Nocturne

by Heather McKenzie

  “Boss lady is gonna be pissed about that,” the tall man said. “She said keep it clean.”

  “Well, Rayna can suck it if she doesn’t like how I do my job,” the wide man said.

  It was all I could do to not scream. The old man’s body quickly sank to the bottom before it floated back up. A red cloud grew around him. It started spreading out toward my hiding spot. As the splotch neared, I fought to keep quiet. I watched and waited while the men searched one room, then another. When both disappeared at the same time into separate rooms, I snuck out. Hands on the ledge, I was about to pull myself up and out of the pool, but something caught my eye—there was another man. A figure crouched beside the towel bin with only his outline visible. Had he seen me, too?

  The mouth of a waterslide was a foot away. I headed for it. As I wiggled my way into the red tube, my wounded arm throbbed and my legs quivered like jelly. Soon, it became too steep to climb and the slightest misstep would cause a loud shriek of my skin rubbing on plastic, so I froze with my arms and legs splayed like Spiderman.

  The voices of the men grew louder. They were arguing about Rayna. One wanted to follow her orders explicitly—which was bring her my dead body. The other wanted to burn the whole place down and just get it over with. I was sure I misunderstood. Had to be hearing things. There was no way this Rayna was the woman I suspected was my mother.

  They began circling the pool. My weak arm shook violently as I pushed harder against the plastic. A light passed across the bottom of the slide, just missing my toes, and I held my breath until the pain in my arm became unbearable. Suddenly, the torn muscle gave out and my feet made a horrific screeching noise as my legs crumpled beneath me. I tumbled down the slide and plopped into the water. When I came up for air, I was caught in the stare of the wide man, who was now grinning madly with a gun pointed at my head.

  “Got her,” he yelled, steadying a pair of dark, almond-shaped eyes on me.

  His finger hovered over the trigger. Any moment now, my blood would mix with the old man’s. Where was Luke? Should I shout and warn him to hide? To run? Or had they already found him? I eyed the clerk floating toward me. What if Luke was dead, too?

  No. I would have felt that.

  I braced, waiting for the bullet to end me, to see and feel the warmth of that beautiful white light I had been close to before…

  But the wide man didn’t make a move. He stood, staring, and something like sympathy came across his face. “You sure look like your mother,” he said, head tipping to the side as he studied me. “It’s too bad she wants you dead.”

  I could barely breathe. Should I scream now? “My mother?” I choked on the words. “You mean… Rayna?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. You’re the spitting image of her. Damn, you’ve never even met her, have ya?”

  He was confirming my suspicions about the woman in the picture. But I didn’t like what I was hearing. She wanted me dead? “Rayna…” I repeated, feeling dizzy. “Your boss lady… is my mother? No. I’ve never met her.”

  I stared at the barrel of the wide man’s pistol still aimed at my forehead.

  “It’s too bad,” he said. The jowls under his chin shook. “You’re so pretty. It’s such a waste.”

  The world slipped away for a moment when the full force of reality kicked it in the ass. “There must be some misunderstanding.” My legs were close to not holding me up.

  The wide man laughed. “No, there sure isn’t, Miss Kaya Lowen.” He spat my last name like acid. “Rayna most certainly wants you dead. Don’t worry. I’ll make it quick and painless.”

  Behind the wide man, the figure crouching next to the towel bin stood. The shadows concealed his face, but something familiar about the outline of him tugged at my memory. This person moved like—

  Suddenly, the man in the shadows lunged for the wide man’s neck, getting hold of it with meaty hands and snapping it to the left. I heard bones break. The wide man’s gun fell to the ground, then so did his body. And there, eyes wide and glaring, chest rising and falling with clenched fists and gritted teeth… was Oliver.

  “Get out of the damn pool,” he roared.

  What? I was stunned. What was he doing here? How did he know where I was?

  “Get out,” he ordered again, barely able to get the words out.

  I stared in stunned silence until another familiar figure emerged from around a corner, cheeks pink and blood on his forehead. I almost fainted in relief at the sight of him. “Luke, are you—”

  Oliver cut me off. “It’s about time,” he snarled, turning to give Luke a sideways leer. “Did you get the other guy?”

  “Yeah,” Luke said, slightly breathless. “We’ve gotta get out of here, though, and fast. They’ve got backup coming. I know these guys, and they are ruthless.”

  Oliver’s nostrils flared. He was vibrating with rage. “Damn Right Choice Group assholes. I can’t believe you were a part of that crap. Did you know you were working for Kaya’s mother? That’s right, Luke. Rayna, your ex-boss lady, is Kaya’s mother. For some reason, the bitch wants to put a bullet in her child’s head.”

  Luke paled. He stumbled back as if all the wind had been knocked out of him. “I didn’t know. Oh my God, I swear I didn’t know.”

  I was freezing in the pink water while trying to make sense of the exchange between the love of my life and my ex-fiancé while a dead man who said I looked like Rayna—my now-confirmed mother—lay at their feet.

  Luke crouched at the edge of the pool. His eyes, full of remorse, would have pulled at my heartstrings if it weren’t for a whirlwind of fury building inside me. “Please believe I didn’t know. Truly, I didn’t,” he said. “Let me help you out of the water, Kaya.”

  He thrust his hand toward me.

  My heart was pounding in panic to get out, but my mind raced with the realization I had been betrayed—on a few different levels. I waded to the other side and got out on my own. Picking up my discarded jean shorts, I yanked them up my dripping legs, hands shaking so hard I could barely get the zipper to function. The struggle with the shirt brought tears to my eyes.

  “What about the others?” Oliver was saying as they rounded the edge of the pool toward me.

  “The others?” My chest tightened in terror; were there more men here who wanted to kill me?

  Luke’s gaze met mine briefly before drifting to the second floor—where there was still no music. Then it hit me. Our friends.

  I bolted for the stairs, taking two at a time and almost wiping out at the top, then ran toward the room where we’d sang and laughed for the last seven nights. Luke was yelling at me to stop. Oliver shouted for Luke to stop me. I ignored them and practically hurled my body at the door. It swung open.

  “Kaya, please,” Luke said. His hand caught my shoulder, stopping me from falling into the room. Into the chaos. Into the dead.

  Luke was apologizing for not getting to them sooner while my heartbeat smashed in my ears and tried to drown him out. Marie was on the floor, her pretty blonde curls thick with red, and Dustin was splayed on the bedspread next to Rusty and the two groupies—their bodies riddled with bullet holes.

  I stumbled backward, unable to look away. This was a nightmare, had to be.

  “No… Oh my God, no. Because of me?” I choked out, feeling my stomach rise into my throat. The pulsing in my ears escalated into a raging storm. “Because of me they’re dead?”

  Luke pulled me away from the gruesome sight, his hand searing hot on my skin confirming I was awake and this was real. The sky shook, spots danced before my eyes, and then my legs gave out.

  I was jarred awake in the backseat of a speeding truck. My clothes were damp, my hair an uncomfortable mop around my head, and my chest ached from crying. The sun was just starting to come up and between heavy eyelids, I watched a deep magenta sky tinged with gold clouds come to life. The odd tree whizzed by. A bird or two. A telephone pole.

  The window was down a crack. Cool air brushed over my swollen eyes, gi
ving my bare legs goose bumps. I shivered, cold for the first time in weeks, and wondered where the warm air had gone. Where were we? By the rattling of the truck, it felt like a dirt road. I thought to ask, but then decided it didn’t matter.

  Luke was in the passenger seat. From my position, the golden stubble on his cheeks and chin and streaks of darkened blood on the side of his forehead was visible. Was it his or the other man’s? It just didn’t fit; his near-angelic appearance and ability to kill someone. I hadn’t known he was capable of that, but then again, I hadn’t known a lot of things about him.

  But I knew exactly what Oliver was capable of. I’d witnesses it many times. I knew him. I could read him blindfolded. I didn’t have to sit up and look to know his nostrils were flared and one hand was clenching the steering wheel while the other rubbed at his furrowed brow; I could tell that just from the tone of his voice and ice-cold replies to Luke’s questions. So badly I wanted Oliver gone. Out of my life. Forever. The feeling was so strong I was tempted to throw myself out of the moving truck just to get away from him.

  “Did you have to set fire to the place?” Luke asked him.

  The truck accelerated. Oliver cleared his throat. “I couldn’t leave behind any evidence she was there. So, yeah.”

  “She’s shivering,” Luke said, and the window was rolled up. “We’ve got nothing. You were supposed to at least grab some of her clothes out of the room.”

  “And you were supposed to keep her safe! I should pull over and beat the crap out of you.”

  “You could try, but you know I’d break your arms before you even touched a hair on my head.” Luke wasn’t being arrogant, he was just stating a fact—one Oliver wasn’t okay with.

  He let out a low growl. “You let her out of your sight. What is wrong with you? Why the hell would you do that?”

  “She wanted to be alone.”

  “And you thought that was okay?”

  Luke sighed. “Yeah. I did. I can’t keep her on a leash, Oliver, nor do I want to. Besides, I knew you were watching. Nose out your window, binoculars in hand, or whatever your methods of spying on us have been for the last week.”

  “You better keep quiet about that, boy,” Oliver warned. “She won’t forgive you if she finds out you were working with her ex-fiancé behind her back.”

  Luke twisted around in his seat. His eyes were rimmed red. “She’s awake, Oliver. Has been for a while. She knows.”

  I curled on my side and shut out what I was hearing. As the morning light increased, so did my anger at Oliver, and my guilt and sadness for my friends who lost their lives. It only multiplied the pain of being betrayed by the one person I thought I could trust.

  “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you, Kaya.” Luke’s voice was full of sadness. “I’m sorry about everything.”

  Oliver said nothing, but the heavy, irritated breaths escaping his lungs were words to me.

  “I have to pee,” I said, now desperate to get out of the truck.

  “We’ll stop in a bit,” Oliver said. “There’s a town about fifteen minutes—”

  “Now,” I yelled so I didn’t have to listen to him utter another word.

  Luke pointed ahead. “Just pull over, Oliver. There, to the right. Take that road.”

  The truck slowed and then turned. My heart was pounding out a warning of an impending anxiety attack. We came to a stop. “If either of you follow me, I’ll—”

  I didn’t finish. What I saw when I sat up made me forget my threat. After I pushed the door open, I stepped out onto a dusty road strewn with gravel. It stretched alongside a field where the most glorious breeze shook masses of flowers. Yellow and gold waves rolled atop tall green stems. The land sprawled beneath an endless blue sky that seemed to reach as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was so vast. There were no mountains or towers of rock obstructing the view. I’d never seen anything like it. My feet started moving, heading down a road so straight it seemed to never end. I inhaled the perfume in the air, so different from the pine scents back home. My anxiety started to subside. I’d never been anywhere else than the mountains. Never seen any place like this.

  I picked up the pace. Before I knew it, I was running. Flat out. Flip-flops barely stayed on my feet. Crickets jumped out of my way, a hawk eyed me from above, and footsteps pounded behind me trying to keep up. Pumping my arms and moving my legs as hard and as fast as I could, I gave it all I had. When my lungs started screaming, exhaustion took hold and insisted I stop. Gasping for air and doubling over, I waited for my heart rate to slow. I waited for the heavy emotional turmoil welling inside to settle for a moment. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, then stood up straight and exhaled.

  “It’s mustard,” Luke said from behind me, breathless.

  I plopped down onto my butt in the middle of the road, not worried about getting run over. Luke sat down next to me, swiping away a curious bee. “All those yellow flowers are mustard plants. When the pods turn brown, the seeds are ready to harvest. You can eat the leaves too… or sauté them. Black mustard is awesome on hot dogs. Super tasty stuff.”

  “I don’t eat hot dogs,” I said flatly.

  “Oh. Right.” He reached for my hand, but I pulled away. “Listen, Kaya, I’m sorry. I should have told you about Oliver.”

  “Yeah, you should have,” I said.

  Guilt furrowed his brow. “I had a feeling he was following us. I caught him the first night we arrived at the Lemon Tree Motel. He made me a deal that just seemed, well, logical. I mean, I would love to hold him down and pound his face in—and vice versa—but knowing he was there, looking out for you, was comforting. I had back up if I needed it. And, apparently, I needed it. If he hadn’t been there—”

  “Would we have stayed for seven days at that motel if Oliver hadn’t been lurking around?” I asked.

  Luke shook his head. “No. It wouldn’t have been safe. We would have kept moving. He told me he’d remain hidden and keep watch if we stayed put for a while.”

  “So, it’s his fault, isn’t it?” I seethed.

  “What’s his fault?”

  “That our friends are dead!”

  I leapt to my feet and headed into the field of mustard, the plants almost as tall as me, the humming insects fluttering my ears.

  “I’m sorry,” Luke said, marching behind me. “I doubted my ability to keep you safe. I have to make sure that nothing happens to you, and—”

  I stopped short and turned to face him. “I want you as a boyfriend, not a bodyguard. There’s a significant difference!”

  He put his hands up. “There should be, yes, but when the love of your life is being hunted by her father and grandfather, those roles sort of merge together.”

  I swallowed hard, suddenly aware that although it was scenic, it wasn’t all that warm, wherever we were. “Don’t forget my mother.”

  “Rayna,” Luke said uncomfortably.

  “Yes. She wants me dead, too. Those men at the motel, I heard them talking. They said she wanted my body delivered to her. Why? Why would my own mother want to kill me? I thought that maybe…”

  I didn’t get a chance to finish. He lunged for me, pulled me tight, and cradled my head against his broad chest. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Kaya, even if it means I have to endure your creepy ex-fiancé following us around. I won’t take any chance, no matter how small, that I might lose you. Please forgive me for that.”

  His heartbeat crashed into my ears, soothing me and bringing the looming anxiety attack to a complete halt. I pulled back to peer into his glorious blue eyes that were the same color as the sky behind him, yet somehow more dazzling.

  “Is that why you wouldn’t touch me? You knew Oliver was around so that’s why we slept in separate beds?”

  “It was part of Oliver’s deal that I kept my hands off you.”

  If anything, Luke was a man of his word. That’s why there had been a strange tension between us. Why he’d kept his distance and tucked me in at night wit
h a gentle kiss when the fire in his eyes said he wanted so much more.

  “So, you still… want me?”

  A devastating smile crossed his face. “Yes.”

  His mouth found mine, and his hands wound into my hair. Every single cell of my body lit up beneath his touch. He parted my mouth and moved his tongue across mine, the taste of him and the warmth of his glorious body thrilling all my senses. It didn’t matter who I was, or where I was, I became lost in everything about him. He moved his mouth to my ear. A butterfly kiss on the lobe. I felt such love radiate through him it lit up my soul. He was the air in my lungs. The blood in my veins. Nothing else mattered.

  “You have my heart and my body, Kaya, and I want to show you in every way more than anything in the entire world,” he breathed. His pulse quickened at the base of his throat. “But I also want to wait until it’s right.”

  I gulped, shaking from head to toe. “This isn’t the Twilight movie, Luke. You aren’t an old-fashioned vampire waiting for me to graduate high school so you can marry me first.”

  A grin stretched across his face. He leaned into my neck and gave it a playful bite. “Maybe I am.”

  My breath caught. I struggled to speak. “When do you think the time might be right then?” “Well, let’s see… probably when your body is healed completely.” His hand moved down my side before gently brushing over my stomach—which was now perfectly flat after the miscarriage. “And when Oliver isn’t around, and I don’t have to worry about one of your family members plucking you from my arms.”

  “That might not ever happen,” I said, unable to hide my reddening cheeks and the need to kiss him. The breeze picked up. The mustard field swayed around us.

  He cupped my chin. “Never? Well, in that case, how about tomorrow?”

  All the air left my lungs.

  “After you marry me, Bella,” he said with a playful grin.