Page 41 of Guilty as Sin
“You believe I can judge, do you? Even after all your research?”
“Careful,” she said. “You’re getting testy again. But you’re right.”
“A stalker’s somebody who doesn’t want to let go,” he said. “Not somebody who couldn’t wait to be gone.”
Whoa,Paige thought.All righty, then.She said, “That’s helpful, anyway. Elimination’s always good.”
Something else might have happened there, too, because Jace wasn’t looking nearly as closed-off as before. He asked, “About done?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” She stopped pedaling, slid off the bike, and her leg buckled beneath her as a jolt like a red-hot poker stabbed into her sciatic nerve. She staggered, grabbed at the seat, hauled herself upward as smoothly as she could, then tried to smile and said, “Definitely time to go.”
He’d been off his bike the moment she’d started going down. Reflexes like lightning. Now, he was at her side, his hand at her elbow. “All right?”
“Oh, yeah.” The muscles in her butt and hamstring had seized up now, and she’d started to sweat.Damnit. She should have stretched more today, but she hadn’t had time, what with Jace, the store, and… Jace.
“Paragliding, huh,” he said. “Bad landing?”
“Uh… yeah.” She barely knew what she was saying.Damn,that hurt. She breathed through it, tried to stretch out her hamstring without him noticing. “Something like that. I’m good.”
He still had his hand under her arm, was helping her toward the locker rooms. “Sorry. I should’ve shut this down a while back. I knew that was hurting.”
“And here I thought I’d been doing such a good job hiding it.” She didn’t say it through her teeth. She hoped.
“My job,” he said. “Former job. Squad leader. Which is all about paying attention.”
“Oh, I needed that,” she muttered. “Extra hotness points for you. That’s just great.” The pain had eased a little. She’d make it. They’d reached the women’s locker room. “I need to stretch this, massage it for a while. My car’s just down at the store, so you can head on out.” She stopped.“Damn.The chickens.”
“The chickens?”
“Yeah. I need to shut the chickens away. Has the sun set? It has, hasn’t it?”
“Close. Nearly seven-thirty.”
She swore under her breath. “They need to be locked in, or something will get them. Listen, if you don’t mind showering at home, could you grab your stuff while I grab mine, then give me a ride to my car? I really need to get home. Stupid chickens.”
“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “I’ll go right now and lock them up. How about the goats?”
She’d reached for the door handle, and with that motion, the hot poker was back. She let go, put a hand against the wall, tried to lean against it without showing she was, and said, “Uh… really? OK. Chickens—their pen and their coop both. They both have to be shut. Opossums. Coyotes. Et cetera. For the goats—uh, more hay. Give them water.” She tried to think. “Put the babies in their own stall so they’re separated. You have to, uh…” Her leg was on fire. “Give them treats to get them in there. I don’t want to ask you, but it would really help. If I let those chickens get killed…” She didn’t say,Lily will kill me.
“Here’s what we’re doing, then,” he said. “I’m leaving straight away and doing all that. Then I’m coming back to collect you.”
“You don’t have to do that. That’ll take…” She couldn’t think.
“Yeah. Forty-five minutes, I’m thinking. During which you get in the sauna, let your muscles relax, and massage that leg. Then I come collect you, grab us something to eat, and take you home.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Don’t be stupid. Forty-five minutes.” He took a few steps, then turned and said, “And do not come out and wait for me. I’ll send somebody in to get you, and then I’ll wait until you’re ready.”
“Why?”
He got still again, frowned at her, and finally said, “Chalk it up to being your neighbor.”
It would get better. It always did. You rode the waves until they passed.
The gym was emptying out now. She’d spent way too long on the bike, but she’d wanted to talk to Jace. It had been comfortable. Or something else. She hadn’t done anything to jeopardize Lily, though. She hoped.
She couldn’t think about it any more. A few more twists on the pain dial, and she was going to be on her back on the floor, sobbing. She gritted her teeth, wrenched her shoes off, and couldn’t manage her clothes. The effort of hiding the bullet wounds was beyond her, and she couldn’t show those. Instead, she hobbled into the shower fully dressed, turned it on, leaned back and put her heel against the wall, and may have cried a little.
