Assumed Identity(42)
He justified his sneaky voyeurism as a matter of mental survival. He refused to care about Robin and Emma on any personal level, but a man had to live with his conscience. Jake had enough violence and unanswered questions haunting his dreams. He didn’t need his waking moments to be plagued with doubts and guilt, too. He could watch from a distance without interacting with them, and appease his conscience by making sure they were safe without risking developing any personal connection to them.
Knowing his black shirt and dark jeans helped him blend in with the ivy vines trailing over the fence, he rolled his neck and allowed himself to stretch out some of the kinks of fatigue that came from standing in one position for so long. At least this was an easier gig than that night he’d spent out in the rain waiting for Robin to reappear. Not that he minded the elements. He’d needed to see her that night to make sure she was okay—that his own self-preservation instincts hadn’t left her exposed to any more danger.
Apparently, he still needed to see her to put his conscience to rest each night. But there wouldn’t be any more hand-holding or running his fingers through her hair or thinking about kissing her. There wouldn’t be any more stabs of protective jealousy and charging to the rescue when some other man put his hands on her. Despite his ugly facade, he was a man who wanted and lusted and could learn to care, just like any other man. But Jake knew that the monster he might also be made him too dangerous to ever give in to those normal wants and needs. If he knew he was responsible for hurting Robin or her daughter, it would open up a wound no one would ever see, and from which he might never recover.
Jake stilled again to watch the progression across the street. Like clockwork, the back door opened beneath the green-and-white awning and the employees of the Robin’s Nest Floral Shop came out.
The dark-haired guy with the bow tie came out with the middle-aged blonde. Good. Bow-tie guy was walking her to her car. They laughed about something before she got in and drove away. Bow-tie guy waited as two more women came out together, got into their cars and drove away.
“Hey!” Hearing the slam of a door, Jake moved his attention back the shop entrance. A young man in a green uniform shirt jogged out and stopped Bow-tie guy outside his car. With his senses going on alert, Jake leaned forward, turning his ear to eavesdrop as their conversation flared into a heated argument.
He was too far away to catch everything, but Jake quickly realized this was not as happy a family of coworkers as he’d expected. Uniform kid said something about “...your fault.”
Bow-tie guy kept his cool while the younger man blew up.
“Ms. Carter...twice now.”
“...not going to lose your job.”
“I’ll take care of it if you won’t.”
Interesting.
Almost as quickly as it had started, the argument stopped. The two men separated to their respective vehicles. Both immediately pulled out their cell phones, either taking or making calls as they got into their cars. The younger man started his car and sped out of the parking lot while the older man sat inside his car, chatting on the phone.
Had Robin made a discovery about the accounting discrepancy she’d been stewing over that night she’d been attacked? Not a smart move to confront Uniform guy on her own. A man wouldn’t have to be built like Jake to out-muscle her if he really wanted to.
Jake’s blood heated in his veins at the thought of Robin getting hurt again. Three more minutes passed before Bow-tie guy ended his call. He watched the back door for two minutes more before checking the time and then driving away. Jake’s feet itched to follow one or both of those men to find out what they’d been arguing about, if it had to do with Robin and what calls were so important that they had to be made before they’d even left the parking lot.
And where the hell was Robin, anyway?
Changing the kid’s diaper? Dinking with those books again? The whole idea of safety in numbers was that she had to be with those numbers.
Jake checked his watch again. It was a full fifteen minutes after closing and her rental car was the only one left in the lot. “Walk out to your car, Robin,” Jake willed, hating the instinct that warned him he needed to get over to that shop now. “Five more minutes,” he argued with that darker urge.
Several more cars were parked on the street in front of the shop—maybe one of those belonged to a last-minute customer. The goal of coming here was to make sure she was safe—not to talk to her, touch her or be some kind of hero to her again. That wasn’t the role he was here to play tonight.