by Sennah Tate
Psy
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Red Lily Publishing
Copyright © 2014 by Sennah Tate
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Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 1
“What am I doing here?” She muttered to herself, pacing back and forth outside of the locked door.
“This is stupid, you should just go home. There’s nothing to be gained here.” Her fingers twirled her silky auburn hair as she tried to talk herself out of making a huge fool of herself.
This had all started days ago. Sera couldn’t grasp how things had taken such a bizarre turn. When the strange man showed up at her job and offered to help her with her ex-boyfriend problem, Sera thought he was crazy. She didn’t know him from Adam and didn’t feel comfortable talking about the intimate details of her life with a complete stranger.
Somehow, that stranger knew much more about her than she was comfortable with. She knew that her ex was into some pretty sketchy stuff, but she never expected the likes of Psy Phillips to walk into her store.
The day in question was a Monday. Serabelle opened the general store as any other day. With a big yawn and a triple shot espresso in hand, she unlocked the door to the shop and set about getting things ready for the day.
After cleaning the windows of the morning dew and switching the sign from ‘Closed’ to ‘Open’, she sat down in the well-worn rocking chair near the entrance with the latest romance novel from her favorite author.
The store never got much business. In fact, it was on the verge of being taken away from her by the bank. She’d inherited the odd little place from her grandfather who had first opened it up as a Five and Dime decades ago.
Back then, the small town where Sera lived was on the main thoroughfare. Travelers, commuters, and truckers alike all came through and spent money at restaurants, stores, and hotels.
Since the interstate came through the city of Five Oaks, business declined. Eventually jobs left and the citizens followed. Before long, Five Oaks was only a shadow of its former self.
It made Sera nostalgic to think about the old city, but she didn’t know why since she’d never known it in its heyday. She could imagine though. Busy streets, smiling faces, and plenty of customers. Of course she could imagine it, but that didn’t make it any more likely to happen.
After years of fighting the inevitable and trying desperately to find a way to save the store, Sera finally resigned herself to accepting the hard truth: it couldn’t last forever.
To be more precise, it couldn’t last past two weeks from Friday.
She tried not to think about it. She didn’t want depressing thoughts like losing the store occupy space in her mind. She had precious little real estate in her mind available and she wasn’t about to let a rude tenant in. No, only positivity and denial for Serabelle. Just as it had always been.
She was just turning the page to Chapter Nine when the phone rang.
“Grandpa’s General Store,” she answered.
“You have a collect call from Drake County correctional facility; do you wish to accept the charges?”
A frown marred her otherwise pretty face. Who was calling her from jail? She didn’t have any family to speak of and her social life was pretty much the same. Sometimes the florist from across the street would pressure her into cocktails on the weekend, but Sera tried to keep those outings to a minimum. She wasn’t a fan of getting crazy or wild. She much preferred to stay curled up in the shop with a good book. It was much more comfortable… and safe.
“Yes, I’ll accept the charges,” she answered, curiosity winning out over all else.
“Hey sweetheart,” a familiar voice sent a pit of dread straight to her gut. Greg. How could she have not known it would be him calling?
Her finger hovered over the end button. She knew she should hang up on him. She knew that was the right thing to do. After everything that Greg put her through, he had the nerve to call her from jail? She hoped that he rotted away forever in that concrete hell.
“Don’t call me that,” she spat, barely containing the hysteria from her voice. She couldn’t let him know how just the sound of his voice spiked her adrenaline. Just thinking about him on the other end of the phone had her glancing around for exit routes. It was ridiculous of course. He couldn’t hurt her here. He was in jail, she was safe. There was a restraining order in place and Greg couldn’t come within 200 yards of her shop. There was no need for panic.
So why was her heart beating so frantically against her chest? Why were her palms suddenly so clammy? Why did she have a lump in her throat that she just couldn’t swallow? Everything about him put her on edge in the worst way possible.
“Aw, come on Bells, you can’t still be mad at me?”
Like hell she couldn’t be.
She clenched her jaw at the snippy response. She hated that he used that pet name for her. It brought back an unwelcome flood of memories. She didn’t want to remember the look in his hazel eyes as he kissed her and whispered how much he loved her in her ear. She didn’t want to remember his strong hands on her hips or the way he filled her so perfectly. She couldn’t afford to entertain thoughts like that. What Greg did was unforgivable. He’d nearly killed someone and put her in the middle of it all! All she ever wanted was a quiet life and there was no way that would ever be possible with Greg.
He was a trouble magnet. She didn’t know if it was a natural state of being of if he preferred things that way. Maybe he liked the constant excitement and drama. Serabelle did not. She didn’t like danger. She didn’t like being a co-conspirator to federal crimes. That was the furthest thing from what she wanted.
“What do you want, Greg?” Her voice was shaky. She hated that she couldn’t hide her nerves with him. For every memory she had of him over her ecstasy-filled body, there was another of Greg on a drunken bender, accusing her of terrible things. Memories of him strung out, getting angry and punching holes in walls, doors, mirrors, whatever was within reach, were all too common. She tried to brush them aside. They’d had good times, too… right up until the end.
“Well, I just thought you might be happy to know that I’m getting out tomorrow. I guess I was wrong,” he sounded genuinely surprised. Could he possibly think after everything that she would ever want to see him again?
When he took his plea deal, Sera was assured that he would spend at least five years in jail, even if he didn’t have to fulfill the entire twenty year sentence.
It had only been eighteen months. How the hell could something like this happen? She thought she had so much more time to build a life, to go somewhere where Greg couldn’t find her and wouldn’t follow her. Now it was here and her vision began to tunnel.
“W-what? How is that possible?” Her voice was bare
ly a whisper now. She was afraid that if she spoke the words too loudly that they would become real. They weren’t real. Greg wasn’t really getting out of jail, right?
“Over-crowding, good behavior, the usual,” he replied flippantly as if it were nothing more interesting than the weather. Not something that was life-shaking, earth-shatteringly devastating. Surely he was just trying to torture her. This was psychological warfare. He couldn’t really be getting out already. No, not possible.
Her fingers gripped the handset with white knuckles and she felt her knees wobble under her.
“You’re joking right?” That was one seriously fucked up joke, if he was, but she would take that any day over the possibility of him telling the truth. The idea of Greg being released from jail early made her skin crawl. She didn’t even want to think about the things he could say or do to her once he was free. A restraining order was just a piece of paper, after all.
“Ha ha, you wish. I’ll come see you first thing when I get out,” his sharp laughter felt more like a threat and the rest of his statement was coated with a thinly veiled promise of harm.
Sera swallowed past a lump in her throat and looked around frantically for any way out of this situation. She peered out all of the windows to make sure no one was staking the place out. Greg’s specialty was arson and she was petrified that he would try to destroy the last remaining vestige she had of her self-sufficiency.
“Greg… you can’t do that, you know. Your parole officer won’t have anything to do with you,” she tried valiantly to make him see reason.
He laughed at her again, this time the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She hated hearing such a mirthful sound from such a dangerous man. The sound made her fear for her safety. Knowing that Greg was going to be leaving prison in the morning made her want to run far far away and never come back.
“I don’t give a fuck about my PO. I want to come see you and that pretty little mouth of yours.”
Sera thought she was going to retch. How could she have ever actually wanted to be with this man? How could she have thought she was in love with him? She lived for so long as a victim to his abuse without ever seeing it for what it was. She told herself that he loved her, that he would do anything for her, she never realized that anything could actually mean murder and arson. She never wanted to find out about Greg’s dark seedy side, but now that she knew, she was grateful for the information.
If she had stayed with Greg, who knew what would have happened to her? She could be in jail – or worse. She didn’t even want to think about that. If she didn’t do something, that could still happen tomorrow. The thought alone brought tears to her eyes and she fought to contain him until the phone call wrapped up.
“Do not come see me. I will call the police and you will go back to jail,” her voice held a ring of confidence that she didn’t think she would ever possess. Her words sounded final and resolute.
He only laughed at her again. A sick unsettled feeling churned her insides. She was definitely going to be sick.
“We’ll see about that, sweetheart.”
Chapter 2
The line died with a click and a dial tone. Sera couldn’t even make it to her chair; she sank to the floor and her body was wracked with sobs. Her shoulders shook with the silent cries. What option did she have? She could run away, but he would find her. She couldn’t just leave the store, either. Five Oaks was her home, she wasn’t about to be chased out of town by some second-class criminal with a masochistic streak.
No. She needed a plan. A course of action for when Greg showed up. She didn’t know how to really defend herself, but she was sure she could figure something out. Maybe a can of mace? A rape whistle? Would that even be useful if he showed up in her home or at her store? It’s not like anyone was ever around.
With trembling fingers, she dialed the non-emergency number for the police. During her time with Greg, she memorized the number. When he was up to something stupid, or she thought he was going to be getting up to something stupid, she would warn the police. If they weren’t too busy (it was an awfully small town) they would normally come right out and handle anything before it had a chance to manifest.
Of course, calling the police only enraged Greg further. When he regained his freedom, he would take it out on her with verbal – and sometimes physical – abuse. She couldn’t go back to that life. There had to be a way.
“Drake County Sheriff’s Office, is this an emergency?”
“No,” her voice trembled. The tears streamed from her eyes and made it difficult to breathe.
“What’s your problem ma’am?”
A few shuddering breaths and a heaving gasp later, Sera found her voice again and told the operator her situation.
“I see. Well, ma’am, until he breaks the terms of the restraining order, there isn’t anything we can do. Would you like an officer to do a drive-by for you now to make sure everything is okay?”
Serabelle frowned. What good would that do her tonight when Greg wasn’t getting out until tomorrow?
“No, that’s quite all right. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone only moments before the labored breaths and tears returned. There was no hope for her. No escape from Greg. Nothing to be done except to wait and hope that he didn’t actually murder her.
She held the phone in her lap, her arm dangling lifelessly. How could this happen to her? She tried her best to do good things, to help her neighbors out when they needed it and to keep an ethical business in a town where so few things were done by the books.
“Okay Serabelle, there’s a way out of this. You can figure it out.”
Her feet wore a path in the undisturbed dust on the floor as she paced back and forth; dust motes floated up from the newly-carved path and clouded the air in the shop.
Maybe she should just close. That would be the best idea right now. There wouldn’t be any customers anyway, so why bother to fight through her worry and fear to cater to no one?
Her fingers closed around the sign, poised to flip it, when the front door opened and the small golden bell above it tinkled merrily.
Serabelle’s eyes traveled to the newcomer… and then they lingered on him.
He was a gorgeous specimen of man: large, muscular frame, ink up and down his arms, short cropped hair and the beginning of a 5 o’clock shadow. He radiated pure sex and Sera had trouble with thinking of much else with him so close to her.
She tried to gather her courage to speak, fighting through the hysteria that threatened to overtake her at any moment.
“I… I’m sorry, we’re closed,” she muttered, her hand still on the sign, poised to flip it.
He looked her up and down once, making her insides flutter in an unfamiliar way. He looked appreciative, with a warm glow in his dark eyes. It made Sera’s mouth go dry. How could she think of such a thing at a time like this? She had so much else going on that she couldn’t believe she even had the energy to be attracted to this stranger.
“My apologies… Is everything all right?”
She knew she must look like a complete mess with tears streaking her face and puffy red eyes. Her heart skipped a beat thinking about how genuine his concern seemed. He didn’t look familiar to her and this was a pretty small town.
She tried to form the lie in her mind. How hard could it be to tell him that everything was fine?
“Um… well, not really.”
Apparently, it was damn impossible.
Her hand finally dropped from the Open sign and she wiped an errant tear from her face, wishing that she could rein in her emotions until she could get this person out of her store.
“Well, sweetheart, why don’t you tell me what’s happening?” His voice was like honey, his eyes shone behind thick lashes with a hungry gaze full of promises.
Serabelle tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and nibbled on the corner of one of her fingernails as she tried to decide if she wanted to keep talking to this man about her very persona
l life when she knew nothing about him.
Finally, she sighed, tears brimming in her eyes yet again as another wave of despair flooded her mind.
“I... can’t,” she finished, looking away from the behemoth cloaking her in shadow. It wasn’t right to divulge her secrets so easily. For all she knew, this man could be a friend of Greg’s checking up on her. It wasn’t unheard of for him to do something that was so clearly a violation of her privacy.
A warm heavy hand stroked her arm gingerly and she couldn’t help but feel a little shiver of pleasure from the comforting touch. She watched his hand and mused about how he may have gotten the copious amounts of scars that covered it. His knuckles looked like they were well accustomed to fights and it unsettled her a little. How could a hand capable of such tender touches also be capable of destroying something – or someone?
“Is there something I can help you with?” She finally remembered her duties as a shop owner after realizing that he was actually a potential customer.
“I…uh…” he stammered as he began to wander around the shop, looking at various things.
Sera got a strange feeling that he wasn’t really there to shop. But why else?
The phone rang again and Sera excused herself from the customer and wandered into the back room as she answered.
“Hello?”
“Sera! Oh my god, I just heard about Greg,” it was her best friend Darla. “What are you going to do?”
Her lip quivered and she fought valiantly to push back her tears again.
“I don’t know. He wasn’t supposed to get out for years not months.” Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Her heart raced and she felt like she might actually faint.
A few deep calming breaths restored her heartbeat to a more normal pace, though it still thumped loudly in her ears.
“I know, sweetie. Well, if you need a place to hide, my door is open.”
Sera tried a smile, but found that it only made her more sad.
“I couldn’t do that, Dar, he’d find you and then we’d both be in trouble.”