by Jodie Bailey
“You could make a three-toed sloth so nervous it would run for the next county.” Kristin’s best friend, Casey Jordan, stood in the arched kitchen doorway, holding a dog-eared and worn book of sudoku puzzles, her shoulder-length blond hair pulled away from her face with a butterfly clip.
“Yeah, well, I think I need to lace my shoes and run a few miles.” Maybe she could talk Lucas into going with her. Except that would be the dumbest thing ever. With her emotions twisted, the last thing she needed to do was give him free rein with her feelings.
“Running is what got you into trouble in the first place.”
“Running is my therapy, like you and your crazy number puzzles.” Casey was talking about this morning’s trail run, but she was right on so many other levels. Running with Lucas had started something Kristin probably needed to stop. Even though she really didn’t want to. Kristin bounced on her toes, nervous energy pushing against her skin, searching for a way out. She pressed the brew button on the coffee machine then turned to her best friend. “You didn’t have to come over.”
“Sure, I did. And number puzzles make me happy.”
“You’re addicted.”
“Nice try swinging this to me. After what happened to you this morning, I couldn’t leave you here lying awake while you listen for things that go bump in the night.” Casey held up a hand to stop Kristin’s argument before it could form. “I know exactly what you’re going to say. You don’t scare easily, but knowing some guy out there has your house key can’t be comforting, especially after—”
“Can we change the subject?” Kristin didn’t want to think about it, but the twinge in her shoulder blade where she’d smashed into the tree kept her from forgetting.
The keys bugged her. Taking her keys and leaving everything else behind felt personal. She’d had the fob for her house alarm deactivated and made sure to set the alarm when she left to work, but that hadn’t brought her a whole lot of comfort. It was doubtful the police would get there fast enough, even with a monitored system. When the system went off last week, it took forever to trigger a phone call to her cell. Her mother’s home alarm hadn’t been a fast enough response the night her dad had lost it. The deed was done before the alarm company could respond.
“The locksmith came this afternoon and rekeyed the locks.” Still, if somebody wanted in bad enough, a lack of keys wouldn’t stop them. The guy was determined. He had known who she was, had mentioned Kyle by name. There was more to this than the surface told, but she couldn’t begin to guess what.
Not that she’d admit any of her fears to Casey. Still, it would be a relief to know Casey was bunked in the downstairs guest room. Kristin could take care of herself, but having an army staff sergeant to back her up wouldn’t be a bad thing.
She pulled the huge mug of coffee from the machine and handed it over, then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and an orange from the bowl on the table, following the other woman into the living room.
Sinking onto the sofa, Kristin started to set her water on the coffee table, but a soft sound from the side of the house kept the bottle hovering. Probably the wind. Or one of the cats that roamed the neighborhood after dark. She set the water on the table harder than she should have. Stupid day making her paranoid.
Casey curled her feet under her in a blue-and-white-striped wing-back chair and laid her book on the end table. “So...let’s talk about who played your knight in shining armor today.”
Kristin’s stomach sank. She should have known this was coming. Casey knew Kristin’s stance on dating, but the woman relished a good love story.
Well, there sure wasn’t one here. Kristin dug her thumb into the orange, releasing a soft citrusy spray, then pulled back the peel. “Nothing to talk about. Lucas and his buddy came around the corner. He chased the guy and called the cops while Travis acted like I was some weak female who needed his help.”
“Sounds like they played cleanup after you took care of the problem yourself.”
Kristin smiled and tipped the water bottle, taking a long drink. She’d defended herself quite nicely, if she did say so herself. If there was anything good about this day, it was the way she’d proved her strength, even if part of it was to herself.
“Too bad you can’t use the incident in your advertising and branch out into self-defense classes.”
No. The thought was a little tempting, but Kristin would never glorify an attacker by using his twisted behavior to sell her own skills. “I’ve got my hands full with personal training clients and hanging out with you.” Not to mention, the idea of having to defend herself if the guy returned wanting to talk about Kyle had her stomach knotted like a rope hammock.
“Hanging out with me. Whatever.” Casey waved a hand in the air, but Kristin could see it on her face. Under the tough-girl mask she always wore, Casey never could quite believe she was good enough, had said more than once she couldn’t understand why someone like Kristin would ever want to be her friend. Every time she said it, Kristin wanted to hug Casey and reassure her of her own awesomeness.
Before Kristin could say anything, Casey shifted in her seat. “What are you not telling me? Is there something more between you and this Lucas guy?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Kris...”
“You know what I can’t get out of my head?” If Kristin could possibly change the direction of this conversation, she was going to do it.
“What’s that?”
“The guy who came at me today...he had this tattoo.” She shuddered. Couldn’t help it. The thing was gruesome. “This snake on his leg. Wrapped all the way around his calf, dripping blood... I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You told the cops? That’s a seriously strong identifier.”
“I did.”
“And you’re not getting me off track. That’s not the thing you’re hiding.” Casey arched an eyebrow in that knowing way she had. “I want to hear about—”
“The guy who came at me on the trail mentioned Kyle. By name.” She winced, hating she’d confessed that much, but even though it invited more scrutiny, it was the one way to shake Casey off the Lucas thing.
“What?” Casey leaned forward and set her mug on the table hard, coffee sloshing onto the dark wood. She swiped the spot with her fingertips. “You were targeted? Because of your brother?”
“Looks like.”
“Why? What did the punk do to—”
“Kyle’s dead, Case. I get it—you never trusted him. But he was still my brother.”
“Who ditched you for years and only showed his face because he needed a place to crash.” The hardness in Casey’s expression faded, and she sat back, pulling at the hem of her purple Carolina Beach sweatshirt. “I’m sorry. He’s gone, and I should watch my mouth.”
“He was trying.” Kristin hated the weakness in her voice. Her brother had been the only family she’d had left. When they were small, he’d always played protector, even though he was a year younger. They’d been close, each other’s best friend and closest companion. He’d defended Kristin at every chance, though he never witnessed their father’s brutality. Kristin had protected him from the truth as much as possible, and Kyle had idolized the man. He’d run away shortly after their parents’ deaths, refusing to believe their father had done something so heinous. While Kristin had spent the remainder of her high school years with their grandmother, taking on her mother’s maiden name after refusing to be known by her father’s anymore, Kyle had wandered, staying with distant relatives and friends, generally getting into trouble before deciding to make the army his life. Those last few months before he deployed, when he’d been stationed at Bragg, had reunited the siblings, however briefly.
While Kyle was still a bit of a loose cannon, he’d matured. Other than being basically silent about anything personal, he’d seemed normal
...for this new, more distant version of Kyle. He’d even helped her finish the basement before he deployed, using some of the skills he’d learned earning money in high school to put in drywall and paint. Other than his utter failure at communicating, those few weeks had been good.
When he’d been killed, he’d left Kristin his life insurance and the ’68 Camaro he’d been restoring in her detached garage. While she’d often sat in the front seat of the car and toyed with the idea of turning the key, she hadn’t had the heart to drive it. It was his baby, the one thing he’d been enthusiastic about.
“Listen, Kris...”
Kristin shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I admit he could be—” A crash from the backyard brought her to her feet, and she was halfway to the door before she realized she was plunging headfirst into danger...like her mother had on the night she died.
FOUR
With Casey close behind, Kristin flipped on the floodlights and shoved through the door onto the low deck, the evening chill a stark contrast to the warmth inside.
Two men were locked in battle at the corner of the house, one besting the other.
A very familiar one besting the other. This couldn’t be happening. None of this could be happening. Heart hammering, Kristin jumped the steps into the yard. “What is going on here?”
The masked man Lucas had pinned by the chest to the privacy fence took advantage of the momentary distraction. Twisting sideways and throwing his elbow up, he caught Lucas in the chin, relaxing the hold enough to duck and run for the front yard.
Casey bolted into the house. “I’m on it.”
“Casey, don’t.” Too late. She’d already disappeared. That drive to be helpful was going to be her downfall someday.
As Kristin gathered herself and joined the pursuit, Lucas ran for the gate, pounding his palm against the rough wood as tires screeched on a side street two houses away. When he turned toward Kristin, the shadows in the side yard cast a fierce mask over his countenance, deepening his eyes and highlighting the strong set of his jaw.
The sight of him almost drove Kristin back, but the fear zinging through her had nothing to do with the man and everything to do with her reaction. Lucas Murphy was gradually inching a hold around her heart.
And he’d been knee-deep in two questionable situations on the same day. With her emotions tangled and the other threat gone, everything focused on Lucas, Kristin’s brain spinning too fast to acknowledge the enormity of what was truly happening.
Kristin squared her shoulders, half to take authority and half to warn her galloping heartbeat that now was not the time. Lucas couldn’t continue to jump in to save her. She didn’t need it. Didn’t want it. Couldn’t he grasp she could handle this? “What are you doing here?”
He ought to look like a sheepish little boy caught stealing from his grandmother’s cookie jar. Instead, he tipped his chin in defiance and strode closer with an air of belonging, his shoulders squared like he was ready to do battle all over again, this time with her. “I’m making short work of the guy who tried to break into your house.”
She wasn’t sure what spiked her blood pressure more—someone trying to violate her life for the third time in one day, or Lucas playing witness and would-be protector. They were supposed to be casual acquaintances, borderline friends, not some damsel in distress and her knight in shining armor. “I can take care of myself. Casey and I were both here, and I’m—”
“Not being very vigilant.”
Her body stiffened so fast it brought on an instant tension headache. The fear and anger at the people trying to infiltrate her life focused like a laser on the closest target in range. “I’m starting to wonder if you are absolutely nothing short of bad news.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means my life was perfectly, absolutely sane until you showed up in it. We’ve been training together for two months, and before then, no one ever tried to attack me or break into my house. You want to talk about threats? You know my routine almost better than I do. You know the trails I run on the days you and I don’t run together. So tell me, Lucas...this morning? Right now? Right place, right time? Or is this some half-cocked effort to—”
His eyes widened, and if it were possible, they’d have shot fire. “You think I have something to do with this?”
“If the shoe fits.”
Casey jogged out the door onto the deck, deflecting some of the tension. “Lost the guy. Got a partial plate.” She planted her hands on her hips, watching the tennis match between Kristin and Lucas. “Want me to call the—”
“No.” Kristin turned away from the man who somehow managed to nudge guilt around the edges of her emotions. They might not be best buds, but she knew him well enough to know he wasn’t the kind of creep she was implying he was. Sure, common sense said she ought to suspect him, but her mind knew better.
It would be impossible to face him with her accusation hanging in the air. She took two steps onto the deck toward Casey. “No cops. They won’t do anything. They can’t.” She kept right on talking, trying to stop the argument she knew Casey was putting together. “My house. My rules. No cops.” She couldn’t get a restraining order against a man whose name she didn’t even know, and it hadn’t helped her mother to have one anyway. Nor could she expect an officer to sit outside her house in case somebody tried to break in again. She was trained. She was strong. She was fearless. It was a trifecta she trusted.
“You’re being foolish, Kris.” Lucas’s voice came from behind her, closer this time.
Her skin chilled at the nickname in his deep voice, too much like the way her father used to say it. “It’s Kristin.” She turned to offer a half apology, to tell him he might not be a stalker but he definitely wasn’t her hero. The words never formed.
He’d edged closer, a few feet away at the bottom of the steps, fully illuminated by the floodlights. Blood ran from the corner of his right eye, and a red spot marred his chin where a bruise would likely form tomorrow. He’d put himself in the line of fire...for her.
She couldn’t yell at him then send him packing after he’d put himself between her and danger twice. Kristin hated herself for being soft. For noting the way his eyes had gold flecks in them, the way he stood like he had all the authority in the world, not with a challenge, but in a way that made her feel protected.
It also made the guilt from accusing him twist even harder. That couldn’t be left out there, pulling tight between them. Kristin blew her bangs out of her face and stared at a spot on the fence over Lucas’s shoulder. “Listen. I’m sorry. What I said earlier... I know you’re not—”
“I know.” Lucas didn’t even let her finish, probably understanding the way the unfamiliar apology stuck in her throat. He knew her too well, was probably nicer than she deserved.
She sliced the air with her hands, helpless to hold on to her anger and the distance she desperately needed to put between herself and Lucas.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow she could pull away, call a halt to this building friendship before the feelings grew until they scorched her into ashes. Before she turned into her mother and lost everything to a complete, emotion-fueled fall from grace. “Get inside before you bleed all over your shirt.”
Near the door, Casey cleared her throat. “I’m going to go...” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder, flustered by something Kristin couldn’t even begin to imagine. “Inside. Somewhere. And be...inside.” She slipped through the door and disappeared into the house, probably calling the police against Kristin’s wishes.
Kristin sighed and looked down at Lucas, surrendering the fight. “I guess you’re going to tell me I should see the other guy, huh?”
“It’s a wonder he was able to walk away,” Lucas said as he quirked a half smile, avoiding movement on the injured side of his face but lighting the eyes Kristin was trying
hard not to notice. “You know, I had him till someone distracted me.”
Kristin rolled her eyes and ignored the flicker of fear threatening to flame up. Regardless of anything else, someone had been in her backyard. But she was fearless, right? She flicked her hand toward the door. “Get in the house. And stop talking before I decide to bruise your other cheek.” She turned and headed for the door, her heart hammering.
Letting Lucas Murphy in might be even more dangerous than any stranger trying to invade her home.
* * *
Lucas followed Kristin into the kitchen, clenching and unclenching his fists. He’d seen the fear flash on her face, understood better than anyone how it could toy with thoughts and make them completely whacked. There had been times when he’d felt that edge himself overseas, maybe even bordered a little on paranoid, particularly after one of their soldiers was killed by a sniper while on guard duty. But being on the receiving end of Kristin’s suspicion had been worse than any blow his opponent had thrown earlier.
It still stung, even after her apology, something that had to be hard for her “no surrender” self. But as soon as she’d shown that small crack, she’d rebuilt the wall, acting once again like she could control the whole world.
She walked ahead of him, not waiting to see if he followed, her posture arrow straight. Her attitude made Lucas want to grab her shoulder and stop her, to turn her around and force a confrontation, to ask if she really had so little trust in him.
Except, really, what right did he have to ask? Whether it hurt or not, in her position he might have fired off some of the same questions. He surveyed the kitchen, searching for something, anything to focus on long enough to stem the chaos roiling in his head.