Free Untouched: 2 (Rough Boys) by Em Petrova Page A

want to discuss the little Italian bombshell that left the party with you?”
    Mason gave him a warning look. “No.”
    Whit took a swig of coffee. “Well, I appreciate a man who doesn’t kiss and tell. And if I had a chance at Eva Frank I wouldn’t want to share the details either.”
    Mason’s ears perked up. “What do you know about her? About Bill, I mean. I remember him in high school. They were always together. What happened to him?”
    Whit lowered his voice and leaned in. “A gunshot wound took him out.”
    “Hunting accident?”
    His friend wagged his head. “Some say it was. But I’ve heard differently.”
    A spike of dread hit Mason’s stomach. “Heard what?”
    Whit pitched his voice to a murmur. “I’ve heard that it was a suicide.”
    Mason mentally searched his stores of knowledge and even the encounters with Eva. Had she ever said anything to indicate her husband had killed himself?
    “Was he a drinker?” Many men in the area turned to alcohol. More than one of the guys Mason knew from high school spent their days and nights glued to a barstool, hugging a whiskey glass. Had Eva been forced to live with that day in and out? The thought speared him to the core. A protective growl rose in his throat and he bit down on it.
    “Nah. Not Bill. He was a hard worker, but toward the end, he got a bit shifty.”
    “How do you mean? Was he cheating on Eva?”
    Whit gave him a long, level look.
    “I don’t really know what was going on with Bill Frank. He stopped talking to people and started staying home more. Then one day I heard he’d been found dead.”
    Mason pushed his plate away, unable to pretend he was hungry anymore. “And what of her security? Had he provided for her?”
    Whit made a noise in his chest. “Mason, look at where she’s living. Her house is in disrepair and her car is worse. No, I don’t believe Bill did anything to ensure she and his child were cared for after he was gone. Whatever money she got, she probably spent to bury him.”
    Mason’s chest burned with emotion. Fury and desperation mingled with a tenderness he didn’t want to contemplate yet. He didn’t like hearing that. No, he did not.
    In the year he’d been in Salzburg Springs, he’d never had the opportunity to drive past Eva’s house. He pictured a falling-in roof and sagging porch, a wood burner belching black smoke into the sky.
    He ran a hand over his face. “What about the boy? Brady. You ever seen him?”
    Whit thanked the waitress when she poured him another cup of coffee. She hovered over Mason’s cup but he placed a hand over it.
    “No, I’ve never seen him. They ever come in here, Karen?”
    “Eva and her boy? No.” She leaned over and whispered, “I suppose she doesn’t have the money.” She shuffled off to the kitchen, where she struck up a conversation with the cook.
    God, everything was made worse in Mason’s mind. The blurred edges of Eva’s life sharpened to razor points. He had to do something to help her. She couldn’t possibly be making ends meet. Why hadn’t he given her a pay raise before now?
    Because I’ve let decisions about the company go. He couldn’t do that anymore. He either had to grab up the saw and run into the forest or walk away and leave it untouched.
    But he’d already touched Eva. That was the trouble. His body knew hers and now his heart cried out to learn everything about her too.
    He reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet. Slapping a couple bills on the counter, he called out to let Karen know he was finished. Turning to Whit, he shook hands. “Thanks for the info, man. I’ll catch you another day.”
    Outside, the snow was softly falling. The fields around his house would be drifted in heaps and the resident geese would be holed up in the wooden boxes Mason’s father had long ago built for them. As Mason headed home, he yearned to drive past Eva’s house, but part of him didn’t want to see it.
    * * * * *
     
    Eva had worked all day