by Zahra Stone
Hearing a floorboard creak inside spurred me into action. No doubt he wanted to talk, to discuss us, but he failed to understand that there was no us. We had chemistry, sure. But that was it. Nothing more.
Pushing to my feet, I ran down the front path to my truck. I’d driven to Maxxan from Redmeadows, despite Nate’s offer of a plane ticket and hire car. I liked driving, and it had been a long time since I’d been on the open highway, nothing but miles of road ahead of me.
I drove for over an hour, mindlessly. It wasn’t until the flashes of lightning became so frequent and blinding that I pulled over and decided I’d sit out the storm in the cab of my truck that I realized where I was. Had I intended to come here all along?
Opening the truck door, I dropped to the ground and stood in the street looking at the house I’d parked in front of. Around me, the storm raged, the wind picked up, buffeting me, but I braced my legs against it and stood as the rain started to fall in big heavy drops, soaking me to the skin within seconds.
All I saw was the house. Our house. Memories overlaid reality, and I saw it as it was then. The sun shining, another hot day in Maxxan. The front door opened, and Ethan came out, smiling and talking over his shoulder, the light catching his blonde hair, making it shimmer. I followed behind him, Abigail balanced on my hip, her tiny fingers tangled in my hair—it was long then, reaching past my shoulders—tugging and pulling and laughing at my exaggerated winces. I handed her to Ethan to secure in her car seat while I slid behind the wheel, waiting for Ethan to finish and join me. Putting the car into reverse, I backed out of the driveway, moved the car into drive, and headed off down the street.
I stood now in the pouring rain, watching as the phantom car’s taillights disappeared into nothing. Nothing but ghosts of the past. That was our last day. A shuddering breath tore through my chest, then another, and another. Tears fell thick and fast, mingling with the rain, compounding with the crippling pain in my chest. I dropped to my knees, my world collapsing around me, my arms aching to hold my little girl once more, to smell the precious scent of her skin, to see her cherub lips curl into a smile, to listen to her babble nonsense to her momma.
I sobbed, my heart cracked wide open in my chest, and I feared it would never heal, for the pain today felt as raw and real as it had three years ago, the day they died.
Eventually, the storm overhead began to clear, as did the storm within me. My tears slowed, and I staggered to my feet, shaky beyond belief at the emotional battering. I climbed into my truck, locked the door, and lay across the front seat, curling into a ball. I was done. Spent. I had nothing left in me, was nothing but a shell. Closing my eyes, I slept.
“Jesus, you look rough.” Duke’s mouth hung open, and I scowled at him, perfectly aware of my bloodshot, puffy eyes, complete with dark shadows.
“Thanks,” I snapped. The emotional storm of last night may have been cleansing, may have been long overdue, but the physical aftereffects lingered. For one, I was exhausted, and two, as Duke had said, I looked a wreck. Not to mention my short temper. I’d been snapping at the workmen all day, driving them hard to get the house finished. Brax had cleared out, no doubt not wanting to be on the receiving end of anything I had to dish out today. I knew my mood was foul. Hell, I couldn’t stand to be around myself, so I couldn’t blame him. And that made my mood even worse.
Eventually, I’d climbed into my truck and driven into town, pulling to a stop in the parking lot of Stanley’s.
“Rough day?” A shot glass appeared in front of me, and I slammed it down. The alcohol burned, but I didn’t cough, just blinked a few times before focusing on the bartender and signaling for another.
“You could say that.” I played with the empty shot glass and looked at Duke, who’d seated himself on the bar stool next to me. My best friend. And I suddenly realized how much I’d missed him. Three years was a long time.
“Sorry I didn’t keep in touch,” I said now, lowering my eyes to the shot glass as I spun it around in my fingers.
Silence greeted my words, then a hard pat on my back, so hard I almost faceplanted into the bar, and Duke said, “It’s okay, Shelton. I get it.” Which was code for we don’t need to talk about it.
And the shots kept coming. Someone dropped a quarter in the jukebox, and country tunes began blaring.
“Seriously? Stanley needs to update his collection.”
“You know Stanley doesn’t actually own Stanley’s anymore?” Duke replied.
“Get outta town! No fucking way! I thought he’d die here.”
“Seems he got an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
I squinted, studying Duke. “You bought it, didn’t you? Son of a bitch, Duke Ellis, you bought this bar!”
“Shhh, keep your voice down. The whole town doesn’t need to know,” he grumbled, head swiveling to see if anyone overheard.
“Why not?”
“I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Pft, what? Unlawful smuggler? I know how you hate being one of the good guys, Duke,” I laughed. Hilarious.
“Just don’t tell anyone, okay?” I watched as his eyes followed the path of a young woman walking across the room. He was already halfway off the bar stool and heading in her direction. Yeah. He hadn’t changed. Duke liked everyone to think he was a bad guy, but deep down, he wasn’t.
Someone took his place on the barstool next to me; I could feel their stare. I waited a couple of minutes, but their manners didn’t kick in, so I turned and scowled.
“If you’re going to stare that hard, you should at least introduce yourself.”
He was an okay-looking guy, average in every way. My heart didn’t skip a beat; my skin didn’t tingle. Nor did anything else. But by the way his eyes raked over me, the disinterest wasn’t mutual. I sighed.
“Bartender! Get the lady another one of whatever she’s drinking.”
Oh good. Free drinks. And an asshole who thought I’d owe him.
“I’ll take the drink but let me be clear. Not. Interested.”
He barked out a laugh. “You can’t blame a man for trying.”
“You expect to pick up in a place that smells like bad beer and worse choices?” I slammed down the shot and grinned. “It’s working—I’m all boozy inside.” My words were coated in heavy sarcasm, and he laughed again.
“I like you.” He was still chuckling, shaking his head.
“Wait until you get to know the real me,” I told him. “I’m a total bitch. Seriously. Run now while you still can, before I chew you up and spit you out, broken in places you never knew could be broken.”
“I love a challenge.” He moved closer until our shoulders were touching.
“Ew. Dude. No. Just no.” I slid off my barstool, balanced my hand on the bar, and waited while the room righted itself. “I already told you, not interested, not going to happen.”
He reached out a hand to touch my face, and I grabbed it, twisting his arm up behind his back and slamming his face into the bar. “I. Said. No.” I growled in his ear. “You think buying me a drink entitles you to anything? I’ll give you one shot, right between the eyes.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” Duke appeared, resting his hand gently on my shoulder. “You bothering this lady?” He addressed the man who was groaning in agony, his face squashed into the bar.
“No,” he choked out.
“Okay then.” Duke nodded, then squeezed my shoulder. “Let him go, Katie.” I looked at Duke, then released my grip, and the man jumped away, cradling his arm against his chest. His mouth opened to release a tirade, but Duke held up a hand. “I wouldn’t if I were you. I suggest you leave before the lady changes her mind and puts a shot right between your baby blues. And I can attest to the fact that she’s a damn fine shot.”
Of course, I wasn’t going to shoot the man, but I laughed anyway. The man took one last look at me, decided I was crazy, and fled.
“I was handling it,” I grumbled as the room dipped and swayed.
Duke peered
into my eyes and shook his head. “Shelton, you’re wasted.”
“I do believe I am.” I blinked, only I couldn’t seem to get my eyes open again, damn stupid eyelids. Duke blew out a breath, and then I was being scooped up and tossed over his shoulder.
“Come on. And you’d better not puke,” he muttered.
“No promises.” The movement made my stomach churn, yet I still couldn’t seem to open my eyes and see where we were going. I heard a door slam, felt the night air on my face, dragged in a deep, refreshing breath. Then we were climbing upstairs. Another door. The click of a switch; then I was being lowered none too gently.
“Sleep it off,” he said. Then the light was switched off, and I was surrounded by darkness. So, I slept.
Chapter Six
“Let me tell you how Maxxan works. Everyone pretends the whole town isn’t overrun with paranormals,” Sheriff Kevin Brady barked. We were in his office, the door closed. It was time for that conversation. The one where local law enforcement was brought up to speed on the SIA–and Secret Service since Agent Brax Lane was sitting next to me, dressed again in black jeans and black T-shirt, and looking so damn fucking delicious it was amazing I didn’t slide clean off my chair.
“The majority of the population are unaware,” I said. The sheriff’s belligerence was coming at me in waves. He didn’t like us, didn’t like that we were on his turf, doing what he considered to be his job. “Who will keep the drunks off the road? Who will keep the ordinary, every day, non-paranormal citizens of Maxxan safe? Just be a good cop. It matters.” I tried to reassure him.
Of course, the sheriff knew about paranormals. Agent Buchanan had filled him in during his time in Maxxan, but that had been on a need-to-know basis–he was given the bare minimum. But now, the SIA was here to stay, and we needed to work hand in hand with local law enforcement. I hoped it would help that I’d been a deputy here just a few short years ago. It seemed the sheriff remembered that very thing, for he sat back slowly in his chair and nodded.
“Working out of the old Shelton property, you say?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “We have the property at our disposal, and it’s out of the way. We won’t disturb the townsfolk out there.”
“And you?” He addressed Brax. “You’re from the Secret Service, you say?”
“Only here to get the job done, and then I’ll be out of your hair,” Brax told him. We’d filled the sheriff in on the latest threat, what we thought was going on at Stillwater Pharmaceuticals. We needed his help to get a search warrant. We were going in strong, and we were going in legally. Nate and Paige had already broken into the facility once. There was a strong possibility that anything incriminating was already cleared out. Still, on the off chance they were cocky enough not to move the drug they were using to experiment on paranormals, we needed full access. We needed to go deep, forensically deep on their records, uncover every little thing they’d been hiding. The only way to get it was with a search warrant.
“Very well. I’ll put in for a warrant. But my boys will be with you on the search.”
“Agreed.” Brax rose and shook the sheriff’s hand. I followed suit.
“Good to have you back, Shelton. You’ve been missed.”
“Thank you.”
Brax followed me out of the station. “This is your old workplace, huh? Before SIA?”
“Don’t play dumb,” I grumbled. “You’ve read my file. You know my history.”
But he surprised me by shaking his head. “I know you’re SIA, Katie. I don’t know how you got there. But I saw your photo on the wall of the station in a deputy’s uniform. Put two and two together. Why did you leave here?”
“Is that the time?” Glancing at my watch, I headed off, not answering him. I wanted to get back and check on the progress of the construction crew; they were scheduled to finish today. The SIA had paid an astronomical amount of cash to get the work done to our timeframes, and a job that would have taken weeks to complete was done in days. Money talks.
Plus, I had the satellite company arriving to install the dish and network the computers that should be waiting. I’d received a text to say they’d been delivered, and after waking up on Duke’s sofa this morning, I’d yet to return to make sure everything was on track.
“You didn’t come back.” Brax caught up, and I bit back a curse. I did not want to talk about it. At all. Ever.
“Nope.”
“I waited.”
“Didn’t ask you to.” In fact, that had been the very reason I’d left. I wanted him gone because the temptation was almost too difficult to resist when he was near. Why did my body respond to him this way? It was like as soon as he was within a certain radius, my hormones went crazy, haywire, and all I could think about was jumping his bones. Even now, my mind was flashing images of his naked flesh, and I swiped at my lip in case I inadvertently drooled at the memory.
“Look, we both know the other night shouldn’t have happened. The fact that it did is on me. My bad.” I kept walking, forgetting my truck that was parked in front of the sheriff’s office. It wasn’t until I was at the corner, considering which direction to turn, that I realized I’d walked right past it.
“I’m not complaining.” I knew Brax had a wicked grin from ear to ear without even looking. I could hear it in his voice, the sexy dip at the end.
“It’s not happening again.” Spinning on my heel, I backtracked, legs eating up the sidewalk at a rapid pace. I had to focus on the job at hand, then Brax would be gone, and this irritating attraction would go with it.
“Sure about that? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve heard those words from you before.”
“Look.” I stopped and jabbed him in the chest with a finger. “I’m here to do a job. So are you. I suggest we both concentrate on the task at hand. I’m not interested in sleeping with you again, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop bringing it up.”
“What are you running from, Katie?” He wrapped his fingers around my hand to stop me from poking him again, and the contact sent a bolt of lightning up my arm.
“Nothing. And don’t touch me.” Snatching my hand back, I stalked to my truck and climbed inside, slamming the door. He sidled up to the open window, leaned his arm against the roof, and studied me intently.
“You’ve made your position clear,” he said, voice somber, “but now it’s my turn. Believe it or not, I like you, Katie Shelton. A lot. And I want to get to know you a whole lot better. So, no, I’m not backing off, going away, leaving you alone. We have a connection, you and I, one I’ve never experienced before, and I intend to explore what that’s all about fully.”
My heart stopped. It literally stopped beating in my chest, and I stared at him in horror, hand flattening against my chest.
“Katie?” He straightened, concern evident on his face. “Breathe. Just breathe.”
Breathe? Was he insane? I was having a heart attack, I was dying, and he wanted me to breathe? The truck door was wrenched open, and he swiveled me sideways, shoving my head down between my knees and leaning between my shoulder blades when I struggled to get back up.
“Heart attack!” I sputtered, dragging in a breath despite myself.
“It’s not a heart attack. It’s a panic attack. You’re okay; you’re not dying.”
“I’m not?” I squeaked.
“No.” A few more seconds passed, with me gulping in big gulps of air and him leaning a massive hand on my back, preventing me from sitting up. Until I came to my senses, and heat burned my cheeks.
“I’m okay. Let me up,” I said. He released me and stepped back. I sat up, brushed the hair from my face, and slammed shut the truck door. Without a word, I turned the key in the ignition and drove away. I would have to expand that little box in my head that was stuffed with memories I didn’t want to see the light of day. Having a panic attack in front of Brax Lane—hell, pretty much every memory involving Brax Lane had to go in there. Then I’d close the lid and lock it down. Tight.
“
Who do I have to sleep with to get a drink around here?” The familiar drawl of my cousin Rae had me looking up from the laptop I was currently working on.
“Rae! You’re here!” Coming around my newly set up workstation, I hugged her.
“Of course, think I’d let you take all the credit?” Rae laughed, then cupped my shoulders, peering into my face. “How are you holding up?”
I couldn’t hold her stare, so I focused my attention on the wall over her shoulder. “Oh, you know. Okay.”
“Bullshit.” She laughed again but let go of me with a slap on the arm. “You know my lie detector is better than anyone. But I’ll let it slide this time.”
“Where’s Jordan?” I changed the subject. I still wasn’t ready to talk about Ethan and Abigail. Doubt I ever would be.
“Bringing in the bags.” I heard the front door open, and Rae leaned her head out into the hallway. “Upstairs to the left.”
“I remember.” Jordan appeared in the doorway. “Hi, Katie. Looks good in here.” He nodded to the workstations that were now set up with computers fully networked to SIA HQ in Redmeadows. We were good to go. The technician was currently working on installing keyless locks to the doors, and we were done.
“It still feels strange to me,” I admitted, glancing around the room that had once been our living and dining rooms. “Thanks for coming,” I told them both, grateful not only for the help they would bring to the investigation but also the buffer of people I could put between Brax and me. The more, the better.
“Turns out this Ridgeway chick has been a thorn in the SIA’s side for quite some time, so I’m all in on bringing the bitch down.” Rae nodded, planting her hands on her hips. “So where are we at?”
