also a good chance I’d never get in that truck again no matter what was done. I glanced at him, letting out a harsh breath. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“But I did.”

Resisting the sudden need to run over to him and face-plant into his chest, I looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you. Just let me know how much it costs and I will take care of it.”

“You don’t need to thank me.”

“But I did,” I parroted back.

One side of his lips briefly turned up.

Taking a deep breath, I squeezed the bottle until the plastic crinkled. “I’m not telling my mother.”

Cole went silent and eyes sharp.

“She’ll be just like me. She’ll never be able to get inside that truck again. It’s not like she can go out and buy a new car,” I reasoned, putting the bottle of water aside. “And I don’t want her to worry.”

His jaw tightened. “Maybe she needs to be worried.”

My heart lurched. “Why . . . why would you say that?”

“I’m not trying to scare you. I hope you realize that, but something isn’t right here, and I think you know that.” Cole finished off the bottle of water and tossed it in the trash. He faced me, and anger was etched into his striking face. “Your car was vandalized the first night you were back in town and someone put that deer in the truck with some kind of intention. That’s not something a bored kid does.”

“If that was something a bored kid did, someone needs to see a child psychologist stat,” I commented.

His lips twitched into a wry grin. “I agree.”

I smiled at him, but I felt sick. I wasn’t naive or stupid and from the moment I sat on the couch while Cole dealt with the stuff outside, I knew what was done had been on purpose. I just didn’t understand why. “I still don’t want my mother to know.”

“Sasha, she should know so she can be careful.”

“Careful of what? A dead raccoon in the mailbox? Or a run-over cat that might be dropped off on the front porch?” I pushed away from the counter and tucked both sides of my hair back. “Look, I understand what you’re getting at, but she’s been through a lot, Cole. A lot.”

“So have you,” he reminded me, tone gentle.

“Yeah, but I was able to leave. I got to hide from what happened and from this town. She didn’t. I don’t want to put this on her unless I have to.”

His face softened. “Sasha . . .”

“Don’t look at me like that,” I warned, sucking in a soft breath. I could barely deal with him when he looked at me normally, but like this? With his handsome face softening and his cool eyes warming? It was too much.

“Like what?”

Like he wanted what I had wanted earlier. To cross the distance between us and wrap his arms around me. While I wanted to run to him in this moment, I couldn’t do it.

Closing my eyes, I took several deep breaths and reopened them. “Until I know what’s happening here, I don’t want her stressing out. And this has nothing to do with her. No one has been bothering her. It’s . . . it’s about me.”

Cole looked like he wanted to argue further, but inhaled roughly. “That’s your decision. I just want to go on record to say I don’t agree with it.”

“Duly noted.”

“I know the trooper asked who knew you were driving your mother’s truck tonight, but I have another question for you.”

“Ask away.”

“Is there anyone you can think of in particular that would be upset with you?”

I immediately knew where he was heading with this. “You mean upset enough with me to vandalize my car and leave a dead deer in the truck? No. I don’t know anyone who would want to do that.”