Strangers of the Night Read online

  She didn’t want to distract him with talk while he navigated the few miles toward home, but it wasn’t like they were barreling down the street, and the silence felt strained. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.”

  She chewed the inside of her cheek for a second at that. “I mean, for everything.”

  “Again, my pleasure.” He shot her a look. “No ulterior motives, despite what you seem to think.”

  Willa’s chin went up. “You don’t know what I think.”

  “I know that you don’t like to rely on someone,” he said.

  She frowned. “That’s not true.”

  Phoenix didn’t answer. In another minute or so he was pulling in front of the house next to hers. He turned off the truck and turned to her on the seat.

  “If that guy bothers you again...”

  “You don’t know me, and you don’t know him,” she said crisply, cutting him off before he could say more.

  “I don’t need to know him to see he was a major asshole.”

  Again, her chin lifted. “Yeah, he is that. But I can handle him.”

  “I take it you’ve done it before?”

  She hesitated. To deny it would be stupid, but there was no way she was going to start in on that story. “It’s cold. I need to get inside. Thanks again for the ride.”

  He waited until she was on her front porch before he called her name. He was still standing on the sidewalk, the tote slung over his shoulder and his hands in his pockets. “Are you hungry?”

  “It’s only the middle of the afternoon.”

  “That’s not what I asked you,” Phoenix said with a smile she imagined he’d used many times on many women.

  “Are you offering to cook for me or something?” She fit her key into the lock and turned it, opened the door but didn’t go inside.

  “Cook? Me? Oh, no.” He laughed and tipped his face up to the sky to let the fluffy white flakes catch in his eyelashes before he looked at her again. Melting snow glistened on his lips, and he licked it away. “I was thinking maybe you would cook for me.”

  There was a small desire there for her to invite him in, to make some pasta with the tomatoes and basil sitting on her counter. A little olive oil. She was hungry, Willa thought. But cook for him?

  “You’re crazy,” she called down to him.

  Phoenix grinned. “I’ve heard that a time or two.”

  There’d been a time when any man who’d approached her had been shut down immediately. Even fiercely. There’d been a time when she’d allowed fear and rage to consume her. To keep her a prisoner of her emotions. Time had muted that response, but it had not entirely gone away. She was cautious, not coy.

  “I have no reason to invite you in,” she told him. “Other than because you want me to.”

  His expression became serious. He nodded. “True.”

  “Thanks again for the ride.” She kicked her boots on the door frame to clear them of snow but paused to look back at him before she went inside. “Maybe I’ll make you dinner another time.”

  Phoenix took a hand from his pocket and pressed it to his heart as he made a little bow. “Another time.”

  Chapter 3

  The storm they’d predicted to end within a few hours had continued through the night. The power had stayed on, at least. Phoenix didn’t have a job to go to. He had a fully stocked fridge and thanks to the library trip the day before, plenty to keep him occupied for the next few days while Penn’s Grove dug itself out. He also had a laptop and the internet and a curiosity about his prickly next-door neighbor.

  When he searched Willa’s name, dozens of entries came up at once. The benefit of having a unique name. If he’d searched his own name, there would also be plenty of hits under his various aliases, he was sure, but nothing that could be tied directly to him. Willa had several social media accounts, both her own and the ones for the library. Her posts avoided religion, politics and sex, and told him nothing about who she was. He dug deeper.

  A yearbook photo. “Best Smile.” Beside her in the picture was a younger but no less douchey-looking version of the man from the library. Brady Singer, read the caption. His arm slung casually around her shoulders told Phoenix a lot, though far from everything. Phoenix sat back in the uncomfortable desk chair that had come with the house the way all the furniture had. He typed again after a moment or so, but he wasn’t getting quite the results he wanted, so he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. He hadn’t called his sister in months, but she answered the way he knew she would.

  “So you’re not dead.”

  Phoenix laughed. “Not yet.”

  “Neither am I, thanks very much for being worried about me.”

  His laughter softened as he propped his feet on the desk and closed his eyes. “I knew you were fine. How’s Officer Friendly?”

  “Kane is fine. He’s great. We’re great together.” She sounded defensive, and he couldn’t blame her. “Where are you?”

  “Somewhere safe. Somewhere nobody would think to look for me.”

  Persephone sighed. “Come back to me, Phoenix. Come work for the Crew. They’re not the enemy.”

  “I don’t want to work for anyone, not ever again.” The words bit out of him, harsh and bitter on his tongue. “Maybe they wouldn’t have me working the streets, but I guarantee you, I’d end up getting fucked again.”

  “Oh, Phoenix.” His sister sighed.

  “I’m not calling to chitchat, sister mine. I have a favor to ask.” He opened his eyes, knowing his voice had gone a little harsher, so he added, “Please.”

  “What do you want?”

  He told her quickly, outlining the searches he needed and spelling Willa’s full name for her. Persephone’s voice was muffled again. He heard the sound of typing.

  “Who is she?” his sister asked after a minute or so. “What do you want with her?”

  Phoenix thought before answering. “She’s my neighbor. That’s all. And I’m curious. I looked her up online, but I feel like there’s more to her.”

  “Yeah. There’s more.”

  “Like what?” He put his feet down with a thump and leaned to look at his laptop, as though magically whatever Persephone was finding would show up on the screen.

  “I’m not going to tell you.”

  “Persephone,” Phoenix said like a warning.

  His sister, however, wasn’t intimidated. “It’s not any of your business. Why do you want to get into her secrets? Are you trying to get something out of her?”

  “No. I just...”

  “You have the hots for her,” Persephone said flatly. “Well, maybe trying talking to her instead of creeping on her. I’m sure you could pull everything right out of her, whatever you want. Isn’t that how you do it?”

  Okay, so she was still pissed off about what he’d done to her before. “It doesn’t work on her.”

  Persephone’s scalding laugh burned his ear through the phone. “Oh, for sure. Right. You want me to believe that?”

  “It doesn’t,” he repeated, “work on her. I don’t know why. I tried to nudge her, but she won’t do what I want her to do.”

  “Sounds to me like you’re screwed, brother mine.” Persephone’s laughter cycled up, sounding less bitter and more delighted. “Get ready for it. You’re about to fall in love.”

  “You shut your mouth,” Phoenix shot back without a second’s hesitation.

  Persephone guffawed, then went quiet. “If you want to know about her, you really need to get to know her. You could make me tell you, of course. We both know that. But it won’t be any good for you to know if she’s not the one to share it.”

  “It’s bad?”

  “It’s hers,” Persephone said fiercely. Harsh. “You don’t understand what