Dot started. Was Troy dangerous? She froze and stared at him. Handsome faces could house evil hearts.
Was Troy a monster...like him?
“What happened in your old life?” Dot whispered before she could stop herself. She bit her lip hard. If she didn't want people asking her about her old life, she shouldn't ask about theirs.
“No. Don't answer that,” she said, jerking away. “I...I'm sorry. I was out of line. I have no right to know...”
“You have every right to know,” Troy said in a low voice.
Dot's breath caught as she tried to compose herself. “No I don't,” she said firmly. “I don't even know you.”
The corners of Troy's eyes crinkled in gentle amusement. “You do now.”
“Th-that's not the point,” she stammered.
The smile was still playing on his lips. “The point is, you don't trust me.”
Dot winced. “Look, I'm sure you're a nice guy...”
“I'm not.”
She froze.
“I was a nice guy,” Troy said, his blue eyes flashing. “I was nice, and foolish.”
Dot stared into his deep, blue eyes. “What happened?” she whispered.
Troy leaned forward and took her trembling hand in his. “Look at me, Dot. Look at all of me. Tell me what you see.”
Dot let her eyes trail down his handsome face to his neck and shoulders. She stared at the jagged scar on his neck and gasped. It was an old scar but it looked like a savage bite mark. She looked down and noticed the old faded scars down his arms.
“You were attacked,” she whispered.
Troy nodded slowly.
“For years, I blamed myself for what happened to me. I kept thinking, if only I hadn't stopped to help, if only I had run faster or fought back harder...”
“It's not your fault,” Dot said immediately.
“No. It took me a long time to see that. The worst part was that for years, I kept punishing myself. I lived in fear, anger and hate. I hated myself, hated life, hated everything. I didn't want to let anyone in, but being alone made everything worse.”
Troy sighed and said softly, “Talk to me, Dot. I'm on your side. I will protect you.”
Dot swallowed and said sadly, “No. You can't protect me.” Even the police can't. “No one can.”
CHAPTER TEN
Troy watched Dot turn away and hug herself tightly. Her jaw was clenched and the doubt, rage and sadness in her eyes broke his heart.
He wanted so badly to hold her and comfort her. She wouldn't believe him if he told her how much he cared about her. To her he was just the town handyman. She hadn't even spoken a word to him until today.
He was just a stranger to her. But she was...important to him.
Troy knew he couldn't very well tell her that he often drove past her house on his way to work and on his way home. And on most nights, he would find himself strolling down her street just to make sure that the light was on in her house. He didn't like to think of her driving or walking home alone after dark. The streets were usually very quiet and deserted at night.
He didn't tell anyone that he was keeping an eye on her. Yet Megan knew. His sister always said that she could read him like a book. It's an occupational hazard, she said. She was a librarian, ha ha.
Well, if his sister could read him so well, maybe she would have an explanation for all these irrational, powerful feelings that were flooding his heart and flushing away his brain cells.
Troy tried his best to find a plausible, acceptable reason for his actions and emotions. But for the life of him, he just couldn't explain why he should feel so strongly for this mysterious, secretive newcomer. Which was why he had tried to mask his attraction to Dot as suspicion and anger. He knew that Megan saw right through him but at least she stopped questioning and teasing him.
He should be feeling suspicious, not protective of Dot.
His behavior and feelings baffled him. He had never done or felt anything like this before. He wasn't a lovesick teenager. He was thirty-one years old. He had never ever felt so drawn to a woman before. He knew nothing about her, yet he wanted to know everything about her.
Troy had heard some people in the diner referring to Dot as “that shy, pretty writer in town”.
Dot was a writer. And now, Troy knew that she was a writer with some dark, terrifying secrets.
He wanted to shield her from her terrors and nightmares, and share her burdens with her. He wanted to guard her, protect her and love her.
But why would he want to do that? Logic and reason told him that she was nobody to him.
Yet deep inside, even as he tried to deny it, he knew that she was everything to him.
From the instant he saw her, his heart had whispered that she was his. He knew that he would do everything in his power to keep her safe. His wary, analytical, human mind wanted to find out the woman's secrets, but his heart just wanted to love her.
Troy leaned across the table and took her chin very gently between his thumb and forefinger. Lifting her face, he pressed his lips softly, tenderly to hers.
Dot gasped but she didn't resist. Her eyelids fluttered shut as Troy kissed her. The kiss was sweet, slow and lingering. Dot's lips parted when his tongue stroked across her lower lip, teasing and encouraging her.
Troy could feel her tremble as his mouth moved over hers. She moaned and he deepened the kiss. He could feel the passion and heat deep inside her, straining to be released. She was a beautiful, passionate woman with so much love to give. But she was holding back, hiding herself from everyone.
Reluctantly, Dot finally pulled away and lowered her head. The color was high in her cheeks and she was breathing hard.
Gulping, she lifted her eyes and looked frantically around the diner. Only two booths at the other end of the diner were still occupied. The other patrons continued eating and talking quietly, paying no heed to them.
Lilly was in the kitchen and Daisy was busy with some paperwork behind the counter. No one seemed to have noticed their kiss.
“I shouldn't...” Dot mumbled.
She grabbed her wallet and slapped the dollar bills on the table. “I should get going,” she said in a clearer voice. “I have a deadline to meet.”
Grabbing her bag, she scrambled out of the booth. “I...It's nice meeting you, Troy.” Then she was gone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Dot looked up from her laptop and rolled her shoulders. She'd finished her short story, but she wasn't ready to submit it just yet.
Grimacing as she gulped down her bitter, cold coffee and finished the rest of her sandwich, Dot pushed away from her writing desk and went to the kitchen. After rinsing her cup, she leaned against the kitchen counter and glanced around the neat, simply furnished house. It was a really nice house, she realized. The real estate agent told her that the owners, Mr and Mrs Yong had gone to live with their daughter and decided to rent out their house. They would sell it if they received a reasonable offer, the agent hinted.
She would love to live in a house like this—for the rest of her life.
Dot shook the whimsical thought out of her head. She was a writer. Her imagination was better used on her stories, not on herself.
Her job as a freelance writer allowed her to earn a good income even while she was on the move. She could write anywhere and with an internet connection, she could submit her stories to her publishers and the magazines anytime, anywhere.
No one could pinpoint her exact location.
Dot went to the window and looked out. She had worked steadily through the evening and it was now past midnight. She'd tried hard not to think of Troy, but...who could forget a kiss like that?
She could remember every detail, every nuance of the kiss. She had heard, or imagined, a very low growl as his lips brushed against hers. The sound had thrilled her, making her skin tingle and her pulse race.
Her body had trembled and all her nerve endings had come al
ive as Troy's mouth moved over hers. She had never experienced a kiss like that before. It was achingly tender, yet filled with so much promise and passion.
She'd had a few very short-lived relationships over the years, but she had known that those relationships were doomed right from the start. She had never wanted to stay in a place for long. And she never even told those men her real name.
She never promised anyone anything. She didn't promise a future, and she never told them she loved them.
Love 'em and leave 'em. It was better for everyone.
“Oh Troy,” she whispered, hugging herself tightly. “I wish...” She stopped abruptly. Nothing good would come of this. “I can't love you,” she hissed.
Glaring past her ghostly reflection in the window, Dot saw that the lights were still on in her neighbor's house. She had met her neighbors only once. Casey Kelly lived next door with her young son, Timmy. Casey was a timid, soft-spoken woman who had uttered only three words to Dot in as many weeks.
Dot didn't think she was unfriendly. She was just scared and broken. Dot had heard from Lilly that Casey's husband was a no-good, freeloading, sorry excuse for a man who was serving time for drug offenses. “But I heard Jim might be paroled soon,” Lilly had sighed repeatedly as she talked about Casey. “Poor Casey and Timmy.”
Dot jerked when she heard a muffled scream coming from Casey's house. She pressed her hand to her window and stared hard at her neighbor's house. What was going on in that house?
Dot saw Casey's front door slam open suddenly. Casey lurched down the steps, clutching her son to her bosom.
The woman was crying and there were bruises on her face and arms. She scrambled fearfully away from the house, dragging her son with her but they didn't manage to get very far.
Even before she cleared the bottom step, a man charged out of the door and grabbed Casey by her hair.
“Help!” Casey shrieked just before the man's knuckles landed on the side of her face.
When Timmy began to yell, the man backhanded him so forcefully that he flew backwards and landed on the grass.
Stunned and sickened, Dot yanked her front door open and ran out. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Everything was just happening so fast.
Dot charged out of her house and ran barefoot down the street towards Casey's house.
“Hey!” Dot shouted at the man. “Stop that! You leave them alone!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dot ran to pick Timmy up. The boy was in shock, and he was too terrified to cry. He just clung to Dot and buried his face in her neck. His thin, small body was shaking badly.
“Let her go,” Dot said, carrying Timmy in her arms.
The man yanked a fistful of Casey's hair and snarled, “Mind your own business.”
“Stop! You're hurting her,” Dot cried out as the man kicked Casey's legs viciously and forced her to her knees.
“I can do whatever I want in my house. This is my family. Who are you anyway?” He glanced towards her house. “You live in the Yongs' house now? Have the two old folks finally kicked the bucket? Good riddance! Mr and Mrs Yong were meddlesome, irritating busybodies.” He laughed nastily. “You the new owner?”
Dot didn't answer. She stared into the man's glittering, hard eyes and refused to back away.
“I'm calling the Sheriff,” she said, reaching into her pocket for her phone.
“You do that, and she's dead.”
Dot gulped. He wasn't bluffing.
“You just stay out of this, bitch. If anyone comes up to the house, I'll bash her head in before they can even get in the door.”
The man grabbed Casey's face savagely in his huge, hairy hand. He smirked as his fingers clawed towards Casey's eyes.
“Don't mess with me,” he snarled. “I can dig her eyes out of her sockets with just one hand.”
Dot swallowed rapidly. “I...I'm sorry for bothering your family. I'm new in town. I'm your new neighbor, Dot. I, um, just came over because I heard something. I didn't catch your name...”
“It's Jim. I'm the man of this house. I've come home. I've been away, you see,” Jim smiled, looking Dot up and down.
Dot shuddered, wishing she was wearing more than just track pants and a thin t-shirt.
“You're a pretty little thing.” Jim gave her a nasty, leering smile. “You live next door, all by your lonesome? Maybe I'll pay you a visit some time, eh?”
Dot tried to make eye contact with Casey but the woman was sobbing and whimpering as she twisted feebly in her husband's grip.
Dot's arms were aching. Timmy was small and skinny for his age but he wasn't a toddler. He was six years old, and he weighed quite a bit. Dot staggered but she didn't let him go.
She couldn't leave them. Casey and Timmy were as good as dead once Jim got them back in the house. Casey's lip was split and her face was beginning to swell.
Dot glanced down at Timmy and saw the throbbing red mark on his cheek. The little boy's eyes were shining with unshed tears.
“Can you run, Timmy?” Dot whispered into his ear.
The boy nodded once.
“I'm going to get your mom. When I put you down, you run to my house and stay there, okay?” she whispered urgently.
Timmy nodded again, but this time he turned to give his mother a pleading look.
Dot tightened her arms around Timmy and walked slowly towards Jim and Casey. Jim narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
“I'm leaving now. I'm just going to put the boy down on the front step. Casey, your son is fine,” Dot said, meeting the woman's red, teary eyes. “You have a wonderful little boy, a great life ahead of you.”
Don't let this brute ruin it.
Dot put her mouth against the boy's ear and whispered fiercely, “Run! Now!”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Dot lowered Timmy to the ground and the boy shot from her arms like an arrow. He looked back once, then turned and ran straight to her house.
“What…? You!” Jim roared.
Dot swung her fist with all her might and socked Jim squarely in the jaw. She aimed for his nose next but he caught her fist in his meaty hand.
“Run!” Dot screamed to Casey. “Go to your son!”
Casey staggered away, crying hysterically. She tried to pull her husband away as Jim twisted Dot's arm savagely but he kicked her in the stomach and sent her sprawling to the ground.
“Please, Jim, don't...” she begged, crawling towards them.
“Bitch!” Jim screamed at Dot. “I'll break your fucking arm! You think you're so smart? I'll break you, you stupid bitch! I'll kill you!”
Dot cried out as Jim wrenched her arm violently back, dislocating it. She screamed and almost blacked out as her bone popped painfully out of her shoulder.
Jim wrapped his big, brutal hands around her throat and slammed her against the wall.
“You want to feel my hands on you, bitch?” he spat in her face. “I'll rape you, then I'll kill you!”
Dot's vision was beginning to blur. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating. She couldn't see clearly and she couldn't breathe.
Desperately, Dot jerked her knee up but she couldn't hit the bastard where it mattered.
She heard a scream. And a roar.
She wasn't sure if she heard them in her head.
The fingers around her neck loosened and all of a sudden, Jim's contorted, monstrous face was no longer in front of her.
Dot slid down the wall and blinked repeatedly. A demented laugh gurgled out of her.
There was a bear, a huge, ferocious grizzly bear in front of the house.
A bear! Imagine that.
Jim was scrabbling away from the bear, screaming and throwing rocks at the snarling animal.
The bear charged and pinned Jim to the ground. Its sharp, curved claws glinted as it slashed down.
Dazed with pain, Dot slumped against the wall and watched the unfolding scene numbly. The bear clawed at Jim's face
and arms, but incredibly, it left only superficial wounds on Jim's neck and torso. The bear's blows were powerful but calculated and precise.
It wasn't aiming to kill, Dot realized.
The bear slashed at Jim's hands as Jim tried to cover his face. As Jim rolled away, the enraged bear bit down on the man's leg.
Jim howled and screamed in agony and horror. “Help! Stop! Get away from me! Stop!”
Dot's fuzzy, scrambled mind couldn't help wondering how many times Casey had cried out for help in the past and begged him to stop.
“But you didn't stop, did you,” Dot muttered as the scene wavered before her. She blinked quickly and her vision cleared just enough for her to see the bear stomp on Jim's hands, breaking all the bones.
Jim screamed in anguish and curled into a ball on the ground. He couldn't even shield himself from the bear's blows. The bear could kill him right now, but it didn't. Instead, it sliced its razor-sharp claws across Jim's hands, severing veins and nerves.
Dot doubted that the man would ever regain the use of his hands again. They were far too damaged.
He would never lay his hands on Casey and Timmy again, she thought with grim satisfaction.
The bear backed away from the screaming mess on the ground and looked up at Dot.
Dot had never seen a bear with such brilliant, blue eyes before.
Shouts and running footsteps could be heard. People were coming.
“You,” Dot whispered. “It's you.”
The voices were getting louder. Lights appeared in windows and people rushed down the street towards the house.
The bear held her gaze for a few agonizing heartbeats.
Then it turned and loped away, disappearing swiftly and silently into the shadows between the trees.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Faces swam in and out of Dot's focus and she was aware of people talking to her. But she couldn't really hear what they were saying. The pain radiated from her shoulder and down her spine, making it impossible for her to get up.
Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance Page 3
