9 Ways to Fall in Love

by Caroline Clemmons

  "He hit you?" Barely leashed anger filled the words and Cassie flinched. Her body trembled, an involuntary response to the fury in Jake's words.

  "Cassie, answer me. Did he hit you?"

  Cass gave an imperceptible nod.

  Jake couldn’t contain the primal scream bubbling up from deep inside. Spinning around, he slammed his fist into the pine cupboard behind him, pounded it over and over as he pictured his Cassie bruised and bloody, beaten by the man she called father.

  I'll kill him. No mercy, no quarter given, when Daniels' shows his face, he is a dead man. Air sawed in and out of his lungs, his heartbeat raced at the spike of adrenaline. The pain, the sheen of tears in Cassie's eyes as she admitted what her father had done . . .

  Gentle arms twined around his torso, soft warm curves pressed against his back where he stood, arms raised with his fisted hands resting against the battered wood. Her warm cheek rested against the naked skin of his back, the dampness on her cheek rubbing against his skin. He inhaled a deep breath. Calm. He needed strength before he turned around in the circle of her arms, his hands reaching to cup her cheeks. Careful not to let the blood on his hands touch her. She'd seen enough blood and horror. He didn't want to add to it.

  "I'm sorry, honey. I wish . . ."

  "Jake, we can't change anything that's happened. It's past, over and done. The only thing we can change now is the future." She hesitated as though trying to choose the right words. "Our future if it's what you want. Together."

  If it's what I want? It's what I've dreamt about since the day you disappeared. I never gave up on you then and I'm not giving up on you now.

  "Together, Cass. I'll always choose together."

  Chapter 17

  From his secluded corner of the dining room, Brad watched Daniels and Baxter finish their breakfast. Daniels ate with a hearty appetite, stuffing his glutinous body with every item displayed on the table before him. In contrast, Sheriff Baxter picked at his plate, barely touching the food he'd ordered. Baxter gulped down cup after cup of coffee. Doesn't really need that, now does he, Brad thought, watching the sheriff's hands tremble as he lifted his fourth cup to his mouth.

  Brad sat a few tables away, close enough to keep an eye on them but too far away to hear their conversation. Daniels leaned back in his chair, patted his lips on the snowy white napkin. A few brief words were barked at the sheriff, who blanched even paler than he'd been, and he'd been pasty white to begin with. Sweat beaded his skin and he kept running the back of his hand across his forehead. He'd wicked away the moisture only to have it return moments later. His eyes darted nervously around the room, never seeming to stay focused on anything for more than a few seconds. Brad found it interesting that Baxter rarely looked at the good doctor, instead staring down at his plate or his own lap whenever Daniels deigned to talk to him.

  He was getting bored sitting here watching these two. When were they going to do something, anything? Make a move already, for crap sake. Putting these SOB's away for the rest of their freaking lives couldn't happen soon enough. Cassie deserved to finally have a bit of happiness in her life. Being on the run and hiding from your own father? What kind of life is that for any seventeen year old? Plus taking care of a traumatized mother, beaten down for so long, posttraumatic stress disorder didn't begin to cover her mother's road to recovery. Though, he smiled, she'd been doing a lot better since she'd met his boss, Clayton.

  Leaving Cass alone last night with Jake hurt his pride a bit; not because he was in love with her or anything, but he'd protected her and cared for her for years while Stone lived out his life in Cougar Hills and later in Denver. Without telling Cass, Brad quietly kept tabs on Jake Stone, knew where he lived, that he was a firefighter and part-time paramedic in Denver. Even knew about the house he was rehabbing. Hell, he even knew to the penny how much he'd spent on the house he'd purchased. The one thing he hadn't found any trace of was another woman.

  Jake went on the occasional date, sure, but nothing serious. For a while he'd dated his friend's sister-in-law but that relationship, if it could be called one, didn't amount to anything.

  Damn, he hoped he'd done the right thing by giving them a little time together last night.

  Brad straightened imperceptibly in his chair, laying his napkin across his empty plate. He'd already signed the breakfast check, charged the meal to his suite, so he'd been killing time waiting for Daniels and Baxter to make a move. Any move—these men were slower than molasses in wintertime.

  Baxter finally pushed back from the table and shot a look of undisguised hatred toward the good doctor then stormed off. Pulling his cellphone from his pocket, Brad quickly typed in a few short instructions, all the while watching Daniels closely.

  Damn, he hadn't expected them to split up. He itched to follow Baxter, see exactly where he was headed but Daniels was the bigger fish here. Besides, Baxter didn't make a move without the good doctor telling him what, where and when. Daniels signaled the waitress for another cup of coffee and Brad groaned. Was the man never going to finish his damn breakfast?

  Torturous minutes passed before Baxter finally ambled back into the restaurant, a self-satisfied smirk curling across his smarmy features. He looked like a cream-filled cat with a full belly. The back of Brad's neck itched, a sure sign things were about to go really bad really fast.

  His cellphone beeped and Brad glanced at the text message. Yes! This was it—time's up. Baxter took the bait, asked the right person where Cassie was and got the answer Quin planted with his staff. The good sheriff now knew precisely where Cassie was and in the next few seconds Daniels would too. They'd followed the scent like a couple of hounds, ready to snatch the prize. Now he just needed to give them a little bit of slack to run with before hauling both their asses in.

  Next step, he'd contact Clayton, have the feds on high alert. Everything ended today. One way or another, Cassie would be free of her tormenter, able to live the life she deserved. Plus if the sparks flying between Cassie and Jake last night were any indication, maybe she'd also get her happily ever after. Nobody deserved one more than her.

  Easing from his chair, phone to his ear, he silently followed the pair, calling in reinforcements.

  Chapter 18

  Jake pulled Cassie into his arms, cradling her against him. It still seemed like an impossible dream, holding her again. When she'd disappeared from Cougar Hills, people advised him to move on with life, forget about her. Find someone else. As if that were possible.

  When the pain of her loss became too much, he'd picked up the tattered remains of his life and moved away from Texas altogether, putting over a thousand miles between his small home town and the new life he'd begun in Denver. He started over, got a job with the fire station, trained night and day. Made new friends, dated. Nothing he'd tried ever erased his memories of Cassie—or his love for her. His grandmother in her wisdom said "the heart wants what the heart wants, the other half of its soul."

  Empty. The one word explained his entire life for the last seven years. Right here, right now, at the top of a mountain surrounded by trees and several feet of snow, danger stalking them with every passing minute, none of that mattered. He felt whole.

  "Come on." Reaching for Cassie's hand, he led her back to the sofa in front of the fireplace. He eased her down onto the cushions and added another couple of chunks of wood to the flames. Warmth spread throughout the room. Jake turned and sat beside her. He couldn't help thinking back to a few hours previous, in front of this very fireplace, where he'd held Cassie in his arms, made love to her. It hadn't been sex, not to him, it was so much more.

  Leaning back, Cassie snuggled into his side. Her hand slid lightly across his bare stomach, her fingers twining in the light dusting of hair.

  "I'm calm now, Cass. Tell me the rest of it. He hit you?"

  He felt more than saw her tiny nod.

  "That last night you and I spent together, out behind your house. I'd never felt so loved. My mother loved me, but she was to
o afraid of my father to be more than a groveling shadow in my life. He never showed affection or caring in private. In public, at church, in his office, he was the epitome of the loving, kind parent. The rest of the time unless he wanted something, I didn't exist."

  Jake rubbed his hand gently up and down her arm, from shoulder to wrist and back again, soft, even, calming strokes. The repetitive motion seemed to sooth her, so he continued the gentle touch.

  "You mom called out to us from the back door that I had a call, remember?"

  "Um hum."

  "It was my mom. He'd come home again in a drunken rage and I wasn't there. She lied and told him I was picking up a book I needed for school from a classmate, and was on my way home. There was glass breaking in the background and I heard her scream. I had to get home. It's crazy, I know, but I had this feeling, if he was alone with her too long this time he wouldn't stop. So I had you drive me home."

  Jake thought about that night. She'd been so quiet on the ride to her place, withdrawn, but he'd been so happy and satisfied, filled with life and love and hope, he'd never noticed her internal pain. He'd been a young fool.

  "You dropped me off at the end of the street at the stop sign. I'd insisted so he wouldn't see or hear the car. That was the plan anyway. The front door swung open as you drove away, and he saw your taillights. Knew right away I'd been with you."

  "Cassie . . ."

  "I didn't care. He stood silent and condemning, the look on his face, totally blank and devoid of any emotion. I remember the screen door squeaking as he pulled it wider for me. There . . . there was blood on his knuckles. I couldn't stop shaking, terrified of what I'd find. My heart pounded, racing faster and faster as I ran down the hall. I screamed for momma. Yelled, flinging doors open all the way down the dark hallway."

  Cassie shivered, burrowing deeper into his shoulder, wrapping both arms around him as though hiding from the memories. Each word she spoke beat at him, blows wounding him soul deep. He deserved every moment of pain. If only.

  Too late for regrets, he thought. All he could do was help her deal with the present and pray she wanted him to be a part of her future. Snuggling her close, he placed a gentle kiss against her forehead and waited for her to continue.

  "I found her in the bathroom. There was a trail of blood the last few feet, stained across the wooden floor. A blood-red handprint on the door jam. She'd curled herself into a ball, wedged herself between the old cast iron bathtub and the pedestal sink." Cassie stared toward the fireplace but he knew she didn't see it. She was reliving everything.

  "My father didn't pull any punches. This time he hit her everywhere. There was so much blood, Jake. Bruises, cuts. Both her eyes were swollen nearly shut, already turning black from how hard he'd hit her. She had a huge lump on the side of her forehead surrounded with matted hair and more blood. She had on this pink nightgown, pale and delicate. Frilly and feminine and covered with the splotches of dark red from her broken nose and her split lip. Bruises were already blossoming along both upper arms where he shook her."

  "Baby, I'm so sorry. I wish you'd told me."

  Cassie raised her head to look at him. "Jake, you couldn’t have done anything. You were barely eighteen, a senior in high school. Nothing personal, but he'd have wiped the floor with you and not broken a sweat. Then he'd have called Baxter and you’d have been thrown in jail. You wanted to join the miliary—I couldn't let him take that away from you. He'd already ruined enough things in my life, I wouldn't let him hurt you. I couldn't."

  Cassie's hand rubbed absently across his abdomen, her touch a whisper against his flesh.

  "Finish it, babe. Get it all out in the open between us. No more secrets."

  Cassie inhaled deeply and pressed against his side. He felt the rise and fall of her breasts against him, stirring the flames of desire deep inside. He quashed the feeling down, knowing this wasn't the time for sex. Now was the time for the truth in all its ugliness. Passed time. She needed to finish the awful truth about her father, reveal all the ugliness. Then they'd figure out why Dr. Daniels hadn't stopped chasing her the past seven years.

  "When I saw my mother the rage inside me, Jake, I'd never felt anything like it before. Everything around me moved like a slow-motion scene in a movie. The phone my mom snuck into the bathroom with her to call me lay on the floor. It was useless to me. Calling nine-one-one wouldn't accomplish anything except send Baxter to the house. What good would that do? Instead I straightened up and calmly walked down the hall and out to the living room where the sadistic bastard stood waiting."

  Cassie pushed herself upright and away from his side before walking to the fireplace. She stood for a moment looking into the flickering flames dancing in the grate, then turned to face him.

  "He smiled. This man who'd just battered his wife to a bloody pulp, leaving her a huddled broken mass on the bathroom floor looked at me with this smug, self-satisfied smirk on his face. I saw true evil that night, Jake. The malice in his gaze told me one thing I still believe to this day. Before the night ended, he would have killed her."

  Cassie wanted Jake to hug her again, grab her back into his arms. The words pouring from her were taking their toll. She stood trembling, her arms wrapped around herself as though holding in the pain but she wasn’t fooling him. Remembering the man she called father, who'd raised her most of her life, as the monster of her nightmares wasn't an easy thing, but she faced it head on. Because she needed him to know the truth.

  "Instead, I made him lose focus on her and direct it on me. I didn't scream. I didn't yell. I walked right up to him, stood toe-to-toe with him in the middle of the living room, on his precious hand-stitched carpet, looked deep into those soulless eyes and smiled back at him. See I had a little secret up my sleeve." She barked out a laugh at the words.

  "I'd known a day like this would come, when he'd go too far. So I prepared."

  "What did you do?" Jake uttered the words softly.

  "I knew someday I'd have to protect my mother from his abuse. So I hid a knife. In the bathroom of all places. It was the one place I knew he would never think to look. He never, ever, used the hall bathroom. Only the one in his master suite."

  A knot of anxiety grew in the pit of his stomach. Damn, his precious Cass had been through so much and he'd never known. Helpless, nowhere to turn. He wanted to hit something—no somebody. Pound on Daniels the way he'd pounded on Cassie's mother for so many years.

  "I held that knife behind my back where he couldn't see it. Only I wasn't fast enough. When I swung at him, he blocked it and wrenched the knife out of my hand, laughing." A broken sob punctuated her words, and he watched her compress her lips, wipe all expression from her face though her eyes were haunted by the memories rolling through her.

  "Cassie, he can't hurt you any more."

  "You're wrong, Jake. He's coming. Maybe he's already here. Seven years ago I had to save my mother from him, keep her safe. Keeping her alive mattered more than anything else." She looked at him and Jake saw the teardrops sparkling in her eyes before they slid along her cheeks, leaving a wet trail in their wake.

  "I made a decision the night I left, as he loomed over me in the living room of our house in Cougar Falls. I'd pay whatever price necessary to keep those I loved safe from a monster."

  Cassie cupped Jake's face in her hands, ran her thumb across his cheek.

  "Turns out the price I paid was higher than I ever dreamed. Losing you."

  Chapter 19

  Quin slogged through the nearly knee high snowdrifts, skirting behind the tall pines, careful to stay out of sight of the three men he followed. His chief of security played his part to perfection, giving Sheriff Baxter the information needed to find Dr. Daniels' "missing daughter", right down to providing directions on reaching the isolated cabin. The bribe money Baxter paid to the chief now occupied an evidence bag, the good sheriff's fingerprints all over it. One more nail in the coffin of their multitude of sins. Lodge security video would be another nail.
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br />   Beginning earlier that morning, snow started falling steadily, bringing with it several inches of new powder. Great for business, not so much for tracking evil.

  And the good doctor and his compatriot epitomized evil. No doubts on that score. The misdeeds of these two The Fates revealed at the beginning of this fiasco proved beyond any doubt they must be stopped. Daniels' depravity and disregard for his wife and daughter, his relentless and dogged pursuit of them would all culminate today, in an isolated cabin not far from where he stood now. Each step drew their inevitable conclusion nearer and with it Daniels' almost palpable glee at finding Cassie.

  Baxter led the way, stopping occasionally to pull up the collar on his fleece-lined jacket and check the handwritten directions he kept tucked in his pocket. He stopped again and Quin noted Brad stopped too, holding his position several feet behind the two he quietly and efficiently stalked. So focused on the two monsters, Brad didn’t know he'd picked up his own shadow. Now wasn't the time to reveal himself, not yet.

  "Shouldn't be much further now." Baxter's voice carried back on the wind to Quin. No, he agreed. Just a few more minutes and everything will be over, though not in the way you're anticipating.

  "You sure the guard gave you the right information?" Daniel's voice reverberated in the silence. Baxter cringed at the doctor's question.

  "I'm sure. Played him like a violin. Told him about the poor father searching so long for his missing daughter who he loved and adored and she was here with the man who'd kidnapped and brainwashed her. He swallowed every line like a fish on a hook. I just reeled him in and bam, he spilled everything he knew. Even drew me a map of how to get to this cabin." Baxter laughed. "Apparently it belongs to the owner, and he doesn't know they're shacked up here without his permission. According to Stan, the guard, the owner is going to be royally pissed when he finds out somebody's using his place."