Page 17 of Unveiled

Chapter Nine

The jetted garden tub soaked away some tension, but it couldn’t wash off what happened at Stavros’s place the other day. Their dinner had been going so well.

Rush was amazing, the food was incredible, the conversation stimulating. The prefect date. . .that wasn’t really a date. She’d opened up and was trusting Rush, even if it had been unintentionally. The sad moments felt good, too, for lack of a better word. It was therapeutic, and they’d connected. To be honest, she’d lost herself in the fantasy of her life and situation being normal until her bladder forced her from fiction to reality.

Tatum cursed herself for peeking into the dining room on her way back from the bathroom. Sitting with his friends like he didn’t have a care in the world was the father of the face of her nightmare. The man she suspected twisted her parents’ last wishes, and maybe even had a hand in their deaths. Cyrus Blankenship, and he was breaking bread with the police and politicians and others she didn’t recognize but was positive had influence.

Initially, her panic was he somehow saw her or knew she was there. Then her panic turned to a flaming ball of fear, anger, rage, and nausea, and a million other emotions she couldn’t begin to separate out of the mashed-up mess she’d been suppressing for far too long.

Every suspicion she had turned more solid as she watched him laugh without a care in the world. There wasn’t a bit of worry on his face for his almost daughter-in-law who disappeared without a trace.

The man twisted my parent’s words and trust, but I was too entrenched in grief to see what was right in front of my face.

Between the overheard conversations and the look on his face the other day, any doubt that Cyrus wasn’t deeply involved were dissolved. The question that plagued her still was why did they want the funeral home so badly?

Winston and Family was in the black, but no one was ever going to get rich from it. So why go through all that trouble? Why lie in the will? She was already set to marry. . .he’d told his father she’d called off the engagement because he couldn’t keep his dick to himself.

Nothing added up. Tatum needed to do some digging, and she may need Rush’s help to do it. She wasn’t ready to trust anyone else at Cole Security yet, but she did trust Rush, as much as she was capable of in the present, anyway.

That thought caught her off guard. She hadn’t trusted anyone fully in so long it felt foreign to her. She slid underwater to drown out the thoughts and analysis of what that meant for her heart. Tatum was terrified of trusting a man again. She was still afraid to tell Rush who she was. What if he said her name to someone at Cole and they were connected to the Blankenships? Maybe he could help her get some info without excessive explanation to anyone else.

Seeing Cyrus with the influential people of the town at lunch drove home the fact that trust could get her back under Dale’s thumb or worse, dead. She surfaced to her name in that deep voice that did things to her in all the right places.

She blinked away the droplets to see Rush’s head pop through the door, looking above her, not at her.

“Sorry, I’m not looking, but I knocked and no answer. I was worried. You’ve not been yourself since Stavros’s place.” It melted her heart that he cared enough to check on her and he was trying to be a gentleman. Failing, because his eyes kept drifting down, but trying.

“You’ve already seen all of me, more than what is covered by bubbles right now, so you might as well come on in.” Tatum couldn’t believe she’d just basically invited Rush to watch her bathe. She chalked it up to the stress and weirdness of her life at present.

Rush came in, but instead of sitting on the toilet, he slid down the wall next to the tub. Their heads were close, but he was looking away and she couldn’t see him either. It was as if he knew it would be easier for her to talk if there was an illusion of distance.

It was then she realized that wasn’t the first time he’d given her space while still listening. And another piece of my heart belongs to the man who doesn’t even know my real name.

Tatum relaxed back in the bath and silence reigned through the bathroom. Rush didn’t push. “I saw my would-be father-in-law in the restaurant the other day when I went to the bathroom.”

She barely got the last syllable out when Rush’s concerned voice cut her off. “Did he see you?”

“No. But it all hit me. He wasn’t acting like his son’s bride was missing. And if that wasn’t enough, he was with some pretty powerful people. It just made me feel alone, like there was no place I could go and not have it get back to them. Not even the police.”

This time when he spoke, he sounded hurt, and Tatum instantly regretted her choice of words. “I told you you’re not alone, you have me. Alone for you right now is a choice you’re making. Let me help you. Let Cole Security get involved. We have some powerful connections ourselves. But either way, you have me, if you want me. You don’t have to be alone.” Tatum knew what he meant by his words, but a small part of her heart put her fantasy on them instead of his reality.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just. . .hard to explain. You feel like the only thing keeping me anchored right now. If not for you I’d be adrift. I’m sorry I’ve put that on you. You didn’t ask for it, but there it is, and it scares the holy hell out of me.”

Tatum had no intention of speaking those words, hell, she hadn’t even realized she meant them. She felt ridiculous and surely Rush would find her so, since they hadn’t known each other long.

Rush’s hand rested on the side of the tub. He was searching for a connection, just like she was. Tatum took it in hers, interlacing her wet fingers with his. She heard him sigh.

“I may not have in the beginning, but I’m asking for it now.” His voice was low, barely above a whisper as his fingers nervously played with hers. Could she do this? In the midst of all the horrible bullshit, could she maybe start something with an amazing man she basically met by squatting in his house? “I just want, need, to help you.” The last was breathed, not actually spoken. She suspected he wasn’t talking to her at all.

Answers to her internally posed questions didn’t come. She wasn’t sure if they ever would, but she could at least let him help her. Let him in a little and see how it felt to rely on someone.

She was terrified to acknowledge how she was feeling for a multitude of reasons. Front and center was, what would Rush think? Would he believe she only cared because he was the first guy after a failed relationship? Or because he wanted to help? The last thing she wanted was for him to feel used. He was already a bit of a mess over infidelity and blamed himself. She wouldn’t add to his pain.

“I could use a little help. I’m not ready to meet anyone from Cole, but I wouldn’t mind exploiting a benefit or two from your association.”

Rush’s slow rumble of laughter echoed off the tile. “Exploit away. What type of benefit are we talking about?”

“Well, I need to do some digging. Access to more information than can be found on social media or Google would help tremendously.”

---