Davis’s body struck Rafe’s back. Rafe pivoted, tripping Davis, who was clumsy with rage, and threw him to the ground.
Rafe stepped back and held his hands in front of him in surrender. “What’s your problem?” His chest heaved for air.
“You are.” Davis staggered to his feet, wiping blood from his nose as he swayed.
“Davis,” Rafe’s voice cracked and he let his arms drop. “I’m not your enemy, man. You’re …” He looked out to the ocean to try to control the emotion stinging his eyes. He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and returned his focus to Davis. “You’re my best friend. I promise you. I fought what’s going on between Piper and me. I did.” He swallowed as a humorless laugh blew from his nose. “I know better than you I don’t deserve her. I’ve screwed up in the past, but you know me. I’d die before I hurt her, man. She’s my heart. I’m a better man, a better person because of her.”
“It won’t last, and you know it.”
Rafe rubbed his hand across his chest and hung his head. His heart pounded hard against his ribs. How could he get Davis to understand? Rafe sniffed as tears dropped from his nose and splashed onto the decking.
Rafe wiped blood from his mouth. He couldn’t talk to Davis when he was like this. Might never be able to talk to his best friend again. Rafe turned his back on the one person he’d always trusted and walked away.
Nineteen
“Idiots. Rolling around like a couple of children,” Piper muttered as she stomped through trees.
Did Davis really think she did what he said? The pain jabbed at her heart again, and she doubled over. How could he say something so horrid to her? How could he think so low of Rafe?
Her chest heated again, pushing the pain to a dull pulse. She spun back toward the beach. He thought he could cut her down like that? She had a few of her own cannons she could blast his way. She stopped short, shook her head, then went back the way she had originally been heading.
She didn’t want to wound Davis. He obviously hurt enough already. She slowed her pace. He never would’ve said such things to her if something wasn’t tormenting him. What if he truly was against her and Rafe being together?
She froze.
What if Rafe listened?
She’d seen the doubt in the faraway look in Rafe’s eyes. When he’d pressed her hand against his cheek, she could feel his goodbye building between them. He hadn’t reacted once to the horrid things Davis had said about Rafe. No, he’d flown into action after Davis’s slashing comments turned to her. So, either Rafe believed what Davis said, or Rafe was trying not to rile Davis more.
From Rafe’s monotone voice when he’d said her name and tried to lead her away from her brother, she’d bet her last dollar Rafe thought Davis spoke the truth that she and Rafe shouldn’t be together. The heat rose in her cheeks again and the shard in her heart twisted more firmly in place. She wanted Rafe to forget his past, or at least not let it strangle him anymore.
She tipped her head back as she meandered through the trees. The melodic singing of the birds helped her focus through the emotions that had overwhelmed her rationale. She had a lifetime to help Rafe slay his demons. Shoot. She’d take up the sword herself until he found the strength to do it.
She could do the same for Davis as well. She’d spent the last ten years praying for both their safety during their physical battles while in the Army. Now, the war they both fought, while spiritual, raged just as brutal and could destroy every good thing Rafe and Davis had in their lives.
She glanced around at the coconut trees and tropical brush, pushing her shoulders back as her spirit filled with purpose. She’d have to pray for strength. Being on the front lines of this battle was bound to hurt, especially if Rafe’s doubt grew and Davis continued to spew nastiness. Yet, she’d spent enough time hiding in a foxhole, thinking her passive involvement in life would satisfy.
The birds’ song morphed to chaotic squawking. The sound scraped down her spine like fingernails on a chalkboard. The enemy already pushed against her newfound determination. The clamoring increased with the sudden flapping of a hundred wings.
She wrapped her arms around herself and narrowed her eyes. “Devil, you better just move on. Your intimidation won’t work here.”
Hard arms clamped around her, pinning hers to her body.
“Wanna bet?” A voice filled with menace bubbled acid in her stomach.
She whimpered, the sound hardly registering over the thrashing of her heart in her ears. Her mouth opened as a primal scream crawled up her throat. Pain spiked through the back of her head, crumpling her knees beneath her.
Rafe glanced at his watch as he paced in front of the living room window. His stomach attempted to crawl out of his throat. There was no reason for the anxiety, but it persisted to claw its way up with each second that passed.
Was he worried she wouldn’t forgive him? He pushed his hand through his hair and shook his head. No, that wasn’t it.
“Dude, you wear out Zeke’s floor, and he won’t be happy.” Derrick flipped the page of his Louis L’Amour book without looking up. “What’s got your boxers all in a bunch?”
“It’s Piper.”
“I’ve only known her a week, and even I know she’ll forgive you two bozos for decking it out.” Derrick snorted. “My bet is she comes back in and is ready to kiss all your boo-boos better.”
“Nah, it’s not that.” Rafe stopped, the building in his chest almost overpowering all other thought. “Something’s not right.”
He took off at a run for the door. Derrick tossed the book aside and vaulted from the couch to follow. Rafe had to find Piper and find her now.
“What’s wrong?” Davis called from the hallway, but Rafe didn’t have time to answer.
“Piper.” Derrick’s voice strained behind Rafe as he sprinted down the stairs to the cabana.
Rafe rushed up the beach, pushing as hard as he could. He veered into the foliage where she had turned and focused on the slight dips in the sand. He stumbled to a stop as the footprints crisscrossed over themselves. He studied them, trying to figure out their direction. Davis and Derrick arrived, sucking air as their chests heaved.
“Still fast as lightning.” Davis shook his head and put his hands around his mouth. “Piper!”
Rafe signaled for them to fan out and to spread in the direction she had run. Why wasn’t she answering? Rafe’s gut bubbled with the burning acid of fear.
“Rafe!” Derrick’s call pulled Rafe’s attention.
He pushed through the brush and stopped short by Derrick as he crouched where he surveyed the ground. Rafe hated tracking in loose sand where prints shifted and filled with the slightest disturbance. Davis barreled through the leaves on the opposite side. He gave Rafe a wide-eyed look that had to mirror his own.
“There was someone else with her.” Derrick’s deep voice steeled.
Rafe swallowed the bile that filled his throat. He snapped his head to the ground and searched for what had happened.
“Here.” Davis pointed and took off through the palms across the island away from the house.
Rafe followed, not allowing the sight of drag marks through the sand to freeze him. He stumbled out of the brush onto the empty beach. A large divot in the sand and the marks of a recently moored boat were the only indication someone had been there.
“Piper!” Davis’s anguished yell as he fell to his knees raised all the hairs on Rafe’s neck.
He’d failed her.
Vomit spewed out of his mouth as he doubled over. How had they been found? God, please clear my mind.
Peace settled over Rafe, though his skin still buzzed. He wanted to run, to do anything that would get Piper back to him, but he stilled. He bowed his head and clenched his fists at his side, willing his mind to slow enough to reveal what eluded him.
Cold wind whipped against his face, causing him to shiver and reminding him of the blizzard that had assaulted the ranch. He thought of his and Piper’s trip to
the store, and how the stalker had left her that rose. He furrowed his forehead. No one could’ve sat in that storm for days waiting for them to leave. If the freezing temperatures hadn’t driven the sicko in, the snowplows would have buried his vehicle in the snow when they’d cleaned the roads that morning.
Which meant …
Rafe’s head snapped up, and he bolted back to the house.
“What do you have?” Derrick’s voice hollered after Rafe.
“Tracker!”
Why hadn’t he thought of it before? If the guy hadn’t been stalking the house, he had somehow put a tracker on Piper. Rafe wanted Davis to take another swing at his head for being so stupid. He’d been so focused on tracking the messages Piper had received, he never thought about how the stalker kept finding her.
He banged into the house and shot to her room. The space smelled of her. The rich scent that normally pooled heat in his stomach stabbed pain through his heart. Would he ever bury his face in her hair and breathe her in again? Had he lost her before he ever got to tell her he loved her? He longed to tell her that her dream of marriage filled him with so much hope he wanted to cry.
He pushed the doubt aside and focused. All that mattered was Piper. All other thoughts could wait.
He crossed to her dresser and snatched her purse. The contents tumbled onto the bed just as Derrick’s and Davis’s thundering steps echoed down the hall.
The instant they stepped in the room, Rafe shot orders. “Search her stuff. The guy put a tracker on her somehow.”
Rafe rifled through lipstick, gum, and gluten-free snacks. He turned the purse inside-out and searched all the seams. When he came up empty, he scoured the items again, opening packages and wrappers. Pulling the items out of her wallet, a flash of shiny on a business card caught his eye. White-hot anger rushed up his neck as he lifted it to examine it, his eyes widening at what this meant.
Twenty
Piper stirred as a bird squawked obnoxiously out her window. Stupid tropical birds. Didn’t they know it was rude to wake people up? Maybe she could drown them out if she pressed the other pillow over her ear.
She went to roll over, and pain spiked through her skull. She moved her hands to cup her head, but something tight and biting stopped them. Her eyes flew open and her heart pounded. She squinted as blinding light exploded in her head, making her sick to her stomach.
She tried moving her legs and arms, but they wouldn’t budge. Her breath rasped fast, and she willed it to slow before she passed out. She opened one eye carefully, then the other. A scream built in her throat as her bound hands and feet filled her vision, but she pushed it down. She had to keep her wits. Maybe she could figure out how to escape.
She glanced around the room, pushing past the pain in her head, and sat up in the dingy bed. Her feet were bound together with zip ties and then tied to the brass footboard. The rope also connected her ankles to the zip ties wrapped around her wrists. She twisted her hands and feet, and the hard plastic cut into her bare skin.
Come on, Piper. Think. What had Davis drilled into her and Chloe’s brains that one time he came home all geared up and forced survival school on them?
Assess your surroundings. Davis’s voice filled her brain.
“Okay,” she whispered hoarsely before squeezing her lips tight. She didn’t want her captor to know she was awake.
She scanned the room again, taking in every corner. The furnishings were sparse, just a rickety table and chair pushed against the corrugated tin wall and a kitchen made of crates stacked on their sides with a slab of plywood laid on top for a counter. The wind rattled the metal siding and roof. The plastic covering the window fluttered violently.
If she could get her hands and feet free, she could easily get out the window. She focused on the zip ties on her wrists. Good. It wasn’t handcuffs. She bent her head to her hands, took the end of the zip tie in-between her teeth, and pulled, tightening the binding as far as it would go. Lifting her hands as high as she could get them with the rope tied to her feet, she slammed her wrists down against her knees. She bit her lips to keep her whimper in as the plastic held and sliced her skin.
Please. This had to work. She adjusted her position, raised her hands high, then, with as much force as she could muster, brought her hands down, ramming the tie into her gut. The snap of the plastic sprung tears to her eyes, which she blinked away. She wasn’t free yet.
Her heart picked up its beat, urging her to hurry. She wouldn’t be able to do the same thing with her legs without making a ton of noise. She untied the rope, then felt in her hair. She huffed out a shaky breath and smiled when her finger connected with the bobby pin. She yanked it out, popped the plastic tip off the end, then shoved the metal into the connector on the zip tie.
She just needed to disrupt the teeth from gripping the plastic. Her hands shook and grew slick with blood that ran down her wrists from where the ties had cut. She wiped her hands on the bedding and tried again. As she pulled against the tie, she felt it give and her feet fell apart as the zip tie broke open.
Relief ballooned so light she could’ve floated out of the shack. Since that wasn’t possible, she tiptoed to the chair, picked it up as silently as she could, and placed it under the window. Would the metal hold her or fold under her weight? What would she find when she got to the other side?
It didn’t matter. She didn’t dare try the door, and she couldn’t stay here. Sketchy window it was. She climbed up onto the chair, ripped the plastic off the window, and tested her body on the bottom of the opening. The metal groaned, but just a little. The opening was small though, and there wasn’t any way for her to hold on. She’d have to lead with her head and fall out to escape.
She poked her head out, looking left and right. Sand and palm trees greeted her. Her stomach dropped to her toes. She was hoping for people, someone she might get help from. She squared her shoulders. She didn’t need help. She could get free and figure the next step later.
Glancing down, she assessed that the drop wouldn’t be far and the sand would cushion the landing. The wind whipped her hair in front of her face and made her shiver. Her eyes widened at the sinister dark clouds building on the horizon. She needed to get out and find a place to hole up fast.
She leaned farther out, cringing as the metal groaned beneath her and sliced into her belly. She tucked her head just as the sound of the door opening scraped against the planked floor.
“No!” A bellow behind her had her letting herself fall forward.
The air whooshed out of her as she thudded onto the sand. Move. Hurry. She scrambled, trying to get to her knees when a roar sounded through the thin metal, chilling her more than the cold wind beating against her skin. She pushed to her feet just as something slammed into her back, throwing her to the ground.
She threw her elbow backward as hard as she could. The crunch of bone on bone and the enraged curse gave her little satisfaction as her assailant shoved her face into the sand. She flailed her arms, scratching at the hand gripping her hair. She couldn’t breathe—needed air. She didn’t want to die here.
Doubling her strength, she threw her arm back toward her attacker. When it connected and knocked him off-balance, she used the momentum to twist, throwing a handful of sand toward his face. She didn’t stop to see if it worked, just got to her feet and took her first glorious step to freedom.
Arms wrapped around her ankles, and she went down hard, smacking her head against the metal shack. She kicked her feet and threw her fists. Anything she could think of to get free. Strong legs wrapped around hers and the weight of her attacker pressed against her torso, pinning her arms in his hands.
“No.” She shook her head as her captor’s face fully registered. “No, not you.”
“Hello, Piper.”
Eyes that had always been kind hardened in anger as he lifted his fist and slammed it against her temple. Her heart sank as everything went black.
Twenty-One
“Elias Drake.” Rafe d
ashed out of the room toward the office, anger building hot in his chest.
“The drummer?” Derrick called after him.
Rafe stalked into the office and jammed the keys on his keyboard to pull up his computer programs. While they booted up, he twisted the sophisticated tracking device masked as a business card in his hand. “I think he’s been stalking Piper for a while.”
Derrick’s eyes narrowed as he reached out and grabbed the tracker. “This is some sophisticated tech.”
Rafe nodded, glancing at his computer. Why was it taking so long for it to load? He paced to the window and back as Davis came into the small space.
“D, man, think you can call up Zeke and get someone on my computers back home? We need to see what I missed when I did a background check on the band. With this computer, I won’t be able to do everything here.”
“On it.” Derrick handed Davis the card, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone as he headed out of the office.
Rafe’s computer beeped at him, indicating that the system was up and running. He crashed into the chair and raced his fingers over the keyboard. He’d been wasting time running down rabbit trails that led to nowhere. A sharp pain speared up his cheek where he clenched his jaw. How could he have possibly missed all of this?
He shook off the shame and anger. Whining about it wouldn’t save Piper. Now that he knew how the creep was keeping her in his sights, Rafe could trace the tracker back to its source. Just a little trick he picked up in special ops school of taking down the bad guys.
“Can you find her?” Davis leaned against the wall, his face tight with worry.
“Yeah. It’s not easy, but I should be able to figure out where the device was bouncing to,” Rafe answered as he typed code into the program. He held out his hand to Davis, who placed the card in Rafe’s palm.
“How long will it take?”
Discovering Rafe Page 13
