When Snow Falls (Whiskey Creek #2)(89)
Author: Brenda Novak

“I guess.”

He leaned closer. “Bottom line, it’s none of her damned business. I’m your master, and I can do what I want.”

Ignoring that part, because she found it ridiculous, she changed the subject. “Seems like there aren’t a lot of women who get an abortion right after Christmas, huh?” She gazed around at the empty seats.

“People are celebrating. They’ll deal with their problems later on.”

A woman in a white jacket poked her head through a door near the reception area. “Ms. Christensen? The doctor’s ready for you.”

Dick got up to go in with her. He even took her hand. But Presley jerked away. “I’ll be back when it’s over,” she said. She would not have this stranger, this…twisted man witness her most vulnerable moment.

Anger flashed in his eyes. He couldn’t insist in front of the nurse and the receptionist. But he pulled her back and showed her the syringe he had hidden in his pocket. “This will be waiting for you,” he whispered, and kissed her as if that was what he’d intended all along.

* * *

“Do you think Aaron will stay in rehab?”

Dylan glanced over at Cheyenne, who’d been staring at Eugene Crouch’s card for several miles. Although Phoenix was a good fourteen-hour drive from Sacramento, they’d decided to take his Jeep so they wouldn’t have to rent a car or worry about flights.

He preferred to remain mobile and at the controls of his own vehicle. “He’s promised me he will this time, but…who knows?”

“Does he write to your father?”

“You’re whittling down the number of questions you have left. I hope you know that,” he teased.

“What number am I on?”

“You maybe have three left.”

“Then this can be one of them.”

“Fine. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t write.”

“He’s never said?”

Dylan thought of all the comments his brother had made over the years. If there’d been one common sentiment, it was I hate Dad. “In so many words.”

“So J.T. doesn’t hear from any of his sons.”

“Rod’s written him once or twice. Grady, too.”

“Mack?”

He turned down the radio. “J.T. doesn’t seem to matter all that much to Mack.”

“Because he sees you as his father.”

“He was really young when it all went down,” he agreed, slowing as he came into traffic in Los Angeles. With any luck they’d reach Phoenix by ten tonight. That was when Cheyenne felt they had the best chance of finding her sister, anyway.

“Eve called while you were getting gas,” she said as he changed lanes.

“At that last stop?”

She nodded.

“What did she want? Is Lucky okay?”

“Lucky’s fine. Eve’s taking good care of her. She just wanted to tell me she’s praying for us.” She grinned at him. “And to see if I thought any of your brothers might be fun for her to date.”

“Seriously?” he said with a laugh.

“I shouldn’t have told her you were so good in bed.”

“Does she think it runs in families?”

“With the way all you Amoses look, she’s willing to take the chance.”

He slung an arm over the steering wheel. “No way am I going to let that happen.”

She adjusted her seat belt. “Me, neither. In case it doesn’t work out. But it was a nice thought.”

Eve’s question, however teasing it was, told Dylan that Eve was trying to accept him, trying to change her prejudice against him. He appreciated that.

“She also said something else, and this has me sort of…troubled,” Cheyenne said.

“What’s that?”

“Do you know Baxter North?”

“That friend of yours?”

“Yeah. The one who wears the expensive suits.”

“What about him?”

She bit her lip. “Eve thinks he might be g*y.”

“Might be?” he repeated.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He could hear her surprise. “He is g*y. It’s obvious. But even if it wasn’t, I’ve seen him with a guy.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? When?”

“Maybe a year ago.”

“Where?”

“I met Manny from the gym and his sister at the Devil’s Lair in Jackson for a drink. It was a weeknight, not too crowded. Baxter was there with someone.”

“Did he see you?”

“Not at first. Which is why I’m quite clear on what was going on.”

“What did he say when he realized you’d seen him?”

“We pretended not to recognize each other. I didn’t see any point in embarrassing him. His sex life is his business. But he never touched his date afterward.”

“That could’ve been a friend,” she said.

He threw her a look. “I know the difference. What does it matter, anyway?”

“It doesn’t. Except that we can’t figure out why he wouldn’t tell us. Eve thinks it might be because he’s in love with Noah.”

“Rackham? Hmm. He might be. I’ve seen them together, too, although not in that way. Rackham’s straight, isn’t he?”

“Sure is.”

“If that’s true, it won’t be a pleasant revelation for either of them.”

“Exactly why we’re worried.”

He touched her hand, which was still holding the business card. “You tempted to call Crouch?”

She rubbed the embossing, allowing herself to be distracted. “Every day.”

* * *

Presley was shaking by the time the doctor walked into the room. The clothes Dick had purchased for her were folded neatly on a chair. She was wearing a paper gown that left her feeling completely exposed.

“Good afternoon.”

The doctor was an older woman with gray hair. She seemed kind. Presley told herself a gentle female doctor should put her at ease. This woman looked like someone’s grandmother. She leaned against the counter, wearing reading glasses as she perused the forms Presley had filled out. But there were so many conflicting thoughts and feelings whirling through Presley’s head she couldn’t relax. Her love for Aaron. Desire to keep the baby. Fear that she wouldn’t be any better as a mother than Anita had been. That syringe in Dick’s pocket. If she could just get through the next half hour, she could escape the fear and pain—forget all her troubles. At least until she needed another fix. But as long as she was willing to do Dick a few favors, he seemed happy to supply her.