Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! I've been dying to write it but I've been sick. Hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too long! Enjoy.

Chapter 22

Doug guided the truck out of the parking spot and headed toward the mouth of the subdivision. It was so silent in the vehicle that he could have heard a pin drop. It almost made him jump out of his skin when the cell phone in his pocket began to ring loudly. This time it wasn't Leigh's cell phone, but his own. It must be Rollson.

He cursed and Leigh jumped in surprise from her seat on the passenger side. Why was she so dang jumpy today? He thought irritably.

"Sorry," he muttered. Not only for surprising her but also because she had probably caught the jist of his thought patterns. He wished that he knew how to hide his emotions the way she did.

He fished the phone out of his pocket and brought it to his ear, cutting the third ring off short. "Hello?" He braced himself.

"Doug?" Rollson replied.

"Yeah," Doug answered after a heartbeat. "Who else uses this phone?"

"I heard some…err…interesting news this morning. Why didn't you report to me that Grady was dead?"

Doug sighed, his mind whirring. "I didn't have the time or energy. I got pretty beat up that night."

"What happened?" Rollson prompted.

"Grady and I got into a fight with some werewolves and the detective just

happened to get in the way. He ended up shooting Grady."

Well, at least it was only a half-lie. Full blown out lies are hard to pull off. He was worried that Rollson wouldn't believe him even as it was. If Rollson had any special information, then he could possibly be toying with Doug. Doug pushed the idea away. There was nothing in the news article that would suggest he was on the 'wolf side.

"How hurt are you?" Rollson asked.

"Mostly just sore," Doug replied. "For a while there, I thought my ribs were broken, but I think they're fine."

There was a short pause and then he heard a sigh over the phone. "You need to be more careful. I chose you for this case because of your good track record. You know the Colonel would be disappointed if he were around to see you act so rashly."

"Yes sir," Doug felt a small zing of annoyance. Mostly because he knew he had acted rashly that night. He wasn't used to making such blatant mistakes. Being around Leigh did something to him that wouldn't happen otherwise.

"Okay," Rollson said. "Now I want you to take a break. Take a week to recover. I'll send you a new man at the end of the week."

"Someone who has a few more brain cells," Doug added.

"Yes," Rollson agreed. "Someone who's not as rash as Grady. Oh! Look at the time! Doug, I have to run…but make sure you heal up well. I need that job done and I need it done right."

"Yes, sir."

After he hung up the phone, Leigh turned to look at him. She spoke for the first time in about ten minutes. Her voice was dry and unused and her hair fell about her shoulders looking mussed, like she'd just woken up. Doug found himself thinking about how attractive she looked—just out of bed. He had to pull his thoughts away from that direction.

"Was that Rollson?" she asked.

"Yeah, lucky he doesn't know the truth."

Leigh raised her eyebrows. "He didn't get in the position he is today by being an idiot. I'd be careful."

Doug shrugged, but inside he felt a quiver of unease. Leigh's words brought on another wave of suspicion. She was right. Rollson wasn't an idiot. He only hoped that Rollson hadn't caught on to what was going on. If he had, then they might as well jump into some gunfire—unless they preferred for Rollson to shoot them instead.

Doug parked out on the street beside the Carlyle home. The driveway was already packed with as many cars as would fit. Doug had the feeling that even more people would be arriving. Another car drove up behind them just as they were hopping out of the truck. Doug knew the car immediately, just as he knew the inside of Leigh's mind.

Leigh's mom jumped out of the bright red convertible looking harassed. No, she looked more than harassed. In fact, she looked like she was positively fuming as she placed her fists at the sides of her waist and marched toward them. Mr. Bennett had also hopped from the car, but was moving toward them more tentatively.

Doug instinctively moved to Leigh's side, almost placing himself in front of her. He had no love for Leigh's mother. Anyone who treated her the way Mrs. Bennett did was not in his good books.

"I thought I told you not to see him anymore!" Mrs. Bennett snapped, not even deigning a glance in his direction. She had her eyes all for her daughter and they were squinting in fury, her eyebrows looking pinched. She was taking in Leigh's outfit with new horror.

Leigh didn't respond. She was just standing stalk still.

Why didn't she defend herself? Was she always just going to take this without complaint? Doug moved even closer to Leigh as Mrs. Bennett took another step forward.

"So you just decided that you'd be a little tramp? What is he doing here anyway? This is a members only meeting! Leigh, you are really slipping! I really don't know what to do with you! Are you never going to grow up?"

Leigh looked as white as a sheet. Doug realized that this was probably the first time that Mrs. Bennett had yelled at her in front of anyone but family members.

"Mom—"

"No!" Mrs. Bennett lifted finger. "I don't want to hear any more of your excuses! I'm about fed up with all of this!"

Doug couldn't stand to hear this anymore. "Back off for one second!"

Mrs. Bennett looked surprised to hear his harsh tone. The surprise didn't last. His words only brought on another volley from her. She was raring to turn on him. "Don't get me started with you! Who do you think you are, anyway? You don't care about her! This is just some fling for you. A way to get a little action! Don't you care about her feelings? Her future? Obviously not, or you'd let her grow up before you tried to get in her pants."

He cared about Leigh more than he wished to admit.

"Listen to yourself!" Doug snapped. "Listen to what you're saying! Do you really think Leigh's like this? When in the past couple of years has she actually disappointed you? You can't keep bringing up past wrongs! You've got to let them go!"

"When..." Leigh mom floundered, turning red from exasperation and fury. "When has she disappointed me? She disappoints me all the time!"

"Then maybe you're not being realistic!" Doug replied stubbornly. He wished that Leigh would speak up and defend herself…but if she wouldn't, then he'd have to do it for her. "She's done nothing but try to change in the past few years. She stopped those drugs years ago! She even quit smoking. And Leigh is anything but a tramp."

"What about the marijuana I found in her room the other day?" Mrs. Bennett said with a smug glance.

Doug was surprised to find all the answers in his head. He felt as though he had known Leigh all her life. Being in her head had done that to him.

"It's old. You know how often Leigh cleans her room."

"What about you. There's another sign of her irresponsibility."

"How?" Doug snapped. "She has been perfectly responsible. She has done nothing to deserve this. If you could only see her mind—see what I've seen—you wouldn't say this."

Somehow, this didn't have the desired effect that he had expected. Mrs. Bennett folded her arms across her chest and glared at both of them. She turned to Leigh. "You may not be there yet, but you're certainly on your way, aren't you?"

Mrs. Bennett stalked off. Mr. Bennett followed behind her, giving them an apologetic glance as he passed.

Leigh sighed, slumping against the truck. Doug leaned against the car beside her, feeling the warm metal against his back. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Usually he was so good at keeping his emotions under control. The past couple of weeks had shown him that he was no more in control of his emotions than any normal human beings. After a few deep breaths, his fists were finally able to unclench.

A light breeze drifted over them, lifting Leigh's hair so that it brushed lightly against his cheek.

"Why don't you fight back?" He asked her.

Leigh stopped chewing her lip to answer. Doug realized that her cheeks were colored, but he couldn't figure out why. She spoke, sounding a little distant. "What's the point? She's never going to believe me anyway."

Another thought occurred to him. "What did she mean? When she said you were on your way?"

He realized the reason for the color in her cheeks because they flamed even brighter then. She peeked a glance in his direction.

"She was talking about how you'd seen my mind. About the fact that I bit you."

"And?" Doug prompted, nonplussed.

"Biting is used for a few different reasons: information, changing, healing…and romantic reasons."

Doug thought he knew where this was heading, but he let her continue anyway.

"You know how humans have three bases? Well, we have four. Biting is considered second base. And my mom was suggesting…"

"Suggesting that you were on your way to home." He finished, wincing. He smacked his hand against his forehead. "Leigh, I'm sorry. I made a mess out of that one. I was trying to help and I only made it worse."

Their hands were only inches apart, and he was doing his best not to think about moving a couple inches to the left. He wanted to smack himself for thinking about stuff like that at a time like this.

Leigh looked straight at him then. For the first time since that morning, she didn't look scared to talk to him. "It's okay," she said honestly. "You didn't know. And besides, even if you hadn't said it, she would have assumed. You didn't make it any worse."

Doug wiped his hand against the pant leg of his jeans. It was sweaty.

"Thank you," Leigh said. "For defending me."

Her head was tilted upward so that she could look him in the face. She was chewing her lip again. Dang, why did she always have to do that? She looked so cute like that. Doug found himself moving forward an inch.

Leigh took a soft intake of breath. She was looking at his mouth.

What do you think you're doing? Doug scolded himself, realizing his intent. He took a step back, feeling uncomfortable. "Um, we should go inside. I bet everyone's waiting."

With that, he turned and left.