The Bad Boy's Woman (Hidden Masks Book 2) by Nia Arthurs

Author:Nia Arthurs [Arthurs, Nia]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Published: 2019-02-04T05:00:00+00:00

17

THE EARTH SHIFTS

James

I crushed Officer Tony’s business card in one hand and gripped the steering wheel with the other. The air conditioner in the car was on full blast, but a sheen of sweat glistened on my temples. I shouldn’t be this nervous.

It was just a call.

One call.

But it could change everything.

I needed a minute to prepare for that.

Last night, when I defended my father to Alex, I truly believed my words. Dad was evil, but he was the type of evil that festered behind closed doors, that beat on a woman who loved him. The type that bruised her in places she could hide.

For all his blistering anger, he was just a coward. The world frightened him more than it did any one of us. Because I hated my father, I knew him well and I could say with certainty that he wasn’t an arsonist.

But what I saw this morning shook the foundations of everything I knew. Made me wonder if I’d been naïve.

Reporters. They’d swarmed Pine Hill High, their black shoes thudding in the hallways like determined soldiers marching to war. They flashed their cameras and wielded mikes like swords, searching for one thing.

Me.

When Principal Lane summoned me to her office, I figured she’d heard about my music gigs. The fact that I was playing in bars when I was underage was bound to come up sometime. And I’d been prepared.

But the meeting wasn’t about my music career.

It was about the fire.

Every news station in town was buzzing about my ‘heroism’. The phone had been ringing off the hook since morning. Journalists wanted an interview. A picture. A quote. All they could talk about was my ‘bravery’, my family, and what an inspiration the three of us were to the town.

It was a thinly veiled publicity stunt and it made me suspicious.

Saving Lauren last night wasn’t news. I’d done what anyone else would have. The fact that the media swarmed with a vengeance told me there was more to their eagerness than a fluff piece about the good in humanity.

Someone was behind this.

And the only person I could think of was Dad.

Which was a good thing. If Darius was involved with the fire, he’d go to jail. Mom would be free to live as she pleased. Our jaunts to The Greasy Monkey would end and her journey to emotional healing would begin.

I’d benefit too. Without my father forcefully reopening the wounds, the scars on my heart would heal.

So why was I so nervous?

“Screw it.” I grabbed my phone and plunked in the numbers on the card. Pulling it to my ear, I listened to the dial tone.

It rang.

And rang.

I was about to give up when the line clicked and a voice warbled, “Hello?”

“Officer Tony?”

“Yes?”

“This is James Sawyer. We met last night.”

“Ah!” His voice warmed and he sounded more like the man I remembered. “James!”

“Do you have a minute to talk?”

“It’s gotta be quick. Thanks to you, things are even more chaotic around here than usual.”

“The news people got to the station?”

“They were parked outside until about fifteen minutes ago.

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