He seemed surprised by her blunt response, and she took some small pleasure in knowing it didn’t help at all.
“I would’ve treated you so differently.”
Clearly objecting to Tiger’s side of the conversation, Amy interrupted with a waspish remark. Tiger covered the phone, but Sheridan could still hear him. “I cared about her, okay? Certainly more than him. And she did me dirty,” he added, saying this into the receiver.
Sheridan rolled her eyes. “You wanted the same thing he did, Tiger. You tried to put your hands up my shirt every chance you had.”
“And you wouldn’t let me so much as touch you! I couldn’t even put my tongue in your mouth without you pulling away!”
“It’s been twelve years. More than twelve years since we were together. What does it matter that I let him touch me?”
“It’s just ironic. That’s all,” he said sulkily. “Goody-two-shoes won’t part her lips for me, but Cain snaps his fingers and she spreads her legs?”
Sheridan rubbed her temples. “Are you finished making me feel like trash?”
He didn’t answer, but Amy came on the phone. “Why are you calling here?”
“I’m trying to stop you from taking this too far. Yes, I slept with Cain. I even enjoyed myself. But he didn’t care about me, and you know it. He took me to the camper, used me once and never looked back, okay? Are you happy? That was it. A boy doesn’t kill another boy over a cheap lay.”
She heard movement in the other room but ignored it. She had to convince Amy, had to stop this before Ned took the investigation down the wrong road. It wasn’t fair to Cain. And she needed Amy and her brother to focus on the real killer, the person who’d put her in the hospital twice.
“There are other issues here, Sheridan,” Amy said. “Issues you don’t know anything about.”
“Like the fact that you have an ax to grind?” she retorted.
“My personal life is none of your business.”
“Then don’t use what happened between me and Cain as a weapon against him.”
“Stay out of it and let me do my job.”
“You’re not listening.”
“Robert told me everything I need to hear.”
Cain had come up behind her. Sheridan could sense his presence. He was standing a few feet away.
“Amy, this isn’t right. You’re the only one I know who’s jealous enough to hurt somebody.”
There was a long silence. Then Amy said, “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“It’s true. You’re using a sixteen-year-old’s—”
Cain took the phone from her, setting it on the cradle, and Sheridan glanced up in surprise. He was wearing a pair of jeans that weren’t snapped all the way up—no shirt or shoes. Obviously, like her, he’d just gotten out of bed.
“Why’d you do that?” she asked.
“Because you were wasting your breath,” he said. “It won’t make any difference to her.”
“But she’s taking the investigation in the wrong direction! Meanwhile, there’s someone who’s really dangerous running around. I know. He used me as a punching bag.”
Cain didn’t respond right away.
“Are you listening to me?”
“How do you know it wasn’t me who shot you and Jason?” he asked.
He was serious. She could feel his eyes boring through the dark, could feel his tension as he waited. But she didn’t want to answer. “I just do.”
“How?” he asked again.
“Because the boy who touched me for the first time was too careful not to hurt me,” she finally said.
She thought he might insist on helping her back to bed. But he didn’t. He walked out of the room without another word.
The next morning, Sheridan found a jar of ointment on the nightstand. “What’s this?” she called.
The banging of pots and pans in the kitchen told her Cain was awake and making breakfast. “What’s what?” he called back.
“This…stuff.”
Koda and Maximillian nosed their way into her room and barked a hello. Quixote must’ve stayed with Cain, because Sheridan didn’t see him.
“It’s a salve I made.” There was a brief silence as the water went on, then Cain added, “Take off your clothes and rub it everywhere. It’ll help the aching and bruising.”
She unscrewed the lid and sniffed. “Yuck! I’m not putting this on. It smells terrible.”
He didn’t respond. The phone had rung and he’d answered it. She could hear his voice drifting back to her and knew he wasn’t happy with whoever it was.
Thinking it might be Amy, she set the jar aside and waited to see what was going on. Eventually, Cain came to the doorway.
“Bad news?” she asked.
Freshly showered, his jaw clean-shaven and his hair damp, Cain leaned against the lintel. “It’s not good news. Ned’s coming over. He wants to ask you a few questions.”
She frowned. “About the night in the camper?”
“He says it’s about the night Jason was shot, but we both know he’ll approach it via the night in the camper. That’s the only new information he’s got. I almost told him no, but—”
“But if we cooperate, he might not make such a big deal of it.”
“Exactly. At this point, our best move is to admit what happened and act as if it didn’t matter, quit giving him and Amy something to go after.”
And if their cooperation didn’t appease Amy’s jealousy? Was Sheridan ready for Whiterock’s response to her past sins? Her parents would just be getting back from their cruise….
Cain shoved away from the wall and came closer. “You might be well enough to fly home in a few days.”
She opened the jar and, despite the smell, began applying the ointment to the ugly yellow bruises on her legs. “You’re suggesting I leave town?”
“You could avoid the backlash that way,” he said, watching her.
She arched her eyebrows at him. “Tired of babysitting me?”
“I just want to keep you safe.” He picked up the jar. “Take off your shirt and lie down. I’ll get your back.”
Turning away so he wouldn’t see her, she removed her top and did as she was told, mostly because she wanted to believe that if Cain touched her, it wouldn’t mean more than when any other man did. “There are probably dozens of dangerous people in California who’d like to see me dead,” she told him and flashed him a smile over her bare shoulder. “I seem to bring that out in a person.”