Bending the Rules (33 page)

Poppy twisted to look at her over the seat. “Cory, I’m one hundred percent on Detective de Sanges’s side on this one. Not only does your mother have a right to know, she needs to know.”

“Oh, big surprise you’d side with him,” Cory snarled bitterly. “We all know he’s doing you.”

The moment the words left her mouth, she went hot, then cold, then hot again, feeling kinda sick to her stomach. She held her breath, hardly believing she’d just said that.

Detective de S.’s gaze snapped to the rearview mirror and locked on hers as if he couldn’t believe it, either. His dark eyes burned hot beneath aggressively lowered brows, and he didn’t have to open his stern mouth for her to know he was not happy with her.

Ms. Calloway’s expression, on the other hand, went very cool, which was so unlike her that it made Cory’s stomach pitch even further.

“Setting aside for a moment that my love life is my business and none of yours,” the blonde said in a calm voice that held not one speck of the warmth Cory was used to hearing in it, “you clearly didn’t learn the first thing about me these past several weeks if you think sex—or anything else for that matter—could ever turn me into a yes woman.”

Jason snorted and turned his attention back to the road. “That’s the goddamn truth,” he said under his breath.

Ms. C. didn’t reprimand him for his language and she didn’t turn back to face front. She simply pinned Cory in place with a level gaze.

Which made her squirm and duck her head, wishing her bangs were longer so she could hide behind them. Because she was ashamed she’d said that. She and the guys had kind of speculated their teacher and the cop might be doing the deed, but even if they were, Ms. Calloway wasn’t one of those females whose every thought originated with her boyfriend of the moment. She had never once acted like anyone but her own woman.

But Cory was desperate. At practically any other time, her mother would have been working, so it wouldn’t have been as big a deal to be dragged home by the cops. This would have to be the day her mom had one of her rare half-days off. There was no way she could keep her from discovering the real reason Cory had been part of the project she’d talked about so enthusiastically.

But all the same…

“I’m sorry,” she muttered to her lap. And she was. But twisting her fingers together, she whispered to them what was really foremost in her mind. “I never wanted Mom to know I was on the art project as a punishment for tagging.”

“Is that what it felt like to you, Cory? A punishment?”

“At first it did.” Sneaking a peek at the pretty blonde, she was relieved to see that her teacher’s brown eyes weren’t as distant as they had been. “Not so much after I’d been there a couple of days, though.” She slid Ms. C. another sidelong peek. “It turned out to be fun.”

“Good. Because I’ve enjoyed working with you. And I’d like you to trust me about something. You need to let your mother be your mother. Give her the opportunity to do what moms do best.”

She heaved a big sigh. “Whatever,” she muttered. Because she didn’t think Ms. C. did know best in this instance.

They reached her building way too soon. Reluctantly, she led her jailers up to her apartment.

Her mother looked up from the laundry she was folding when Cory trooped through the door with Detective de S. and Ms. C. in tow a few minutes later. “Cory?” she said, alarm chasing across her face as her gaze darted between the two adults. Setting the T-shirt she was folding on a stack of them perched on the arm of the couch, she rose to her feet.

Detective de S. stepped forward. “Mrs. Capelli, I’m Detective de Sanges and this is Poppy Calloway.”

The fear that having a cop show up on her doorstep had flashed in her mother’s eyes turned to arrested interest at Ms. C.’s name. She turned to Poppy. “Cory’s teacher in that art project?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ms. C. agreed.

“Oh, how nice to meet you! She’s loved being a part of that.”

“And I’ve loved having her in it. Cory is very talented. We just finished our wall today. You’ll have to have her take you over to see it.”

Cory let out the breath she’d been holding as her mother agreed that was a great idea. Apparently Ms. C.

didn’t feel compelled to mention the manner in which Cory had been drafted into the project.

Then Detective de Sanges shifted and she shot him a nervous glance. Because there was no guarantee he wouldn’t blow it for her. The guy wasn’t big on torquing the rules.

But ratting her out must not have been all that high on his list of important stuff, because he stepped forward and said in a gentle voice, “You might want to sit down again, Mrs. Capelli. Because Cory’s got some trouble and we need to talk to you about it.”

Her face losing all color, Cory’s mom reached for her hand. “Honey?”

They sat side by side on the couch and her mother’s face grew whiter with every word Detective de S. spoke. But she slipped an arm around Cory’s shoulders, and hugged her to her side. When he finished, she turned and gathered her even closer, holding her tight. Pulling back a few moments later, she smoothed Cory’s bangs back from her face. Gave her a look filled with fierce love.

“Why didn’t you tell me this was happening?”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Didn’t want to—” She gave her a little shake. “Who’s the mother here, Cory Kay?”

“You,” she admitted in a little voice.

“That’s right. I am. You do not protect me. I protect you. And I can’t do that if you’re keeping the fact you’re in danger from me.” She turned to the detective, resolve written all over her even though Cory knew it must have felt like nightmare déjà vu to have her last remaining family member be a witness relying on the cops to keep her safe. ’Cuz just look at how good that had turned out last time. “What do we do?” she asked.

And even though Cory knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet, even though she understood that she was still in very real danger from Arturo and that her mother was bound to have something to say about the fact she’d been out to paint graffiti on other people’s walls the night all this had begun, she went limp with relief against her mother’s side. Because for the first time in almost two years, she realized something.

She didn’t have to be the strong one in the family. She didn’t have to save her mother’s sensibilities. All she had to be was a kid.

And that was one heck of a—what had Henry called the ride Danny G. offered him? Oh, yeah.

That was one heck of a coolicious load off.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

How can everything turn upside down so damn fast?

P
OPPY HAD BEEN
home almost four hours and was talking to Jane on the bedroom phone when the doorbell rang.

“Gotta go,” she said, interrupting her friend in mid-sentence. “Jason’s home and I need to find out what happened at Cory’s after I left.” She’d been anxiously anticipating news practically since the moment he’d tossed her his car keys at the Capelli apartment and told her she might as well go home.

He had been on the phone at the time, waiting to talk to someone about getting protective custody for Cory. After informing her it could be a long process that was bound to take a while, he’d assured her he could catch a ride back to the apartment when he was done.

Dying to find out how everything had transpired after she’d left, she raced to the front door.

“I didn’t realize until I got home that you forgot to take the house key off your chain,” she said with a smile as she yanked it open.

It wasn’t Jase. Instead, a strange man stood there.

A rough-looking, stocky stranger, sporting a couple of thick, black, badly rendered tattoos on his knuckles. She swallowed hard and started easing the door closed again, knowing she didn’t have a prayer of shutting it if his intention was to muscle his way in.

He merely slid his fingers into his jeans pockets, however, and gave her an easy smile. “Hey,” he said. “Jase around?”

He knew Jason? “Um, no.” Oh, crap, considering all the stuff that had been happening lately, should she have told him that? Let him know she was here all alone?

Then she blew out a breath. Dammit, she wasn’t used to regarding people with distrust. “No, I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s out on a case.”

“Oh.” Disappointment flashed across his face, then disappeared behind a neutral expression. “Detective Dickwa—um, that is, Murphy, gave me your address.” He thrust out his hand. “I’m Joe. Jase’s brother.”

Shock was a punch to the lungs. Jason had a brother?

Her expression must have been as poleaxed as she felt because Joe grimaced.

“Shit. He didn’t tell you, did he? Well, I s’pose me and the old man and Pops—that’s Jase and me’s grampa—we ain’t exactly the relatives to write home about. We spent more time in Walla Walla or Monroe than we was ever around to take care of Jase when he was growin’ up.”

Holy, holy shitskis. And the surprises just kept piling up. She stepped back, opening the door wider. “I’m hoping he’ll be home soon.” Belatedly, she offered her hand. “I’m Poppy. Would you like to come in?”

“Thanks. That’d be real nice.” But once inside, he refused her offer of a beverage and perched uneasily on her couch.

She studied him. “You and Jason don’t look much alike, do you?” Then, looking at his chin, she smiled. “Well, except for that five-o’clock shadow.”

That made him smile as well and he rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Yeah. All the de Sanges men got this damn beard.” Then he lapsed back into an uncomfortable silence.

She searched for something to say that would put him at ease, then finally had to acknowledge, “I’m not sure what’s acceptable to ask a man who admits to spending more time in jail than out.”

To her delight, it seemed to restore the uncomplicated manner with which he’d started out. “Yeah,” he said with a wry grin. “I’m guessin’ an uptown girl like you ain’t seen many the likes of me.”

Poppy snorted. “Uptown, my butt. I have a friend who’s one of those, but I grew up in a commune.”

“No shit?”

“Well, okay, ‘grew up’ might be stretching it a bit. But I did spend my first five years in one.” It occurred to her that this was a golden opportunity to learn a little something about Jason. Sure, pumping his brother for information wasn’t exactly a heroic pursuit, but she could at least safely ask what Jase had been like as a kid without stepping over that line between curiosity and prying. “So tell me, what was—”

The front door slammed shut and Poppy realized she must not have closed it behind them all the way when she let Joe in. “This time it probably really is Jason,” she told Joe with a grin and leaned back to check, prepared to tell Jase they had company.

Only to have her stomach sink with unspecified dread when she caught sight of his expression. His scowl was a black thundercloud darkening his face as he ripped his tie from under his collar and hurled it across the narrow hallway.

The neckpiece was too lightweight to go very far. The jacket he tossed in its wake did a much more impressive job. It hit the wall and slid to the floor as he turned away to stalk into the living room.

He stopped dead in the archway, staring at his brother. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Jason!” She surged to her feet, but Joe put a hand on her arm as he, too, stood.

“It’s okay,” he said, then turned his attention to his brother. “I was in the neighborhood and stopped by to see you at your place. Murphy told me you was staying here for a while, so I thought I’d try ta catch ya. Poppy and me’s been getting to know one another.” When Jason’s expression didn’t change, Joe shrugged. “But I can see you got things on your mind, so I’ll get outta your hair. Maybe we can get together another time.”

“Yeah, sure. Maybe.”

Poppy patted Joe’s arm as she walked him to the door. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”

“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, I wasn’t there for him much when he was comin’ up. I can hardly kick if he ain’t dying to get to know me now. Saying that this time I really mean it that I’ll stay outta jail isn’t stayin’ outta jail—and Jase’s heard the lies before. Anyhow, it was real nice meeting you. You take care, now.” And squaring his shoulders, he let himself out.

Poppy stormed back into the living room. “What is the matter with you?” she demanded. “That’s no way to treat a family memb—” Then the reason she’d been so anxiously awaiting his return, temporarily forgotten by the discovery he had a brother—and a father and grandfather as well, apparently—suddenly came roaring back.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered, dread settling in the pit of her stomach. “What happened at Cory’s?”

He turned furious dark eyes on her. “What happened? I’ll tell you what happened. Fucking budget cuts!”

Her hand went to her heart. “They aren’t going to protect her?”

“According to the powers that be, there’s no need to put Cory in a safe house, because there’s no real evidence that anyone is trying to hurt her.”

“That’s crazy! What about the ladder—”

“Unfortunate accident.”

“The hell it is! But forget that for a moment—how did they explain away someone trying to run her down in a car?”