Page 4 of All Wrong
“Aren’t you going to buy me dinner first?” Nick drawled.
“All right, smart guy, let’s go.”
Corinne looked on as the officer loaded him into the back of a cruiser. Nick’s eyes remained forward, his demeanor relaxed, as if this sort of thing happened every day. They sat there for a few minutes until the other police officer came out of thewoods, huffing and puffing, and got into the passenger seat.
Corinne’s heart was pounding as they drove away. Should she go back to the pavilion and tell someone what had happened?
She nixed that idea pretty quickly. If Nick needed or wanted help, he’d ask for it.
So, instead, she hastened to her car, got in, and drove into town.
CHAPTER TWO
NICK
Nick stepped out into the night and inhaled, filling his lungs with fresh air. He’d only been inside for a few hours, and the Pine Ridge PD was nice as far as police departments went, but his personal history with law enforcement had given him a jaded perspective.
He shook his head as he jogged down the steps. Mitch Torres was like a dog. When he scented a juicy bone, he could think of nothing else but getting his teeth on it. The problem was, the guy wasn’t too bright. He was anxious and overeager, incapable of seeing the bigger picture. One of thesedays, he was going to get himself—or someone else—hurt because of it.
Shit was going down right under the PRPD’s nose, and they had no idea. Nor could Nick tell them without involving AJ and Jackie, the two teens that had reached out to him at the fair. He wasn’t going to do that. Those kids had enough to deal with, and the last thing they needed was the police looking too closely into their home lives.
Torres’s prejudices and the PRPD’s shortsightedness were not Nick’s problems. But the kids that were being targeted absolutely were.
It was late. The street was devoid of moving vehicles and the sidewalk was empty, except for the occasional dog walker.
Nick turned right and pulled out his phone. First order of business: retrieve the evidence. Second: retrieve his bike before one or more of the carnies noticed it and decided to take it for a midnight joyride.
The fairgrounds were a good five miles outside the town proper, but there was no way he was calling Nicki or anyone else to pick him up. The last thing he needed was another interrogation. At least not until he had some answers.
“Hey. Need a ride?”
Nick slowed his stride and turned toward the melodic, feminine voice. The small SUV was parked against the curb, the passenger window down, the driver leaning over the console to peer at him from within.
Corinne McCain.What the hell was she doing here? Had she seen him come out of the station? Or worse, get hauled away?
“No thanks. I’m good.” He started walking again. He wasn’t in the mood for company or good deeds, especially not from her.
A vehicle door opened and closed behind him. Within seconds, he sensed her closing in. He was always aware of his surroundings, but he was particularly sensitive to her presence. That was one reason he tried to avoid her whenever possible. Extended family gatherings were brutal—and not just because she looked at him like he was some kind of thousand-piece jigsaw she wanted to put together.
Too many pieces missing for that.
A whiff of that subtle, clean fragrance hit his nose, the one he associated solely with her. It smelled like sun-dried laundry and night-blooming jasmine. Cool sheets and hot skin and?—
“How about I give you one anyway?” she said, falling into step beside him.
He kept his head down. “My place isn’t far.”
“Yeah, but you’re not going to your place, are you?”
He stopped so suddenly that she took a step past him and had to double back, placing herself directly in front of him. This close, he could see the light smattering of freckles over her slightly upturned button nose and the tiniest hints of lines at the corners of her pretty blue eyes. Rather than detract from her beauty, they added to it.
It pissed him off.
He stared down at her and curled one corner of his mouth up in a smirk. “Oh? Know where I’m going, do you?”
Big blue eyes peered up at him, the color of a perfect summer sky. A blush was barely visible in the streetlight, turning her peaches-and-cream skin into a lovely rose gold. When he’d first met Corinne all those years ago, he’d thought she was attractive. As a mature woman, she was stunning.
“No, but I can guess,” she said. “You’re going back to the fairgrounds to get your bike, right?”
