Page 55 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
"Of course you will," I said. "This is going to blow her mind."
"I predict lots of blowing in our future," Riley said with a nod.
"If you keep saying that, I'm going to make you blow me right here," Connor growled.
Riley leaned over to me and loudly whispered, "He says that like he thinks I wouldn't."
I shrugged. "The place is closed." The door was unlocked because we anticipated Josiah, but everyone in town would be getting ready for Halloween. The pub was hosting a party, but Jacob gave me the night off to enjoy the holiday. I suspected that was Connor's doing, but I wasn't going to ask.
Connor tilted his chin up and regarded Riley for a moment. "We need to get changed and get to Leah's. You can suck me off there."
Riley gave him a salute. "Yes, sir." If he was disappointed, he didn't let on.
"Change?" Josiah asked. I'd forgotten he missed that part of the conversation.
"You look perfect," I said. I realised what I said and blinked a couple of times, trying to stop myself from looking like an idiot. "I mean, you're already dressed all in black. That was the plan here."
"Right," he said simply. I got the impression he saw straight through me, but he wasn't going to call me out. Not yet.
"Let's get out of here then," Connor said. "We have a woman to stalk."
"That sounds so messed up," Riley said, grinning.
"You can always sit it out," I suggested, expecting him to decline the kind offer.
Predictably, he laughed. "No chance." He slipped out the door behind Connor.
I gestured for Josiah to follow him so I could lock the door behind us. Also predictably, Connor checked to make sure I did it right. As if turning a lock was beyond me.
Asshole.
I smirked at him, but his only response was to turn away and start down the sidewalk which was cleared of snow an hour or so ago. None fell since, leaving it good to walk on, for now. Iffuckingcoldcould be considered good. It even smelled like cold. Although, this afternoon it was balanced with a smell of spices coming from the Snowdrop Café and the bakery on the corner. Smells of Halloween. The scent of warm fires and carving pumpkins.
We made our way past the house Gavin Clarke lived in. I'd been filled in on him and his role in town almost as soon as I arrived. I felt sorry for him, but it was weird to think he might be Leah's father. That whole situation was all sorts of fucked up. I hated what it was doing to Leah, and I hated myself for being an asshole to her since we met.
There was nothing I could do about the past, but I could treat her better now. Maybe. Both of us enjoyed giving each other shit. Why stop now? I might dial it back a little, but that was all.
"Did you happen to see the people who took her?" I asked as I walked beside Josiah.
Were they people she'd recognised? People who were in her life now, like her mother. Like, a small voice said to me, my father. They said they hadn't met until years later, but was that true? If my father knew what happened to her all this time…
"It's hazy," Josiah said, his voice low so only I could hear. "Mostly I was looking at her."
"Is there any chance one was a woman?" I asked.
He glanced at me. "I've gone over and over it in my head, and I don't remember. I just remember a dark car and her looking scared. One of them wore a dark jacket. Black, or dark blue." He shook his head. "I've been trying to forget about it for twenty years. Now I'm trying to think back and it's a blur. I wish I remembered more." He seemed regretful. His eyes troubled.
"It was a long time ago," I said. "No one expects you to have everything locked into your brain."
Connor looked over his shoulder at us, the dip of his brows suggesting he disagreed.
"No one," I said firmly. "None of us remembers every detail of everything twenty years ago." I barely remembered my mother, who died about the same time Coral Clarke disappeared. My father remarried a couple of years later, but that ended in divorce a decade ago. Lucky for everyone concerned. If I heard another fight between them, I might have throttled them both. Felicity Kent was a better match for him than her. As much as anyone could be a good match for a grumpy, self-obsessed asshole like my father. Yeah, I know, the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
"Yeah." But Josiah didn't seem convinced. Of course not, he'd spent all that time beating himself up. That was going to be a difficult habit for him to break. I hoped he'd be able to.
I hoped I'd be able to help him. Would he even let me? Honestly, the real question here was, could he stop me? Leah and I might not be related, but we shared a stubborn streak. I couldn't remember a time either of us backed down from anything.
I glanced back at Gavin Clarke's house to see someone watching from the front window. He didn't move. I couldn't tell if he even blinked. He just stared at us for the longest time before the curtain dropped back into place, hiding him from view.
