Warm skin, hair smelling of sunlight and heat, the soft beat of another heart. Pacey raised his hand and stroked back the soft strands, trying to quiet the silent whisper of tears. He felt everything suddenly. The scratchiness of the blanket that had been draped over him during the night, the breeze that pushed the air conditioning around the bedroom, the puffs of breath that danced across his chest.
His fingers tightened slightly, applying more pressure as he stroked the short hair. “You don’t have to be so quiet.” He didn’t recognize his voice. It was rough and coarse, deeper than he remembered. When had he changed? Yesterday morning? Or had it happened overnight?
“I...” Jack gave up on responding, attempting to pull away. Pacey refused to let him, holding him against him.
“I don’t need to know your reasons, Jack. Just cry.” His voice had softened, back to its normal pitch and timbre. “Eventually, I imagine I’ll do the same. Consider this payment in advance for the rent of your shoulder.”
“I’m not crying about Andie,” Jack’s voice was tortured, shame lacing it. “I can’t cry about her yet.”
“What’s wrong?”
Jack pulled away as Pacey released him, settling back against the headboard. Pacey shifted as well, adjusting the blanket that lay low on his hips as he did so. Jack’s eyes were dark, tears glistening. “Do you know you’ve seen me cry almost more than anyone else in the world?”
“I’ll note that in my personal record book.” Pacey gave him a small grin. “But hedging around the subject isn’t going to make you feel any better.”
“Laughing might. You can make me laugh, Pacey.” His eyes pleaded, wanting something more to shine from them.
“About the only laughter I have in me is bitter, Jack.” Pacey reached over and grabbed his brother-in-law’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Please tell me? I could use someone else’s problems right now. I don’t particularly want to face up to my own.” When Jack didn’t say anything, Pacey sighed. “We could start with how you ended up in bed with me instead of whoever it was you went to see last night.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Jack...”
He shook his head and slid off the bed, grabbing for his jeans. “I said I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Right. But you climbed in here with me last night; you woke up crying on my chest. That’s fine. I don’t mind being there for you, but it’s not going to get any better if you don’t talk about it.”
“All right, Pace. Why don’t you tell me how you feel about the fact that you found your wife dead on your living room floor yesterday morning.” They both froze as the cold words filled the room. Pacey swallowed, his face still as his blue eyes held Jack’s. “I’m sorry.”
“Everybody’s sorry.” Pacey got off the bed, wrapping the blanket around his waist. Grabbing his bag from where he’d left it beside the bed the night before, he headed for the bathroom.
“Pacey.”
He turned and met Jack’s gaze once more, only this time there was nothing in his eyes. No anger, no hurt, no hate. “I’m going to take a shower. And then I’m going to get out of your hair.”
Jen looked up from her desk as her office door opened. “What is it, Beth?”
“There’s someone here to see you.” Beth shrugged.
“Someone with an appointment?” She gave her secretary a half smile. “Or someone you knew I’d refuse over the intercom and just thought I should see.”
“You need to see him.”
“I do?”
“Quickly. Because I don’t know how well some of your other clients might take to seeing him sitting there in the waiting room.” Beth tilted her head slightly, beckoning Jen to look out into the lobby. Rising from her seat, Jen walked over to the door and glanced past the younger girl.
“Ah.”
“Should I send him in?”
“Go ahead. And you might want to cancel my next appointment if you can. It’s just a meeting with Henderson, so see if you can reschedule for this afternoon, okay?”
“Okay.”
Jen moved back behind her desk, putting some space between her and her next client. When he walked in the door, she managed a smile, wondering if she might actually seem relaxed and calm about the whole situation if she pretended she was someone else. Staying on her feet, she nodded as he closed the door behind him. “Hello, Officer.”
“Ms. Lindley.”
“And what can I do for you this morning?” She smiled thinly.
“It’s business, Jen.”
“It’s business? Then it’s Ms. Lindley.” She sat down, not inviting him to do the same. “And I don’t know that I have anything to say to you. My clients are confidential, as are all their records.” She picked up her letter opener, smoothing her thumb over the sharp tip. “We’ve been over this before.”
“It’s not that kind of business.” The officer shifted slightly in his seat, having followed her lead. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to pull off her cool nonchalance. “We’re investigating a death. An apparent suicide. However, there are a few things that we have to check out, since some information has come to light in the wake of her death.”
“A client of mine?”
“No. Apparently...apparently a friend.”
Jen raised an eyebrow curiously. “What exactly are you talking about?”
“Andie Witter killed herself yesterday.”
Jen froze, her eyes wide. “What?”
“I’m sure that you’d have rather heard the news from a friend, but there was something...” he paused. “Mrs. Witter had one of your business cards in her hand when she died.”
“I’m a psychiatrist. It’s not that unusual.”
“Yet nothing in Mrs. Witter’s affects indicates that she was a client of yours.”
“As you said, she was a friend. Perhaps she just needed someone to talk to.”
“If she was a friend, wouldn’t she have expected you to be at home on a Saturday morning? Why would she have tried to call your office.”
“I don’t know.” Jen gave him a cold glance. “Perhaps she tried my house and, finding no one there, decided to call my office.”
“Were you not home on Saturday morning?”
“No. Unfortunately, I’d spent the night before up with a very sick daughter. And in the morning, since her illness didn’t seem to be getting any better, I took her to her doctor’s office.” Her eyes were brittle. “Which you would know if you ever bothered to come home anymore.”
Daniel sat across from his wife, guilt shadowing his eyes. “I’ve been working a lot.”
“You’ve been fucking a lot, Daniel.” Her lips were thin as she looked away. “My question is simply who it is this time. And why you even bother to stay married to me.”
“We have a two year old daughter.”
“So now would be the perfect time for you to leave.” Jen stood up, effectively dismissing him from her office as well. “Before she’s old enough to have it be traumatic. That’s my professional opinion as well, by the way.”
“Andie didn’t call you?”
“No. Andie didn’t call me. There wasn’t a message at the house, and there wasn’t a message here.” She gestured to the stack of pink papers that adorned her desk. “Don’t you think that I would have tried to reach someone? Called Pacey? Or hell, Jack for that matter?” She nearly smiled as her husband flinched as she mentioned Jack’s name. “How is Jack?”
“Handling it.”
“Badly, I would imagine. Especially with so much else on his plate.” Jen walked around her desk to the door and stood there, her hand on the knob. “If anything comes to light in regards to Mrs. Witter, I’ll certainly give you a call. Officer.”
Daniel stood up and walked toward her, his gaze traveling over her. She wore a black suit and a cream silk shirt underneath it, cut just low enough to hint at the luscious curves she hid beneath. “I’ve missed you, Jen.”
“Fuck you, honey.”
He caught her hand before she could open the door and pinned her to it, caressing her cheek with his free hand. “You want to?” He drawled the words, sex far more of a weapon between them than the gun holstered at his hip.
“I don’t know where you’ve been.” She felt the heat rising in her, but refused to acknowledge it. “Of course, that’s pretty much par for the course with you, isn’t it?”
Daniel lowered his lips to the curve of her neck, nibbling at the succulent skin, making his way up to her earlobe. “I’ve been working. Nothing more than that.” He whispered the words, hot breath like an elixir in her veins. “I want you so bad. I’ve missed you.”
Jen’s hands curled into fists, the ache inside her warring with the violence he always seemed to inspire in her. “Go away, Daniel.”
“I’ll tell you the truth,” he promised softly. “I’ll tell you what he did to me, what it felt like. And you can even call out his name if you want.” His tongue traced the shell of her ear and he smiled to himself as her body shivered.
Jen hated the weakness, hated her complete inability to resist. One leg wound around both of his, pulling his cock against her body, feeling the hardness press tight between her thighs. Daniel held her against the door, grinding against her body, whispering the words he knew she wanted to hear, no matter how much she denied it.
And as he lifted her skirt, aching to push aside the lacy panties she wore, he didn’t even care as she called out Jack’s name.
| Chapter Five |
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