See Megan Run (18 page)

"Afternoon, Shep," Aiden said, when his uncle
walked in. He waited to see what Shep would say. Nothing. Shep
nodded to Megan and gave Aiden a cold stare, but walked to the
back, to the jail cells.

He forgot about his libido. Not even Shep
ever passed up a perfect opportunity to chastise Aiden about his
actions. He guessed Shep was making up for the years his brother
had forgotten to give Aiden speeches on the opposite sex. Today, he
didn’t. Aiden’s frown deepened. "Can you give me a second?"

"I’ll be waiting in the Green Demon," Megan
said.

Aiden followed Shep’s steps until he found
him in a cell with the door open. Shep was lying down on the
concrete bed.

Aiden paused, and then it came to him.
"Nicole, told you about Taylor."

"Why didn’t she ever say something? I could
have had him arrested."

"A better idea would have been running him
out of town. Assault charges would have stuck for a while, but it
wouldn’t have changed his location. Nicole dealt with it the best
she knew how, at the moment."

Shep shook his head, and Aiden knew his uncle
wasn’t buying the explanation. Shep’s face looked to be made of
stone. Dread filled Aiden’s stomach. His uncle was steady as they
come, up to a point.

"Are you having second thoughts?"

There wasn’t a quick reply. Somehow he was
best man, caretaker, son, nephew, and fling. Add marriage counselor
to the list, and he’d be complete. Aiden leaned against the
bars.

"I don’t understand why, after all these
years, she didn’t tell me."

"You’ve just said it. What’s the point of
telling you after all these years?"

Shep sat up. "Is Megan okay? He didn’t do..."
Shep clamped his mouth shut.

"No, if he had, even then I’m sure she’d have
kicked him in the balls and called it fair and square."

Shep grimaced. "You were heading out, right?"
Aiden nodded. "I’ll be here when you get back, if you need me."

Aiden hesitated, not wanting to leave his
uncle alone with his thoughts. The man could think the simplest
thing to death, when the bottom line was he loved Nicole. Nothing,
not even the past, would change the fact.

"Don’t do anything rash while I’m gone."

"I could say the same, boy. I’m not blind."
Shep lay back on the cot. Aiden walked out of the precinct, and
unfortunately sex was now the last thing on his mind. He climbed
into his truck.

"What’s going on?" Megan asked.

"Trouble in paradise, but I think things will
pass." I hope things will pass, he added to himself.

"Should you be leaving Shep alone?"

Aiden glanced at the precinct in his rearview
mirror. "I have no idea." He only hoped there would still be a
bachelor and ‘ette party to decorate for when they got back.

*****

Aiden dropped Megan off at her car, watching
her hips sway their seductive song. He shook his head. Shep would
owe him big for walking away from her hips, her thighs, her
lips...her laugh. There was no deeper he could get. When she waved
to him and slid into her car, he had no excuse for sitting in the
middle of the street holding up traffic, if there was any, to watch
her drive away.

He parked in front of the precinct, preparing
himself to handle the problems he’d left behind to be with her,
because that’s exactly what he’d done—to be more honest, what
they’d done. They’d escaped with each other, avoiding the subject
of her leaving soon. He didn’t dare bring up the promises he’d made
to her when they were younger, nor how things went with her mother
when she got home the night before. It wasn’t because he was a man
of few words. He didn’t want to say the words that would change
their mood.
When are you going to be back? Are you ever going to
forgive your mother? Did you ever love me?
No, he wouldn’t ask.
He wanted the stolen moments.

Aiden glanced at the precinct. The light from
Shep’s desk lamp was still on. Hearing about Taylor was eating at
the man and the cop, both protectors, and for Shep, simply, both
sides had failed.

Aiden slid out of his car, wary of what he’d
face once he went in. He opened the door and had to do a
double-take. Shep’s feet rested on the edge of his desk, and his
eyes were closed. Okay, maybe he’d been expecting to see his uncle
in a fetal position, sucking his thumb. This was relaxed.
"Shep?"

"I heard you come in."

Aiden leaned against the door jamb.
"And?"

Shep sighed and opened his eyes. "If I ever
see Taylor again, I’ll beat the crap out of him."

"That’s it?"

"Are you deaf, boy?" His uncle was back in
fine form.

"I’ll see you tomorrow."

"Wait. I forgot to ask you where you were
going with Megan."

"It’s a surprise." Aiden turned and closed
the door on Shep’s muttered, "It better not be a nine-month
surprise." His uncle was definitely back in top form.

*****

"I’m still mad at you for not letting me keep
him," Lynne said to Megan the next morning.

"You don’t have to yell."

"I’m just saying if you don’t want him, I’ll
gladly take him. I have no problem with seconds that look like
him."

Megan flung her arm over her eyes before she
spoke the words she’d been trying to deny for the past twenty-four
hours. "I’m falling for him. Again."

"How sweet. High school sweethearts."

"This isn’t sweet. This is a disaster. This
is the end of the world as we know it. I can’t stay here. My brain
would leak out of my ears from watching the grass grow and talking
about how drunk the Baker boys got at Tessa’s. This is, this
is..."

"‘Wuv, Twue Wuv.’’"

Megan kicked her covers off. "No. It’s not.
It’s infatuation, combined with extreme, acute, sexual
frustration."

"You guys still haven’t finished the deed? No
wonder. I could have died from electric shock the other day."

"It gets worse. I’m starting to like my
family."

"Oh, poor you, finding out your family is
cool, in a straightjacket sort of way."

Megan sat up. "I have to get out of here. I’m
starting to get used to their easy, take-it-as-it-comes
attitude."

"You’re not being a control freak?" Silence
followed Lynne’s comment. Megan rolled her eyes and waited for
Lynne to put the phone back to her ear. "Who are you, and what have
you done to my boss?"

"Ha. Ha. I’m being serious."

"Okay, you might fire me, but I’m going to
say it anyway."

"No. Please, don’t." Megan settled back on
the million-and-one pillows on her bed.

"You’ve been denying yourself family for so
long that you feel threatened by your primitive instinct to be a
part of a community you have no control over. Hence, your control
freak issues. You showing up the other day was reminding yourself
of the security blanket you made for yourself when you left town. I
say, jump his damn bones, stay for the wedding, get the damn house,
and consider staying for the summer."

Lynne took in a deep breath. A sure sign she
wasn’t finished. Megan closed her eyes and waited.

"But that won’t work for you, because your
greatest fear is that Aiden will leave you and marry someone else.
You’ll have to sit back and watch him, because you’ll still have
the house, but no ‘Honey, I’m home’ kind of guy."

Megan waited, but that was it. "You’ve been
taking a psych class."

"Of course, but tell me I’m wrong."

"You’re wrong." Even though the thought of
Aiden marrying someone else made her stomach double-knot. Would he
touch his wife the same way he touched her? Kiss her with a passion
that would make her head spin, toes curl, breasts ache, and mind go
blank? Would he take her in the precinct, not caring whether they’d
be caught? Would he remember the type of flowers she loved?

She hated his wife, and the phantom woman
didn’t even exist. "You’re very wrong. I’m getting the house and
I’m out of here. I have a business to run, and I’m not going to
walk away from it on a whim. I’ve built up my whole life after
being kicked out of my mother’s home. I didn’t need anyone then and
I don’t need them now."

"That wife comment is killing you, isn’t
it?"

Megan narrowed her eyes. "You’re fired." She
tried it out for size. It had no force behind it.

"Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you at the
wedding."

The dial tone broke the silence in her room
until she snapped the phone shut. I need to get new friends. The
thought was followed by,
I’ve fallen in love with Aiden
.
Shortly followed by,
Shit
.

Chapter 17

When did it happen? Why did it happen? There
had to be something logical that Megan could undo, something that
would help her walk away from him, again, short of ripping both
their hearts out in the process. She groaned and lay back down on
the pillows. She’d come for the house and gotten so much more.

More.

She needed more of everything: more time,
more him, more of those moments where it felt like they were the
only two people in the world, more kisses, more caresses, more
painless options for leaving. She really didn’t want to leave him
behind, again. She really didn’t want to leave pieces of herself
here, again. But leaving was the only option. Staying would only
hurt her more. She refused to think of her father. Not right
now.

Megan blinked back the tears, knowing she
couldn’t have any of those things. She was leaving in less than a
week, and she was going even if she was broken and bitter at the
unfairness of her situation. She put the pillow over her face,
trying to stem the flush of heat that only sobbing could bring.
Silently she hoped the cold satin could bring her back to her
senses.

She loved Aiden. She had better keep her
mouth shut about it, too, and cut off all emotions that would show
how she felt. The least coaxing, and Megan knew she’d stay.

For him.

How pathetic and how scary, that one man
could reduce her to tears, to lust, to yearning so deep it was
painful. One man, and she’d lost her damn mind. Only one other man
she’d loved this much. And didn’t it still hurt? Someone knocked on
the door, jolting her from her thoughts.

"Come in," she said from behind the pillow.
She did not want anyone to see the breakdown of Megan Hazley.

"Are you trying to smother yourself?" her
mother asked.

"No."

She’d blown it with the quiver on the "o." No
matter how inept as a human being, Nicole was still a mother. It
seemed mothers could smell distress within fifty paces or across
continents.

In.

Their.

Sleep.

For a moment, Megan hoped Nicole’s skills
were rusted, or dead, or at least on their death bed.

"What’s wrong, dear?"

Nope. Still, in working order. "I’m fine.
Trying to take a nap."

"At nine o’clock in the morning?"

"As good a time as any." Megan clutched the
pillow more tightly when the bed dipped.

"Do you want to tell me?"

Nicole’s voice was soft and caring. Why
couldn’t she have said, "No wire hangers" or—even a better
one—"dirty pillows." Not that soft,
I’m-going-to-sing-you-a-lullaby-and-make-your-hurts-go-away
voice.

"There’s nothing to tell. Nothing." This time
the "ing" betrayed her by going up an octave.

The tug was soft at first, then harder, and
Megan had to grip the pillow to keep it in place. Then the pillow
was abruptly pried from her fingers, and Megan was greeted with the
shock registering on her mother’s face. "You’ve been crying. Who
did it? I swear I’ll kill them." She looked around as if to find a
murder weapon.

Megan laughed. "No one did anything."

Nicole leaned over her, suspicion clouding
her eyes. "Are you sure? Because Chandi—"

"Mom." Megan said, and that seemed to take
the fight out of Nicole.

"You just called me ‘Mom.’ Not Mother, or
Lady. Someone did something to you."

I fell in love
was too corny for
Megan, so she kept it to herself. "No one did anything. I’m fine.
No, I’m not fine, but I’ll be okay. I’m the same. You’re...a little
different."

Megan took a deep breath, feeling steadier
now. If Nicole kept doing her mothering thing, Megan would spill
the beans. That was the last thing she needed. "If I don’t say
anything else to you from the heart, I’m going to say this, and I
want you to hear me out."

Nicole leaned forward, the perfect picture of
comfort and home, and of a mother listening to her daughter for the
first time. "And it is?"

"Peasant skirts are out of season."

Nicole blinked and then threw the pillow back
at her. "I should never have told you to stay sarcastic." Still,
Nicole chuckled. "I came up here to let you know Aiden called and
wants you to be ready to go decorate Sadie’s Hall. He’s not on duty
until three, and then he gets off around eight. He’ll be here in
thirty minutes."

"I’ll be ready," Megan grumbled.

Nicole turned to leave, then stopped. "If you
ever want to talk about what’s in season, know that I’m here."

Megan smiled. "Okay."

*****

"Real men don’t decorate." Aiden said to
Megan as she handed him a balloon to attach to a table. "I’ll move
the tables, I’ll set up the stage, leap from one building to the
other in a single bound, but decorate I won’t."

"You’ve been hanging out with your uncle
Butch too much." And because he had, he took the ring-shaped
balloon. "Much better," she added.

Megan finally cracked a smile. He hadn’t
wanted to ask what was wrong, because he’d likely get a blanket
answer. Trying to break Megan out of her melancholy was much like
leaping from building to building. He ruled out the possibility
that having to decorate had put her in such a mood. It was the last
thing they had to do for the party. He’d filled his truck with the
liquor and unloaded it behind the makeshift bar for Tessa. "You’re
welcome, and I hope you’re ready for tonight."