Part 3 (2/2)
Until she'd landed with Tipton Sweeny. But again, she'd missed so much schooling... .
”I felt dumb,” she admitted. ”Most of the kids knew I was older. Especially the boys.”
Cannon could imagine how they'd hit on her. With the way she looked, she'd have been every high school boy's wet dream.
She tugged at that lock of hair a little more before flipping it back behind her shoulder and putting both hands on the tabletop.
She did that often, catching herself and slipping back behind that mask of poise.
”You were so different,” she said. ”I guess that's why I always felt safe teasing you.”
Safe. An odd word to use. ”If it's any consolation, I had to concentrate real hard to resist you.”
Biting back a laugh, she nudged him. ”You are such a fibber.”
”It's true.” And now, being older, she was even more appealing. And he no longer had to resist.
Maybe gathering her thoughts, she sat silent for a moment. Tipton wanted him to be there for her, to make things easier, so Cannon waited patiently, giving her time-strangely content just to be with her.
When she looked at him this time, she kept her gaze deliberately direct. ”After that, I proved what a coward I am.” Loathing sounded in her tone. ”That was even worse than the infantile flirting.”
He was here for Tipton, Cannon reminded himself. But Tipton was far from his mind as his fingertips grazed her jaw, his thumb smoothing over her downy cheek. ”That's not true.”
Shying away from his touch, she leaned forward, her forearms on the table, her head dropping. ”The rest of you were strong and brave and all I did was fall apart.” Laughing, she covered her face. ”G.o.d, it still humiliates me to remember it.”
”Listen to me, Yvette.” He cupped his hand around her nape, his voice low, intimate. ”You were young and afraid. No one would blame you for that. But you didn't get hysterical. You didn't escalate things. So you shed a few tears. So what? h.e.l.l, I was shaking I was so p.i.s.sed off.”
Twisting, she faced him-and in the process she managed to move away a few inches. ”You shook with anger, I shook with fear.” For a brief moment, her eyes closed. ”I remember that day like it just happened. Those men breaking into the p.a.w.nshop, threatening me and hurting Grandpa, abusing that woman...”
”Shh.” Cannon remembered it all in detail, too. If he lived to be one hundred, he would never forget. How much worse must it be for her? ”They'll spend the rest of their lives rotting in prison.”
”Thank G.o.d.”
”Yeah.” The cops had been after the sick f.u.c.ks for a while. They were known for underground p.o.r.n, forcing women into s.e.xual situations and taping it for their own twisted thrills. They'd used the p.a.w.nshop to make one of their videos, gaining Yvette's and Tipton's compliance by dousing them in kerosene and threatening to set them on fire. Not because they needed the location, but because that had been part of the thrill for them.
Yvette worried that she'd been a coward; he marveled that she was still able to smile so easily.
”They'll never hurt anyone else,” she swore softly.
”No.” The two who had survived would die in prison. ”They're gone for good.” Before being caught, they'd twice gone after Yvette, breaking into Tipton's house with a twofold agenda in mind.
They had wanted to rape Yvette, using her in the p.o.r.n video.
And they'd wanted to trap the cops who'd been after them.
She clenched her hands on the tabletop. ”I want to see the lieutenant while I'm here in Ohio.”
”I'm sure she'd like that.” Cannon remained friends with the lieutenant and the detectives who had intervened that day. It was that friends.h.i.+p that had taken him to Tipton's house at the same time as the detectives. He'd been a part of it all, experiencing firsthand the helplessness and fear as the thugs repeatedly explained their plans to kill the cops and use Yvette.
Luckily, they'd been outmaneuvered and things had backfired on the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in a big way. Cannon had gotten in on that action, too, and the attack had ended with one of them dead and the other two arrested-but not before Yvette had suffered a living nightmare. No, she hadn't been raped, but she had been groped, threatened, terrorized and forced to watch the torment of others.
What Cannon remembered most about that day was how badly he'd wanted to protect her. He had avoided getting involved with her, but when he'd seen her so defenseless, when he'd felt her stark fear, it had all become very personal for him.
And somehow, through the pa.s.sing of three long years, it remained personal. His hand curled into a fist.
Leaning into him, Yvette ducked her head and covered his hand with her own. ”I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up.”
”We were both thinking about it.” He turned his palm over to twine his fingers with hers. ”We haven't really talked since then. Better to just get it out in the open.” And then hopefully they could put it to rest. He didn't want the ugliness always between them.
He wanted, eventually, to be more to her than a reminder of a living nightmare.
”Actually, that's why I'm here.” Carefully, she disengaged from him, straightened, sat properly.
”Here, in Ohio?”
She shook her head. ”I a.s.sumed you'd be here, at Rowdy's.” Determination squared her shoulders. ”I want you to know that I'm different now. I won't get in your way. I won't be a pest.”
Cannon frowned. ”I never said-”
”I can take care of everything, so you don't need to be involved.”
He didn't understand her. Worse, he didn't understand himself. ”What if I want to be involved?”
That stymied her.
Her lips parted but no words came out. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip, and before he could think better of it, he cupped her face in his palm, used his thumb to rub that lush lip.
Her breath came a little faster.
Time to redirect, or he'd be kissing her right here in the booth-and that was something better started in a more private place. ”We have a lot to talk about, I know. But you look exhausted. How long have you been in town?”
”I was here for the funeral two weeks ago, but then had to fly back to Cali to take care of some things.”
”That's a lot of traveling. When did your flight get in?”
”I got here yesterday.” She sat very still until he removed his hand. ”But I didn't fly in this time. I drove.”
No way. ”From California?”
”There's no telling how long it'll take to get things settled, so I brought a lot of my stuff and my car. It wasn't a problem. I enjoy driving.”
”And sleeping in hotels?”
”Sometimes.”
No wonder she looked so tired. ”How long did it take you?”
<script>