Storm of Attraction

by Lily Black

  Her eyes fell on the orange candle with gold glitter that the stalker had left. The stupid thing was still waiting to be picked up by the police. They probably hadn’t come to get it because it was the weekend. Plus, it didn’t offer much in the way of evidence, and surely the police had more pressing emergencies than the attack on her cats.

  Alexa turned the candle around so she could see her name written in wobbly capital letters. When she’d first found it sitting on her desk, she thought it the sweetest thing. Of course, she’d been sure it was from one of the five-year-olds in the Little Tiger class. She should have realized that none of them even knew her first name. She was Ms. Wolving to them.

  It seemed kind of crazy to look back on the last two weeks and see how much her life had changed. There she was, hiding in the office until she could sneak out, so her sometime worst enemy and ex-boyfriend turned bodyguard could take her home and try to protect her from a psychotic stalker. Crazy didn’t begin to cover it, especially when she seemed to have the self-control of a dragon in a gold mine when it came to Drew. What was wrong with her?

  That was just it. She’d been running scared since the attack on her cats and had nearly run straight into Drew’s bed. She snorted. That must have been what the term around-the-clock protection meant.

  No way and no how was she going there. Going to bed with him would have been stupid and pathetic and would surely lead to heartbreak. Besides, hadn’t she promised herself that she would watch him closely, so she would know if he was using her vulnerability to bring the schools together? How was she supposed to do that while she was throwing herself at him?

  Alexa dropped her head into her hands and tried to scrub the fears and worries from her brain. What she really needed was to somehow regain a little control over her life and get her balance back. But she wasn’t going to get that while she stayed with Drew.

  Keri opened the office door and came in then closed it behind her.

  Alexa dropped her hands from her face and looked up at her friend. “I’m sorry about how I acted back there. I guess I just… wanted to keep things under wraps, and I also felt embarrassed.”

  Keri shrugged and smiled. “It’s okay. I think I pushed you a bit the other night at dinner. How are you holding up?”

  Alexa shook her head. “I think that depends on your definition of holding up.” They shared a smile, since that answer was an inside joke they referenced a lot. “I think it’s time for me to find a new safe place to stay. Somewhere secure but by myself.”

  Keri looked her over carefully then swiveled the chair around in front of the desk so it was backward and sat down on it, facing Alexa. “Where did you have in mind?”

  “Master Hays’s townhouse,” Alexa answered. “I have the keys back at my place. He gave me a spare set when they went out of town, so I could check on the plants if they were gone longer than expected. It’s in a secure neighborhood that’s gated. No one can get in unless they have the code or they’re invited. And there’s a cop who lives two doors down and could be there in minutes if I needed him.”

  “It sounds good,” Keri said. “But are you sure? Shouldn’t you check with—”

  “I’m sure,” Alexa interrupted. “Saving me from the bad guys isn’t the only consideration here. We also have to consider my sanity, and for that, I need this move.”

  Keri nodded. “But speaking of bad guys, you still haven’t filled me in on what’s going on. I pieced some of it together when I ran into Dr. Springer at the street festival last night, and even more when I went by your place after it ended and found it empty. But this morning was the most revealing.” She winked at Alexa. “Are you allowed to share details?”

  Alexa gave a rueful laugh. “You know the juiciest stuff already.” She glanced toward the door. It sounded as if the party was well under way. “Do you have to stay and babysit this? I could tell you everything on the way to my house if you like. After that, I’ll need to run up to Drew’s place and pick up my cats, but I can do that in my own car.”

  “No, I can leave,” Keri said. “Brianna’s mom hired two of the teenage black belts to help with the party. I’m just here to lock up when they’re done, and that won’t be for a while.” She jumped up. “Let’s go. I’ve been dying to hear the whole story.”

  Alexa laughed, the sound coming out a bit strangled. “Well, I don’t know that it’s worth dying for, but I’m sure it counts as crazy. Will that do?”

  As Alexa came around the desk, Keri leaned in for a hug. “Better and better. You know I plan to take careful notes, right? When this is all finished, I want to send the script of your story into the daytime drama producers and see if I can make some cash out of it.”

  Alexa laughed again, this time for real. Her friend always knew how to cheer her up. “Fine by me. Just make sure you change my name and never credit the story back to me in any way. I’ve had my moment in the limelight, and I think I’ll pass on another.”

  She followed Keri out the front door and over to her friend’s car. As she walked, she glanced around for any sign of Drew but didn’t see him. Which was perfect. If he knew what she was doing, he would surely try to stop her.

  She waited until Keri had the car started then dialed the number for Drew’s cell. When he answered, she went for a tone that was a cross between matter-of-fact and upbeat.

  “Hey, it’s Alexa,” she said. “I’ve thought of somewhere out of your hair I can stay that’s still safe. I’m with Keri now and will pick up my car from my house. Could I meet you at your place in, say, half an hour to pick up the cats?”

  There was silence from Drew’s end, and Alexa cringed. What must he think of her? Making a call like this after what had just gone down in the dojo would look as though she didn’t trust him to stay out of her bed. And really, it wasn’t her bed so much as her head and heart she was worried about.

  “Does Detective Rawlings know where you’re moving?” Drew asked. Alexa couldn’t read anything from his voice.

  “No, but I’ll call her right after this. I’m sure she won’t have a problem with the move. The place is—”

  “Don’t tell me,” Drew said. “The fewer people who know, the better. I’ll go pack your stuff and get the cats ready so you can make a quick retrieval. Drive safe.”

  He hung up.

  Alexa looked at her cell. He hadn’t argued or even sounded upset. On the other hand, that had sure been an awfully short conversation.

  “He’s on board?” Keri glanced at Alexa before turning her eyes back to the road. She made a right turn into Alexa’s neighborhood.

  “Yep. On board and packing my stuff for me,” Alexa said. “Guess he was more anxious to get rid of me than I thought.”

  Keri snorted but didn’t answer until she was parked in Alexa’s driveway behind her little white car. “If you think that, you’re an idiot. No guy is going to try and woo you back while you’re in the act of rejecting him.”

  “I thought he’d be mad.” Alexa got out of the car and surveyed her house. It looked fine—no broken windows and no signs of having been disturbed. Still, she felt no desire to go inside.

  “Maybe he is. Drew doesn’t strike me as the yelling type, though.” Keri came around and stood next to Alexa. “Are we going in?”

  She looked up and down the street. No sign of anyone, but she didn’t know what she was looking for. Drew had asked her to call Detective Rawlings, and she planned to do that. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to stand there until the detective sent an officer to check out her house, and she also wasn’t sure she wanted to go inside without someone armed backing her up.

  “You know what?” She wrapped her arms around herself. “Forget the house. Drew will pack the clothes I had at his place, and I’ll manage fine with those. I’m pretty sure the keys to Master Hays’s place are in the glove box of my car, ’cause I wanted them handy. So I don’t need to go insid
e at all.”

  “Wow, Alexa.” Keri put her arm around Alexa. “What happened here?”

  Alexa shook her head, a frustrated roll from side to side. “The guy snuck into my house, probably using my own keys, and tried to drown my cats.”

  “What?” Keri cried. “When I talked to Dr. Springer at the festival, he said they’d been staying with him and were being watched, but that was all. Please tell me that you called the police.”

  “Yes, don’t worry,” Alexa raised her hands in mock surrender. “They’ve been involved since that night, and as soon as we’re on the road again, I’ll call Detective Rawlings and let her know about this change. Okay?”

  “Okay, but I can’t believe…” Keri stopped and took a slow, deep breath. “I guess I just hadn’t realized it had escalated this fast. Do they have any leads?”

  “A few, but not much.” Alexa glanced up and down the street again. “Listen, I know this is crazy, and I wish I’d been able to tell you everything all along, but can the rest of the explanation wait?” She suppressed a shiver. “I really don’t like standing here.”

  “Right, of course. But I’m going to stay right behind you. The birthday party will be going on for at least an hour, maybe two, so I have time.”

  Keri escorted Alexa to her car and stood watch while Alexa unlocked the door and checked to be sure Master Hays’s keys were still in the glove box. Alexa would have found Keri’s hovering amusing if she weren’t so wired herself. When her fingers latched onto the small set of spare keys, she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You’re okay following me out to Drew’s place?” she asked Keri. “I may need backup if Drew tries to argue.”

  “Yeah, of course.” Keri grinned. “Just don’t take any of those little shortcuts you like without giving me lots of warning.”

  “Right, I’ll stick to the main roads.” Alexa jumped up and hugged her friend. “Thank you, Keri. I really appreciate it.”

  Keri hugged her back. “No problem. That’s what friends are for, right?” She pulled back, and her smile was mischievous. “Tell you what, you can make me your maid of honor when you and Drew get hitched.”

  “Aagh, not even.” Alexa groaned. “If that bridge ever existed, it’s long since gone up in flames.”

  “All the same, my request stands.” Keri grinned. “And make sure you pick a color I can wear, okay? No yellows. I look terrible in yellow.”

  Alexa just laughed and climbed into her car. Keri was impossible with her matchmaking. She started her car then waited while Keri backed out. As Alexa pulled out and pointed the car toward Drew’s place, she shook her head and laughed ruefully. Maybe she hadn’t argued with Keri more because it stung a little that Drew had let her go so easily. They were not a couple or anything of that sort, but they had developed some kind of bond over the last couple days, and she’d thought her safety meant more to him. But maybe he was wisely realizing that he needed space, too.

  She waited until she was out of her neighborhood and had stopped for a red light before dialing Detective Rawlings’s number. The light turned green, and Alexa slipped in her earpiece just as the detective picked up the phone.

  “Hey, sorry to bother you.” Alexa could hear a lot of background noise. “I hope this isn’t a bad time.”

  “No, this is fine,” Detective Rawlings answered. “What’s going on?”

  Alexa opened her mouth to speak, but from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a big gray blur coming down the intersecting side street. A truck was going way too fast, and it headed straight toward her.

  Alexa screamed. She swerved hard, hoping the driver had room to go around her. But instead of taking the space, the driver angled directly into her.

  Alexa caught a glimpse of a face covered in a ski mask. Then the truck smashed into her car, and everything went dark.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Drew knew that he’d been short with Alexa, but he also knew he couldn’t last much longer on the phone without reaching through it to shake her. So he’d hung up before he could try to break that particular law of physics.

  He needed to clear his head and figure out what Alexa needed from him in order to be safe. First step, he needed to get back to the house.

  He paid his bill at the coffee shop where he’d been waiting and headed for his truck. As he drove, he tried to figure out why Alexa had decided on this sudden shift to somewhere new. Was there any chance the stalker had threatened her? Or was she just reacting to their kissing and physical interaction? Emotions flashed through him as the memory of those kisses intruded, but he pushed them down.

  The scene after Keri had shown up played through his mind. What was with Alexa’s comment about “army boys”? He’d never been unfaithful to her back when they were dating, and he didn’t know of any other army boy that was unfaithful. The comment had rubbed him the wrong way, that she would say something like that. Worse, it had him rethinking every angry remark she’d ever made about him and his MMA school. Was it possible Alexa was nothing more than a snob? Was she one of those anti-military types that thought the only difference between a soldier and a zombie grunt was the food they ate? He’d dealt with a lifetime’s worth of that kind of crap from his father’s family, even from Granddad for a time. The thought that Alexa might feel the same way made him sick.

  He took a deep breath and shook his head to dislodge that train of thought. Focusing on the mission of keeping Alexa safe was what he needed to do. She didn’t need a second stalker, so he would step back and leave her alone if that was what she insisted. But there was nothing wrong with doing what he could to persuade her to stay. His gut said her stalker wasn’t going to back off, and Alexa on her own was inherently more vulnerable.

  When he got to his house and walked in, he was immediately met by Ragbag and Oreo. The cats seemed happy to see him; Oreo started purring before he even petted her, and Ragbag found the laces on his shoes irresistible. It was nice, and not for the first time, Drew wondered if he should get a pet. He chuckled ruefully to himself. Maybe if he couldn’t persuade Alexa to stay, he could still babysit her cats.

  He spent a few minutes with the cats then went in search of Fieldgar, just to be sure the big orange tom was okay. Alexa would never forgive him if something happened to Fieldgar in his home.

  He found Fieldgar sprawled on a pillow in the library, watching the birds flit around the feeder just outside the big glass doors. Drew bent down and stroked the cat’s head then scratched around his ears. The pillow Fieldgar was lying on hadn’t been on the floor when they’d left that morning, and Drew had to smile at the tom’s ingenuity. It looked as though he’d first knocked it on the floor then dragged it in front of the window.

  Drew continued to stroke the cat and look around the library. His mind went over the scene from last night. He and Alexa had come close to kissing, and he was sure she’d wanted to, but at the first tiny interruption, she’d run off to her room. Something was eating Alexa, something that was tied to her sudden decision to bail on him right after they’d gotten close at the dojo.

  He racked his brain for anything he’d ever done that she might have taken as a sign he’d been cheating on her. But nothing came to mind. The summer they were together, he’d been totally wrapped up in Alexa and had no time or interest for anyone else aside from the obligatory time he’d spent with his granddad. The truth was he hadn’t even dated much in the years since. It was true that army types—military guys—had something of a reputation, but he hadn’t been one to take advantage of the serviceman mystique. Besides, he’d spent too much time in the field to dally even if he’d wanted to. If Alexa had him pegged as some kind of player, she had it all wrong.

  Drew gave Fieldgar one last pat then went to gather Alexa’s stuff. She would be showing up before long to collect her things, and he would ask her about what she’d meant by that comment. Carefully and gently because he did
n’t want to freak her out. But she could at least tell him to his face what he’d done to let her down.

  His phone rang as he passed through the kitchen. Detective Rawlings’s name showed up on the caller ID. He swiped the screen. “Drew Cosimo.”

  “Hey, what just happened?” Detective Rawlings asked. “Is Alexa okay?”

  Alarm punched him in the gut. “I don’t—”

  “Are you with her?” the detective asked, as if Drew hadn’t spoken. “She called to tell me something then screamed, and the call was cut off. What’s going on?”

  “She decided to move somewhere else.” Drew noticed distantly that he was gripping the phone with white knuckles, but he couldn’t make himself relax his grip. “She was with her friend, Keri. I’m back at my place. She asked me to pack up her stuff.”

  “Drew?” Detective Rawlings sounded distracted. “Hold on.”

  There was a pause in which Detective Rawlings talked to someone else. Drew tried to make out the conversation on the other end of the line without any success. Oreo brushed up against his legs and meowed. He reached down to pet her absently, still gripping the phone hard enough to leave ridges in his hand.

  “I just got a report of an accident.” Detective Rawlings was talking fast, and Drew heard doors opening and closing. “Alexa’s car was hit by a truck, intentionally from the sound of it. She’s en route to Blue State Hospital. She’s in stable condition at the moment and asked for you before losing consciousness. You best get over there. I’ll check in after I take a look at the site of the accident. And Drew? Don’t leave her alone again.”

  She hung up, and Drew stood frozen for half a second, as if he’d taken the mother of all punches. Then the paralysis broke, and he was running for his truck before Oreo had even registered that he’d moved.