by Brenda Novak
Light though the contact was, it felt like an electric jolt. Zoe heard his quick intake of breath before he drew her fully against him.
It wasn’t long before they fell back on the bed. Zoe purposely forgot about everything as she lost herself in the sensations he evoked, purposely shoved it all away and felt carefree for the first time in days, weeks, years. When he rolled her beneath him, she was so eager and ready she almost groaned in frustration when he stopped.
“Look at you. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman,” he said, gently pinning her hands above her head.
“How many have you seen like this?” she asked with a teasing smile.
“Enough to know what I’m talking about.” He gave her a sexy grin and lowered his mouth to her breast.
By the time he lifted his head, she could scarcely catch her breath. “This was inevitable,” he told her.
As she took in his earnest expression, fear seeped through the pleasure. What if she could still fall in love? What if she did—and it didn’t work out? Again? Where would that leave her?
She was tempted to flee to the safety of her own room. When their relationship ran its course, she wouldn’t be able to walk away from him the way she had Anton. She knew that as surely as she knew making love with him wouldn’t be the same, either. What would that do to her? Or Sam, if—when—she ever got her daughter back?
She needed to be more cautious. But she’d come too far to turn back….
* * *
Zoe woke naked in a tangle of sheets. Caught between Jonathan on one side and Kino on the other, she could hardly move. She didn’t care; she was in no hurry to go anywhere. Warm and content, she closed her eyes and pretended she was someone else and this moment could last a lifetime.
But then her cell phone rang, reminding her that she wasn’t someone else and her daughter was still missing.
Nudging Kino out of her way, she got up and hurried into the kitchen to grab the phone. She didn’t take time to dress. After such a wonderful night, she couldn’t help hoping that maybe this was the call she’d been waiting for.
Maybe the nightmare would end today….
But her phone identified the caller as Colin Bell.
Disappointment slammed into her. It wasn’t the good news she so desperately craved. If her daughter had been found, Detective Thomas would be calling to tell her. But Colin had done a lot to help her look for Sam and she hadn’t followed up with him after the search yesterday. Once Jonathan had notified her that they hadn’t found any trace, she’d decided to give herself some time to deal with the letdown before making the obligatory thank-you call.
Swallowing a sigh, she figured there was no need to put it off any longer and answered as pleasantly as she could, considering he’d just pulled her out of a warm bed and away from the first real comfort she’d known since Sam went missing.
“Hey,” he said. “Happy Mother’s Day.”
Was it Mother’s Day? She’d forgotten. Considering the circumstances, she’d rather not have acknowledged it. And she thought most people would understand why, but she supposed he meant well. “Thanks.”
“How are you doing?” he asked. “I’ve been worried about you.”
She would’ve felt more comfortable if he’d said we. “I’m fine. Better.” She left the kitchen to find a more comfortable spot on the couch.
“What happened to you yesterday? It had to be serious to keep you away from the search.”
“I don’t know exactly.” She didn’t want to mention the sleeping pills. “I must’ve had a touch of the flu.”
“The flu’s miserable.”
She opened her mouth to respond when a strange scene—a flashback? a dream?—played in her mind. She was sitting at Colin’s dining-room table, looking at…maps? Tiffany was in the kitchen doing dishes. Colin, who’d been sitting beside her, was getting up.
In her own voice, she heard a question. Where’re you going?
It was Colin who’d answered. Just helping Tiffany clean up.
You have a really nice wife. Her voice again, said with a smile.
Except when she’s helping me murder someone came Colin’s response, and then he’d laughed.
The memory was out of focus and a bit surreal. Did that mean it was a dream? An hallucination brought on by the alcohol she’d had with dinner?
It must be. No one would make a comment like that to a guest.
“Zoe?” Colin said.
“I’m here.”
A noise in the hall told her Jonathan was up. Folding his arms, he leaned against the doorway. He’d put on a pair of boxer briefs, which made her self-conscious about her own nudity. Even though they’d made love last night, it felt awkward facing him in broad daylight—especially naked in his living room. Somehow that was different than being with him in the bedroom. “Who is it?” he asked.
She pulled a throw from the back of the couch to cover herself. “Colin Bell.”
“What does he want?”
She tried not to admire Jonathan as he stood there, barely dressed. While she was living with Anton, she’d made an effort to convince herself that physical attraction, or the lack of it, didn’t matter. Kindness. Loyalty. Dependability. Those were the traits that mattered.
She still believed those traits mattered more, but it was astonishing how powerful physical attraction could be. Especially when Jonathan seemed to possess kindness, loyalty and dependability, as well. “He’s just checking in.”
“Who’re you talking to?” Colin asked. “Is someone staying at the motel with you?”
The jealousy in his voice disturbed Zoe but it wasn’t overt enough that she could call him on it. “No, I’m—” She caught herself. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Her relationship with Jonathan was none of his business.
“Is it Anton?” he pressed.
“Colin, stop.”
“I’m just wondering if you two are back together.”
“We’re not.”
There was a pause. “You didn’t pick someone up….”
Filled with fresh irritation, she tightened her grip on the phone. “I really don’t feel like talking right now. Maybe I could call you back later.”
“Are you mad at me?”
“No, of course not. I’m grateful to you. I’ve been meaning to thank you for yesterday. I really appreciate all you’ve done. It’s just that…today’s going to be hard for me, you know?”
“Right. Of course. I understand.”
“Great. I’ll talk to you later,” she said, but he didn’t respond with goodbye. He surprised her with another question.
“It’s not Jonathan, is it?”
Zoe glanced up at the man in question, who was now scowling. “Excuse me?”
“The man you’re with?”
“Colin, stop. I’m not with anyone.”
“You might as well tell me. I’ll find out eventually.”
“Why are you so interested?”
“Because it’s not fair.”
“Fair?” she echoed.
“You haven’t even given me a chance.”
“You’re married!”
He burst into laughter. “I’m kidding.”
She let go of her breath. “Oh. You had me going for a minute there.”
“I know. You think every guy wants you.”
She stiffened. “No, I don’t.”
“Then why couldn’t you just answer the fucking question?” he said and hung up.
Too shocked to move, Zoe stared at her phone.
“What’s wrong?” Jonathan crossed the room.
She looked up at him. “It’s Colin Bell,” she said. “He just…screamed at me. It was weird.” But no weirder than that snatch of dream. Or was it a dream? With Colin’s sense of humor, she wasn’t sure what he might consider funny.
“What’d he say?” Jonathan asked.
Shaking her head, she put her phone aside. “Nothing.” She couldn’t explain her former neighbor’s odd behavior. A
nd she certainly didn’t want Jonathan to accuse her of what Colin just had: You think every guy wants you.
He nudged her knee. “You hungry?”
Did they really have to face the day already? It was Sunday. Mother’s Day. They wouldn’t be able to get any more rental records, wouldn’t be able to talk to people without the risk of interrupting family celebrations. What could they do to find Sam?
Nearly a whole week had passed, and they didn’t even know where to look.
She reached over to smooth the hair out of his eyes. “Can we just go back to bed?”
He studied her for a moment. Then he swept her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.
* * *
That was stupid.
Closing his eyes and shaking his head, Colin shoved his phone into the middle of the table so he wouldn’t chuck it across the restaurant. He shouldn’t have lost his temper with Zoe. He’d worked too hard to become her friend.
And now she wouldn’t trust him anymore.
“Shit!”
The old woman in the next booth had been gaping at him since his outburst on the phone. He glared back, but when she wouldn’t look away he flipped her off.
Her eyes bugged out and she insisted her husband get up and move to a different table with her. She was complaining to the manager when Tiffany returned from the restroom.
Leaving forty dollars on the table to cover their check, which hadn’t come yet, Colin got up and motioned for his wife to go out ahead of him.
“We’re leaving?” she said in surprise.
“I’m standing up, aren’t I?” He spoke quietly so he wouldn’t be overheard. He’d drawn enough attention.
She glanced longingly at her plate. “But I wasn’t done.”
“You are now.” He wasn’t about to stick around so some stupid, overweight manager making fifteen bucks an hour could waddle over in a grease-stained tie and reprimand him for his language.
“Why?” Tiffany asked. Then she noticed the tension in the room. “What’s going on? This was supposed to be my Mother’s Day celebration. I get to eat whatever I want today. You said so.”
“I changed my mind.” He waved her through the door but she didn’t move.
“I only had a couple bites.”
“So? You’re not a mother,” he whispered.
“Because we’ve chosen not to have children. But I’m a woman. I could be a mother if you wanted children.”
“Just shut up. You had enough to eat. It’s all I can do to keep you from turning into a whale. Now move your ass!”
“Colin—” She eyed the old folks and the manager conferring together, and lowered her voice. “What’d you do?”
He didn’t answer. “If you don’t come now I’m leaving you,” he ground out.
Finally, she walked outside, and he used the button on his key to unlock the car doors. They were about to get in when the manager poked his head out of the restaurant.
“Next time you come to this establishment, please remember your manners,” he said.
Colin wasn’t about to put up with any shit. “That’s what I think of you and your establishment,” he said and flipped him off, too.
The manager came out farther—but not far enough to constitute a real challenge. “Hey, mister, don’t ever come back!”
“You couldn’t pay me to eat here again!” Colin said.
Tiffany, her face bright red, ducked into the car. “What’s gotten into you?” she asked as several of the waitresses came to peer out at them, too. “We’re in public.”
“Yeah, well, I hate this dump.”
“It’s not a dump. It’s a nice restaurant. You’re the one who chose it.”
“That was before I tried their lousy pancakes.”
He started to back out of the parking space, then realized he’d left something behind. “Son of a bitch!”
“What now?” she asked.
He pulled in again. “Go get my phone. It’s on the table.”
Fortunately, she didn’t argue because he wasn’t in the mood to tolerate it. But when she returned, he could tell by her expression that she was upset.
“You called Zoe,” she said as soon as she got in.
“So what?”
“So what? We were lucky last night, to get out of the mess we were in. Why can’t you leave her alone? We have her daughter, Colin. Isn’t that enough? What is it about her?”
He wished he knew. He wanted Sam, but he wanted Zoe more, especially since he’d had her tied to his bed. He’d been so close to becoming a god to her—master of her pleasure, master of her pain, master of her every breath. But then his father had ruined it. And now Zoe was spreading her legs for someone else, or she wouldn’t have had a man in her motel room at eight in the morning.
She came across as so circumspect. You have a wife, Colin. But she was a whore, just like most women. Why couldn’t he get her to respond to him? Wasn’t he good enough for her? He was young, attractive, successful. He’d never tried so damn hard or been so ineffective with another woman.
“Are you going to answer me?” Tiffany asked.
“She’s…stuck up,” he said. “She needs to be taken down a few pegs.”
“You’ve already done that. You stole her daughter—”
“You stole her daughter,” he broke in.
“For you! And I regret it, okay? I was trying to make you happy, but all it’s done is make me unhappy. Do you love Zoe, Colin? Do you love her and not me? Is that what this is about?” She broke into a full-blown sob. “If you’re not going to kill her, you might as well kill me!”
He was losing control of the situation when he most needed to retain it. He’d gotten through yesterday by the slimmest of margins. He couldn’t fall apart, couldn’t allow Tiffany to fall apart, either. His stepmother was expecting them in less than an hour. They had to be at their best so they wouldn’t make any blunders.
Slipping out of the flow of traffic, he turned onto a residential street and pulled to the curb.
“Why are you stopping?” Tiffany said with a sniff. “What’re we doing here?”
“We’re talking.”
“About what?”
“You have to calm down.”
“I can’t calm down. Every time I think Zoe’s out of my life, you drag her back into it!”
“You could change that, if only you’d help me lure her to a secluded spot—”
“No!”
He held up a hand. “Just listen. All I want is to take her up to the cabin and make her watch what I have planned for Sam. Then I’ll kill them both.”
“We need to quit taking risks. We need to live like normal people. What we’ve been doing is wrong, Colin. And you know it.”
“We’ll stop. This is it. I promise. I love you enough to do anything.”
Struggling to rein in her emotions, Tiffany wiped her eyes. “You do?”
“Of course. How could you not know that?”
“Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way.”
“That’s just the doubt talking, the old insecurities.”
“So…if I help you this one last time, you’re done with it all?”
“I am.”
“No more pets, nothing?”
He leaned over to kiss her, using his tongue, making it convincing. But even then he was thinking of Zoe’s lips, Zoe’s body. “Of course, babe. It’ll be just you and me,” he said, gently wiping her tears. “You and me, together forever.”
She clung to him, shaking. “That’s what I want. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Then bring me Zoe. Give me one weekend with her—and you’ll never have to worry about her again.”
She stared off into the distance for a moment before meeting his eyes. “This’ll be the end? I have your promise?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Okay, I will.”
CHAPTER 28
The twittering of birds was louder than Sam had ever he
ard. That meant something had changed. But her eyelids were too heavy to lift. She remained where she was, curled up tightly, not quite sure whether she wanted to wake up. Where was she? The air was cold, the smell was awful and she was in a box.
Had Colin and Tiffany buried her alive?
With a gasp, she managed to open her eyes. She was in a small space but it was a suitcase, not a box, and it was unzipped. Above her, sunlight peeked through cracks in what appeared to be a ceiling of wooden planks. She was in a shed of some sort; she guessed from the smell that she’d be lying in mud if not for the suitcase.
Had she ever been to this place before? She didn’t recognize it—and that frightened her. How would her mother ever find her if she didn’t know where she was herself? And where were Colin and Tiffany?
She searched her recent memory, but it was blank. She’d been unconscious; she had no idea for how long. She remembered Colin’s footsteps pounding down the hall. Colin unlocking the door and banging it against the wall. Colin whispering his hate in a dark, angry voice. Colin nearly choking her to death for making noise. She’d thought her life was over. His father hadn’t come to her rescue; no one had.
I’m going to kill you as soon as I have the time to do it right, Colin had said. You’re a dead girl. Then he’d held her head back by pulling on her hair and nearly drowned her as he forced her to drink a glass of water that had the bitterest taste.
And now this….
Was she dreaming? Or was she dead? The sound of birds was like something she’d expect from paradise, but surely God had a better place in mind for her than a smelly old shed.
She wasn’t dead. She wasn’t even dreaming. When she tried to move, the cold, heavy weight of the collar around her neck told her that much. Colin and Tiffany had probably abandoned her here. Which meant she might be able to find her way home—or at least try to find help.
In order to do that, she had to get up, make her move while she could. But her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. She was so weak, so cold…
It was no good.
Falling back, she stared at the black lining of the suitcase wondering how much longer it would take to die.
