Truth and Humility

by J. A. Dennam

  “I’ve never been accused of adhering to the rules.”

  Austin almost laughed at that. He would have if he weren’t so freakishly turned on. “You’re just lucky our stalker isn’t here. You could have been attacked and I wouldn’t have been able to stop her.” A nod indicated the carnage behind her. “It looks like she ransacked your room after you left.”

  “No,” Danny responded, still recovering from his tactical assault and the ensuing verbal foreplay. “This is how I left it.”

  His brows came down. “You did that to your own bed?”

  “Nightmare,” she reminded him absently as she gathered the blankets from the floor. “That’s what incited my spontaneous trip to the river.”/font>

  That sobered him up slightly. Without a word, he moved to the other side of the bed, tugged the fitted sheet back into place. The room was dark with nothing but slight moon glow coming through the windows, but he soaked in the details of it while they performed the mundane chore of making her bed.

  The furniture was white, girlie. He pictured her doing homework at the small desk behind him, pulling clothes out of the chest of drawers to get dressed for school. Pictures littered a pegboard and he’d bet plenty of them held memories of excursions with her brother. There were way too many posters of some ripped dude dangling precariously from insanely high cliff walls.

  Those would simply have to go.

  Danny fanned the top sheet and he caught the corners. Together they smoothed it down. Her gaze regarded him as he worked, sharing a simple chore she’d always done on her own.

  It was then her eyes began to mist over as her chest weighted with the hard-hit realization.

  She was going to marry this man. Feud or no feud.

  His eyes met hers across the bed when she slowly handed him a pillow. “What’s wrong?” he asked, startled by the emotion he saw there.

  Holding his gaze, she finally answered. “I love you, too, Cahill.”

  She hadn’t known what to expect, but the cocky grin she got in return wasn’t it.

  “Well, that’s pretty obvious,” he replied with a swagger to his words.

  She angled her head. “Is it now?”

  “Sure.” He sent her a wink as he bent to smooth out his perfect hospital corner. “After all, you took on, let’s see…” he straightened and counted with his fingers, “Two fire departments, a dozen cops, a dangling death trap, and your father. All to save my sorry ass.” Her answering grin was wide. “Which, I just realized, I’ve never thanked you for.”

  Danny choked on a laugh, put a hand to her mouth to muffle the noise. “You were too busy firing shots at me as you lay there bleeding out.”

  His smile faded, was replaced by something warm. “Then I’ll thank you properly. Soon. When I’m not within firing range of your family.”

  Her eyes moved over him appreciatively. Such a big man in her small – and still in many ways – adolescent bedroom. Youthful country charm mixed with yellow and white accents and a whole lot of worship for a world famous free-soloist. That Austin’s stunningly gorgeous face and body could curtail the appeal of her beloved John Bachar posters …well, it was epic.

  She sighed, regarded the largest poster in the room. Sorry, John.

  Austin went still with jealousy. “Eyes forward, yes forwBennett.” After a moment, her shoulders shook with mirth, which didn’t help his mood. “Am I going to have to start climbing rocks to keep your attention?”

  Danny put pillows in place, shook her head. “You don’t have the right build. Too big and bulky, too weighty.”

  His head jerked back. “You calling me fat?”

  Hers jerked back as well, mocking him. “You calling me blind?” Her quick response placated him somewhat. She tisked, shook her head. “And I thought you’d been paying attention at the bar that night. Climbers avoid too much muscle mass. It slows them down.”

  “I’m not much bigger than him.” Austin jerked his chin toward the poster.

  Silly man. “John Bachar is...or was...the best of the best in free-solo. Nothing slowed him down. And if you change one thing about this...” her brows creased with pained worship as her hand indicated his physique. Austin crossed his arms, waited. “...incredible gift from God...I will knock you out.”

  That’s better, his smile said. “So I take it this John guy is retired.”

  “Nope. Dead.” Danny settled onto the covers, crossed her ankles.

  A sick feeling entered Austin’s stomach as he settled next to her. “How?” But he knew her answer before she verbalized it. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  Danny settled beneath his arm, smacked her lips. “You don’t want to know.”

  Some time later, they still occupied her room in wakeful silence. Waiting. Their first attempt to share the double bed ended with his hand up her shirt and hers down the back of his jeans while they played tonsil-hockey without a thought to who might intrude. Now, she occupied the bed alone while he sprawled out in the corner chair by the closet.

  Danny took note of the time, whispered, “Nothing from Brett’s phone yet?”

  “Nope.”

  “I don’t think she’s coming back.”

  His arm flopped from beneath the weight of his head. “Maybe not,” he whispered in reply. “I’ve been thinking...she’s been in my house, too.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just some things out of place, signs of someone rifling through drawers that no one else would touch but me. And the library door...Ruth said it was already closed when she found you in my bed.”

  Danny swallowed. “And you think this person could have been...watching me? Even then?”

  Austin didn’t like the possibility, or the fact that she was so scared. Didn’t she know he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her? “I think it’s time to call Mac, let him go ahead and call the police.”

  Just as she was about to agree, the floor creaked in the hall. In her peripheral vision, Danny saw his body draw up with tension just as hers did. The doorknob made a small noise as it slowly turned. By the time the door opened a bare crack, Austin was already behind it, ready to spring. How he could move so quietly for a man his size stymied her for a bare instant. But then the door opened wider and a shadow crept over the threshold.

  Playing her part as bait, Danny lay there stone still. Her blood flowed loudly in her ears.

  A feminine squeak escaped through his hand when Austin grabbed the woman from behind. Without hesitation, he swept her feet and had her pinned to the floor where she struggled blindly for a moment.

  Recognition dawned. Danny’s eyes widened in horror and she sprung from the bed. “Austin, that’s my mother!”

  The bedside lamp came on. Austin blanched at the painful intrusion to his pupils, but backed off immediately when he noted the gray-haired woman beneath his weight.

  Mary stammered as she rose to her elbows in her nightgown and robe. “What…what in the Lord’s name is going on?” She squeaked again as big hands closed around her arms and performed a powerful hoisting that flip-flopped her stomach.

  “Hell, Mrs. Bennett, I’m sorry.” Shit! Austin thought, cringing as he set the small woman gently to her feet. Not exactly how he planned to worm his way into the heart of Danny’s mother.

  “Mom, are you okay?” Danny looked her over, straightened the collar of her robe and generally fussed over her with a thoroughness born of pure panic. “We thought you were an intruder! I’m so sorry, we were a bit jumpy and nervous and then you were being so quiet and we thought…”

  Mary stood dumbfounded as her daughter rambled behind her. “What,” she began, her voice quaking with fury, “are you doing in our house?”

  Danny’s nerves showed in her audible exhale and her eyes locked with Austin’s over her mother’s head. “Mom…maybe you should sit down…”

  “I will not sit. I want answers, Danny. Why would you let this Cahill boy into our home? Into your bedroom!”

  As long as her mother
spoke so loudly, her father was sure to follow fast on llow fasher heels. Danny’s shoulders sagged and she gently turned the woman to face her. “He’s here to help us, Mom. I promise you, he would never disrespect our home. But you need to listen to me carefully.” Mary’s eyes narrowed, Danny swallowed. “Someone was in my room earlier. Someone we think is trying to hurt us.”

  The woman’s face sagged a fraction. “Who?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to find out. And why. But if it hadn’t been for Austin, I would have been attacked at the river tonight.”

  “The river? Attacked?”

  Mary looked queasy, confused as she tried to keep up. Taking pity on her, Danny moved her to the edge of the bed, forced her off her feet. Austin warily approached and backed Danny with his physical presence and moral support.

  “I hired a P.I. to look into our accidents, Mrs. Bennett,” he said in a reassuring tone. “We found out tonight that they were caused by a man who had attacked…” he hesitated when Danny sent him a horrified no over her mother’s head, “…who had a history of attacking women…” Nice save, her eyes told him, giving him the go-ahead. “When I got to the river and found Danny, it was just before Mac caught him trying to puncture her tires.”

  “What?” It was more of a gasp than a question. Then with helpless confusion, Mary asked, “How did you know to meet her there?” And to Danny, “Have you been meeting with him behind your father’s back?”

  “No!” Damn, this was painful. “Mom, nobody knew where I was going, it was very spontaneous.”

  Austin chimed in helpfully, “And I didn’t know she’d be there, but I had just taken some medication and there was this bottle of bourb—” another wide-eyed plea for re-direction, “…I mean, a gut instinct…that told me…go to the...”

  His voice trailed off. The old woman’s stare could cow a river ox. Austin laced his fingers behind his neck and shrugged. “I got nothin’.”

  There he is, Danny thought with a well of pride. The great-big-bad Austin Cahill, taken down by the truth stare. Welcome to the Bennett family.

  “I don’t think we should continue this up here. Here, cover yourself.” Mary shoved a sweater at her daughter, propelled her toward the door and trusted the man with her would follow. “If your father wakes up and catches him in your bedroom, you’ll put him at heaven’s gates and I’m not ready to let him go yet.”

  Ever watchful, Austinchful, A took up the rear as the three of them descended the stairs, moved to the kitchen. It was by far the most awkward situation he’d ever put himself in. But, dammit, Danny was worth it. Better hang on to your balls, Cahill. You’re going to need them if you get up-close-and-personal with that side-by-side again.

  “Herb!” Mary ran interference when the old man stumbled out of the darkened door of the master bedroom in a rumpled knee-length bed shirt. “Now, before you get angry…”

  “Cahill!” the man boomed when he focused through the glasses. “No way this side of Hades am I going to allow your presence in my house! Danielle!”

  Danny heated up beneath the sweater, threaded her fingers through her hair, closed her eyes to the man’s blazing scrutiny. “Yeah, Pop?”

  “You swore to me, girl! Do you remember that?”

  “I know, Pop…”

  “And you’ve done a lot of things behind my back,” Herbs voice shook with thunder, “things I’ve tolerated in the long run. But not this. If you insist on seeing him, if I continue to find you with this kid, especially after what he’s done to your brother, you will leave this family!”

  “Herb!”

  “Do I make myself clear?”

  Austin set his teeth and flattened a supportive hand against the small of Danny’s back. “My reason for being here goes way beyond the feud, Mr. Bennett. Danny is still in danger from this person who…”

  “And you,” Danny interjected informatively, indicating his person with her hand.

  His brow relaxed as he looked down at the top of her mussed hair. “Okay. We are being targeted by the same person who is responsible for Derek’s death.”

  “You are responsible for my son’s death!” Herb accused with closed fists.

  “Pop, just…” Danny stammered in frustration, balled her own fists, “shut-up and listen for once!” She refused to meet her parents’ open-mouthed stares. “While you’re held up by this stinking feud, someone very dangerous, who is a very legitimate threat, is trying to kill us. And, thnbsp; Anough we don’t know who it is, or why she’s targeted us, we are trying to find out before she succeeds again. Yes, I said again. Because Derek was never her intended target, it was me. It was my jobsite that was rigged to go down. Austin’s jobsite was rigged to go down. And no matter how many threats you toss around, it won’t dilute the fact that we need to work together on this!”

  After a tumultuous moment of silence, Herb snapped his jaw closed. “Are you telling me that’s all you’re doing with him? Working together?”

  Mary jerked her head back and fixed her husband with an appalled scowl. “After all your daughter just said, that’s what you latched on to?”

  The old man flinched at the anger in her tone. He bared his teeth and ran a hand over the thick waves atop his head. “Well, I…just that…” he grumbled humbly, shook a hand toward the two younger folks under the kitchen light. Finally, unable to produce a justifiable comeback under the weight of his wife’s stare, he capitulated. “Alright then.” To his daughter, “Tell me more about this

  legitimate threat. A woman you say?”

  “She was in my room tonight, Pop.” Danny took advantage of her father’s inability to speak. “I saw her. But she was gone so fast, I thought it was my imagination…at least until I realized I was being followed.”

  Her parents suddenly felt the need to sit down, so they all settled around the table as she went through the details. “If Austin and Mac hadn’t been there, I would have been attacked. I mean, this man was literally sent to follow me, the proof was on his phone.”

  Austin’s phone buzzed. As Danny retold the events of the early morning, he reached into his pocket, checked the screen under the shadow of the table. Mac.

  “Danny,” he interrupted softly, “Mac is still waiting. We need to tell him something.”

  Her eyes closed as she remembered her friend. Poor Mac. Stuck in a deserted parking lot with a zip-tied assailant. She shrugged. “I guess call the cops.” A glance at the clock. “It’ll be light soon and we’re all up. I don’t think she’ll show herself again.”

  Herb and Mary listened in attentive silence as Austin gave the order then slipped the phone back in his pocket. That the man thought to include their daughter in such a decision spoke volumes. Along with the tender looks, the respectful solidarity, the continuous need to include one another…

  Mary reached under the table and laid a hand on Herb’s thigh.

  Chapter 30

  The two were obviously in love. The Cahill boy and their only daughter had developed not just a romantic relationship, but a partnership as well. The truth of it was as clear as a dawning sunrise. Danny’s growing devastation over Derek’s death had given them many reasons to worry. They all suffered their own private hell, but hers was clearly taking her toward a dangerous, desolate place...until now. To Mary, it was apparent her daughter needed Cahill’s presence in her life. The color was back in her cheeks, her overall wellbeing notably improved literally overnight.

  To Herb, it was clear he was going to need to invest in a home defibrillator.

  As the elders sat flummoxed, Austin spoke to Danny, only slightly aware of her parent’s regard. “We’ll just have to hand Brett’s phone over to the police. Leave it to them. Maybe they can analyze it, get more information.”

  “And if this woman’s goon is out of the picture,” Danny surmised all business, “maybe she’ll slip up. Get careless. Or at least give us some time to figure her out before she finds someone else to do her dirty work.”

  “You won’t
be figuring anything out, girl,” Herb interjected authoritatively. “Leave this Brett or this woman to the police. I won’t have you putting yourself out there only to end up dead.” Like your brother. The words hung thickly in the air without being said.

  “I won’t let her put herself out there,” Austin stated boldly, his eyes meeting the other man’s across the table. “As long as she’s with me, she’ll be safe.”

  Herb harrumphed. “Not as long as she’s pulling your hide out of mangled factory equipment, she won’t be.”

  “If it had been up to me, she would have stayed away.”

  “You saying it wasn’t?”

  Danny pinched the bridge of her nose. The dreaded pissing contest.

  Austin increased the pressure. “Having raised her, you’d know she leans a bit heavily toward the stubborn side!”

  Herb stood, placed his spread fingertips firmly on the tabletop. “And you think you know her so well you can throw her habits at me like that, Cahill? After only a few weeks, I think not!”

  Now Austin stood, squared off with the old man, at least a few inches taller, just as firm. “I know her well enough to understand what motivates her. Danny is driven by her emotions like nobody else I’ve ever known.”

  “Except you,” Danny muttered impudently from down below.

  “She’s fast on her feet, sharp tongued – especially toward me – frustratingly independent and she likes to throw things. Sorry, honey.” He threw her an aside to soften the blow.

  Danny bobbed her head, shrugged. “It’s true. I do tend to throw things.”

  Honey! The man had just called his daughter honey! Herb narrowed his eyes behind the bifocals. “All you’re saying, boy, is that you two fight a lot.”

  It seemed ludicrous to Danny whenever her father referred to Austin as a boy when he was obviously 100% pure, virile man. Austin knew it as a continued attempt to establish authority and met the challenge with conviction.

  “We’ve hashed out our share of issues,” he conceded with a calm that reeked of sympathy. “Big ones. But I love her.” The old man went green. “And, whether you like it or not, she loves me, too. I plan to marry her very soon.” Austin plunged deeper, clean up to the hilt. “We’ll have babies together. Grandchildren that you’ll have to share with my mother.”