“Kaleb?”
His fingers uncurled. They rubbed over his mouth and jaw. He dropped his arm and turned his head to her. He studied her, his expression contemplative. Then, very slowly, he raised a hand and touched her chin. He slipped his fingers up her jaw, through her hair to cradle the back of her skull. He pulled her forward. He kissed her.
It was gentle, but fueled by something dark and commanding. It lingered on her lips long after he drew back.
“I’m going to find him,” he vowed solemnly.
She turned into the palm grazing her face. “How?”
His thumb traced the curve of her cheek. “By any means necessary. I won’t let this keep happening.”
Even as her heart flipped in her chest, she couldn’t help but doubt his words. No matter how confident they sounded, she wasn’t sure how he would accomplish such a feat.
“They got into my locker,” she murmured, dropping her gaze to the photos in her lap. “I never took my English books home last night, but I know these weren’t in there yesterday.”
He lowered his hand and took the pictures from her. “They couldn’t have been.” He eyed the one of them tangled together in sleep and frowned. “This was from last night. Whoever did this, had about four hours to break into the school, get into your locker, and put these in your books.”
“Who has that kind of time, or power?” she wondered. “Who … wait!”
She snatched the photos from him.
“What?”
Not answering right away, she snapped through them, crumpling a few. She didn’t stop until she was back to the last one.
“There aren’t any bars.”
He frowned. “What?”
She flipped the photo around for him to see. “The front of the shop is encased by wrought iron bars to protect from break-ins.” She waved a finger across the front. “No bars.” She dropped it down on top of the others and looked him square in the eye.
“What are you saying, Katie?”
She sighed, frustrated. “They were inside the shop, Kaleb. They were there when we…” She wet her lips. “They were standing only feet away, watching.”
He shook his head. “That’s not possible. I would have known. I would have heard something, or seen—”
“Clearly not,” she cut in. “You can’t see that part of the shop from the front and, even if you could, these photos are very close, not to mention bright.” Her frown deepened as she looked at them again. “I had no lights on. We were in complete darkness, but these look—”
“Like it was the middle of the day,” he finished, taking them from her.
As he studied them, a sickening jolt shot through Katie, one that had her grabbing his arm as every muscle in her body seemed to seize in terror.
“Kaleb!”
His head came up fast. His eyes darted around them, wide and alert. “What’s wrong?”
“My aunt!” she cried, fingers tightening on his jacket sleeve. “My aunt!” she said again, voice rising to near hysterics. “What if he’s still in the shop? What if she’s in danger?”
He didn’t try to calm her down, or tell her she was overreacting. He twisted around to the wheel, gave the keys a wrench to start the engine and shot them out of their parking spot. Snow flew under the violent spin of the tires as they roared down the block in the direction of the shop. Katie didn’t even wait until he’d come to a full stop before lunging out and bolting around the hood towards the glass doors.
She slammed into them, grabbed the handle and yanked, but nothing happened. The locks made a loud clanging sound, restraining her on the wrong side of the door.
“It’s locked … why is it locked? It shouldn’t be … Aunt Hannah!” She slapped her hands on the glass. “Aunt Hannah, it’s Katie!”
She mashed her face into the glass, squinting through the darkness in search of movement.
“Katie.” Kaleb touched her arm and gently nudged her aside as he reached for the door.
Katie watched, heart in her throat, hoping against all odds that it would open for him.
It didn’t.
“Oh my God…” Crippling terror nearly sent her to her knees. It was solely the fact that her kneecaps were frozen stiff that kept her upright.
“Hey.” He turned her to him. “We need to stay calm, okay? Where are your keys?”
“Keys?” Her body was too numb to focus, but her brain automatically sent her hands to her pockets, already knowing they weren’t there. “My … my backpack. I left them in my backpack. I need—”
“Stay here. I’m going to check the backdoor, okay?”
“Kaleb…!” She grabbed at his hands. “If anything—”
He captured her fingers, gave them a gentle squeeze. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
The moment he was out of sight around the edge of the building, Katie threw herself at the door, jerking and rattling it with one hand while slamming her fist into the glass with the other; all the while calling for her aunt, begging for her to open the door. She didn’t care that she was making a world of ruckus or that passers-by were eyeing her with apprehension. In her mind, she was watching her parents get murdered all over again. She was eight years old, huddled in the closet as her mother’s screams and her father’s pleading ripped through her safety. Once again, someone had broken into the one place she had believed herself safe and had taken something else from her.
She was on the verge of tears when a shadow shifted on the other side. Her heart leapt, only to crash to the ground a split second later when Kaleb moved to the door and let her in.
“How did you get in?” she demanded the moment the door was opened.
“The back door was open,” he replied.
Katie shook her head. “No, that’s not right. The alarm should have been set and the doors locked and … Aunt Hannah!”
She tore past him and bolted for the kitchen. She ripped off her jacket, pitched it aside, and kept running. Her feet thundered on the stairs as she took them two at a time to the top. She was only vaguely conscious of Kaleb being right on her heels.
It took one glance over the main sitting area to know her aunt wasn’t there, but that didn’t stop her from crashing into her aunt’s room. Then the bathroom. She even checked her own room, just in case.
“Where is she?” Breathing hard, she shoved all ten fingers back through her hair. “Where … we have to call someone. We have to find her…”
“Katie.” Kaleb stopped her from throwing herself on the phone. “Before we call anyone, we need to make sure she’s missing.”
“Of course she’s missing!” Katie cried. “She would never just close the shop and go off somewhere, not without locking every door and window and setting the alarm. They took her. I know it.”
“Hey.” He cupped her face. “Breathe, okay? Just calm down for two seconds and think. Did she mention she was going somewhere today?”
“No!”
He tightened his grip when she tried to break free. “Are you sure? She drives an SUV, right? Is it parked outside?”
Katie blinked. “What?”
“Her car,” he said again. “Let’s check to see if it’s still here. If someone took her, they wouldn’t take her car, too.”
Grateful for even the slightest ray of hope, Katie twisted towards the stairs and stumbled down them.
It wasn’t there. Her aunt’s usual spot was empty.
“It’s not here,” she told Kaleb when he joined her at the door.
“Does she have a cell phone?”
With a nod, she skirted around the counter and snatched up the phone and dialed. Then she held her breath as she waited.
“Hello?” Her aunt’s voice was hesitant, wary.
“Aunt Hannah?” Relief nearly blew out her kneecaps. “You’re okay!”
“Katie? What are you doing at the shop?”
“I was just…” She swallowed hard to rid her throat of the wedge lodged there. “Where are you?”
; “The bank. What’s wrong? Did something happen at school?”
Katie laughed, weak and shaky. “No. Everything’s fine. I just got worried. But you’re okay.”
“Of course, I’m okay.” Her aunt sounded amused. “Did you fall asleep in art class again and have a bad dream?”
Katie snorted. “Something like that.”
“Well, I’m fine, or I will be once they decide to see me.” She exhaled. “I’ve been here forever! I might just die here.”
“Don’t say that!” Katie barked before she could stop herself.
“Ooookay … geez. It was a joke. But I better get off in case they call my name. Love you.”
“Love you back. Bye.”
She hung up. The phone tumbled out of her unsteady fingers and hit the countertop with a deafening clutter. She slumped forward, dropping her face into her hands. Her body heaved with the first sob.
Warm hands reached for her, turned her and pulled her into a broad chest. Long fingers combed her hair. Gentle lips kissed the top of her head.
“I don’t know why I’m crying,” she half laughed, half cried into the soft material of his top. “She’s fine. She’s at the bank.”
He tightened his arms around her, holding her so tight she could scarcely breathe. “You’re shaking.”
She hadn’t realized until he pointed it out, but her teeth were chattering and she was drenched in cold sweat.
He slipped out of his coat and draped it around her. Then she was lifted up into his arms and carted deeper into the shop. He sat on one of the sofas and cradled her in his lap.
Katie didn’t argue. She curled against his chest and burrowed her face into the curve of his neck.
No matter how many times she reminded herself her aunt was fine, that she was safe, Katie couldn’t seem to shake the gnawing fear that somehow she was wrong. That she would wake up and something terrible had happened to the only person who had ever mattered to her. She didn’t know what she would do. She didn’t think she could handle it.
“Thank you,” she murmured into the taut skin of Kaleb’s neck.
He pressed a kiss to her wet cheek. “You’re welcome.”
He swept damp tendrils of hair off her face and tucked them nimbly behind her ear. His knuckles caressed the curve of her jaw and slid down to her chin. His thumb skimmed her lip, her brow and followed the line down the length of her nose.
Katie closed her eyes and let herself just melt into him.
It was undetermined how long they sat there, but Katie stirred herself to speak first before his coaxing lulled her to sleep.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“For?”
She captured his hand and brought the back of it to her lips. “For bringing you into this. He’s only doing this to you to get to me and I’m dragging you into it. If he decides to send this to the school … it will ruin everything for you and my aunt and … it would all be my fault.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong,” he said with such certainty that she tipped her head back to peer into his face. “This isn’t your fault.” He rested his palm against her cheek. “I promise it’s not. And I’m not worried about the school finding out. It certainly wouldn’t ruin my life if they did.”
She frowned. “It wouldn’t?”
“Why would it?” he asked. “You’re not a twelve year old little girl, Katie. We’re both consenting adults. The worst that could happen is I would probably get a talking to, maybe lose my credits, but I certainly wouldn’t get arrested and thrown in jail.”
“But I don’t want you to lose your credits or your job, Kaleb. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She shifted back a few inches. “I think we need to stop seeing each other. I know we agreed to keep things quiet, but after this … whoever this person is, they’re not going to stop until they get what they want and I don’t want you in the middle of it.”
His lashes slipped down, concealing his eyes from her a moment as he mulled over her decision. The fingers on the hand she held to her chin lightly stroked her cheek. He gave the most inconspicuous nod. He pressed a kiss to her lips, lifted her up and set her down gently on the sofa as he rose to his feet.
“Okay,” he said evenly.
Katie stared at him, surprised and a bit hurt by his quick acceptance. “Okay?”
He walked several feet, hands on his hips and peered curiously around like he was searching for something.
He stopped, looked towards the front of the shop, then towards the back. He walked to where the mattress lay, devoid of the blankets and pillows that had been there just that morning. He went right to the edge, stopped and turned so the back of his legs were touching the mattress.
“What are you doing?” Katie asked, dragging his coat tighter around her shoulders.
He took a single step right. Stopped. He squinted. “This is roughly the right angle.”
Katie frowned. “The right angle?”
He raised an arm and squinted with one eye down the length of it to the ends of his fingertips. “The photos. The person would have likely been standing about…” He crossed the distance to a series of shelves holding glass knickknacks. “Here.” He turned and looked back at the bed. “No cover. I would have seen him.”
“It was dark,” Katie reminded him. “I was inches from you and I couldn’t see a thing.”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “Inches? I’m sure there was less space than that.”
Katie blushed. “What about what I said?”
“About abandoning you to the mercy of a whack job?” He tipped his head back to peer at the ceiling. “No thanks.”
“But if you stay—”
Determination flickered in the depths of his eyes when they dropped to her. “I’m not leaving, Katie.”
Even as her heart leapt in her chest, Katie shook her head. “Kaleb, I really think—”
In three powerful strides, he was in front of her. His hands closed around her shoulders and she was hauled to her feet and into his chest. He kissed her with a fire that was more punishing than romantic.
“I said no,” he growled. “This guy wants to play games, I’m ready to play.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Dude, what happened to you? You totally bailed on me. What gives?”
Katie checked her phone and grimaced. “Ashlee.” She told Kaleb as she picked it up to answer. “I’m sorry! I had to run home.”
In true Ashlee fashion, the text was almost instantaneous. “We’re in the age of technology. You could have texted. I waited for you. I had to eat lunch with him!”
Katie snorted. “Poor Larson.”
“Uh, no. Poor me. You owe me.”
Rolling her eyes, Katie replied. “Okay fine. Tomorrow. I promise. I gotta go. Shop stuff.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
After the whole lunch escapade, Kaleb had driven her back to school; but not before making her promise to meet again after school to make a concrete plan on what to do next. Katie hadn’t argued, not just because she had wanted to spend more time with him, but she really did want a plan. Plans were safe and easy to follow. It gave her something to do other than fret.
After school, she had walked home without Ashlee and met Kaleb in front of the shop, where he waited with coffee and muffins in hand. She had never wanted to smother-kiss anyone more in her life.
Telling her aunt they were working on a project, she had led him upstairs.
“Excuse the mess,” she told him as she shifted aside all her aunt’s papers. “My aunt’s not exactly organized. As you can tell, she doesn’t like throwing anything away.”
Kaleb chuckled. “I like it. It’s homey.”
Katie paused mid-shuffle and glanced at all the clutter collecting dust in every corner. “Maybe. I personally think it’s a fire hazard waiting to happen. Okay, so is this okay?” She gestured to the newly freed sofa and coffee table.
Kaleb nodded. “Perfect.”
Satisfied, Katie clasped her ha
nds. “Did you want something to drink, or eat…” she trailed off when he held up the coffee and muffins. “Right. Sorry. I’ve never actually had anyone up here, except Ashlee and Larson.”
He set the items down on the table. “Larson. He’s the ex?”
Katie laughed. “No. No, no. Larson’s my other best friend. You probably won’t see much of him. He’s allergic to school. Uh, Dylan … Dylan’s my ex,” she finished lamely. “You won’t see him either. He went to college in Toronto.”
With a slow nod, he lowered himself down on the cushion. “We should probably make a list.”
“A list of what?”
He shrugged. “Anyone in your past. Friends. Boyfriends…”
Katie grinned a little. “Well, that’ll be easy as Dylan was the only guy I ever dated. We were together a year.”
Kaleb’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “And he just up and left without a word?”
Drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, Katie shrugged. “We were on and off … a lot before that. I guess I should have seen the signs before I…” Her cheeks pinkened. “I’m fairly certain he’s not harboring any sort of resentment as he left me, so … I’m going to go change.”
She left quickly before he could ask anything further. She ducked into her room and changed into gray yoga pants and a fitted white t-shirt. She was sweeping her hair up into a ponytail when she walked back to the sitting room.
He was sitting where she’d left him, but he had her binder open in his lap and was writing fluidly onto a fresh page. He looked up when she slipped over his legs to take the spot on his other side.
“I hope you don’t mind,” he said. “I thought I would get started.”
Katie shook her head and leaned over to read his notes.
There were three columns. Over each row were the words, Friends, Enemies, and Misc.
She laughed. “Miscellaneous?”
He shrugged, rapping his pen on the open page. “For the people we can’t decide on.”
Still amused, Katie nodded. “All right, Detective. What first?”
“Friends.” He streaked a line under the word.
My Soul For You Page 17