Page 85 of The Ice Queen in the Corner Office

I couldn’t just smile and pretend everything was okay. “I’m not mad. You did what you thought was right.” He still looked doubtful. I tried to wake up enough to make sense. “It’s just that the choice you made, it showed me that you aren’t in the same place I am. You aren’t ready to be serious about me.”

He scrubbed a hand over his face and when he looked at me, he was angry. “You know what I think? I think you were looking for any excuse to say we’d never work. I made one mistake and you’re ready to say we’re over, you aren’t even willing to give me another chance.”

Now, I was confused. “Is that what you want?”

A loud knock at the door interrupted him. He got off the bed, something like relief in his eyes, and stood. “That’s probably—”

“Alex. We know you’re in there,” a male voice, Fin’s probably, yelled. “Your dad’s here. He needs to talk to you.”

“Can it wait?” Alex yelled back.

“No, man,” Fin said. “It can’t wait.”

Fin’s tone had been too somber and serious to ignore. Alex went to the door.

When I stayed on the bed, he turned back. “You’re coming with me.”

I looked down at my wrinkled clothes, I knew my hair had to be just as bad. “I’m not in any state to meet your father.”

“I want you with me,” he said. “Please?”

I ran a hand through my tangled hair and climbed out of bed. I wanted to ask for a few minutes to rinse my mouth and wash my face, but there was an urgency and a tension in the air and in the expression on Alex’s face that meant worrying about the way I looked wasn’t the highest priority.

I wasn’t sure what we were anymore, if we were ever going to be a couple, but I still cared for him, loved him so much it hurt. If he said he needed me, I was going to be there.

Fin’s smile was sad, he gave us each a nod and led us to the main house. An older man sat in an antique-looking chair, his jeans and t-shirt and scruffy face making him far too modern for the decor.

His expression, the severely down-turned mouth and sad eyes made me stop in the doorway and reach for Alex’s hand.

He pulled away from me.

I watched as his expression darkened, his mouth turning down in a hard line, his jaw tightening, his entire focus on his father. If I’d felt out of place before, I felt doubly so in that moment, but I wouldn’t leave Alex. He’d asked me to be there, and I’d stay.

Alex walked over and sat on the couch nearest the chair. He didn’t hug his father, didn’t even say hello, just sat, silent. I stayed where I was, not wanting to encroach on their moment, staying near only if I was needed.

Alex’s father looked over at me and gave me a sad smile. “You must be Jill. I’m sorry to meet you on such a sad occasion.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Owings.”

“Why don’t you come on in and have a seat?” he said.

I sat next to Alex, but he didn’t glance my way, didn’t acknowledge me, just kept his gaze on his father. His left knee bounced at a frenetic rate, tension rolling off him in waves. I put my hand on his knee and he stilled.

“What happened?” Alex asked.

Mr. Owings sighed. “They found your brother, son. He hadn’t gone far, the idiot was gambling in Atlantic City, making a spectacle of himself.” Mr. Owings shook his head. “Didn’t even have the sense to go all the way to Vegas, to lay low. No, he wanted more money, probably had some scheme for setting himself up for life.”

“They killed him,” Alex said, his voice hollow.

Mr. Owings nodded, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Police think they tried to hide his body, but they did a poor job of it. Hunter and Timothy and those guys might be small time, but they want to be bigger. They can’t allow someone to betray them the way your brother did.”

Alex laced his fingers together so hard the muscles in his forearms swelled and rolled, like he wanted someone to fight, someone to hurt. “You can’t go back there,” he said. “If they killed Ricky, they could come after you, after Willow again.”

“I’m not going back to the neighborhood,” Willow said, walking into the room and standing next to her father’s chair. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was pale, but there was no hesitation in her voice. Her mind was made up. “I don’t ever want to go home again. They took me from my bed while I was sleeping, Alex.” Her voice stuttered, and tears filled her eyes, before she swallowed hard. “I’ll never feel safe there again.”

“Where will you go?” Alex asked.

“Maybe I’ll stay in Catalpa Creek for a while. There are three salons here. I figure I can get a job at one of them. Maybe I’ll take some classes at the university.” She put a hand on her father’s shoulder. “I was hoping I might be able to convince you to stay here with me. We could get a place in town, start over.”

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