Unearthed

by Ann B. Morris

  His sensitivity to what she was going through touched her deeply. “No. My pain is mine to bear. But your offer makes it more bearable.” She swallowed. “Thank you for that.” Somehow, his presence and his words, which came from the depth of his heart, had lifted her spirits, if even just a little.

  Beck cradled her head against his chest. “You’re mentally and physically exhausted right now. Too much has happened these past couple of days. You need rest.”

  “So, you’re a doctor, now?” She forced a smile.

  “No. You’re still the doctor”—Beck lowered his head to kiss the tip of her nose—”and I’m just a stupid, country boy who needs to learn how to act around a lady.” Again, he kissed her nose. “I also happen to know how little sleep you’ve had the past couple of nights on top of everything else.”

  She caught his meaning completely and smiled.

  He returned the smile. “Whenever you think you’re up to it, we’ll head back. Your friend is probably worried. I’m afraid we left him totally bewildered.”

  She struggled to sit up.

  Beck locked his arms around her. “I’m carrying you.”

  “But—” His sensitivity touched her once more.

  “No, buts about it. I’m carrying you.” He stood, lifted her in his arms and headed back to the cabin.

  Jeremy was on the porch and came forward to meet them when they approached.

  “She’s fine,” Beck assured him. “Just worn out from the ordeal of the past few days.”

  Alex turned to look at her friend. “I’m okay.” After a moment’s pause, she added, “I told him about Cassie.”

  Jeremy nodded and followed them inside where Beck set her down on her bed. “I was planning on leaving before nightfall since Beck is back,” he said, “But I can put that off and stay if….”

  Alex shook her head. “No. That’s not necessary.”

  “She’s right,” Beck said. “You’ve done enough. I’m here now. And she’s already gotten my ultimatum. I’m her bodyguard until this puzzle is solved.” He cocked his head at Alex and winked then focused on Jeremy again. “Whether she likes it or not.”

  Jeremy smiled. “Oh, she may not admit it, but I believe she likes it quite a bit.” He stepped to the door. “I’ll be out front when the two of you are ready to see me off.”

  Beck leaned down and gave Alex a light kiss on the cheek. “Just give me a quick five minutes for a shower. My last attempt didn’t end too well.”

  “Take as much time as you need,” Jeremy called back, already on his way down the hall.

  Beck gave Alex another kiss before he headed to the shower.

  She waited with both a heavy heart and one light with the knowledge that she believed he really did care.

  Even when he seemed callous and made thoughtless statements like he had just minutes before, deep in her heart she was certain he was the kindest, gentlest man she would ever know in this world.

  But, how long would he remain in her world?

  Chapter Seventeen

  A few days after Jeremy left, Alex and Beck were on their way to GrammU’s. After a long silence, Alex glanced over at Beck. His jaw was clenched tight, and he stared straight ahead at the road. He made no attempt to hide his dissatisfaction at going to see his father, despite his earlier promise. Regardless of Beck’s displeasure, she wasn’t sorry for offering his father the possibility to change his life. No, she could never be sorry for helping an alcoholic give up the bottle, no matter what the consequences to herself.

  Beck’s father hadn’t had a drink in days. He was ready, he’d told her, to go to a meeting.

  She agreed to be his temporary sponsor, but she’d been quick to let him know that if he stuck with the program, he’d have to find a permanent sponsor closer to his home. Before long, she’d be in Arkansas for the rest of the summer. And after that, she’d be in Baton Rouge. Too far away to be of help when he hit a brick wall, as he surely would, especially in the beginning of his sobriety.

  “When are you taking him?”

  Beck’s voice interrupted the smooth flow of her thoughts. She looked over and knowing exactly what he meant, answered in a soft voice, “I have to locate the closest meeting place and find out when they meet.”

  “I hope you’re prepared for a big disappointment.”

  “We’ll see.” She refused to be sucked into another war of words over whether or not his father was beyond redemption.

  Beck switched on the radio and changed the station from soft listening to hard rock.

  She hated hard rock, and he knew it. She settled back in the seat and chose to grit her teeth and ride out his mood.

  He turned up the volume.

  Using all the self-control she could muster, she kept from leaning over and turning it down. He acted like a child working up to a tantrum, much like the one he’d thrown that first day at the field site. She pressed her lips together and stared straight ahead.

  Beck turned off the radio.

  She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. His mouth was a grim line. His hair lay in waves across his forehead, the ends touching his eyebrows the way they did after he’d plowed his fingers through it too many times. He looked like a lovable rogue. Her heart nearly melted. She laid a light hand on his thigh.

  He covered her hand with his and left it there for a second before he brushed it away. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.”

  She turned her focus to the highway in front of them and caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Inwardly, she fumed. She didn’t deserve his harshness, no matter what the reason. Summoning up the self-control to keep from lashing out she said calmly, “The gesture was meant to comfort, nothing more.”

  “I don’t need to be comforted. I need to be fucked.”

  She flinched. She was becoming accustomed to his diligent efforts to clean up his less-than-elegant vocabulary. Although she was more than willing to cut him a lot of slack when he was upset or angry, she was still offended by his coarseness at times. His words sometimes made her question the wisdom of making excuses for his crude remarks, like now, when he was deliberately provoking her. “Are we getting ready to have an argument, Beck? If so, I’d like to know what I’ve done to trigger your nasty mood. The only thing I’m guilty of is visiting your father to see if I can help him.”

  “Wasting precious time we could have spent together. We could have gotten a room somewhere and….”

  “I know you weren’t happy sleeping on the sofa last night.”

  Again, he switched on the radio. “That’s putting it mildly. I woke up this morning with a stiff neck on top of a stiff….”

  “You’re deliberately being offensive, aren’t you? All because I insisted on sleeping alone to avoid future problems.” She’d explained why she didn’t want them to share her bedroom while the students were around. Such an arrangement might start a precedent for opposite sex sleepovers, something she wasn’t prepared to accept responsibility for while she was in charge. Why couldn’t he understand that? “You didn’t have to stay, you know. This determination to bond yourself to me is all your idea. I never wanted it.”

  Not entirely true. At first, she hadn’t wanted it. But now, she had to admit some of Beck’s concern might be justified. Aside from that, she was greedy where he was concerned. She wanted as much of him as she could get while they were together.

  He shot her a narrowed look. “That subject is not open to discussion. Where you are, I am.”

  “Until I’m replaced.” She heard his quick intake of breath over the radio’s music, and his expression changed from grim determination to reluctant resignation. She wanted to comfort him. But she couldn’t. Nothing she could say would change the inevitable.

  “Have you heard anything yet?”

  “No. But I’m expecting to any day.” Silence. As heavy as the rock metal tune coming over the airwaves. She twisted in the seat as far as the seat belt allowed to see him better.

  “Suppose
whoever is after you follows you to Arkansas.”

  She pulled in a quick breath and turned to face him. “To Arkansas? That idea’s crazy. Whoever is terrorizing me…us, if I follow your reasoning about the fire, is doing it because of what’s going on here. I still don’t know how that connects, but I’m certain the reign of terror will end when I’m no longer around.”

  “You can’t be certain what’s happening here won’t follow you.”

  “And you can’t be certain it will.”

  Silence surrounded them again, still as heavy as the music that continued to fill the air.

  He reached for her hand and laid it across his thigh, clenching his hand around hers and squeezing it gently. “Alex?”

  “Yes?”

  He increased the pressure. “I don’t want you to leave.”

  A heaviness began in her chest and spread down her arms to her fingertips. “I’ll be okay.”

  “That’s not what I mean.”

  “I have to go. I want to go. We both agreed no long-term relationship. Perhaps when I return at the end of the summer we can see each other again. If both of us decide we want to, that is.” She was proud of herself for the mature way she handled the situation. From day one, she expected the relationship would end when her job in the field ended. Beck expected the same then as well.

  But she’d given him an opening to pick up their now tenuous relationship at the end of summer. It remained to be seen if he took her up on her suggestion when the time came.

  ****

  Kent watched the first sign of morning creep through the shutters on the cabin window. He hated being here so much it took all his control not to stuff his fist in his mouth to hold back the scream.

  Finding an excuse night after night to go off by himself for the fix he needed was getting harder than ever. Afterward, if he was lucky, he’d get a couple hours of sleep. And if his luck held out, he’d swallow a few bites of food in the morning and keep them down.

  Holding down his food was getter more difficult by the day. A few people noticed the weight he was steadily losing. Alex had mentioned his weight loss just the day before. She claimed she was worried about him. Sure, she was. She was so worried that when she wasn’t working she was with that cock-sucking contractor every spare minute. You didn’t ignore someone you were concerned about.

  His hate for the bastard grew more every day. He wanted him dead. And he’d thought he had a good chance to get rid of him with the fire. But the son of a bitch wasn’t even home when the fire was set. They were probably fucking their brains out somewhere while the cabin burned.

  One of his roommates rolled over. The creaking mattress grated on his already raw nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard.

  Suddenly, a sound in the living room caught his attention. He held his breath. Footsteps came closer, hesitated at his door, and then started again. A creak. A door opening. The bathroom? Or her room?

  He balled his hands into fists and jammed them into the mattress. As long as the others were around, he could do nothing to hasten his plan.

  But soon. Soon. By this time next week, he should know just how drastic a measure he had to take to reach his goal.

  No matter what it took, he had to keep himself together until then. Then, when the time was right, he’d act. He’d find a way to get rid of that arrogant bastard.

  Then, he and Alex would be alone.

  ****

  Beck leaned down and planted a kiss on his grandmother’s cheek. Before he could straighten she snagged him by the sleeve and held him fast. She looked up with eyes that had seen enough sorrow for two lifetimes, but tonight, they shone with a happiness he could feel.

  “I like your girl, Becker.”

  He smiled. “I kind of like her, too.”

  Alex stood at the door with his father.

  The old man kissed her on the forehead and whispered something that only she could hear. Then he cleared his throat and looked over at Beck. “You’ve got a jewel, here, son. If you don’t grab her, I might make a play for her myself.”

  GrammaU grunted and turned her attention to Beck’s father. “Well, she’s surely done what no one else has done all these years. In my book, she’s a saint.” She drew on the pipe she’d been holding idle in her hand then looked up at Beck, who had worked his sleeve loose from her grasp and stood at the side of her rocking chair. “As for you, young man, you better treat her right. You ain’t too old yet for me to whack you upside the head if I think you need it.”

  Beck chanced a quick glance at Alex. Even from across the room he could see the color settling in her cheeks. “She wouldn’t let me treat her any way but right, GrammaU,” he assured the old lady. “She’s a pretty independent woman.”

  His grandmother smiled, leaned back in the rocker, and closed her eyes as she did quite often these days.

  Was she was closing out something unpleasant she wanted to forget, or closing in something pleasant she wanted to remember? He bent down and gave her another quick peck on the cheek. “You’re tired, Gramma. You need to go to bed, and we need to leave.”

  She tilted back her head, looked up at him and patted his arm. “You’re a good boy, Becker.”

  Embarrassed, he smiled down at the aging woman who had been the only mother he’d ever known for all his adult life. “I’ll come by in the morning around ten to pick up Daddy.”

  GrammU nodded, her eyes sliding closed again.

  “The cleaning lady will be here by nine tomorrow,” he reminded her softly.

  Again, the old lady nodded and started a slow, gentle rock.

  She was rocking herself to sleep much as she’d rocked her grandchildren to sleep more times than she could likely remember. “Ready?” he asked Alex who was writing something on a business card and speaking quietly to his father.

  Alex handed the card to his father. “I’ve written my cell number on the back of the card in case you need to reach me in the next couple of days when I’m out of town.”

  The old man looked at the card, then looked up at her and nodded.

  “Call me if you need to talk and you can’t reach Mr. Simmons. Promise?”

  He nodded again and smiled.

  Beck’s heart thudded in his chest. Out of town? In the next couple of days? He hurried over to where his father and Alex stood and put his hand on the doorknob.

  Alex threw her arms around the old man and planted a kiss on his cheek.

  “Remember what we talked about and don’t hesitate to go to any of the other group meetings if you need to talk to someone before the one at the church meets again.”

  They had gone to an AA meeting at the old Baptist Church just a few miles from his father’s house, the closest meeting place that Alex could find.

  His old man would be at his own house tomorrow. He could have gone home tonight, since the cleaning lady had finished this afternoon, but GrammaU had insisted he stay another night. Her way, Beck knew, of still trying to make up for the daughter who had failed so miserably at being a wife and mother.

  He waited impatiently while Alex and his father exchanged their final good night then he hurried her out to the car. As soon as the car started moving, he asked her, directly, and not very nicely, “Did I hear right? You’re leaving town?”

  “Yes.”

  No explanation. No, yes, but… Just, yes.

  He entered the highway much too fast. “Exactly when are you planning on leaving? And when were you letting me in on the news? We made a deal, in case you’ve forgotten.”

  She turned to look at him. “Calm down, Beck. I intended to tell you tonight. The way you’re acting is the reason I didn’t tell you sooner. I need to go to Houston. My mother is about to have a nervous breakdown.”

  He eased up on the gas when the speed approached eighty. Now if only he could slow the adrenaline racing through his veins. He took one deep breath then another. “I assume she’s not really ready to crack up. That’s just your way of saying she’s in a high-strung state
.”

  “Very high-strung. She and my father are having problems. She has this big anniversary party planned for Sunday, and he wants her to cancel it. I think he wants a divorce.” After a short pause, she added. “I want you to be my date for the party.”

  His head jerked back. “Me? Ah, babe, I saw your parents’ home in the photograph on your desk. I don’t know that I’d fit in.”

  “You’ll fit in fine. As long as you watch your colorful language. Which,” she pointed out, “I must say has calmed down quite a bit.”

  “Have your parents always had problems?” He figured he should show some interest in the situation, even though the only interest he had was keeping Alex safe.

  “No more than most couples. Actually, less than most. At least, that’s what I thought.” She shrugged. “Seems I was wrong.”

  “When do you leave?”

  She paused. “Tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” His eyes widened. He wasn’t prepared for tomorrow. Not when he had to leave tomorrow, too. He thought he had the situation all worked out when he left that note for Kent this morning to put him on notice that Alex would be in his care tomorrow night. “I’m supposed to fly to Georgia tomorrow for an early morning meeting the next day. I planned on having Kent watch out for you tomorrow night, since I thought you were staying over to finish some work Saturday morning.”

  She let out a low chuckle. “Kent? Since when has he garnered your trust?”

  “Since he’s the only other person around that I believe cares enough to watch out for your safety.” He could tell she was looking at him, so he turned toward her for a second. Their gazes locked. “And he knows I’ll break his skinny neck if he even dares to put a hand on you except to save your life.”

  He smiled when she let out a deep laugh that warmed his heart and would have relaxed him had the situation not been serious. If not for the fact he really was concerned about her and had his back to the wall, he never would have asked Kent to take his place for a night. What he’d told Alex about trusting the guy to look out for her was only partly true. He still didn’t trust him completely.