by Sharp, Tracy
I said nothing.
“You’ve changed. You were just a scrawny little thing. Long black hair tied in a ponytail.” He nodded. “Yeah. I woulda fucked ya six ways from Sunday if it wasn’t for your crazy friend. Whatever happened to him?” He was stalling … and it was pissing me off.
Jack stepped from behind the chair and punched him in the face. “Right here, sunshine.”
“Well, nice little reunion party we’ve got going on, but it’s time for my dog to chew your nuts off. So tell me where my brother is, you piece of shit.”
Woodard stared at Buddy and it looked like he was about to start bawling at any second. “I’m not telling you shit,” he said, his voice lacking conviction.
“Did you hear that, Buddy?” I leaned down and patted Buddy’s enormous head again. “He doesn’t want to tell us where Jesse is.”
I bent down and pointed to Woodard’s left leg. “Grab hold, Buddy.”
Buddy moved in without hesitation and wrapped his teeth around Woodard’s ankle, grabbing a firm grip but not biting down yet.
Woodard shrieked. “NO! NONONONONO!”
I leaned in close, looking him in the eye. “Now that I have your complete attention, I’m going to tell you a little bit about my friend Buddy.”
Woodard sat stiffly, as if doing so would help him avoid getting his leg chewed off. His eyes darted from me to Buddy constantly.
“Since he and I have become acquainted, I’ve discovered that Buddy’s had a lot of training as a guard dog. He knows all the commands, Sebastian. And I’ve even taught him a few of my own. See, thing about Buddy is, he’s a real quick learner. He’s very smart and he’s very, very eager to please me. So he’ll do whatever I tell him to do. You get my drift?”
“Yeah,” he managed to choke out.
I nodded slowly. “Good.” I stood back, crossed my arms over my chest and watched the scene for a long moment before saying, “So where is he?”
Woodard sat quietly, trying on a defiant glare. It wasn’t quite working.
“Buddy bite down some,” I said.
Buddy bit down, enough to draw blood but not enough to tear Woodard’s leg off.
Woodard screamed again and the front of his jeans darkened. A trail of urine made its way down his leg and began to puddle on the floor.
The band saw drowned out most of his screams … not enough to take the joy out of it for me.
He told me where my brother was.
Chapter Thirty
He was buried alive.
That’s what Woodard said he’d done to him. He said he’d “planted” him not far from the old shack where he and Finn had kept the women. The irony wasn’t lost on me. We’d gone there to rescue him and we’d rescued the women instead, leaving him out there in the woods somewhere, maybe able to hear us but not call out. Patrick and Buddy stayed with Woodard while Jack and I went to look for Jesse.
When we found him, his eyes were closed and his head was slumped almost to the ground. He was buried up to his neck and had been gagged with some kind of bandana.
I called out to him. I said his name over and over as we worked to dig him up but he wasn’t responding. He was alive, but just barely. If we didn’t get him to the hospital soon, he wouldn’t make it.
I could tell by the way Jack looked at him that he had his doubts.
We finally got him free and carried him to the Jeep, gently getting him into the backseat and laying him down as best we could. I draped my jacket over him, and drove like a demon to get him to the hospital.
“Stay with me, Jess,” I kept saying. “You’re gonna be fine. Just stay, please?”
It was like a chant for me. I barely noticed the tears blurring my vision. I blinked them away until they dropped from my eyes and rolled down my face.
I could see the road better that way.
He was severely dehydrated, they said, but he’d be okay. I almost fell on my knees next to his bed but kept it together long enough for the doctor and nurses to leave the room.
I looked down at Jesse as he lay there unconscious in the hospital bed, shaking my head slowly. “I almost lost him, Jack.”
“I know.” His arm came around me and he gave me a little squeeze. “But you didn’t. We got him back, Leah. He’s going to be fine.”
I kept my eyes on Jesse. “It’s not good enough.”
I heard him take in a long breath and exhale slowly. “I know that.”
“Did you call Patrick yet?”
“Yeah. Everything’s the same as we left it.” He rubbed a hand across his jaw. “You sure about this?”
I nodded. “I won’t lose any sleep over Finn and I’m sure not going to lose sleep over Woodard. He’s a parasite, Jack. He hurts people. He sucks the life out of them.” I shook my head. “I can’t let him keep doing it. That would make me just as bad as him. I’d probably never sleep again if I knew he was still out there.”
He looked at me for a long time. “Okay.”
The hole that Jesse had been buried in was still open. Woodard had chosen a nice, secluded spot where nobody would find Jesse for a long time. It would do just fine for Woodard.
But when the wildlife caught scent of the blood smell on him, they’d find him pretty fast. He wouldn’t have to worry about dying a slow death of dehydration.
* * *
When Callahan saw me come through the door of his hospital room, he gave me a lopsided grin and waved me in. Other than his pallor being a little pale, he really didn’t look too bad.
I stood over him, a big, goofy smile on my face. I couldn’t help it. I was just so damned happy he was okay. “Wow, you can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Just what I like in a man.”
“Cool. I just knew that getting shot would get your attention.” He grinned.
I rolled my eyes. “You jerk.”
“It wasn’t as bad as it looked. She hit me in the side. It was a through and through, didn’t hit any vital organs.”
“Thank Christ she was a lousy shot.”
“Yeah.” His eyes searched my face.
I dropped my gaze and looked around the room. “Where’d you get all the flowers? All of your heart-broken girlfriends?”
There were vases and baskets filled with every variety of flower. There were even a couple of fruit baskets and a balloon bouquet.
“Yeah, you know. I guess I had more friends than I thought.” He made a show of craning his neck and looking over all of the flowers. “So which one is from you?”
“Oh, I…” I felt heat crawl up my neck and face.
He snickered. “I’m kidding. I know you’re not exactly a flowery kind of girl. And anyway, you’ve been sorta busy.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“Jack told me you got Jesse back. I knew you would. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for it.”
“Yeah, get shot on your own time from now on, would ya?”
“All right. I apologize profusely.”
I giggled, sounding far too girlie for my own liking, then stopped and looked at him, feeling a lump rise in my throat. “Thank you, for everything you’ve done. I mean it.”
He smiled. “Hey, I’d get shot for you anytime, baby.”
“Okay, now you’re really milking this getting shot thing. Enough with the pity party. Sheesh.”
He laughed, tilting his head back. My heart felt lighter watching him.
“Can I at least get a real date out of it? I mean, I think I’ve earned it, haven’t I?” His eyes were normally green but at that moment they were like rich coffee as they regarded me with amusement. His hair was all messed up and he looked delectable.
I paused, making a show out of considering it. “Well, okay. Don’t expect me to be too nice to you. That’d be pushing it.”
“Absolutely. Deal.”
We looked at each other for a long moment. As always, I broke eye contact first. “Well, I guess I’d better let you get some rest. You need to heal up fast. I can’t wait for you forever you k
now.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
I paused, looking at him, not really wanting to leave yet. “See ya.”
He lifted his hand from his lap in a small wave. “See ya.”
I turned and headed out of the hospital room, walking quickly before I succumbed to the urge to run back to Callahan and hug him as if I’d never see him again. I’d been so afraid that I never would. And now he was okay. And my brother was okay.
Life was pretty good.
Now if I could just avoid fucking it up again.
It took a few days for it to hit me that Sean was really gone. Up until I got Jesse back and he was safe in my house with Buddy and I, my grief over his death had been anesthetized by my fear that something would happen and I’d lose him again. Once I let some of that fear go, the reality of Sean being gone for good was like a slow dawning. Before I’d laid eyes on him again at Jack’s shop, I hadn’t seen him since we’d gone our separate ways when we were just teenagers. After he popped back into my life, I’d only see him twice before he died.
I found myself wondering what would’ve happened if I’d welcomed him with open arms. If I’d welcomed him into my bed the night he’d come to see me at the house. He’d expressed his wish to settle down, be in a committed relationship. I’d been so hard on him. Now I felt like shit about it. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he really did want those things, as much as I didn’t have faith in his ability to do it. It just wasn’t Sean. I didn’t think it was me either. It had been easier projecting that truth about myself onto him rather than face it myself. It wouldn’t have worked out between us. It hadn’t back then and it wouldn’t have now. Regret was a waste of energy. Still, I regretted. I couldn’t seem to stop.
I’d always think back on what he did for Jesse with a mixture of awe and gratefulness. Some old bonds stay strong no matter how much time goes by. Looking at Jack, Sharon and Patrick for the first time in so many years, time had compressed. It was as if it had been just yesterday that we were so inseparable. Like the others had done, Sean had put his life on the line for Jesse and me. And I couldn’t help but wonder, knowing how lost and lonely he’d been when he’d come to see me, if he’d gone into the lion’s den knowing he wouldn’t come back out.
* * *
End of summer gave in to fall and life had returned to some semblance of normalcy for me. Jesse stayed until after Christmas, then found a place of his own. He kept working at Jack’s shop, enjoying his apprenticeship and learning everything he needed to know about designing and building bikes. He said he’d finally found his niche. And I learned to let him go and trust that he could take care of himself.
By May, I realized I’d put off the inevitable for far too long and took Buddy to the vet. He’d never been neutered, and although I felt bad for doing it, it had to be done. He was driving me crazy with his whining and pacing and he’d been eye-balling the white toy poodle across the street. Heaven help us if he ever escaped me for even five minutes. The results would be disastrous.
So off to get snipped he went. I took him on a sunny, warm day before I went off to repo a speedboat. He’d have to stay overnight and I felt a pang in my chest and a tightening in my throat as they led him away. It was the way he looked back at me, like he might never see me again.
“I’ll see you later, Buddy. I promise.”
He snorted and turned away, allowing the vet attendant to lead him into the great unknown.
I took a deep breath and went back out into the shiny day to meet Callahan at Lake George. I had the top off the Jeep and my Joan Jett C.D cranked up, not caring who stared at me at stoplights as I sang Bad Reputation at the top of my lungs.
Although it took about a half hour to get there, the drive was too damned short on such a gorgeous day. The warm wind smelled fresh as it gently moved my hair around. Good thing I don’t spend much time on styling it.
Callahan was leaning against the tow truck, which now had a boat trailer hooked up to the back of it. He was looking sporty in a pair of cargo shorts and a t-shirt bearing a picture of a bearded smiley face on it. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses and squinted against the sun as he smiled and headed toward me.
“You’re looking mighty yummy today.” His eyes appraised my legs in my denim cut-offs.
“Thanks.” I also wore a blue tank top. No bra. I’m not really chesty, so I can pull it off. “You’re not looking so shabby yourself.”
He moved in to place his hands on my hips and kiss me but I stepped back. “We’re on duty. Very unprofessional.”
He stepped back and grunted his disappointment, giving me his best annoyed look.
“Later,” I said, winking and blowing him a kiss before I turned and headed toward the beach. “So where is it?”
“Hold up and I’ll show you, gangbuster.”
“Hey, it’s the only way to do this job,” I threw over my shoulder.
“It’s the only way you do anything.” He caught up to me, smacking me on the behind.
“Hey!”
“Ha! Gotcha!”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“There it is.” He nodded toward a gorgeous specimen of a speedboat floating gently beside the dock.
I whistled. The boat was a beauty. Sleek and white, shaped to cut through the water smoothly. It was a thirty-footer. The guy who’d bought it had paid a hundred and twelve grand for it.
And now we were about to steal it from him.
“Where’s the owner?”
“In the clubhouse having lunch. He’ll be in there for a while. He likes to take two-hour lunches that consist of several cocktails. He likes one of the waitresses. Will says he keeps flashing his cash at her and asking her out but she never says yes.”
“Why not? Is he really hideous?”
“No, she just has higher standards, I think.”
“Too bad he’s not flashing his cash at the bank.” I stood on the dock looking down at the boat. “You think we can get this baby up on the trailer before anyone notices and tells Richie Rich in there?”
“Only one way to find out.” He grinned at me, brushing his fingers over my butt again.
I grinned back. “Go get the tow truck. Let’s have some fun.”
* * *
I had a few hours before Callahan picked me up. We were going to dinner and a movie. I was getting used to the dating thing but I still needed time alone. He’s a good guy. He understands.
Adrenaline was still coursing through my body and my mind was cranking. We’d made it out with the speedboat without any theatrics from the owner. We’d moved fast and didn’t address any of the stares from curious people. My guess is that the guy was a real asshole and they were secretly gleeful that his boat was being repossessed, or maybe they just didn’t want to get involved. It worked out fine for us either way.
I still needed to burn off some of the tension I’d accumulated in my neck and shoulders. I went into my bedroom and stripped off my cut-offs. I chose a loose pair of cotton shorts but kept my tank top on. It was hot in the house and much hotter upstairs. Most people would think I’m a maniac for lifting weights in such heat. The alternative was to toss and turn all night.
I had a giant fan sitting on the stair landing that pointed into my spare bedroom and I was getting a good breeze from it. It had a real kick to it, so it wasn’t just blowing hot air around. Working out would be bearable.
Frank came wandering in, yawning and stretching. He knew the routine and plopped himself down a few feet from my weight machine to settle in and watch me, his yellow eyes flickering with just the slightest bit of interest.
I began with light free weights to warm up, twenty pounds. I sat on the bench of my weight machine and concentrated on feeling the muscle work. I watched as it bunched and relaxed and slowed my breathing. I focused on inhaling and exhaling, getting my rhythm going, closing my eyes and clearing my mind, listening to the white noise of the fan.
My eyes snapped open. An unfamiliar sound had roused me from m
y meditation. I couldn’t really place it, except that it was a sound which didn’t belong. The faintest noise, barely audible above the sound of the fan. I looked at Frank who was staring at the doorway to the landing, his ears almost flattened.
Something wasn’t right. There was somebody in my house.
I quickly got up and moved to the right side of the doorway, staying as flat against the wall as I could. I waited. The minutes ticking away seemed like individual lifetimes. My heart was pounding and sweat had broken out all over me. I waited. I glanced at my watch. Two minutes had gone by.
Had Frank and I both imagined the sound? Was it just the old house moving in a new, unusual way. No. There was somebody there. I could feel it. Then a shadow passed over the door and I held on tightly to the dumbbell in my left hand. He had to know that I knew he was there, so he’d expect me to be on one side of the door or the other.
I didn’t wait for him to figure out what to do. I stepped out and swung the dumbbell at him in one fluid motion, hitting him square in the chest. I heard ribs crunching.
My eyes took him in within a split second. His short, platinum hair, buzzed close to the scalp. Large tattooed arms. He grabbed at his chest but held on to his knife, blue eyes wide with surprise.
“Surprise!” I screamed at him, bringing my knee up to smash against his groin. He bent and grabbed himself between the legs, gagging. He dropped the knife. I kicked it away. It went sliding across the hardwood floor to the opposite end of the room. Just as he was trying to straighten up, his eyes filled with rage, I brought my foot up and slammed it flat into his stomach, sending him tumbling backward down the stairs. When he landed, one arm was twisted at a strange angle. It was obviously broken in a few places. He was lucky his neck wasn’t broken.
There was still time for that.
I went down after him. He lay on his back at the bottom of the stairs, slowly shaking his head from side to side. I straddled him and brought my dumb bell down on his throat, placing a knee on his good arm. I mashed my weight onto it as I leaned over and looked into his face, tilting my head and smiling cheerfully at him.