Redwood Page 11

  Kendrick took a sip of his beer. “She’s definitely doing wonders for this place. Steadier stream of customers while getting Mac to do less work.”

  The guys were still trying to talk Lexi up to him, sell him on her. It wasn’t necessary. He’d already bought in one hundred percent.

  If only he could stop fucking it up every time he came near her. She still wasn’t talking to him after what had happened against that wall behind the bar a couple of weeks ago.

  Not that he’d forgotten it. Her moans—those sighs as she came apart in his arms—had been playing on repeat as he’d lain in bed thinking about her every night since.

  But she was back to not talking to him.

  He took a sip of his drink, and the guys snickered. The Duck Fart had been delivered not long after he’d sat down, much to the delight of his howling friends.

  “Shut up,” he told the guys. “At least this one isn’t too bad. Kahlua, Irish cream, whiskey—what’s not to like?”

  Okay, so he’d personally like more whiskey and less of the other sweet stuff, but it was still pretty tasty despite the name.

  He’d drink it regardless. He’d drunk every sip of every obnoxiously named drink she’d given him. Partly in penance.

  But mostly because if she was sending him the drinks, no matter how terrible they sounded—Dirty Whore’s Bathwater, Windex, Buffalo Juice, Alligator Sperm—she was at least thinking about him.

  He needed to believe that meant he hadn’t screwed up every possible chance with her.

  “Charlie wants to come here all the time now.” Finn sipped his neat whiskey while Gavin watched, a little jealous. “Not just for girls’ night out.”

  Gabe nodded. “Jordan too. All the girls do. They say it’s better than most of the places, including the ones in Reddington City. Again, thanks to Lexi.”

  He rolled his eyes. “All right, you guys I get it. She’s good for the Eagle’s Nest. Good for the town. I’m not trying to run her off anymore.”

  He wasn’t exactly sure what to do about her. Still had no idea what had happened that day he’d followed her to Reddington City. He’d gotten all the footage he could from security cameras in that alley but hadn’t gotten a clear enough image of the guy’s face to run through facial recognition.

  Which didn’t matter because that kid had only been the middleman anyway. Middleman for what?

  “Good.” Gabe leaned back in the booth and smiled at him. “Because if you run Lexi off, all the women in town are likely to hunt you down and kill you.”

  Gavin choked a little on his drink. “Even sweet Jordan?”

  Gabe’s eyes got soft. Nothing about this huge man was soft except his face when talking about his fiancée. “She’ll probably just be the lookout.”

  Finn chuckled. “Charlie will do it.”

  Nobody at the table doubted it. Finn’s tiny wife was a force to be reckoned with.

  “I’m not going to run her off.” He studied Lexi as she delivered an order to a table and stopped to talk to them for a moment.

  She was quick with a wink and easy smile for them like she was for nearly everyone, but it wasn’t quite authentic. It was her way of keeping them from looking at her too closely, of not paying too much attention to her. Her MO—hiding in plain sight.

  He’d spent enough time watching her to recognize her signs of fatigue, especially now that he knew to look for them. She’d been going home to rest some in the afternoons, which probably helped.

  But exhaustion clouded her eyes now. No bags or purple underneath—she was way too skilled with makeup to allow her tiredness to be that evident. The fatigue was in those green eyes themselves. She wasn’t at breakdown levels yet, but she was heading in that direction if she didn’t get some rest.

  Another secret she kept from everyone. He only knew about it by sheer accident.

  And had she been eating decently? He’d left her the groceries he’d bought that morning two weeks ago, leaving them outside her door. He had no idea if she’d used them or been so pissed she’d thrown them away.

  He’d worried about whether she had decent food to eat nearly every day since then. His brain always whirled like a cyclone when it came to her, worrying about if she had food, remembering how she’d said his name in that alley, trying to figure out what she was hiding.

  Rinse and repeat. His thoughts all battled constantly.

  Finn stood up. “All right, fellas, I got the text to get my ass home before the baby drives Charlie crazy.”

  “I hear some weather is coming in. You guys make sure you’re stocked up,” Gabe said.

  Anyone who’d lived in this part of Wyoming for any amount of time knew that December weather could be unpredictable. You might be outside in jeans and a sweatshirt without needing a jacket, or you might get caught in three feet of snow. Everyone kept extra supplies in their house just in case.

  Gavin looked over at Lexi again. “Yeah, I’m going to make sure Lexi has enough groceries. She may not know how quickly things can turn around here.”

  All three men shook their heads.

  “What?” Gavin rolled his eyes. “You’d rather I leave her unprepared in all this? I know neither of you have lived here long, but you know what things can get like.”

  Gabe held out his hands in a gesture of surrender. “No. I’m pretty sure we all think it’s great. It’s just you and Lexi . . .”

  “What?” Gavin asked. They thought he was going to let actual harm come to someone because he didn’t necessarily trust her? “What about me and Lexi?”

  Jesus. Was that anger in his voice? He needed to lock that shit down. What was the matter with him?

  Finn shrugged and slapped him on the shoulder. “Nothing, man. It’s just that this is the weirdest courtship of all time.”

  “That.” Gabe pointed at Finn. “That, exactly.”

  Kendrick let out a huge laugh. “Oh my gosh, you’re so right.”

  Gavin crossed his arms over his chest. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not courting her.”

  “Oh, but you really are,” Finn said. “You’re always watching after her to make sure she gets home safely. You’re the first one to jump up and help out if things get too busy for her here. You’re the one who notices when she’s tired or hungry. It may not be a courtship, but you’re definitely protective of her.”

  He couldn’t deny that. Especially since he was about to go buy groceries for her. Again.

  “Fuck off.”

  Finn slapped him on the shoulder again, and he and Gabe left. Kendrick was sliding out of the booth too, but stopped.

  Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Got more to say about me courting Lexi?”

  “No, I need to ask you something.” His laughter from a moment ago was gone.

  It was strange to see the normally lighthearted and charming man look so serious. “What’s up, Blaze?”

  Kendrick didn’t smile at his appointed codename the way he normally did.

  He rubbed at his hair like he was trying to fix it, even though it was so short his hands didn’t make any difference. “Listen, I don’t want to ruffle any feathers or hurt any feelings, but I need to let you know something.”

  “Okay.”

  “That weekend Quinn was kidnapped, and I was doing all the computer searches to help figure out who had her, I did a little digging on Lexi. I was digging into everyone, trying to find any leads I could, so it wasn’t just her.”

  But he’d found something on Lexi. Gavin tensed. “What did you find?”

  “To be honest, nothing crazy. It wasn’t setting off red flags, maybe . . . pink ones. When I dug into her ID, it came back weird. Like, something more was there but I’d have to dig for it.”

  “Did you?” Did he really want to know whatever Kendrick had found?

  “No. At that point, I had much bigger fish to fry and time was of the essence. I had to eliminate her as a suspect in what was going on with Quinn and left it alone.”

  “Did you go b
ack and check Lexi out further afterward?”

  Kendrick let out a sigh. “It’s hard sometimes when you have computer hacking skills to remain on the side of the angels. Information is there, ripe for the picking if you know how.”

  And Kendrick definitely knew how. “So you did dig into her.”

  The man looked down at his hands. “No, I left it alone and didn’t dig deeper. Just because I can find information doesn’t mean I always should.”

  Gavin glanced over at Lexi. “Yeah, I’m learning that lesson myself.”

  Kendrick looked up. “But I thought you should know that there is definitely more, at least electronically, to Lexi Johnson than what is immediately available. I’m sure if you want Neo and I to dig, we can provide you more details about her.”

  Neo was both Kendrick’s love interest and greatest computer rival. It made for another interesting courtship.

  Gavin looked over at where Lexi was running beers to a table. She was holding her tray low and with both hands. That meant she was getting tired.

  How many days had it been since she slept? How many more would it be until she did?

  He wanted to help her. Wanted her to trust him. But she was never going to do that if he kept treating her like she was untrustworthy. He’d done it too many times already. Doing it again, now with Kendrick, would cross a line Gavin couldn’t get back over. No number of obnoxiously named drinks would make up for it.

  She looked over at him right at that moment and caught him staring. She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at him, straightening her shoulders. She didn’t want him to see her feeling weak.

  Damn it, he wanted to help. He wanted her to know he wanted to help.

  When she turned and walked back to the bar, he looked back at Kendrick. “Thanks for the offer, Blaze, but if Lexi has secrets, then she has the right to keep them until she chooses to tell them. I don’t want to keep screwing up with her.”

  Kendrick nodded, his shoulders relaxing. “Sounds good to me. I just wanted to make the offer. Now, speaking of bad weather, I’m going to chat with Neo and make sure she knows it’s headed this way.”

  “You still don’t know where she lives?”

  Kendrick shrugged. “Ironically . . . she asked me not to search. She takes her privacy very seriously too. I’m tempted to do it anyway because I know she’s got that info buried under so many different cyber layers that it would be a true challenge to figure it out, but like I said . . .”

  “On the side of the angels,” they both said at the same time.

  They shook hands and the other man took off. Gavin’s eyes were drawn to Lexi once again.

  He hoped choosing the side of the angels was the right one.

  15

  “What are you doing here, missy?”

  Lexi looked up from the billing invoices she was working on. Mac had made the decision to close the Eagle’s Nest because of the storm scheduled to come in later today. It was already snowing pretty steadily but was supposed to get worse in a few hours.

  Hopefully, the storm was what he was talking about, not the fact that she’d dragged all the paperwork out here to the booth Gavin always sat at. Because that somehow made her feel closer to him. And because she was obviously an idiot.

  “Just getting caught up on a few things, since the storm means I actually have time to do it.”

  “You’re supposed to be at your apartment before it gets too bad out there.”

  Good, he did mean the storm. She raised an eyebrow. “Mac, I live two blocks from here. I don’t have to drive, so I may as well stay and get stuff done as long as I can.”

  She picked up the coffee mug she’d been drinking from and walked it over to the sink to rinse it out, studying him. His grimace as he leaned against the bar spoke volumes. “What are you doing here? Driving in this isn’t safe.”

  Mac let out a grunt. “I was driving in this weather before you were born.”

  “No need to get sassy. I know you wouldn’t be here away from your beloved space heater if there wasn’t a reason.”

  He shot her a little sheepish look. “I knocked over my heart pills, and they went down the drain. I thought I might have some here.”

  “Which ones?”

  But she already knew. He wouldn’t be here unless it was the important ones.

  He nodded at her, confirming her suspicions. “The one Doc said I needed to have with me all the time.”

  She linked arms with him. “Let’s go check your office.”

  A few minutes later, they were both muttering curses. Mac had extras of all of his pills except for the thrombolytics he’d need in case of a heart attack or stroke. She held up the sticky note he’d written to himself. “Need refill.”

  He rubbed his eyes, his shoulders hunched. “Yeah. I thought that would remind me to get by the pharmacy but I’m not on that side of town very often.”

  “That side of town?” She rolled her eyes. “This town is only a couple of miles from one end to the other. You’d never survive in LA, Mac.”

  “Hmph. Don’t know why anyone would want to survive in Los Angeles anyway. Guess I’m going to the drugstore before this gets worse.”

  “Like hell you will. I’ll drive you home, then go get your prescription, way far away on the other side of town. You will immediately go home before this gets any worse and huddle in beside your pretty space heater.”

  “I ain’t dead yet, missy.”

  She reached over and grabbed the older man’s hand, running her thumb along his wrinkled, dark skin. “You took me in and gave me a chance, Mac. You didn’t have to, not even as a favor to Markus. So driving a couple of miles for you is no problem.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “But you’re going to drive my truck. No way you’re walking in that ridiculous jacket of yours.”

  She’d expected more of an argument. He must really not be feeling well. “I know. I know. I’m going into Reddington City right after Christmas to get one, promise. They’ll probably have some good sales then.”

  Mac grumbled the entire time as she helped him into his truck, then drove to his house. He’d moved on to talking about how terrible her car was for Wyoming weather, even with snow tires. Mostly she just listened since he was right, and there wasn’t much argument she could make. Her car did suck.

  They pulled up in front of his small house on the outskirts of town. Mac’s truck was much better suited for the Wyoming environment. It even had heated seats—true luxury.

  Oh, how her life had changed if she thought heated seats were true luxury.

  “What are you grinning at?” he asked as he got out of the truck.

  She winked at him. “Your fancy heated seats keeping my ass warm.”

  Mac hooted with laughter and climbed the rest of the way out. “You be careful.”

  The drive to the pharmacy wasn’t bad. The snow was starting to stick, and the wind was picking up, but it wasn’t a problem in the truck. She was able to find a parking spot at the front and ran quickly inside.

  She vaguely recognized the pharmacist. He’d probably been in the bar a couple times, but didn’t know the guy’s name. “I’m picking up a refill prescription for Mac Templeton. He accidentally spilled his thrombolytics down the drain, and we weren’t sure how long this snowstorm is going to last. His cardiologist said he should have some with him all the time.”

  “No problem.” The pharmacist took the prescription paper. “It’s a common issue with some of our elderly patients.”

  She walked around the store while the pharmacist was in the back. She had no idea how long Wyoming blizzards lasted. Did she need extra supplies? Would the power go out? Thanks to Gavin—nosy pain in the ass that he might be—her cabinets were better stocked than they normally would be. And the money she hadn’t had to spend on groceries over the past couple of weeks she could use for emergency supplies now. She grabbed a shopping basket.

  The drugstore didn’t have a lot of selection in terms of food, b
ut they had some nutrition bars. She grabbed a handful of those. They would be good if the power went out and she couldn’t heat anything.

  She walked down the next aisle, ignoring the magazines sporting people on the cover she’d worked with and had once called her friends. Not a single one of them had offered to help her out when she’d gotten in trouble.

  On one hand, she couldn’t blame them. The press had crucified her, and anyone aligning themselves with her would’ve been committing professional suicide.

  But on the other hand, no one had reached out, even privately. No one had been interested in hearing her side of the story—not that her reasons had excused her actions. No one had offered to help out when it became public that she was pretty much penniless.

  So looking at them on magazines now didn’t really interest her. She’d been shown more kindness from people in this tiny town who’d just met her than people who’d known her for years.

  She walked past the rest of the magazines without a glance. Farther down the aisle was makeup she also ignored—the one place she didn’t skimp was her makeup. It was too critical to her survival.

  She rounded the next aisle and found the feminine products. Didn’t need those currently either. Then birth control and sexual protection aisle. She grabbed a pack of condoms, calling herself all sorts of names because she could feel herself blushing.

  Why should she blush? She was allowed to buy condoms if she wanted. That didn’t mean she was going to invite Sheriff Redwood over to . . . show her his wood.

  She swallowed the laugh she couldn’t smother, which just caused a coughing fit.

  “You okay?” the pharmacist asked, walking out from the back. She shifted the bars in her basket so the condoms weren’t so evident.

  “Yeah.” She smiled at him. “Got a tickle in my throat.”

  “I have bad news. We don’t have Mr. Mac’s thrombolytics in stock. I called over to the Sublette County pharmacy. They have it, but they’re not doing any more deliveries because of the storm about to come in.”

  Damn it. “Mac really needs that medicine. If he doesn’t have it for multiple days, he could be in trouble.”