Until I'm Found
Page 13
It was true; Amy really did think she had won this round. She truly believed she could just toss Ethan to the side and pick up and leave with someone new to take to bed at night. Well, she couldn’t. He wouldn’t let her do that. He would not let her make such an absolute fool of him in front of everyone.
Ethan patted the pocket of his coat with fondness. He would show them, both of them. He didn’t know the man Amy was with, but he sure as hell had something against him. That man was undoubtedly defiling his girlfriend and practically dangling that fact in front of his face by kissing her and putting his hands on her in such a public place.
Didn’t they know that other people could see what they were doing? That he could see what they were doing? They were taunting him. Ethan began to wonder if they really did know he was there, and if they were kissing and holding each other that way on purpose.
A small noise escaped Ethan’s throat without him realizing it until afterward and he immediately was thankful for the distance he had put between him and them. He had half a mind to get up from the coverage of the trees and go after them now.
He would pulverize that son of a…he needed to calm his rage for now. He wasn’t ready to reveal his hiding place just yet. Ethan took in a deep breath and released it.
Let the two of them think they’d won. Let them think they could do what they wanted. Hell, let them leave this little backwoods party. He would follow them just as he had followed them here.
A small smile crept across his face. Yes, let them think they were free to have the night to themselves, just the two of them. Little did they know their party for two was about to include a third.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Cole pulled his truck up in front of my rented house and pushed the gear shifter into park, then turned off the engine. He looked over at me in the passenger seat and I saw the shadows cast across his face in the darkness of the truck cab.
“I really am sorry about getting up in Jeremy’s face with you there, Ames.”
“I know,” I answered. “I also know it’s none of my business but I wondered about something he said. Has he tried to talk to you before about what happened?” I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him I knew about Denise’s plan to leave him, not yet.
Cole turned back to stare out the front windshield. “A few times, but there is nothing to say, Amy. He fooled around with my girlfriend. What more is there to talk about?” He turned and looked at me as though I may hold the answer to that question.
I had to admit, he had a point. “So, they didn’t actually sleep together though, right?”
“No. I walked in before it got to that. Why, Amy?”
“There just may be more to the story than you know. I don’t know how else to say it, Cole.”
“Let’s just not talk about him, okay? I want to go inside. I owe you a drink,” he offered, lightening the atmosphere between us. I relented with a nod and climbed out of the truck.
Who was I to argue? It was not my fight and it really had nothing to do with me, although I did feel guilty for withholding what little information I did have. Nevertheless, it was best I just left it alone.
Cole took my house keys from me and unlocked the front door. I followed him inside and flicked the light on, quickly glancing around the tiny kitchen. I stopped and looked from one corner to the next, furrowing my eyebrows in contemplation.
“What is it?” Cole asked.
“Nothing. It’s nothing. I just thought something felt out of place for a second. I mean, there isn’t anything out of place, but I just feel like something is off,” I rambled. “It’s nothing. I guess I still get paranoid from time to time.”
“Stay here,” Cole said. “I’ll take a quick peek around, okay? Just to make sure.”
I watched him disappear into the living room and heard him tread up the stairs. The sound of doors opening and curtains being pulled back echoed back down the stairs to me. I looked around the kitchen again. It was odd, nothing seemed to be moved or in a different place, but something in my subconscious immediately set off a warning signal when I walked through the front door. What was it? Everything seemed to be exactly as I had left it.
“It’s all clear upstairs,” Cole announced as he came back down the stairs, still looking warily around the dark corners of the living room. He turned on the lamp and then came back into the kitchen, shrugging off his jacket as he moved. “Everything seems in order, Ames.”
I nodded, feeling a bit silly. “Thank you for checking. I’m sorry, my mind must be playing tricks on me.”
Cole tossed his jacket haphazardly onto the back of a kitchen chair and then came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t apologize. If you ever think something is amiss, you just call me and I will be over to check it out, okay? And don’t be going and apologizing to me about it either.”
I smiled against him, hugging him back. It was really hard not to feel safe with Cole around.
“How about that drink now? I could use it,” I joked. Cole pulled away and headed to the refrigerator, pulling two beers from it and kicking the door shut gently with his foot. “Coming right up, Madame,” he said with a dramatic bow. I rolled my eyes but was glad for the distraction. Something was gnawing at me, but I couldn’t quite get the thought to fully surface itself.
“I can’t believe you have beer stashed in my fridge. That’s serious, you know.” I arched an eyebrow at him playfully.
Cole shrugged, an amused grin on his face as he worked at popping the caps off the bottles. “I left it there the other day when I came over to have coffee.”
“What else have you got stashed in this place?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“Oh, I’m just full of surprises, Ames.” He turned to me and winked.
“Are you now?” I said teasingly, lifting myself up onto the countertop to sit on it beside the beer bottles. “Enlighten me then. It’ll be a ‘beer and surprises’ kind of night.”
He arched an eyebrow at me in response and I eyed him slyly as he handed me my bottle. I took a hesitant sip and scrunched my nose up. I was never a huge beer fan, but I could drink one or two of them. I’d have to remember to buy something a little more my style at the liquor store soon.
“Is it all right?” Cole asked, and I could see that he thought my reaction was amusing.
“It’s fine,” I said. “Now, tell me something that will surprise me.” I was hoping this playful tactic would keep his mind off of his altercation with Jeremy. Hell, I might even learn a few interesting tidbits of information I wouldn’t know otherwise. It could be fun.
Cole gave me a look after he took a long pull from his beer bottle. He was trying to decide what to tell me, I thought, and it made me slightly nervous to see him actually look a notch less than confident for once.
“I read a lot of books,” he stated. I laughed loudly at this, not because it was a funny thing to do, but because he obviously decided to give me a safe response.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as someone who has a lot of time to read. Who’s your favorite author?” I asked before taking a small drink myself.
“That Nicholas Sparks guy is the man.”
My laughter continued. “You don’t read Nicholas Sparks’ books, Cole.”
He bowed his head in defeat. “Okay, maybe not, but I have read part of one. Denise told me to. The man’s a genius, though. Any guy who can write a story exactly as a woman wants it to play out, he’s a damn genius. I couldn’t do it.”
At the mention of Denise, we both grew quiet. I found myself slugging back almost half my beer in order to fill the gap in conversation and Cole followed suit, tipping his bottle back again.
“Your turn, Ames. Tell me something that will surprise me.” He put the bottle down on the counter and stood in front of me, parting my knees so that he could lean against the counter in front of me. His eyes showed he was amused by this little game, but he couldn’t hide the deep-rooted intensity that was within the
m as well. I bit my bottom lip as I watched him reach for his beer bottle again thinking about what to divulge.
“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a police officer,” I said, watching Cole’s reaction.
“You can’t be a police officer.”
“Why can’t I?” His statement caught me off guard.
“Because you’d look too damn hot in uniform. I’d be trying to get myself thrown in jail so I could see you.”
I chuckled, rolling my eyes. “That’s it, no more alcohol for you.”
Cole purposefully downed the entire contents of his bottle and looked at me defiantly. My jaw went slack as I watched him, my surprise slowly morphing into a look of entertainment.
“Your turn,” I said, passing him my bottle of beer. He looked at me questioningly and I just shook my head, pushing the bottle toward him again. I couldn’t kid myself, I wasn’t going to be able to finish that beer.
“I wanted to be a guitarist in a rock band.” He shrugged, taking the beer from me.
“Can you play guitar?”
“Nope.”
I laughed at him. “Good luck with that then.”
Cole smiled at me and set the bottle down, waiting for me to take my turn at the game. I decided to be a little bit bolder in my statements.
“I’ve never been in love,” I said in a softer voice. My gaze never left Cole’s.
“Never?”
“Never. I would know.”
“I have, I think. You should try it sometime.”
I smiled. “I might do that. Sooner rather than later.”
“You might like it,” Cole said, leaning forward to kiss my shoulder.
“I bet I would. I like this, how we are.” My heart was pounding in my chest. I idly wondered if Cole could hear it as loudly as I could.
“Me too. That’s why I think you’d like being in love. It’s a lot like this,” he said with a playful grin, kissing my lips gently. I didn’t care about the heat rushing into my cheeks. I was blushing, and he knew exactly why. I was rendered speechless by Cole’s inadvertent choice of words, and the sharp little gasp that escaped my lips told him clearly that I wasn’t expecting him to say what he did.
“I…” I began.
Cole lifted his hand and pressed his finger gently to my lips. “Shh. I know, Ames. Don’t ruin the moment,” he whispered to me, chuckling softly. “On that note, I should go.”
My eyes widened slightly. “You’re not staying tonight?” I ran my hands around his hips and pressed my fingers gently against his lower back.
“I better not tonight. The boys and I start work at a new job site tomorrow and it’s out of town so I will have to leave earlier than usual. You can sleep in instead of getting up when I do. Besides, we both need sleep.”
“I’ll let you sleep if you stay, I promise.”
Cole chuckled again. “If I stay, I have no intentions of letting you sleep. That’s the problem.” He kissed me gently again. “Tomorrow night, I will stay, okay? I don’t like the idea of you having to wake up alone.” Cole brought his hand up and ran his thumb along my jaw. I pressed my face against his hand, loving the heat of his touch. After a moment, I nodded in response. I guess one of us had to be the responsible adult.
“Are you sure you should drive though?” I didn’t want to sound preachy, but I felt the need to ask anyway.
“It was only a beer, Ames. I’ll be fine.”
“Just be careful, okay?”
He nodded reassuringly. “I will. I promise.” I watched as Cole let his gaze travel down my body before he reluctantly took a step away from me, letting his hands trail over my hips, thighs, and then knees as he stepped backward. For a moment, I saw a hint of uncertainty flash in his eyes, and I knew he was reconsidering his decision to leave. I watched him intently, not planning to make it any easier for him to make his decision.
“I better go,” he said at last, grabbing his keys from behind me on the counter. “You’re trying to change my mind, and I can’t let that happen.” He kissed me again, maybe a little harder than he meant to, and then headed toward the door.
“Goodnight, Ames,” he said, giving me a lopsided grin. His hand was on the door handle and I could tell he was still struggling with himself about whether or not to actually leave. “Lock the door behind me, okay?”
I nodded. “I will. Goodnight, Cole. See you tomorrow night.” I slid off the counter and stepped toward him.
He watched me, and then bowed his head in mock surrender, giving in to his rational side as he reluctantly closed the door and headed toward his truck. I waved at him when he turned and saw me still staring out the window. He gave me a wave back, his reluctance worn clearly on his face, and then got into his truck and backed out of the driveway. I watched out the window until I could no longer see the red glow of his taillights on the pavement, and then I locked the door and turned out the kitchen light.
***
As I climbed into bed that night, I realized I hadn’t rechecked the locks on the doors and windows before coming upstairs.
Cole checked everything when we came home, I thought to myself.
I shoved my gun underneath my pillow and decided to refrain from heading back downstairs to recheck everything again. If there had been anything to see, Cole would have seen it and alerted me to it.
I set my cell phone on the bedside table and plugged it into the charger. I laid down, easing myself under the covers, and was comforted by thoughts of Cole. It didn’t even occur to me that I was smiling to myself until I reached up to turn out the bedside lamp.
My fingers touched the switch just as I heard insistent knocking on the door downstairs. The sudden sound reverberating through the walls of the house made me gasp out loud. I didn’t move, frozen in fear.
The knocking shook the walls of the old house again. I slipped the gun out from under my pillow and slipped through the darkness downstairs, one creaking step at a time. I didn’t dare turn the lights on as I went, clutching the butt of the gun tightly as I moved. I stopped when I saw the figure through the translucent curtains of the door’s window. Even the moon outside wasn’t going to be forgiving enough to grant me enough light to see who it was.
“Amy, it’s me. Amy?”
All the breath I’d been holding in immediately gushed from my lungs as I lowered the gun. I unlocked each lock and pulled the door open.
“Cole,” I began, turning on the porch light. The urgency in his eyes stopped me from finishing my sentence.
“Amy.” He was practically panting. “Are you okay if I don’t stay all night?” He looked pained to be asking me such a thing.
“Cole, I already said…”
“I know what you said, Ames. What I’m asking is, if I stay, if we…” He swallowed, giving himself a moment to think. My pulse was racing uncontrollably, but no longer with the fear I’d had earlier. I didn’t wait for Cole to recollect his thoughts and finish his sentence.
“Cole, come inside.”
“Good, because I changed my mind.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Ethan hadn’t expected this at all.
He had already been through Amy’s house and seen the remnants of proof that the unknown man he had seen her with was, in fact, spending the nights there with her. When he had gone up those creaking old stairs, clomping loudly as he went, and seen that both sides of the bed had been slept in, he knew without a doubt that it was true. Amy was sleeping with someone else. She had left him in California and obviously forgotten all about him in the process. Bile rose in his throat at the thought.
Soon, she would remember. He would make certain of it.
He had walked slowly through the house, taking in each room as he went. None of the stuff in this house was hers, he knew that. If it hadn’t been for seeing her leave from here the other night, he would have never guessed that this place was where she was living.
He had watched her pull her coat around her and trudge up the side of the road
to the bar. From his vantage point on the other side of the road, she didn’t see or hear him follow her from a distance. The wind had picked up quite a bit as well, and although it made a gallant effort to chill him to the bone, he was thankful for it as it aided in making it almost impossible for Amy to hear him crunch his way through the fallen leaves as he spied on her.
After being in Park’s Peak only a few hours, Ethan had easily found out everything that Amy had worked so hard to keep hidden from him. He knew where she lived already because the company he had hired to find her had given him the address her cell phone was listed under. Therefore, he was able to actually see Amy in the flesh within his first few hours of being in town.
He also knew she worked at the bar. She was a bartender there and was dating her boss’s brother. Cole was his name. None of that had been difficult to find out, either. All he’d had to do was stand out in the parking lot of the bar for five minutes and ask a local guy who was heading out of the bar if he knew who the hot brunette was behind the bar tonight. This plan of action not only made it seem as though Ethan had already been inside and seen her there, but it also pretty much guaranteed the guy wouldn’t go back inside and blab to Amy that someone had been asking about her.
Oh, Amy, you mean? Yeah, she’s kind of new to town, but she’s with Cole, man. Must be weird dating the boss’s brother, huh? Oh well, sorry, man.
Easy. Small town locals were just too willing to tell you what they knew.
He had found out about the bonfire party the same way. The morning after he had arrived in town and discovered Amy’s new life without him, he had wandered into the restaurant on the next block over from her place to get a coffee. He had slept in the front seat of his truck that night. Actually, he hadn’t really slept. He had spent the night there with the front seat reclined, but he had passed the hours of the night by envisioning exactly how and what he planned to do when he came face to face with her.