Lifeline

by Christy Barritt

  A rapping noise cut through the air. The door. Someone was at the door.

  Bradley stood, his hand out and sending a clear “stay back” message. He crept toward the door when a deep voice cut through the air. “Bradley, it’s Jack and Rachel. Denton and Elle are on their way up.”

  Bradley opened the door, and the couple strode inside, blankets in hand. Jack was tall and broad with chiseled features, and Rachel was a pretty brunette with petite features and a wide smile.

  “It’s bonfire night,” the woman said as she extended her hand. “I’m Rachel Sergeant, and this is my husband, Jack.”

  Julianne rose to meet her. “Julianne. Nice to meet you.”

  Rachel turned back toward Bradley. “I know you have a lot going on, and I also know that you probably forgot about our plans for this evening. But we figured you could use the distraction.”

  Jack Sergeant stepped forward. “We figured we should be able to hold our own pretty well, even with everything that’s been going on.”

  “Even people in danger need to have a little fun.” Rachel’s voice sobered. “Believe me. I’ve been there.” Her gaze focused on Julianne, compassion clearly shining from the depths of her brown eyes.

  Fun? The chance to forget—even for a minute—about everything that was going on? The idea had its appeal. Come to think of it, when was the last time Julianne could say she’d had fun? Probably not since before she’d met Darrell. Life had changed then, and not for the best.

  Julianne glanced at Bradley to determine his feelings, and she saw hesitation in his deep breath, in the way his hands were stuffed into his pockets. “You’re right. I’d forgotten that I’d said we could have a bonfire tonight. But as you mentioned, Rachel, there’s a lot going on. I’m not sure it’s a good idea...”

  The pretty brunette grabbed his arm and shook him, the action playful but not flirty. “Don’t back out on us now, Bradley. We even got a babysitter for the night.”

  Another couple walked inside, the man with a bit of a bad-boy appeal with his shadow of a beard, rakish grin and twinkling eyes. The woman with him was strikingly beautiful in a very classic way. Elle Philips, Julianne remembered.

  Elle smiled warmly. “Julianne, this is my fiancé, Mark Denton. Sorry to barge in on you guys.”

  Bradley shifted again. “You guys are always welcome here. You know that. I just want to make sure you’re all safe.”

  Mark Denton nodded toward the beach. “Jack and I scanned the perimeter before we came upstairs. We also brought some guys with us to keep an eye on things. Always prepared.” He held up two fingers in a Boy Scout pledge. “That’s our motto.”

  Bradley turned toward her. “You comfortable going down there?”

  “If you guys say it’s safe, then sure. Getting out of the house would be nice.” It seemed strange to hear those words leave her mouth, especially since she was usually such a homebody. But it was one thing to stay inside because you wanted to, and an entirely different thing to stay inside because you had to.

  Rachel smiled. “Great. Then we’ll get things going and you guys meet us down there when you’re ready.”

  Julianne grabbed some blankets and a stocking cap and slipped on her sneakers. A few minutes later, they were walking across the dunes, cold winter air biting into them. A bright fire danced in the distance. Julianne didn’t miss the way Bradley continuously scanned everything around them, always on the lookout for trouble. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was always watching her, even right now. She scoped out the area also. Several beach homes had windows lit. The stars sparkled brightly and a full moon illuminated their path.

  No signs of danger. So why did she feel so on edge?

  They joined the group on the beach. The three men gathered on the other side of the bonfire and, from the look of things, Bradley was filling them in on everything that had transpired. Meanwhile, Rachel and Elle were talking wedding plans. Elle’s big day was coming up in three weeks, apparently. Julianne loved listening to the excitement in her voice, though she did feel bittersweet. She wished there was a possibility of falling head over heels in love, of planning her dream wedding with her dream man. Those fantasies had died a quick death, though. Her heart twisted at the thought. Usually, she didn’t care that her hopes of having a happy, loving family had died. However, right now, those pent-up yearnings seemed to come flooding back to her. But, equally as strong was the memory of how ugly love could turn. Could she ever get past those feelings? She stared into the crackling flames, absorbed in her own thoughts for a moment.

  The bitingly cold air was held at bay by the flames that warmed their skin. She draped a blanket around her shoulders to ward off any remaining shivers. The sand offered a nice cushion below her, and between the crashing waves and the crackling of the fire, nature’s symphony was playing at full force.

  “Are you holding up okay, Julianne?” Elle asked.

  She nodded. “I’m alive, so I can’t complain. Bradley has been kind in helping me out, especially until I can get back on my feet.” She filled them in on the events that had transpired over the past couple of days. She even found herself sharing a little about her past with Darrell.

  “Relationships aren’t always easy, but don’t let one bad one spoil the rest of them for you,” Rachel advised.

  “Once you find the right one, all those old bad relationships are worth it. Believe me. I know.” Elle’s gaze traveled across the fire to Mark Denton. Her eyes absolutely glowed with affection.

  “I wish I could feel that sure. Of course, I have bigger worries at the moment.”

  Elle patted her arm. “You’re in good hands. These guys are seriously the best at what they do.”

  “Besides, we like to call Bradley’s house Fort Knox,” Rachel chimed in.

  “Why’s that?”

  “He has all of these high-grade hurricane shutters and a steal door that not even the Incredible Hulk could get through. We like to give him a hard time about it. He has a lot of his uncle’s ideas on file in the house, though, so we can understand his reasoning. He wants to make sure the data remains safe.”

  Julianne soaked in the new information. There was still a lot she didn’t know about Bradley Stone. The more she learned, the more impressed she became.

  Mark Denton pulled out a guitar and started strumming some old songs from the nineties. When he finished, the two other couples cuddled up under their blankets together. Meanwhile, she and Bradley sat a few feet apart, each with their own blanket.

  Suddenly, Julianne felt awkward, like an outsider. Even worse, she couldn’t stop wondering what it would be like to be snuggled under a blanket with Bradley with the fire blazing in front of them. She tamped down those thoughts, trying not to think about their kiss and the fleeting moments of tender affection that had passed between them. But were Elle’s words true? Was all the risk worth finding one good relationship?

  She doubted it.

  Bradley scooted closer to her. Her heart quickened at his nearness. The firelight danced across his face, casting an orange glow over it.

  His gaze soaked her in. As her teeth chattered, he tucked the blanket tighter over her shoulders. “You okay?”

  She nodded, digging her hands into the sand beneath her. “Yeah, I’m fine. This is nice. Do you do it often?”

  “Whenever we can. Not as much lately, though.”

  She wondered if that meant since his fiancée had died?

  “It seems like you have a great group of friends, Bradley.”

  A hint of a smile curled his lips. “Yeah, they are great. When you depend on each other to stay alive, you bond quickly. We all met while we were in the navy. Jack and Denton were stationed together as SEALs. I was with a different platoon, but we trained together and worked a couple of missions jointly.”

  Bradley scanne
d the area. Julianne noticed the tautness of his muscles and the creases around his perceptive blue eyes. Not even the crackling of the fire or the crashing of the waves would put him at ease.

  “What’s wrong?” Julianne shivered again, the feeling of unseen eyes still nagging at her.

  “I feel like we’re being watched.” His gaze remained focused in the distance. “I don’t see anyone, but who knows who’s staying in those beach houses? Most of them are rentals, so it could be anyone. I have only a couple of neighbors who actually live at the beach year round.”

  His words stayed with her for the rest of the campfire. Despite the lighthearted banter from everyone around her, she remained on edge. She half watched the fire disappear into embers, and half watched around her, waiting for the unexpected to transpire.

  The cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She’d just turned it back on earlier and sorted through some missed calls. A number she didn’t recognize lit the screen. She tensed as she answered.

  “Are you enjoying the bonfire, Julianne?”

  Shivers scrambled over her skin. Bradley’s eyes met her and she mouthed “Darrell” before pointing around them to indicate he was nearby.

  She studied the shadows around her, hoping for some sign of movement to signal Darrell’s location. “Where are you, Darrell? Why don’t you come out and join us?”

  He laughed, the sound chilling her blood. “I would love to do that, Julianne, but we both know how that would turn out.”

  She tried to keep her voice steady, to keep him on the line while the men searched for him. “Why are you doing this? I don’t understand.”

  “I thought you’d given up a long time ago in trying to understand me.”

  “But I want to now. I want this to end.” More than anything she wanted this to end. She wanted it so bad that her soul ached with longing.

  “The only way it’s going to end is with more people dead.”

  She closed her eyes as heaviness pressed on her chest. “Don’t take any more lives, Darrell.”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” she reminded him.

  “You have no idea. Just remember, I’m doing it all for you, Julianne.”

  “I don’t want you to do it for me,” she choked out. “I just want this to end.”

  The laugh on the other line made her blood go cold. “You were meant for me, Julianne. And you’ll be with me. I’ll make sure of it.”

  * * *

  Bradley adjusted his tie the next morning. He hadn’t got much sleep last night, even with an Eyes agent stationed outside his home.

  After the phone call to Julianne last night, Bradley, Jack and Denton, as well as the other Eyes agents, had scoured every inch of the beach and the surrounding property for Darrell—or the person masquerading as Darrell—but came up with nothing.

  Then Dawn Turner had called him back. She’d never sent a letter. That meant one of two things—either Julianne had made the letter up, which he didn’t believe to be true, or someone else had sent that letter to Julianne for the express purpose of letting her know where Bradley worked. The latter seemed the best possibility, and the only rationale he could come up with was that someone had purposely led Julianne to him. But why would someone do that? What purpose would it serve to bring the two of them together?

  Bigger than that, he wondered what Darrell—or the imposter—might do next. Why did he have a feeling that the man didn’t want to kill Julianne, only scare her? It was everyone around her who seemed to be in danger. Despite that, Bradley wasn’t going anywhere. Julianne needed someone to keep an eye on her until this storm passed, and he was just the man for the job.

  Last night flooded back to him again. They’d all been having a good time around the bonfire, and experienced a moment of normalcy until that phone had rung. Darrell had wanted them to know he was there; he’d wanted them to play his game. Bradley remembered that the man had always scored high on IQ tests, and he had no doubt that Darrell was planning more. He wouldn’t stop until he was either caught, or until he got his way.

  He finished getting dressed and hurried downstairs. The day wasn’t as brisk as the previous ones. What had the weatherman said? It would creep into the upper fifties today? He knocked at Julianne’s door, and, when she opened it, it was obvious she hadn’t gotten much more sleep than he had.

  It didn’t matter. She still looked gorgeous in a flowing brown skirt and beige cardigan set. “You ready?”

  She nodded behind her. “Let me just grab a jacket.”

  They stepped outside a moment later and, instead of going to his car, Bradley led her to his deck. She glanced up at him, her brows furrowed in curiosity. “What are you doing?”

  He took her hand. “There’s something I want you to see.”

  They reached the top and turned toward the beach. Bradley pointed to the shoreline and watched as Julianne’s eyes lit up. “Are those ponies?”

  He smiled softly. “Wild horses. Beautiful, aren’t they?”

  “I’d heard there were some in Virginia. I’ve just never seen them. I didn’t think they were real.”

  “They’re real all right. You see more of them when you go into Back Bay.”

  “Back Bay?”

  He pointed to the south. “Nine thousand acres of untouched wildlife. No vehicles allowed. It’s all between the ocean and Back Bay. Beyond Back Bay is False Cape State Park. It’s absolutely gorgeous there. If circumstances were different, I’d take you.”

  If circumstances were different... Of course, if circumstances were different, they might not have ever seen each other again.

  “That sounds nice. If anything, this situation has made me realize that I’ve locked myself away for too long. I want to make some changes as soon as this whole crazy situation is behind me. I want to start really living.”

  Did that mean she would open herself up to another relationship? Bradley didn’t ask, but he did like the idea of making some changes in his life also. He’d been too obsessed with work, with finding Vanessa’s killer.

  They watched the horses for a few more minutes until finally descending the stairs and climbing into Bradley’s car. Julianne cleared her throat as they headed down the road to church. “As soon as possible, I need to contact my insurance company again about my car. I need to start figuring things out for myself and get out of your way. I never intended to be here or inconvenience you for as long as I have.”

  His heart seemed to slow to a sobering rate. “You’re not inconveniencing me, Julianne.”

  She pulled her gaze from her lap. “I appreciate you saying that. I do. But I can’t go on depending on you like this. You’ve got a life to live. I can’t expect you to drop everything because I showed up.”

  “Julianne...” What did he say? He couldn’t very well beg her to stay, even though that’s exactly what he wanted to do. But her leaving was not a good idea. “I think you should work for me. I need a secretary, and you need a job.”

  She blinked up at him. “Work for you?”

  The idea had come from nowhere, but now that he’d voiced it, he realized it was a good plan. “Until you can get back on your feet, at least. The pay is decent. I’ll have to do a background and security check. Standard procedure for hiring, you know.”

  Her eyelids fluttered again. “That’s nice of you. I still have no car or place to stay, though. And there’s the small fact that my dead ex-fiancé seems bent on hurting everyone around me.”

  “Running away isn’t going to solve that problem.”

  “Running away? I’d hardly be running away. Maybe coming here was running away. Returning home would be facing the music, so to speak.”

  “I just mean that, even if you’re not here, I don’t think Darrell’s done with me. As I mentioned before, I think I w
as involved before you ever came here.” And if you left, I think it would be because your heart is doing things you don’t want it to do.

  They stopped outside a steepled brick building. Bradley hurried around to the passenger door and opened it for Julianne. Before she stepped away, he touched her arm. She looked up at him, and all he wanted to do was kiss her again. Of course, he couldn’t.

  “Julianne, please don’t go.” His voice sounded low and raspy.

  Julianne’s eyes searched his as they stood mere inches apart. What was she thinking? Was she feeling the same things that he did?

  After a moment of silence, she nodded. “Okay...but I’ve got to stand on my own two feet. I can’t depend on you for everything. I won’t get caught in that trap again.”

  He nodded.

  “And I have to go back up to my apartment to pick up some things for work.”

  “I’ll take you today,” he offered.

  It only seemed natural when they turned that his hand slipped to her waist. It didn’t matter how he looked at it. He was falling for this woman, and he was falling hard.

  * * *

  Julianne was well aware—too aware—of Bradley’s nearness during church. Every brush of their arms or accidental touch of their legs made Julianne’s heart speed. She knew she was developing feelings for this man. The problem was, she didn’t want to. She wanted to run back to her old life. Her safe life. Only her old life wasn’t safe anymore. Come to think of it...her current life wasn’t safe, either. So where exactly did that leave her?

  As church ended, Bradley led her back to the car. Again, every cell of skin on her body seemed alive at his closeness. She wanted to groan out loud. How had she fallen for this man, so hard and so fast? It had to be circumstances playing with her emotions.

  She gave him directions on how to get to her apartment. It would be a good three-and-a-half- or four-hour drive, depending on traffic. They grabbed some sandwiches from a local deli to eat on the way.