That had been her first experience with a tetanus shot. The darned needle had been so large that she was sure the people who had invented the dosage had secretly been fiendish villains, out to torture young people stupid enough to need the dang injection.
“I think we’ve all had frightening experiences with dogs. When I was about eight, I was riding my bike in our neighborhood. It was dusk, and I knew that if I didn’t get home in less than five minutes, my mom was going to whip me, so I was hauling down a hill and I wiped out. I’m lying there, trying real hard not to cry while blood was gushing from my elbow, and right then this mean-assed boxer shows up. I was an idiot and started running. He nipped me right in the behind. I think he was just herding me, though, ’cause the skin didn’t break. I just had one giant-sized bruise, making it hard to sit for the next week or so.”
She didn’t know how he could laugh about such a frightening experience, but she did know she probably would have done the same and run like crazy. Of course, in her case, with her luck, the dang dog would have jumped her, pinned her down, and eaten her for dinner.
Just when Misty found herself beginning to relax, she stiffened right back up. It wouldn’t help to not stay on guard. “Really, Bryson, what are you doing here?”
There was no need to act coy. He’d eventually have to get to the reason for his visit. She had no clue where he lived, but it most likely wasn’t close, so he had to have gone out of his way for this visit, even if he was in his regular clothes. That was probably just to reassure her that he was just an average Joe.
“It’s time for your testimony. There are only a few witnesses left who haven’t made their depositions, so we need to lock down the schedule.” He connected their gazes, refusing to release her from the pull of his eyes.
It felt like trying to escape from a spider’s web. She shook her head. She literally had to bite her tongue to keep from telling him he could have her. No wonder she was an easy victim. It didn’t take much to make her fall under a smooth man’s spell.
“The last time we spoke, I told you I needed more time.” It seemed the FBI didn’t like that answer.
Another smile. He shifted, as if trying to get more comfortable. At least he broke eye contact while doing it. With one ankle now resting on his knee, he smiled yet again, his perfectly straight teeth gleaming in the natural sunlight pouring in through the windows.
“Have you called the attorney yet, spoken with Camden?” he asked.
“No. Since you were the one who recommended him, I don’t see how I can trust that he won’t just tell me what you want me to hear.”
Bryson chuckled, seeming to enjoy their sparring. Her body relaxed involuntarily, and she leaned back and lifted her glass, her tongue darting out to run along the rim. She took full advantage of the coolness in her hands.
When his eyes darkened instantly, her own widened. Wow. The tension was back, and it was so thick, it could be cut with a paring knife.
“I have another card here. You have Internet access, right?”
She nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Good. Then run a search on the guy. He’s in Montana, where the case is being tried, but I know he’ll be willing to come down here and speak with you. Yes, he wants this bastard behind bars as much as I do, but he won’t lie to you, won’t falsify information to get what he wants. I won’t, either.”
“Couldn’t I just talk to him on the phone?” The thought of having another man come to her place didn’t please her. This was her haven, and she didn’t want to share it.
“We could go up there,” he suggested, as if he had read her mind.
“Wouldn’t that be unsafe?” That was where Jesse was. Going back there wouldn’t be good for her piece of mind.
“How about we meet at a neutral location down here?”
“Why do you have to be there? I can’t get honest answers if you’re there,” she said, and for just a second, so quickly that she knew she had to have imagined it, hurt flashed across his face.
Then, in a blink, his smile reappeared.
“Of course. I will set it up but stay back. I want you to feel confident after the meeting with him. His name is Camden Whitman, and he’s been a friend of mine for over fifteen years. You can trust this man with your life.”
She saw truth shining in his eyes, but how well did anyone really know anyone else? Bryson might think that he could trust this lawyer, but why did he feel that way? The more pressing question was this: Why did she feel as if she could trust Bryson? She didn’t want to, and she had her guard up, but the bottom line was that she thought he was telling her the truth. Or at least her gut told her he was speaking the truth — not that her gut had always led her in the right direction.
Maybe it would clarify things if she just met with the lawyer, got it out of the way. She’d agreed to testify, so putting off the next step was only postponing the inevitable. Besides, if she could help get Jesse off the streets, how many women would that save? How many people would sleep better at night?
Sipping her tea, she glanced up, trying to be casual, hoping to gauge his expression without his noticing. Nope. His eyes were still locked on her as he sat there — quite still — not saying anything more. Just waiting on her.
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to talk to him…”
“Great!”
For some odd reason, she liked that she’d pleased him. This was another bad sign.
“What happens if Jesse doesn’t go to prison?”
This was the ultimate fear. If she got on that stand, testified against him, let him know how much she really knew about him, and then somehow the justice system failed and he was released, she had no doubt that Jesse would never stop coming after her. He was the sort of man who could never allow a woman to betray him without seeking what he deemed justice in his sick mind.
“Then I will shoot him myself.” The level look in Bryson’s eyes let her know he meant what he said.
The thought was almost as frightening to her as it was of Jesse being free.
This man, sitting so nonchalantly at her kitchen table, wearing a light-colored shirt, drinking a glass of her tea, had killed before. She had no doubt about it.
“Wouldn’t that make you just as wrong as him?”
He looked at her, some of the coldness leaving his eyes before he answered. “He would leave me no choice, Misty. I wouldn’t shoot him in the back. But he would go after you, after all of the witnesses, and I would be left with no choice but to take his life.”