Dalton, Tymber - Stoneface (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

Liam stood in the hallway, looking like he’d just woken up. He held his cell phone. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

He held up his phone. “Mom just called and left a voice mail. She’s heading over to the house to see if I wanted to go to church with her. Since she didn’t get me on the phone, she said she’s coming by.”

“Crap!”

“Uh-huh.” They’d stalled their mother with an elaborate series of lies. They’d gone out with friends. They’d been out walking. They’d taken a trip to the mall with Ruthie and Bob.

They were running out of excuses.

“How do you want to handle this one?” she asked him.

“As much as you aren’t going to like this,” he said, “by telling her the truth, that we’re in Rapid City looking for Amy.”

She leaned against the wall and groaned. Tim and Jack appeared in the doorway. “Everything okay?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Gwen said. “Just parental problems.”

“And we’ve got plenty of those to spare,” Liam added.

“Do you want me to call her?” Gwen asked.

“No, I’ll do the dirty work,” he said. “But I wanted to get our story straight.” He dialed, and Gwen heard it when their mom picked up almost immediately. She couldn’t make out everything her mother said, but suspected what she was saying.

“Mom,” Liam said, “don’t go by the house…No, I’m not hurting, I’m fi—No, listen, what I’m try—”

He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and took a deep breath as their mom rambled for a moment.

“Mom, listen to me, would you? We’re not at the house. We’re in Rapid City, looking for Amy…I’m fine, Mom, would you please listen to me?…No, don’t you dare call Gee and yell at her, she’s standing right here…Mom, would you…Mom…
MOM!
” he screamed the last one and Gwen heard silence descend on the other end of the line.

Liam took a deep breath. “Mom,” he said in the tone that Gwen knew meant he was struggling not to blow his top, “listen to me. For the last time, I volunteered to come out here. Gwen came out here first, then I followed to help her. She didn’t ‘drag’ me out here. We haven’t found Amy yet, but we have a friend out here who’s a police detective and he’s helping us look for her…No, we do
not
need you out here…No, we don’t think she’s dead. For chrissake, would you listen to yourself babble?”

He took another deep breath. “Mom, I’m sorry, but we think Amy might be upset about something and just wants some alone time, okay? Once we find her, we’ll let you know. Please, don’t keep calling and bugging us, okay? When we know something, we will call you and let you know. Love you, and good-bye.” He hung up. Before he could shut his phone off, it rang again. He sent it straight to voice mail before turning his phone off.

“You’d better turn yours off, too, or you won’t get a moment’s peace.” Before Gwen could even step toward the kitchen, where her purse and phone lay on the counter, her phone also started ringing.

She sent the call—their mother—straight to voice mail and then turned it off.

“Well, since we’re all up already,” Tim said, “let’s get some breakfast.”

* * * *

Tim cooked breakfast with Gwen’s help. After they all got showers and dressed, Tim and Jack took them out to the Badlands, to the drivable loop off I-90. Gwen loved the prairie dog town and the incredible rock formations. They headed back toward Rapid City, stopping in the tourist town of Wall to have lunch at the famous Wall Drug lunch counter.

By the time they returned to Rapid City late that afternoon, Gwen had barely spared a thought for Amy. She loved her and was concerned about her, but her sister was a grown-up and capable of thinking for herself. If she wanted to stay missing, fine.

It meant more time for Gwen with Tim and Jack.

They stopped by a grocery store before heading home to grill burgers on the back deck. Tim would leave for California the next morning. The depth of the pang that hit her soul at the thought of him leaving surprised her.

It was amazing how easy it was being with the men. She didn’t feel the slightest bit self-conscious going out with them in public, holding hands with them both, walking between them.

It felt right.

Going back to Ohio, even though her life was there, did not feel right.

She dismissed the thought and tried to focus on the here and now. And right here and now, she felt happier than she could ever remember being in her life.

Chapter Ten

“You sure you don’t want to fly out to California with me, babe?” Tim asked her Monday morning. “Let me show you the Pacific Ocean?”

She wanted to say yes. God, did she want to. But they had to find Amy. It wouldn’t be right for her to leave Liam there and for her to just take off with Tim. “It’s not that I don’t want to—”

“It’s okay, sweetie.” He kissed her. “I know you’re worried about your sister.” He held her tightly. “I’m going to miss you, but I’ll be back in a couple of days. Promise me you’ll still be here.”

She enjoyed the feel of his arms around her. “I promise.” She’d stay here forever with them if they’d have her.

Quit thinking like that, stupid!
she chided herself.
You’re already too much in love with them!

“I promise I’ll take good care of her, Tim,” Jack said in a playful tone.

“You’d better, Stoneface.” He kissed her one more time before he released her. Then he kissed Jack. “I’m going to miss you, too, buddy.”

Jack smiled. Gwen couldn’t get over how handsome he looked when he did that, so much different than his usual rocky visage. “Me, too. Come on, we’d better get going if you want to make your flight.”

She bid them good-bye and waved to them from the front door. She was walking past Liam’s bedroom door when he opened it, a bleary look on his face. “They gone?” he asked as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Yep. Coffee?”

“Oh god, yes, you beautiful thang, you.”

She giggled as she walked to the kitchen. Amy might be MIA, but she still had Liam.

She always had Liam. Despite his MS, he was her rock, her haven.

He made it to the kitchen by the time she had his coffee ready. After breakfast, she tried to sit down with her laptop and do some work. It wasn’t hard to craft a ménage love scene after the past several days of real-life experience. She stifled a laugh. Some of the things she’d written about in the past wouldn’t quite be physically possible in real life.

But it sure would be fun trying.

* * * *

Jack watched as Tim walked into the terminal with his carry-on bags. He always felt a mournful pang when Tim left. He knew he wouldn’t be sleeping alone that night, and Gwen was wonderful to sleep with, but he always missed the hell out of Tim when he had to leave.

And deep in his heart, he always carried the tiny fear,
What if he doesn’t come back?

He drove to the station. When he walked into his office, he found a message slip on his desk. He sat and stared at it for a moment before returning the call.

“I found that unofficial BOLO subject for you,” Ralph told him.

“Let me have it.” Jack jotted down the info, then thanked his friend and hung up. He stared at the phone. If he had found Amy, it meant Gwen would head home immediately, wouldn’t it?

It’d be wrong to not try to find her. Gwen and Liam deserve answers.

One of the benefits of living in a smaller town like Rapid City meant tracking down people who didn’t know law enforcement was on the lookout for them was a lot easier than in the LA area. After a couple of calls on Friday, he thought he had the name of the man she’d been with. That had allowed him to contact a friend of his at the airport, who gave him some rental car contacts, one that paid off. Amy’s rental car had been spotted at a hotel close to the airport. He signed out and drove there, showing his badge to the desk clerk on duty.

“I’m looking for one of your guests. Her name’s Amy Oxford, but she may be registered under the last name of Tamsin, or as Mrs. Robert Tamsin.”

The clerk tapped on her computer, then nodded. “Room 126.” She frowned. “Are they in some sort of trouble?”

“No, nothing like that. Just a routine welfare check. Paranoid family worried about her back home. She hasn’t checked in the past few days, and they were concerned.” He smiled. “I just need to pass her a message to phone home. They think her cell phone might have died. No trouble.”

The desk clerk relaxed. “Oh, good. We don’t want any trouble around here.”

Jack found the room. Before he knocked he grabbed his ID and badge. “Amy Oxford? Detective Jackson Kelly, Rapid City PD. I need to have a word with you.”

He held up his photo ID and badge so she could see them through the door’s peephole. He heard a soft female voice say, “Just a minute.” Then the rattle of the chain and deadbolt as she opened the door.

She looked pale and drawn, her blond hair limp. She resembled Liam and Gwen in the nose and chin, but if you didn’t know they were related, you wouldn’t suspect. “Come in.”

She wore an oversized T-shirt and sweat pants. He stepped in and glanced around. Other than her laptop on the table and cosmetics on the bathroom vanity counter, the room looked tidy. “I suspect you know why I’m here, Ms. Oxford.”

She sat on one of the beds and nodded but wouldn’t look at him.

He stood over her. “Your brother and sister are extremely worried about you. Not to mention they’ve lied to your parents to cover for you. What’s going on?”

She burst into tears. He waited her out as she composed herself. “I’m pregnant,” she whispered.

“What?”

She nodded as she sniffled. “I found out two days after I got here. I was worried I might be, then I couldn’t stand it anymore and bought a home test from a drugstore here.” She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “I can’t go home yet. I don’t know what to do.”

“Well, you’re almost forty, right? Don’t you think you’re a little old to be worried about what your parents will think? It’s not like you’re in high school.”

“Oh, you do not know my parents. They’ll flip out!” She sounded near panic at the thought.

Well, at least Gwen and Liam hadn’t exaggerated about that. Apparently the three siblings shared a common enemy. He sat at the table. “Liam and Gwen are really worried about you. What do you want me to tell them?”

“Tell them?”

“Yeah. When I get home today, they’re going to ask me if I found you yet.”

“What?”

“They’re at my house. Staying with me and my boyfriend.”

She groaned and fell back on the bed. “I’m going to kill her! She made Liam come out here with her? Goddammit!”

“No, actually, it was Liam who made Gwen come out here. She flew by herself. That’s how worried she was about you. Then they found out you were here with a guy, and she was terrified to fly home again. Liam apparently wanted to escape your parents badly enough he flew out here to bring her back, but they decided to spend a few days with us while looking for you.”

“But how’d they end up at your house?”

“My boyfriend is Gwen’s friend, Tim Ellis.” She looked clueless. “Ellis Books and Bites. He reviews her books on his store’s website. When she told him she was out here, he sort of took charge of her for Liam.” He smiled. “And that’s how your brother and sister ended up as our guests.”