by Lori Foster
She spotted the fallen tree right off. She also heard night sounds she hadn’t noticed while standing so close to Reyes. Wind, animals, insects. The urge to look back, to prove he was still there, tested her resolve, but he’d schooled her on what not to do, and that was a biggie. He didn’t want her giving him away.
What if a bear showed up? Or even a big spider?
The snap of twigs lodged her heart in her throat, and then Jodi stepped out from behind a tree.
Her friend kept her distance, her mistrust palpable. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
The caustic question unfroze something inside Kennedy. This was Jodi, and that tone of voice was so familiar that it worked wonders for relieving her fears. “He’s nearby if I need him,” she admitted, and she could almost hear Reyes groaning his disappointment that she hadn’t stuck to the plan. “Jodi, how are you?” Despite her worries, a genuine smile slipped up on her. “It’s good to see you.”
Lifting her chin, Jodi asked, “Do you mean that?”
“Yes, I do.” Taking a few more steps, Kennedy bounced the flashlight around the area. “This is a weird place for a meeting. It feels creepy.”
“To me, it feels safe.”
“Safe from what?”
“Anyone. Everyone.”
The reminder of Jodi’s fear broke Kennedy’s heart. Whereas she had, overall, moved on with her life, Jodi hadn’t—and probably never would.
“Have you lost weight?” Jodi was a short woman, always on the thin side, yet with enough attitude for an Amazon. Tonight she looked positively frail. Even bundled up beneath a sweatshirt, Kennedy could see that she was at least ten pounds lighter. Her black leggings hung loose around her knees and bunched above her boots. The sweatshirt slouched off shoulders that were far too narrow.
Chin notching up even more, Jodi shook back her messy brown hair and sneered, “Someone’s been following me, so yeah, I’ve skipped a few meals.”
Oh, God. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Taking two more steps toward her, Kennedy reached out. “You know I would help you however I can.”
“Yeah? Glad to hear it.” Jodi came closer.
Kennedy expected an embrace even though Jodi wasn’t usually the hugging type.
Instead, Jodi took her by surprise by snaking an arm around her neck, snatching her back against a tree. Her shoulder thumped against the trunk and the flashlight nearly fell from her hand.
It took a second for the gesture to register, for Kennedy to realize that Jodi had her in a bruising choke hold. “What are you doing?” Not only was Jodi’s arm clamped so tight under her chin that Kennedy could barely draw breath, but now Jodi had a gun in her hand, and she aimed it in the direction of where Reyes waited.
“I know you’re out there,” Jodi said, her voice hard and filled with anger. “Come out.”
Kennedy frantically tried to twist away, which only prompted Jodi to tighten her hold. Obviously, this was a familiar move to her friend, and she had it fairly well perfected.
Kennedy was a few inches taller than Jodi, and probably had twenty pounds on her, yet she couldn’t get free. Not without trying to hurt Jodi, and she didn’t want to do that. Not yet anyway...
This was ridiculous! She thought about tossing the flashlight so she’d have both hands to work with, but that might make it difficult for Reyes to see her.
Reyes stepped out with his own gun at the ready. “Loosen up,” he ordered. “You’re hurting her.”
Ignoring that, Jodi asked, “Why are you here?”
Unconcerned with his own safety, Reyes strode closer. “Try to hurt her,” he warned, “and I’ll put a bullet through your brain.”
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Jodi shouted, sounding genuinely appalled by the accusation.
“Terrific. Then we should be able to get along because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Says the big man with a weapon,” she sneered.
“To protect Kennedy,” he promised evenly. “And Jodi, if necessary, I’d protect you, too.”
“Liar,” she screamed.
“You don’t have to take my word for it.” Reyes stopped, his gaze unflinching. “Do you think Kennedy would lie to you?”
Her arm tightened in reaction. “Now that you’ve corrupted her, who knows?”
“Jodi.” Little stars started to dance before Kennedy’s eyes. “Can’t...breathe.”
“Oh, God.” Immediately, Jodi released her, then had to help support her as she started to slump.
The flashlight fell from her hand with a thud. In the next second, Reyes was there, first taking Jodi’s gun from her and then putting his strong arm around Kennedy’s waist. “I’ve got you, babe. It’s okay.”
“Reyes.” Finally able to gulp in enough air, she wheezed, “She’s my friend.”
“I know. Here, sit down.” He lowered her to the fallen log and crouched in front of her. “Okay now?”
Her throat ached, but otherwise she felt okay. Her gaze sought out Jodi. The beam of the fallen flashlight skimmed over the ground, stopping at the toes of Jodi’s boots and barely illuminating her face. One hand pressed to her mouth, the other to her middle. She looked devastated. Wounded, guilty, horrified...
“I’m okay, Jodi.” Seeing the terror in her friend’s eyes, Kennedy pleaded, “Please don’t run. I really do need to talk to you.”
Jodi was undecided, her muscles shifting, her eyes darting around.
Reyes looked up and beyond her, and then gave a soft curse. Almost at the same time, his phone buzzed.
“Stay low,” he said to Kennedy, pulled out his phone to glance at the screen, then palmed his gun again. “Jodi, listen to me. We’ve got company.”
“No.” Frantically, she searched the area.
“My brother spotted three people coming up from the same direction you used.”
“Brother?” she snarled, and then in the next breath, “I wasn’t followed! I couldn’t have been.”
Keeping his voice calm and even, he said, “We need to get to my truck. Now.”
A shot sounded, then sounded again and again in a terrible echo that split the quiet of the night. Immediately, footfalls thumped over the ground, shaking bushes and disturbing brambles.
“Assuming you can shoot, you need your gun,” Reyes said. “Now get your ass over here, but stay low.”
Oddly enough, Jodi did just that.
She stationed herself in front of Kennedy.
Well, that was embarrassing. “What should I do?” Kennedy asked. She desperately needed to feel useful.
Without answering, Reyes pressed them both down and used his own body as a shield. Silence descended, and somehow that was almost worse. There were two more shots, each coming from a different direction.
“They’ve fanned out,” Reyes murmured, but he didn’t look or sound worried.
Bully for him. She was worried enough for everyone. For Cade. For Jodi.
And especially for Reyes.
When his phone buzzed again, he withdrew it, used his thumb to unlock the screen and handed it to Kennedy.
Surprised, she quickly read the message aloud. “Retreating. Go now.”
Just like that, he surged to his feet, swiped up the flashlight and said, “Hustle, babe, while we have the chance.” He urged Kennedy forward with a hand around her upper arm.
“Jodi,” she said, resisting just enough to grab for her friend.
Jodi ducked away. “My car—”
“For the love of sanity...” Reyes released Kennedy to snatch hold of Jodi’s sweatshirt and then propelled them both along. “There’s something you have to see, Jodi, so stop fighting. I’m not a threat to you.”
Kennedy quickly took Jodi’s other arm. “I swear it’s true.”
Subsiding, Jodi picked up the pace. “That was your brother who texted?�
�
“Yeah. He’ll follow us out of here.” Reyes drew the flashlight over and around his four-door Ram truck, likely ensuring no one was near it, and then he killed the light.
“Where’s your brother’s car?”
“Where no one will see it.” He opened the rear door of the cab and hoisted Kennedy up into the narrow back seat with more haste than care, dropping the flashlight into her lap. “Figured you two would want to sit close so you can share that image on your phone.”
“What image?” Jodi hauled herself in and scooted closer to Kennedy, which put her away from Reyes.
“No lights yet, okay?” Competence personified, Reyes got behind the wheel and started the truck in what felt like a single motion. The doors locked. “I’ll tell you when.”
“Okay, Reyes.” Yes, Kennedy was rattled, but he was so calm and efficient about the whole process, she wasn’t nearly as scared as she’d thought she’d be.
“I’m proud of you,” he said suddenly. Leaving off the headlights, he turned a wide circle and easily made his way back to the uneven road.
“Me?” Kennedy asked. “Whatever for?”
“You kept it together,” he said, while being vigilant to their surroundings. “You kept your priorities straight. You even understood your friend when I didn’t. If it hadn’t been for that, I might have...” The truck bumped along. “I didn’t like seeing her restrain you.”
Both women were silent, until Jodi whispered, “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I just... It was a reaction. To a threat, I mean.”
“She knew that, I guess.” Reyes blew out a breath. “I didn’t.”
“You don’t trust me?” Jodi guessed.
“’Bout as much as you trust me, I’d say. Difference is that I trust Kennedy, and if she says you’re okay, I believe her.”
Knowing how confusing this had to be for Jodi, Kennedy patted her forearm. “Where are we going, Reyes?” To Jodi, information was power. She’d feel better with more details.
“Convenience mart or something. A place where there’s plenty of light. Then you and Jodi can...talk.”
“Without you giving me the evil eye?” Jodi asked.
“You’ll get the eye,” he said, “and everything that comes with it, because no matter who you are, no matter how much she trusts you, you’ve got trouble on your tail and I’m not letting it anywhere near Kennedy.”
Jodi gave her the most comically bemused expression. “Who the hell is he?”
A good question. There were many layers to Reyes McKenzie, and Kennedy wanted to uncover each one. “He’s a good man,” she said simply, because that much she knew one hundred percent.
Jodi snorted. “Yeah, like Bigfoot and unicorns, huh?” She crossed her arms and slumped into the corner of the cab. “I think I’ll wait and judge for myself.”
Reyes left the dirt road and flipped on his headlights right before he turned onto pavement and accelerated, leaving the spooky campgrounds and danger behind.
Or so Kennedy thought.
CHAPTER TEN
KENNEDY WAS ABOUT to ask Reyes if she could now use the light from her phone when he gave a low curse.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, he asked, “You two buckled up?”
Kennedy watched Jodi quickly hook her seat belt, then she answered, “Yes. Why?”
“Hang on.” He swerved sharply to the right.
Kennedy knocked into Jodi, with only the seat belt keeping her upright. The blinding glare of high beam headlights flashed into the back window of the truck, causing her heart to jump into her throat.
Reyes jerked the truck into the left lane and hit the brakes. Another truck went barreling past them and then immediately screeched into the middle of the road, stopping sideways.
He punched the gas and shot past them again, going half off the road and narrowly missing the front fender.
Kennedy felt like her teeth had been jarred loose. Knowing Reyes had his hands full, she kept as silent as possible so she wouldn’t distract him, her body tense from her toes to her eyebrows.
“Are...are they after me?” Jodi asked.
“Or me,” Reyes said. “Maybe Kennedy. Who the fuck knows? No worries, though, I’ve got this.”
Again Jodi gave her an incredulous look, one that asked, Is he insane?
Kennedy shrugged.
Reyes drove faster and faster, but on this stretch of road, there was no other traffic, no exits—and no one to help.
“There’s Cade,” he said.
She looked back and realized another vehicle was now behind them.
“Do me a favor, babe? Duck down.”
Confused, Kennedy asked, “Duck...?”
“Down,” he barked.
When Jodi bent forward in the seat, Kennedy copied her.
A second later, gunshots rang out, followed by the screaming of tires and finally an awful crash.
Reyes pulled to the side of the road. Before Kennedy could get her wits about her, he said, “Lock up behind me,” and then he...
He left the truck!
“Reyes!” Scrambling for the door, Kennedy opened it enough to shout, “What in the world are you doing?”
“Taking care of business.” He pushed the door shut again. “Lock it.”
With his eyes ablaze and his expression hard, Kennedy obediently hit the lock.
He gave one firm nod and turned away.
Good heavens. She’d never seen him like that. Peeking over the back seat, she watched him, utterly fascinated and scared to death for him.
In a long, purposeful stride, he approached their pursuers, staying just outside the direct beam of the other truck. It was twisted, the front end smashed against the rise of the mountain. Kennedy didn’t see any movement.
Unhooking her seat belt, Jodi twisted about on her knees and watched, too. “Is that his brother coming up the other side?”
Until Jodi said it, Kennedy hadn’t noticed Cade—strange, since he was so incredibly large. “Yes.”
“They’re unusual.”
An understatement.
Jodi nudged her. “I think they can be just as dangerous as the goons who were chasing us.”
“Most definitely.” So far, Reyes was the most lethal person she’d ever known, and, given her background, that was saying something.
Together they saw Reyes and Cade look into the truck, then around it. Reyes pried open the damaged front door and leaned inside. The headlights went out and the grinding from the engine died.
When Reyes straightened again, he and Cade shared a short conversation. Apparently the danger was over?
Not that she’d believe it—until Reyes told her so.
“You wanted to show me something?” Jodi glanced around, wary as always, squinting into shadows and searching the long, empty stretch of road. “That’s why we’re here, right?”
Shoot. After all that, Kennedy almost didn’t want to. “It’s going to upset you, but I want you to know, I’m here with you every step of the way.”
Stoic, Jodi straightened her shoulders. “What will the big guy have to say about that?”
Being honest, she said, “There’s a lot I don’t know about Reyes.”
“Yeah, well, I thought I knew him, but clearly I only skimmed the tip of the iceberg.”
Her cocky attitude didn’t fool Kennedy. Jodi was afraid, the type of bone-deep fear felt by a woman who’d once been in hell. It’d be better for her if Kennedy cut to the chase instead of letting her dread build.
Pulling her cell phone from her pocket, Kennedy adjusted the settings. Earlier, she’d silenced it and turned down the brightness, and now she adjusted it back. “A detective came to see us. He’s been hunting someone, and he thought Reyes might know something about him. Unfortunately, he didn’t—but I think I may have
recognized him.”
“Him?” Expression changing, Jodi demanded, “Is it the man who had you? The one who got away?”
“No.” Somehow, she thought that man was small-time when compared to Rob Golly.
And yet, both men were almost insignificant when compared to Reyes. They were pure evil, but Reyes was bigger, braver, smarter, stronger. Also kinder, more caring, funnier.
He was all things good, which made him a perfect counterbalance to their cruelty.
She pulled up the photo on her phone. Thanks to Madison, it was a clearer, neater image than the one Crosby had carried. Glancing back at Reyes again, Kennedy saw that he stared toward her, keeping her in sight, ever vigilant, while speaking on his phone. Maybe talking to his sister? That’d make sense, given that Madison would be able to tell them a lot about this stretch of road.
Unable to put it off any longer, she took Jodi’s hand in her own, locking their fingers together, and then turned the phone so she could see it.
A low sound, like that a wounded animal would make, slipped past Jodi’s parted lips.
Heart breaking, Kennedy knew she had her answer.
“He’s dead,” Jodi rasped.
Maybe. “Shh. Let me explain, okay?” Jodi continued to stare at the photo. “The detective said he went to the house—I think the one where Golly kept you.”
Jodi shook her head. “His body—”
“There was no body.”
“I killed him,” she growled, the words barely audible.
“Honey...are you sure?”
“Yes!” She tried to snap her hand away, but Kennedy held on.
If she released Jodi, her friend would probably leap from the truck and disappear. It’s what Jodi did. She ran when threatened, and only reappeared when she thought Kennedy might need her.
Using that to her advantage, Kennedy whispered, “I need you here, Jodi. Whatever is going on, we can sort it out together.”
“You don’t need me!” She hitched her chin toward the window. “You have them, now.”
Startled, Kennedy glanced back and found Cade and Reyes watching them, equal expressions of concern on their faces.
Ignoring them for the moment, Kennedy scooted closer to Jodi and lowered her voice. “They’re men and they haven’t been through what we have. We back each other up, remember? You’re stronger than me, Jodi. I can help sort this out, but I need to be able to reach you when necessary. I need to know you’re safe.”
