by Amy Gamet
“I told you I didn’t want to walk this evening,” she said quietly. “But you came for me anyway. You put me in a difficult position.”
“I told you at dinner I would be by to collect you. It shouldn’t have been a surprise.”
“You ignored my wishes.”
“I wanted to spend time with you.”
She sighed heavily. “Where are the gardens you wanted to show me?”
“Just ahead. Near the fence over there.”
Cassidy couldn’t even make out a fence in the near darkness. She’d never been to this area of the ranch and it struck her that if she wanted to find Julianne, she needed to cover more territory than the dormitories, fields and dining hall. “I’d like to see more of the ranch. Would it be all right if I looked around tomorrow instead of helping with the planting? I’d like to see the rest of the property.”
“Of course. I’ll have Lucas take you on a tour.”
“There’s no need. I can look around myself.”
“It’s four thousand acres. More than six square miles.”
Disappointment pierced her heart. She’d never find Julianne in that much space. “Okay then, Lucas it is.”
They walked a few more minutes in silence, then he stopped and lifted his head, calling, “Jerome, will you light the garden, please?”
She could just make out the silhouette of the guard tower against the sky when a large spotlight was lighted, burning her eyes and forcing her to turn away. It moved to the ground, illuminating a large round labyrinth made of gravel and sand. She stepped closer, amazed. “Oh.”
“You didn’t think it would be a flower garden at this time of year.”
“I don’t know what I thought. But this is…unexpected.” She began at the opening, following the twisting, turning path as it folded in on itself, leading to the middle of the circle.
“I find it easier to speak to God in the garden,” he said.
A tingle went up her spine. Not until this moment had she considered David might be telling the truth about his visions and conversations with angels. It was unnerving either way—lying or telling the truth.
“He told me you were coming,” he said.
She stopped abruptly and turned to him. “What?”
He moved to the opening of the maze, tracing her steps and following her through that quadrant until he stood before her, the spotlight shining on his face. He touched her cheek. “God told me to expect you. A woman created just for me, untouched by other men.”
She was about as far from a virgin as a woman could get, and she stifled a laugh.
If you only knew the half of it, buddy.
She was holding her breath, and she forced herself to breathe. “How do you know he was talking about me?”
He grabbed both her upper arms, startling her. “Because I know. He told me she would be an outsider, and she would come to me from the city. I was confused at first when another outsider came to us this winter. I thought she must be the one, but I was mistaken.”
Julianne?
“What did she look like?” The question was out of her mouth before she considered he might find it strange.
“The devil.”
“What was her name?”
A movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention and she turned toward it. The space between the outside fence and the inner compound was empty, and she furrowed her brow.
David didn’t seem to notice. “I thought she was someone she was not. When I got to know her better I realized she’d been sent to distract me from my mission.”
“Someone from The Community? Is she still here?”
“Stop this! I didn’t bring you out here to talk about the past, but of the future.”
His eyes were wide, his posture angry. She felt fear emerging for the first time that evening. “Why did you bring me here?”
He stepped in front of her, his hand coming up to cup her cheek once more, not letting go this time, his fingers stroking lightly. She forced herself not to pull away.
“I like you,” he said. “I wanted to spend time with you alone. Do I shock you?”
“No.”
You scare the fuck out of me.
Her senses were on high alert, from the light breeze across her skin to the smell of freshly cultivated dirt. She sensed something else, too.
They were being watched, and not just by Jerome in the watchtower. There was someone out there, on the other side of the fence.
Was that possible?
He leaned toward her ever so slightly and she pulled away. His eyes hardened.
“I’m not used to men,” she said, the lie coming easily to her lips. “You’re right about that.”
His demeanor changed immediately. “You are meant for me. You’ve waited your whole life for my touch. Just one kiss then.”
She shouldn’t have come out here, shouldn’t have allowed herself to be alone with this psycho, and she considered using a few self-defense moves on him to get him to the ground.
And then what? Do you think they’ll let you stay on and search for Julianne after you’ve beat up their leader?
He slipped his hand behind her head, holding her still. The fear that had come alive when they first came out here had her transfixed. David moved in for a kiss.
Something hard hit the compound fence behind them and they jerked apart.
“What the hell was that?” David barked.
Her heartbeat was skipping in her chest.
Definitely not alone.
“I’m sure it was just an animal.”
“Jerome! Fire into the woods!”
“What are you doing?” she asked frantically, suddenly worried the guard would hurt the interloper. “There’s a fence. We’re safe here.”
The guard fired five shots in quick succession, the loud popping noise making her cover her ears.
The sound of people running came at them from the direction of the dormitories.
“Jerome, turn off the light,” called David.
Cassidy stared into the darkness, wishing she could see who was out there, imagining a dead or frightened man, or beast.
“Brother David, what happened?” asked a man behind her.
Thomas.
“A bear in the distance. We scared it off.”
“Thank goodness you were here to take care of it,” someone else said.
“God is good. Now back to bed for us all,” said David. “There will be no more shooting tonight.”
The crowd murmured its thanks and began to leave. Cassidy wanted to go too—as far away from this man as she could get. “I’m going to turn in for the night.”
“All right then.” He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Until tomorrow.”
She swallowed bile. “Until tomorrow.”
6
Austin hit the ground the second he heard the gunshots, his weapon in his hand before his belly hit the dirt, but he didn’t fire back.
He didn’t need to.
He’d thrown the rock at the fence on impulse as the couple was about to kiss. He should have been too far away to tell for sure, but he could tell by her posture and the way she moved it was Cassidy. The other one looked like David Kelleher—a possibility he could barely even admit to himself right now.
It was the unease he sensed in the way she held herself that had him throwing the rock. She didn’t want that man—whoever he was—so close to her.
Or so you think.
Hell, maybe he was wrong, but once his protective instincts were sounding the alarm there wasn’t any stopping them.
Hopefully you didn’t give your position away, asshole.
Things went bump in the night all the time. A rock hitting a fence could easily be mistaken for an animal of some kind. Shit, they had bears and moose and elk and all sorts of crap up here. This part of Idaho was like a goddamn zoo.
He narrowed his eyes as he watched the people return to their buildings through his night vision goggles, Cassid
y and the man included.
He followed her from the other side of the fence, hiding himself far enough into the woods to avoid detection. A half mile away from where she began, she and about half the other women ducked into a long log-cabin.
First things first. He had to get inside.
He took off his goggles and opened his pack, withdrawing the bolt cutters. The fence wasn’t electrified, so that would be his easiest route inside.
He crawled slowly to the perimeter of the compound, confident his camouflage clothing would conceal him, and began cutting away at the chain-link fence. He’d selected a dark area illuminated by a single sodium light more than a hundred feet away.
Carefully he cut an eighteen-inch vertical line from the ground to the height of his head, then he moved over three feet and did it again. He was capable of crawling through a smaller opening, but on the return trip he’d have Cassidy with him—hopefully walking on two feet instead of kicking and screaming or unconscious.
If she didn’t want to leave, he would knock her out with the drugs in his pack and carry her out of here. He was prepared for any eventuality with smoke bombs and noise grenades that should provide enough cover for him to make it out of here if need be, but he was sure as hell partial to sneaking out quietly with no one in pursuit.
A moving light caught his eye and he pulled his binoculars to his face. A woman was walking outside the dormitory carrying a lantern and a towel. When she reached an outdoor shower and hung the light on a high post, he was finally able to see her face.
Cassidy.
She stepped into the wooden stall and stripped, draping her clothing off a bar on the other side of the wall. From Austin’s vantage point on a small hill, he could just see the tops of her breasts before she started the water.
There she was. After so much time, her body was just as perfect as he remembered, and he silently hoped she wasn’t sharing it with anyone, much less David Kelleher.
She was one hell of a reporter. With her father’s notoriety it had been easy to check up on her after one too many beers over the years. When she started working for the Post, he started reading the paper—no matter he lived in Atlanta instead of D.C.
He couldn’t help but wonder what lengths she’d go to for a story. Her father said she was here to find Julianne but surely the temptation must be great to research The Community as well. He mentally ticked off another reason she wouldn’t want to come with him.
How would she react when she saw him?
Fuck that train of thought.
“Time to get this show on the road,” he said to himself, noiselessly slipping through the hole in the fence on his way to collect his ex-girlfriend.
7
Cassidy let the hot water sluice over her tired muscles and closed her eyes, the scent of shampoo like a luxury she’d never before appreciated. She still wasn’t ready for bed. That was one thing she certainly hadn’t gotten used to. The early-to-bed, early-to-rise mentality held by The Community.
She was a night owl. Always had been. She adored the quiet of the night, the twinkle of the stars, the lack of people around to interrupt her thoughts.
The lack of David trying to stick his tongue down my throat.
Her eyes opened, thousands of stars filling her field of view.
“So beautiful.”
She hadn’t known what to expect when she came here. David had sent a helicopter for her after she contacted him through their website, saying she was intrigued by the ideals of The Community.
They’d flown in late afternoon and by the time they’d finished with the tour, the sun was setting over the Sawtooth Mountains and she’d been captivated by the beauty of this place.
David had been far less captivating, but from the moment she was introduced she gushed with enthusiasm for The Community and her own desire to join.
She hadn’t been home since. She hadn’t let her guard down or truly been herself or relaxed beyond her evening outdoor shower after all the other women had gone to sleep. This was her time, her moment to regroup so she could face another day in this place.
She soaped up her back with the handmade soap they all used here, an herbal scent that clung to her skin long after she dried off. It was intoxicating and thick, and it seemed to symbolize her belonging to the group, as if even her own personal scent had been sacrificed for the communal one.
Julianne had bathed in these waters, had been cloaked in this same smell.
The thought made her want to cry, but over the last few weeks she’d gotten very good at keeping her tears at bay. She had to find Julianne, had to learn the fate of her friend even if Julianne herself was gone. And the longer Cassidy was here, the more convinced she became that her friend was no longer alive.
No. She would know if that was the case.
She certainly wasn’t part of this group anymore and she never came home, which meant there was a third option that must be true.
What if I never get home either?
“Stop it,” she whispered to herself. But the thought had taken hold in her mind. What if she never left the compound, never saw her parents again, wasn’t able to leave this place as easily as she’d arrived?
There was no talk of leaving from anyone in The Community. She hadn’t been told she was required to stay here, yet it seemed like a given that she was. Hell, there was no disagreement about which vegetables to eat with dinner, and she couldn’t imagine anyone disagreeing with David on such a large scale as to ask to leave this place.
The vow was for life.
The soap slipped between her legs, lathering in her curls. Would he take that too? Would her body belong to The Community as well as her soul?
I’ll do whatever it takes to find Julianne. Anything I have to do.
She turned, letting the water cascade down her features and opening her mouth to breathe in the humid air.
A deep male voice spoke very close by. “Don’t scream.”
Her eyes flew open. The shower wall was nearly the same height as her eyes, but the man was taller than she, his face in full view as his stare locked with hers.
“Austin?” She couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d seen his face a hundred times in her dreams, in that half-wakeful state between the day and night when she longed to be held in his arms.
She missed his body most of all, that amazing torso made of solid muscle, the arms that held her tight against his nakedness. She and Austin did best when there were no words. Words only got them in trouble.
Her arms covered her breasts. She stood on her tip toes, her eyes darting around. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help you.”
“Help me?”
He nodded. “Your parents sent me to bring you home.”
“My parents?” Nothing could be more insane. Her parents hated Austin. They would do anything to keep him away. “They think I’m in Paris.”
“Not anymore, sweetheart. They checked up on you in France and realized you’d never made the trip. It didn’t take a lot of snooping to find out where you’d gone, or so I hear. We weren’t brought in until after that.”
“We?”
“HERO Force. My teammates and me. It stands for Hands-on Engagement and Reconnaissance Operations. We got separated after a parachute accident. I’m the only one who made it to the ranch.”
She scoffed. “Not much of a rescue.”
He raised one eyebrow. “I can handle it.”
The distant sound of footsteps on gravel had her adrenaline pumping. “Someone’s coming. You have to hide.”
He crouched down so that he was hidden by the shower wall. Cassidy again put her head beneath the shower spray, listening as the footsteps grew closer and the person rounded the corner not far from the shower.
What would happen if they found Austin here? She thought of her virgin lie to David just now. Surely anyone could look at her and Austin together and see the giant neon sign over their heads that read WE USED TO BE LOVERS.<
br />
And damn it if she wasn’t getting wet down there already just from him showing up to “save” her. Not that she needed saving, but all that man had to do was be within five feet of her body to get her insides all dewy, warm and aching for a nice, hard fuck.
Stop it.
The door to her shower stall rattled lightly and she realized Austin had moved around opposite their guest, and now wanted to come inside.
“No!” she hissed quietly.
“Beautiful night, isn’t it Sister Cassidy?” came another man’s voice.
David.
Fuck!
That man didn’t know how to take no for an answer. How could she explain she wasn’t a virgin sent by God like some kind of third-century Christmas present? “Yes, it is,” she said, furiously soaping her body.
What was he doing here? And what would he do if he found Austin? She slid open the bolt and let Austin inside, the stall now incredibly crowded. He’d removed his shirt, his dark chest hair a dangerous shadow in the tight space.
“I’ve seen you down here late at night, taking showers when the other women are sleeping,” David said.
“It’s hard for me to get to sleep.” Austin was curled in on himself, squatting on an upside-down milk crate in the corner of the shower stall, his head less than a foot from her naked breasts.
David chuckled. “I can relate. I found it impossible to get to sleep this evening, myself.” During that sentence he had walked so close to the shower, he must be directly on the other side of the wall. He wasn’t as tall as Austin, however, which prevented him from making eye contact with her.
“I kept thinking about you,” he said. “Imagining we’d had the opportunity to finish that kiss.”
Her face crumpled and she shivered despite the hot water running down her body. She’d never been so disgusted by a man as she was in that moment, and the sudden and surprising presence of Austin by her side was the only sense of safety she possessed.
Her eyes locked with Austin’s in the darkness and she knew he could clearly see her fear. Still she said, “I do, too.”
“The temptation to be near you is great, Sister Cassidy.”
