The Vengeful Thief (Stolen Hearts Book 5) Read online

  No one lived there. He’d made sure of that over the years. The first thing he’d done with the nest egg he’d been building with Sterling was to pay off the mortgage on the trailer. Now all he had to do was pay taxes. The rest of the trailer park was in enough disarray that the disrepair of the trailer didn’t stand out.

  It was almost a shame. When he and Lacey had moved in, it had been a nice place. Gardens and a community playground. They’d envisioned Josh growing up here. Playing with the neighborhood kids and scraping his knees in the woods out back. Now, judging from all the piles of junk around him, if any kid came to him right now with a scraped knee, he’d immediately take them to the hospital to get a tetanus shot.

  Figures that without Lacey around, the entire place would go to shit.

  He wondered what the inside looked like. Had Lacey’s family ever bothered to take her stuff? Not that they’d been too sentimental about her death. They’d written her off the second she’d become pregnant by a son of a bitch like him.

  He remembered being so jealous of them after she died. They’d already had a year to distance themselves from her shining light. When he lost her, the darkness had been so sudden and all-consuming. He envied their ability to act as if nothing had changed. To act as though the entire world hadn’t been destroyed.

  He walked the bike back and berated himself for even coming here. This had been a mistake. He should treat this like any other job. Find Josh. Find who tried to take him. Ensure they weren’t breathing anymore. Go home.

  No use stirring up old shit and memories while he was here. As far as he was concerned, this town was dead to him and he was dead to this town. So it was time for him to find the only person here who might know he was still alive.

  He revved up the bike and kicked up gravel as he left the trailer park behind him. It was only a few miles until he was in a much better part of Laurie Falls and made it to one of those fancy chain restaurants that had opened since he left.

  In the time since he’d left this place, he’d been all around the world. He’d eaten in the diviest of dive bars and the most upscale restaurants whose charge for one plate totaled more than the mortgage on the trailer. And this place was the epitome of average.

  It looked clean enough on the outside, and it probably was. On the inside, the walls were filled with kitschy pictures of pop culture icons and various household items that had no place being a decoration on a wall. It was supposed to feel homey and personal, but it just seemed wrong to him. He knew some designer on the corporate payroll had probably bought a few hundred of everything on the walls so each of the branches of the restaurant would look the same.

  But it was new and that meant it was popular in Laurie Falls.

  It was mid-afternoon and already over half the tables were full. The smiling hostess’s eyes widened when she saw him walk in, his heavy riding boots clunking on the wood floors.

  “Hello,” she said with a mixture of cheerfulness and wariness. “Would you like a table?”

  He smiled at her, trying to put her at ease as much as possible. His intimidation factor had its benefits but not when talking to a high schooler working a crappy restaurant job, just trying to make ends meet. “No table. I’m looking for someone. Melissa Slade. I heard she works here.”

  The girl eyed him and he could practically see the moment that recognition hit her even as she blinked away the impossibility. “Do you know her?”

  “I’m family,” he said honestly, staring down the girl. He wasn’t trying to scare her now. He just wanted to make sure she told him the truth.

  “Um...” said the girl, obviously flustered with the attention. “Melissa is off today. She usually does day shift Wednesday to Sundays, but traded with Stephanie for today.” She blinked rapidly a few times, seemingly surprised at herself for telling a strange man personal information about a coworker.

  Slade nodded and glanced at the restaurant, a quick verification that Melissa wasn’t there. But it was useless. He already knew the hostess was telling him the truth. He’d been lied to by a much higher caliber of bad guy than this innocent, and he could spot the signs of an inexperienced lie from a mile away.

  He nodded in thanks before he backed out of the restaurant and let the door fall shut behind him. He’d hoped to see Melissa while she was alone and away from Josh, but he would apparently have to pay a visit to the family home.

  Once he was outside, he pulled out his phone and dialed Gage’s number. As soon as someone picked up on the other end, he said, “Where are you?”

  He could hear Gage’s annoyed snort through the phone. “Where am I? Where the fuck do you think I am? I’m in the middle of bum fuck nowhere, going on no sleep. Where the hell are you?”

  “I’m in Laurie Falls waiting for my oh-so-dependable backup to arrive.”

  “I, sir, am a law-abiding citizen and am following the speed limit in my perfectly reasonable automobile that you had me bring. How fast were you going on your death machine?”

  He chose not to answer the question about his speed and looked over at where his well-worn bike was parked. “You haven’t gone a day in your life when you’ve abided by laws. What’s really taking you so long?”

  “I’m no buffer.”

  “What the fuck is a buffer?”

  “The thing you bring with you during awkward family reunions. I’m not doing that, okay? You get your shit cleared and then I’ll roll in. No earlier.”

  “So if I needed you here to help with a more... intense problem, you’re telling me you’re not even in North Carolina yet?”

  “I’m not saying that. If you need me, I might be able to bend space and time to make it.”

  “You bastard. Where are you really?”

  “You call me when you need me.” Gage hung up before Slade could press him for any more details.

  Slade grimaced. He was going to be on his own for this one.

  After tucking the phone into his back pocket, he started for the bike. It was time to finally go home.

  Liv let out a sigh and fell back onto her bed. Why did her days off have to be so exhausting? Relaxing... she needed more relaxing. But between carting Josh around to his football practice and post-practice meet up and then to his friend’s house, combined with doing errands, studying for her upcoming test, and fitting in a few minutes to clean, a never-ending process when dealing with a ten-year-old, now it was nine p.m. And even though she knew most twenty-seven-year-olds would be wide awake, she was on the verge of passing out.

  Her eyes drifted shut and she forced them open again. No. She wasn’t going to use her entire day off to focus on other people. She deserved to treat herself. What could she do?

  There was some rocky road ice cream in the freezer. It wasn’t her favorite flavor, but damn if she didn’t love ice cream in any form she could take it. However, thanks to the busy day, she’d eaten nothing but junk food and macaroni and cheese, and if she topped that off with ice cream, her hips would never forgive her.

  Well, she could put in a movie. One of the action comedies that Josh loved so much. They were age inappropriate, but as his fun “aunt,” she had some duty to corrupt him a little bit.

  But even if it was the funniest movie ever made, she was going to fall asleep in the first thirty minutes.

  She glanced over to her nightstand. There was one other option to help relax her.... Deep inside that drawer, underneath some bills she’d been putting off and various other nighttime items, was a sorely neglected vibrator she hadn’t used in ages. The joys of living with a kid who didn’t know the meaning of the word “knock” and a roommate who happened to wear the same size clothes. Privacy wasn’t really an option.

  But now Melissa was out on a date and here she was all by her lonesome....

  A quick twenty minutes and then she could go to bed soundly, knowing she’d done at least one thing to take care of herself. She smiled at the thought as she reached over and pulled out the discreet, sleek silicone vibrator. It was not
hing fancy. She’d almost been too embarrassed to go through with the purchase when she’d wandered into the adult-only store a few years ago. But after she’d admitted defeat and decided that her dry spell wasn’t going to be over any time soon, she became convinced that she wanted to be “normal” and have as many orgasms as most women.

  Melissa had since informed her that there was no such thing as a normal amount of orgasms, but they both agreed that more than zero was desirable.

  Melissa tried to rectify that by going out on dates with the few eligible men in Laurie Falls, but Liv had yet to meet a guy who could tempt her away from her celibacy.

  After verifying that the batteries were still working, almost to her surprise, she set the pink silicone down as she lifted her hips up and shimmied her shorts down her legs.

  Then she awkwardly put the toy between her thighs and turned it on. She’d never fully gotten the hang of this, but after a few minutes, her body took the lead and told her what to do. She let her eyes fall closed as the sensations went through her. In her mind, there was a large presence over her. A solid, comforting presence. Lips pressed against her mouth, then neck, then lower. She ran a hand over her breasts as the fantasy took on life.

  Her hips bucked as the vibrator hit her in a particularly delicious spot and she imagined wrapping a leg around her mystery man and pulling him in closer as he switched from one tight peak to the next. She could feel her nipples hardening and pressing against the soft fabric of her shirt, and she turned her head to the side, as though giving the nonexistent man better access to her neck and chest. Then her hand went lower as, in her mind, the man kissed a trail down her stomach until he reached right where the vibrations were taking over. She could feel herself coming closer and closer to the edge; she tossed her head back and blinked as the orgasm approached. Except the mystery man wasn’t between her legs anymore. He stood above her and stared down at her as she worked on herself.

  She gasped in surprise at the strange turn the fantasy took when she realized it wasn’t a fantasy. There really was the silhouette of a man standing over her bed and staring at her. One big scary ass man.

  And that’s when she screamed.

  Slade shouldn’t be surprised. If he’d been in the middle of what this woman was clearly in the middle of, he would’ve probably screamed too. Yet he found himself in momentary shock. He wanted to shut her up, but he already knew he’d overstepped too many bounds, and touching her after he had already entered her room without permission was a step too far even for him.

  He held up his hands as a sign that he wasn’t a threat, even though he knew the gesture was mostly pointless. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, even though he didn’t think she could hear him over the sounds of her screams.

  Then she bolted to the side of the bed and he saw the cell phone out of the corner of his eye.

  He cursed in frustration as he admitted defeat and bolted into action. She was fast, but he was faster. As soon as she grabbed the phone, he was around the bed and had both of her wrists in one of his hands. She tried to twist around to fight him, but as she moved and writhed, she just wiggled herself right where he wanted her. For her safety, obviously.

  The closer she was to him, the easier he’d be able to control her. Unfortunately, that involved tucking her in close with one arm around her waist, holding her flush against him while his other hand still controlled her wrists to keep her from twisting around or wildly swinging at him.

  Since she wasn’t wearing any pants, as she kicked at his shins, parts of her body writhed against parts of his. He had to grit his teeth and pull on all of his self-control to detach himself from what was happening and try to get some semblance of control over himself and the situation. “Whoa,” he said carefully into the woman’s ear. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “Well, you are!” she screamed before she slammed her bare foot particularly hard into his shin, a move that had to hurt her more than it hurt him. He stifled a grunt and gripped her tighter.

  “I’m not trying to,” he said weakly as he belied the words by pulling her wrists closer until she was completely held in his arms. The only parts of her that were free were now her legs, and even those kicks were becoming weaker and weaker as she saw how ineffective they were.

  But he knew she wasn’t becoming docile. On the contrary, he could see her mind working and calculating the next way she was going to attack him. He had to respect the fighting spirit in her, but at the same time, he didn’t want any trouble.

  “If you don’t want to hurt me,” she said carefully, “why don’t you let me go and let me—”

  She didn’t finish the sentence but he had a feeling it had to do with her current state of undress. He thought it would be a damn shame to see any part of her curvy body covered up, but he knew they wouldn’t get anywhere if he kept her half naked.

  But letting her get some pants on had its own set of troubles. “If I release you, you’re not going to go for your phone. We’re going to talk about this like two rational adults and then we’ll laugh about it. Got that?”

  There was a pause before she nodded, and he could tell she was lying out of her curvy little ass. But if he didn’t let her go, they sure as hell wouldn’t get anywhere. He released her and in one fluid motion bent to snatch up the phone that had fallen on the carpeted floor in the struggle. She immediately pulled her shirt down, stretching the soft fabric to its limit to cover as much as she could of her upper thighs and behind. Slade backed away and gave her room to get dressed without actually turning his back. Just because he had her cell didn’t mean there was no other way for her to reach for help.

  She glared at him as she grabbed some shorts— noticeably no panties, though—and pulled them over her hips. The pajama set was probably too big for her and looked as if some soccer mom who had long since given up on life should be wearing them. But the clothes still showed the curve of her breasts, and her hard little nipples poked against the fabric as though saying, “Look at me! Look at me!” and it took way too much effort for him to avoid that silent command.

  He started with the first and most obvious question. “Who are you?”

  She tilted her head and stared at him in shock. “Who am I? Who the hell are you? You come into my bedroom unannounced and put your meaty hands on me and you expect me to—”

  “I’m Peter Slade. This is my house. I’m looking for my sister.”

  If she’d looked shocked before, she was damn near flabbergasted now. She started to shake her head and backed away as she ran one hand up and down her arm. “No... Peter Slade is dead.”

  “That’s what a lot of people think. Where is Melissa? I know she still lives here. Who are you to her? Where is Josh?” He knew it was stupid to ask more than one question at a time while beginning an interrogation, but it was still hard for him to think straight after the strange introduction to the woman.

  “I, wait—I need you to go back. You’re Melissa’s brother? What the fuck gives you the right to just walk in here, even if you are related?”

  “I knocked. No one answered and the door was open so I took my chances. I figured this would be Melissa’s bedroom but instead I found you.” He gestured to the bed and went silent as a blush crept up the woman’s cheeks.

  Damn, she was cute before, but now that she was such a sexy shade of pink it was damn near unbearable to look at her.

  She must’ve been flustered too because she started to ramble a little bit. “I was here because this was Melissa’s parents’ room and she never felt right sleeping here. Besides, the room she took is right next to Josh’s, and when he was younger, she liked being closer to him and now that’s just kind of how things are and moving furniture is too much of a pain. Wait, I have no reason to actually think you’re Peter Slade and anyone could’ve told you what kind of bike he rides.”

  He frowned. “What do you know about my bike?”

  She shrugged and her eyes widened as though she realized she’d said som
ething wrong. “Nothing. I mean, I saw you in town earlier. At least I think it was you. Melissa said it was your bike but I didn’t think it was you because you’re, you know, dead. But now that you’re here and you’re obviously not dead, I’m starting to think that it was you I saw and that you still have your motorcycle, so that’s all I know about your bike, okay?”

  So Melissa might know he was in town? He shouldn’t be upset about that, but he was. He wanted this re-introduction to his sister to go on his terms. Shit.

  If he was screwed with Melissa, he could only hope that his introduction with Josh would go better. “Where is my son?”

  The woman scoffed. “You’ve got some fucking balls on you to call him that. That kid has idolized his poor deceased father for years, and now you’re going to roll in here and—”

  He wasn’t going to sit here and be scolded by this chick who knew nothing about him or his past. “Where is he?”

  She held her arm tighter to her side. “That’s none of your business, no matter who you are to him. Now get out of my house.”

  Her— Like fuck. “This house belongs to Melissa Slade. Who are you exactly?”

  She stiffened and he could tell he hit a nerve somehow, but he wasn’t really sure what. “I’m Olivia Marton. I’m Melissa’s best friend and Josh’s second mother. You know. To help replace his dead father,” she said with a pointed glare.

  What the hell was a second mother? That didn’t matter right now. “Just tell me where Melissa is. Josh is going to be with her, right?”

  She pointed a finger at him and opened her mouth as though she were about to start saying something, but then she shut her mouth and just glared at him. “I... I can’t.” She started past him. She was stiff as she passed, but some of that tension eased out as she realized he wasn’t stopping her from leaving the bedroom.

  Slade followed her down the hallway until they reached the living room. It was a far cry from the room he’d spent so much of his childhood in. The shag carpeting that had been outdated even when he was a kid was thankfully gone. The floor was now a laminate designed to look like hardwood. The furniture looked as if it had been nice and new a few years ago, but now had a few various stains that seemed to be in the shape of tiny fingers. Evidence of Josh.