“Are you here every week?” she asked.
“Considering how short-staffed this place has been, pretty much every week.”
Great,
Alice thought. Just what she needed.
“Everyone loves you, Aunt Alice!” Mia exclaimed when the last parents and children were making their way out of the theater. It was the first moment Alice was able to spend alone with her niece.
“I just hope I can do the job.”
Mia giggled as if the idea of her aunt not doing a good job was ridiculous. “Of course you can.”
“Oh, Mia.” Alice pulled her close. “You have so much faith in me.”
“Of course. You’re the best.”
Alice remembered her sister’s words, that Mia idolized her. She prayed she was able to present a level-headed, positive image for her niece.
“Dad!” Mia exclaimed. Breaking free from Alice, she ran up the aisle and met her father as he walked toward the stage.
Chad was picking Mia up after the class today. Normally, he picked Mia up from home and
brought her to her class, then picked her up afterward and she spent the rest of the weekend at his house. It was an arrangement both he and Marie were happy with.
Her feet clad only in stockings, Alice wandered up the aisle to meet her ex-brother-in-law. She’d worn her high-heeled boots today—a mistake she wouldn’t make again. Barely an hour into the class, her feet had started to kill her and she’d taken the boots off.
Chad greeted her with a warm grin, followed by a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, Alice.”
“Hello, Chad.” While he hadn’t paid much attention to her in high school, he hadn’t been evil either, which had scored him points in her book. It was years later that she’d had the chance to get to really know him and form an opinion of him as a person. When he and Marie had visited her in Los Angeles, Chad had been genuinely sweet to her, congratulating her on the small successes she’d achieved and encouraging her not to give up. Finally getting to know him during that visit, Alice had ended up wondering why he had married her sister. They were complete opposites.
“You look wonderful,” Chad told her.
“So do you.” He was tall, lean, and unlike the last time she’d seen him, bald. The look suited him.
“I saw you on the news.”
“Already?”
“Yep. One of the local channels gave a snippet of what would come up later, and you were right there, front and center.”
“Wow.” Even though she was used to being in the spotlight, she was surprised by the attention she was receiving here.
“I’ve got to run, but it was nice seeing you again.”
“Likewise, Chad.”
“And hey, don’t be a stranger. If you ever want to get together for a drink or anything, let me know.”
Alice nodded. “Sure.” She wondered if that was a subtle come-on. “See you tomorrow, Mia.” She bent to hug her niece.
“Bye, Aunt Alice.”
Alice watched Chad wrap an arm around Mia’s shoulder and lead her up the aisle. It reminded her of her and her own father and the many times he had done the exact same thing when picking her up from this theater.
Lord, she missed him.
“Hey.”
A hand flying to her heart, Alice whirled around. And found herself facing Marcus’s broad chest. God, he’d snuck up on her again! Slowly she lifted her gaze to meet his.
One side of his mouth lifted in a grin. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Alice told herself that her heart was beating this erratically simply because of the scare,
not
because there was something about Marcus, something powerful and exciting. Something dangerous.
“It’s all right.”
“You’re not so tall anymore.”
“Excuse me?”
His gaze fell to her feet. “Without the heels.”
“Oh. Yeah. I took them off.”
“Not quite practical, huh?”
“No, not quite. Speaking of which.” She turned and walked back to the foot of the stage where she’d placed her stylish but impractical boots. When she
bent to slip them on, she saw that Marcus had followed her. For a tall man with a muscular physique, he certainly moved as quietly as a cat!
“I thought you’d left,” she said after a moment.
“I was in the office.”
“With Tanisha?” Alice hoped her sudden jealousy couldn’t be heard in her voice.
“She needed me to help her with some filing.”
Alice zipped up her second boot and stood. “You two are still close, aren’t you?”
Marcus shrugged. “Not really. But we’ve learned how to tolerate each other.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “She’s not the most organized person, and since I’d hate to see this place go downhill, I help out whenever I can. It’s a better alternative to kids finding entertainment on the street.”
“Serious Marcus who wants to save the world.”
“I do what I can.”
Alice slipped her purse onto her shoulder. “Well, it was nice seeing you again.” She’d hoped to sound friendly, but instead her voice had sounded pompous. She just felt so confused around Marcus. Unlike years ago, she didn’t know what to say, how to act. From some of his comments, she had the feeling he thought she was some sort of prima donna. Again, she felt a moment of sadness that she’d put distance between them. “Next week?”
“Maybe.”
“All right, then.”
She turned as quickly as she could, determined to escape. Never in a million years would she have predicted this, but being around Marcus made her uncomfortable.
Maybe it was the fact that every time she looked
at him, she remembered her silly dream that he’d one day love her. It was a dream she had long thought buried and one she certainly wanted to forget.
Outside, she hurried down the steps to her car. But as she rounded the driver’s side and reached for the handle, she froze as her gaze dropped. Then she pivoted on her heel and ran back to the theater as if the devil himself were chasing her.
Run, Alice, run,
Marcus thought sardonically as he watched her shapely form flee up the aisle to the exit. It was ironic that they’d once been close friends, considering she could barely stand to be around him now.
Maybe he shouldn’t blame her for running. He hadn’t exactly been the nicest person to her. He knew he had been goading her with his subtle comments about her acting, but he wanted to break through that tough exterior and finally reveal the vulnerable Alice Watson he had known and loved.
Sighing, Marcus made his way to the back of the theater and the exit. It had been a long day and he was ready to go home.
He opened the door and
oomph.
Alice ran right into the thick wall of his chest. He reached out and gripped her arms, steadying her.
Even before looking down at her face he knew something was wrong. She was trembling.
“Oh, God, Marcus.”
Concern sweeping over him, his hands moved up her arms until he grasped her by the shoulders. His eyebrows bunched together as he noted her quivering lips. “Alice, what happened?”
“My car. Somebody…”
Easing her aside, Marcus ran out the theater exit and down the steps to her BMW. Standing in front of her car, he checked out the rag top, the bumper, but didn’t notice anything wrong. He turned back to her. “What?”
“The front tire on the driver’s side.”
Marcus moved to the right and immediately saw what had scared her. A pocket knife was jabbed into the front left tire, holding a folded piece of white paper in place. “Christ.”
He dropped onto his haunches and examined it closely. Usually people just slashed tires, but someone had clearly wanted her to notice this. Digging into his back pocket, he pulled out the handkerchief and reached for the knife.
“Don’t,” Alice quickly said.
He paused, then turned to face her. “We need to see what the note says. Whether it’s meant for you or not.”
Alice dug her cell phone out of her purse. “Then I should call the police.”
“Lucky for you, a member of Chicago’s finest is right here.”
“It’s probably best you don’t get involved. I mean, you’ll have to do a report, and I’m sure you have better things to do.”
Marcus felt a spurt of anger. She was always pushing him away. “I don’t patrol this area, so no, I won’t be writing any report. Been playing a cop on television a little too long, hmm?” Marcus added with a hint of sarcasm. Cop dramas rarely got their facts straight.
“The show was called
Code of Honor
, and they happened to research everything in the script. I’m proud of my work on that show.”
“Really? I heard you quit because you wanted twice the pay per episode. Which would average out to about five years of my salary.”
Ignoring him, Alice shoved a pair of sunglasses on, then started punching digits on her phone.
“You certainly have your priorities straight. Can’t make a call if you don’t look like a glamour queen. I bet you have a different pair of sunglasses for every day of the week.”
Her bottom lip puffed out in a pout at the same time her fingers froze. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
Marcus stood. In the doorway of the theater, she’d been scared. She’d run back to him for help. But now the fear in her eyes was gone, replaced by stubbornness.
“What are you talking about?” He reached her in two quick strides.
“I don’t need your help,” she said, evading his question. She moved past him and bent to examine the damaged tire.
“Damn it, you don’t think you need anyone’s help, do you?”
“I don’t need yours.”
That infuriated him. “Why the hell not?”
She shot to her feet. “Because it’s obvious you don’t like me.”
“What?” Marcus asked, giving her a puzzled look. “Who said I don’t like you?”
“Marcus, you don’t have to deny it. I know our friendship isn’t the same anymore.” Her shoulders sagged and her voice softened. “I…I should just deal with this on my own. I didn’t mean to bother you.” She turned away.
He grabbed hold of her by her upper arms and forced her to look at him. But he was suddenly at a loss for words because he’d pulled her too close. Damn, he couldn’t think with her soft breasts pressed against his chest!
He wanted to feel those beautiful mounds of flesh against him, skin to skin.
Alice’s breath snagged as Marcus held her to him. Her nipples hardened against his strong chest and her heart pounded wildly. Being this close to him, her body couldn’t help reacting to his overwhelming sexual aura with excitement.
Slowly, she raised her gaze to his. Marcus’s onyx eyes sent a bolt of heat through her body. God, to be lost in that heat…
As suddenly as he’d grabbed her, Marcus released her.
Alice was silent and Marcus looked away. She didn’t understand what had happened between them any more than he had. All he knew was that something had felt incredibly right about holding Alice against him. But it had been so long since he’d had such intimate contact with a woman that he hadn’t been able to stop his groin from tightening. Before he embarrassed himself, he’d had to step away from her.
“See. That’s exactly what I mean.” A hint of dis
appointment sounded in Alice’s tone. “One minute, you communicate with me, the next you shut down.”
“That has nothing to do with not liking you,” he said from clenched teeth. He realized his tone would do nothing to comfort her.
She was staring at him, he knew, but with those dark designer sunglasses, he couldn’t see her eyes. He wanted to snatch them off her face. Still, he didn’t need to see her eyes to know she had sensed the sexual path his thoughts had taken.
“It’s not that I don’t like you. It’s just that you’re so…different now.”
She huffed and turned back to her car, and he was reminded that there was a bigger issue to deal with here.
He walked back to the car and once again bent beside the tire. She didn’t protest as he plucked the knife out. He unfolded the sheet of paper with the tips of his fingers. Written in red crayon was:
We don’t want you here. Go back where you came from or else.
Marcus gnawed on his bottom lip. The handwriting was large and sloppy, which led him to believe it had been exaggerated so no one would recognize it.
“What does it say?”
The fear had returned. Though he still couldn’t see her eyes, he could read her body language. She hugged her torso and shifted her body weight from one foot to the next. “You’re gonna have to report this.”
“What does it
say?
” Her tone went up a pitch, not from anger, but alarm.
He couldn’t very well keep this from her, though he felt the strongest urge to protect her as he once had when bad things happened to her.
Before he knew what was happening, she moved toward him and snatched the letter from his hand. Her lips pulled in a firm line as she read it. “Well,” she said, as though she’d just read an ad for fertilizers. Then she crumpled the paper into a ball.
“Damn it.” Marcus reached for the crumpled paper and grabbed it from her. “This is evidence.”
“Forget it. I don’t want to call the police.”
“Whether you want to or not, you have to. For one thing, there’s a gaping hole in that tire, and you’ll need a police report for insurance purposes. And like it or not, this is obviously a threat.”
“God.”
“Alice, I know you’ve only recently returned to Chicago, but do you have any idea who would do something like this?”
She shuddered, and he wanted to wrap his arms around her and make her fear go away. But he didn’t touch her.
“No. But this
is
Chicago. I didn’t exactly have many friends here.”
“You had me.”
“I know. I didn’t mean you.” She rested her butt against the car’s front hood and exhaled a shaky breath.
At that moment, Tanisha stepped out the front door of the theater. Seeing Marcus and Alice still in the parking lot, she flashed them a confused look, then slowly made her way toward them.
“What’s going on?”
“Alice’s tire was slashed,” Marcus told her.
“Oh, dear.” Her tone was almost mocking.
Alice narrowed her eyes as she gazed at Tanisha. She certainly didn’t sound surprised, nor truly sympathetic.
Marcus must have picked up on her tone, for he said, “You don’t know anything about this, do you?”
“Of course not!” Tanisha exclaimed, her back stiffening with indignation. “Besides, why would I do something like that?”
Alice regarded Tanisha carefully, wondering. Truthfully, she couldn’t put anything past this woman who had never liked her. But considering Tanisha seemed glad to have her teaching the class, the idea of her slashing her tire didn’t make much sense.
“You didn’t see anything or any
one
suspicious?” Marcus further queried.
“Marcus, this place was a zoo today. Well, I doubt I can be of any help, so if you don’t mind, I’ve got a ton of things to do.” She lifted the pile of binders in her hand as proof.
“Fine by me,” Alice said.
“I’ll see you both later.”
Marcus gave Tanisha a tight nod, then she turned and strolled to her car. He didn’t say another word until she drove past them and out of the parking lot. Marcus faced Alice. She frowned at him and he sighed. He recognized the stubborn tilt of her chin. Were all actresses this testy? She certainly was doing her best to give him a hard time.
“Listen, as I said, I don’t patrol this area, so I can’t do an official report, but I am a witness. I’m gonna call the police so they can come out here. You’ll also need a tow.”
“There’s got to be a spare in the back.”
“This is serious, Alice.” He remembered Melissa, how she hadn’t taken her situation seriously either, and now she was dead.
“How long will all this take?”
“Why? Hot date?”
She pushed her sunglasses into her hair and scowled at him. “No, but I do have to get home to my mother. Marie won’t be happy if I’m gone too much longer.”
“I’m sure Marie will understand.”
Alice raised a skeptical eyebrow.
“Pass me your phone.”
She shoved it in his hand, then sulked. For the life of him, he couldn’t understand why she was being so difficult. She was too damn stubborn to appreciate his help.
Women. He’d never understand them.
Alice knew she was being difficult, but she was helpless to stop her behavior. She was dealing with the whole gamut of emotions right now, and it was hard trying to maintain a cool, calm exterior. And the last thing she wanted to do was break down in front of Marcus.
She was frightened. Who would stab a knife into her car tire with a note telling her to stay away? As much as she wanted to pretend otherwise, it was clearly no prank.
The incident, and Marcus’s question as to who would have done this to her, also had her feeling pain she thought she’d long ago buried. It didn’t matter that she’d worked so hard to change; some
one here still didn’t like her. Had one of the very parents who’d smiled at her in the theater been the one to sabotage her car?
The thought that she still wasn’t liked frustrated her, and she glanced at Marcus from behind her sunglasses. Talk about the ultimate irony; now that she’d finally achieved a look she was happy with, one men appreciated, Marcus could barely stand to be around her. It was like he’d prefer she was the former Alice—fat, ugly, unloved, and miserable.
The police came and took her statement, and now, Marcus spoke with the tow-truck driver who was hooking her rented car to the back. She still couldn’t believe this had happened.
She walked over to him. “You’re gonna take it to Specialty Rentals right away?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Alice had called the rental company and told them what had happened. They’d instructed her to have the car towed to them. The official police report would follow, but in the meantime, she had to pay the enormous deductible.
“Then I may as well ride with you,” she said to the driver.
Marcus’s head whipped around at her comment. “You’ll ride with me.”
She glared at him, but he glared right back. Clearly, she wouldn’t win this one. “Fine.” She marched to his Mustang.
God, what was wrong with her? She was ready to ride with a strange tow-truck driver, just to avoid being around Marcus?
A little voice told her it was because he’d hurt her pride. Even now that she was beautiful, she
clearly still wasn’t the type of woman Marcus wanted.
But as soon as that thought entered her mind, she couldn’t believe it. Was that why she was so…irritable? Because Marcus didn’t appreciate her new look? That didn’t make a lick of sense. She had gotten over Marcus Quinn a long time ago. The only thing she regretted was the loss of their friendship, and that was her fault.
By the time Marcus opened the door for her, she had convinced herself that her belligerence had nothing to do with any type of sexual frustration, but with the fact that she was angry over the reality that they couldn’t seem to connect once again as friends.
The silence between them was stifling as Marcus followed the tow truck. By the time they hit the expressway, Alice couldn’t take it anymore.
She turned to him and said, “Marcus, I want a truce.”
He didn’t look at her. “All right.”
“No, I’m serious. I know we haven’t exactly connected the way we once did, and I’m sorry for that. I want to get past this.”
Marcus didn’t respond for several seconds, then faced her with a bleak expression. “I feel like I don’t know you anymore.”
His words hurt, but she bit back the pain. “Thirteen years have passed, Marcus. We’ve grown apart.”
He glanced at her. “I guess I miss my friend.”
Her lips lifted in a faint smile. “I miss you, too. Marcus, I know I’m the one who let time and distance come between us. And I’m sorry for that. But
some of the things you’ve said make me wonder if you even
like
me anymore.”
“I suppose I’ve been acting a bit childish, but I was trying to figure you out by pushing your buttons. Figure out if the Alice I knew was still there.”
“I’m still the same Alice. Yes, I have more money now and I look different, but I don’t think I’m better than anybody, Marcus. I’m just trying to enjoy my life. I wasn’t always able to do that.”