“You look good, Lena. Someone must be taking very good care of you.” His eyes shot to me. “I approve,” he added with a smile, which quickly turned to a frown when he turned his attention back to her. “Listen, as much as I would love this to be just a chance meeting, it’s not. I’ve been looking for you.”
“Why?”
“To warn you.”
Lena tensed and pressed her lips in a tight line. “Warn me about what?”
“Troy. I wanted to come and let you know that he might know where you are. I don’t know for sure. Gabby was on vacation with her boyfriend last month or so. They’d been camping around this area. I think by the lake. They’d heard about the parade and decided to check it out. She saw you. She didn’t know that you’d left Troy. In fact, she didn’t know anything about what had happened. I never told her since you asked me not to tell anyone. After she’d seen you, or thought she’d seen you, she ran into Troy one night and mentioned that she thought she saw you at the parade here in Turtle Lake. She said she called out to you, but you didn’t stop, so she figured maybe it wasn’t you after all. She’d asked Troy if you were out of town, but he didn’t really confirm it, just sort of shrugged and smiled at her. She asked him how you were and if he thought you’d like some company since she hadn’t seen you for a while. Then he told her you were out of town, visiting your brother. That’s when she became suspicious. She knew you didn’t have a brother. She came to me two days ago and told me.”
“They’re divorced now,” I said with confidence.
“Well, congratulations on that, sweet thing. Troy didn’t mention that to Gabby. So I’m guessing he’s not too happy about it.”
Brodie showed up with the coffee and sat down. I looked at him. “What are you doing?”
“I want to help.”
“What?”
“You’re my brother and she’s your girlfriend. I want to help.”
I nodded and patted him on the shoulder. “Thanks.”
Weezer continued, “It only took me two days to find you, and I was speeding most of the time. I left Medford twenty minutes after Gabby told me. That was two hours after she’d spoken to Troy.”
“Let’s go home,” I said.
We all stood, and Lena hugged Weezer. “Thank you. You better not stick around here. If Troy does come in here looking for me and sees you, I’m afraid of what he might do, Weezer. Promise me you’ll leave and go home.”
“I’m leaving. I’m not going home for a while, though. I thought I’d take a little vacation of my own. My sister lives a little further south in Folsom. She had a baby boy about a month ago that I haven’t seen, yet. I’m an uncle,” he said smiling. “I’m going to go see my nephew. You take care of our girl,” he said, looking at me.
“Congratulations, Weezer, and thanks again. You’re the best.”
Weezer walked out the front door. We headed toward the back. That’s where I always parked. “Derrick, lock up early tonight. If anyone comes in asking for me or Lana, or Lena, tell them you never heard of us.”
“Call Doc, ask him to come by and play bouncer.” Derrick’s eyebrows rose. “Will do, boss. Anything I should be aware of?”
“Yeah, Lena’s ex is a bastard that won’t take no for an answer.”
“Lena? I thought her name was Lana.”
“It’s both, but keep that to yourself,” I yelled as we hurried out the door, wishing I hadn’t just screwed up her name.
Chapter 42
Lena
My body shook uncontrollably as I sat in the passenger side of Jackson’s SUV. Brodie drove his truck and followed close behind us.
“Jackson.”
He glanced at me briefly before focusing back on the road as we whipped around the corner. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry,” I said, the shakiness in my voice made it difficult to speak very loud.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. Everything is going to be fine. You hear me? Everything. I hope you’re not upset about Brodie helping. I didn’t tell him details, but he’s no dummy, Lena.”
“I’m not.” I’d always been privy to the fact that Brodie knew more than he was letting on; otherwise he wouldn’t have been giving Jackson such a difficult time about helping me. “What are we going to do?”
“We are going to pack our bags and go on vacation too.”
“Where to?”
“Have you ever been to Aspen? I hear there’s still plenty of snow for skiing right now.”
“We can’t go to Aspen.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one, we don’t have a flight reservation.”
“Details.”
I almost laughed. “Or money.”
“I have money, and we can make arrangements for the next available flight. We can hide out at the house. Your ex doesn’t know where we live.”
That was true, but if he did come all the way down here to find me, he’d be sure never to leave any stone unturned. I knew my husband. Not my husband anymore, I corrected. “I can’t let you use your money for this.”
“Why not? I need a vacation, and Aspen sounds great right now. Can you ski?”
I shook my head.
“Well, you can take a lesson. It will be fun. I promise.”
I knew what he was doing with his lighthearted attitude, trying to make me feel more secure, talking about things like there was nothing wrong, calling it a vacation when we were really just running, going to hideout. The running and hiding part didn’t bother me, but dragging Jackson into my horror did. “How long do you think we can keep on running until we run out of money?” I asked.
He gave me a sideways glance and frowned. “Forever, if we have to. Forever.”
Right then I knew how much I loved Jackson. I’d fallen pretty hard, but I hadn’t let myself admit it until just then. I couldn’t let him sacrifice everything he’d worked so hard for just to help me.
Brodie pulled into the driveway right behind us. He hurried out of the jeep and ran to the front door, Rufus on his heels, but the dog quickly made a beeline over to Jackson. Rufus was Jackson’s dog through and through. “What’s the plan?” Brodie asked.
“Lena and I are going to Aspen. I’m hoping to find a flight out tomorrow morning.” Jackson said after we’d gotten inside and he shut the door. I walked toward the backdoor and the stairs leading to the cottage. I needed to get my stuff together. I wasn’t so sure about going to Aspen, but I needed to go somewhere. Alone.
Brodie nodded in agreement without even raising an eyebrow. “I have some money saved that I can give you.” I stopped in my tracks and stared at Brodie. This was what family was about, pulling together to help one another in times of crisis. Something I’d never experienced before. Unconditional love. Oh, I knew my mother loved me, and she would have protected me if she’d been able to, but that was a mother’s job. To have a brother or a sister give up his hard earned cash to help was beyond my comprehension, and I suddenly had a new admiration for Brodie. I couldn’t let him give up his own money though.
“No!” I shouted. “I can’t let you do that. Either of you.”
I raced up the steps taking two at a time. Rufus barked behind me. Jackson must have told him to follow me. I headed for the closet. I pulled out all the clothes, including a dress that Leslie and I had found one day when she’d invited me along to go shopping in Fall River. It was white and covered with roses, definitely a springtime dress. I hadn’t worn it yet. I wondered how much time we actually had until Troy found me. I wanted a chance to let Jackson see the dress. See me in something other than raggedy old jeans. I decided if I wore a jacket I could travel in a dress just as well as pants, so I put it on. I had no intentions of going to Aspen or anywhere with Jackson. I needed to go alone, but I wanted us to have just one last wonderful evening together, even if it had to be a short one. Jackson was right. Troy didn’t know where we lived, so we were safe. For now.
Chapter 43
Jackson
There
was really nothing for Brodie to do, so he went back to the bar to check on things there. He’d called in earlier and spoke to Doc, and to my relief, nobody had come in asking about Lena or Lana. So I relaxed a bit, but didn’t want to let my guard down too much.
I needed to get some stuff out of storage; some snow clothes, gloves and other accessories like a hat and pants. I was looking forward to teaching Lena how to ski. I decided I’d go later after Brodie came home. I didn’t want to leave her alone.
When she came in through the back door, I did a double take. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me as she walked through the door in a dress. The way the descending sun radiated around her body made her glow like the angel I knew she was. “Wow. You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but why are you wearing a dress? I thought you were packing for our trip.”
“I packed. We won’t be leaving until tomorrow, right?”
I nodded.
“Well, I thought it would be nice to make tonight special. I haven’t had a chance to wear this yet.”
“Lena, you’ll have plenty of chances to wear it later.”
“But we’re going someplace where it snows. And this isn’t exactly a cold whether outfit.”
“Well, you do look beautiful. Are you cold?” I asked, rubbing my hands up her bare arms.
“Maybe just a little. But I have you to keep me warm.”
“That you do. That you do.” I kissed her softly. Her hands roamed over my back and up into my hair. I loved having her fingers tangled in my hair. I decided right then never to cut it short again. I kissed my way down her neck, licking and kissing at her pulse. My own heart pounded against my chest. This dress wasn’t going to stay on very long I thought as I snaked my hand up her warm bare thigh. Two minutes later, we were back in my room rolling around on the bed. The dress in a heap on the floor and all thoughts of that creep of an ex looking for her blurred away.
“My dress is all wrinkled now,” Lena complained, picking it up and stepping back into it.
“Sorry, I lost control,” I said, pulling my jeans back up.
She smiled, her lips still swollen from my kisses. I rubbed my chin, realizing I hadn’t shaved that morning. I didn’t have the toughest beard, but still, the little stubbles I did have managed to make her face a bit pink around her mouth. “I should have shaved this morning.”
She touched her fingers to my lips and stepped into me. “I didn’t notice.”
“I think your lips did. Your mouth is all puffy. I’ll go shave now so when I kiss you later tonight I’ll be all smooth.”
“Hmmm … I’m looking forward to that.”
“My smoothness or my kisses?
“Your kisses. Your stubbles don’t bother me. Nothing bothers me when you’re kissing me.” She slipped her arms around my neck and shimmied her body against mine.
“Woman, you better step back and stop talking that way, or I’m gonna to have to remove your dress again.”
She giggled. “Is that a promise or a threat?”
My cell phone rang as Brodie’s name showed up on the screen. “Ugh. It’s Brodie. I better answer it.” I pushed the button and walked into the bathroom to start shaving while I talked. “Yeah, we’ll be leaving in the morning,” I said into the phone as Lena headed toward the door. “Don’t go anywhere,” I said to her and she rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. I told Brodie to hold on and turned to Lena. “Sweetheart, I don’t want to sound like a dominating prick, but I need you to stay safe. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.”
“I’m just going to the kitchen.”
Chapter 44
Lena
I strolled into the kitchen, now very hungry after rolling around in the bedroom for an hour. I glanced around and something was missing. With all the excitement, I’d left the flowers in the SUV. I raced outside to get them so I could place them in some water. I hoped they hadn’t wilted from being in the car all day. I opened the car door, and there they were on the floor on the passenger’s side, right where I’d left them. I picked them up, and one fell out onto the seat. I picked it up and held it to my nose, inhaling its sweet aroma.
As I turned to head back up the stairs, a hand covered my mouth as Troy whispered into my ear. “Lena, baby, it’s been a long time.”
I gasped into his hand and dropped the bouquet of roses on the ground. I held onto the loose one. I didn’t know why, other than something in the back of my mind told me I should, that I might need it or something.
“Don’t make a sound, Lena. This isn’t just a piece of metal sticking into your side.” My eyes flicked down to the pistol digging into my ribs, hoping I didn’t really see what my skin felt. Troy shoved me toward the side yard, back toward the cottage. All the blinds were down on the windows on this side of the house, so I didn’t think Jackson would see what was going on. I prayed that Jackson would realize I went outside. I should have said something, but I knew he would jump up and offer to fetch the flowers himself, and I really just needed some fresh air. Stupid. I should have trusted my instincts and realized Troy would find me without the help of anyone in that bar.
“I bet you thought you’d killed me, huh, Lena. Well, let me tell you, you nearly did.” He laughed, and his familiar hot, boozy breath assaulted my ear.
“Fuck, Lena, you were never any good at finishing things. You made me have to lie to the doctor, though.” He said the word “lie” through clenched teeth, as if it were poison to utter the forbidden word. “I had to tell the doctor I punctured my stomach in the garage while trying to hang a new garage door opener. I told her that the whole thing snapped, and the steel rod flew down straight into my stomach just inches from doing any major damage, just like the pathetic little knife you shoved into my gut. Of course, I had to make the wound you inflicted look jagged, which hurt like a son of a fucking bitch. Lucky for me, you didn’t thrust that knife in a bit further or I would be a dead man. I’d waited a couple hours before actually going into the emergency room. Hell, I needed to sober up a little first. Almost considered skipping the stitches entirely, but when I couldn’t get the bleeding to stop after shoving the damn steel in my gut making the wound worse, and more jagged, I’d had no choice. That was your fault. I suppose the extra irritant to the wound with the metal rod didn’t help much, since the fucking doctor almost didn’t believe my story anyway, and nearly called the cops. I had to do some fancy sweet-talking to convince her I was on the up and up. Good thing the doc was a woman, I’ve always been able to sweet talk women you know.
“And on top of that, you bitch, I’d torn my shirt and got it all stained with blood trying to make it look like an accident. I had to tear the shirt, and that pissed me off. Work shirts aren’t cheap, so you’re gonna pay for that too.”
He kept shoving me forward, the gun pressed firmly against my side and his hand still covered my mouth. We made our way past my car and snuck around the side of the garage. Too bad I didn’t have my keys. I could have sounded the alarm on the car. The woods were about a hundred yards away, and I had the feeling that was where he was taking me. He must have left his car somewhere down the road and hiked in through the woods. My hand was still clasped around the stem of the rose. I didn’t feel any thorns that I could use to scratch his face. Since when did roses come without thorns? Of course, that would have only made him more deranged, and God, I didn’t want to do that. He was sick. I knew that now.
“It took me some time to recover from that, Lena. I lost time at work, and damn it, bitch, you made me miss Taco Tuesday at the bar that night. You know I really thought I could trust you,” He continued his rant through a clenched jaw, “I really thought you’d be back at home, sitting on the couch waiting for me to return from the fucking emergency room. When you weren’t there, I threw my keys against the wall, made a big gash in the plaster too. Landlord’s gonna want some money for that.” Troy was rambling now as if him telling me all this wo
uld somehow make it all better. “I’d had to get drunk all over again just to dull the pain from the stabbing. I musta guzzled several beers down in one gulp. Woke up to find all the empties in the sink, broken. You’re gonna clean them up, ‘cause I left them for you.”
I was right; we were heading into the woods behind the garage. As we made our way into the forest, I tripped over a log and almost fell. Troy was strong though, and he managed to hold me up without moving his hand away from my face. “Watch where you’re stepping,” he growled. Troy didn’t bother with the trail, and there was no way to know what sort of foliage or shrubbery we’d be running into until we were right on top of it because I couldn’t move my head very well to see with his hand covering my mouth and holding my head still that way. Branches and thorns scraped my legs as we hurried past them.
“I figured you’d run over to one of those druggy friends you used to hang out with when I'd first met you. What was her name? Oh yeah ... Gabby, Gabriella D something or other, and what was that jerk’s name? Geezer? No, Weezer. Weezer Storm. Well, hold on, Weezer my man, looks like Daddy’s found his girl, and just as soon as I get my Lena home, we’ll need to pay good ol’ Weezer a visit,” he muttered as though Weezer was walking along with us. “Oh, and you can thank your friend, Gabby for tipping me off about where you’ve been hiding. Why here for fuck’s sake, anyway?”
I heard Rufus bark not so very far from us, and hoped Troy wouldn’t realize he was chasing us. If Rufus was close then I knew Jackson was too. and I hoped to God they didn’t find us because Troy had a gun, and I didn’t want Jackson or Rufus to get hurt.
As Rufus’ bark got closer, Troy’s grip tightened on my mouth. “It sounds like that asswipe you’ve been staying with is following us. Adultery is a sin, Lena. I thought I could trust you.” Apparently, the final divorce papers didn’t mean anything to Troy. He was refusing to recognize the fact that we were no longer married. “You better hope he doesn’t get any closer. I have no problem silencing that thing or the adulterer he belongs to.”
Beautifully Wounded (The Beaumont Brothers) Page 16
