I get a trash bag and load the sheets into it, before dumping it by the door to the pool. Heading back up the stairs, I start checking the beds in the other rooms. The connecting room to Eden’s I glance into and discard that idea immediately. Logan slept in this bed. I don’t like the thought of this being Eden’s bed. I move on. The room next door to it has twin beds. The one across the hall does too. The third is the room we’d slept in together the night before she left. The bed had been comfortable enough, but it was a little smaller than she’d gotten used to. A queen instead of a king.
I try the next room. The bed looks bigger, I think. The covers are hideous, but they could be changed. I go inside and pull back the sheets. Something catches my eye on the floor. The corner of something black. A bag. I pull it out and toss it onto the bed.
My stomach is uneasy as I unzip it. There’s nothing too scandalous on the top. Clothes, all of them dark. I push around and find a wallet and a smaller bag. The bag is loaded with sleek-looking tech. I don’t even know what half the stuff is. There are trackers and ear pieces. Some sort of tablet device that’s powered down.
I close that bag and stuff it back where it was inside the bigger bag. I check the wallet, already sure I know who it belongs to. I have my suspicions confirmed and suddenly everything clicks firmly into place, and I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.
Diana didn’t burn my book on Eden’s bed. As bitchy as she is that seems like a lot of effort for her to go to. For someone who prefers people to think she doesn’t care, it’s an odd move. Logan, on the other hand… He’s notoriously quick to anger and he made it perfectly plain that he doesn’t like me in the slightest. He was pissed that Eden didn’t seem upset that I’d written the book. Irritated that she’d still want to go out with me knowing I had. But this isn’t really about Eden’s autobiography or who wrote it. To him that information was just dirt he had on me, a way to push her out of my arms. That’s what this all comes down to. He wants her and I’m standing in his way.
Last night’s sequence of events pushes through my mind. It wasn’t a dream. You have to be asleep to have one of those. It tells me one thing; he’s not going to just give up. He’s more obsessed with Eden than I ever could have imagined.
I drop the wallet into the bag and zip it closed. I have to do something about this. I don’t like that this bag was under the bed, that it was hidden. This wasn’t even Logan’s room when he was staying here. It’s fucking creepy. He had to have been here after he was supposed to have gone.
Was he in the house while we were, and we just didn’t know it? The thought makes me feel sick, but it’s the next one that worries me the most. He left it here, so he must be planning on coming back. Who knows what else he’s planning? My stomach ties into knots. He’s already tried to scare me off in the most extreme way possible. What’s next? I don’t think I want to contemplate that answer, but I get the feeling I’m going to be forced to.
I leave the bag on the bed and go back to Eden’s bedroom. I don’t wonder how he got in. He got this system set up. He probably entered some sort of default code. I take a look at the panel and get my phone out of my pocket. I enter in the make and model and bring up instructions on how to use it. I already know how to set and unset the alarm. I check if there are other pre-set codes. There’s only one. Eden’s. Either he knows her code, or he has a way to disable the alarm. I search online to find out that the system is one of the best but that there are weaknesses that can be exploited.
Sighing, I change Eden’s code. It’s probably a pointless effort, but I have to do something. I won’t ruin Eden’s trip by telling her while she’s gone. I can’t hide this from her forever, as much as I’d like to spare her the pain. He broke into her house. He broke into mine. He threatened my life. It’s not too big a leap to think he might threaten Eden. Her new security guards are going to need to know about this. How the hell did he get past them? Did he get in and out again before she hired them?
Or does he know them? Do they think he’s one of the good guys?
Shit. Now I’m not sure what to do for the best. I stand there in her room thinking about it for several minutes while I stare out the glass panels of the balcony doors to the pool.
I’m sure they came from the same company Logan did. They’re the best of the best. Why wouldn’t they trust him? He was her personal body guard for years. Even if they have an inkling of how bad his anger issues are, they’re not going to listen to a guy they’ve barely met over one they might have known for a decade.
Okay. I’m decided. I don’t trust Eden’s security guards when it comes to Logan. I look at the phone in my hand. I could report everything to the police. There would be an official record then. They’d try to track him down to speak to him. I’m not sure if charging him with assault and breaking in would even get him jail time. I know his background is shady enough to make me wary of trying to heap any charges on him. They won’t stick. So, do I really want this to be reported?
I want Eden to be safe, but I’m not sure pissing Logan off is the right way to do that, and I’m pretty sure that’s all I’d be doing.
What I need is advice from someone who knows how to deal with dangerous people. There’s only one person I can think of who might be able to help, though it pains me to think about contacting him.
I call Sasha before I can think twice about it.
“Asher, what’s up?”
Last chance to back out. I bite the bullet before I can change my mind. “I need you to give me Eli’s phone number.”
Chapter Thirty
Eden
It’s close to five by the time we’re done shopping, and we don’t quite make it back to the car without attracting attention. A small swarm of fans zeroes in as we get out the back entrance of the mall. Apparently, they’d heard we’d be there and had anticipated we wouldn’t leave via the front door. We sign some autographs and take a few pictures while Cain and Todd watch for trouble. The dozen teenage girls aren’t a threat, but the commotion they caused swarming us could attract some.
“Okay, we have to go now,” Sky says firmly, but with a smile on her face. The make-up she had done is silvery and ethereal, with a sheen of fine glitter around her eyes and on her temples. Her lips are a pale metallic purple. She looks like a fairy. Okay, maybe a fairy who likes to say fuck a lot.
“Sorry,” I add as we pull away and Cain ushers us into the car.
Todd stops them from following with a glance. Honestly. They stop moving when he glowers at them. It’s the best thing I’ve seen all day. I think I might need to keep him.
Sky closes the door and looks at me. “All ready for tonight?”
I nod, though I’m kind of wondering why I bothered with the make-up. It’s going to be ruined by the time Nick’s done having his way with me. I went for golden foil effect eye-shadow that would look amazing with the dress. Natural lips with a sweet flavoured gloss and the latest 24-hour foundation that’s supposed to have staying power. “Seems like hours away now.”
“We have to get dinner before you go back to Nicks.”
“I’ll text him.” I wonder if he’ll be disappointed. I don’t want to leave Sky when she’s in such a good mood. It feels like old times.
“Tell him he’s monopolised you enough for one week.”
“I’m not telling him that.”
“Then maybe I will,” she jokes, typing something into her phone.
“You’re not texting him.”
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.” She shrugs.
I grab her phone and she laughs. She hasn’t texted him at all. She sent one to Kira, one of her band mates, asking her to come to the club tonight. I hand her it back.
“Very funny.”
“Your reaction was.”
Todd and Cain get into the front and the engine starts. The shrieking and yelling from our fans starts back up as we drive away. I look out the back window to see them jumping around and waving. They can’t see in, so we don
’t wave back. Sky sighs as she sinks back into the leather.
“Let’s go to that Mexican place with the amazing tequila cocktails.”
I should have known it was coming. “Wouldn’t that be starting a little early?”
I glance at the back of Cain’s head. He hasn’t turned but I catch the subtle shake.
“It’s never too early for cocktails.” She rolls her eyes when I glance at her. “I’m not talking about getting loaded, Edie. I just want to take the edge off.”
Take the edge off what? I want to ask, but I keep my mouth shut. She doesn’t react well to being questioned about her decisions. She gets so defensive and moody. The day has been going so well, I don’t want to ruin it. “Fine. Whatever. Don’t call me Edie.”
She snorts and checks her phone again. “Fine, Eden Rose.”
Nick text messages me back to tell me to have fun. He sends another to warn me to be ready for anything later. It makes my skin warm to wonder what he might have planned.
Chapter Thirty-One
Asher
I stare at my phone, the number punched in and ready to hit dial. I hesitate. The call to Elias is going to be awkward. My throat dries up just thinking about making it. We were friends once, or something like it. He’d dated one of Diana’s bitchy friends several years back, when I was still letting that woman bat me around. Double dates and events with friends both in Rapture and in Haleton, he was one of the few people from that group that I didn’t steer clear of once I was free of Diana.
We weren’t exactly best friends, didn’t spend that much time together, and that was probably what made it so easy to take a step back when he was being investigated for murder. I didn’t know him well enough to judge if he was the kind of guy who could do something so vile. I followed the investigation as closely as I could, getting information ranted to me from Sasha, who was livid that her husband’s friend was being investigated at all. I remember that conversation all too well, particularly the point where I made my own decision about his guilt.
“How can anyone think he could do this?” She was pacing the kitchen, dripping her Long Island Ice-Tea all over the floor because for a change she was moving around more than she was drinking.
I could see her wrestling with her own thoughts. She wasn’t just mad that he was being fingered for something she thought he didn’t do. There was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. I thought she might just be angry at herself for having doubts. Who wouldn’t? “They were his handcuffs.”
She stopped pacing to stare at me. “Are you kidding, Asher?”
I shrugged, realising I had considered it somewhere in the back of my mind and decided, yes, Eli is the kind of person who could go crazy and beat a woman to death. “How do you know he didn’t do it?”
She gaped at me and slammed her drink down on the table. “I can’t believe this. You think he did it.”
“I didn’t say that,” I said, leaning against the counter. “I just asked how you could be so sure he didn’t.”
“Same thing,” she snapped before leaving.
Maybe it is, maybe not. Sasha cooled down at some point. I didn’t go out of my way to make contact with Eli again, and he’d steered clear of me. To be fair, he’d had other things on his plate. I doubted he wasted a second wondering why some guy who’d been friendly in the past wasn’t calling him anymore. The case went on for what seemed like forever. A whole summer passed.
Everything I read about the case left a deeper imprint on me. The papers went into agonising detail on the woman’s extensive catalogue of wounds. I was haunted by the images those words painted in my head. The poor woman had been tortured. Only a monster could have committed the crime.
I could see why Sasha was enraged at me for thinking Eli could be so evil, but it didn’t change my opinion. Monsters hide in plain sight all the time. They’re not as rare as the average person might like to think. I was convinced Eli would be convicted. The woman had been his girlfriend. She was chained up with his handcuffs. The police usually look to the closest people to the victim to find the perpetrator of a violent murder. Most of the time they find what they’re looking for. Why would this be any different?
I was wrong, at least about the conviction. Eli was let go when his DNA didn’t match what was left at the scene. They had no real evidence, it seemed. I wasn’t so sure it was that simple. Men who knew him carried out the investigation. Guys he’d worked with for years. People like Sasha who believed firmly that he was innocent, without needing to look at a shred of evidence. She wouldn’t consider he could have done it. Alan was the same, more so. I could imagine his workmates being even more vehement.
He was allowed to go back to work as a Deputy within a couple of months. Within a couple of years’ the case was all but forgotten. He got the Sheriff’s job a while later and had been in it for maybe six months when he came walking into my library with Eden. Seeing them together had frozen me in place. Suddenly the dead woman’s bruised and battered body was haunting me again. Only this time she was Eden.
How could I even consider calling him?
The truth is, once Sasha gave me his number, I hesitated to use it. And believe me, she didn’t give it up easily. That same old argument had come up before she relented.
“Do you still believe he killed that girl?”
I sighed. “I never said that, Sasha.”
“Yes, you did!”
“I only asked how you could know he didn’t do it.” I cut myself off before I could go deeper into that argument. We’d only go around in circles if I started that.
“It’s as good as saying you don’t believe he’s innocent.”
“It’s not up to me to decide if he’s innocent, Sasha. I wouldn’t know that.” It was the best I could do. I held my breath as she sighed.
“What do you want to call him for?”
Hmm. Probably should have thought of an excuse before I called her. Damn. Think of something, Asher, or you’ve just wasted five minutes and you’re no further forward.
“Diana keeps breaking into my place.”
“You’re calling the cops on her?” She sounded shocked, but in a delighted kind of way.
“Actually, I’d rather keep it off the record. Hence why I’m asking you instead of calling the station.”
“Oh.” She made a disappointed noise. “Well, I suppose…”
I’m not expecting the call to Eli to go any smoother. I force myself to hit call once I punch in his number. It’s getting late and I want to speak to him tonight. His phone rings a handful of times and I’m about to hang up when he answers.
“Ramirez, here.”
“Hi, Elias.” I seem to lose my ability to think properly once I realise I’m calling a guy I don’t trust to help me deal with a psychopath. Takes one to know one, maybe? Shit. What am I doing? “It’s Asher.”
“Oh… hey.” He sounds kind of taken aback. I guess that would be the not speaking to each other for years followed by a late-night call kind of suspicious, playing on his thoughts.
“Listen, I know it’s been a while…”
“Is this about Eden?”
Just hearing him say her name twists my stomach up. I shouldn’t have called him. I clear my throat and try to focus. I might as well get my reason out. See if he’s as trustworthy as Sasha and Alan seem to think.
“It’s not. It’s sort of related to her, but it’s more complicated.”
“Hmm. Okay. What’s up?” He still sounds wary, but at least he’s willing to hear me out.
“Eden’s old bodyguard has been hanging around Rapture since she fired him. He’s broken into her house, and mine. I need to find a way to deal with him.”
“You need to…” He trails off and I realise the background noises have disappeared by the time he talks again. “What do you mean, ‘deal’ with him?”
“Eden wouldn’t want me involving the police, if we can help it. I need to scare him off. Run him out of town.”
He laughs. “
Are you serious?”
“What did you think I meant, by dealing with him?”
He’s quiet for a few seconds before he answers. “Tell me what he did, exactly.”
I sigh before I spill the gory details. The burnt book, burying me in my basement, and his bag being in Eden’s house. He takes it in with a few ‘Mm’s’ and ‘Hm’s’.
He clears his throat. “Can you stay out of sight for a couple of days? I mean like, don’t leave the house.”
“What?” It takes a second for his question to sink in and I don’t understand it when it does. “Why?”
“I think you had a lucky escape, Asher. I don’t think this guy was intending to scare you at all. I don’t know what happened with his gun when he shot you, and maybe I’m misreading things, but it sounds to me like he wants you dead.”
Fuck. He’s right. “So, what do I do?”
“You stay indoors for a couple of days. Stay out of sight. I’ll come and find him tomorrow. We’ll have a talk. He’ll leave town. As long as he doesn’t catch sight of you.”
“A talk?”
“About a body Sasha uncovered in the basement of her brother’s house.”
“Oh.”
“If he thinks he killed you, and we’ve found the body, he’ll run.”
“Wait. What reason are you going to give him for questioning him?”
“I’m going to tell him we talked about a break in. From the timeline you gave me it’s feasible that you told me about it before he came at you in your house. I came looking for him when the body was found because you think he broke into Eden’s place shortly before you were killed.”
My reservations about calling him are fading. “That sounds… good.”
“Okay. I’ll call you tomorrow once I’ve spoken to him. Any ideas on where he might be staying?”
“He might have been staying in Eden’s house without her knowledge. At least, before she got her new security detail. I have no idea where else he might go.”
“Okay. I don’t think you should stay at your place. I think that’s the first place he might go once I’ve spoken to him.”
Wild Hearts (Rock Goddess Reverse Harem Book 2) Page 12