28 Days: a romantic suspense

by Lexi Buchanan

  She’d accused him.

  It was her who selected his picture from a stack the DA had showed her. That one decision had been the start of the witch hunt against his brother.

  Catching a flash of movement to his right, he sat up straight in his truck when he realized Saige was about to disappear behind the door to her apartment building.

  Alex quickly opened his door and jumped down. “Saige,” he shouted, trying to grab her attention.

  She paused and when her eyes landed on him, she frowned as though she tried to remember where she’d seen him before. “You’re the guy from the restaurant?”

  He nodded as he walked closer, which seemed to set her on alert as her eyes darted between him, the entrance to the building behind her, and the coffee shop across the street.

  “Have coffee with me.” He wanted her to feel safe so that she’d talk to him, although she’d probably run when she realized who he was.

  Or would she?

  “I don’t have coffee with strangers.” She edged toward the building where the doorman had appeared, wary of their exchange.

  He wasn’t a stranger.

  He figured that he didn’t have much left to lose. “Saige, please. My name is Alex. Alexander Peterson. My brother is Quinten Peterson.”

  She froze at his words, all color drained from her face as her hand reached up and covered her mouth, muffling the gasp. “You look different than your photographs,” she stated, tilting her head slightly.

  He nodded in agreement, and continued, “I’m not going to hurt you, but I really need to talk to you.” He edged closer. “Please, Saige. My brother didn’t hurt you, or those girls. Please just talk to me.” He glanced toward the coffee shop. “Let me buy you coffee. It’s busy so you won’t be alone with me, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Saige stood frozen in place as the minutes slid by and Alex began to wonder if she was in shock, then she slowly nodded. “Will you answer my questions?”

  He wondered what was going through her head and what questions she could possibly have. His gut reaction was to tell her no, because of what she’d done to his family…to his brother…to his own life. He would have to compromise though because he had questions of his own. “I’ll answer them if I can,” he alluded.

  She waved to the doorman to let him know she was fine before she slowly moved toward the coffee shop. Alex watched her walk past him and turned to follow. Once inside, the waitress led them to a table by the window.

  He didn’t like the fact that the shop was so busy, but he was desperate and would take anything he could get at this point.

  A young waitress strolled up to their table, took their orders and she was gone as fast as she appeared.

  Saige rubbed her brow and frowned, her eyes searched his face. Tilting her head to the side, she asked, “Have we met before today?”

  He stared at her wondering what to say because she genuinely seemed confused.

  “You really don’t remember me, do you?” He searched her face, looking for the truth in her expression.

  “No.” Tears sat thickly on her lashes, but they didn’t fall as she blinked them away. “I think I should...my head has started to ache.” She kept rubbing at her forehead. “When did we meet?”

  He wouldn’t mention her time with Quinten, but he could give her something. “We first met the summer before you were taken.”

  The waitress returned with two steaming cups of coffee and set them down before leaving them alone.

  “I don’t remember.” Saige gritted her teeth and wrapped her hands around the cup. “I don’t remember the summer before at all.” She swiped at a lone tear as it trickled down her pale face. “I wish I did. My memory has a large black hole in it, and it drives me crazy. Surely, if anything, I should have only blocked out the five days I was...I was tortured. Instead I have two and a half years missing.”

  “What?” He was stunned by her words.

  No way!

  “Are you sure?” he questioned, leaning forward.

  Her hands shook as she raised her mug, sloshing droplets of coffee onto the table. She gave up and placed the cup back down. “Am I sure? Of course I’m sure.” She waved her hands around. “Don’t you think I want to remember? I’ve no desire to remember what he did to me, but I sure as hell want to remember the rest.” The anger she felt was evident in every sharp movement of her hands and body as she became agitated.

  “I was found at the end of November. I know that simply because people told me that, but I don’t remember it. All of my memories end at the Easter party my stepmother had arranged for her friends. It was boring, but I was there and remember it. My next memory starts two and a half years later when I woke up in that horrible, private hospital. My father finally came and took me home. I want and need to remember, but every time I’ve tried over the years, I get one hell of a headache. Sometimes it’s a migraine that makes me physically sick.”

  He sat back and let her words sink in because she certainly believed what she told him.

  “I don’t know what to say about that, but if you don’t have any memory of what happened, how were you able to make a statement accusing my brother of taking you? How were you able to identify him from a selection of photographs given to you?”

  He loved you and you betrayed him.

  A barrage of emotion crossed Saige’s face—shock being the main one.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered, and buried her face in her hands. “I really don’t know. How could I have done that if I don’t have any memory?”

  Her tear stained eyes lifted to his and Alex found himself swallowing back the harsh words he’d had prepared for the last eight years.

  “That’s a good question that I think you need to ask your father,” he hissed.

  Saige dried her tears up with a napkin that he passed to her while staying silent. She stared out of the window and drank some of her coffee, her fingers only shaking slightly around the tall cup.

  “I tried to ask my father about the trial.” She faced him. “He wanted me to leave it in the past.”

  Alex clenched his jaw in anger. “I heard.”

  Saige paused and then nodded. “I agreed, but had no intention of letting it go.”

  “Why? Why would you lie to your father?” He knew she lied but needed to hear the reason from her, and he knew how close she was to her father. She always had been and he overheard enough of their conversation earlier to know that she still was.

  “He’s protecting me.”

  Alex wondered if there was something more to her father wanting her to leave it in the past. Did he have secrets too?

  Saige’s attention went outside the coffee shop again, as though she was seeing something he couldn’t.

  “If I tell you something, will you tell me if you think I’m crazy?” she asked so quietly.

  He nodded, his curiosity piqued.

  “When I saw your brother’s picture on television yesterday, that was the first time I recall seeing him. I know I can’t remember, but I didn’t feel anything like I thought I would if I ever saw the man who took me. I felt safe. I don’t understand why I didn’t fear him if he was the one responsible for what happened to me. That’s what set me off wanting to know what happened.” She leaned forward. “And now, are you telling me that it was my statement, and selecting him from a photographic lineup, that got him convicted?”

  If she was lying, then she was a damn good actress. He wanted to believe she was lying, except his gut told him she wasn’t.

  So he decided to be even more honest. “There was evidence at the scene of the crime to suggest that he was responsible. After your statement, they didn’t look for anyone else and went after Quinten. Eventually they charged him, not only with your abduction and torture, but also with five counts of first-degree murder of the college girls who disappeared before you. As far as they were concerned, they had their man so why look elsewhere.”

  Saige paled and nodded her hea
d with acceptance.

  “I need to see my statement and I need to know what evidence they used to convict him.” Saige grabbed her purse and rummaged around before she brought out a small notepad and a pen. “We’ll make a list.”

  “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Alex asked, bemused that she now seemed comfortable with him. She even treated him like they were a team.

  She tilted her head to the side. “Should I be?”

  “I won’t hurt you, Saige. I just want to do everything I can for my brother.”

  “If I knew you before, then I must have known Quinten too, right?”

  He wasn’t sure how much to tell Saige because their relationship had been wrong in a lot of ways. Quinten had been married at the time, even though he started to seek a divorce from the bitch, Jocelyn. His brother still hadn’t been totally free to be with Saige.

  “You knew the both of us. We did the wooden carving on the staircase in your family’s home the summer before...” he paused, trying to think of what to call everything before, he finally finished with, “hell happened.”

  “So I’d talk to you both?”

  “Yes.”

  He could practically hear her thinking, see all of the questions running behind her eyes. He needed to cut them off for now. “I have an appointment with Daniel Sterling, Quinten’s defense attorney, tomorrow. You can come and talk to him with me. He’ll probably have a copy of your statement for you to read. That’s if you’re free?” he questioned, almost like it was a dare, taunting her. A way for him to know for sure that she was all in.

  She offered a small smile. “That’s who I planned on talking to when I promised my father to leave it all in the past.” She shrugged. “I can’t do that. I have to know what happened.”

  * * *

  11:55pm

  * * *

  Quinten lay on the narrow bed and tried not to think about the end, instead he focused on Saige. He knew Alex thought he was crazy for still longing for the girl who stole his heart the summer before everything went to hell…before she betrayed him.

  However, his heart still ached every time he thought about her. Their love had been doomed from the minute they had laid eyes on each other. She’d taken his breath away, and every minute they’d spent together had made his heart race with longing. He hadn’t been free to pursue a relationship. At first, he’d tried to ignore the pull that she’d had over him, but then one day he’d found her upset in the boathouse when she’d thought no one else was around. After that day, they’d managed to spend time together every day. They’d only talked, but she’d kept him going, and it had given him something to look forward to.

  He’d struggled to keep his hands to himself, but as long as he was married there wasn’t anything else that he could have done...and then, that last night that they’d met before she’d headed back to college, he did what he’d promised not to. He’d made love to her, over and over again.

  Saige’s hands on his body, her lips against his, her breasts soft against his chest. It had all been too much for him, for her. They first came together in a frenzied haze of sexual need. The second and subsequent times that night had been slow and long, until they knew they had to part. Then it had been fast and hard.

  His now ex-wife had known that he’d fallen for Saige. How could she not when he’d wake in the middle of the night, lying beside her, his head full of the sexual dream he’d had and his mouth full of her name…Saige.

  He hated his ex, Jocelyn. She’d been unfaithful to him since the day he’d put a ring on her finger. The bitch had constantly lied and cheated, although he hadn’t known at the time. Two weeks before he’d met Saige, he’d spoken to a lawyer about getting a divorce, except before anything could be done, he’d found himself arrested for murder, and attempted murder. Jocelyn had lied through her teeth about him and their relationship. She’d gained a lot of money from her interviews, and she talked to everyone and anyone who paid the booking fee. The only good thing to come of that was when she’d divorced him. He’d jumped for joy knowing she no longer had a hold over him. Not that it did him any good considering his new living arrangements.

  Saige had been his lifeline until it was ripped away. He’d lived on memories of her from the minute he’d been incarcerated. He’d gone crazy not being able to see her. He’d had no idea how she was, or if she’d be all right.

  Nothing.

  His brother, Alex, told him what he’d discovered, which hadn’t been much. Saige hadn’t been raped, but it still hadn’t calmed the rage he’d felt toward the bastard who’d taken her. He’d done enough damage to her, but knowing that Saige was safe calmed Quinten down. He just wished that Alex hadn’t grown to hate her because he hadn’t been able too. He’d tried once the trial was under way and he’d discovered that she’d identified him from a photograph, much to his confusion. Her father had looked at him with hatred.

  His heart still held strong though and refused to be hardened against her. He loved her too much.

  When he felt more down than usual, he’d have his doubts, but then he’d remember how she’d been with him.

  Nothing about her had been a lie.

  So why did she accuse him of being the one?

  His eyes stung with tears as her image appeared in his mind.

  It was a warm day, not a cloud in the sky, and she’d been walking her father to his car. Saige had turned and met his gaze. The smile she’d given him had filled her eyes, and her whole damn body had practically shimmered.

  He remembered it like it happened yesterday.

  Alex had laughed and commented, “You’ve both got it as bad as you can, bro.” Quinten had turned to Alex with a grin on his face. It had soon disappeared when he’d spotted Christina Lockwood standing behind his brother. She’d heard every word, and if looks could kill, he’d have died that day.

  Tears fell down his face at the overwhelming longing to see Saige, touch her, and confess his love, even after all this time, washed over him.

  Just one last time.

  That’s all he wanted.

  Just to see her once more.

  Day 4

  5:45am

  * * *

  Saige heard Tamsyn clambering around in the kitchen before she left for her shift at the diner. Normally, she would be getting up to head out with her, but not today. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go back and chances were she’d be fired for not showing up. She’d already missed two days. Lou wouldn’t be happy, even though Saige had worked for her for a few years without taking any time off sick.

  At least her stepmom would be happy.

  Shaking that miserable thought from her mind, Saige quickly threw on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt.

  She’d make some coffee and hopefully get some time with Tamsyn before she left. Last night, when she got home, Saige hardly said two words to her friend. Her head had been full of what Alex had told her. He left her with more unanswered questions, especially about his brother and her relationship with him.

  She noticed that while Alex had answered her questions about knowing him and his brother, he hadn’t expanded either.

  What hadn’t he told her?

  Her heart pounded when she thought about Alex and his brother. The feeling of familiarity that she knew him had been strong while she sat talking to him. She hadn’t felt threatened by him and just hoped he hadn’t given her a false sense of security.

  Saige wanted her memory back and to help Quinten Peterson if he turned out to be innocent. Alex just wanted his brother free and she had a feeling that he’d do and say anything to make that happen.

  “Saige,” Tamsyn whispered.

  She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she’d made her way to the kitchen without really thinking about it.

  Saige smiled softly at Tamsyn, muttering a distracted greeting.

  Tamsyn stepped toward her. “How are you holding up? Headache gone?”

  “It’s not that bad.” Saige watched while Tamsyn grabbe
d two large mugs and poured them both a cup of fresh coffee.

  Tamsyn knew the basics of Saige’s past for about a year now, but Saige had never sat her down and explained further. Her friend had stumbled upon Saige’s picture online, so all that she knew was what was available to the public.

  Saige added, “I really don’t remember anything from before, Tamsyn. I think the other day at work I was more surprised at seeing the man on the television and not feeling anything like I thought I would. It’s frustrating not being able to remember anything.”

  When she paused, Tamsyn offered her a small smile of encouragement to continue, which she did, “I’m going to find out what happened, which is why I’m not going back to the diner. I can’t work my shifts and spend my time trying to read everything that I find. This is something I have to do. I’ll probably have to head home for a short while as well.”

  “Oh wow.” Tamsyn sat beside her. “But I understand what you’re saying. I’m not sure I’d want to remember what happened if it was me, but I can’t imagine not having my memories...and, are you sure you can put up with your stepmom if you have to go home?”

  “She won’t say anything about the job.” Saige sighed as she stared into her coffee mug. “When she discovers what I’m doing, she’ll go nuts. My dad won’t be too impressed either, once he knows that I lied to him about leaving it in the past.”

  Tamsyn raised a brow. “You talked to your dad about it the other night at dinner?”

  “Yeah. I asked him about the trial and Quinten Peterson. He wasn’t happy that I wanted to drag it all out into the open again, and he asked me to leave it alone.” Sighing, she added firmly, “I can’t do that.”

  Sipping her coffee, Saige wondered again about Quinten Peterson and his brother. She knew the work that Alex had told her they’d done because it was beautiful and had always been admired when guests came to the house for the first time. Their carved design didn’t only go up the banister; they’d created the same design into molds that went around the light in the foyer of her father’s home. Each time Saige walked down the stairs, her fingers would trace along the delicate work, and for years she hadn’t had one memory of the Peterson brothers.