Page 9 of Naughty by Nature

He hated to discourage her, but she needed to be realistic. “I don’t think it’ll be hard to find you, Cheyenne. It’s not like you’ve been hiding for the past seven years. And his family is still around.”

Her face fell, but she nodded. “I know. I was just hoping.”

She turned to look out at the street, then, seeming restless, stood up from the table and crossed to the windows, searching the street. He let her think about things for a few moments.

She whirled suddenly. “Sheridan, can you get a recent picture of him? Grace said something the other day about a man with tattoos. You don’t think that was Wade, do you?”

He’d already dug the phone from his pocket to call Marlene. “Hey,” he said when she answered. “Can you send me the release photo of our village idiot? Thanks, Marlene.”

The phone buzzed in his hand with an email seconds later and he opened it up, as well as the attachment.

Wade’s hard brown eyes stared out at them, and he had gotten ink. This was jail ink though, more dark and undefined than a normal tattoo. Cheyenne could see a skull with four roses grouped around it on his upper neck. To represent her and the girls? She had no idea.

His face was leaner and his hair had also grown out, long enough now to lay on his shoulders. She returned to the window, fighting nausea.

“What the hell am I supposed to do?,” she asked finally. “Just wait for him to track me down?”

Sheridan winced. “We’re looking for him now. I have an appointment to talk to the warden and I’ll figure out who his parole officer is. We’ll make sure he checked in with him or her and what his plan is. If he’s smart he’ll get a job somewhere other than Honeywell.”

Cheyenne listened to his words and tried to take comfort in them, but it was so hard. The fear in her throat was almost concrete enough she could bite it. Her daughters didn’t deserve to be in danger. They were beautiful little beings.

But they were Wade’s kids. At one time he’d been a wonderful father, but by the time she’d gotten pregnant with Grace things had been on a definite downward slide. He hadn’t hit her by that time, but it had only been a few weeks after the baby was born that he did. Actually, he’d kicked her out of bed when Grace had started crying, and Cheyenne had smacked into the heavy oak dresser. The corner of her eye had struck the knob and had immediately swelled and began to turn colors.

When she’d confronted him the next morning about coming home drunk, he’d laughed at her injuries. “Well, I was tired. If you’d keep the brat quiet we wouldn’t have an issue, right?”

“She’s a baby. They cry. Period.”

He’d shaken his head at her. “Not sure why you had another one anyway. I told you not to.”

Cheyenne had gritted her teeth. Yes, he had, but she’d had hopes of salvaging her marriage. When she’d been pregnant with Carolyn, the oldest, he’d been solicitous and completely involved, at least when he was around. The rodeo circuit didn’t wait for any cowboy, and the fire in his belly to be great had motivated Wade. For a long time Cheyenne had admired that fire, until he no longer had anywhere to expend the energy except against her.

“I think he’ll use the excuse that he wants to see the kids to get to me.”

Sheridan nodded his head. “I suspect so.”

“So what do I do, Sheridan? I can’t live my life running from him all the time.”

He glanced out the window. The trees were as full as they were going to get, giving precious shade to those near them.

“I don’t think you should be alone. I know your dad is still recovering but maybe you should think about mentioning the situation to them. I think they would be angry if you didn’t. There’s plenty of room on the Blue Star.”

Again, she grimaced. “I don’t want to stress him out any more than he needs to be. I’m not sure if I’ll tell them anything.”

Sheridan frowned, knowing she was trying to protect them but not sure it was the correct path. He knew Garrett Lowell. The man would be pissed when he realized people were dancing around him. If Sheridan hadn’t stopped him years ago he would have beaten the hell out of Wade. It had taken several deputies to restrain him when he’d learned what had happened to Cheyenne.

Sheridan wracked his brain for ideas. They needed to be watched at night, when they were alone. At school they had more security, more visibility.

Maybe he could boost patrols out in that direction. That was kind of a stopgap thing, though, and it definitely wasn’t stealthy. You could see a car coming for miles out on these long straight stretches.

If the danger was imminent, he could put someone in the house. Hell, he could be in the house.

He took a breath, wondering if he dared mention the idea floating through his head. He had more flexibility than any of the other men he employed. If Cheyenne didn’t have the room, they could move to his house. Actually, that might be better all around.

“I’m going to make a suggestion and I want you to hear me out before you cross your arms and glare at me.”

Cheyenne halted her movement. She’d been just about to cross her arms, a defensive posture she took a lot. Inwardly, Sheridan chuckled.

Taking a deep breath, he looked her in the eye. “We don’t know what he knows. Unfortunately he’s had more time to investigate you and what you’ve been doing than we’ve known about. He may already know where you live.”

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