Mistake Me Not

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Lacie didn’t explain it. She set Sorcha to the task of making the coffee and grabbed a shower. When she was clean and they were both seated, Lacie was quizzed about her face, and about Bruce.

“Okay, so we know where he is, that’s great,” Sorcha said.

“You can’t get involved,” Lacie said. “Those people were… I don’t think you should be anywhere near them. They’ll hurt you.”

Lacie pointed to her face.

Sorcha flinched. “I’m so sorry you got hurt, honey.”

“It’s over now.”

“Okay, we’ll start over together,” Sorcha said.

“We’re not going back.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of what’s going on there. We’ll go to Shep… for real this time.”

Lacie squirmed. “He could get into trouble. I don’t have all the specifics, I—”

“Get that guy on the phone.”

“I’m not sure about—”

“I’ll talk to him,” Sorcha said. “Give me his number, and I’ll get Bruce’s address. You should cancel that check too.”

Lacie wriggled some more, but she knew Sorcha would persist until she got the details of what Bruce was up to.

“I’ll get the address,” Lacie said.

“Great.”

“Only if you’ll promise not to go anywhere near it alone. Give the details to Sheppard and wait for him to find out what’s going on.”

Sorcha sighed. “Okay, fine. Get the details and I’ll make an appointment with Shep. He’ll see us today.”

Sorcha was already dialing, so Lacie took her phone into the bedroom and closed the door. All she needed was the address. She didn’t have to talk to him properly. She didn’t need to ask him why. She didn’t want to.

As hard as she tried, Lacie couldn’t understand why he’d lied to her, why he had pretended to be someone he wasn’t, why he had let her think he had been intimate with Sorcha. The only thing she could be sure of was that he wasn’t who he’d claimed to be. Except he hadn’t claimed to be, she had assumed, and he’d asked that there be no assumptions between them. His actions couldn’t be excused for that reason alone.

The mistake could have been easily rectified with a straightforward introduction. If she’d had his name, things would’ve been different. Except if he was in Shep’s office, and shouldn’t have been, maybe he was up to something illegal. Maybe he wasn’t an investigator at all, he could have made everything up. What would his motivation be? His assumed identity didn’t get him into her underwear, in fact it kept him out. But she had given him that check, was the money motivation enough?

Sitting on her bed speculating wasn’t getting her any answers. Sorcha would storm in within ten minutes ready to take over. Sorcha had been spared Lacie’s experience in this matter; her best friend still had hope. The idea of going back to that place, of going anywhere those men would be, made Lacie ill.

Telling herself it was just a business call, she pressed the digits of his number from her cell memory to her home line. Pressing send, she closed her eyes and listened to it ring.

“Stone,” he answered after ten rings.

His voice was hard, deep, chilling, yet a zap of painful pleasure shot from her throat to her thighs.

“It’s Lacie,” she said only to have her lips instantly parch.

“Baby,” he said. She heard the relief in his smile. “Thank god, I was worried. I can come over—”

“No,” she said, trying to hold him at a professional distance, hoping her tone would give him the message of what this call was about. “I need the information.”

“What information?”

“The address, Bruce’s address, I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the street name or building number yesterday.” Silence reigned for more than a few seconds. “Hello?”

“I’m waiting for the punch-line,” he said.

“There’s no punch-line,” she responded. “I need the information.”

“Not a chance.”

“You can’t withhold that information. I paid handsomely for it.”

“I tore up the check, Dusty, you’re not paying for anything, and I won’t give you the address. I won’t let you go near that place again.”

“If you don’t give me the address, I’ll have to go back just to get it,” Lacie said.

“Why would you want to go there again?” he asked.

“I don’t,” she said. “Sorcha needs to know what Bruce is up to. It’s important.”

“You think you can just walk up there—”

“We’re going to Sheppard’s office, me and Sorcha together, so I won’t get it wrong this time.”

“I don’t think so, baby,” Ryder said.

“You can’t tell me—”

“No girl of mine is going anywhere near the competition.”

“I’m not your girl,” Lacie said. “And neither is Sorcha, we—”

“You want more information, I’ll get it for you.”

“You?”

“Yes, me,” he said.

“Don’t you have other cases? How do I know you’re an investigator at all? You don’t seem to have much—”

“I have a team,” Ryder said. “My partner and I have six guys on payroll for investigations.”

“So why would you give me so much time when—”

“You know why Dusty,” he said. “Now, you tell me what’s going on, what information do you need?”

“I’m not doing this,” she said. “I don’t know who you are.”

“You know me better than you know Shep.”

“Sorcha knows him, she trusts him—”

“Who do you trust? There was a reason Sorcha didn’t go to Shep herself the first time around.”

“She’s sure that—”

“Who do you trust?” he asked again.

As angry, confused, and embarrassed as Lacie was by whatever had, or hadn’t, happened between them, she’d always spoken her thoughts to him. They didn’t need any more secrets.

“Ryder,” she said. “Is that your name?”

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Can I call you Ryder?”

“Call me anything you like,” he said. “Give me the information, and I’ll get to work—”

“I don’t want you going back,” she spoke her thoughts. “I don’t want you anywhere near that place.”

“Baby—”

“I’m being honest. I don’t understand it. I know I shouldn’t care. I know you lied. I don’t want you in that place, or anywhere near any of those people.”

“It’s my job.”

“No, it’s not. I’m not hiring you. I’m not paying you. This is nothing to do with you. All I need is the address.”

“The chances that they are still there are slim,” he said.

“I don’t care about them,” she replied. “It’s Bruce we need the information on.”

“What is it about this guy? What does your friend—?”

“It’s not my place to answer that. We need the address—”

“You’re not going back there,” Ryder said.

“We just want to give the information to Shep—”

“He’s a hack, baby. He won’t do the job right for you. All he’ll be interested in is getting your friend back into bed.”

“Sorcha’s not interested in that. It’s Bruce she has to get to.”

“Great,” Ryder said. “Then it’ll be your turn at bat.”

“Excuse me?”

“If Sorcha turns him down, he’ll move his attention to you. Hell, he’ll probably aim for you first, he’s had Sorcha, and you’re more beautiful than—”

“Stop it,” she said. “None of this has anything to do with s*x, at least not s*x and me.”

“Say that after you’ve been to see Shep.”

“Don’t make this more difficult, Sorcha—”

“What about you?” Ryder asked. “You don’t have to run around after her, what about your happiness?”

“What does that have to do with anything? I want the address so that we can give it to Shep, and he can carry on the investigation.”

“Let me come with you,” he said.

“Where?” she asked.

“To Shep’s office.”

“Why? Do you need cover for further illegal activities?”

“I can explain everything if you let me. I was there for a case. I can show you everything. If you come to my place—”

“Just give me the address,” she said.

“I won’t.”

“But—”

“I’ll send it to Shep,” Ryder said. “I’ll send him an email. I want to let him know I have a vested interest in this, and I’ll be keeping an eye on things.”

“You can’t.”

“I can,” he said. “I know Shep well, he worked for me briefly. I’ve known him for years. I know what he’s capable of and what he’s like. He knows what I’m capable of too. That should be enough for him to keep his eye on the ball and off you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah,” Ryder said. “If he knows you’re my girl—”

“I am not your girl,” she said. “And he’ll know that because surely if I was your girl, you would be helping us out—”

“I’ll tell him the truth,” Ryder said. “You don’t want me to get hurt. You’re looking out for me and I’m happy for him to take care of the details while I focus on taking care of you.”

“What does that mean?”

Innuendo slid into his voice. “You know what it means.”

“You’re flirting with me? After everything?”

“Nothing’s keeping us apart now,” he said. “I didn’t plan on you finding out the way you did but I did come to your place to tell you… I got distracted by your legs.”

“Send the address to Shep,” Lacie said into the phone at the same time her bedroom door opened to reveal Sorcha.

“Lacie—”

“Goodbye, Ryder,” she said then hung up the phone. “Did you get us an appointment?”

“He’ll see us right away,” Sorcha said.

“You look nervous.”

“You look disappointed. The men in our lives really know how to keep us on our toes.”

“I only have one,” Lacie said, looking at the phone in her hand. “Or had, it’s over now.”

“You met this guy while I was away?” Sorcha asked to which Lacie nodded. “Then it seems to me you’re only just getting started. Throw caution to the wind. I would if I were you. If you take no risks, you’ll get no rewards.”

Sorcha’s endorsement meant a lot to her. But throwing caution to the wind was what got Sorcha in her current bind. Still, Lacie had to admit to herself that her concern for Ryder was true. If she was invested in his safety, then maybe their association wasn’t as over as she tried to tell herself it was.