When Love's at Work by Merri Hiatt

Bobby,” Meg welcomed,
adding a big smile.
    “ Hey, Meg,” Bobby said,
surprised that Purity didn’t answer the door. “You look
great.”
    “ Thanks. You, too.” He
hadn’t changed much since she’d seen him last. He still had those
full lips and deep sea-green eyes. His sandy colored hair was
tossled in a way that made him seem even sexier.
    “ Come in.” Meg moved aside
so Bobby could enter Purity’s apartment.
    “ Where’s Pure?”
    “ She’s in the bedroom.
There was an incident. With Derek.”
    Bobby’s face lit with anger and he walked
briskly into the bedroom.
    “ Hey, bro,” Purity
addressed her brother, then saw the look on his face.
    “ What did that low-life
scumbag do now?”
    “ How ya doin’? Nice to see
you. I’ve missed you, too,” Purity commented, hoping to lighten the
situation.
    “ I’m not foolin’ around,
Purity, this is serious.”
    “ You don’t even know
what’s going on, so how do you know it’s serious, Bob?”
    “ Why else would you have
three of your best friends surrounding you while you’re in bed? I
just talked with you not three hours ago and everything was
fine.”
    He had a point, Pure conceded, so she filled
him in.
    “ Does he still live over
on 4th Street?” Bobby inquired.
    “ Yeah, why?”
    Bobby headed for the door.
    Pure jumped out of bed, almost spilling her
hot chocolate. “Bobby, wait,” she said as she put the mug on the
side table and then followed him. It was too late. He was half way
up the stairs before she even made it into the living room.
    “ Shit!” Pure exclaimed.
“Nothing good will come of this. He shouldn’t get
involved.”
    Meg ran to the window and saw Bobby’s car
heading out toward the main road.
    Purity tried to call Bobby on his cell phone
but he wasn’t answering. “Of course not,” she grumbled, tossing the
useless phone on the sofa.
    “ Should we go after him?”
Tapestry asked.
    “ No,” Courtney said with
venom in her voice. “The best thing that could happen to Derek
Worthington is for Bobby to beat the living shit out of
him.”
    Everyone turned their heads and stared at
Courtney.
    “ Hey, I’m not going to
apologize for saying what every single one of you is thinking,”
Courtney defended herself.
    “ Court’s right,” Meg
said.
    “ She sure is,” Tap
agreed.
    Purity nodded her head. She had been
thinking the same thing. She just didn’t want Bobby to become
involved in all of this, or get hurt. Nobody really knew just what
Derek was capable of.
    As Bobby closed the distance between Pure’s
apartment and Derek’s house, his anger was at a frenzied peak. He
was sick and tired of this asshole abusing his sister. It was going
to stop and it was going to stop now. He’d make sure of it.
    He found the home fairly easily as the area
hadn’t changed much over the years. Bobby parked his car and
surveyed the surrounding neighborhood. He noticed a car with
someone inside it parked just across the street. He wondered if
that could be Derek. He hadn’t seen him in a while and it was dark
out.
    Alex had been sitting in front of Bobby’s
house for half an hour. All the lights were out and he didn’t know
if the douchebag was home yet or not. The other location he checked
out turned out to be the home of a young couple with two kids.
    He saw the car pull up directly in front of
the house he was watching, but the figure inside didn’t seem to
have the same build as Derek. Besides, he had a full head of hair
and Derek didn’t.
    The two men sat in their cars for about
twenty minutes. Neither sure of what their best plan of action
should be.
    Finally, Alex got out of his car and headed
for Derek’s front door. Bobby watched him walk up the path and
decided that this might be his opportunity. He got out of the car
and followed Alex’s trail.
    As he approached Bobby said, “Are you Derek
Worthington?”
    Alex turned around and replied, “No, but I’m
looking for him.”
    “ Me, too.”
    “ I’m Alex