Hard Candy Read Online Free Page B

but those had nothing to do with Penny and everything to do with Mack. Why had his old friend come home? Craig had spent too many nights laying awake thinking about Mack, and now he didn’t know what to do. Nothing serious would have happened between them back in high school, and Craig was mature enough to see that for what it was worth. But, when Mack had come home for a visit last year and Craig had seen him again… It had stirred up all sorts of feelings that Craig hadn’t realized were there.
     
    He wasn’t sure what it meant. He was obviously bisexual. Or maybe it was just Mack. He’d never felt this way about any other man. Sure, he hadn’t exactly been knocking doors down to experiment with anyone else, but he wasn’t sure what that meant.
     
    Mack was amazing. His feelings for Mack were tied up in a complicated knot work of history that he couldn’t begin to unravel on the best of days. Not to take away from Penny at all. Craig couldn’t honestly think of a future that didn’t have her in it. He’d fallen for her hard, and he looked forward to seeing what their lives could be like together.
     
    That didn’t mean he’d suddenly stopped caring about Mack. But, he’d learned his lesson last year. Mack wasn’t interested in being in a relationship. But, even if he was, it wouldn’t change how Craig felt about Penny. He just didn’t know what to do.
     
    “ So, what do we do?” Penny asked.
     
    Craig started. He shook his head, drawing together the threads of their conversation. “I don’t know. Go talk to the cops?”
     
    “ I already phoned the Sherriff’s office before coming down here. Deputy Medicine Crow said he checked mom’s file and there was nothing in it. She disappeared without a trace. They interviewed dad and he claimed he didn’t know what happened to her. Then they found her body on the lakeshore a few days later. Open and shut case. Accidental drowning.”
     
    “ Open and shut until you read that she was having an affair and your dad confronted her about it.”
     
    “ Yeah.”
     
    He didn’t know what to tell her. She loved her father. But, even Craig had to admit that things seemed fishy. Why would her dad keep the journal all these years? Was it to remind himself about his wife cheating on him with someone else? She was unfaithful to him, so what did that do to a man?
     
    “ Did you ever find out what happened to the guide?”
     
    “ No. Mom only ever called him Ed. No last name. Nothing to go on. I figure he probably left.”
     
    Yeah, unless... He was interrupted from his next thought by the car that turned onto his driveway. He recognized that vehicle. Mack was here. He glanced at Penny. Shit, he wasn’t sure this was a good time. He didn’t know where his head was and it was too early in the morning to figure anything out. His feelings for Penny and Mack weren’t humorous at all. And, unfortunately for him, he had feelings for both of them. He thought he’d have a few days to get used to Penny being here before he added Mack into the mix. He should have known Mack would push first, whether he realized it was what he was doing or not. It was high school all over again. Mack never knew when to let things go.
     

Chapter 4
     
     
    Penny studied the man getting out of the car that pulled up in front of the house. Douglas McKenzie sure looked all grown up. Instead of his old buzz cut, his hair now swung in a shaggy style that brushed his shoulders at the longest point. As he got closer she made out a nasty scar on his chin and familiar laughing brown eyes. The scar was new. Jeans and a navy plaid shirt were complemented with a pair of cowboy boots.
     
    He finally stopped at the base of the porch and placed one booted foot on the lowest step. The action served to stretch out his body in a way that was guaranteed to have women from eighteen to eighty checking him out. What she could see of his body was even more athletic than the last time she’d seen him. It