THE text came in from an unknown number. When she opened it, there was a picture of Sarah, from the shoulders up. She was lying on her blue and cream checked quilt with her head near the oak footboard. Her head was thrown back, damp hair spread out over the pillows, while she was obviously caught in the throes of a climax. The caption underneath read, “naughty girl.”
Oh, God.
Sarah felt the cold rush of all the blood whooshing from her head to her feet. The nervous tingles were starting in her lips again. She clamped her fingers around her phone in a death grip in an effort not to drop it on the living room floor.
That someone had violated her privacy by taking a picture of her when she was making love with Josh was alarming. What had her freaking the hell out was the fact that the blinds had been pulled down and the angle of the picture was coming from the same direction as her closet. Had someone been hiding in there the whole time she and Josh had been intimate together?
This can’t be happening.
“Sarah, what’s goin’ on?” Josh was on his knees next to her, holding on to the arm holding on to the phone.
Sarah made an effort to keep her expression placid. “Josh, can I see you a minute?”
“What is it, Sarah?” Seth set his coffee down with a thunk and leaned over the glass coffee table to see what had her so concerned.
She hugged the phone to her chest. Not yet. She needed to process the newest freak-out. Sarah forced her lips up in a complacent smile. “Nothing. I have a question for Josh.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him off the floor and down the hallway to her room.
“Sarah, what…” She handed the phone to Josh. “Holy shit.” He stared at the screen in shock before glancing at the bed and the walls. “This isn’t from outside.”
Sarah whispered in his ear. “I don’t know if there’s sound as well as video. It looks like it’s coming from the closet.”
Josh handed the phone back to her and scrubbed his hands over his face. He whispered back, “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You stay here, and I’ll check the closet.”
“Why do I have to stay here? You stay here, and I’ll go.”
Sarah stepped around him, and Josh grabbed her hand.
“Damn it, Sarah! All right, we’ll go together.”
They tiptoed to the closet. Well, Sarah tiptoed. Josh tried not to stomp.
As soon as they got there, he yanked the door open, ready to pounce on someone. No one was in the closet.
“That was real subtle, Josh.”
“I don’t care about subtle. I care about kickin’ someone’s ass.” He checked through her closet, moving hangers back and forth, searching for a camera.
“Find anything?”
“Yeah, a shitload of bridesmaid’s dresses. How many weddin’s you been in?” He glanced over his shoulder. “This bluish-purpley lookin’ one is nice.”
“Joshua, the camera.”
“I don’t see one, Sarah.” He stuck his hand out. “Let me see the picture again.”
Sarah handed it over. Josh faced the bed from the closet and moved left until he had the same viewpoint as the picture.
“Josh, you’re going to knock over the lamp if you don’t stop.”
They both stared at the floor lamp.
“Do you think…?”
He held the lamp by the base and angled it toward him. Clamped to the brass finial on top of the stained-glass shade was a tiny, lipstick-size camera.
“Don’t touch it! We need Seth in here!” She bit her lip. “Do you think it recorded us…you know?”
“Maybe. Probably not after I tossed my shirt this way. It covered the top of the lamp, right?”
“Right?” She wasn’t sure of anything right now.
Josh backtracked to the bedroom door. “I’ll call in Seth.”
“What if there’s naked pictures of us? I don’t want anyone else seeing me naked!”
“Trust me, honey, I don’t want anyone seein’ you naked either.” He set a warm palm against her cheek and kissed her forehead. “That camera is a transmitter. The pictures are comin’ up somewhere else. We won’t know anythin’ until we have it checked out. I’m gonna call Chris King too. He has experience with this stuff.”
“He spies on people?”
“No, not exactly. He installs security systems. He has to know about secret cameras.”
Sarah did a mental rewind of their lovemaking. “Josh! Before you took your shirt off, I didn’t have my tank top on for the other half of that foot job.”
His gaze flicked down to her chest and back up to her face. “It’s time to talk to Seth.”
“What about my Mom? She can’t see that picture!”
“We’ll be as discreet as we can.”
Sarah’s cell phone pinged. “I’m afraid to look.”
“Let me have it.” Josh took the phone. “It says, ‘unknown.’” He opened the text with an incredulous, “Fuck!”
“What is it?”
He handed it over. There on the screen was a picture of Sarah and Richard in her office. It was taken before she knew it was her ex-husband behind her. His arm was wrapped around her waist and his face was nuzzled against her hair. The secret smile on her face was meant for Josh, not Richard. The caption read, “Slut!”
“Josh, that was before I knew it wasn’t you! I would never…”
Red tinged his cheekbones. “Not what I’m pissed about, Sarah. I saw what he did. I’m pissed about the text! Someone is screwin’ with you, and if it’s your ex-husband, he’s a dead man.”
“Why is her ex-husband a dead man, Josh?” Seth stood at the end of the hallway.
* * * *
“You’re stayin’ with me tonight.”
“No, I’m not. What about my mom?”
“She’s stayin’ with Dad.” He watched the sheriff dust for fingerprints around Sarah’s room. Sarah straightened the sheets and fluffed the pillows so it didn’t look like two people had slept on the bed.
“What are you doin’?”
“Making the bed?”
“The sheriff told you not to touch anythin’ else.”
“I know. I can’t leave it looking like we…”
“Yeah, well, we did. So what?”
“So everyone doesn’t need to know that!”
“Sarah, I told you that I’m not gonna be some dirty secret.” He led her out to the hallway. “What’s happenin’ here? Were you just scratchin’ an itch with me?”
“No, I just don’t think everyone in Madison Falls needs to know my sex life!”
“It’s only Seth, and he already knows we’ve been together.” He was ready to argue some more when a shimmer clouded his vision. Josh blinked a few times, but it wouldn’t go away. It never did. That was the first warning he got before a headache set in. He’d been lucky the last few days to have gone without one. In some magical way of thinking, he thought it was Sarah keeping the pain away.
He rubbed at his eyes. The room was too bright. Josh squinted at Sarah. It was time to go.
“Josh, what’s wrong?”
“Nothin’. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.” If he didn’t leave now, he wouldn’t be able to. There was nothing she could do to help, and Sarah didn’t need to worry about anything else.
“Just like that? You’re leaving? You get mad at me and leave?”
The muscles in his forehead and temples were starting to feel like they were being pulled into a knot. The throbbing started with a vengeance. “That’s not it.” He gritted his teeth and tried to concentrate.
“I’ll call you later.”
“Don’t bother.”
Josh wanted to tell Sarah what was going on. With the pulse pounding in his ears, he didn’t feel up to an explanation right now. “Sarah.” The pain was digging into his brain with sharp claws. Later. He would explain later. Kenny and the sheriff were there to keep her safe for now. “I gotta go.”
Sarah set her hands on her hips. “So, go. It’s what you’re good at.”
“Later.” He would call her later. Josh bolted out of the house, and the bright sunlight stabbed him in the eyes.
Jesus.
He had to get home. Some more low-grade pain pills and a dark room were the best he could hope for.
Josh couldn’t believe he’d parked so far down the street. He felt around for his keys. Where the hell were his keys? Other pocket. There they are. It seemed like a mile to his truck when it was only about thirty feet. He got the door open and fished for his sunglasses in the console. He slammed them on his face. The relief was minimal. Better than nothing.
The pain was getting worse. He grabbed the pills out of the glove box and tried swallowing them dry before remembering to chase them down with a drink. They wouldn’t move down his throat, so he cracked open a bottle of water. It was warm, and he slugged it back anyway. It tasted hot and metallic on his tongue, but the medicine finally got choked down. He took a couple more swallows for good measure.
Let me get home. He started the truck and drove as carefully as he could, squinting through the shimmer across his vision, and the sunlight reflecting off the hood of his truck and the windshields on the passing cars. Hell, it was even bouncing off the pavement on the streets. The passing scenery looked like a movie with the brightness cranked all the way up, and then some, on the screen.
Josh gripped the steering wheel and focused on the road ahead of him. The drive seemed endless. He counted off the streets to his apartment. By the time Josh pulled into the parking lot behind the bakery, he was pretty sure he was going to puke on his shoes. Damn, if he threw up, his eyeballs might as well pop right out of his head.
He made it to the wrought-iron stairs leading to his apartment and held on to the railing like a lifeline. The metal was sun-warmed and solid under his hand. He’d hold on and make his way upstairs. Josh had been through this before, and he could do it again. One step at a time. That was all he needed to do, put one foot in front of the other.
Normally he jogged up the stairs to his place. Today he practically dragged himself upstairs while using the railing as a crutch. There’s the door! The pain in his head turned excruciating. He told himself to get inside, and it’d all be good. Just get inside. Josh jammed the key in the lock and pushed the door open.
He’d pulled down all the blinds in his kitchen and living room before he left last night. Thank God. The AC had been left on too. His apartment was as cool and dark as a cave. He wanted to slam the door against the bright light plaguing him and stabbing at his eyeballs. He closed it with a soft snick instead. Any loud noise was a bad idea. A slamming door would sound like cannon fire.
Josh made it to his room, drew the blinds, and tore off his sunglasses. He threw them on the nightstand in a careless fling. He kicked off his boots, turned on his fan, and fell onto the bed in a heap. Holy fuck. Big mistake. He should have eased onto it. His brain caught up with the downward dive his head had taken and slammed around in his skull like a pinball machine. There went more throbbing. Nausea rose with it.
He swallowed and pressed his palms into the soft divets of his temples, trying to push the pain back down through sheer force. Throb, throb, throb…It was fuckin’ agony and it kept rolling over him like the tide. His pulse beat against his hands in time with the pain. Josh curled up on his side, making slow movements. Sleep was the only thing that would make it all go away. If he could do that, the headache was usually gone when he woke up again.
Josh had to get through this so he could get back to Sarah. What the hell was he thinking leaving her when no one knew where Richard was? He must have beat a land-speed record for how quickly he’d fucked up again with her. He gritted his teeth and endured each wave in the painful onslaught.
Walking out in the middle of an argument without an explanation was a mistake, headache episode or not. It was time to come clean about the fallout from his head injury. He would do that, and Sarah would understand. She had to. For the time being, Josh let the pain and darkness overtake him.
* * * *
She was officially sick of men. Sarah couldn’t believe Josh flew off the handle and left that easily. He wouldn’t even stay to talk it over, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to beg him not to go. How could he think he was a dirty secret? What they had was new and wonderful.
Sarah was only being cautious because she’d had enough of her private life broadcast across town when Richard cheated on her. Gossip was bad enough. Worse was the invasion of privacy she felt now that there were pictures and possibly video of them having sex. She cringed at the thought of something so special being seen by someone else.
All he had to say was, “Later”?
“Sarah?”
He tosses out, “I’ll call you,” and did he call? Nope. It wasn’t like he was super busy or anything. Sophie told her that his truck had been in the parking lot all day. All day and not so much as a single text.
“Sarah?”
“Screw him.”
“Um, screw who?”
Her new waitress-in-training, Julie, was staring at her with wide violet-blue eyes, most likely thinking she’d gone nuts. Men. Time to get back to real life. “I’m sorry, Julie. What were you saying?”
“Table six needs two Coors Lights and a refill on the Sprite.” Julie was the antithesis of Kelly. She was short, soft-spoken, a little on the too-thin side and had her hair thrown up in a cute shiny black ponytail at the top of her head. She was pretty in a natural, understated way. Sarah enjoyed Julie’s candor. She said exactly what she thought, sometimes to her own embarrassment.
When Alex Ross, the fire chief, ordered a Sprite, Julie had openly stared at him and said, “Oh, my God. You’re beautiful.” Obviously thinking that he’d heard her wrong, Alex did a double take and responded with, “Excuse me?”
From Sarah’s viewpoint, the mortification radiating from Julie was palpable. “Oh, no! I said that out loud, didn’t I? I’m sorry!” Her explanation didn’t help matters. “It’s just that you seem so perfect. I’ve never seen a man so…Well, look at you.” She motioned toward his Madison Falls Fire Dept. T-shirt. “You’re a firefighter too? You have to be brave for a job like that. I bet you’re strong. And do you not drink in general, or are you on duty and…” Realizing her words weren’t appropriate to the situation, Julie bit her lip. “I did it again. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up now. One Sprite coming up.”
Alex was a good-looking man, with light brown hair cropped short to his scalp, and kind, coffee-brown eyes. He was muscular too, befitting his job. Alex Ross was also one of the few men Sarah had ever seen blush. Alex stared up at Julie from the booth, red-faced and speechless, looking like he couldn’t believe she was real or that this was really happening to him. The ribbing from the other guys calling him pretty didn’t help matters.
Julie had gotten through the rest of their drink orders and managed to deliver them without too much incident. She’d bumped into a patron or two and hip-checked a few table corners. To her credit, Julie kept a cheerful disposition. Now, she was nervous about facing round two with Alex and his friends.
“Should I tell him sorry again? I never talk to men like that. I got thrown off when I saw him sitting there.” Julie seemed genuinely shocked by her own behavior. “From now on, I promise you that I’ll make sure my inner monologue stays in my head where it belongs. You won’t believe this, but I’m normally shy.”
Sarah believed her. “It’s okay, Julie. No harm done.” From the looks of it, Alex and his buddies had already forgotten the incident and gotten sidetracked watching the ball game.
Julie started to peek over her shoulder at Alex’s booth before stopping herself. “He probably thinks I throw myself at all the customers.”
Sarah caught sight of Kelly when she sashayed between a few of her usual gawkers. Her other waitress was serving one of the larger tables. If she wasn’t mistaken, Kelly had bumped into the new high school football coach and slipped him her number.
Sarah was tempted to roll her eyes. “No worries about that, Julie. Keep delivering the right orders to the right people, do it quickly, and always do it with a smile on your face.”
“I’m not fired yet?”
“Not yet.” Sarah filled the drink orders and set them on the tray for her.
“Here goes nothing.” Julie plastered a smile on her face and took the drinks to Alex’s booth.
Everything went smoothly until Alex glanced up from his conversation and bestowed a welcoming smile of his own. Julie tripped over her feet. Half of the soft drink that she’d been about to set on the table sloshed out of the glass and landed in his lap. He jumped up with the shock of the ice and the cold liquid dousing him. Julie, trying to fix things, wiped off his soaked crotch with a bar towel. Swipe after swipe, his friends roared with laughter. With a mumbled, “Forget about it,” Alex made a grab for the towel without much luck. He then took Julie by the shoulders and set her firmly away from him.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it. You smiled and I…” Julie shoved the towel at him and walked carefully back to Sarah. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. “Are you going to fire me now?”