“I, umm, I think I’ll head on up to bed.” Defeat in her voice, in the set of her shoulders, she pulled away from Matthew’s hand.
* * *
He watched her go, heard the bedroom door close, and looked up to the ceiling, having no clue what to do. Offering comfort to a woman had never been something he’d grown accustomed to. But damned if he didn’t think she needed it. Eli had torn her down good; said just the thing to hurt her.
After washing the dishes and straightening up, he went up the stairs, hesitating outside her door. He saw the light go out and chose to leave her in peace, hoping a good night’s rest would set her to right.
He could not have been more wrong.
When morning came and Matthew made his way downstairs, it was impossible to miss the note and money sitting on the counter.
This should cover whatever I owe for board. Have a Merry Christmas.
-Charlie
Rushing up to her room, he barged in to find it empty. The bed made. How on earth she’d managed to sneak away without waking him was beyond him. Her beat up old car’s engine alone would have made a racket… unless she pushed it to the road first.
By the time his family arrived for breakfast, Matthew had chewed several toothpicks to pieces, sitting at the counter in a foul temper.
Eli walked in with his head down, looking like a kicked dog. “Miss Charlie awake yet?”
Matthew slid the note down the bar, looking to it with a nod. Eli and Nathaniel read quickly before Nathaniel bellowed, “God damn it! You ran her off, Eli!”
“I’m sorry,” Eli whispered.
“Ohh, you’re sorry, huh?” Matthew finally spoke, collecting the letter. “What exactly you sorry for? For humiliating the woman who’s been taking time to speak well of you to Sheriff Cormac? Yellin’ at her for being fond of Ruth? Or sorry she ain’t here?”
Eli just shook his head, eyes downcast. “I’ll fix it. I’ll bring her back.”
“And how the hell are you gonna do that?” Incredulous, Matthew pursed his lips. “Do you know where she goes to ground?”
“Chicago.” His cousin barely breathed the word, knowing without looking that pure rage blazed in Matthew eyes.
The very idea she might be back amongst those men, sitting at a table with Beaumont Radcliffe and his wife, or dancing with that jackass Tommy, made Matthew want to break things—starting with Eli’s face.
“Last time she was there, Bugs Moran sent a man to rape her. Why, you ask? Because she’s family to Radcliffe,” Matthew explained in a violent hiss. “Walked straight up to her goddamn hotel room and knocked before I busted his teeth in.”
Eli’s gaze darted up, eyes wide and guilty.
“Who do you think they’re gonna send to finish the job this time? Bugsy himself?” The look of disgust on Matthew’s face grew. “And it don’t scare her like it should. Charlotte just accepts it ‘cause it’s all she knows.”
Nathaniel’s face screwed up, lips in a tight line. “We gotta go get her.”
Matthew crushed the note in his fist.
Charlie and Matthew’s story is far from over!
Book 2 of the A Trick of The Light Duet coming January 2019!
Author’s Note
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