A Creed in Stone Creek - Linda Lael Miller [108]
Byron seemed to deflate, like a balloon two days after the party. He groped his way back into his chair. Glanced up at Andrea with an expression of such profound concern that Steven himself was moved by it. “I would have, when the time was right,” he finally replied, “but I was in here and Carter was out there where he could do anything he wanted, and I was afraid for the people I care about.”
“Are you ready to tell me where you were headed last night, when you wrecked your mother’s car and Sheriff Parker hauled you in?” Maybe Tom had gotten an answer to that question in the interim, but Steven was still in the dark.
Byron’s shoulders sagged, and he spent a few moments petting Elvis before he made his reply. “I just panicked, that’s all,” he confessed. “I didn’t know where I was going. I just wanted to get away and hide out someplace, so I wouldn’t have to go back to prison.”
Tom’s response surprised everybody. “I can see why you’d freak out,” he said. He paused, gave a sigh, but his gaze was steady on the younger man’s face. “There’s an APB out on Carter,” he went on, “and we’ll get him. But it’s my job—mine and the department’s—to bring him in, not yours. You try to take matters into your own hands and you will go to jail, for violating your parole at the very least.”
Byron swallowed, nodded again.
Andrea moved away from Melissa and approached Byron’s chair. Laid a hand on his shoulder, like before. “You ought to stay with Sheriff Parker,” she said, very softly. “It’s good of him to offer, Byron. He’s trying to help you.”
A smile crooked the corner of Tom’s mouth. “Elvis is all for taking in a roommate,” he said.
Byron didn’t move for a long time. Then he put his hand on top of Andrea’s, gently squeezed her fingers.
“Okay,” he said.
And one matter, at least, was settled.
Now, Steven thought ruefully, to settle everything else that’s gone wrong lately.
As though reading his mind, Melissa looked at him and narrowed her eyes, in a like-hell sort of way. She told Andrea to take the day off, asked Tom to keep her posted on the statewide hunt for Nathan Carter, and breezed past Steven like he wasn’t even there.
The door snapped shut behind her.
Steven immediately followed. He knew he was probably making bad matters worse, but he damn well couldn’t help himself.
He caught up to her at the door of her office.
“Melissa,” he ground out. “Wait—”
“Go away,” she said. “I don’t want to deal with you right now.”
He steered her inside the room where Andrea normally worked, and closed the door. “Well, that’s just tough, counselor, because you are going to deal with me.”
She glared up at him, folded her arms. Her words flew like well-aimed bullets, staccato and dead on target. “It was all a mistake. You and me, I mean. I should have known better. Case closed.”
“Melissa,” Steven heard himself say, “that’s crazy.”
She was on a roll. “You do criminal defense. I’m a prosecutor. We don’t think the same way.”
“Of course we don’t think the same way,” Steven countered easily. “Why would two intelligent, independent adults even want that?”
“Do the math,” Melissa persisted. “We might as well be from different planets.”
“Mars and Venus?” Steven teased.
“Very funny,” she replied. But she didn’t look or sound all that amused.
Steven tried again. “What I meant was—”
“I don’t care what you meant, Steven.”
“I can see that,” he answered calmly. “So, what happened, Melissa? Was your mother scared by a member of the Dream Team when she was pregnant with you?”
“Ha-ha,” Melissa said.
“Can’t we just agree to disagree?”
“Yes,” she said, after swallowing visibly. “We can agree to disagree. How about forever?”
Steven whistled, long and low. “Hello? Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little here?”
“All we have to do is pretend nothing happened—”
“No,” Steven interrupted flatly. “We aren’t going to do that.”
“Why not?”
Damn, she was stubborn. Too bad he found that quality so attractive in a woman. Or, at least, in this