Free Watch Me by Brenda Novak Page A

the back of his mind, he flipped to the next photo. And froze. It was Jason’s sophomore picture.
    Why was she walking around with a constant reminder of what she’d been through?
    The sadness of his stepbrother’s death hit Cain ashard as it had the day it’d happened, as if no time had passed at all. Jason had been the best kid Cain had ever known. He’d been more positive and functional than Robert, more socially adept than Owen. He’d been the all-American athlete, the guy who should’ve been voted Most Likely to Succeed—had he lived to graduate.
    Cain could still remember Jason’s excitement over having a date with Sheridan. He could also remember the gnawing jealousy—
    “Hey, anyone home?” a male voice called.
    Cain put the photo book in the bag. “Come in.”
    The creak of footsteps sounded in the hall before Tiger Chandler ducked his head into the kitchen. “I thought that was your truck. There goes the neighborhood, eh?”
    Cain returned his smile. “It went to hell a long time before I got here.”
    “No kidding.” Although Tiger wasn’t the kind of guy who went to the gym, he had a stocky build and was naturally strong. Cain had seen him in a bar fight and knew he could be formidable. “You the cleanup crew?”
    “More or less.”
    He wrinkled a nose that was too small for his face. “Smells like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
    “Smelled fine till you came along.” Cain grinned as he used a paper towel to wipe the melted lipstick off his hands.
    Tiger rubbed the blond tips of his bleached hair, which he’d gelled into spikes. “I didn’t think you were the type to play with makeup.”
    Cain righted the fallen chairs. “Don’t worry. I left the panties and high heels for you.”
    Tiger laughed, but sobered as his eyes wandered around. “So this is where it happened, huh?”
    “Looks that way to me.”
    “She’d only been in town for a night and a day. How’s that for a welcome party?”
    Taking a rag from the drawer next to the sink, Cain began wiping off the table. “How do you know how long she was in town? Did you talk to her?”
    “No, Amy got the date from the contract on Sheridan’s rental car.”
    “Whoever did this moved fast.”
    Tiger’s expression turned grim. “He definitely came with a purpose in mind.”
    “The question is why? Why Sheridan? Why now?”
    “I can’t tell you. I mean, we didn’t part friends.” He seemed to realize that put him in Sheridan’s “enemy camp.” “But I’d never attack her,” he added.
    Cain set the sack with her belongings on the table he’d just cleaned and dusted off the chairs. “Have you had any contact with her over the years?”
    “Nope. I don’t think anyone has. She was pretty freaked out when she left. The whole family was. They packed up and took off and never looked back.”
    He tossed the rag into the sink. “She’d been shot for no reason. And she watched my stepbrother die. That would be traumatic for anyone.” Steeling himself against the stench, Cain got another sack, placed the spoiled meat inside and carried it out to the garbage.
    “So what’s she like?” Tiger asked when he came back. “Has she changed much?”
    She’d grown more beautiful. And she probablywasn’t as sexually inexperienced. But Cain wasn’t about to speak those thoughts aloud. Finding a broom in the utility closet near the entrance to the garage, he started sweeping. “I don’t know. She’s been pretty incoherent since it happened.”
    “It’s interesting that she’s at your place.”
    “Why?” Cain paused to glance up at him.
    “I always thought maybe she had a thing for you.”
    No. She’d been trying to get back at her controlling parents by doing exactly what they were afraid she’d do. At least, that was what Cain liked to tell himself. It was the only explanation that made him feel better about ignoring her after such an encounter. Acknowledging that she was infatuated with him made him feel