by Banks, R. R.
“I see Brayden briefed you.”
He shrugs. “Maybe a little,” he says and laughs.
Adam turns and walks out to his rental car. I watch him drive off until he disappears through the gates, leaving me alone to wonder if I'm doing the right thing by sticking my nose where Katie clearly doesn't want it.
I'm risking pissing her off to do the moral thing. Which brings to mind another nugget of wisdom my father instilled in us – when it comes to choosing between two courses of action, you should always do the right thing, regardless of the consequences.
If she ever finds out what I'm doing, Katie won’t like it, but at least I'll be able to sleep at night, knowing I'm doing the right thing. Knowing that I'm protecting her.
Could be cold comfort, but at least I know that Katie – and our baby – will be safe.
Katie
The trouble with making bold statements about handling things, is that eventually, the time comes when you have to, you know, handle things. I know Aidan means well and wants to protect me, but I really don't want him mixed up in my bullshit. Especially, because I don't know what Victor would do if Aidan inserted himself into the mix.
Victor is volatile and dangerous at best. When he’s in a rage, he's even more unstable and unpredictable. And I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to Aidan because of him. Ultimately, because of me.
“You okay?”
I look up and see Jake staring back at me as he dries off a couple of glasses. The bar isn't super busy or packed tonight, but it's steady. And my head is not in the game. My mind is a chaotic whirlwind of thoughts about Aidan and Victor, and everything else going on. I’ve been distracted ever since we found out that Arnie wasn’t the clown-man at Hail Mary at the Spring festival.
“Yeah, sorry,” I say. “Just a bit out of it tonight.”
That’s one way to put it, I guess. I told Aidan I'd handle it. That I'd deal with Victor once and for all. The problem is, I have no idea how I'm going to get that asshole to leave me alone. As if being six months pregnant isn't stressful enough, I now have the ever-present worry that he's going to show up at my door.
I may have understated how concerned I actually am to Aidan. I knew though, if I told Aidan I was freaking out, he would have done something about it. And he wouldn't have taken no for an answer. I know that much about him – that Aidan is a take charge kind of guy. He isn't big on words and prefers to let his actions do the talking for him.
“Oh shit,” Jake mutters.
I follow his gaze to see Leon and Danny coming through the door. Leon is glaring hard at me – as if it's my fault he got humiliated in public all those months ago. If he remembers correctly, though, I was the only one actually trying to keep it from happening, and protect his stupid ass. They take a seat near the back corner of the bar, whispering to one another, both casting baleful looks at me.
“Great,” I say. “Let’s add one more log to this bonfire of shit.”
“Katie, there's something I need to tell you,” Jake says. “It's been killing me for a long time now, and I can't keep holding onto this secret.”
He looks absolutely miserable – which makes me curious. Jake isn't overly bright, but he's a decent enough guy. And unlike most of the men in this godforsaken town, he actually has some semblance of a conscience.
“What is it?” I ask.
“That guy – Aidan – the one who beat the shit out of Leon? Months back, he came in here looking for you,” he says. “Wanted me to give him your address.
“Okay...” I reply slowly.
“He – he paid me seven hundred dollars to tell him where you lived,” Jake finally blurts out.
I stare at him for a long moment and then burst into laughter. Honestly, I never gave a whole lot of thought to how Aidan found out where I lived. I just assumed it was the nature of living in a place like this. Ashton Mill is one of those places where everybody knows where everybody else lives. It's not that big of a town, so it’s kind of be a given. Not that I particularly like that aspect of this place – it's just how things are.
When I’d asked Aidan how he found my place, he said he was resourceful – I didn't know he was a sucker, too. There are literally dozens of people who would have told him for free. I always assumed he had asked one of them.
“I'm sorry, Katie,” he says. “It was just an awful lot of money and –”
I wave him off. “Don't worry about it, Jake,” I say. “It's fine.”
“Yeah?” he asks, a look of relief flooding his face.
“Yeah, it's fine,” I say. “It all worked out.”
He sets the glass he's drying down and looks at me, a mischievous little smirk on his face.
He gestures at my ever-growing belly. “So, are you two – y'know?”
I nod my head. “Honestly, things are complicated right now,” I say. “All I know is that I've got some things to deal with. I need to put some things to bed once and for all.”
“Hey, can we get some fuckin' service over here?” Leon bellows.
“Apparently, Leon is one of those things,” Jake says.
“Apparently.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks,” I say. “I'm going to need it.”
Though still an obnoxious asshole, for the most part, Leon has left me alone since the incident. He orders his drinks but refuses to meet my eye or make eye contact. Which is fine. Better than fine, actually. The less I have to deal with Leon, the better.
The rest of the night goes smoothly enough, and the tips are a little better than I expected. Which is good, since some bills are coming due soon.
“Goodnight, Jake!” I shout and wave to him.
He waves back as I walk out the door and head for my car. Having spent most of my life in the city, I never really realized just how dark night can be. Out here in Ashton Mill, where there is almost zero light pollution, the nights are pitch black – which can be creepy as hell. Especially when you're already on edge.
On the plus side though, you can see more of the stars and constellations than in the city. On a clear night, the views in Ashton Mill are spectacular. And as I fight the waves of anxiety washing over me, that is the thought I try to hold on to. I scan the darkness, searching for any sign of movement in the shadows. Remembering the clown-man – either Victor or some teenage asshole – I have my pepper spray in hand, ready to rock.
I'm waddling quickly across the asphalt, trying to make it to my car – which, thankfully, I'd had the foresight to park under the only working light in the whole damn parking lot. I press the button on the remote to unlock it, and make it to my car, alive and in one piece. Jumping in, I slam the door behind me and lock it, letting out a sigh of relief that turns into a shriek of pure panic when my phone suddenly rings in my hand.
“Jesus, Katie,” I chastise myself. “Get it together.”
Shaking my head, slightly amused by my own skittishness, I answer the call without looking at the caller ID, expecting it to be Jessa calling to check on me.
“I'm on my way home now,” I say and laugh.
“That's good to hear, baby. I'm looking forward to you coming home.”
The sound of Victor's voice sends shards of ice shooting through my veins. I start to tremble so hard, I almost drop my phone, and my keys are jangling nervously in my other hand. My eyes wide, I look around the parking lot, searching the pools of darkness and shadow even harder.
It's like he's watching me from somewhere and knew exactly when to call to maximize my fear.
“I – I told you to lose my number, Victor,” I say, trying to portray an image of confidence and strength.
“You know I'm not going to do that.”
“Then I'll change it.”
“I'll just get it again,” he says, a slight chuckle in his voice. “You can't hide from me, Katie. You belong to me.”
“Fuck you,” I hiss.
“Temper, temper,” he says. “That's one of those things I'v
e always hated about you – that temper. Don't worry though, when I get you back, I'll beat that temper out of you.”
“You come anywhere near me, and I'll kill you, Victor,” I say, cringing at the lack of conviction in my voice. “Do you hear me? I will fucking kill you.”
“No, you won't,” he says and chuckles. “We both know you can't hurt a goddamn fly, so save your breath.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to control the fear pounding through my mind and body. This is all a head game. He's just screwing with me. He has nothing else going on in his life. He's a loser with nothing and nobody, trying to get his rocks off by tormenting me. I shouldn't be feeding into it by continuing to talk to him. It's only encouraging him.
“I'm hanging up now,” I say. “Goodbye, Victor.”
“You hang up on me, and I'll cut your throat, bitch,” he hisses. “I will fucking kill you, Katie. Do you understand me?”
The hatred in his voice freezes me cold, rooting me to my spot. I sit there, phone pressed to my ear, numb with shock and terror. He's threatened to beat me before. Threatened to hurt me. But, never kill me. That's a first, and it makes me sit up and take notice.
“You listening now?” he sneers.
I don't say anything. As I sit there, I feel a prickling on the back of my neck and have the sudden sensation of being observed. I turn in a circle, eyes wide, looking again at the inky pockets of shadows that hang everywhere, certain I'm going to see Victor's enraged face stepping out of one of them, his eyes locked onto mine.
“I'll assume that you are,” he says, his tone amused again. “Get yourself ready, Katie. I'm coming for you. And when I do, you are going to come with back to Atlanta without putting up a fight. And once we get home, I'm going to punish you for being such a bad girl. You've been very, very bad, Katie, and you have to pay for that. It’s time to learn some fucking respect, so you'd better start practicing now. Do you understand me, bitch?”
I open my mouth to say something but can't think of a snide comeback. I'm so rattled, I can't think of a damn thing. And even if I could, I don’t know if it would be smart to say anything. The feeling of being watched gets worse and sends goosebumps crawling all over my skin. I look around, straining my eyes to try and see into the shadows, but there doesn’t seem to be any movement out there. By all appearances, I'm alone.
I should go back into the bar, call Sheriff Keller, and wait for Aidan with Jake. If Victor's out there, though, I know Jake won’t be able to stop him. He’ll only get hurt in the process. Besides, if Victor is really out there, I may not even make it back to the doors of the bar before he grabs me.
I mentally kick myself. Get it together. Snap the fuck out of it and get your head on straight.
“I said, do you fucking understand me?”
Victor's voice cuts into my thoughts and pulls me back to the here and now. I feel anger rising up inside of me like a dark tide. The fear coursing through my body, makes the anger that much sharper. That much more vibrant.
And that much more intemperate.
“Go fuck yourself, Victor,” I say. “You're full of shit. Always have been.”
“Trust me, babe,” he says, “you don't want to play it this way.”
“Fuck you.”
He sighs, long and loud. “Don't say I didn't give you a chance,” he says. “Because I still love you, I tried to be reasonable, but you're making it pretty goddamn hard. Let me tell you –”
I disconnect the call and feel tears of rage and fear roll down my cheeks. I hate that fucker. More than that, though, I hate myself for being so afraid of him. The phone rings in my hand again. A blocked number. Victor again. Obviously, he hasn't quite gotten off yet and wants to keep tormenting me.
Well, screw that. I'm done playing his game.
I terminate the call and drop my phone in my bag – and make a mental note to always check the caller ID before picking up. You'd think I would have learned that by now. I take a deep, shuddering breath and replay the conversation in my head, parsing every word, doing my best to avoid freaking out. I try to think about what happened rationally and determine if I'm actually in danger or not.
He said he's “going” to come for me. Meaning, he's not here. Victor isn’t in Ashton Mill. Yet. Assuming he actually knows where I am and that he's not just full of shit – which is a distinct possibility.
But, I can't afford to take chances. Not when lives are on the line.
I think it might be time to disappear for a while. I fear that I'm putting Jessa – and now, Aidan – in danger by staying in Ashton Mill. I really fear for anyone who stands between him and me. If Victor rolls into town, and I'm not here, he'll have no choice but to move on.
I start my car, questions and worries flowing through my head like a raging river. I put it in gear and drive home, continually checking my rearview mirror, my heart racing every time I see a pair of headlights behind me.
Thankfully though, I make it home without incident – with nothing but a mountain of worry.
* * *
“You're kidding me,” I say, a huge grin on my face.
“Does it look like I'm kidding?”
Aidan had picked me up from home after calling and telling me he was taking me away for the weekend. At first, I was a little taken aback by the boldness and audacity of it. It wasn't a question – not, “hey, how would you feel about...” – it was literally, Aidan calling me, telling me to pack a bag, and be ready when he got there.
Lucky for him, I actually have a couple days off from the bar. Though, I tend to think he somehow already knew that. Then again, now that he's taken the blindfold off me, as I look at the sleek corporate jet sitting in front of me, I think that maybe I'm the lucky one.
“Is this yours?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Partly,” he says. “It belongs to the company.”
“Your company.”
“My share of the company.”
“Semantics.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he says and flashes me that heart-melting smile of his.
We're standing just outside a private hangar at the airport in Greenville – which is only about half an hour away from Ashton Mill. Large commercial airliners streak skyward on the other side of the airport while we stand on the tarmac. A skycap unloads our luggage and is hauling it over to the plane for us as we wait for the okay from the captain to board.
“Where's Oliver?” I ask. “I thought he'd be coming with us.”
“I hired a babysitter to stay with him the next couple of days.”
I look over at him and smirk. “A babysitter?”
He nods. “Oliver's most comfortable at home, surrounded by his own things,” he says. “He doesn't like it when I leave as it is, so I didn't want to stress him out anymore than I have to.”
Our eyes meet, and I feel my heart fill with emotion. I can't believe he would bend over backwards like that to make his dog comfortable and happy. I can honestly say he's the only person I know who would do that for their dog. It's really sweet.
“So, this is how the other half lives,” I say dryly. “I've always wondered.”
“Hey, it beats flying coach.”
I nod. “I think I can get used to this.”
He gives me a long, lingering look. “Yeah, I think I can too.”
My heart turns a somersault in my chest, and I feel the heat flaring in my cheeks. It feels like there's more behind that comment than he's saying, and he seems to realize it after the fact, as he clears his throat and looks away. I want to ask him, but I don't want to push it. This is all so new, and I know we're both still sort of – fragile. Best if we proceed down this path carefully.
“Sorry for the lack of notice,” he says, seeming to make the wise choice and veer away from that topic altogether. “I wanted to surprise you. I thought you deserved a nice weekend away from all the shit. Some time to enjoy yourself and relax.”
“Well, I'm surprised, so mission accomplished,” I say. �
�But, pro tip, next time, you might want to check with me first. I mean, some of us work regular hours. I could have been scheduled down at the bar –”
“I checked with your boss, actually,” he says.
“You called Marv?” I ask, staring at him wide-eyed.
“Well, yeah,” he says, like it's the most natural thing in the world. “Nice guy, actually.”
I laugh. “Marv is a lot of things, but nice is not one of them.”
He grins. “I think you misjudge the poor guy. He's really fond of you,” he says. “Told me you remind him of his youngest daughter.”
I roll my eyes. “If you knew his youngest daughter, you wouldn't see that as a good comparison.”
He chuckles. “The point is, he likes you a lot, Katie,” he says.
“Yeah, okay,” I say, shaking my head and laughing. “Whatever, Aidan.”
He shrugs and laughs before putting his hand on the small of my back and guiding me toward the plane, as the captain waves us to the rolling stairs. It's almost time to go. We step aboard the plane and it's wall-to-wall luxury. The seats are wide and well padded. There is a big screen TV on the front wall, a bar on one side of the plane, and a galley in the rear. It's done in wood paneling and decorated in the red and black motif I assume are the colors of Aidan's company.
“Good to see you again, Mr. Anderson,” the pilot says and then turns to me. “I'm Captain John Perry. I'll be your pilot. You two need anything, you just let me or the crew know.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Aidan says. “Nice to see you again as well.”
The co-pilot is in the cockpit already, running the pre-flight checks, and there is one flight attendant – a tall, attractive dark-haired woman.
“Go ahead and make yourselves comfortable,” Captain says. “We'll be wheels up in ten minutes.”
Captain Perry turns and heads into the cockpit, taking his seat beside the co-pilot. The flight attendant guides us to our seats and gives us a warm, welcoming smile.
“Lovely to see you again, Mr. Anderson,” she says. “It's been a little while.”
