Written in Ink (Montgomery Ink #4)

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “Autumn…I overreacted.” He ran a hand through his hair. Last week, she would have melted at the way his arm bunched, but she hated it just then. It just reminded her of all she couldn’t have. “You don’t have to go. We can make things the way they were.”

  She noticed he hadn’t said that he wanted her there.

  Just that she didn’t have to go.

  “It’s not working for me anymore,” she said woodenly. “I need to go home. Need to be independent. You wanted me to go to the police, and I did. They will take care of me.” She didn’t quite believe that, but staying with Griffin wouldn’t work. Her heart was already close to breaking; she didn’t need to shatter it.

  She’d handle herself as always and run if she had to. She couldn’t risk the Montgomerys more than she already had.

  Griffin reached out for her, and she sidestepped him. “Thank you for letting me stay here while I caught my breath. You are close to the end of the book and have been doing well on your own. Your house is clean other than the kitchen at the moment, but I’m sure you can handle that. You should be good.”

  He gripped her arm, but she pulled away. “Autumn. Stay.”

  “I can’t.” Her voice broke and she pressed her lips together as she ran to her car. She kept her senses on alert in case Mr. Sanders was around, but she didn’t feel him, didn’t see him.

  She threw her bag into her car and pulled out of the driveway as fast as she could.

  Griffin stood in the doorway, his clothes covered in flour and his jaw set.

  He didn’t come after her. Didn’t put up a hand or call her name. He just stood there. Watching her go.

  She didn’t cry, though it was hard not to. She needed to keep her senses on alert. Just because the officers had told her that there was no one near her home and that she should be safe, her place hadn’t been safe before. It was stupid that she was going back in the first place, but damn it, she had no idea what she was doing. She’d reacted in the heat of the moment, afraid for her heart, too busy worrying about that to think and the complications that came from it.

  What she should do was get on the open road and leave, but she’d told the officers at the station that she would stay put at least for the moment—no matter what she’d told Griffin when she was yelling.

  She pulled into her place and got out of the car, her bag in her hand. She couldn’t see or feel anyone around other than her neighbors, who didn’t even bother to look at her. It wasn’t the best place, after all.

  She’d call it hers, but even then, she couldn’t think of it as such.

  She opened the door with her new key. Wes and Storm had changed all her locks, and the others had helped her paint the inside again, making it ready for her landlord if and when she moved out. The smell of fresh paint filled her nostrils and she frowned.

  It should have been dry by then.

  The one word painted in blood-red on the wall made her freeze. Her hand tightened around her pepper spray.

  MINE.

  She turned toward the door, ready to run, but it was too late.

  “Hannah.”

  She opened her mouth to scream, to call for help, for Griffin, for anyone, but she wasn’t fast enough. He had his hand around her throat and something knocked into her head.

  Darkness filled her vision, and she knew this would be the end.

  All of that running, all of that fear…and it wasn’t enough.

  She’d been stupid, had fallen for man and let it take over her brain.

  This would be the end.

  ****

  Griffin could have kicked his own ass. He’d gotten angry over his own goddamn feelings and thoughts and had taken it out on Autumn. With all the shit she’d had to go through in her life, she hadn’t needed to deal with his attitude. Because he got scared, because he got angry, he’d lost her.

  He’d seen her in his kitchen like she belonged there, thought of her in his life when he wasn’t ready, and he got scared. She was doing her fucking job, and it wasn’t like her being there was unexpected. Instead of handling things like a mature adult, he’d yelled.

  They must have looked like two nutcases, standing in the kitchen yelling at each other with flour coating their bodies.

  It wasn’t her fault he’d blown up.

  And it wasn’t her fault she’d run from him when he’d acted like he didn’t want her. Hell, he’d been acting like that all week. So scared to have her in his life, he’d lost her anyway.

  Did he love her? God, he didn’t know. He thought he could. He remembered that click in the kitchen. He was just too chickenshit to look past his fears and whatever blocked him to know.

  But in the heat of the moment, in that damned kitchen again, he’d connected her work to their relationship. He might have hated her interference with his book and the way he’d worked before, but he knew she’d helped him almost finish the damn thing. Then he’d added in the fact that she worked for him and fucked him. He might as well slam his head into the wall. He was an asshole. He was a douche, and his mood wasn’t an excuse for what he’d done.

  Now she could be in danger because he couldn’t keep his damn thoughts straight.

  He’d hurt her. Made her fucking cry because he’d been a fucking asshole.

  He didn’t deserve her.

  He never had.

  But he still needed to go after her.

  He pulled behind her car and shut off his engine. Griffin gripped the steering wheel, trying to keep his anger under control. He wasn’t angry with Autumn. Far from it. He needed to get a rein on his emotions and figure out what he was going to say. First, he’d apologize—grovel if he had to. Then he’d ask her, not tell her, to come back home with him. He’d learned from his brothers and brothers-in-law, and knew enough not to fuck up by making demands.

  He was already fucking up on his own. He didn’t need those mistakes, too.

  After he groveled and made sure she was safe…well, maybe he’d tell her his thoughts. Or maybe he’d try to take more time. He didn’t know, but sitting out in his car like an idiot wasn’t helping things.

  Griffin let out a breath then made his way to her small front porch. His blood froze in his veins at the sight of her front door barely cracked open.

  Fuck.

  His first instinct was to run inside, but he knew it might get her hurt more than she already could be. He quickly tiptoed back to the side of the house and dialed 911.

  When he explained the situation, the woman on the other end of the line ordered him to stay put and said the patrol cars would be there shortly. Only he couldn’t wait that long, not when he was the one to put her in this situation in the first place. He wouldn’t rush in unless he could see her, he thought. And then he knew that would be a lie too.

  Autumn was in danger, and there was a chance she wasn’t even there to begin with. Though to most people, the sight of an open door could mean she’d forgotten to close it, he knew her better than that. Even angry and on a tear, she wouldn’t make that kind of mistake.

  He went to the door and peeked through the crack, not seeing anything. Letting out a slow breath, he gently pressed the door, praying no one would see or hear.

  Fuck.

  She lay against the wall under the word MINE scrawled in blood-red. The bastard had tied her hands together behind her back and had also tied her ankles together. Flour still covered her, but she didn’t look too hurt beyond the bruise on her temple.

  Jeff Sanders would die for that bruise alone.

  Knowing he was a fucking idiot for going in without a weapon, he opened the door a little more and saw an older man standing over Autumn. He had his back to Griffin and was tilting his head as if studying her.

  Autumn’s eyes were closed, but he could still see her chest move up and down. She was breathing. Thank God.

  The man bent over, his hand out as if to brush the hair off Autumn’s face, and Griffin lost it. He stormed into the house, fists drawn. Sanders didn’t turn right away.
Instead, he moved slowly, as if he wasn’t sure what was going on.

  Good.

  Griffin would use that to his advantage.

  He slammed his fist into the man’s face. Of course, since Griffin was right-handed, he used the fist with the cast on it. Pain shot up his arm, the burn so great, even the fillings in the back of his teeth rattled.

  He didn’t think he’d broken the damn thing again, but he had a feeling he’d done something. Whatever. It didn’t matter.

  The man looked up at him from the floor, dazed, and tried to get up. He tried to kick Griffin, but Griffin just straddled the bastard.

  “You ever touch her again, I’ll kill you.” He slammed his left fist into Sanders’ jaw.

  Sanders smacked at him, but Griffin didn’t care. This man had dared to hurt Autumn. He’d put that bruise on her temple.

  Hell.

  Griffin hit him again even as Sanders got in a good kidney shot. Griffin winced but tried to brush it off.

  “Griffin,” Autumn whispered behind him. “Stop.”

  He hit Sanders one more time and the bastard passed out. Or ended up knocked out. He didn’t know, nor did he care. Griffin scrambled off Sanders and crawled toward Autumn.

  “Baby,” he whispered. He cupped her face as he pulled the gag from her mouth. “Fall.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she leaned her cheek into his palm. “You came.”

  “I’ll always come for you.”

  She snorted, and he had to chuckle a laugh. “Sorry.”

  “I was trying to be sweet and heroic and you end up making it into a dirty joke.”

  “It’s what we’re good at,” she said as he helped her out of her bindings. “Is he out?”

  He looked over his shoulder and nodded. Sirens pierced the silence, but he didn’t allow himself to relax, not until Autumn was fully in his arms and the bastard was behind bars.

  As soon as the bindings were fully off, he had her in his lap and his mouth on hers. “Dear God, Autumn, I almost lost you.” The words came out on a ragged breath, and he closed his eyes firmly, willing himself not to cry when he needed to be strong for her.

  Her fingers dug into his back, and he sighed. She was okay.

  She was going to be okay.

  And damn it, he shouldn’t have let her go.

  He’d be damned if he let her go again.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Well, at least the bruise is healing,” Maya said from her place on the couch. The other woman had her legs crossed in front of her, and when she wasn’t pressing her lips together, she was biting them as if trying not to say what she was thinking.

  Considering Maya always said what she was thinking—at least it seemed that way to Autumn—whatever she was holding in had to be big.

  Or at least complicated.

  And Autumn knew all about complicated.

  Autumn pressed at the bruise as she looked into the mirror. What Maya had said was true. The mark on her temple from where Sanders had gotten too close—far too close for her liking—was healing. Considering it had only been a few days since the attack, she couldn’t ask for more.

  Okay, so she could ask for a whole lot more, but she wouldn’t just yet.

  She wasn’t sure how she could.

  She was too embarrassed to do anything but hide.

  Autumn closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. “Have I said thank you for letting me stay at your place?”

  “Not in the last hour, so I suppose it was due,” Maya said dryly.

  When the cops had come to take Sanders away, she’d almost broken then, in fact, she wasn’t sure she hadn’t. Griffin had held her on his lap and murmured sweet words—sweet words she wasn’t sure she hadn’t made up. It was all a mix of adrenaline, fear, and a stark relief she had never thought she’d feel.

  Sanders would be in jail for a long time.

  There would be no hiding behind friends and using his money to get what he wanted. The police here had actually done their jobs and found out what they needed to charge him with a whole slew of things. Attempted murder, attempted rape, kidnapping, assault and battery…and that was just the big things. The man had stalking and other threatening-related charges against him, as well.

  He wasn’t getting away this time.

  And she hadn’t even spoken to him in this last attempt.

  She hadn’t been able to.

  By the time she’d woken up from being knocked out, Griffin was there, beating the hell out of her old teacher. And as much as she’d wanted to have Sanders out of her life permanently—have the cloying, suffocating fear out of her life permanently—she couldn’t allow Griffin to have that mark on his soul.

  That Montgomery deserved more than that. They all did.

  After she’d been checked out by the EMTs, the Montgomerys had shown up in force. She’d never felt that kind of love, that kind of care before in her life. Her parents hadn’t been hateful or cruel when she’d been growing up, but their affection was nothing like the Montgomerys.

  Marie and Harry Montgomery had immediately offered to keep her with them so they could pamper her. The other Montgomerys had offered, as well.

  All of them except Griffin.

  He’d kissed her brow and held her tightly, refusing to let her go. She honestly didn’t know if that meant he’d wanted her with him and he’d expected it a done deal, or if he was done with her in truth. And because the man refused to actually say anything, she’d stepped away and gone with the loudest of the bunch.

  Maya.

  She’d have gone on her own, packed up her car and headed out of Denver and out of the Montgomery’s lives, but she hadn’t been strong enough for that. She’d had to pretend she was strong for so long, she didn’t have the energy to keep it up anymore.

  While she might have wanted to stay with Griffin, she knew she couldn’t. Not when she was so uncertain about them and her life in general.

  Due to the circumstances of her name changes, she’d gotten away with the questionable legalities of her running with only a slap on the wrist. She didn’t know if it was luck or the Montgomery lawyer who had helped. The Montgomerys might own businesses, but they were still pretty blue-collar, so it surprised her the power they held. But from the way they adopted friends and family and their overall demeanor, she shouldn’t have been surprised in the slightest.

  “You’re frowning,” Maya said, pulling Autumn from her thoughts. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about saying thank you. It’s just you don’t have to say it at all. I know you’re grateful. But honestly, you being here helps me keep my mind off things, so it’s a win-win.”

  Autumn turned slowly, her head tilted. “What things?”

  Maya pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

  “Maya.”

  “Nothing I want to talk about, okay? So let’s talk about you. What are your plans?”

  Autumn sighed and moved toward the loveseat, sinking into the cushions as she tried to come up with what to say. She didn’t even know her own thoughts, how was she supposed to have this make sense to Maya?

  “I don’t know my plans,” she said honestly. “I’ve been going from place to place, job to job for so long, I don’t even remember what I wanted to do before this all started.”

  “You left when you were still a teenager, Autumn. Most don’t know what they plan on doing at that point anyway.” Maya frowned. “I’m calling you Autumn, but should I be calling you Hannah now? I mean, Sanders is gone for good, and you can go back to who you were. Right?”

  Autumn shook her head. This was one thing she knew for sure—she could never go back to who she was.

  “I’m Autumn now. Hannah doesn’t exist anymore. I’m going to get it legally changed, rather than how I did it before.”

  Maya let out a breath then clicked her tongue ring against her lip. “Good, because with that hair and your overall attitude, you’re more of an Autumn to me.”

  She smiled. “I
feel like an Autumn. As for what I’m going to do? I thought about going home.” She frowned. “No, not home, that’s not what it is. I guess I should call it back to where my parents live. I haven’t talked to them in ten years, but I’ve done my best to keep up-to-date on them even in little parts. So I know they still live there. I know my brother is married and has a child.”

  And she’d missed all of that.

  But they hadn’t believed her.

  They hadn’t protected her.

  “Damn. That sucks.” Maya blew out a breath. “That really sucks. I hate that they weren’t there for you. I know my family has its own drama, God do we have our drama, but we’ve never pulled away like they did with you. Even with Alex, we’re still there for him. He might not let us get too close, but we’re like piranha, we’ll surround him if needed.”

  “Now that’s an image,” Autumn said with a smile.

  Maya grinned. “Isn’t it? And as for you, you don’t have to go back to the place you grew up. But are there any other places that call to you?”

  Autumn studied her friend. There was something about her voice that told Autumn that Maya wasn’t too keen on her moving away. There wasn’t much she could do about that, though. Not when she didn’t know her next step.

  She may as well tell Maya everything. Well, not everything. Maya had done well with not asking about Griffin. In fact, the man’s name hadn’t been mentioned once since she’d been staying at Maya’s. Oddly enough, neither had Jake’s…

  They really were a pair.

  “I packed my bags this morning,” Autumn finally said.

  “I know. I heard you. What I want to know is why you feel you need to leave? Are you going back to your place? Because, I’ve got to tell you, that fucking street sucks. First, Meghan lives there after the divorce, and she and Luc almost die, then you have to deal with that shit there. No thanks.”

  “To be fair, our pasts came back to bite us in the ass both of those times. It wasn’t actually the neighborhood.”