As he stared at the bruise, and thought again of the broken and bruised ribs, a deep rage filled him. Who had done this to her? She was so kind...so giving and yet somebody had put their hands on her.
Her eyes suddenly fluttered open. She held his gaze for a long moment, and then she began to weep. “Honey...don’t cry.” He hurried to her side. He drew up a chair, sank down and took her hand in his. “Please don’t cry. It’s only going to make you hurt.”
“I’m trying not to,” she said and drew in several shallow breaths in an obvious effort to contain her emotions.
“I’m so sorry. Ainsley, I’m so damned sorry I didn’t see something like this coming. I’m so damned sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you.”
“Neither one of us saw something like this coming.”
“You want to tell me what happened?”
As she gave him a blow-by-blow account of events from the time they had hung up with each other to when she had come to consciousness in the ambulance, once again a deep sense of rage filled him.
“Did you recognize anything about him? Anything at all?”
“No, he was dressed all in black and wore a ski mask. The only thing I can tell you is it’s definitely a he, and he’s strong.” Tears filled her eyes once again. “I was terrified that he was going to pick me up and carry me away and I would never see Melinda or you again.”
“Thank God that didn’t happen. Did he say anything to you?”
“No, not a thing.”
“What about smell? Did you notice anything about the way he smelled?”
She looked at him in surprise. “I hadn’t thought about it.” She frowned and then winced, as if the facial gesture had hurt her. “Now that I do think about it, he smelled...funky.”
“You mean like dirty?”
“No, it wasn’t the smell of perspiration or dirty clothes—it was a strange, nasty scent that I’ve never smelled before, and I can’t even describe it. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said.
“Ben saved me. If he hadn’t been there and yelled out, I would have either been beaten to death or kidnapped.”
“Thank God for dumpster-diving drunks,” he replied.
“Thank God,” she echoed.
She closed her eyes for a long moment, and when she finally looked at him again, he saw not only exhaustion in her eyes, but also realized whatever they had given her for pain was making her sleepy.
“You get some rest now,” he said and released his hold on her hand. He half rose up and then leaned over and kissed her softly on her forehead. “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.” She closed her eyes once again and appeared to be asleep before he even left her bedside.
He remained in her doorway for several long moments, his thoughts tortured by what had happened to Ainsley. He had to figure out a way to keep her safe. His gut clenched. He had to keep her safe, because he didn’t believe this was the end of it. Somebody wanted her dead, and Hunter had a terrible feeling that the man wouldn’t stop until he’d achieved his goal.
Chapter Eleven
Ainsley opened her eyes to the early-morning sun drifting into her hospital room. She instinctively knew that to move meant pain, and so she stayed still.
She vaguely remembered Hunter stopping by the night before. She’d felt his concern and caring, and it had almost warmed up all the iciness in her soul...almost, but not quite. And that iciness encased her heart once again this morning.
She was scared. No, she was absolutely terrified. Not only by what had happened the night before, but also about what might happen in the future.
If the man last night had wanted to kidnap her, he’d failed. If he’d wanted to kill her, he’d also failed at that, too. Would he try again? Was he out there now already planning his next attack on her?
And as always, her biggest question was who was it? Who had attacked her last night? She now positively knew Ben Wilkins had nothing to do with it. In fact, if he hadn’t been dumpster diving again last night, she would probably be dead by now.
There was obviously something good and decent still left in Ben. He could have stayed hidden behind the dumpster while she was being attacked. But instead, even drunk, he’d done what he could to help her. He’d saved her life.
She tried to draw a deep breath, but pain ripped through her ribs where the man had kicked her. Her jaw ached, and overall she felt as if she’d gone ten rounds with a heavyweight boxing champion.
Finding the remote for her bed, she pressed the button to raise her head. She moaned as her body readjusted to the new position.
At that moment Callie Roberts walked in. “Oh good. You’re awake,” she said. “I’m just going to take your vitals.” She prepared the blood pressure cuff. She plumped it up and then slowly released it.
After a minute or so, she pulled off the cuff and smiled at Ainsley. “A little high, but that’s probably due to pain.”
“Oh, I’m definitely in some pain,” Ainsley replied, even as she tried to smile at the young nurse.
“The doctor ordered something to help with that. I’ll be right back in with it.”
As Ainsley waited, she thought of her daughter. Thank goodness she was at Juanita’s. Once it got a little later in the day, she’d check in there.
An hour later Ainsley felt a little better. The medicine had taken the edge off her pain, and she drifted in and out of sleep.
She came awake again and was surprised to see Hunter sitting in the chair next to her bed.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” she replied and forced a smile. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“I’d rather be meeting you anywhere but here,” he replied. His green eyes held such warmth, such caring it took away what breath she had. He reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “How are you doing this morning?”
“I hurt, but I’m better than I was last night,” she replied. “But I’m not going to lie...I’m scared, Hunter. I just know the man last night first tried to kidnap me, and when he couldn’t get me up, he wanted to kill me.”
“Nick has been assigned to the case. I haven’t spoken to him this morning, but I’m hoping he got something to help us identify this guy.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll keep digging until we find him.” His voice was filled with grim determination, but as much as she wanted to believe his words, in this case she felt like the bad guy was definitely winning.
“Thank God Melinda wasn’t with me last night,” she said. “But what happens next time?”
“There won’t be a next time,” he said firmly. “I don’t want you and Melinda going back to your apartment. Until we find this guy, I want the two of you to move into my place.”
She looked at him in stunned surprise, and then more than a little bit of relief flooded through her. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Positive,” he replied firmly. “According to the doctor, you’re probably going to be released today. My plan is to get Melinda and we’ll go to your place and you can pack up what you need.”
“What about my work?”
“Ainsley, the last thing you need to worry about right now is your job. First of all, you need time to rest and heal. I already talked to Ed to let him know what’s going on, and he knows you won’t be working for a while.” He squeezed her hand once again. “I don’t want you to worry about anything.”
She laughed and then winced. “Oh Hunter, right now I’m worried about everything.”
“Well, stop it. My shoulders are broad, and you can leave the worry to me.”
She studied his features without speaking for a long moment. He was so handsome and so earnest in this moment. “I wish it were that easy,” she finally said.
“Me too,” he replied.
At that moment Dr. Lockwood entered the room. “On a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst pain you’ve ever experienced, where are you right now?”
“Before the pain medicine, I would have said about an eight, but now I’d say I’m about a six,” she replied.
He nodded. “The good news is I’m going to release you today, and I’m going to write a script for ten days of pain meds. The bad news is that these injuries are going to take some time to stop hurting.”
“I figured that,” she replied. She’d had broken ribs before and knew they took a long time to heal.
“I’ll send the nurse in to remove your IV and will write up the paperwork to get you out of here.”
An hour later Hunter helped her walk out of the hospital and to his truck. “I guess they didn’t feed you any breakfast. You want to grab something in the café before we pick up Melinda?”
“That’s not necessary. I’m really not hungry,” she replied.
“Okay, then we’ll go get your daughter and head to your place so the two of you can pack.”
“Don’t you have to work today?” she asked.
“I took the day off. At least when I have to go in to work tomorrow, I know you and Melinda will be safer at my place. My doors and locks are better than the ones in your apartment. I don’t like the idea that not only could anyone come through your front door, but they could also come through the door that separates your apartment from the café.”
“How are we going to do this? You only have one bedroom available,” she said.
“You and Melinda will have the bedroom, and I’ll bunk on the sofa.”
“Oh Hunter, I don’t want you to make that kind of a sacrifice for us,” she protested.
“Nonsense, it’s not a sacrifice at all. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep on my sofa. It’s really quite comfortable.”
She smiled at him. “You’d tell me that even if your sofa was made of rocks.”
He returned her smile. “Probably, but thankfully my sofa isn’t made of rocks.”
They fell silent for a few minutes as he drove to Ed and Juanita’s house. A million thoughts burned through her head as she stared out the passenger window.
Surely she would be safer at Hunter’s place than at her own. Hopefully the man who was after her wouldn’t know where she’d gone. If Hunter kept his usual schedule and she and Melinda didn’t peek outside, maybe nobody would even know they were there.
She almost laughed at her own stupidity. Of course everyone in town would know where she’d gone because everyone in town knew she and Hunter were a couple. Still, there was no question she’d feel safer staying there.
She’d have to keep Melinda out of school for a while, but that seemed a small price to pay for their safety. Or she could pack up their things and run.
God, the very thought of starting over someplace else broke her heart. Despite what was happening to her, she still loved it here in Dusty Gulch. She still believed in the goodness of most people here. This was exactly the place where she wanted to raise her daughter.
She certainly didn’t want to give up Hunter and the life she saw here with him because of the actions of a single person. She would give this plan a chance and hope within the next couple of days her attacker would be arrested.
Fifteen minutes later they were seated at Juanita’s kitchen table. “You know Ed won’t be happy about losing one of his favorite waitresses for a while, but we both want you to take all the time you need to get the healing you need,” she said.
“Thanks, Juanita. I couldn’t do a good job for Ed right now no matter how much I wanted to,” Ainsley replied.
“With that in mind, why don’t you let Melinda stay here with us for a week or two? I can get her to school in the mornings, and you know she’s always good for me.”
“Oh no, that’s asking too much,” Ainsley protested.
“Nonsense. We’d love to have her. Let me take care of her while you take care of yourself,” Juanita replied.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?” Ainsley felt the hot press of tears of gratitude. This was why she loved this town...because of people like Juanita and Ed. For all of Ed’s blustering, he had a heart of gold.
“If I minded, I wouldn’t have brought it up,” Juanita replied. “My friend, please, let me do this for you.”
Ainsley looked at Hunter and then back at Juanita. “Okay, but I’ll need to take her home now so she can pick out some clothes to pack and then we’ll bring her back here.”
“I’ll go get her.” Juanita got up from the table and disappeared from the room.
“Are you okay with this?” Hunter asked her softly.
“Actually, I’m a little bit relieved. Melinda will stay in school and Juanita will keep her on a regular routine. I won’t worry about her if she’s here.”
Melinda and Juanita’s daughter Bonnie came running into the room. “Is it true, Mom? I get to stay here for a whole week or maybe more?”
“Would you like that?” Ainsley asked.
Melinda and Bonnie hugged each other and bounced up and down with excitement. “Yes, I would like it,” Melinda exclaimed.
“Then you need to come with us right now so you can pack a bag and then we’ll bring you back here,” Ainsley said.
“Awesome,” Melinda replied and then frowned. “What happened to your chin?”
“I...uh...I took a nasty fall last night. I hit my chin and hurt my ribs,” Ainsley said. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to be afraid.
Melinda’s features softened, and she released her hold on Bonnie and sidled up next to Ainsley. “Do you want me to come home and take care of you?”
Ainsley wrapped an arm around her daughter. “No, honey. I’ll be fine. I’m going to stay at Hunter’s house while you stay here.”
“Are you sure?” Melinda asked. “Will he take good care of you?”
“I promise I will,” Hunter said.
Ainsley smiled. “Okay then, let’s get going so we can get your clothes for a week.”
Within minutes the three of them were headed back to the apartment. When they arrived, Ainsley stared at the door, replaying what had happened the last time she’d stood at that door.
Icy chills raced up and down her spine, and her ribs hurt even more as she remembered the kicks she’d received. “Okay?” Hunter asked softly, as if he knew how hard it was for her to come back here.
She straightened her back and reached for the inner strength that had gotten her through hell in the past. “I’m fine,” she replied. “Let’s just get this done.”
They entered the apartment, and Hunter headed for the sofa. “Melinda, get out your pink suitcase and pack it with school and play clothes. I’ll be in to check it in just a few minutes,” Ainsley said.
Hunter sat on the sofa while Ainsley went into her bedroom and Melinda went into hers. From the closet Ainsley pulled out a suitcase and opened it on the floor. There was no way with her screaming ribs she could lift it onto the bed.
She paused for a moment, trying to decide what she should take with her for being gone for a week or two. With her ribs hurting like they did, all she wanted was loose-fitting pants and T-shirts.
She quickly packed up what she thought she would need and grabbed her bag of toiletries off the back of the stool in the bathroom. Before going back to her room, she decided to check in on Melinda.
She was about to enter her daughter’s bedroom when she heard it...the unmistakable deep voice of her ex-husband coming from someplace inside the room.
Shock and then a wild terror froze her in place. The toiletry bag fell from her hand, and a scream lodged in the back of her throat.
“I’m coming soon for you, baby girl,” the disembodied voice said.
Peter...he was here.
Oh God,
he’d found them again.
He was not only someplace in Dusty Gulch, he was in their apartment. She backed away from Melinda’s bedroom, a scream begging to be released.
After all this time, when she was sure she was safe, she wasn’t. He’d found her, and it was only a matter of time before he’d kill her.
HUNTER KNEW THE minute Ainsley came into the living room that something had happened. Her face was white, and her entire body was visibly trembling.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked. He jumped up off the sofa.
She motioned for him to step outside the door. When they stood on the stoop, she stared at him for a long moment. “I need to go. I really care about you, but I need to pack up everything in my car and get out of town as fast as I can,” she whispered.
He frowned. “Ainsley, what are you talking about?”
“Melinda hasn’t been lying. Her father has been talking to her. I heard him just now. Peter is here and I’ve got to leave town.”
The words flew out of her in a rush. Hunter could feel her desperate urgency, an urgency he didn’t understand. “You heard him? What do you mean? Where?”
“Just now in Melinda’s room.” Her voice rose with hysteria. “I’ve got to go.”
What the hell was going on? “I thought your ex-husband didn’t care about you or Melinda.”
“I lied, and now I’ve got to leave. I...I’ve got to take Melinda and run.” She whirled around to go back inside, but he caught her by the arm to stop her.
“Ainsley, listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on right now, but we have a plan. Just get your things to go to my place, and Melinda will be safe with Ed and Juanita.”
“You don’t understand, but I need to run. It’s...it’s what we do. I...I need to find a place where he can’t find us. He’s going to take Melinda and he’s going to...to kill me.” Her eyes were huge pools of abject terror as she clutched at the front of his shirt.
“Ainsley, try to calm down. You don’t have to run. We now know who the bad guy is. We’ll get him. We’re going to find him and get him behind bars. I just need for you to give me some time and some more information. Can you do that, baby?” He took her by the shoulders. “Can you trust me?”
Stalker In the Shadows Page 13