Page 49 of The Unknown Colton
Leaving Troy lying alone in her bed had been hard. After last night, after being that close to him again, Lakin wanted to stay curled up in his arms with her head on his chest. But she knew that eventually they would have to talk, and every time they spoke lately, she was disappointed that Troy was so uncertain about their future.
He should know that it didn’t matter to her if he wasn’t able to work again; she loved him for who he was, not for the money he might make someday. Maybe he knew how she felt, but he was just too proud to accept her unconditional love if he couldn’t give her what he wanted to in return.
She blinked hard to focus on her computer screen, and a sigh slipped out along with all her frustration. She was too much in limbo right now, waiting to find out if Troy would recover fully, waiting for her business loan, waiting to find out if Jasper Whitlaw was really her biological father so she could get some answers about her past.
She cared the least about Whitlaw. He’d waitedmore than twenty years before finding her, so he didn’t care about her. She couldn’t trust whatever he told her. And the past didn’t matter as much as her present and her future.
If she and Troy even had one…
“You look very stressed for someone so young,” a voice remarked.
Startled that she wasn’t alone, Lakin jumped, making her chair creak. A hand touched her shoulder, maybe just to steady her, but she jumped up from her chair at the unwelcome contact and so that Eric Seller wasn’t standing over her anymore like he had been. “Are you okay?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I didn’t hear you come into the office.”
“You need one of those bells that ding when the door opens,” he suggested.
Usually people didn’t slip in so silently, so it had never been an issue before. Although Jasper Whitlaw had the other day.
“Do you need something?” she asked. She hadn’t even realized that he’d signed up for another tour. But then she’d been distracted lately and not really doing her job as well as she should. She needed to talk to Parker and give her notice.
“I was just thinking about you, Lakin, and wanted to make sure that you’re okay,” he said.
Instead of reassuring her, his words made her more uneasy than she usually was around him. “I’mfine,” she said. “No need to worry about me.” And definitely no reason to make a special trip to Shelby.
“I’ve seen all the news about some serial killer targeting single women in this area,” he said. “So naturally I thought of you.”
“I’m not single,” she said.
“You’re not married,” he said. “Or even engaged. You could be a potential target.”
She shivered. “With some of the victims not even identified yet, nobody knows if they were single or not. So are you just trying to scare me?” she asked. And it was working since she wondered how he knew something that hadn’t been disclosed in the press.
His eyes widened as if in surprise. “Oh, I guess I just assumed that they were all single. And I think, that with you looking similar to previous victims and being alone so often, you need to be extra careful.”
“I am,” she assured him or maybe she was warning him.
He glanced around the office. “Really? You’re all alone here. Even that boyfriend of yours isn’t hanging around…” He took a step closer, as if he’d been waiting for the opportunity to get her alone.
She opened her mouth and considered releasing a scream but instead she shouted, “I’m not alone!” And hoped like hell she was telling the truth because she wasn’t sure what Seller was trying to do.
“Lakin!” Parker exclaimed, appearing suddenly in the doorway of his office. “What’s going on?” He looked from her to Seller. “Is there a problem?”
Seller shook his head and stepped back from her desk. “No problem at all. I’m just very concerned about your sister.”
“Why?” Parker asked with his usual bluntness.
“Just seems like Shelby is a dangerous place for a single woman,” Seller said.
Parker snorted. “Lakin isn’t single. She’s been with Troy Amos for most of their lives, and he will make damn certain nothing happens to her.”
“Really?” Seller asked. “I understand that he isn’t usually around that much.”
Lakin nearly screamed now—with irritation, not fear. “I can take care of myself,” she assured them both.
“But there’s a serial killer on the loose,” Seller said. “His other victims probably thought the same thing you do, that they could take care of themselves.”
Other victims. Was he saying that she was going to be next?
