“Come on, Fat Cat.” She pushed at his heavy butt. “I have to sleep.”
Surprisingly, he didn’t scratch her for her daring. He rose, stretched, and hopped off the couch, looking at her expectantly.
“Time to go have fun, huh?” She moved to the door, then paused. He wasn’t moving behind her. “Do you want out?” He blinked those yellow eyes back at her sleepily. “Last chance.” She yawned. “I’m going to bed.”
When he didn’t move, she shrugged, checked the litter box she kept on hand, then checked the security system, and moved to the bedroom.
She turned down the heavy quilt, flipped the light on low, and moved into the bed. As she pulled the quilt over her, she was surprised to feel a heavy thump at the bottom of the bed.
Lifting, she stared down at the cat as he curled at her feet, his eyes blinking back at her. Wary. Warning.
And her lips quirked as he growled at her.
“Night, Fat Cat,” she murmured, rather enjoying the warmth against her feet.
She could get used to this, she thought. Just a little bit of affection. It felt good. As she drifted off to sleep, the thought floated through her mind that she somehow knew Alex would demand so much more.
More than that kiss.
More than just a little sex.
A lot of sex.
She didn’t know if she should be frightened or excited. But as sleep took her and the dreams began to filter through her head, for once they weren’t nightmares. They were Alex. Kissing, stroking her. Alex murmuring against her flesh. Alex. Demanding.
Alex sat in his truck and watched the apartment far longer than he should have. The street had cleared of traffic, the old center of town was empty, all but deserted at this time of the night, and he was sitting there staring at a woman’s window like a lovesick fool.
Hell, how had he let himself come to this? He hadn’t even done this crap when he was a dumb-fuck teenager. And it looked like he was about to get caught.
Hell. Sheriff Mayes’s cruiser eased up behind his truck as Alex laid his head back against the seat and hit the electronic locks to release them. A second later, Zeke was sliding into the pickup, his sheriff’s hat in his hand, watching Alex with a considering expression.
“I’ve sat out here a time or two and talked to Natches, one of his cousins, or his uncle Ray. But this one is a first for you, Jansen.” He leaned back against the door. “Something I should know about?”
Alex stared up at Janey’s window. “I’m a f**king dead man.” He sighed.
He trusted Zeke. Trusted him more than the Mackay boys did, and had no doubt anything he said would stay with Zeke. Another slipup. A year ago, he wouldn’t have given a damn. Nothing would have induced him to tell the sheriff anything personal.
Zeke turned his head, looked up at the window, then back at Alex, and let out a soundless whistle.
“Damn, Alex. Natches is as protective over that little girl as he is his new wife and that skinny kid he had brought out of Iraq. Are you sure about this?”
“No.” He was damned sure he was going to end up f**king her, no matter what he told Zeke.
“You’re fourteen years older than she is, Alex. That’s a lot of years. If you don’t have more in mind than a few hot nights, then you better watch your ass. Or your head. Because Natches is damned good with a sniper rifle himself.”
Actually, Natches was better at it than Alex.
“Yeah. I better be careful.” But not because of Natches. Fighting Natches wasn’t what worried him.
Hurting Janey. The thought of that bit at him.
Zeke sat silently then, staring up at the window with Alex.
“She tell you about the notes?” Zeke asked then.
Alex lifted his head slowly. He and Zeke were more than just friends. Before Zeke got out of the military, they’d fought together a time or two. They had more of a connection than Zeke had with the Mackay boys. Alex knew when Zeke was telling him something sensitive.
“What notes?” he asked carefully.
“Yeah, I was afraid she was keeping it to herself, especially after she made it a point to make me swear to investigate it myself. Hell. Damned Mackays. Every one of them is trouble in one way or the other.”
“What notes, Zeke?” Alex could feel the tension tightening in his body then, the hairs at the back of his neck lifting in warning.
“There’s been three in the past two months. Words cut out of the newspaper and taped to plain white paper. No prints, nothing unusual, no way to trace it. Always left somewhere she won’t miss them. The first was taped to the door of her apartment. The second shoved under the front door of the restaurant.
The third was shoved under her apartment door. All three warning her to get out of town. That a traitor’s slut wasn’t wanted in Somerset.”
Damn. Alex felt his hands curling around the steering wheel, tightening. Violence raged through his body, and the need to exact vengeance slammed inside him.
“Natches doesn’t know?”
“She made me swear I wouldn’t tell a single Mackay.” Zeke smiled at that thought of that. “I haven’t told a single Mackay.”
No, he was telling Alex. Alex slid him a furious glance. The bastard.
“So I get to spread all the good news?”
Zeke shrugged before pulling a plastic envelope from inside his jacket. “I was out looking for you tonight anyway. I was waiting for you to heal up a little bit before we talked. You’re still officially deputized with DHS last I heard, so this is your business.”
Alex took the envelopes. “Copies?”
Zeke nodded. “All three of them as well as the report where we dusted for prints. We didn’t find anything. But I don’t like the tone of those letters, Alex,” he admitted. “They worry me.”
They worried Alex now. And what worried him even more was the fact that Janey wasn’t telling her family about them. They could protect her, help watch out for her. Yet she was taking it on alone.
“You weren’t able to find out anything?” Alex asked again, even though he knew Zeke would have told him if he had.
“Nothing. And I’m worried about her. I hear the crap that goes on in this county. And I’ve been in that restaurant to hear some of the comments she gets. She’s like a damned robot in there, and people can be mean. They keep striking until they see blood. Janey doesn’t show blood. It could end up getting her hurt worse.”