Page 51 of The Broposal
“All right. Well…I’ll figure that out in a little bit. First, I need to call my boss and let her know I’m not coming in tonight.”
Despite all the stress in her life, Scarlett couldn’t help but bask in the warm glow, especially when Kyle referred to her as hisgirlfriendon the phone to his boss. Although this would all end early tomorrow morning, she was going to allow herself this final evening with the man who had almost become the love of her life.
CHAPTER 20
It had been nothing short of a miracle that Scarlett had finally drifted off to sleep and, now that she had, Kyle was trying to formulate a plan. He understood her feeling of helplessness, but he also knew that she had other options to consider, even if she hadn’t been able to see them earlier.
But he’d filled her belly with good food and then they’d made love. He brought her to climax and afterward held her close, running his hand over her hair and back until she’d melted into him, her breath soft and quiet against his pec. When, much later, he’d been able to get her to roll over and he’d held her back against his chest, he’d begun running over ideas in his head.
If she absolutely had to leave in the morning, she would take his car—and he didn’t want to hear another word about it. She would beborrowingit. Later on, they could trade again or she could just leave it somewhere. He didn’t give a shit. He just wanted her safe—and tofeelsafe. Being in a different car would do that.
The first thing he wanted to do was see a picture of her ex—the guy named Tommy. He had no idea what the guy’s last name was. All Kyle knew was he was from Pueblo. And Scarlett’s realname was Melody, and Melody’s last-known address was also in Pueblo…so he’d start there. Plus she’d said her ex had had some run-ins with the law, including jail time and possibly drug charges. And, of course, there was the murdered woman whose ring he’d pilfered.
Kyle had a lot to work with—but searching for information like this wasn’t like anything he’d ever done before.
Worried she might wake up if he got out of bed, Kyle simply rolled onto his back and pulled his phone off the nightstand. He decided to start searching with what he thought might glean the most obvious information, so he searched for “robbery murder in Pueblo.” The first result was a short video by a local television station on YouTube about a homicide under investigation. Then there were several news articles, one about suspects arrested for attempted homicide, another about four people arrested in a robbery and attempted homicide, and one for a “man identified as suspect” in several armed robberies…nothing he was looking for.
Kyle realized immediately that this particular search was a rabbit hole that could lead nowhere. After all, the guy was probably not a suspect, considering he was running around threatening people.
But hehadbeen in jail—and the way Scarlett had talked, he was a criminal, so Kyle assumed the guy was pretty familiar with the inside of a jail cell.
Now he was inspired.
This time his search was simple:Tommy arrested Pueblo. And he was shocked at the amount of results he got. The first simply mentioned that two men were charged after a fentanyl overdose incident inside the Pueblo County jail earlier in the year. Scarlett had said Tommy sold drugs and had even been put in jail for a drug charge, so Kyle clicked through. But the guy whose name was Thomas had to be in his forties—and, althoughKyle didn’t know everything there was to know about the woman sleeping next to him, he couldn’t imagine her with the guy on the screen. She’d called him a “badboy” lots of girls found attractive—she’d never hinted that he was a silver fox. Although he would keep this article in the back of his mind, he was going to keep digging.
The next was about a suspected murderer, but thevictim’sname was Thomas.
There were so many promising articles but, when he clicked through, time after time, he knew one after the other was a dead end, and he was ready to give up again. The last link he almost ignored…but he clicked through anyway. It was to a post on the Pueblo Police Department’s Facebook page, and the link—six years old—saidTommy Nogales arrested after forcing his way into home. Kyle clicked through and read the old article that was accompanied with a picture. The man was twenty-three at the time and had been arrested for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house. Kyle sat up straight, trying to find out who the woman was, but it didn’t say. It only mentioned that the house was on Denver Boulevard in Pueblo. He took a screenshot of the guy’s face just in case.
Hoping he was on to something, Kyle did a lot more searching for this particular guy’s info and found his name attached to a few petty crimes—not just six years earlier, but even more recently. Kyle discovered that Nogales’s ex-girlfriend, the one in the Facebook post, later claimed that he hadnotbroken in the house. Instead, she said, they’d had an argument and she’d called the cops, trying to get him into trouble. So she had charges against her but Nogales came out smelling like a rose.
Kyle had a feeling this was the guy. After everything Scarlett had said, he felt right.
So Kyle returned to Facebook. Tommy Nogales—the guy in the picture—had a profile and he had some friends, but he didn’t appear to do much on the site. His wall had a bunch of posts telling himHappy Birthdaybut not much else.
Except there was one thing…one huge thing that caught Kyle’s attention.
On the left, it said he wasin a relationship. Although there was no link to the person the guy was in a relationship with, Kyle hoped he could figure it out. He clicked on thePhotostab—and he hit paydirt. One of the first pictures was this guy in a picture with a familiar-looking young woman with vibrant red hair. She was cuddled up next to him, holding a phone to take a selfie. When Kyle clicked on it, the picture was taken by a woman namedMelody Morton…and she looked just like Scarlett, except her hair was much longer and she wore more makeup in the picture. The caption said, “Celebrating one year with my baby!” That had been two years ago. In the picture, she seemed happy…but Nogales did not. In fact, he was almost scowling—but Scarlett had tagged him in the photo. Smart.
This was the guy for sure. Tommy Nogales.
Curious, Kyle clicked through to Melody’s profile. That name still seemed so unfamiliar and strange to him, but he would have to get used to it, considering it was her real name. Sure enough, she hadn’t posted a thing since last spring, although some people posted birthday greetings and also a couple of posts asking where she was and what she was up to. He started scrolling through her photos and saw a few with her ex and shouldn’t have been shocked to see that the guy never smiled. What an idiot.
Kyle beamed when he was next to her. He just couldn’t fucking help it. This guy didn’t deserve her.
Almost an hour later, he found himself growing drowsy, but he got up, checking the door and peeking out the windows beforecurling up next to her. He had an idea he wanted to run past Scarlett—Melody—in the morning…but, first, sleep called.
It was still darkout when Kyle awoke. The woman he now knew as Melody had turned on the bathroom light and left the door open a crack, just so a little light spilled into the room.
And she was packing again.
“What time is it?” he asked.
“Um…” After a second, she said, “Almost six.”
As he sat up, he stretched his back and let his eyes focus in the almost-dark room. He realized she had a towel wrapped around her head like a turban, meaning he’d slept through her showering as well. Some protector he was turning out to be. “I thought we were gonna talk before you decided for sure.”
“Kyle, I really appreciate everything you have done for me and want to do for me—but I’m not safe here.”