He was also worried about spendingso much time with her in such close proximity. Her sexy body was driving himcrazy, making him so horny he could barely see straight. Having her last nighthad just added fuel to the fire, increasing his hunger for her to the point ofobsession. He had to have her again. And again. Sitting beside her in thevehicle was torturing him, testing the limits of his self-control.
It was more than that, though. Shewas clearly developing feelings for him that went beyond sex. He'd seen thephenomenon before--hero worship that got out of hand. Sure, he'd rescued her,but that was his job. So to speak. She was a strong, independent woman with amind of her own and she didn't need him. The fact she was looking at him withsoft eyes, worrying about his safety, and doing things like standing up for himto the FBI scared the hell out of him. Almost as much as Sheldon Barnes gettinghold of her scared him.
He was in no position to have anykind of relationship with any woman, not with the mess his life was in hangingover him and no idea what to do about it. That would be so unfair to her. Afterthe pain and betrayal he'd been through, he was definitely in no hurry to getinvolved again. Not to mention, his career was hanging by a thread. When he gotback to work, if he got back to work after all this, he'd have to busthis ass to redeem himself.
He reached for the radio and playedwith the buttons until he found music without static. Country music. As soon ashis hand returned to the wheel, Marli leaned forward and changed it, slantinghim a wry smile. He shook his head, a grin tugging at his lips.
There was also the little issue ofthe night he'd been so close to getting Barnes and, because of his own drunken,self-pitying screw-up, had let him get away. Let him get away so he could gomurder Marli's best friend. Knives twisted painfully in his gut, guilt andself-disgust churning in him.
Trey recalled exactly where WandaBarnes lived and pulled up in front of the run-down bungalow on the edge oftown. He looked at Marli. "You should stay in the car," he said,checking out the neighborhood. "Lock the doors."
Like locked doors would stop amadman with a gun.
She nodded, looking just a tadnervous. "I'll be fine." She lifted her chin.
He nodded back at her and got out ofthe car.
Sheldon liked driving. He had a nicesense of freedom when he was driving--open roads, no responsibilities,different views and things to see every mile, constantly changing, and all hehad to do was sit there and drive. Nice and easy. Yeah.
He had a weird feeling. A feeling ofinevitability. Like the end was near. But the end of what? Maybe he was goingto die.
It had to end sometime.
He didn't like leaving Rocky Harborwithout having gotten Marli, but there'd been too many close calls. His guttightened, remembering. He'd never been especially careful, always feltinvincible, had laughed at the goddamn FBI.
But now he knew he had two sons, hedidn't want it to end yet. So he'd taken off. Stolen another car and hit theroad.
Like he always did. Like afterCecelia in Montgomery. He fondly recalled meeting Cecelia.
She'd been pretty and petite, withlight blonde hair, and he'd treated her well. He knew he could eventually getwhat he wanted if he got her hooked in with lots of compliments, pretty giftsand flowers. And it worked. They partied together and did the bar scene, andshe was falling for him. He could tell. She let him fuck her the second timethey met. He made it nice, slow and easy, so as not to scare her.
One night they were at the PonderosaBar and Grill with his buddy Dan and his girlfriend. Dan and Kim wereapparently both horny that night, all over each other, kissing and groping.Sheldon watched them at first with amusement, then with arousal. He becameaware of the boner in his pants and pulled Cecelia in for a big smooch.
"Hey," she said, pullingaway from him, batting his hands away, "not here, Sheldon."
"Come on, honey," hecoaxed, leaning over and sticking his tongue in her ear. "If they can makeout in the bar, so can we."
"Sheldon," she said,"no."
He kept bugging her, tickling her,trying to kiss her. He knew she wanted it, too. She was just playing hard toget. After a while, Dan and Kim headed home. "Let's dance," Sheldonsuggested, pulling Cecelia up onto the dance floor.
She went along with it, but when hetried to grab her boobs while they were dancing, she slapped his hands andstormed off the dance floor, leaving him standing there alone, humiliated.
Rage rose in him. He'd been doing sowell since he moved to Montgomery. Cecelia had been nice to him, did whateverhe wanted, never laughed at him, so things had been going good. But now she'dpissed him off.
The anger bubbled up in him likeboiling water in a pot, and he struggled to put a lid on it. Sometimes hedidn't really want to put a lid on it. Sometimes he just wanted to let it boilover. Sometimes he just wanted to do something that showed just how angry hewas.
"Let's go," he saidtersely, back at the table. He grabbed Cecelia's hand and dragged her out ofthe dark bar.
"Hey, Sheldon," shecomplained, whining a little, "you're hurting me."
He clenched his jaw, but said littleas he got into the driver's seat of Cecelia's white Toyota. He drove them toher place, a small apartment above a convenience store. Cecelia had a roommate,but she was out. Even when she did come in later that night, she wouldn'tdisturb them. She knew Sheldon stayed over all the time.
"Take your clothes off,bitch," Sheldon ordered Cecelia in her bedroom.
She looked at him warily,
