Page 63 of After You

“That’s what Hailey Bennett called me in her email.”

Hannah looked up at him. “Excuseme?”

“Hailey was very excited about it. She wanted to put me up on the website.”

“You’re on the Sapphire Falls website?”

“No.” Kade frowned. “Mark didn’t want some big press release sending a bunch of people running to Sapphire Falls where there are only two cops and no one locks any doors or keeps any secrets. Like where their author-in-residence is working, having breakfast, and sleeping at night.”

Hannah laughed. “He was worried about a stalker showing uphere?”

“Hey, I could be stalked,” Kade said. “I’ve gotten really nasty letters and emails. And two death threats. And the police force in Laramie thought they had a guy who was copycatting Blood Peril.” He said it with the pride of a new father who’d just witnessed his child’s first steps.

Hannah gave him her you’re-not-in-touch-with-reality look. “Yes. They thought they did. For about five minutes. Because the one deputy had just read the book, and the guy they found had a roll of mints in his pocket and died—sadly, by the way—from carbon monoxide poisoning. But there was no foul play. Or psychotic basketball coach. Or voodoo priestess. And that was Wyoming.” Sometimes Kade forgot that people dying in real life was sad and often tragic.

“You don’t think people kill each other in Wyoming?” Kade asked, whipping his phone out again.

He was going to Google it. Hannah’s hand shot out to grab his phone. “Please don’t remind me that I sometimes think you’re a bad bagel away from becoming one of your sociopathic characters,” shesaid.

“All I’m saying is that letting people know I’m staying here in Sapphire Falls could be dangerous.”

She nodded. “Okay. You might be right. You do have a rabid fan base.” Who had put him on all of the bestseller lists several times. Even if Hannah didn’t getit.

Kade often reminded her of how cool she should think it was to be the best friend of someone so famous. After which, she would remind him that she really knew far too much about him to be impressed anymore. And it had nothing to do with his addiction to narcotics and everything to do with the fact that he listened to Elvis when he wrote his creepy, gory novels and ate oranges like he was trying to ward off scurvy. Not that she had anything against Elvis or oranges. Actually, she thought it was kind of sacrilegious to kill people off while listening to the King. Kade said that all that optimism and cheese and happiness in the songs made him homicidal. And the oranges…well, oranges were fine. But he ate four of them a day. That was just weird.

“Hailey said they’d keep it on the down low,” Kade said with agrin.

“You saw Hailey?”

“She stopped over here yesterday. WithLevi.”

Well, of course they’d stopped over. “And let me guess, you’re putting the guy in your book.” Levi and Hailey together? No one could resistthat.

“I’m basing a minor secondary character on him,” Kade agreed. “But he wants a biggerpart.”

Hannah grinned. “Well, watch yourself. Those two are downright scary in their ability to get people to do things.”

Kade seemed to consider that seriously. “I can see why. Hailey’s gorgeous. And so sweet.”

Hannah felt her eyes widen. Sweet? She wasn’t sure that was an adjective many people used for the ex-mayor and current Queen of Everything. Though Hailey did always have the best interests of Sapphire Falls in mind. And yeah, she was gorgeous. But Kade could be a challenge for her. He wasn’t from here and lacked a general give-a-shit that was, Hannah knew well, incredibly frustrating to go up against.

But there was no way Kade being here was on the down low. Nothing in Sapphire Falls was ever on the down low. Lucy, the owner of the little bookshop in town, had probably already placed an order for Kade’s newest release. There was a sort-of-but-not-really-secret book club in Sapphire Falls. They mostly read erotic romance, from what Hannah had gathered since she’d been back in town, but they might have thoughts of inviting Kade to a meeting.

Wait ’til the sweet—and even the not-so-sweet—ladies of Sapphire Falls got a glimpse inside the mind of the author who had been called “a more twisted Stephen King”. Yeah, that would befun.

“I hate your book,” she told him, tossing the pages onto the bed beside her and flopping back against the pillows behindher.

“Well, what’s new?” Kade asked. “But I don’t think that’s why you’re being likethis.”

“Likewhat?”

“Bitchy.”

She sat up. “Hey. I’m telling you that the guys here aren’t cowboys. That’s just a fact, Kade. That’s not about mymood.”

He continued to type on his laptop without looking at her. “It was more your tone of voice.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re such ababy.”

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