The Thing About Trouble (Crystal Lake 1)

Edward made a face and glared at him with a sneer. “She’s spreading her legs for you now, I guess.”

Cam clenched his hands together. The guy had just crossed a line. “You need to leave.”

“She’s nothing but a whore. Trapped my father and took all this from me.”

“I’m not going to say it again, Barnes. You should leave.”

But the man was on a roll, and spittle formed at the corners of his mouth as he rattled on, his words carried by anger and something else. Something darker. “She’s easy on the eyes. No denying that. But she ruins everything she touches, and if I have my way, she’ll—”

Cam had had enough. He took a step forward, and instantly, Rufus growled, the hair along his back standing on end.

Dave appeared from nowhere, his tone even, but he was swinging a hammer and his smile was steely. “You got a problem, boss?” he asked, not taking his eyes off Edward.

“Nope.” Cam stood back, his chest flush with an anger that made it hard to talk. “Barnes was just leaving.”

Edward glared at both of them for several long moments. With one last look of disgust, he spit into the ground. “You see her, tell her she needs to return my phone calls or there’ll be trouble.”

“What the hell was that about?” Dave tossed the hammer onto one of the work benches as Edward disappeared around the house.

“Nothing I want any part of,” Cam replied.

“You good?” Dave asked.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I’m good.” He let his anger subside and decided to put Edward Barnes along with his “stepmother” out of his mind. The sooner he got this job done, the better, because he had a feeling things were about to go south where those two were concerned. No way was he getting caught in the middle of whatever the hell they had going on.

He had enough on his plate. Cam scooped up his lunch bag and joined his crew, but as he bit into his ham and cheese sandwich, he glanced at the house, and even though he’d just told himself to forget all about her, he wondered…

Where in hell had the widow Barnes been all week?

6

“Blue, you’ve been a lifesaver this week.” Poppy flipped the Open sign to Closed and turned around with a big smile. “I swear, without you, I’d have had to close up shop.”

Blue looked up from the table where she was folding beautiful handwoven blankets and smiled. “It was no problem, really.”

Poppy had had to deal with a family issue, something to do with her grandmother, and her other part-time employee had come down with a nasty virus that kept her home all week.

“Well, I appreciate it. I know you only signed on for two half days, and you’ve been here every single day since Tuesday. It was a lot to ask. You need to let me make it up to you.”

“Really. It’s not necessary. Honestly, it’s not like I had…” Anything else to do considering I don’t have a life. “Well, I didn’t have much on this week.”

Poppy grabbed her purse from behind the counter. “Do you have plans tonight?”

Blue busied herself with the blankets once more. Plans? The only plan she had was a movie, some popcorn, and snuggles with Giselle.

“I’m going to have a quiet night, I think,” she said, moving from the blankets and accepting her small clutch from Poppy.

“Come on,” Poppy said in disbelief. “It’s Saturday night. I have a friend visiting from LA, and we’re going out. Come with us.”

Blue offered a small smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I have stuff to do.”

“Like what? You just said you were having a quiet night.” Poppy’s eyebrows shot up dramatically, and she cocked her head. The expression on her face told Blue she wasn’t letting this go. “What’s so important you have to stay in on a Saturday night when you could spend come out with me and have fun?”

“I…” Blue scrambled for something. “My cat has been alone all week, and she’s not used to it so…” Lame excuse, and Blue felt her cheeks go hot. “I don’t want her scratching the baseboards again or conveniently forgetting where the litterbox is.”

“Your cat sounds savage.” Poppy laughed.

Poppy led the way out of her store, and Blue waited while she locked up. They’d both parked in the public lot down the street and walked there together. It was a beautiful night, and the boardwalk was busy with young families and couples strolling hand in hand. Just ahead of Blue, a young man stopped and kissed the woman he was with. It was a passionate embrace, and the air practically sizzled around them. He held her as if she were everything, his long hands sunk into her hair as he pulled her closer. Blue couldn’t tear her eyes away.