Page 60 of Delicate Escape

“I’ll tell Walter,” Sutton said, slipping into the kitchen.

“How have you been?” I asked Raina as she tapped her credit card to the reader.

Her gaze jerked up, surprise there. We didn’t chitchat a lot. She’d always been shy, and I wasn’t exactly a chatterbox. But today, I wasbeing brave. Sutton had reminded me of all the ways my ordeal had changed me for the better, and I wasn’t going to let those gifts go to waste. And no matter what was going on with Russ, Raina needed a friend.

She swallowed as she carefully put the card back into her wallet. “Good. Pretty busy.” Her eyes flicked to me. “I’m sorry about that day in the office. Sometimes Russ…he just…he isn’t real patient. And he doesn’t like Shep all that much.”

I wanted to scoff but swallowed it down. Russ was more than impatient, and his dislike of Shep seemed to border on hatred. But I didn’t share any of that. Instead, I chose my words carefully. “It’s hard sometimes when a partner’s behavior is extreme. We can feel like it’s our fault. But I promise you, it’s not.”

Raina’s eyes widened again. Her mouth opened and closed, and she repeated the action a few times but never actually got any words out.

“I’ve been there,” I whispered. “If you ever need someone to talk to or a safe place to go, I’m always here.”

Unshed tears glistened in Raina’s eyes. “I?—”

“Raina,” a voice snapped from the doorway. “What the hell’s takin’ so long?”

“I, uh,” she mumbled.

Sutton appeared then, bag in hand but a scowl on her face. “I’ve got your order right here, Mr. Wheeler. Tossed in a couple of cookies on the house.”

He just sneered. “Told ya we should’ve gone to The Pop. Service here has always been crap.”

Raina took the bag and ducked her head. “Sorry,” she whispered so only I could hear, and then she took off for the front of the shop.

I stared at the door for a long moment after it had closed behind them.

“I think I hate that man, and I don’t like to use that word,” Sutton said behind me.

“You and me both,” I muttered.

But more than anything, I wanted Raina free of him.

24

SHEP

My phone rangthrough the speakers on my truck as I turned onto the dirt road leading to Thea’s house. A twitchy feeling had settled in my muscles around mid-morning and hadn’t left since. I wanted to see Thea and hated that I had no way to check on her during the day because she didn’t have a damn phone. All because of the bastard who’d terrorized her.

I forced those thoughts down and glanced at my dash. The screen saidTrace Calling. Given that it was only three-thirty, I knew he was on duty. My brother took his job seriously. It was more than a job to him. It was a calling. Something he’dneededto do given what he’d grown up in. So, he didn’t usually call to chitchat during his workdays.

Tapping the button on my steering wheel, I answered. “Everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” he said quickly. “Didn’t mean to tweak you.”

My gut twisted. A few months ago, Trace would’ve given me shit for worrying just because he called. But now,he was walking on eggshells like the rest of my family. Worried because they knew the Silas thing had twisted me up and I wasn’t handling it well.

“I’m fine,” I gritted out. “You just don’t usually call for tea and gossip in the middle of the day.”

“Fuck off,” Trace muttered.

That had a little of the tension easing. It was normal. “What’s up?”

“Wanted you to know that I tried to have another conversation with Raina Wheeler.”

I was an ass for not thinking about her or Russ since Thea’s revelation a couple of days ago. My mind had been so fixated on Brendan that I’d let Russ’s assholery fade into the background. But it wasn’t in the background for Raina. She lived with it every single day.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

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