“No. I don’t want anyone knowing we’re there. There’s something else, though. I need to leave her dogs with you for a while if that’s alright? You still have the kennels?”
He nodded. “How many?”
“Four.”
“There’s room.”
“You don’t mind?”
“No. They need to be separated?”
“Nope. Just fed and watered. And brushed, and bathed, and neutered…”
He grinned. “You never did like dogs. She must be something.”
“That about sums it up. Sure you don’t mind?”
“I said I don’t mind.”
“Thanks.”
“Put them in the pens at the east of the property, under the trees. I’ll get the food and water.”
“I owe you.”
“I’ve got a spare generator in the garage if you think you’ll need it in the cabin. If not, candles and bug spray are in the storage room. Food, water in the pantry. Books in the library—”
“Books?”
“Yeah, you know, printed work consisting of glued pages bound by a cover?”
I smirked. Loyalty wasn’t the only thing that didn’t die.
“I didn’t know you read.”
He didn’t say anything. I wondered if reading was how this “new man” passed the lonely time on the ranch.
He continued, “Get fresh sheets. There’s some in the laundry room. Extra guns in the cabinet. Condoms in the drawer.”
Wasn’t sure if I’d need the last two items, but better safe than sorry.
“Thanks, bro.” I maneuvered behind a wandering cow.
“Go. Dump the dogs and be on your way. I’ve got this.”
“I don’t mind to stay.”
“I know. She might.”
I glanced back at the Jeep.
“Go,” he said again. “I’ve almost got them in. Not my first rodeo.”
29
Jagg
It was one in the morning by the time we drove down the long, winding dirt road that led to the fishing cabin on the lake that Ryder had purchased a few weeks after getting released from prison. It would be my first time there. Guy wasn’t big on invitations.
A canopy of trees blocked the moonlight from the two dirt ruts my bother considered a driveway. The underbrush was gnarly and thick, scratching the sides of my Jeep. I was looking for a clearing ahead when the road abruptly stopped and my headlights bounced off the edge of an iron gate, barely noticeable through the bushes. I stopped the Jeep and looked in my rearview. Guess backing out was the only option.
“We’re here… I think.”
Still no cabin in view, I turned off the engine, grabbed Sunny’s bag from the back and got out while Sunny did the same. It had been easier than expected to convince Sunny to leave her dogs with Ryder, making me realize exactly how much she feared her former boyfriend. And how much she was beginning to trust me. Emphasis on beginning.
The moldy smell of lakeshore was pungent in the humid night air, the roar of the cicadas deafening as I flipped the latch and pushed open the black gate. Sunny swatted a mosquito from her face as I pushed aside an aggressive swath of blooming forsythia branches that was blocking our way.
I froze. Sunny did too.
A small log cabin blended seamlessly into the trees around it as if sprouted from the earth itself. The house would be invisible to anyone not looking for it. It was perfect for what we needed. A wraparound porch encircled the front, with untrimmed bushes invading the small space. The log walls had been stained dark. The roof replaced with clay tiles, giving it an island bungalow feel. I didn’t realize why until we stepped inside. Moonlight pooled onto the floor through sweeping windows that overlooked a bridged walkway that led to a dock on stilts above the lake. The reflection of the almost-full moon stretched across the black water, fading into the waves lazily pushing along the shoreline. A million stars twinkled in a sky that somehow looked miles larger than it had an hour earlier. It was an unbelievable view. An oasis.
A secret oasis on the lake.
The strong sent of freshly chopped lumber told me Ryder was actively renovating the space.
“My God,” Sunny whispered behind me, gaping at the view. “It’s beautiful.”
I went to flick the light switch then remembered we had no electricity. A step ahead of me, Sunny pulled a candle and lighter from the bag and seconds later, the dancing flame bounced off a room the size of a shed. A luxury shed, but it was tiny nonetheless. Gleaming hardwood floors matched the logged walls and beams running across the ceiling. A half-wall separated the space from the kitchen, which consisted of a counter, sink, gas stovetop, a duo of coolers in place of a fridge and a battery-powered coffee pot. On the far side of the room was a small door which I assumed was the bathroom, that I prayed included a shower.
Two folding chairs sat in front of the window.
That was it. The bungalow was spotless, though, thank God for that. Ryder always was a clean freak.
Both our gazes landed on the bare, single bed against the wall. Not a king-size. Not a queen. A double.
A double.
One fucking foot larger than a twin.
Her gaze flickered to mine, then quickly to anywhere else but the bed, as mine did the same.
“I’ll sleep on the deck,” I said.
“No.” She shot to her feet, the unlit candle she was holding tumbling to the ground. “You’re here because of me. You’re doing this for me. I will sleep on the deck.”
“Listen. I might not be mister charming—” I stopped when she snorted a laugh. “But I’ve got better manners than that. You’ll take the bed. This conversation is over.”
“I’ll be fine.” She lit the candle and set it on the fireplace mantel.
“No you won’t. No amount of bug spray is going to keep those mosquitos from swarming you all night, so unless you want to become some science experiment for whatever undiscovered deadly virus they’re currently carrying, you’ll stay inside. I’m not going to say it again.”
She released a small huff reminding me of a little girl throwing a temper tantrum, but said nothing else about it as she kneeled down and began unpacking more candles. I won that battle.
Slowly, candles were lit and a warm glow blanketed the room. Thankfully, a steady breeze from the lake blew in through the windows, making the temperature bearable. Almost comfortable, even. It wouldn’t keep up though. The moment the air stilled, the small space would feel like a sauna, not to mention when the sun came up. This had me wondering what kind of clothes Sunny had packed. Then, picturing her in a bikini, and then, a slinky negligee. I watched her for a moment, moving around the room, strategically placing the candles. Making herself useful. She had an elegance, a grace to her that I never noticed before.
“Sorry there’s no electricity and water.”
“It’s no big deal.” She smiled, the candle in her hand reflecting in her eyes. “It’s like a little adventure. As long as you’ve got bug spray I’m good. And coffee…” Horror froze her expression. “Dear God in Heaven, tell me you got instant coffee?”
Note to self the woman liked—needed—her morning coffee. We were definitely alike there. I pulled a can from the bag that was looped around my shoulder.
She blew out an exhale. “I love you.”
“That didn’t take long.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Are you hungry?”
She paused, shrugged. “Not really.”
Sunny had tossed her “perfect” Farro salad from Gino’s in the trash at her house, confirming she’d been at that flat tire for a good handful of hours before I’d shown up.
I walked over to the cooler and flipped it open.
Hamburger patties, hot dogs, salsa, a bag of chips, carton of eggs, bacon, a half-case of beer, a liter of whiskey—and a box of Twinkies. An entire box.
Our options were protein, protein, protein, more protein, and a diabetic coma.
And booze.
Booze for the win.
I bypassed the hard stuff and grabbed an ice-cold beer. I needed to keep my wits about me.
“Beer?” I asked?
She turned away from the fireplace mantel, now glittering with candles. She’d pulled her hair into a knot on the top of her head, a few curls cascading around her face. The light danced across a long, slender porcelain neck with just a sheen of sweat. I’d never seen her with her hair up before, away from that face. I licked my lips.
The woman was stunning. It was almost as if I were seeing her for the first time.
“What did you say?” She asked, her head tilting to the side.
I blinked, momentarily forgetting the question I’d just asked her.
“Beer. I asked. Would you like a beer?”
“That actually sounds great.”
I grabbed another one and popped the tops on the edge of the counter. She was next to the cooler when I looked up.
“Thank you.” Sunny took the beer from my hand, tipped it up and sipped, then rested the cool glass to her chest. She closed her eyes and released an exhale.
My dick pulsed in my jeans.
She turned away and stepped into the main room and stared out to the water. She fell silent. I knew she needed a second. A bit of time to digest the realization that the man who once tried to kill her was quite possibly stalking her now. My heart broke as I stared at her, her elegant silhouette washed in moonlight.
“My cabin is just around that bend, you know,” she finally said. “I recognize it.”
I already knew that. I looked at the outline of the mountain in the distance where a few twinkling lights speckled the top, on a clearing above a cliff known as Devil’s Cove, the location for the annual Moon Magic Festival.
“I live less than a half mile from Devil’s Cove. There’s been so much traffic lately. Trucks, trailers, everyone setting up for the festival. The dogs have been so hyped up.”
“It’s supposed to be the biggest one in years.”
“It’s the full moon.”
We both shifted our gaze to the moon.
Yes, something was in the air. We both could feel it.
A few moments passed in silence before Sunny slid open the back door and stepped onto the deck. The moonlight caught her stygian hair, outlining her body like a mystical nymph beaconing to me. Like one of her dogs, I crossed the room, following her. The woman had a way of hypnotizing people, creatures, into hanging onto her every word, following her every move. It was like a special power.
And my kryptonite, apparently.
30
Jagg
I followed Sunny down the bridgeway to the small dock at the end. Aside from the beam of moonlight down the center, the lake was as black as ink. The air had cooled, a million stars twinkling in a cloudless night.
I watched her walk, slowly, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
I would have followed her into the water if she jumped. The woman was like a drug to me. More than pills or booze had ever been.
“It’s beautiful out here.”
“Yes,” I said, my eyes locked on hers as I met her at the end.
The water danced below us, lapping against the posts.
She sipped her beer, then rested her elbows on the railing and looked into the water below. Sadness, the weight of the evening, washed over her face.
“I’m sorry about your house,” I said.
“I’ll repaint. The furniture can be replaced. I’ll fix it back.” Like I always do. She didn’t say it, but I knew that’s what she was thinking.
“I’ll help.”
She looked at me. “I don’t understand why you’re helping me so much.”
I looked away. I knew exactly why I was helping her so much, but God help me, I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I wasn’t ready. Wasn’t fucking ready.
“Do you go this far with every one of your cases?” Her question was loaded.
“You think me kissing you was part of the investigation?”
She shrugged, looked out to the water.
I lightly grabbed her chin and turned her face to me.
“Would that have bothered you?” Loaded, perhaps more so than hers.
“Why don’t you just call me a liar about the third person so everyone can move on? Say that I killed the pastor’s son in self-defense and close the case. The town can move on…” Her eyes locked on mine, her chin lifted. “And so can you.”
“Listen, Sunny, I kissed you because I wanted to. Was it smart? No. Do I regret it? No. But I want to make one thing clear. I wasn’t manipulating you and don’t insinuate otherwise. If you don’t want me to do it again, tell me. Tell me.” My fingertips tightened around her chin. “Tell me not to do it again.”
She stared at me, searching my face with wide eyes.
“Tell me,” I ground my teeth. “Goddammit tell me not to touch you again.”
“I’m not worth it, Jagg,” she whispered.
Colson’s warning about losing my job echoed through my head, followed by Haddix’s warning about her powers of seduction to get what she wanted. The way I seemed to stumble since the day I met her. Yet while I should have been reminding myself that my past experiences told me that no woman was worth it, I found myself wondering why she thought she wasn’t.
Sunny had more emotional baggage than she led on.
Possibly more than I did.
She jerked her chin away, her face suddenly hard like granite.
“I want to cut the bullshit, Jagg. I want to know what you know about my attack, exactly what you know about Kenzo and why you’ve taken it upon yourself to be my bodyguard.”
“I will once you tell me about what happened in Dallas. It’s time to talk, Sunny. Tell me about Kenzo Rees.”
A minute ticked by before, finally, she began.
“We started dating in high school. Kenzo was popular, the definition of a jock. Football, basketball, baseball, he did it all. A popular guy. A bit of a bad boy. We went through the trials and tribulations of any young relationship, on and off, on and off. … Looking back, he showed signs of aggression back then.”
“Like what?”
“He started getting in regular fistfights, things like that. Started falling behind in school and sports. I remember he was really possessive of me. Abnormally so. I also remember he was really hard on his family dog… it’s silly that I remember that, but I do. He was mean to the poor thing. It was like he was showing his dominance to something that couldn’t fight back. I broke up with him over it once. Should’ve never gone back.” She looked down.
“Don’t dwell on that. That kind of thinking is unproductive.”
“I know. You’re right.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, after graduation, we went to the same college and that’s when things started to really change.”
“What changed?”
“Kenzo.”
“How?”
“Drugs. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd, so to speak. I tried to pull him away from them which just made him cling tighter it seemed. I did everything I could, but he just got… darker and darker. It happened so slowly that I kept thinking it was just a phase. It wasn’t. We started drifting. I almost broke up with him two days before it happened.” Her hand trembled as she took a shallow sip of beer. I didn’t ask any questions. Just listened.
“It was my twenty-first birthday. We were at a party at one of my friend’s houses. His ‘new’ friends showed up and it started to get wild. He left the party for a bit. I know now that it was to get high.”
Kid had taken enough coke to kill a horse, but she didn’t need to know that I knew that from reading the report.
“When he came back, he accused someone of flirting with me. He pushed the guy around but was eventually pulled off of him. I remember the feeling I got then, the churning in my stomach. Looking back, it was almost as if my body was telling me to run. That things were about to get really bad. I told him I wanted to go home. We caught a r
ide to my townhouse, where the argument got worse.” She looked down and began picking at a thread on her shorts. “I’ll never forget the moment he hit me. The shock of it. I was stunned. It was funny, I didn’t feel the pain or blood running down my chin. I was just so shocked. I didn’t fight back.” She looked at me, self-disgust evident on her face. “Can you believe that?”
“I can. Most women who experience their first physical abuse don’t fight back, for the very reason you just said. The shock of it.”
“I remember the look in his eyes after he hit me. It was like they flared, bulged out of his head. Like he liked it. Like a switch was flipped… and that look made me more scared than the fact that he’d hit me.”
Blood lust. My grip around my beer tightened as my pulse skyrocketed. I squeezed my other hand into a fist and curled my toes in an effort to dispel the rage bubbling up. This wasn’t about me, or the fact that I wanted nothing more than to sprint to my car, find the fucker and slam his head into the fender until the thing cracked open.
This was about her.
I needed to be there for her.
“After that, everything became a blur. He punched me, over and over. I remember hearing the pop as my nose broke. I tried to run then, I guess finally getting some balls. And that’s when he pushed me into the bathroom and bounced my head off the mirror, and then…”
She went silent, still, every muscle in her body tense.
Fuck. I was not good with this shit. I didn’t know what to do or what to say to make it better. I unfisted my hand and placed it over hers. Although she was doing exactly what I’d asked of her, I wanted her to stop. I didn’t want to be the cause of any more of her pain.
“Sunny. It’s okay. You don’t have to—”
She pull her hand away and sniffed. “No. I want to get this done. And then I don’t ever want to talk about it again.”
“Sunny—”
“And then he ripped out my fucking hair, Jagg. Chunk after chunk, he pinned my head against the sink and started ripping it out screaming racist bullshit and telling me he always hated my kinky hair. I remember that pain more than anything else. The fire when the strands ripped from my head. The throbbing pain after. It felt like someone had poured acid on my scalp and lit a match. That’s when I started crying. He hadn’t only beaten me but was defiling me as well. Ripping out my dignity. Then, he threw me down the stairs like I was worth nothing more than a rag doll. I fucking hate him, Jagg. I fucking hate him.” She turned to me, eyes wild, her jaw twitching with rage. “Do you know where he is?”
Jagger (Steele Shadows Investigations) Page 21