No One But You (Silver Springs #2)(29)

“And leave you in the hands of someone like Dawson Reed? What kind of man would I be?”

“The kind who respects boundaries. I’m fine! Dawson didn’t kill his parents, Sly. He hasn’t killed anyone. He’s not capable of that type of thing.”

Sly had his mouth open, ready to say more. He was used to dominating every conversation. But at this he clamped his lips shut. By his expression, she’d triggered one of his infamous mood swings.

“I mean...no one knows for sure what happened,” she added, trying to backpedal.

“He was the only one who could’ve killed them, Sadie—the only one anywhere nearby that night. There was no foreign DNA found in the house. If a random hitchhiker broke in and murdered Lonnie and Larry, there would’ve been something.”

She’d read about that. She hadn’t yet added the discrepancy to the list she was making, but she had a rebuttal. There was a shoe print outside in the mud—from a smaller foot than Dawson’s—which the police had conveniently explained as coming from some random visitor to the farm and not the killer. She almost said so but bit her tongue. She didn’t care to debate the case, especially with Sly. He had to win every argument, by getting mad and screaming if he didn’t have a solid basis for whatever he was saying.

“Not necessarily,” she said. “There have been plenty of crimes where no DNA was found. So why can’t we give him the benefit of the doubt? He hasn’t made one wrong move. He works all day. That’s it.”

“And you...”

“I work, too.”

“Just the two of you, out there alone together, when he probably hasn’t had a woman for a year or longer.”

She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “I don’t appreciate what you’re implying.”

“I know what men are like. I know what he’s thinking when he looks at you.”

The image Sly’s words created made Sadie feel oddly overheated. She told herself that had nothing to do with Dawson. “That’s not true. He hasn’t acted remotely interested in...in me.”

“Yet. I can promise you he’s after more than cooking and cleaning.”

“Stop it! You don’t need to watch the house. I’m sure you have better things to do.”

He hooked his thumbs in his utility belt. He was every bit as fit as Dawson, made sure he spent plenty of time jogging and lifting weights. He’d stepped on a scale every day of their married life. He wasn’t too handsome in the face, had much plainer features, but no one could call him a slouch. He could easily find another woman.

The part of Sadie that longed to be free sometimes wished he would, but she couldn’t put her heart behind that wish, not when he was so miserable to live with.

“You don’t think he’d love to feel you beneath him? To feel you close around him and—”

“No!” she broke in. “I mean...he’s not thinking like that. Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to twist everything?”

“Because you need to see the truth. You’re too na?ve for your own good.”

“I’m not na?ve! I know when a man is coming on to me. I like Dawson. We’re...friends. That’s all.”

The way his eyes narrowed made her uneasy. “Friends? You’ve worked there two days and you’re already friends?”

It sort of felt that way, but she shouldn’t have said so, shouldn’t have let Sly get the upper hand. “Not friends, exactly. Employer and employee. Why can’t anything be that innocent to you?”

“Because I’m not a fool!”

She drew a deep breath. “There’s no reason to worry. He’s nice. That’s all.”

“Nicer than me...”

“I didn’t say that. I’m merely trying to make you understand I’m not in any danger.”

“And I’m merely trying to make you understand that you have no idea whether you’re safe or not.”

“I can only judge by how he makes me feel, Sly. And my intuition tells me I’m okay.”

“Your intuition.”

“Yes!”

“You’re sure it’s not something a little farther south than that? Maybe he’s not the one who’s looking to get laid. Maybe it’s you. Does it make you wet thinking of screwing a guy who could be that dangerous?”

“Stop it!” she cried again.

“I won’t stop until you listen to me. I’ve seen how much the women like him. Detective Garbo told me he got a ton of mail from dumb chicks sending him naked photographs and shit while he was in jail.”

Sadie was beginning to sweat despite the cool, evening weather. She felt one bead and then another roll down her side. “I wasn’t one of them. So this has nothing to do with me. I have to go, Sly.”

“Now you’re going to run away? Why don’t we finally talk about this, talk about the elephant in the room? You haven’t given me sex in forever! No matter how much I beg or grovel, you’re not interested.”

She had given him sex much more recently than she’d ever wanted. He’d pushed it upon her not long after she moved out. He’d done the same thing a few times since, and she’d gone along with it, suffered through it, because she hadn’t wanted to wake Jayden and have him come out of the room to see what was going on. Sly conveniently forgot about those instances, pretended it wasn’t nearly so one-sided, but she never would. The thought of sleeping with him again made her skin crawl. She tried to interrupt with a “Because we’re separated!” but he talked right over her.