Ayden's Secret

by Cara North

* * *

  Ayden entered the kitchen and found Jana’s body on his floor. She had been raped, her wrists were slit, and she was bald. His gut wrenched with the nightmare. Opening a cupboard, he punched the numbers in the small safe and pulled out his gun. Joshua was securing the perimeter trying to determine what they were up against. At this moment, he knew. He knew everything. The call to visit the behavior analyst unit was to help them track down a copycat. He knew that now. How they ended up in his house in Tennessee was still a mystery.

  Ayden took the stairs just like in the dream. At the bathroom door he prayed he wouldn’t see what he knew was on the other side. Pushing it open, he was thunderstruck. His heart broke into a million pieces as he saw the woman he loved in the bathtub, bald with blood all around her.

  “Show yourself you son of a bitch!” Ayden knew this part of the dream, and he wasn’t giving in to it.

  “Ayden?” Charlie’s eyes opened, and she fought against the restraints.

  “Charlie?” Ayden stepped into the room running to her and leaving himself open.

  “He’s in the bedroom,” Charlie told him. She saw Preston in the doorway taking aim at him. She splashed and struggled. “He has a gun, Ayden.”

  Ayden turned and faced the little man in the doorway. Preston Bates Jr. was nineteen years old, dressed in nice clothes, holding a gun on him. “Drop it, Preston. It’s over.” Ayden growled.

  “She’s mine, Wolf, my angel,” Preston spit out in a panic.

  “I will fucking kill you. Do you hear me? I will fucking kill you if you touch her.” Ayden took aim at the man with no regard to his own safety. All he could think about was Charlie.

  Preston heard the front door open. Ayden wasn’t alone. He ran knowing Ayden wouldn’t leave Charlie. He was right.

  Ayden lowered his weapon and turned back to Charlie. She was passing out as he reached for her. Preston had tied her in the tub with sheets. He pulled the plug and began untying her. Only one wrist was slit. He pulled her from the tub and carried her to the bed. Tearing sheets, he tied her wrist. That’s when he heard footsteps at the door.

  “Holy shit!” Joshua stood frozen in time. Ayden was a wreck, covered in blood and trying hard to be gentle as he wrapped her body in a sheet. Joshua wasn’t sure if Charlie was alive.

  “Joshua. He ran. He’s in the house.” Ayden broke into a sob. “Look what he did to my baby.”

  “Fuck.” Joshua ran out of the bedroom door. If the man was still loose, then he was leaving. If he was leaving, he was headed toward Evelyn.

  * * *

  Joshua ran as fast as his legs would carry him down the long driveway and then the road. Damn Ayden for living so secluded. As he closed the distance between himself and the truck, he slowed. He watched as the man ahead of him dropped to his knees in the darkness. Evelyn. Joshua knew in an instant that she had gotten him.

  Picking up the pace again, he stopped beside the man. He was dead. Joshua searched the area. Where the hell was she?

  “Baby?” Joshua called out. “Evelyn, where are you?”

  “Up here.” Evelyn climbed down from the tree, landing on her feet like a cat. “Is she alive?”

  Joshua again stood in awe of his wife. The ambulance followed Tom’s car up the road now. Tom pulled over when he realized a body was in the road.

  “He’s dead. Take them to Charlie,” Evelyn directed then stepped to her husband who stood as still as a Greek statue. “Joshua, are you okay?”

  “You never cease to scare the shit out of me, woman.” Joshua looked down at her then wrapped her in his arms checking her over from head to toe.

  “He shot at me. It was self defense.” Evelyn looked up at him then checked him over to make sure he wasn’t hurt. “What about you? What about Charlie?”

  “I don’t know about Charlie.” Joshua shook his head. He followed Evelyn as she ran to the next car headed up the driveway. It stopped and let them in.

  Chapter 23

  Ayden held her limp body in his arms and sobbed. Her pulse was faint, and he knew she was dying. He lived so far out that the ambulance would have to be led in. He found Michael the same way except Preston Sr. had slit both of Michael’s wrists, and she had lost too much blood to do anything. Ayden wanted to carry her downstairs, take her to Joshua’s truck and to the hospital, but he was crippled by fear. Fear of losing her forever.

  Footsteps thundered toward the bedroom, and Tom was there.

  “Jesus!” Tom tried to pull Charlie from Ayden’s arms, but Ayden hovered over her holding on ready to kill anything that touched her. “Wolf. Come on, we have to get her to a hospital.”

  Ayden nodded and pushed back the tears. He stood and carried her down the stairs, past the kitchen and out the front door. Ayden couldn’t hear anything. He could barely see what was in front of him. He climbed into the back of the ambulance and felt another body climb in next to him.

  “Ayden, he’s dead.” Evelyn touched her brother’s head as the doors closed and the EMT’s tried to assess Charlie in Ayden’s lap. “Let them look at her.”

  “She’s dead. I can’t feel a pulse.” Ayden lowered his head.

  Evelyn looked at the EMT who had his finger on Charlie’s neck. “She has a pulse. His hands are shaking. It’s there.”

  “Ayden Wolf, let her go.” Evelyn smacked him hard across the face.

  Ayden blinked twice then turned to Evelyn. He sucked in a deep breath and realized he was in the ambulance, Charlie was in his arms, the EMT’s were pulling at her, and Evelyn had just smacked him, reluctantly, across the face. Not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to sting and hopefully snap him out of his funk. He let go of Charlie and watched the two men begin to work on her.

  “He’s dead, Ayden. I scared him, threw a rock at him. He took a shot in the dark, so I took a shot, too.” Evelyn reached for his hand. “Joshua and I have been trying to figure out what she was running from. It makes sense now.”

  “What?” Ayden seemed confused and dazed.

  “The articles she kept were of the suicides of three Vegas Showgirls. No details about how they died except they had done it themselves.” Evelyn squeezed his hand tight. “She didn’t know if it was a repeat or a coincidence, but it was the motivation to break the chain. She ran and made her own fate. She ran to you.”

  “I love her, Evelyn. If she dies…”

  “She won’t.”

  “She’s right. She won’t die.” The EMT looked up. “Just need to put a little blood back in, but other than that, she’s fine.”

  “You have to do a rape kit.” Ayden strained to speak, the thoughts tearing him to shreds.

  “We’ll let the E.R. know.” The EMT nodded.

  The ambulance pulled up to the hospital, and the doors swung open. Ayden waited with Evelyn as they pulled Charlie out and rushed her inside.

  * * *

  Charlie opened her eyes and realized she was in a hospital. Well hell had every fear she imagined decided to come to life? Then she saw Ayden, his head on her bed and his body slumped over from the chair he was in. His hand held onto hers. Charlie remembered the events leading up to this point.

  Her wrist reminded her it was all real. Slowly she raised her hand to her head. Yes, she was bald. She knew exactly what she looked like because she had seen Michael this way. She pulled her hand free of his, and he rustled awake.

  “Charlie?” Ayden smiled. She was alive. The panic attack had actually saved her life.

  “I’m bald,” Charlie whispered.

  “You’re beautiful, darlin’.” Ayden climbed into bed with her and hugged her tight. “God I was scared I had lost you forever.”

  “I love you, Ayden.” Charlie sobbed into his shoulder. “I was so afraid I would die and you wouldn’t know how much I loved you. That’s why I left Las Vegas. That’s why I had to find you.”

  “Shhhh, darlin’, I know. It’s okay.” Ayden brushed away her tears. “I love you so much, Charlie.”

  “I know you do.” Charlie
smiled and sniffed. “Can we go home now?”

  “Yes.” Ayden nodded.

  “What happened to Preston? Did you catch him?” Charlie sat up and pulled her hospital gown off.

  “No. Evelyn killed him.” Ayden hung his head low. “I hate she had to do that.”

  Charlie gasped. “My God, is she all right? Is the baby okay?”

  “She’s fine. Joshua’s a mess though, tending to her like a mother hen.” Ayden handed her clothes. “I’ll tell the doc you’re ready.”

  Charlie put her clothes on and went to the bathroom. She took a deep breath and walked inside. There she stood in the mirror her reflection foreign. Charlie didn’t consider herself a vain woman, but she took care of herself and that included her hair. How in the world could Ayden say she was beautiful? She was bald.

  “Charlie, darlin’?” Ayden stepped back into the room behind the doctor. “I’m in here,” she squeaked out.

  Shit. Ayden’s gut twisted with the reality that she was seeing herself for the first time. “Charlie, let me in.” He tapped on the door. The knob twisted and the door opened.

  Ayden stepped into the bathroom and found Charlie standing there with tears steadily streaming down her cheeks. “You’ve been through a lot, baby. Let’s talk to the doc, and I’ll take you home.”

  Charlie nodded as Ayden pulled her into his arms. He instinctively reached to caress her hair, but it wasn’t there, so he stroked her back instead. She felt the motion and knew he was going to caress her head but didn’t. Charlie took a deep breath and pushed herself away from him. She held her head high and straightened her clothes.

  Ayden gritted his teeth as he walked behind her. Damn he wanted a cigarette.

  “Agent Wolf, if you’ll wait outside, Ms. Mann will be right out.” The doctor nodded and gestured for Charlie to sit at the foot of the bed.

  “I’ll be right outside.” Ayden left the room and paced outside the door.

  Inside the doctor gave Charlie her discharge instructions and directions to care for the laceration at her wrist. She explained she had been given a pint of blood and if she suffered any emotional trauma, she could call the hotline.

  Charlie pondered emotional trauma. It seemed almost funny in a sick way. Here she was bald with a slit wrist, sitting on a hospital bed after almost being murdered by a serial killer. No, no trauma here. Not that the situation prior to being pushed into a lake was any better. Ayden was talking about families and kids, and though he told her moments ago, he loved her she couldn’t help think it was out of duty he said it.

  Of course, the doctor kept rambling on directions and information, and Charlie could barely absorb it all. Then she was telling her that her rape kit only found semen associated with Ayden and that they tested her for other things. “I’m on birth control.”

  “Well, if you think the test is incorrect, I would test again when you get back to North Carolina,” the doctor said.

  “Look can I go now? I hate hospitals.” Charlie’s head was buzzing with too much information to process. She gathered the paperwork and started for the door. “Ayden?”

  “You ready?” Ayden wrapped an arm around her waist. Charlie nodded, and he escorted her out of the hospital. He couldn’t take his hands off of her; he couldn’t. The only time he had left her side was to shower and change at the hospital. Joshua had left him his truck to bring her home in, and they would drive back to North Carolina with them in the morning. “Joshua left me his truck.”

  Once outside the hospital Charlie began processing everything the doctor had said. Turning it over and over in her head she kept coming back to the last part. She really needed to look through the papers but not until she was alone.

  “I must look like a cancer patient now.” Charlie looked at her lap. How could she go to Stephanie’s wedding now?

  “You remind me more of Demi Moore in GI Jane.” Ayden wanted to soften the impact of her appearance any way possible. “Your hair isn’t what makes you beautiful, Charlie.”

  “No?” Charlie set her hand on his hand. Ayden hadn’t let her go except to walk around the truck to get in. Once it was started and they were driving, he had his hand on her thigh.

  “No.” He shook his head. “Ask me what my favorite feature is on you.”

  “What?” Charlie made a slight laugh. Usually she had to keep him talking. Now he wouldn’t shut up.

  “All time favorite is your heart. You’re probably the kindest most loving person I know. Of course you’d have to be to put up with an idiot like me.” Ayden sighed. “Second would be your lips, then your eyes.”

  “Really?” Charlie gripped his hand. He was trying. She had to give him credit for that.

  “Yes, really, what did you think I was after your ta-ta’s and kitty?” Ayden attempted a joke. He never thought himself a funny man, but Charlie was down in the dumps, and he would do anything for a smile right now. Anything.

  “Did you just say ta-ta’s? How old are you now anyways?” Charlie smiled.

  Ayden chuckled. He wanted to pull her across the seat and into his lap. He never wanted to be farther than arm’s reach from her again.

  * * *

  Back at the ranch, Charlie prepared for the shock and awe treatment when she walked in the door, but it wasn’t there. The family was acting as if nothing had happened. Of course then she remembered how much Evelyn and Noel had been through as kids. How they had almost died last year at the hands of their stepfather. In reality Charlie was already a part of this family, another link in the chain of extreme events and circumstance.

  “Charlie.” Lacy squeezed her face between two small hands and kissed her several times all over. “I’m so glad you’re home now, dear.”

  “Let her go, Lace. You’re gonna smother the child.” Ben pulled at Lacy then drew Charlie’s un-bandaged hand to his lips and kissed it. “Welcome home.”

  “Thanks.” Charlie smiled graciously. Evelyn and Joshua approached.

  Joshua sniffed her. “You smell like hospital. Go change into cookies.”

  “Jerk.” Charlie laughed.

  “I’m glad you’re okay.” Evelyn hugged her. “You ready to go home now?”

  “Yes.” Charlie nodded. She was ready to go back to North Carolina. “Can I talk to you upstairs?”

  “Yeah, let’s go upstairs and get you settled in.” Ayden touched her back.

  “Just Evelyn,” Charlie whispered.

  “Oh.”

  “Sure, come on.” Evelyn headed toward the stairs, and Charlie followed.

  In the guest room, Charlie stood in front of the mirror. “I don’t think I can go to Stephanie’s wedding. I don’t think I can stay in North Carolina.” She turned to look at Evelyn. “I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

  “I do.” Evelyn sat on the bed. “You’re scared. Your worst nightmare came true, and so did your best dream. The man you feared most in your life is now dead. The man you wanted most in your life now wants you.”

  “You make that seem so…”

  “Simple, but it’s not. Look, Charlie, when I was looking for Noel, I swore when I found her, I would never leave her, but Joshua is the love of my life. I never in a million years thought I could love anyone the way I love Joshua. But here I am.” Evelyn smiled and threw up her hands. “Ayden loves you, and to be loved by that man in particular is a rare and special gift. Don’t run from it.”

  “I’m ugly now. You don’t know how he looked at me before.” Charlie pulled trembling fingers over her head then over the bruises on her face.

  “Honey, it will take more than a haircut and a couple bruises to make you ugly.” Evelyn wasn’t cutting the supermodel any slack. “But even if he had sliced your face instead of your wrists, Ayden would look at you the same. Trust me. I know my brother.”

  “You’re right.” Charlie nodded.

  “I’m always right. Ask anyone.” Evelyn stood. “Now I’m going to send him up here. Don’t break his heart, Charlie. He has a plan in action. Be pa
tient and trust him.”

  “I don’t understand.” Charlie looked down at Evelyn. If she ever needed anyone to talk some sense into her, that woman was the one to do it.

  “And I can’t tell you.” Evelyn shrugged.

  Charlie watched her leave with a huge smile on her face. Evelyn had the inside scoop on something. That she was sure of. Charlie sat on the bed and filed through the papers. She had just realized what the doctor was telling her when Ayden walked in.

  “Hi.” Charlie folded the papers and set them aside. “What time do you think we’ll be leaving tomorrow?”

  “Early. You hungry?” Ayden tucked his hands into his front pockets.

  “No.” Charlie swallowed hard. This was hard; it was complicated. “I want you to know I wasn’t raped or anything.”

  “I know.” Ayden nodded. “That and Joshua’s blood was the only thing they would talk to me about. I had to pull out the old FBI routine to get that much. It was frustrating as hell. Damn privacy act.”

  “Did you sleep with her?” Charlie felt the strain in her chest.

  “She told you that?” Ayden looked at the floor. He shouldn’t have to feel guilty about it. He wasn’t with Charlie then, but in a way he had only been with Charlie all the while.

  “Yes.” Charlie looked at him. “I never had any other man. I didn’t lie about that. Why was she watching me?”

  “She worked on the case with me. I thought it would be easier to have a woman keep tabs on you than a man. I didn’t want a man looking at you to be honest.” Ayden ground his teeth together. “I ran into her four years ago. She gave me an update on you, told me some sob story, and hell it had been a while so.”

  “So you slept with her?” Charlie stared at him, her green eyes intent on him.

  “No. I fucked her and then I left and slept in my own room.” Ayden lifted his head and met her emerald eyes. He would take that night back now if he could. If he knew, it would have led to all of this.

  “She was obsessed with you, Ayden.” Charlie saw the regret in his baby blue eyes. “I understand that. I was obsessed with you, too.”

  “Charlie, I swear I didn’t know how you felt then. I didn’t know how I felt then. It was years ago. Don’t hold me to that fire now. I would never cheat on you. I felt guilty enough sleeping with her then.” Ayden pulled his hands from his pockets and scrubbed over his face.