Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (9 page)

Andrew’s jaw had dropped. He’d been silent this whole time listening to this conversation get out of hand. Claire didn’t need to look in a mirror to know that the color had drain
ed
from her face. Now Butch was just being downright ridiculous, but she’d made her bed
,
so she’d lie in it. “That’s right
,
darling, after you buy me that big house on the hill.”

Claire had admired that house since she was ten years old. It was the grandest house in Southall. Built back in the 1900s, fully restored to
its former glory and currently on the market
.
Mary picked that exact moment to walk in with the papers.

“Well
,
Mr. Edwards,
O
nce you’re married, maybe we can persuade you to let us handle your accounts as well.”
Mary glanced to Claire and Butch and smiled.

Oh
,
c
rap
. It will be all over town before she even gets home. So much for it st
aying inside the confines of this
office
with a man she hoped never to see again
.

At least the paperwork was here. She could finish her business and get the heck out of there. Things had gone from good to bad in ten minutes flat. Claire was afraid if she stayed any longer the world
as she knew it would come crashing down on her head
.

Andrew took the file from Mary and flipped through it before handing it to Claire.
“Ms. Bennett,
y
ou can take these with you and read through them. After you sign them, just return them b
ack to the bank and we’ll activate the new account
.”

Claire grabbed her purse and the papers and stood. She held out her hand to Andrew. “Thank you
,
Mr. Pearson. I’ll look them over and get them back to you. Have a good day.”

Claire sidestepped Mary
,
who was still standing in the doorway
with a bewildered look on her face.
Claire didn’t wait around to see if Butch was going to follow her
out
. He’d
already
done enough
damage.
She was going to have to do some major damage control thanks to him.

Chapter 5

Claire got in her car and turned on her Bluetooth to call Emma. She’d told Emma what happened, and her sister laughed at her at first until Claire mentioned that Butch had brought his stuff over to stay and was now following her around. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize there was more going on behind the scenes th
a
n either one of them knew. Emma was
as
suspicious
as Claire was
and said she
’d call her back after she figured out who
’d
orchestrated the whole thing. 

Claire drove home on autopilot. She
replayed the scene from this morning and now the bank in her mind over and over again, trying to make sense of Butch’s actions. She couldn’t come up with a logical reason why he would have done some of the things he
’d done
. Her fingers gripped the steering wheel so hard they turned white. She could feel the tension knots in her shoulders getting worse. She was going t
o need a drink to relax tonight
,
and that was a rarity for her.

Claire put her car in park and stomped through the
front
door of her house, slamming it closed behind her. She walked straight into her kitchen and grabbed the bottle of
white wine
she’d been saving for a special occasion and popped the cork. She grabbed a glass from her hanging wineglass holder and poured herself a generous serving. She’d just taken her first gulp when Butch came sauntering in
to
the kitchen. Claire’s hand started to shake. She was ready to toss the wine bottle at his head, but instead
,
she sat it on the counter and took several long breaths before speaking. She
planted one hand on her hip
and narrowed her eyes at the bal
l
sy man
, readying herself for a confrontation
. “What the hell were you thinking? Where do you get off telling lies to the people I’m going to have to deal with on a daily basis?”

Butch walked over to her
,
and with every step he took, Claire took one backwards until he stopped. He held his hands in the air with his palms out. “Just calm down, Claire, and let me explain.”

“Calm down
! Calm down!
A
re you serious? Don’t you realize what you’ve done? You’ve just single handedly informed the whole damn town that we’re engaged. When Mary goes into the
c
afé and tells one person, the rest of the town will know before nightfall. That’s how things work here
if you haven’t figured it out
. What on earth were you thinking?”
Her voice was hoarse with frustratio
n
.

“Would marrying me be that bad,
angel
?” Butch took another step toward her and stopped.

“Be serious
,
Butch. Do you realize what type of damage control I’m going to have to do?” Claire turned her back to Butch, s
e
tting her wine glass down on the counter
,
and lowered her head.
He just doesn’t get it.
She’d known from the start it was a big mistake to let him help her. Now they were going to have to come up with another lie
to tell about
what happened to their fake relationship. Who
would dump
whom
?
Who was going t
o be the bad guy in all of this?
Either way, the residen
ts
were going to cho
o
se sides before it was all said and done. In a
way,
this was going to hurt him too. He just didn’t realize it yet.
Claire turned back to look at Butch.

He held
his arms crossed over his chest and had his eyes narrowed. Had she hurt his feelings?
“Listen
,
Butch, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not the idea of being married to you that’s the
problem;
i
t’s when we break up. The residen
ts
of this town are going to look at one of us as the bad guy
,
and I don’t want it to be that way.”

Butch dropped his
arms,
pursing his lips
together.
. He walked over to her and pulled her in
to
his
strong
arms
, wrapping them securely around her
. Claire rested her head against his chest for a brief moment, enjoying
the strength that he offered
.
It had been a long time since anyone held her like this.
Too bad, it couldn’t be real. The steam she felt early had left her
,
and she let
her body sag against his.

“Claire, I promise I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I can deal with being the bad guy if it comes down to it, but I really had an ulterior motive for telling the banker that
we’re engaged
. I told you I could
explain
.
A
re you ready to listen now?”

Claire leaned her head back to look Butch in his eyes and whispered
,
“Yes.”

Butch grabbed her wine glass from the counter and walked her over to the table, pulling out a chair for
her
. H
e s
e
t her wine glass in front of her and took a seat on the o
pposite
side of the table.

“I went looking for you and made Jenny tell me where you went.
Last night
Jake asked me to stick close to you.
Trouble seems to follow you and your sisters around
,
and he was worried that the missing money might be something more than what it was. When I was on my way to the bank, I got a phone call from
Sam
. He’d been tipped off
by one of his informants
that some
random
drunk scumbag
across town
had tried to cash one of the checks written to the charity. When they didn’t cash it for him, he left.
So it looks like
we were right
;
someone
did steal
from you
. A
nd for right now
, it’s better if they think
you’re
with me and
not alone.
”

She hesitated, blinking in bafflement.
“Wait, I don’t understand. How did he get the check?”

Butch shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m not sure yet. I haven’t had a chance to even look at your surveillance tapes. I heard the guy hangs out at a biker bar across town, so I’m goi
ng later tonight to see what he knows
.”

“What time do we leave?” Claire asked. There was no
way
he was going by himself, not when this was her problem. She might not be able to back him in a fight, but she’d been taught enough to know how to defend herself if
it
ever
came down to it.
All of her sisters had.

Butch started shaking his head
,
and
his blue eyes darkened when they met hers
. “Nope, no way. You’re staying here. I’m going by myself. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb in a place like that
. End of discussion.” Butch pushed his chair from the table to stand and walked out before she could utter a word of objection.

He’d dismissed her
without even hearing her out
. Even though
Claire knew he was right
that
the way she was dressed would draw unwanted attention their way
, this conversation was far from over
. With a little bit of help, she could make herself fit right in
,
and he wouldn’t have an objection to stand on
. Claire smiled
,
pulled out her cell
,
and dialed Emma who answered on the first ring.

“Claire
,
I’m
so
sorry
. Y
ou can thank Jake for Butch’s presence. He was just worried about you.”

“It’s okay
,
Emma;
you can make it up to me. I need a favor. Can
Vivian and I meet at your house?
I’ll
tell you why when I get there. Besides,
i
f I tell you now, Butch might try to lock me up in my room. Just tell Jake that I’m coming. I’m sure Butch is going to call to check out my story.”

“What do you have up your sleeve
,
big sister? Anything I need to worry about?”

“Nope
. I’ll t
ell you more when I get there
. I’ve got to expla
in to Butch that I’m leaving again
. I’ll talk to you in a little bit.” Claire told her sister
good
bye
and
called Vivian
. She
explained that she needed to meet and what to bring to Emma’s house
,
and she agreed. Claire
hung up
,
returning her phone to her purse.
With renewed intent in her step, she went in search of Butch
.
 

Claire
found him in her office.
Butch
had his eyes trained on the computer
screen
. “Butch, I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to Emma’s. I’ll call
you before I leave to come home
so you
don’t have to worry about me.
”