How could I pull him back to me? What right did I have to even ask that, considering what I had just put him through?
I pushed forward on my knees and crawled to the edge of the porch so I could peek through the slats in the railing. Some of them were cracked and splintered. The more I looked around me, the more I realized how deceived I had been. When I had parked in front of the house I had seen what I wanted to see. But now, I realized it was obvious no one had lived here in a long time. The house wasn’t quaint. And it shouldn’t be on a magazine, unless it was the before shot of a fixer upper.
My eyes narrowed toward the edge of the yard. It was hard to see through the storm. The wind had picked up.
“AJ!” I yelled. I couldn’t hold in the panic that gripped me. “AJ!”
The gusts from the storm drowned out my voice. There was no way he could hear me in the thicket. If I left the shelter of the porch there was a chance we would miss each other. Me running into the woods while he ran back out. However, staying here didn’t feel like something I could do either.
I had to accept the part I played in this. AJ was in danger now because of me. If I hadn’t left his bed the way I did, he wouldn’t have followed me. None of this would be happening.
I made a resolution that once we were on the other side of this, I’d stop. I’d stop running and chasing. Because that was the problem. I did both simultaneously.
“Oh God, AJ.” I breathed heavily when I saw him emerge from the bushes. He trudged through the yard, shoving his gun behind his back.
“What was it?” I rose from my knees. “What did you see?”
He shook his head. The water dripped from his nose and the sharp angles of his jaw.
“There’s nothing out there. Nothing I could find.” He climbed the stairs to meet me at the top. “But there had to be someone waiting. I thought I saw the branches snap back in place over there like someone had run through.” He pointed to the spot. “I still think I did.”
“What do you mean?” My stomach lurched with nausea.
“The cars.” He closed his eyes. I saw just how tired he was. I knew that was my fault. He had chased me for three days. “They’re both dead, and that’s not a coincidence. But I’m not about to go digging under the hood during this tropical storm.”
“Did you say tropical storm?” My eyes bulged.
“Yes. Haven’t you seen the news? It’s about to be a hurricane.”
“But—” I lowered my head. I hadn’t focused on anything but myself. I had zeroed in on the information from Ethan Howard and nothing else.
“There’s a good chance that lake is going to flood out the road. I don’t think it’s safe for us to hike out of here tonight.”
I stared at him. “Are you saying we have to stay here? In this house?”
“You have a better idea?”
I pinched my lips together. “But there’s someone out there. In the woods.” I shivered. I was soaked. “How can we stay here? What if they come back?”
He planted his hand on my upper arm. “We’re safer inside than out here. At least we can get you in some dry clothes. You have a suit case, don’t you?”
I nodded. “It’s in the backseat of the car”
“Good. I’ll grab it and we’ll see what’s in the house for the night.”
“In there? We’re staying inside? But this place is falling apart. I doubt there is running water or electricity.”
“Got a better idea, babe?” He pressed his lips together, grabbed my keys, and jogged to our cars.
Six
It wasn’t the first time I had witnessed AJ break and enter. I wondered what the Bureau thought about his special skill set. Maybe it made him an asset when he was at the academy.
I stood behind him with my suitcase and his overnight bag while he worked the rusted lock. I couldn’t believe we were doing this. He jiggled the handle in his fist until finally it gave way. He grinned. “Voila.”
He ushered me inside just as another explosive burst of thunder erupted overhead.
“How bad is this storm supposed to get?” I asked. I had been irresponsible, driving headfirst into a tropical depression with no interest in the forecast.
“Maybe a category two? I’m not sure. I was hoping we’d be out of here before it hit, but I guess not.”
“But it’s fall,” I argued.
“We’re in the Gulf. Hurricanes hit here until November. It’s still hurricane season. How do you not know that? You’re from a coastal state.”
I wasn’t in the mood for a meteorology lesson or a lecture on how negligent I was. Our cars had been tampered with, and AJ thought there might be someone loose on the property. My heart rate hadn’t returned to normal. My palms felt sticky.
He closed the door behind us, locking the deadbolt at the top. It didn’t make me feel safer.
I looked at the row of windows along the living room wall. “Holy shit,” I whispered.
AJ drew his gun protectively. “Stay behind me.”
I realized now why I couldn’t see anything inside the house when I tried to peek in from the outside. The glass had been painted over with a thin coat of gray paint. The empty buckets had been left behind, along with a stiff paint brush. There was crusted paint on the bristles.
“Syd,” AJ warned when I spun on my heels. “Get behind me now.” He gritted his teeth.
The coldness fell into my stomach. My jaw slackened with shock. “Wh-what is that?” My finger rose as I pointed to the opposite wall.
AJ pressed his palm into my chest until I was wedged against the door. I knew he didn’t want me to move. I was already frozen with fear. He inched forward, but I stayed plastered in place. The terror prickled across my skin.
“AJ,” I whispered. I wanted to reach forward and pull him to me. I needed his closeness.
“Shh,” he hushed me.
The wind howled outside, but inside everything was quiet. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the sitting room next to us, panning with his gun in position at chest level. He walked heel to toe until he was in the kitchen. I didn’t move.
I didn’t know how long it took for him to inspect the other rooms. I only knew it felt as if time stood still when he was gone. The enormity of what we had survived this week washed over me. And now this?
Here we were again, surrounded by danger and I couldn’t breathe. What if something happened to AJ?
He strolled into view, checking his gun in its holster. “All clear. There’s no one here.”
I felt the tension slide from my shoulders. “But someone was here,” I eked.
He stopped in front of the wall, eyeing it. “Someone who knows you very well.”
The sick feeling in my stomach flipped once then twice. I inched closer. Afraid to examine the wall, yet drawn to it at the same time. I couldn’t ignore it.
“Who would have done this?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” He reached for his phone and started snapping pictures. At least his battery wasn’t dead yet even if he didn’t have a signal.
I didn’t know how to digest the image on the wall. It was a crude map. A rough sketch, drawn by hand that canvassed the entire length of the room. I was scared to touch it, as if some of the horridness would bleed through my skin. I traced the lines in the air, careful not to make contact.
“This is my route.” My eyes darted to AJ. “Every stop I’ve made to interview someone about my mother.” I inhaled. “Do you see it? Every town for the past six months is on here.”
He nodded. “It definitely looks familiar. I recognize the stops. Are they in order?” he asked.
“Yes.”
I stepped sideways, following the pattern that I had taken across the country over the past half year. There were bright red dots, circling the towns I had stayed in overnight. There were no messages. No explanations. It was as if someone had dropped a creepy hieroglyphic inside this house for me to find, without the next clue.
“What is happening? Why is
someone doing this?” I felt the hysteria start to rise. But I couldn’t let it take hold. I couldn’t let it win. Not now when we were trapped in an abandoned house with a hurricane on the doorstep. “Nothing makes sense. Do they want to hurt me? Is that it?”
I didn’t know if he had forgiven me for leaving, but AJ wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. I inhaled his scent and let the warmth of his body penetrate the chill of my wet clothes. For a brief second, I let him take away the fear. I let him hold me, and I let myself pretend all I needed in this world was the safety of his arms. And everything was going to be ok.
Seven
AJ opened and slammed the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen until he found a box of matches.
“I don’t even know if these will work.” With a flick of the wrist the flame sparked. He grinned. “That’s a good sign. He lit one of the candles I found in the coat closet.
Except for a few of the closets and cabinets, the house had been cleared out. I had an eerie feeling maybe some of the things we found had been planted, rather than actually left behind. They were here as props or accessories.
After scouring the two small bedrooms, I found a stack of quilts in the closet that were clean and folded. I shook them out, and was surprised they smelled like fresh detergent. There were vanilla pillar candles. We had all the essentials we needed to get through the night.
The one thing we didn’t have was food.
“Any chance there’s a bottle of wine under the floorboards?” I stomped my foot into the hardwoods.
“I’d go for straight whiskey,” he answered.
I walked to the window, ready to try to scrape some of the paint off when AJ stopped me. I didn’t like that we had been painted in.
“No, don’t do that,” he warned.
“Why not?” I asked.
“If someone’s outside watching us, the candlelight is going to give them a clear view. At least for now we have some cover.”
“Shit. You think someone is still watching?” I searched his eyes for reassurance. “But you didn’t see anyone out there.”
“There are no signs of anyone, but our cars were tampered with, so I have no doubt there was someone here. I don’t know what to expect.”
“Maybe they want the paint to stay on the windows and we should scrape it off,” I suggested. It gave me chills.
AJ disagreed with me.
“What’s the plan? We can’t stay here. Not like this. Not with some psycho on the loose.”
“Our phones don’t work. Our cars won’t start. And there is a hurricane about to hit. We have to stay for the night.”
“You don’t think we should try to hike to the main road?” I pressed the idea of getting out of here.
He shook his head. “It’s two miles. The lake has flooded by now. Not to scare the shit out of you, but there’s a good chance with water levels that high the wildlife is…you don’t want to get that close to the snakes and gators in this area.”
“Oh my God. Snakes?” I loathed all reptiles, especially snakes.
“That’s the reality of where we are. We’re in nowhere Louisiana. But in the house, there are no critters—at least none I’ve found. And hey, at least there are no leaks. No rain. We can wait out the storm here and try to hike out as soon as it passes. It’s too big of a risk to go out there now. I can keep you safer in here.”
I knew what he said was logical. It would always be logical. It was the FBI agent in him. But what were we going to do here all night as sitting targets? Someone had led me to this house. Someone wanted me here. They wanted me to see the map on the wall. They wanted me trapped inside. Why?
“Speaking of keeping you safe. Where is my other gun?” AJ asked.
My eyes shot to his. “Oh, that?”
“Syd, where is it?”
I walked over to the suitcase and unzipped it. I pulled it from the silk compartment I used to store my lingerie. “I didn’t use it. I wouldn’t.”
AJ followed me, slowly taking the gun from my hand. “I was surprised you took it. You hate guns.”
I shrugged. “I did a lot of stupid things the other day. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
He unclipped the bottom of the gun and checked the cartridge. “Are we going to talk about that?”
I turned away from him. “No. We aren’t.”
He sat on the wide ledge of the windowsill. He kept glancing over his shoulder toward our cars and then back to me. I didn’t know what he could see through the rain and the paint covering the glass. The roof shook with a rumble of thunder. I jumped.
“Then you can listen.”
“I can’t do this now. Not like this. Please, let’s talk back in D.C.,” I pleaded. “There’s too much going on here.”
He ignored me. “I meant every fucking word I said to you on that airplane.” His eyes blazed. My hands instantly curled together over my chest, as if I could protect my heart from what he was about to say. “I thought I knew you like the back of my hand.” He shook his head. “And I think I do. Maybe that’s what scared me the most. It fucking terrifies me about you.”
“I reacted. I wasn’t thinking. It wasn’t about you. I didn’t want to leave. I panicked.” I exhaled. My pulse raced.
I realized just because he was here didn’t mean I was forgiven. It also didn’t mean he wanted us to start over. I had jeopardized all of it.
“What was that promise you made me pledge?” He looked toward the ceiling. “Something about no more lies. Only living in the truth together?”
The sky flashed with lightning and another clap of thunder echoed around us.
“I meant sharing the truth about us,” I answered softly.
He shoved off the ledge and closed in on me. “Anything that puts you in danger is about us.” He towered over me. “Anything that separates you from me is about us. Anything that scares you, that hurts you, that makes you unhappy is about us.” He tipped my chin upward and I studied the wound just over his eye that was still healing.
We were both so raw from what had happened. AJ had broken ribs. We had cuts. Bruises and scrapes so deep no Band-Aid could hold them together.
“I shouldn’t have run,” I whispered. “I swear I wasn’t running from you. I thought I was running to her.”
He closed his eyes. “I know. I actually believe you. But someone is using that weakness to hurt you. They are using it to distract you. To frighten you. It’s pulling you away from me. We weren’t supposed to do this again.”
It felt as if something split under my lungs. Why did we keep hurting each other?
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I answered.
“Then stop making it so easy for someone to come between us.” I knew he was right. It wasn’t jealousy. Or some twisted male ownership attitude. AJ cared about me more deeply than anyone.
“I didn’t mean for it to break us apart. Again.”
“I think someone else did.”
“But why?” My eyes moved from his brow down his nose and to his perfect firm lips. I watched them when he spoke.
“We have to figure that out before we leave this house.”
“And if we can’t?” I swallowed hard, wondering if he wanted to kiss me as much as I wanted to kiss him. I needed the friction of his mouth. The taste of his tongue. The bite. The blistering heat.
“Then protecting you is going to be a hell of a lot harder.”
Eight
AJ roamed from room to room. He checked the back door at the kitchen exit, along with the side door that led into a mudroom. I wasn’t sure he was convinced we were secure for the night. He walked into the living room.
“I think we should move the candles into the back bedroom, along with our bags.”
“Why?” Part of me was happy to get away from the map. I hated seeing it. It made me shiver.
“For one thing, I don’t like how this big oak tree leans toward the living room.” He pointed to the monster tree in the front yard. “If even one of th
ose branches snaps off in this storm, we could be crushed under this part of the roof. And if we’re in the back corner, I can almost guarantee I’ll take out any target that walks through the bedroom door. The window is low enough we can climb out if we’re outnumbered.”
I cringed. “I hate all of this. The storm. The psycho. All of it.”
“I know you do, but we need to focus on what makes the most sense. It’s the most strategic spot in the house. And the safest with a hurricane on top of us. Come on. I’ll grab my bag too.” He reached low and hauled it over his shoulder.
We made a few trips to take the candles into the bedroom, then the other supplies and box of matches. We had used only two to light all the candles. I didn’t like the thought that we needed to preserve anything. I could stomach one night here, but that was it.
AJ looked around. “There was a bucket on the back porch wasn’t there? A big silver one?”
“Maybe? Why?”
“I’ll be right back.” He hurried out of the room. I heard the kitchen door open. A few minutes later he returned with a full bucket of rain water. “For the bathroom,” he explained. “The toilet will still work as long as we add water to the bowl.”
“Oh, great,” I lied.
“I put a candle in there too. So, you know. Just umm…”
I giggled. “Now you’re acting shy around me?”
“Come on, I’m trying to—”
“To be a gentleman. I know. I appreciate it.” I smiled. “I guess I should be glad we’re not out camping in a tent or something.”
“You aren’t exactly the outdoorsy type,” he teased.
“I like my fancy hotels.” I pouted. What I wouldn’t give for one of those now. A soft bed of fine down. A mint on the pillow. Room service. A bottle of wine.
“It’s better than being out in a hurricane,” AJ added.
I finished laying the quilts in a makeshift bed. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the floor, but I doubted either of us would sleep much anyway. How did we know if we were alone? What if someone came in the house? He could have a key or access we didn’t know about.
Shattered Hart: Hart Pursuit Trilogy Book 2 Page 3