Where One Goes(24)

“Is that so?” I ask.

“Maybe we won’t be friends, but I’d like us to be amicable to one another.” I want to exhale a huge breath of relief, realizing she apparently doesn’t know about the letter. I’m not sure what to say to her. I know she hates me every bit as much as I hate her, but I decide to just roll with it. Maybe it’ll make working together somewhat tolerable.

“Sounds good to me.” I nod and head to the driver’s side door of my 4Runner, but I stop, noticing Misty standing in front of my vehicle, eyeing my license plate.

“Oklahoma, eh?”


“Yep,” I answer, quickly becoming increasingly suspicious of her. She’s memorizing my license plate. Does she know someone that could look it up? It doesn’t matter, I’m no criminal. She can look all she wants. “Would you like a pen to write it down, Misty?” I ask sweetly, and her eyes jerk to mine as she glares, but she quickly composes herself and smiles.

“Your tags are expired,” she notes.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” I say, sardonically. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Just then, a huge truck pulls up and my eyes just about pop out of their sockets. It’s Roger’s truck. When I left my letter on his windshield under a wiper, I had no doubt it was his. After all, the license plate did say ‘ROGERZ’ on it. “That your boyfriend?” Did he get the letter I left him? Shit. Is he here for George?

“Roger’s out of town, bowhunting. Won’t be back for a few days,” she answers as she walks toward the truck. “That’s his brother. His truck broke down so he’s using Roger’s, and my car has a flat.”

Without another word to me, she climbs in the truck and they pull out of the parking lot. Shit! Did the brother get the letter? Will he tell Roger or Misty about it? As I climb into my truck, Ike appears in the passenger seat.

“You okay?” he asks, taking in the sight of me. The truth: Hell no. I had a plan and now it’s all gone to shit and I have no idea what to expect. Dear God, I silently pray, please don’t let George get hurt. I was only trying to help. Amen.

“Yeah.” I swallow hard and start the truck. “I’m fine.” For now, anyway.



Ginger tells me not to worry about starting on cleaning the rooms until my first day off, stating she doesn’t want to overwhelm me and I’m already paid up, thanks to the Mercers, through the end of the week.

After I work my lunch shift, I head back to the motel and almost orgasm at the thought of taking a shower and crawling in bed. And I do just that. The restaurant closes early on Sundays so everyone is off tonight.

“Lie down with me, Ike,” I order him.

“Careful, baby girl. You might get so used to it you won’t be able to sleep without me,” he jokes as he morphs to lie beside me. He’s on his back, his hands behind his head as I turn toward him. He has a perfect profile, strong jaw, and straight nose.

“Can I ask you something?” I inquire.

He smiles and turns his head toward me. “Do you want me to take a look at that cut on your ass? Make sure it’s not infected?”

I roll my eyes, fighting the urge to smile. “Never mind,” I reply in a huff as I flop back, feigning annoyance.

“No. Ask away,” Ike insists, and I roll back toward him.

“Were you with . . . ?” God, why in the hell am I asking him this?

“Was I with . . . ?”

“I mean . . . were you with a lot of women when you were alive?”

His eyes dart back to the ceiling and he sighs. “I wouldn’t say a lot, but there were girls. Why do you ask?”

“Were you ever in love?”

Ike snorts. “Define love.”

“Like, love,” I say, simply. “You know what I mean.”

“If by love you mean I dated a girl all through high school and planned to marry her, then yes, I was in love . . . or at least I thought I was.”

“What happened?”

Ike smirks and runs a wide palm down his face. “Eh, you know. We graduated and she went to college, I joined the army, and we went our separate ways. We just kind of grew apart. She did come to my funeral and she cried. Just because we grew apart doesn’t mean we didn’t love each other, we just didn’t have that forever love, I guess.”

I roll to my back and stare at the ceiling just like Ike. “You miss her?”

“No,” he answers quickly. “What about you? Ever been in love?”

Now it’s my turn to snort. “Hardly. My brother made sure no guy came near me in high school, and in college I—” My moment of sharing is interrupted by a knock at the door. “Who is it?” I ask Ike.

He morphs and returns within seconds. “It’s George.”

“What the—” He knocks again, interrupting me.

Climbing out of bed, I tromp to the door and whip it open. George steps back, his gaze running up and down my form, causing heat to blanket my entire body. I’m wearing nothing but a large T-shirt that cuts just below my ass. It was Axel’s—one of his favorites.

“That your boyfriend’s shirt?”

Pinching my lips together, I look down and fight the urge to punch him in the jugular. “Hello to you, too, George. What an unexpected surprise. Should I just start expecting you to show up at my room unannounced every day?”