Cutting Ties (Book 2) (Piper Anderson Series)

by Danielle Stewart

  “I’ll go back with you,” Bobby said. “Speaking of going back, do you think it’s safe to go back to Chris’s? I just realized we left Michael and Jules alone. That’s something I don’t want to walk in on.”

  * * *

  The house was quiet. Piper and Bobby had stepped out; Betty had gone with Chris and his son into town for more groceries. The opportunity was right, Jules thought, but was she ready?

  “How’s your leg feeling?” Michael asked as he came up behind Jules and wrapped his arms around her. Even though she knew it was him, even though she knew he was about to touch her, she still jumped.

  Jules hadn’t felt safe in her own skin since the day of her abduction. It didn’t matter how many miles were between her and Edenville now, she still couldn’t stop seeing the killer’s face. She had spent mere moments with the monster, but he had left his haunting mark forever etched into her leg. She could only imagine what a lifetime with him must have done to Piper.

  “The leg is doing much better, the jumpiness, I’m afraid, hasn’t really subsided.” She turned her body around, nestling into his massive chest. She may not feel completely safe anywhere, but the closest she came to it was in Michael’s arms.

  “It’ll get better, I promise.” He leaned down and kissed her. They hadn’t made love since their argument, before she was taken. Their bodies were hungry for each other, but she knew he wouldn’t push her. If and when she was ready for him, she’d need to initiate it. The scent of his cologne and the feel of his body pressed up against hers, made her think maybe she was ready. Yes, she decided, feeling her body respond with desire, it’s time. She tore her lips from his and nibbled lightly on his ear. He moaned a primal groan, and embraced her tighter. She could feel his longing and responded with a sweet purr of her own. It was clear now—permission granted.

  There were times Jules felt nervous about her ability to please Michael. He was such a skilled lover and had been able to bring her to places she’d never experienced before—over and over again. He never seemed to tire of exploring her body, treating her ecstasy like a challenge and never wanting to give anything less than every ounce of energy he had. Now as they crossed the room, clothes peeling away, he bent to lift her onto the bed and she winced in pain as her leg moved too quickly.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, lowering her back to the ground. “I forgot.” The fear in his eyes that he had hurt her endeared him to Jules even more. They had yet to sort out what they were as a couple, but there was no doubting who he was as a man. She smiled up at him and ran her hand over his unshaven face calming his worry about her pain. She lay on the bed and tugged him down on top of her. “I’m not going to break,” she whispered seductively into his ear. “Though if you play your cards right I might scream.” She ran her nails, pressed firmly into his skin, up his back and he shuddered with anticipation. She had learned during their many encounters what it took to make his eyes close and his body tremble. He was a man who loved the sensation of nails on his skin, the harder the better. When he danced his finger over her lips she’d lick it seductively and he’d nearly lose his mind.

  He’d mastered the same roadmap to her body as well. She’d grab tightly at the sheets and arch her back any time he softly bit down on her skin, just a nibble would send her into a frenzy, something she hadn’t known about herself until she met Michael. His amazing tongue and fluttering fingers roaming her body had liberated her from the mediocre lovemaking she’d assumed was as good as it got.

  Now with Michael, as he found another spot to lightly sink his teeth into, she realized this was the way it was meant to be. Each time should exceed the last. Both of them should be writhing with pleasure, and she could tell already this encounter would live up to that standard.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m not sure about this.” Betty frowned as she packed up a cooler full of homemade food for their car ride back. “Are you two sure you should go back? Maybe Michael should go with you, just for an extra set of eyes.”

  “I think it’s better if Piper and I go back on our own. It sounds like Agent Carlson’s disappearance has taken everything up a notch. I don’t doubt that we’ll get all the protection we need. They really want to work with Piper to see what pertinent information she might have that could help them determine her father’s next move. Agent Carlson always seemed to discount Piper’s ability to help, whereas Agent Stanley seems anxious for it.”

  Chris stood blocking his front door, arms folded across his chest. “I’m not a fan of this at all. Of course the FBI wants you back in town, you’re bait. Do you really think they want to protect you more than they want to attach their names to the takedown of a notorious killer? I think you should stay.”

  Piper had considered all of these angles as well. She knew there was a great risk, but she didn’t feel like she had many viable options. Even if Chris enjoyed the company, housing five people who had recently abandoned their jobs and lives was probably less appealing long term.

  “You’re just afraid we’ll put all this to bed and you’ll lose Betty cooking all your childhood favorites,” Piper quipped, knowing his sentiment was nice but that her mind was already made up.

  “Maybe,” he said, winking over at Betty. He moved away from the door and shook Bobby’s hand. As Piper approached him, she felt an odd sense of sadness. She hadn’t really thought about the fact that, after today, it was unlikely they’d connect with Chris again. He’d need to limit his communication with anyone in Edenville, and his debt had more than been paid. This brief vacation from reality was coming to a close. Chris opened his arms to her for a hug, clearly understanding the finality of this moment. Piper had been a kindred spirit to him.

  Someone who could look at him and not see everything he lacked, but understand everything that made him tick. She leaned into his hug, squeezing him the way Betty had done for her, the way Betty had taught her. He spoke quietly into her ear. “You’ve got a long ride back, make sure you get right with what you’re willing to do. Remember what I told you. As long as he’s living, he’ll haunt you.”

  She had remembered his words. They’d been swirling around in her head since he had said them. And she continued to ask herself, again and again, whether she’d be able to kill her father, given the chance. She still didn’t have the answer.

  The ride back toward North Carolina had long, stretching moments of silence. Not an awkward silence that made her squirm in her chair and search for words, but a comfortable quiet that gave them both time to run through the gamut of emotions they were feeling. Joy to have made amends. Sadness to be leaving somewhere they found some comfort. Fear for what might be to come.

  “I don’t think we’ll be able to drive straight through. We’re just about to cross over into West Virginia. Why don’t we stop for the night?” Bobby suggested as he stretched his back and moaned with discomfort. Piper was anxious to get back, but she also didn’t mind one more night with Bobby in a place she felt safe, a place she could still be anonymous.

  They pulled into the parking lot of a tiny motel with a blue flashing vacancy sign. Bobby ran into the office and emerged with a room key and a bottle of something Piper couldn’t make out.

  “What is that?” she asked, gesturing at the bottle as she followed Bobby to the door of their room.

  “This is the finest seven dollar bottle of champagne the Motel Crimson Moon has to offer.” He turned the key in the door and pushed his shoulder into it.

  “Are we celebrating something?” Piper asked as she stepped hesitantly into the dated musty room. The carpet was thick orange shag and the curtains looked like they hadn’t been updated in decades. “Maybe we should save the bottle and if we wake up tomorrow without bed bugs we’ll toast to that miracle.”

  “It’s not so bad,” Bobby grinned dropping his bag and pulling Piper in close to him. “I’m sure we can make the best of it.” He leaned down and kissed her neck sending her into a frantic giggle. Spinning around, he released her and she
flopped herself on to the bed.

  “I’m saving this bottle,” he whispered as he lay down beside her, tucking her hair back behind her ear. “We’re going to open this when we’re all back together in Edenville. When your father is in prison and you’re safe, we’ll pop this cork start our lives together.”

  The lights in the room flickered and then with a pop, went out completely. Piper closed the space between herself and Bobby with a leap in his direction. The thudding of her heart was all she could hear now that the humming of the heater had ceased. “What was that?” she asked, digging her nails slightly into his bicep.

  “I don’t know what caused it, but I sure like the effect.” He took her hand and pulled it to his lips for a kiss. “There aren’t very many things you can do in the dark, we’ll have to make our own entertainment.” He kissed her fingertips one by one, then her palm, her wrist, all the way down the soft skin of her arm to her elbow.

  “Hide and seek?” she teased. “Flashlight tag?” she slipped her free hand under the front of his shirt and caressed his tight stomach, then ran her hands over the buckle of his belt.

  “I’d kick your ass in flashlight tag.” Bobby tickled her, fingers dancing up her spine.

  Piper wiggled away and as his fingers turned from teasing to tantalizing she leaned into his lips and kissed him. She never wanted this to stop feeling so powerful, combustible. The fear of her father was tangible, very real, but the fear of one day waking up and not feeling the magnetically fierce attraction to Bobby was a different kind of frightening.

  She broke the kiss but kept her face close to his, their noses almost touching. The dark room came alive once more as the lights crackled and hummed back on all at once. They stared at each other, eyes locked together.

  “I’m scared,” Piper whispered, taking in a deep breath and holding it. When Bobby’s warm hand brushed her cheek she released it, letting the tightness in her chest subside for a moment.

  “He isn’t going to hurt you,” Bobby assured her, his hand firmly grasping hers.

  “I’m not just afraid of him. I’m scared of anything that stops me from being able to feel like this, anything that would take me away from having this kind of moment every day. There aren’t too many perks to never being in love, but one of them is that you don’t know what you’re missing. I never want to live without this, without you.”

  “You won’t,” Bobby said definitively. He had learned during his training that you never make a promise, especially when you can’t completely control the outcome. But how do you look in the face of the woman you love, listen to her ask you for something, and not give it to her? Piper needed a promise, she needed to be assured, and just like he’d give her his last drink of water if they were stranded in the desert, he’d give her this.

  They didn’t make love. She curled tighter into his arms, and though the spark of their passion was ignited, her jagged nerves needed something different tonight. One of the best things about Bobby was that she didn’t need to speak for him to be able to see that. He kissed her forehead lightly and smoothed her hair back away from her face. He’d hold her all night if that was what it took to make her feel safe.

  The next morning’s drive felt like a miserable chore. Neither of them wanted to get in the car and face what lay ahead of them. The hotel may have been an outdated dump but it was a place they could be alone together, safe. Piper was sorry to have to leave. It was just past lunchtime as they drove past the “Welcome to Edenville” sign, and Piper heard the funny jingling ring of Bobby’s unfamiliar new phone.

  “Is it Michael again? We told him we’d check in every two hours, and we have. He needs to relax.”

  “It isn’t him. It’s a blocked number.” Bobby put the phone to his ear and answered with a skeptical hello.

  “Bobby?” Agent Carlson asked in a weary voice. “I heard through the grapevine that you and Piper agreed to come back to Edenville. I need to meet with you both.”

  Bobby assumed that grapevine was not made up of casual conversations with her colleagues but more likely the questionable use of FBI technology to listen in on phone conversations and find phone numbers. Leaving her phone behind at the precinct was probably a strategic move. He guessed it had been linked to another phone or device she was using to stay connected to the case.

  Bobby didn’t bother heading down that path, she wouldn’t tell him how she’d gotten his new number anyway, so why waste the breath. “We’re planning to meet with Agent Stanley when we get back to town. He led us to believe you weren’t easy to get a hold of at the moment. Maybe you’d gone a little rouge agent or something.”

  “Frankly, I have. I need to meet with you both before I go back in to see my superiors. There are things you need to hear directly from me, and once I speak with them, I doubt I’ll have my chance to meet with you again. Please, I’m at Saint Julian’s Church. I’m begging you. I only need a few minutes.”

  “Carlson,” Bobby said, his voice full of skepticism, “if you were in our position, would you consider meeting under these circumstances?”

  “If you were in my position, you’d realize you had no other choice. This isn’t a trap, no hidden agenda. I have something to tell you. I just need you to hear me out. Please, come to the church. I have something to give Piper.” This wasn’t the brash, egotistical person Bobby had dealt with on every previous occasion. Her voice was cracking with exhaustion. She sounded desperate.

  “We’ll be there in twenty minutes. But we aren’t hanging around long. Let’s keep this meeting right on the street, in a crowded public place.”

  As Bobby recounted the conversation to Piper he tried to emphasize the strain in Carlson’s voice, the difference he heard, and the reason he’d agreed to meet her.

  “I think you’re right Bobby, I think we should go. You’d better call Michael. It’s just about that time again.”

  “Let’s wait until after we meet with Carlson, I don’t want them all sitting there wondering what’s going down. We’ll fill them in after we hear what she has to say.” The ride to Saint Julian’s Church was a familiar one for Bobby. This was where he’d been confirmed, where he’d sat and listened to endless homilies, where he’d teased Betty for singing off-key. This was his church, though he’d been away from it for some time now. As they pulled up, his eyes were drawn to the familiar stained-glass window he’d always loved. It portrayed Saint Notker Balbulus, the patron saint of children who struggled to speak. It was donated by a wealthy parishioner whose son stuttered. Bobby sometimes spent the full hour of mass staring up at the glowing colors of the window.

  “There she is,” Piper said, pointing out the car window to Agent Carlson who was sitting solemnly on the large cement stairs of the church.

  “Let’s make sure we do this right, Piper. Be sharp, keep your eye out for anything that looks like a trap, and we’ll keep it short.” They exited the car, and Bobby surveyed the scene. There were plenty of people passing by on foot and in cars; lots of witnesses, making him feel slightly more secure.

  Agent Carlson didn’t stand as they walked up to meet her. She remained seated on the cold stairs and looked down at her feet. “Thank you for coming,” she murmured. I wanted you to hear this from me first.” She finally lifted her head and locked eyes with Piper. “Two years ago I was diagnosed with ALS. I was pissed. As a matter of fact, it was no more than a month before I met you, Piper. I had a few symptoms at the time, some muscle cramping and numbness in my arm, but I could mostly ignore them. Unfortunately, a couple of months ago, it got too big to ignore. My right arm has become so impacted that I can barely shoot my weapon any more. I can’t continue to hide it.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Piper asked, unsure of where this conversation was heading.

  “I’m hoping that knowing this will give you the slightest bit of empathy for what I have to tell you. I’m hoping if you can’t forgive me, you can at least try to understand my motivation. ALS is degenerative and aggressive. Be
st case, I have a few more months before I lose the ability to control my arm and then the muscle will atrophy. The doctors tell me the rest of my body will follow suit. I’ll be confined to a bed. I’ll be a prisoner, and the only hope I will have is that at some point my respiratory system will shut down and release me from my hell. There is no cure, nothing they can do for me. When the symptoms started to take over, I got desperate. I’d given my whole life to this job, and I’d devoted more than a decade to finding your father. The trail had grown completely cold, and when the profilers suggested that was because you were still alive, I had a revelation. Your father was as desperate to find you as I was to find him.”

  Her voice grew quiet and she dropped her gaze downward again. “I set up those two attacks on campus, and I leaked information about you to the media. I drew him here. I used you as bait. I just didn’t want to die knowing he was still walking the streets. I want to live, even just for a little while, on a planet where he isn’t free. When I leave here, I’m going to resign and tell them exactly what I’ve done. They’ll bury this. I just wanted to be able to tell you myself.”

  As Piper opened her mouth to speak, a faint scream made its way to them from off in the distance. Bobby reached for his holstered weapon and looked down at Carlson, trying to read her expression. She seemed as stunned as they were about the noise. Then more screams, frantic hollering from just around the corner.

  “Are you armed?” Bobby asked Carlson, knowing he’d have no choice but to find out what the commotion was. Carlson nodded yes and shakily rose to her feet while drawing her weapon.

  Bobby looked at Piper, fighting with himself as the screams grew louder. “Stay here, stay with Agent Carlson.” He ran off and rounded the corner of the church where a naked man stood swinging a hockey stick wildly. The crowd was scattering as Bobby read the scene. What is this? he wondered, What is he doing? This seems like a—decoy.