I’m shocked and feeling so unsure of everything that it takes me a while to realize that my girl isn’t upset about what I’ve done, but rather that I didn’t tell her and that I’m harboring guilt over it all.
Could she be more perfect?
“Baby, I…I don’t know what to say,” I finally choke out.
“Tell me what’s going on, Wyatt,” she pleads, walking back to the sofa and sitting with a determined glare. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“I was afraid you would leave me. I thought—”
“You thought I’d blame you. Yeah, I already got that, and I don’t, so let’s move on. I’m glad you didn’t kill your own cousin. That’s not something I would have agreed with, and you wouldn’t be the man I love if you were capable of doing something like that.”
“Did you just say you love me?”
Her face goes hard and she scowls.
“Yes, I did, and so what? I’m not talking about that right now. I want to know what you did with him, and then I want to know why you’re so tense. Start talking.”
“But El—”
“Do not start on that right now, Wyatt Lane. You’re lucky I haven’t slapped you senseless yet, and at this rate, you’ll be lucky to live another day. I warned you before, I need to know what’s going on. It’s the only way I feel in control of my life and you know it.”
“I shoved him in a prison in the French countryside and left him there to go nuts. And I’m not sorry. I may be too sissy to kill the man, but he deserved to suffer for what he did and what he would have done.”
“Okay. That I can accept, but only because I fully believe he would have killed me eventually and probably gone on to hurt someone else. What I want to know about is what I heard before. There were letters and packages?”
I was hoping she hadn’t heard that part, because telling my baby that some psycho is trying scare her and intends to hurt her is not something I’m down with at all.
As the man, it’s my job to protect her and keep her from feeling fear.
“Yes. They started arriving a few months ago, along with a few dead animals, and once a letter that had traces of powder on it. It scared the shit out of me, and I only stopped sitting outside your apartment when Jared confirmed that it wasn’t poison of some kind.”
I’d thought anthrax at the time and been ready to snatch Ellie up and drag her home that very day. But Miah had convinced me to let it play out so Roman and the boys could gather more evidence before the culprit ran to ground.
When Jerry had been spotted outside her apartment, we’d run with the theory that it was him trying to exact revenge in some twisted way for the death of his son.
I know differently now, but that still doesn’t tell us a whole hell of a lot.
Ellie’s gone pale again and lost that indignant anger. I hate that it’s brining up all of the fear and memories I’ve been striving to get rid of by giving her all the security and happiness I can.
“Who is it? Jerry? Can’t we just tell the cops and—”
“It’s not him, Ellie. Jared and Miah questioned the guy he hired only to discover that Jerry had him on you as protection.”
Her face scrunches and she looks confused.
“Does that mean this is a new stalker? Oh god! What is it about me that just screams ‘ready to be stalked and murdered’! I swear to God, if they so much as come near me, I’ll murder this time.”
I feel my self-control snap beneath a spate of violent anger. I may not have been capable of killing my own kin, no matter how much I hate the guy, but it won’t be that way again and I know it.
This time I’ll annihilate the culprit, and now that I know it’s not Jerry, the stakes just got higher. I could watch and control Uncle Jerry, but an unknown is a dangerous entity and something else altogether.
“Hey, Wyatt! Sorry for interrupting, bro. Hey, Ellie, thanks for being such a cool chick and still loving the world’s biggest idiot,” Jared says, sticking his head into the room.
“Is there a reason you’re interrupting, asshole?” I snarl, still tripping over the fact that Ellie has yet to let me discuss her declaration of love.
“Uh, yeah. Duh. Roman just called and it’s not good, bro. Jerry was just in a huge car accident. Seems someone cut his break lines.”
“What?! Jesus, is he okay?”
“Yeah. A few bruises and a broken wrist, but he’s all good. They need to come in, bro. If this thing is getting this messed up, and we know he isn’t the bad guy, we can’t leave him and Aunt Lynnie out there unprotected.”
“Pop’s going to have a fit,” I groan, swiping a hand down my face.
“He’s the one who said I need to go get them. Family, bro, family. You know how Pop is about that shit, and Jerry’s still family at the end of the day.”
“Yeah, fine….go get them and make sure things at their place are okay.”
He nods and leaves without another word and I close my eyes tiredly. I’m all the way back to square one here, and instead of just having to protect Ellie, I now have to ensure that my whole family is out of harm’s way.
Chapter Fourteen
Ellie
Someone wants me dead. Not only are they still out there and well-hidden, but I’m not the only target.
George has gone off the deep end since hearing about Jerry’s near miss with death and has ordered all family members stay inside the house, all except the Lanes who aren’t in the state and Roman who’s unwilling to halt the investigation to cower behind closed doors.
Poor Jude had to cancel all engagements for the time being, including a meeting with the wedding planner she hired and decorators who’d been scheduled to come in next week.
The one bright spot in all this is that I’ve finally met the two people who produced that sack of excrement, Bolton, and I’m surprised to say that I actually like them. A lot.
Lynn is a little wacky and talks a mile a minute as if she’s afraid she won’t get a word in, and Jerry is a trip.
He’s pompous and rude and so ornery that I can hardly keep myself from laughing out loud most of the time. I like him, though, because I see some good in the guy and ignore his shit because I can tell how insecure he is around the Lanes.
I won’t lie and say we’re playing happy families or anything, that would be impossible with the way George and Jerry keep glaring at each other and throwing around insults, not to mention Wyatt’s rage that Jerry won’t say a word about what the hell is going on and why he hired someone to shadow me.
I don’t much care about any of it, really, since my main focus now is getting Wyatt to stop acting as if I’m about to shatter and have a nervous breakdown at any moment.
On top of all this, my period is late by two days. If it is what I think it is, I’m going to have something else to worry about besides myself and some maniac targeting the Lanes and me.
“You okay, Ellie?”
I look up from the book I’ve been pretending to read and see Jared sitting beside me, his blue eyes way too observant for my liking. Part of me avoids him no matter how much I love the man, because he just seems to know things.
It’s creepy and discomforting when you’re trying to keep a secret like the one I’m holding on to. And no, I’m not freaking out about it or anything. I want a family.
I’m just not ready to be on bedrest for a full nine months with Mr. Guilty Pants babying me to death. I think I’ll tell him just before I pop if his behavior doesn’t improve soon.
The man tries to cut my food, for God’s sake! You try living with that level of crazy and see how you like it.
“Fine, I guess. Just wondering if we’ll ever be free of this stuff. I want to go out and explore and go to those cooking workshops Jude and I scheduled. And I want your brother to stop hovering like I’m at death’s door or something,” I huff, making him laugh.
“Not gonna happen, even if we crack this thing and stuff goes back to normal. If you want any sort of peace,
I’d suggest you keep your secret a little longer, or he’s likely to lose his fool mind and actually wrap you up in cotton wool, honey,” he warns.
“How did you know?”
Seriously, is there nothing I can keep to myself with these Lane men? It seems not when he grins and winks before answering me.
“Ellie, I watched you for months and reported back to Wyatt. There’s not a thing, and I mean not a thing I don’t know about you, sweetheart, and that includes keeping track of your cycle,” he admits, making me blush so red, I feel my face go hot as a flame.
Did he just admit to knowing when I get my period?
“You and your brothers had better keep a wide berth from me if you all want to live,” I growl, narrowing my eyes at him and his smirking face.
“El, it’s a natural part of life and not something a real man should shy away from, so stop feeling embarrassed. Besides, how else was I supposed to be the first one to know your secret if I wasn’t looking for the signs?”
“Fine, whatever, just don’t open your fat trap, idiot. I’m not sure it’s true yet, so I’d really like to at least know before he goes mental and refuses to let me walk anywhere.”
“Deal. Now then, let’s go start lunch and leave Ma and Lynn to talk while Jerry drives Pop crazy,” he says, pulling me up and behind him to the kitchen.
“Where’s Wyatt and Miah?”
That gets me a scowl and I start laughing so hard, I choke on my spit.
“Oh God, you are Miah, aren’t you?”
I’m still laughing when he gets me in a headlock and gives me a playful noogie.
“You think Jared would be this comfortable discussing a woman’s cycle? The fool almost had a fit when Pop gave us the talk and he found out that woman bleed. Swear to God, any poor female who gets stuck with him will have to be a paragon of saintliness or some shit.”
“Sorry.”
“No worries. At least you didn’t mistake me for Jace this time.” He chuckles.
“That was one time! And my eyes were still blurry because I just woke up!”
One time I make that mistake, and no one will let me live it down.
***
I’m not pregnant. I discover later that night when I stand up to get out of the bath. To say that the disappointment is crushing is putting it mildly.
I clean up and dress before sitting on the toilet seat and crying my eyes out.
Don’t be a fool, Ellie, it’s not the end of the world.
No, but it’s one less guarantee that everything will be okay and I hate it. Poor Miah is going to be so disappointed.
“Ellie? Baby, why are you crying?” Wyatt demands, coming down at my feet and taking me into his arms.
I cry harder because he’s trying to comfort me for something that I shouldn’t even be crying about. Besides, it’s just plain stupid to want a baby so early on in a relationship, and especially when we’re not even married yet.
Stupid love. It’s turned me into an illogical ninny with nothing better to do than focus on things I shouldn’t even be thinking about right now.
“Baby. Talk to me. Please. Is this about the stalker and—”
“No. No,” I rush to say, hugging him closer and taking in his scent.
It comforts me so much that the tears stop, leaving me with the odd hiccup as I try to catch my breath.
“I-I missed my period, and I thought…but I just got it, so I’m not, and I guess I got a little too excited, and now…”
“Oh, Ellie, we have all the time in the world to have babies and do and see everything you want. This isn’t the time, no matter how much I wish it were, and we both know it. Now dry your eyes and come on. Let me give you a back rub and go get some of Ma’s special tea.”
He’s being so sweet and supportive, trying to care for me and assure me that it’s no big deal. But I see the fleeting regret there when he accepts that the bond he was banking on isn’t there yet.
Wyatt is a thinker as much as a doer, so you know that he’d never do anything without planning it first, and that includes taking me without protection.
“Here, baby, drink this while I go get some lotion to rub your back with.”
“I love you,” I say for only the second time since I let it slip four days ago.
He stops mid-walk to the bathroom and all but leaps at me, his mouth fusing to mine in a kiss that leaves me tingling below the belt.
“Say it again, sweet Ellie. Please,” he begs, breathing harshly against my lips.
I obey and smile through the next kiss.
I don’t get that back rub he promised. Instead, he finally lets me have a go at him and I learn that penetration is not the only, or necessarily the best kind of sex to be had.
By the time I pull my mouth off of him hours later and lick my lips at his taste, he’s collapsed from pleasure and drowning in smiles.
***
“Oh, Ellie, dearest, would you care to join me for a walk?”
I look up from the puzzle that Jude and I are building when Lynn joins me at the table, her blue eyes so sad and yet smiling down at me.
I usually avoid her at all costs, because her sadness makes me uncomfortable to the extreme.
But rudeness is not my thing, so I try to deflect.
“Er, uh, Wyatt said I’m not allowed outside unless he or one of the brothers goes with me.”
Not that I usually listen. I’m not afraid with all the guards crawling around the grounds, but she doesn’t need to know that. I at Jude in desperation when the other woman pouts and looks away sadly.
“You don’t like me. Who can blame you, dear? I am after all the mother of…”
“Er, no. No, that’s not true, Lynn. I like you a lot. It’s just that I…oh, what the hell. What Wyatt doesn’t know won’t kill him,” I mutter.
We walk in silence as I struggle to find something to say. What can I say?
“So, I’ve never had the chance to really talk to you after…that unpleasant business with my Bolton.”
Huh.
“Um, well it’s not like I was expecting you to visit me in the hospital or anything, Lynn. I know that that was hard for you, especially after he…died. And, well, this is weird enough as it is, even four years later,” I point out.
She laughs, a sound of humorless mirth that makes my skin crawl.
“That’s an understatement, Ellie. To say that I was inconsolable at the time…well, Jerry brought in a doctor and sedated me. I couldn’t even go to the funeral,” she laments.
Like I care, as ungracious as the thought may be. Part of me is glad that his faux funeral was attended by only a father who hated him and a preacher who was paid to be there.
“I’m sorry. That must have been painful for you.”
“You have no idea. Why, I’d just lost my only child, and then to hear that he’d done such awful things….it was so difficult to get over that and remain on speaking terms with poor Georgie.”
We’ve walked a good distance from the house by this time, and my knees are trembling. I feel lightheaded and so nauseated that we’re forced to stop so I can catch my breath.
“Oh dear, Ellie, are you alright?” she asks, her eyes filled with worry when my knees give out and send me crashing to the grass.
“Wyatt.”
My head feels like a throbbing mass of cotton wool, and the only movement I can get my body to make is the tremors running though my muscles like an electric shock.
I feel worse than I have before, even worse than I felt when Bolton starved me and I was so weak I couldn’t lift my head.
“Oh God. Ellie, what’s wrong?”
Lynn is most definitely panicking by now and wringing her hands hard enough to make me worried about the state of her hands if she doesn’t quit it.
“Wyatt. Get Wyatt,” I rasp, my vision blinking in and out.
The last thing I see before I pass out is Jerry Conrad running our way, a gun held firmly in his right hand.
“Oh Jerry, wh
at are you doing?” she yells, the sound echoing in my head in a series of waves that amps up my delirium.
“Ending this once and for all.”
I hear a shot, and then the darkness takes me.
Chapter Fifteen
Wyatt
“Where are they?!”
My pulse is pounding after an hour of searching the house, only to find that my Ellie is nowhere to be found and that Aunt Lynn and Jerry are missing, as well.
I’d left earlier to rush to a meeting, a last-minute urgent call from one of my execs, only to get home and discover that Ellie is missing.
That can only mean one thing, and the thought of something happening to her because I fell for Jerry’s bullshit and let him into our home…
“Son, calm down now. Let’s go look at the security tapes and then we’ll figure out what’s going on,” Pop says quietly, his hand squeezing my shoulder when I threaten to start tearing the place apart brick by brick.
“Bro, do not lose it now. Your woman needs you, not an out-of-control lunatic. Pull yourself together. We will find her and that jackass Jerry.”
“If he’s hurt her, I swear to God I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands,” I snarl, regretting my words when I hear Ma gasp.
“It’s not him!”
Roman runs in, breathless and looking like he hasn’t slept in days, his hair and clothes dishevelled and unkempt.
“What the fuck, Roman? Of course it’s him. I should have never—”
“No, Wyatt, look at the tapes and I’d bet my next paycheck the culprit is Lynn. I just cracked that e-mail that was sent to Charlie Pyle and it came from a dummy e-mail address that led me to her IP. It’s been Lynn all along.”
The silence that descends is deafening, and I hear Dad’s uneven breaths wheezing in and out a minute before he goes pale and clutches at his chest.
“George!”
We’re all on him in a heartbeat as he grimaces and his face turns a mottled shade of red.
“He’s having a heart attack! Jace, call 9-1-1! Jude, move back. Goddammit, Jared, hold your mom while I take a look at him. Wyatt, snap out of it, asshole, and go look at the tapes. Miah, go with him and find Ellie.”
Wyatt (Lane Brothers #1) Page 12