Page 35 of Small Town Secrets

Speaking of her shoulder, she peered down to find her left arm hanging at a loose and irregular angle. Though hot bile rose up her throat, she mumbled a defeated, “Never mind.”

Gerry directed a slow smug grin at Ramos, indicating he counted her discretion as his victory. “Yeah, never mind.”

“You know why I’m here in town. Whatever you’re doing here tonight, has everything to do with me.” Adrian’s voice dropped to a low gravel, and he shifted her, so she stood behind him, as he drew closer to Gerry. “You’re standing on Laila’s property, and she’s clearly injured. I don’t take kindly to shady men trespassing at women’s homes, but especially not when it’s a woman I care about. So, tell me now why I shouldn’t do to you what you’ve just done to her?”

Ramos took another step closer, while Gerry took a stumbling step back, his face taking on a trembling look of dread. “I didn’t mean anything, okay? It was just a joke.”

“A joke?” Adrian’s voice turned cold, less a warning, more a stony promise. “It’s funny to terrorize a single mother alone at home with her child?” He offered an unnervingly slow shake of his head, and Gerry backed away, hands held up in surrender. But Adrian’s glacial stare didn’t budge, even as he thrust an open hand out in her direction. “Give me the note, Laila.”

New tears streamed down her face and her limbs started to shake. She wasn’t scared of Ramos, but she’d never seen this colder side of him, and as much as she’d wished Gerry ill, she feared for him now.

So, even though Ramos couldn’t see her, she shook her head and sniffled out the word, “No.”

“Laila?” He opened and closed his hand, still not looking at her. “Please. Give me the note.”

A long pause drew out while she prayed Ramos would change his mind, but he seemed just as stubborn as she could be, except right at this moment, he didn’t have an injury chipping at his resolve.

She flicked her gaze up from her dark lawn and over to Gerry’s glittering and fear-filled eyes. The man caught her stare right back, his smugness from before reduced to silent pleading. Ramos seemed to have nothing but time, while the growing pain in her shoulder wasn’t going anywhere and begged her for relief.

Even though she didn’t want to, she needed to end this, so she slipped a hand into her pocket and tugged the piece of paper free. She sniffed back tears, as she extended the note to him, his gaze only now breaking to read the page.

His cheeks fell a little slack, before he, too, scrunched up the paper and pushed it into his pocket, and lifted his flinty attention back to Gerry.

Sensing the increase in tension, she bit her lower lip and braced for whatever happened next, hoping against all hope things wouldn’t get too ugly after all.

“Mommy?”

Everyone flinched and turned to the front door where Whitney stood pressing her body to the frame. Wispy curls pushed around her face in the light breeze and her eyelids pulled wide in unmissable fear. “Why is everyone yelling? Why does Adrian look so angry?”

Laila warred between running for her daughter and staying at Adrian’s side, as if her presence might spare Gerry. But Adrian stole her dilemma away with a few quick actions.

He stepped back and looped his arm around Laila’s waist, allowing her to lean into him, even though he still kept vigil over Gerry.

“Expect a visit from the sheriff”—he held still and gave Gerry one last intense glare—“and expect to pay this woman’s hospital bills if you don’t wish to receive a few of your own.”

Twenty-One

“Maybe it’s time to take up Aggie’s offer of the cabin?”

Ramos watched Laila’s resigned stare stay glued to the white hospital wall ahead of her, leaving his suggestion to hang heavy in the air. While he’d taken on the duty of bringing her to the hospital, Ally and Chip had stayed in Harlow to look after Whitney. The drive here alone took an entire hour, and now that Laila’s dislocated shoulder had been set back in place, the time neared midnight as they sat waiting for a final x-ray to confirm she was okay to go home.

“I found out about Aggie’s cottage being an option less than twelve hours ago.” The pale, bedraggled cast of Laila’s face spoke of pure exhaustion, and now her cheeks turned paler still. “Do I get a minute to gather my thoughts?”

The sting of her dismissal burrowed into his chest, but he guessed—or perhaps hoped—she didn’t mean to take her frustrations out on him. He turned to her and offered his still gaze. She turned back and her haunted stare met his, the tension across her face falling slack. “Sorry.”

“Are we going to discuss what happened tonight?” He paused, the image of her violent scuffle with Gibbons still fresh on his brain. “Or would you like to continue the silent treatment?”

“I’m not ignoring you.” She twisted her focus back to the wall and spoke in a deflated tone. “I just don’t know what to say.”

“Well then, let me start.” He shifted to face her fully. “While I appreciate the sentiment, I’d prefer you didn’t get beat up on my behalf.”

“I didn’t get ‘beat up’.” She sent him a narrowed scowl denoting sarcasm, then returned to her wall-staring. “Gerry Gibbons, with his sucky sense of balance, landed on me!”

Not wanting to make light of affairs just yet, he pressed his teeth together, suppressing a need to smile at her description of how things unfolded. Though perhaps it was a good thing that, even in her exhausted state, she maintained a sense of humor.

He settled back in his chair and crossed his arms, resting his head on the unforgiving wall behind him. “Fair enough, but the point still stands. I’m here to protect you, not the other way around.”

She sighed and mirrored his leaning, closing her eyes as she spoke. “Yeah, well, maybe I don’t want you getting beaten up for me either.”

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