A Girl by Any Other Name (73 page)

me, but I’m not sure how to tell you this.”

“Just tell me. I ain’t got all day.”

I laughed, because although she wanted an explanation, I knew from her expression she was

amused. “I used to date this girl, Molly. She’s a very nice girl, and we stayed friends afterwards. It

was probably a mistake to do that, but we both needed a friend. I met her and another friend, Tony, at

the bar tonight. We meet for drinks every weekend, although I’ve been skipping out since I met you.

When you said you needed to work, I figured I’d just go meet them not thinking about it. As soon as I

got there, though, I knew it was a pretty dickhead move to meet up with my ex. I’m sorry.”

“Why do you smell like her?”

“She got pretty wasted fast and there was a guy there who I didn’t trust. I wanted to make sure

she made it home so I drove her. I swear to you on my life that nothing happened. I have no problems

telling her we can’t be friends anymore. I know it was very disrespectful to you. I never want to

jeopardize what we have.”

She was contemplative for a moment, biting her lower lip. She surprised me with a kiss on my

cheek. She was wearing sleeping shorts and one of my T-shirts. I caressed her bare legs as she got

comfortable against my chest. “Don’t do that, Cal. You’re a very good friend and I wouldn’t take that

away from anybody.”

“Really? You’re not mad?”

“I trust you. Besides, I’d be a hypocrite if I told you not to see her again.”

“How so?” I asked, feeling all the relaxed muscles tense again.

“My number one, as you like to call him, is still in my life. He lives in another state, but I talk to

him on the phone, and we see each other once in a while.”

“I see,” I replied as evenly as I could, gnashing my teeth together.

She put a hand on each side of my face, looking up at me. “I love you. Any intimacy between him

and I was over a long a time ago. I just wanted you to know.”

“Well, you’ve put me in a position where arguing would only make me look like a damn fool.”

“So let’s not argue about it.”

“You’re right. I don’t want to talk about other people anymore. Just let me love you tonight.” I

trailed kisses down her jaw line, but she backed away before I could descend any further.

“We can’t. I got my period.”

I bent down so I could whisper in her ear. “I don’t mind.”

She laughed, pushing herself off me. “Ewweee, I do.”

I sighed in exasperation. I wasn’t getting makeup sex.

“Fine,” I grumbled.

“Don’t be that way. It’s good news.”

“How in the hell is it good news?”

“Because I’m not pregnant, silly.”

“Oh, yeah, I suppose it is. Let’s go to bed, Sophie. At least I can hold you tonight.”

She shook her head and I opened my mouth to protest. I was tired as hell and I just wanted to fall

asleep with her in my arms. “Cal, I can accept that you’re friends with her, but I will never be all

right with you coming to my bed with another woman’s scent. Take a shower, buster.” She pointed to

the tiny shower in her apartment. I hated that shower. I swear it was built for midgets.

She stood up, “Hurry up, cowboy.”

“Why?” I grumbled.

She gave me a sexy smile, licking her lips. Her words were whispered promises, jerking my

dick to full awareness. “My body may be off limits, but yours isn’t. I’ll be waiting.”

I think that was the fastest shower I ever took.

Chapter Nineteen

My unease was at an all-time high. It was five minutes past when class had started and Sylvie

wasn’t here yet. She still sat in the back, but we always smiled at each other when she walked in. It

wasn’t like her not to show up. She knew how much I worried. I texted her before starting the lecture.

Twenty minutes later, I checked my cell—something I told my students never to do—but there

was no response. I texted again.

Where the hell are you?

I checked ten minutes later and still no response. “Jessica, please take over,” I said quietly in the

middle of Melanie Adams reciting her paper on
The Iliad
.

I stepped out into the hallway, hitting the button for Sylvie’s phone, trying to control the rampant

thoughts in my head. The phone rang so I prepared for the heated voicemail I’d leave her, but she

finally answered.

“Cal,” she said in a raspy voice as if she’d been crying. All my anger instantly dissipated.

“Where are you?”

“At home,” she choked.

“What’s wrong?”

“He found me.”

“Are you hurt?” My fingers tightened around the phone so hard I was afraid it would pop right

out of my hand.

“No, I’m okay.”

I exhaled a long breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in. “Are you safe right now?” I asked,

heading back to the classroom to retrieve my jacket and keys.

“Yes, he’s gone. The police are here. It was the alarm. The sound made him run off.”

“I’ll be there as fast as I can.” I propped open the door. “Jessica, I need you to take over.”

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“It’s a family emergency.”

Jessica looked at me, perplexed, but nodded. As far as I was concerned, that was the most

truthful response I could give. Sylvie was my family and always had been.

* * * *

I reached her place in record time, breaking all speed limits and running every yellow light in

my path. I charged up the stairs, but halted in my tracks when I saw the door, busted off the jamb with

the broken chain swinging in mock victory. I pushed it open and walked in. There were several police

officers and men in suits, but I ignored them all looking for her.

She sat on her bed folding clothes into a suitcase. I walked up to her and took her in my arms.

She melted into them.

“Baby, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m fine. He busted through the door, but as soon as the alarm went off, he ran away. I

was in the bathroom getting ready to head out. You were right about the alarm.”

I held her face in my hand, kissing it all over, not caring how many other people were in the

room. “Sophie, we need to get moving,” a gruff voice said from behind me.

I turned and looked at him, trying not to give him the benefit of my shock. “Well, well, hello,

Uncle Joe.”

“Hello, Caleb. As I said the last time we met, do not call me that.”

“He’s not my uncle. Joe is the US Marshal assigned to me,” she explained.

“Yeah, I figured that one out on my own. What’s going on? Are you leaving?”

She nodded. “I’m getting another identity.”

“Were you just going to leave me…again?”

She widened her eyes, backing away from me. “I was going to tell you.”

“When? When it was too late for me to do anything about it? Were you going to send me an

anonymous postcard?”

“I think we have other things to worry about right now, Caleb. You need to leave.”

“Shut up, Joe. Get out. I need to talk to Sophie.”

“Excuse me?” Joe grabbed my shoulder, but I moved out of his reach. I didn’t want to take my

eyes off her.

“Joe, can you please have everyone wait outside? I need to talk to Cal privately.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Soph.” Soph? He had a nickname for her?

“She didn’t ask your permission,
Uncle
Joe.”

“I just need a few minutes…please,” she pleaded with him.

I was looking at her, looking at him over my shoulder. The expression she offered him was one

of familiarity…possibly intimacy, as if I was the interloper in this situation. “Are you done with

forensics?” Joe asked someone.

“Yes, all set,” said the one woman in the room who had been dusting for fingerprints and

gathering items. “Everyone, let’s go outside and figure out the game plan. Haynes, you’re with me.”

They all shuffled out in an orderly fashion.

“I can only give you ten minutes, Soph. Then we need to leave.”

“Thanks, Joe.”

When we were alone, she sat down on the bed, wringing her hands against her lap. I sat next to

her, moving her suitcase. “Looks like I met number one, huh?”

Her eyes widened, providing all the confirmation I needed. She was never good at hiding her

feelings…at least not from me. “Cal, you don’t understand. Nothing happened between us until I was

twenty. We were just there for each other when we both needed someone.”

“He’s known you since you were ten years old.”

“Actually not until I was fifteen. That’s when he was assigned to our case.”

“That doesn’t make it any better, but it’s not important right now.” I tilted her chin so she was

looking at me and could hear the conviction in my words. “I don’t want to talk about him. I want to

talk about us. I’m going with you.”

She looked up at me, shaking her head vigorously. “No, you can’t.”

“You promised you wouldn’t take my choices away again.”

“I know, but that was before.”

“Before what?” I spat.

“Before Eddie found me. It’s different now.”

“What kind of bullshit is this? Do you not understand my heart beats for you?”

Her lower lip quivered, her beautiful face constricted with pain. “It’s because I love you that I

don’t want you to choose. You don’t understand what this kind of life is like. How would you feel

knowing you could never see your mother or Mandy again? That you wouldn’t be there to walk your

sister down the aisle when she got married? What if your mother got sick? You’d grow to resent me

for this decision.”

I took her shoulders and pulled her against my chest. “I will never resent you. I’ve lost you once

and I won’t do it again.”

“I would be doing this to them too, Cal. They don’t get a choice in it. They’ve already lost one

good man in their life. I won’t be responsible for them losing another.”

“They would understand.” I put my forehead against hers, “Don’t. End. Us.” There was an

unmistakable plea in my voice. I couldn’t stomach the thought of her out in this great, big, mean world

without me at her side. She needed me as much I needed her.

“I wish I could spend all of eternity with you, Tex. I love the life we have here, but this is fate’s

plan and it leaves few choices.”

“A great philosopher once said, ‘Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.’”

She stared up at me, “Who was that? Socrates?”

I smiled, “No, Optimus Prime from the
Transformers
movie.”

Her lip quivered once more, but this time it broke into a giggle. “How can you get me to laugh

right now?”

I tucked a loose silky strand of hair behind her ear. “You’re going to need someone to make you

smile. I’m the right man for that job.”

“The only man.”

Joe cleared his throat, interrupting our moment. She jerked, but I held her against my chest,

fighting my desire to knock him in the teeth, against my need to hold her. “Ready to go?” he asked.

She looked from me to him. “We need another identity. Cal is coming with me.”

“That’s not possible, Soph.”

I turned to him, trading my relieved smile for seething scowl. “It’s possible and we both know it.

Get on it, Joe, and do your job.”

Chapter Twenty

It was funny. This morning had been a normal day, or at least as normal as things had been since

Sylvie came back. I’d been teaching my class. We’d been going to go to the movies tonight. Now she

lay asleep in my arms at some hotel in Medford as we prepared for our new life. I was going to miss

Mandy and Momma something terrible, but this girl in my arms was a part of me, and I couldn’t be

without her.

I slowly shifted away from her, getting out of bed so as not to wake her. I placed a gentle kiss on

her temple and tucked her in again. I opened the door to face Joe who was sitting in the chair outside

of our room. He looked as tired as I felt.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Yes, I think that’s a good idea, Caleb. Join me for a drink at the bar.”

I turned back, looking to our room. “I don’t want to leave her.”

“Haynes is here,” Joe said, as an older man appeared behind him. “He’s taking this shift.”

I nodded, and began walking toward the elevator. The hotel bar was empty except for us. Joe

ordered a Jack neat. I ordered a Rolling Rock.

“I need to explain to you how all this works,” he said, taking some papers out of his folder. He

slid them toward me. It was like some list of rules. I ignored it.

“That’s not why I wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, that’s really all I have to say to you, Caleb.”

I slammed my beer down. “I think what happened was sick.”

He laughed, only infuriating me further. “I doubt she would agree with that statement.”

“How long?”

“We didn’t do anything until she was twenty.”

“No, I mean how long have you been lusting after her? Did it start when you met her, you sick

bastard?”

He clenched his jaw and fists at the same time. I could see his internal struggle to keep his

composure. “Fuck you, Tanner. We don’t owe you an explanation.”

“Oh, let me be clear, Joe, I don’t think
she
does, but
you
sure as hell do. You took advantage of

her. She was lost, scared and alone. You were supposed to protect her.”

“I did.”

“What would your bosses say about this? Surely such a breach in trust would cause a great deal