A Silken Thread - Brenda Jackson [105]
He was now furious, madder than hell at Erica for so easily believing the worst of him. How could she accuse him of being unfaithful when since meeting her he hadn’t looked twice at another woman? No woman consumed his thoughts but Erica. No matter how damaging the evidence she had found at his house, she should have believed in him.
But then considering what she had arrived at his house to find, a part of him couldn’t very well blame her for the way she’d reacted and the accusations she’d hurled at him.
He hadn’t known Erica was visiting him today but someone else had, and that person had deliberately set him up.
He pulled the phone off his belt and, deciding to give Matt a call, punched in a few numbers. He needed help in unraveling this mess and he needed it fast.
When his friend answered, Brian drew in a deep breath. “Someone set me up, man.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Erica came to town unexpectedly and she thinks I’m involved in an affair.”
“Why would she think that?”
“Someone entered my house to deliberately make it look that way. She’s calling off the wedding and doesn’t want to see me ever again. I’m no longer paranoid,” he said, remembering how Matt has once accused him of such a thing where Karen Sanders was concerned. “What I am is madder than hell. I want to find the person responsible. And I need your help.”
Without a pause, Matt said, “I’ll be right over.”
Griffin checked his watch. It was close to two in the morning in Hattersville, which meant it was midnight in L.A., so where the hell was April and why hadn’t she returned his calls?
He stopped his pacing to stare out of his bedroom window and, from where he stood on the third floor of his home, he could see that most of the residents were asleep. He truly loved this town, faults and all, and wanted to make it into the thriving city that he knew it could be. There was so much undeveloped land, and with the right plans in place there was no doubt in his mind the town could double its size in no time.
Over the past year he had spoken to a lot of his former classmates who’d moved away to live in the big cities. They’d wanted to raise their families in a small town, yet all of them had said Hattersville would be their last choice. That bothered him but he of all people understood their sentiments. Many of them like him had been considered the upper echelon of the community, but a number of those families over the years had fallen on hard times, and a decline in status was considered unforgivable in the eyes of those still prospering. They had been treated worse than those who’d been born in the Fifth Ward.
He intended to change things when he became mayor and with April by his side he believed he could do the impossible. But first he needed to convince her to be the woman by his side.
He wanted her to continue her career but he also wanted her to know that a positive change was about to happen. He intended to make it that way not only for her, but for so many others who felt the town had let them down.
He moved away from the window to his nightstand to pick up his phone. He would try reaching April again. When he had talked to her last night she hadn’t mentioned any function she would be attending tonight.
Moments later he hung up the phone. Her condo was pretty secure but he knew he wouldn’t be totally satisfied until he heard her voice.
Matt Seacrest leaned back against the sofa cushion and made a steeple with his fingers while glancing over at Brian. His friend was in a bad way and he couldn’t recall ever seeing him this broken.
“And you really think it’s the old lady’s doing?” he asked his friend.
Brian stopped pacing and instinctively Matt glanced down at the floor, curious to see if his best friend had worn a hole in the carpet. He had been here for over an hour and this was the first time Brian had stood still.
“Yes, but a part of me doesn’t know how.