by Mckoy, Cate
“Goddamnit, Ashley, don’t pretend to not know what I am talking about.” Kyle was upset now.
She pulled her hand out of his, shrugging, “Basically what you’re saying is only law abiding citizens and children deserve to be protected by the law. You’re saying some people are worthy and some are not. I get it.”
“That is not what I am saying at all. I—“
“Yes, just like slavery, right? If your skin isn’t white you deserve no better than to be treated like an animal, right, Kyle?”
“What the hell are you talking—“
“Of, course, if you’re a criminal and thief you need to be slaughtered while out dancing.” Ashley became so disturbed she got up from the table and walked out.
Before Kyle could even comprehend what the hell he had done to lose a grip on the conversation, Ashley was out the door and out of sight.
Swearing under his breath, Kyle rushed to grab the check and pay the bill and catch up to her.
Chapter 10
Shaking uncontrollably, Ashley waited beside Jack’s SUV. She was afraid she was losing her mind. How could she have seen her father? Not once but twice? She was going insane and was taking her loss of sanity out on Kyle.
Kyle’s questions were going to lead to the night she lost her family. The night she survived alone! Ashley closed her eyes even though the images she was suddenly flooded with were in her head and closing her eyes made them more vivid.
Images of her at age 11, so happy about her upcoming birthday, skipping to the door in response to the chimes knowing it was Chad. Not being able to contain her excitement at the prospect of her first kiss by a boy, even if it was just on the cheek.
Not bothering to check the peephole, she had flung the door wide with an equally wide smile. In an instant her smile died as she had come face to face with evil.
Ashley’s eyes sprang open at the memory, meeting Kyle’s as he walked up to her beside the car.
“Why the hell did you walk out?” Kyle unlocked the door, opening the passenger door for her.
She ignored his question, sitting in the seat and buckling her seatbelt.
Kyle rounded the SUV and got in, but he didn’t start the car. Instead he turned towards her, giving her a hard speculative stare. “What is going on with you, Ashley? How dare you accuse me of being a racist?”
“I didn’t call you a racist.” Her knit-picking her only defense and it was flimsy.
“Not in those exact words, but you most certainly implied I am a racist.” He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, making it adorably disheveled. “Do I need to remind you who I was inside of last night?”
Ashley shrugged, “Racists screw blacks all the time. Back in the day the masters always used theirs slaves to fulfill their dirty little deviant sex fantasies.” She was grasping at anything that would keep Kyle off balance. She couldn’t let him know she was losing her mind, seeing her dead father walking around.
Her random insult worked. Kyle went stonily silent and started the car.
****
The scream penetrated the thickest of walls. At first, Kyle thought he was hearing Catlyn. But as he came out of the bedroom directly across from his hosts’ room, he almost collided with Jack and Catlyn.
The screams continued and were terrifying. Ashley’s screams sent chills down his spine as he ran for the bedroom he had left earlier tonight. Jack and Catlyn were on his heels. He flung the door open and flicked the light switch.
All three froze at the sight that greeted them. Ashley was in the grip of some form of terror but was not awake. She sat up in bed with nothing on except panties, wiping at her face. She screamed her own name.
“Ashley! Ashley! No, no, Ashley!” Her hysterical rant was followed by a strangled cry filled with heart stopping grief.
Kyle couldn’t stand her obvious pain anymore. He went to her and was about to pull her into his arms, but Catlyn warned, “No! Don’t touch her. Let her come out of it on her own. You might do more damage by touching her.”
Feeling useless and helpless, Kyle watched her lose her voice screaming her own name. She wiped at her face as though she were cleaning off something distasteful. Her screams became whimpers as she slowly seemed to fall back against the mattress. She dripped sweat. Her gorgeous new hairstyle was history. Once back against the mattress she tossed and turned for a few seconds before becoming fully awake.
Her eyes popped open. She put a hand to her throat, rubbing at the soreness there, no doubt due to all her hollering. The other three watched her become more aware of her surroundings.
Before she even turned to look at them, she tensed and with a speed that shocked all of them she flipped across the bed, reaching into the nightstand to pull her gun and steadily aimed it at her friends. She did that all without actually seeing them. She had sense someone in her room and armed herself first before verifying who had invaded her privacy. Scary!
Recognition filled her dark eyes. She put the gun back in the nightstand and grabbed the sheet, covering her beautiful breasts. “What are you guys doing in here?” Her voice was raspy.
Kyle shook his head in disbelief. Did she not know she just finished screaming the place down as though she was being murdered? “Really?” Kyle smirked, seeing that she was fine physically and remembering their earlier argument that had sent him to sleep in another bedroom.
She frowned, “What?”
Catlyn went to the bed touching Ashley’s forehead, no doubt checking to see if Ashley was as hot to the touch as she appeared. “Are you alright?” she asked in concern.
Ashley shrugged. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
Kyle had had enough of this bullshit. “Why wouldn’t you be? Really, Ashley, you’re going to play that card after you just woke everyone in the entire house screaming bloody murder?”
Surprised eyes turned to first Catlyn and then Jack for verification. They both nodded. She pushed her destroyed hair out of her face and sighed. “I am sorry that I woke you guys up.” She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. The digital numbers showed it was 3:00 a.m.
Jack studied her for a minute before reassuring her, “It’s not a problem if you’re sure you’re ok.” He gave her a gentle smile, “We all have nightmares every now and again.”
Ashley gave him a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “Thanks for coming to my rescue again Jack.” Her smile turned more genuine, “I imagine you’re getting tired of saving me. I still owe you for saving me after the Slasher’s attack.”
Jack winked and teased, “Well, it’s not a hardship saving a beautiful woman, especially when she isn’t wearing any clothes.”
“Jack!” Catlyn admonished.
“Hey,” Kyle gave his friend a hands-off look, not that it was necessary. It was beyond obvious Jack had eyes only for Catlyn. He was trying to ease the tension in the room.
Jack nodded at Kyle, as if to tell him to handle the situation better. “Well, if you’re really sure you’re ok Catlyn and I are headed back to bed.”
Catlyn took Ashley’s hand in hers, “I can stay with you tonight if you want, make sure you get back to sleep.”
Jack gave Kyle a hard look, telling him with his eyes to fix it. He had better take care of this before his woman left his bed.
Kyle took the hint. “Uh, that won’t be necessary, Catlyn. I will stay with Ashley until she falls asleep again.”
Catlyn wasn’t having it. She gave Kyle a dirty look. “I was speaking to Mackenzie. I will stay with her if she wants me to. You may still be her boss but you are no longer mine. She is my guest, as you are, and I will take care of her as I see fit.” Catlyn squeezed Ashley’s hand reassuringly, “I will only leave you in this room with her if she says it’s ok.”
Kyle’s eyes drilled into Ashley’s. “Well?”
Ashley looked between the man she loved who was also her boss and her best friend. She turned to Catlyn, “I am alright, Cat. It’s ok.”
Catlyn looked at Kyle with even
more disapproval, “Mack, are you sure?”
Ashley gave Catlyn a hug and whispered something in her ear. Catlyn accepted whatever Ashley told her, returning the hug and then rising to join Jack at the door.
They said goodnight, closing the door. Kyle moved slowly towards the bed.
Ashley gathered a sheet around her, getting up, “You can have your side back after I change the sheets. They’re sweaty.”
Kyle frowned, “Why were you on my side?”
She stared at him for a few seconds and then said in a low vulnerable voice, “It smells like you.”
Kyle closed his eyes at the pain evident in her tone. He opened eyes blazing with regret, looking deeply into hers, “I’m so sorry about our argument.”
She nodded. “I am too. I didn’t mean it Kyle. I know you aren’t a racist. I don’t kno—“
He came to her, gently putting a finger across her lips, “Ssh, it doesn’t matter now. Let’s get the bed changed and get back to sleep. We can talk in the morning.”
In a few minutes Ashley was settled in his arms and falling fast asleep. Kyle kissed her forehead promising that he wouldn’t leave her alone again. She was obviously having some kind of PTSD reaction to her attack by the Newburgh Slasher. Perhaps being back in Newburgh was causing some of her memories to manifest, Kyle prayed she wasn’t dreaming about her attack, specifically not the details of her being sodomized by that animal.
****
Ashley awoke slowly to a gentle caress to her back. Kyle was holding her in his arms, touching her softly. She lay against his chest.
He felt her stir and squeezed her tightly to him. “How was your night after you went back to sleep, any bad dreams?”
She stretched her body along his, shaking her head. “No, when you are next to me, I sleep like a baby.”
He turned until she was lying beneath him. “I think we need to talk seriously about what is going on in your head, Ashley.”
She sighed and tried to get up. Kyle held her down, crowding her even more, staring deeply into her troubled eyes. “No! You’re not going to pull the crap you did yesterday, distract me with insults and cause me to defend myself against phony digs at my character.”
Shamefaced Ashley turned her face away, unable to hold his eyes as he revealed the truth.
Kyle tenderly turned her face back to his. “Ashley did you mean it when you said you were mine now?”
Her eyes went wide, “Of course, I didn’t take the commitment lightly. I want to be yours and you mine.”
“Then sweetheart you have to start letting me in, I can’t help you if I don’t know what is wrong.” He gave her a disappointed look before continuing, “And, I, in all good consciousness cannot approve your return to full active duty, knowing something is obviously wrong.”
This time when she went to sit up he didn’t stop her, instead moved one of his hands to rest at her hip as she sat facing him. “Kyle that isn’t fair. You know I am capable of being in the field.”
“Do I? Ashley, you nearly got yourself killed or seriously injured getting thrown off a catwalk. You went headlong into a river without any exact knowledge of where the car actually was located and you got in the middle of a knife fight with guys twice your size.” Kyle cupped her cheek, “I am sorry honey but those are not the actions and thought process of an agent ready for full active duty.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she plead with him, “Please, Kyle, you can’t do this to me. What do I need to do to prove to you I am ok to be in the field?”
“Oh, Babydoll, don’t cry!” He wiped at her tears that had started to fall, “Your tears just gut my insides, ssh, ssh, baby, don’t cry, it’s going to be all right.” He took her in his arms holding her tight to ease some of her shaking. “Ashley, talk to me. Tell me what is wrong, please, baby.”
“K-kyle, I-I I’ve been having nightmares about the day I was attacked by the Newburgh Slasher.” Ashley decided a half-truth was better than continuing to create friction between them. She had to give him something. She would tell him about the other dream she had been having lately, not the one she had more often and had had last night.
“Oh, baby,” Preparing for the worst, Kyle pulled her onto his lap, holding her against his chest, knowing it would be easier for her to tell him while not looking at him. He put his chin on the top of her head. “Tell me.” His nerves worked as he waited to hear the horrible details of her being sodomized by the Newburgh Slasher.
Her voice started out low but then got strong as she continued. “In the dream I start out right here in Jack’s house, eating breakfast with them, listening to Jason talk about his evil twin. Then I am at the waterfront and the dance is in full swing. I-I g-get this strange feeling I am being watched so I turn my head and there he is, just staring at me with this weird intensity.”
Hate hearing the confusion and stress in her voice, Kyle tightened his hold on her. “Go on, sweetheart.”
“When he realizes I am watching him back he takes off. I-I don’t know why but something just tells me to move, follow him.” Ashley looked up and held Kyle’s gaze, “I can’t explain it, he didn’t look right, it was some gut reaction to follow him.”
Kyle stroked her long tresses, pushing them off her face. “I know the feeling honey. Lots of people in law have some sort of instinctive reaction that they follow religiously. It’s save their lives a thousand times. I have my own inside me.”
At his reassuring words, Ashley laid her head back against his chest, listening to his comforting steady heartbeat. “I am trying to get through the throng of people. There are so many, it’s almost claustrophobic. The gap between us gets bigger so I pour on the speed as much as the crowd will let me and I am almost to him and th-th-then I s-see him…” Ashley was afraid to tell Kyle that the person she was now referring to was the Newburgh Slasher as opposed to her 'father’.
The same instinct that told her that day to follow the man who looked like her father was now telling her if Kyle knew she saw two different people that day that caused her actions to change, he would never let her back into the field.
Kyle thinking her hesitation was because of what she was remembering being done to her kissed her on the top of the head. “Go on sweetheart, you can tell me anything, nothing you say can make me feel differently about you, I love you Ashley Anne Mackenzie.”
“Oh, Kyle, I love you too!” They kissed slowly, lovingly and then parted on a gasp for air.
“Finish it, what happened next?” Kyle held her gaze.
“I see him start towards the water. I thought that was totally crazy, especially since he was walking in the opposite direction of the people he was assigned to protect. I drop back a little, wanting to see where he was going before I get right up on him. In my dream I get this really really bad feeling, like something life altering is about to happen. Then I wake up."
Confused, Kyle questioned, "You wake up before you're attacked?"
Ashley nodded, keeping her face against his chest so she didn't have to look in his eyes as she lied by omission.
“Ashley, you were screaming like your life was in danger, like someone was attacking you.”
“Well, I don’t remember everything I dream. Sometimes I remember nothing. I just find myself suddenly awake and drenched in sweat.” At least that was the truth.
In more truth, Ashley could say that she had dreamt more about the day her family was slain than being attacked by the Newburgh Slasher. She hadn’t even remembered the part about her ‘father’ being there until the memory was triggered at the mall. She didn’t remember anything from that day beyond being at the dance and starting to follow Anderson. She didn’t recall the attack, getting rescued, or being air-lifted to the major trauma unit at Westchester Medical.
With her ongoing therapy, Ashley had resigned herself to never remembering the details of that day. And, although it bothered her a little, it didn’t weigh on her mind like the night she lost her entire family to crazed killers.
“Let’s head down stairs for breakfast. I guess nightmares make you hungry because I am starving.”
Keeping to the promise he just made to himself he gave her a convincing smile and said, “Why don’t you use the bathroom first then?”
Ignoring the fact that the smile didn’t reach his gorgeous blue eyes, Ashley gave him a quick peck on the cheek before scrambling off the bed to go into the bathroom.