“Not long?” he echoed. “It was long enough that you moved all of your belongings into his bedroom. Putting your pill holder in the top nightstand drawer just like you did at your last place. You might act like you don’t want me to take you from here, but you made it so easy for me to do so.” He stroked the underside of her chin with his free hand. “Admit it. You were begging me to rescue you. Did he hurt you? Force you to stay? Help me understand.”
Her eyes flew open. Mere inches separated them. This close, she saw the certainty in his gaze. He really believed that. Her confirmation was all he wanted—and she couldn’t give it to him. No matter what she did, Rick was in trouble. She wasn’t going to give Tommy another reason to justify his insanity.
“What? No. Tommy, it wasn’t like that. I—”
“You didn’t think he’d protect you, did you? The second you traded that hotel for this place, I could’ve taken you at any time. Her locks kept me out. His didn’t. Pope put my eyes and ears in place for me within days of you moving in. All I needed was the chance to switch your pills out, then have my guys be watching for the first time you swallowed one without him hovering over you. O’Dell was in charge of the feed tonight and called me the second you passed out. Nothing could have stopped me.”
Grace didn’t know how to react to that. Rick insisted she move in with him because he wanted so badly to be the one to watch over her. It would gut him if ever discovered that leaving Ophelia behind was almost the same thing as flagging Tommy down. It was like a flashing neon sign that said Here I am, take me.
Then, of course, there was Tommy’s admission that he bugged the house.
She didn’t put it past him. And since she believed him, she thanked God that he had his goons watching the tape. It was bad enough that Boone and Pope and O’Dell got an eyeful of her with Rick. What if Tommy had seen her being intimate with another man?
Grace refused to think about it. No use obsessing over the past. She had the here and now to worry about.
Still, she had to say something. “The invitation.” It was a thoughtful murmur, more shaky than not as she recalled vividly the evening Phil Granger delivered Tommy’s letter to her. “That wasn’t real.”
“Real enough, Grace. Don’t you think I wondered how you would react to my reminder? It might not have been the exact date I planned for, but every other detail was real. I gave you your space. I gave you time. It’s over now. You’re mine. He had no right to try and take for yourself.”
“It wasn’t his—”
Tommy’s jaw went tight. “Don’t cover for him. I won’t allow it. I should’ve expected something like this eventually, though. Of course, that oaf would fall for you. It’s easy—and I should know. You’re too easy to love, Grace. But that you would use him to protect you was a miscalculation on my part. Trust me when I say this: I won’t make that mistake again.”
The meaning was clear: once Rick was out of the way, he wouldn’t have to. She was running out of time. She needed to convince him to leave Rick alone. “You’re right, Tommy. I… I was afraid you’d be mad at me for running away again. The invitation made me realize you knew where I was and I got scared. So when Deputy Hart—” Not Rick, don’t call him Rick “—offered to take me home with him, I went. That’s all it was.”
Her denials made him angry. He gave her hair another rough yank, even as his voice stayed light. “Oh? Then why did you stay?”
It was hard to think with the throbbing. Taking a deep breath, she pushed past the agony. She was a trained dancer, goddamn it, who danced on mangled toes, who leaped on sprained ankles, who performed an échappé with a pulled calf muscle. There was no time for pain. The show must go on.
“I’m sure you’ve seen him. You know everything, Tommy, you always do.” A little boost to his ego couldn’t hurt. “He’s a big guy and, okay, maybe I led him on. If he had feelings for me, I could use him for what I wanted. He means nothing to me, though. Not… not like you do.”
“Oh, Grace.” He let go of her hair for a moment, running his fingers through the length before gripping it again. “I wish I could believe that. I really do.”
Visibly grimacing, she leaned into his grasp so that when he inevitably pulled again, it wouldn’t be as painful. Each time he did, it broke her concentration, and she knew that’s why he did it. He stopped every time she brought it to his attention that it actually hurt her, though, and when he saw her grimace, he loosened his grip again.
“What’s wrong, Grace?”
How could he ask her that? How did he not know? “You scare me.”
“Why?” He actually sounded surprised. “Because I love you?”
“No,” she said, and the next words out of her mouth were the absolute truth, “because you only think you do.”
As expected at it was, the next yank had her squealing.
“Don’t you ever doubt my love for you,” he snapped. “You’re all I think about, morning and night.”
“That’s not love, Tommy,” she panted through gritted teeth. “That’s obsession.”
Another harsh tug. A fresh jolt of pain. Tears sprang to her eyes.
“You’re hurting me. If you… if you loved me, you wouldn’t do this.”
Those were the magic words. He immediately let go. “I don’t want to.”
Through the sheen of tears in her eyes, she saw the pout pulling on his lips. Grace heard the apology in his tone. And it scared her even more how quickly he could turn like that.
Tommy reached for her, sliding his hand through the top of her hair, caressing her scalp with the tips of his fingers. “I’m sorry, my love. It’s the separation. Being separated from you so long, it’s made me do a lot of things I’d rather not.”