Bad Girl by T. E. Woods

Author:T. E. Woods
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-03-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

“We’ve got to get to Steel,” Sydney told Clay. “Now.”

He didn’t move from the sofa. Sydney realized he was in shock.

“Come on. Think. Where would he be? What friends was he with?”

“I should go to her.”

She instantly knew who he meant. “Clay.” Her voice was as soft as she could manage in her anxious state. “I need you to focus. We need you to focus. Unless you want Steel finding out his mother is dead from some radio or television announcer, we’ve got to get to him first.”

At Sydney’s warning, his mind seemed to clear. He reached into his pocket. “Where’s my phone?”

“How do I know? Did you leave it at the bar? By the beer taps?”

His eyes focused on her with a defensive appraisal. “How do you know about that?”

“Francie told me. What’s your place here? At home, where do you always keep your phone?”

He pointed toward the kitchen. “On top of the fridge.”

Sydney went to the kitchen. She ran her hand on top of the refrigerator and felt the hard plastic. She went back and handed it to him. “Check your texts.”

Clay responded to her direction automatically. “No. No voicemails, either.”

“Call him.”

Clay kept his attention on her while he waited for Steel to answer. She tried to read his eyes, but got nothing more than an empty stare. He jerked his focus away.

“Steel, it’s Dad.” He must have gotten the voicemail. “Where are you?” Clay got up and walked toward the picture window. “Never mind. Just come home. Now. Please. It’s important.” She could see him struggling to keep his voice steady. “I love you.”

He disconnected and for some reason handed her his phone. She set it down on the coffee table and took his hand. “Clay, you told Horst that Steel and Miranda had a falling-out. What was that about?”

He looked away for a moment and inhaled slowly before answering. “It was a couple of days ago. After you brought her…her lingerie back to me. I went to confront her.”

“You went to The Edgewater? To her hotel room?”

“Yes. I wanted her to know she wasn’t welcome here. Steel was there.”

“And he found out about what she’d done on Christmas?” She tried to imagine a son’s embarrassment upon learning his mother’s attempt at seduction had been foiled. “Is that what happened?”

“No. He was asleep in another room when I spoke to Miranda about her…shenanigans.”

Sydney frowned. “Then what did they fight about?”

“Miranda had a young woman staying with her. Some sort of mentoring program.”

“Tawney. I met her on Christmas Eve. At Hush Money.”

“She came to your place? Why didn’t you tell me?” Clay shook his head in frustration. “Evidently Miranda was supposed to keep this girl on the straight and narrow. Some program her church ran, from what I gathered.”

“What’s that got to do with Steel?”

“Tawney wasn’t in the suite like Miranda thought. She came back while I was there, and it was obvious she was high. Miranda flipped out. Things got ugly real fast. Steel tried to get in the middle.

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