Heaven With You

by Rebecca Julia Lauren

  When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I wrapped my arms tightly around his bare chest just as he was pulling on a t-shirt. He held me close.

  “It’s okay,” he told me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

  “I think something awful is about to happen.”

  “You’re safe, Izzy. Ellie asked me to stop by and take a look at her car. I won’t be gone long, and Reed will stay with you until I get back.”

  Reaching up, I took his face between my hands. “Whatever is about to happen is going to happen to you.”

  Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “I’ll be fine.” He leaned down and gave me a slow kiss that tugged at my heartstrings.

  I couldn’t ask him not to see his own daughter, but it felt like this was the last time I’d ever be close to him. My hands lowered to the jeans he’d just put on minutes earlier, and I unfastened them.

  We didn’t speak. No words were necessary. Giving in to the sense of urgency riding us, we didn’t even bother to undress. We made love quickly and when it was over, I held onto to him, savoring the moment, memorizing every detail and filing it in my mind so that I could replay it later.

  All too soon he was gone.

  “Have you heard any news about William?” I asked Reed, trying to take my mind off of Hunter.

  “He’s stable now. But last night he went into cardiac arrest. Will said they found a lethal combination of prescription drugs and alcohol in his system. He’s lucky to be alive.”

  Relief washed over me. “Maybe that’s why he said that about Hunter last night, because of the drugs.”

  “Maybe.”

  I could tell Reed didn’t think that was the case. “As soon as he’s better, we’ll find out what the hell is going on.”

  “We should go see him. I know how upset Will and Diana must be.”

  “Yeah, we should do that,” Reed agreed. “You sure you feel up to it?”

  “I should be asking you that. Amber will be there, and I know she’s not your favorite person.”

  “I’m not holding a grudge against Amber.”

  “You’re a good person.”

  “So are you.” His eyes dropped to my hand. “I like your new ring.”

  “He asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” I held out my hand to show him the diamond. “You don’t think that’s strange, do you?”

  He laughed. “Given that you’re wearing the ring, I think it would have been strange if you’d said no.”

  “I meant is it awkward for you since he’s Ellie’s dad? You know one day you could be my brother and my son-in-law.”

  Reed smiled. “Since I hope to marry Ellie one day, that might happen. We’d just be another blended family.”

  “Reed, I don’t know why William said what he did, but Hunter would never hurt me. I trust him. And you know how hard it is for me to trust people.”

  My brother nodded. “He’s a good man, I know that. I didn’t mean to upset you last night.” He closed his eyes a moment. “I just didn’t want to leave you alone.”

  I jumped at the sound of an incoming text on the phone, but relaxed a little when I realized that it was Reed’s phone. He glanced down at it and frowned.

  “I don’t recognize the number. Oh, it’s Cora. Shit. Jase’s dad had a heart attack last night.”

  “Oh, God. Is he alright?”

  “He’s in the hospital. I’ve got to go see Jase.” Reed looked up at me and I saw that he was torn. “Come with me Isabelle.”

  “I’m not even dressed yet. Go. It’s no big deal. Jack is with me, and it’s early. Besides, Hunter will be back within the hour.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You’ve got to go see Jase. I won’t even leave the house. I promise.”

  Reed hesitated. “Lock the door behind me. Call me if you need anything.”

  I assured him that I would, and then I closed the door, locking it as I’d promised. A dull, throbbing pain had settled between my temples and I blamed the nonstop drama of the last twenty-four hours.

  Picking up my phone, I called Cora. It took several rings before she answered, and her voice was thick with sleep. “Hey, I’m sorry I woke you.”

  “S’okay. I needed to get up anyway.”

  “I just called to find out how Jase’s dad is doing—“ I stopped suddenly, feeling as if my blood had iced over in my veins.

  Reed’s voice played in my head. I don’t recognize the number. Oh, it’s Cora.

  Cora had been asleep.

  “What’s the matter with Jase’s dad?” Cora asked, sounding alert.

  “I don’t know. You didn’t just text Reed, did you?”

  “What? No. What’s going on Isabelle? You sound funny.”

  Oh God. If anything happened to Reed, I wasn’t sure I could survive it. “Cora, I’m so sorry. I have to find Reed. I’ll call you later.”

  “Isabelle!”

  I hung up on her and ran to the bedroom, pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, shoved my feet into sneakers and headed for the door when Jack all of the sudden began to growl.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A moment later a squirrel shot across the bay window and Jack’s front paws hit the sill, his tail wagging.

  I exhaled a long breath, my heart still racing. I had to find Reed and didn’t need to be wasting time freaking out over a squirrel. Opening the back door, I stepped onto the patio leaving Jack inside. Through the storm door, I saw him barking wildly and I shook my head. “You’re okay, Jack.”

  “He’s probably worried about you. Smart dog.”

  The sinister voice raked over my raw nerves, and I spun around and looked into the cold, lifeless eyes of the most evil man I knew.

  “Hello Isabelle. Don’t you want to come give your daddy a hug?”

  I tripped over Jack’s water bowl, my back slamming against the storm door and knocking the breath out of me. No. It couldn’t be true. Darryl.

  “That’s right. You don’t look real happy about that.”

  “It’s impossible. No one could have survived that fire,” I whispered, my voice trembling.

  “You never were real bright. Beautiful but stupid, just like your mother. If Reed hadn’t been in Afghanistan all those years ago, I’d never have gotten away with this. He’d have figured it out right away.”

  “Who was in the fire?”

  His chilling laughter terrified me. “I have no idea. Just some dumbass kid unfortunate enough to knock on my door.” He smiled malevolently. “That’s the beauty of a fire. It destroys all that pesky forensic evidence. No one will ever know that it wasn’t me that died that night.”

  “You started that fire.” I was shaking.

  “Like I said, you’re real slow Isabelle but at least you’re catching on. I was about to go to prison for that trumped up murder charge that you’re boyfriend invented.”

  “You killed that woman. She had two young kids. Hunter had nothing to do with those charges.”

  “Cry me a river. If she’d given a shit about her kids, she and her husband would have been home with them instead of driving home from a party at one o’clock in the morning. As for your boyfriend, he had it out for me from the first day he met you.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “You’re insane,” he mimicked in a creepy falsetto voice. “What’s insane is McAllister thinking he’s all high and mighty when he’s nothing but another pervert that couldn’t stop lusting over my sixteen year-old daughter.”

  “That’s not what happened at all,” I whispered, shaking.

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t think so since your Sugar Daddy seems to be taking real fine care of you.” His dark, fathomless eyes fell to my diamond ring. “Real fine care of you. How much you think that rock is worth?”

  I ignored the question. “You set all of this up to get out of going to jail. You’re a monster.”

  “I didn’t intend for the boy scout to die, but serves him right for trying to sell me mulch w
hen it’s plain as day I didn’t give two shits about that pathetic trailer. I was just planning on blowing up the place and taking off, but then the police thought I’d died in that fire.” He smiled. “It was beautiful.”

  Carefully, without drawing attention, I reached into my pocket for my cell phone.

  “Don’t you want to know the rest of the story Isabelle?”

  “Yes. You’ve been following me.”

  “Being dead gave me a lot of power. I can do anything I please without getting caught because I don’t exist. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I was going after all the people who fucked with my life—you and Reed, the Fosters, and your boyfriend. Messing with your ex-boyfriend and his whore, well that was just for fun.”

  Tensing, I glanced past him wondering if I could escape.

  “Don’t look scared. I won’t hurt you. You’re going to help me get my revenge. Uh, uh, uh, you will. William did. Poor guy is so in love with you that it didn’t take much convincing to make him think McAllister wanted to hurt you. A few texts from Reed and he rushed down here to your rescue.”

  I noticed he made quotation marks with his fingers when he’d said Reed.

  “He was pathetically easily to manipulate and so in love with you.” Darryl’s gaze traveled down my body, making my skin crawl. “There’s something about you that makes men lose their minds. Did you know William took a leave of absence from his job to come play bodyguard for you?”

  Jack was jumping at the door ferociously, barking wildly. I wanted to glance down at my phone, but his eerie gaze was glued to me.

  “Drugging his drink was too easy. He never suspected a thing.”

  “He could die because of what you did.”

  Darryl shrugged his bony shoulders. “If he dies, he dies. The Fosters should have left me alone instead of breathing down my neck and threatening to call the police on me every time you or Reed had so much as a scratch on you.”

  He turned his head and I quickly glanced down and tapped my phone.

  “They reminded me a lot of your mother.”

  I gasped.

  His laughter sent a chill down my spine.

  “You don’t think that bitch died on accident, do you?”

  “She was hit by a drunk driver,” I cried.

  “You fell for that story. I slipped enough drugs in her drink to make sure she never made it home that night. The kid she hit had just graduated from high school, and he was sober.”

  “No. That can’t be true.”

  “Ask your brother. He was smart enough to start asking questions years ago. You never did. All these years Reed has lived with the guilt of thinking his own mother was doped up and killed a teenage boy.”

  “Think I’m a monster now? Just wait. I’ve got plans for your boyfriend. McAllister is going to pay for fucking with my life.”

  “I won’t let you hurt him.” My voice shook with determination.

  “I’m not going to hurt him, Isabelle. You are. Revenge will be that much sweeter when he thinks the knife in his back is coming from the woman he wants to marry.”

  “What makes you think I’d ever agree to help you?”

  He stepped closer. “You’ll help me alright. If you don’t, I promise you there will be another fire. I’m thinking an apartment complex this time. You know how easily it is to start a fire, and how deadly they can be.”

  My stomach rolled.

  Darryl took another step, bringing him so close that I could smell the cigarette smoke clinging to his body. “Ellie is a pretty little thing. I see why Reed is crazy about her. It would break his heart if anything happened to her.”

  “No!”

  He grabbed my arm in a bruising grip. “What about McAllister? He’d be crushed if something happened to his precious little girl. Tell me Isabelle, what would you do to save the life of his daughter?”

  “Anything.”

  Leaning back, he grinned. “That’s what I wanted to hear. McAllister really made this too easy when he broke all those rules when you were arrested. Yeah, I know all about the Captain’s abuse of power, and so will everyone else.”

  I swallowed.

  “You’re going to go down to the police station and file a complaint, Isabelle. Got that?”

  I nodded, shaking. “I’ll file a complaint.”

  “Tell them he raped you.”

  It felt as if all of the air was sucked from my lungs. “No,” I whispered, more to myself than to Darryl. What he’d suggested was unthinkable.

  Unconcerned with my distress, Darryl kept talking. “He agreed to get you out of jail for the night in exchange for sex. You didn’t want to do it, but you were scared. Think you can remember all that?”

  “I can’t do that.”

  His fingernails bit into my arm and I flinched.

  “You can or bodies are going to start piling up around you, Isabelle. If you even think of telling the police about me, you should think again. I don’t exist. I’m dead. Even if they did believe you, I’d kill McAllister’s daughter before they found me. Think about that, and be a good a little girl.”

  “Okay, I’ll do it. Please, just don’t hurt anyone else.”

  His eyes glittered with insanity, but he seemed to calm at my acquiescence. “No, I won’t hurt anyone else if you do as you’re told.” Bending down, he kissed my cheek and his sour breath made my stomach sick. “Run along, Isabelle. I’ll follow you to the police station.”

  He let go of me and I ran to my car, got in and locked the doors. I drove off as fast as I could, pulling over on the side of the rode and throwing up.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “You stated that Captain McAllister told you that he would get you out of jail if you agreed to have sex with him. Is this correct?”

  I forced myself to think of Ellie. “It’s correct.”

  “Where did this conversation take place?”

  “In his office.”

  The Internal Affairs officer bent his head and scribbled something on his yellow notepad. I think his name was Riley or something. Whatever his name was, he looked to be in his thirties, attractive with keen brown eyes that seemed to file away every detail. Part of me hoped he wouldn’t believe me, the other part wondered if I should try telling him the truth, but fear of what would happen to Ellie stopped me cold.

  “How was it that you came to be in his office?”

  “He walked me there after Officer O’Leary was finished with me.”

  Riley’s head snapped up. “Officer O’Leary let you leave with him?”

  I hadn’t realized at the time that she could get into trouble as well, and I didn’t want that to happen. “She thought that I was just his daughter’s friend,” I lied, looking him in the eye.

  “What is your relationship to Captain McAllister?”

  “I’m afraid of him.”

  He didn’t react at all to this bit of information. “Were you afraid of him before the night you were arrested?”

  “No.”

  “The night you were arrested, did you want to have sex with Captain McAllister?”

  I hesitated a second too long, and Riley’s eyes snapped to mine.

  “Miss Bentley, I need you to tell me the truth.”

  “I didn’t want to go to jail.”

  “Did you want to have sex with Captain McAllister?”

  “No. Officer Riley—“

  “Sergeant,” he corrected. “On the night of the alleged rape, did you tell Captain McAllister no?”

  I felt as if I was being ripped apart. I didn’t want to hurt Hunter, but I needed to make this man believe me for Ellie’s sake. For a split second I considered confessing what I knew about Darryl, but something held me back. How could Darryl have known that Hunter broke rules to get me out of jail that night? He couldn’t, unless someone that worked at the police station told him.

  “I begged him to let me pay him with cash, but he said he only wanted me.” I took a deep, shaky breath, strengthening my resolve. �
�He forced me to have sex with him.”

  Sergeant Riley began writing again. “I think that’ll be all for now.”

  “That’s it? What’s going to happen to Captain McAllister?”

  His gaze narrowed. “If he’s found guilty of abusing his power or rape, he could go to prison.”

  I forced myself not to react. My mind raced, and I considered showing Sergeant Riley my phone, but what I had was too precious to let go. I had to get it to Hunter.

  “Thank you,” I said, standing up.

  “I’ll be in touch Miss Bentley.”

  Standing on trembling legs, I turned and saw Hunter in the doorway. His eyes were locked on mine, and what I saw in their depths threatened to break me.

  “What are you doing here Isabelle?” he asked, an odd note in his voice.

  He didn’t seem surprised to see me and I knew someone had told him why I was here. I started to go to him, but made myself stop. Darryl had killed two people that I knew of, and William was in the hospital. Now wasn’t the time to think with my heart. I could afford no mistakes.

  “Why don’t you sit down and join us, Captain. Maybe we can get this cleared up now.”

  I felt the intensity of Hunter’s hot blue gaze on me, but I didn’t look at him and kept my eyes carefully focused on Sergeant Riley. “Is it customary to question victims in the presence of their attacker?” I asked coolly.

  “No, Miss Bentley. It is not customary,” he replied succinctly. Neither is it customary to lie to a police officer, which is what you did when I asked you about your relationship with Captain McAllister.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath.

  His hawkish eyes dropped to my hand. “I didn’t ask about that rock on your finger, Miss Bentley because I already knew who had given it to you. I’m going to ask you again and I expect the truth this time. Keep in mind your answer could ruin his career and send him to prison. Did Hunter McAllister force you to have sex with him?”

  Ellie’s face appeared in my mind. I met Sergeant Riley’s gaze and spoke clearly, trying to ignore the hypnotic pull of Hunter’s gaze on me. “Yes, he did.”