Kayla narrowed an eye. “Adam!”
“Just wanted to show them the snake I found, Mom. It’s cool!” he said brightly and lifted the reptile, twitching and jerking in his hand like a prize.
Kayla sighed and smiled. “Yes, sweetheart, it’s cool. Take it outside before Aunt Marg sees that in the house.” She turned her attention to Josh with a raised brow. “He’s his father’s son.”
Although Josh’s heart weighed heavy with emotion, he grinned. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Fox piped up. “That’s good eatin’, boy. Want me to show you how to skin that thing?”
“Gross, Dad!” Fox’s girls screeched in unison.
Josh glanced at his watch. “I’m going to head back to Dixie’s before she gets any crazy ideas, as you suggested.”
Kayla walked him to the door. Before leaving, he said, “I knew something was wrong. Dix and I had a fight the other night. When we were young, we shared everything. I just assumed she trusted me. I never thought I would have to earn that trust again. She’s been pushing me away since we found each other. I never considered another reason for her actions.”
Kayla patted his arm. “Tread lightly, CDR Hunter. Although Gesem is missing, Dixie’s past is holding her hostage. Chandler knows this, and he’ll use it to his advantage.”
“Thanks, Kayla.” He opened the door, then paused. “You mentioned that you had a moment of clarity when you realized Ghost loved you. What did he do?”
She seemed to gaze inward for a second. “He told me it didn’t matter how broken I was, he would walk through Hell itself to find me and bring me back to the light.” She brushed away a tear that slid down her cheek. “It wasn’t his words, but the fact he did exactly what he said he’d do.”
As Josh sped back toward Old Town, he debated calling Dixie. If she was sleeping, he didn’t want to wake her, but Kayla’s warning stirred the waters of doubt.
Chapter Nineteen
The core of downtown San Diego seemed desolate at this time of night as Dixie neared her destination. She’d intended on going to bed until she received a text from Chandler.
Her nav system indicated she’d arrived, and Dixie edged her BMW next to the sidewalk. A five-story structure with an exterior made from reflective glass sat to her right.
Ardon’s newest location. The firm had leased the fifth floor. Before Dixie knew Chandler was her stalker, he’d tried enticing her to work at the west coast office. He’d promised a position where she could stretch her legs and use her marketing degree, all a ruse to keep her close.
Dix gripped the steering wheel and watched a homeless man push a shopping cart with his possessions dripping over the sides past her vehicle. Outside normal business hours, the parking lots were empty.
At the front entrance, she caught movement out the corner of her eye and noticed a man and woman leave the building. The alcove entry and overhang made it impossible for her to see their faces. He walked close to the woman’s side and escorted her in the other direction, away from Dix. They disappeared behind the lush foliage planted in front of the building.
When she’d returned Chandler’s text earlier, his response came quickly.
Do you have Gesem?
She won’t be harmed.
Before I meet you, I need proof she’s free.
You and I alone. Face to face. Then I’ll let the SEAL’s girlfriend go.
He sent the address of Ardon Corporation’s office and said he’d meet her in twenty minutes.
This was Josh and his SEALs’ expertise—dealing with tangoes, as Marg had described bad guys—wasn’t in her resume. Chandler had definitely earned his bad guy badge. Did he want to look her in the face while he raped her? Was that his end game? Not that it mattered. If Dix didn’t follow his orders, he might kill Gesem.
Chandler had hunted her for twelve years. One way or the other, this ended tonight.
Dix got out of the car and slowly walked toward the building, climbing the eight steps until she reached the entrance.
The front door loomed. Were the graves on the Kallis estate women who’d accepted Chandler’s invitation? Trusted his smile, bedazzled by his wealth and family name, not realizing a monster lay beneath his expensive suits?
Josh’s intervention had pushed Chandler to act out of character.
Her ex would lose his shit if he knew what she was doing. He’d call her stupid and reckless. But she was going through with this for Josh, not in spite of him.
She retrieved her phone from the outside pocket of her purse.
If she’d done more years ago, Josh’s friend wouldn’t be in danger now. Dix was the only person who could barter for the woman’s freedom.
With shaking fingers, she tapped out a message.
I’m here.
****
Josh exhaled with relief as he parked behind Dixie’s BMW. The front light brightened the porch as he strode up her driveway. Nearly at the door, digging for the key she’d given him, he heard a small pop from the direction of her car. Familiar with the sound of metal cooling down, he backtracked and put his hand on the hood.
Warm.
Damnit, Dixie, where the hell did you go?
His cell vibrated with a call. Det. Dean showed up on his caller ID.
“Working late?” Josh asked, answering the call and checking the time on his wrist. Ten p.m. He should have been here an hour ago, but a major traffic accident had blocked the highway and then a sobriety checkpoint delayed him even further.
“Evening, Commander. Yes. I’ve been calling Dixie, but no answer.”
The detective sounded tense. “She picked up a burner phone. I told her to shut the other one off. Something wrong?”
“I have a few more questions. In particular about a report she filed in New York, but didn’t share with me the other day. I found the incident when I did a thorough search for the other police reports she’d filed.”
“Which report? She filed several.”
“I suspect she didn’t discuss the issue because you were in the room. Do you know where I can find her?”
A number of red flares arced in his mind. “At home. I’m at her place now. Had to step out for a while. Her car’s here. I’m guessing she’s asleep.”
“Please have her call me when she can.”
“I’d like to know what’s on that report,” he said, watching a silver Audi drive past her house.
Dean cleared his throat. “I’ll leave that up to her.”
The detective’s response left no wiggle room. “Thanks. I’ll have her call you.”
“Commander, I would tread lightly. This is something she may not want to share with you. I’ve brought three other officers onto this case. There wasn’t much detective work done on her complaints in the past. We’ll put the pieces together and get this guy Kallis. Be patient.”
“Any luck on the warrant to search the Kallis estate?”
“Not yet. I’m hoping tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have no further news about Captain Reynolds.”
“Appreciate all you’re doing, Detective.”
Josh exhaled and tipped his head backward to stare into the cloudless night sky. He’d been chasing bad guys for a long time. Not the same kind of assholes as the detective, but enough to put the pieces together with Kayla’s warning. He hated the thought of forcing Dixie’s hand. His stomach turned over a few times knowing what he had to do.
He unlocked the front door and entered. Striding down the hallway, he saw her bedroom door ajar. With two fingers, he gave it shove. Dix rested with her back against the headboard. In the darkened room his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. The curtains swayed from the breeze and she stared toward the open window.
She remained silent as he crossed the floorboards that creaked under his weight and sat on the edge of her bed. Dix wore a see-through, black, silk negligee, her deep brunette hair falling across her bare shoulders. With one leg bent, she perched her elbow on her knee.
His first instinct was t
o run his hand along her shapely, slender calf, but he refrained.
“Det. Dean called me. He needs to speak to you. Has more questions.”
“Okay,” she said, still vacantly staring out the window.
“Can’t sleep?”
She gathered her hair into a ponytail near her ear. Clasping the top, she slid her hand down the silky strands. “No. I’ll give the detective a shout tomorrow.”
Being this close to Dix roused more than memories. He knew every angle and feature of her face. He wanted to kiss her again not interrogate her. Josh watched for telltale signs. An alteration in her expression.
Nothing.
If Kayla was right, the healing couldn’t begin until she purged the secret. “It’s time. Tell me the truth, Dixie. What happened in New York?”
She blinked, and her gaze slowly veered to him. “Why? What did the detective say?”
“He wouldn’t tell me, but I can guess, and I’m pretty sure I’ll hit the bullseye.” Josh shook his head. “I don’t want to hear it from him.” He inhaled through his nostrils, his pulse hammering with adrenaline.
Dix bent her other knee and hugged both legs with her arms, a clear indication of resistance, holding everything inside.
“I’ve seen a lot of bad shit in my career, Dix. The brutal things a man can do to a woman. You purposely hid something from me. Tell me…what happened.”
She kept one arm securely wrapped around her legs while she rubbed her forehead with her hand as if trying to rid herself of a major headache.
“Did a date go wrong?” His blood boiled, but he kept his expression blank. Jealousy ground his guts, a foreign feeling that only Dixie aroused.
She stared at the back wall of her room. “Go to bed, Josh.”
He palmed her jaw and urged to her to look at him. Not hurting her, but indicating she wasn’t getting a free pass on this. “Tell me, Dix.”
She met his gaze with defiance. “Let it go.”
Why did she want to hide this from him? He already knew the fucking answer. “I didn’t look at all the notes he sent you. You have a couple more folders back at the Erotic Bean. I want to see them all.”
Dix licked her bottom lip, then worried her upper lip. “This is none of your business. I haven’t been your concern since you left Utah. I don’t have to share everything with you.”
“Then I’ll share my theory. I think you were raped.” He growled out the next sentence. “Then the notes started.” Anger spiraled up his spine. “Kallis’s game began. Watching. Waiting for another chance. A psychological pursuit.”
Dix closed her eyes.
“Tell me I’m fucking wrong.”
She glanced at him, then away.
“I’m not here to judge you. I don’t want to drag the truth out of you. But dammit—I will. Did you know it was Chandler?”
She shook her head in short, jerky motions.
Josh slid his hand down her arm then held her hand. “None of this is your fault, sweetheart. You have to know that. I’m asking for the truth not to torment you, but to help. I can’t avoid hurting you if I don’t know your trigger points.” He squeezed her fingers. “There’s been more than once I’ve had to weave my way through a minefield. One wrong step, and I could have blown myself and my squad to hell. I don’t want that to happen to our future.”
“Our future?”
“Yeah, Dix. You and me. I’m not clueless to the fact that we can’t just pick up where we left off. But once Kallis is behind bars, you don’t have to look over your shoulder anymore. I want all of your attention on me.”
Her lips twitched, as if resisting the words that wanted to spill from her mouth. Dix’s mouth parted and closed a couple times before she finally said, “He came in the middle of the night.”
“Go on.” His fucking heart cracked in half. Josh couldn’t change what had already occurred, but he had to hear it. “We used to share everything. Please, sweetheart, just tell me.”
“He…” She ran her fingers through her hair and exhaled loudly. “I was sleeping on my stomach when he came into my bedroom. He zip-tied my hands to the headboard.”
Josh lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.
She seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment before continuing. “He liked it rough. When he wasn’t inside me, he’d take a breather, but touch me or use his mouth as if seducing me like a lover would. I knew he wanted me to beg for my freedom, but I didn’t.” Dix pulled her hand from Josh’s and crossed her arms over her chest. “After four hours, he couldn’t rally another orgasm. I didn’t know what he’d do next. I’d been blindfolded the whole time. He led me to the shower and made me clean myself. I don’t know how long I stood there before I lifted the blindfold, but the water had gone cold. He was gone, and so was my bedding.”
“Did you go to the hospital?” he asked, hoping she’d had a rape kit done. This would be the proof they needed.
“No.”
Even though she knew who it was, she didn’t use his name. No tears. No anguish, her voice clinical, just like it had been when she’d spoke to the detective at the station.
“Why not?”
She shrugged off his question. “I went to the police a month later. Initially, I wasn’t even going to do that, but then I received the first note.”
Four hours! He’d raped her for four fucking hours. Taking his time. Touching her. Sticking his cock in this beautiful, sweet, intelligent woman and demoralizing her. Josh ground his teeth because another thought occurred to him and it nearly thrust him into a blinding rage.
“He made you come, didn’t he? That’s why you didn’t go to the hospital. It’s why you didn’t go to the police right away.”
Dixie’s lips seamed into a straight line.
He gripped his SEAL training with both hands to steady himself. Regain control. Part of this sick, twisted bastard’s game was to manipulate Dixie into her own guilt by making her come. Pleasuring her body so she’d be ashamed. Blame herself.
“He made you come, and in his fucked-up, psychotic brain it translated into some kind of twisted relationship for him.”
Nothing but the breeze passed between them for the longest time.
As calm as hell, she said, “I’ve never seen that look on your face, Josh. But I imagine lots of dead men have.”
“You knew who it was. You had to. He must have spoken. You recognized his voice.”
She shook her head and her gaze darted from his.
“Bullshit. During those four hours he spoke to you. Why are you letting him get away with this?”
Dixie brushed his hand from her arm. “Go to bed, Josh. The interrogation is over.”
Instead of letting her throw him out, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
Josh tipped his forehead to hers. “I’m going to kill him.”
Dixie’s eyes welled with tears. “You’re not going to jail because of me. That’s not happening, Josh. Never. I told you the truth. Now, drop it.”
She pulled from his embrace and sat on the other side of the bed, placing her back to him.
“Dix, there isn’t a helluva lot left in this world that ruffles me, except knowing you had to go through this alone.”
Dixie swept what he presumed were tears from her cheeks and wiped them on the bed cover. “I used to be scared of him. I kept moving. He kept finding me. As much as I wanted a safe haven, I couldn’t go home. Over time, the cat and mouse game began to feel normal to me. I didn’t want to involve anyone in my problems.”
Guilt carved another chunk out of his gut. “I wish you would have found me.”
Dix shook her head. “Look at what you’ve become. That never would have happened with me in your life. You save the world from bad guys.”
“But I didn’t save you, did I?”
Instead of walking away, he rounded the bed and knelt at her feet.
“If you want to draw your sword, do it for Gesem, not for me,” she said
To him, it sounded as if
little ruffled her either, which saddened him. “I’m not walking away, Dix. Never again.”
She smiled sadly and thread her fingers through his hair, then her hand came to rest on his jaw. “You will. Believe me.”
Kallis had just earned himself a one-way ticket to Hell.
Dix sighed and rolled onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
He rose from a crouch and lay on the bed beside her. They’d done this so many times in the back of his pickup when they were younger, but instead of a painted, popcorn ceiling, they’d looked into a clear Utah sky filled with stars.
“The other day, you told Det. Dean about the men in your life. Have you been intimate with anyone since the night Kallis raped you?”
Dix tilted her head, her eyes filled with an indescribable emotion that cleaved his heart.
“You haven’t, have you? He’s the last man who touched you. You’re his prisoner. Is that what you want?”
Quietly she said, “No, Josh. I don’t. I told you already. I couldn’t trust anyone.”
He rolled onto his side and thumbed the single tear that trailed down her cheek. “You’re the same in my eyes. Knowing doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
Her flicker of a smile quickly dissolved. “You don’t understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
Dixie clasped her hands together, pinning them between her breasts. “I couldn’t escape what happened to me that night, but he couldn’t control my thoughts. I prayed but no one came rushing through the door to save me. When he penetrated me, I needed to hang on to a memory. That memory was you. I didn’t hear his voice because I heard yours. The more I did that, the more I convinced myself and…” Her voice cracked with emotion. “And that’s why I orgasmed, because it was your hands…and your mouth, not his.”
Josh wasn’t certain how to respond as her admission settled in his grey matter.
Dixie’s gaze slowly met his eyes. “I betrayed your memory. I feel sick when I think of using what we had that way, but I had nothing else.”
Dixie Under Siege (A Warrior's Passion Book 2) Page 22
