The Good Sister (Sister Series, #2)

by Davis, Leanne

  Noah shoved the water bottle into the passenger seat. How much longer could he do this? Jessie seemed to think he could do it indefinitely. But he had a job to get back to. And bills to pay. A family to account for. He had all but abandoned poor Tessa, leaving her in Penny’s care. They didn’t know what was going on, just that he had to go. He said it was important and he’d tell them when he could.

  The thing was: it was important. But he needed to do something more than just sit in a car and stare at the house. Picking a peanut out of the can of nuts next to him, he selfishly wondered how much longer he could stand just sitting here. It gave new meaning to the word “boring.” Mind-numbing. Grueling. He got so antsy, he thought he might scratch his damn eyes out.

  But Elliot was there a lot of the time and never kept a consistent schedule. Sometimes, he left for twenty minutes, others for two hours. There was no telling how long. And that smarmy-looking man who was always in his attendance stayed there the entire day.

  He munched on the honey-roasted peanuts, glancing up to see a man shuffling down the sidewalk. He was tall, not as tall as Noah, and bald. He hunched over as he walked the way that old people often do. He suddenly stopped about ten feet from Noah’s car and looked up, directly at Noah through the windshield. Noah was so startled, he dropped the can of peanuts, which spilled all over his feet and the floor mat.

  General Travis Bains?

  He blinked and rubbed a hand over his eyes. No. No way. His boredom was obviously making him delirious now. The general was long dead.

  The apparition motioned toward him, but he sat there without moving. No. The stranger could not know him. He could not be a dead man walking. The ghost’s lips pursed as he rolled his eyes, stepping up to the passenger door and jiggling the handle while motioning for Noah to unlock it.

  The man tapped on the window. “For God’s sake, Noah, yes! It’s me, Travis Bains! Snap out of it. Zombies aren’t taking over the streets. Now, open up the damn car.”

  His fingers finally responded and he clicked the doors unlocked. Bains slid into the seat.

  “How could you be here?”

  “Because I didn’t die. It was all faked. Long story. No one knows I’m alive, but five people, and now you. It stays that way. I did what no one else could do; I got her to take the first step. She listens to me. As she always has. Lifelong habits can’t totally be obliterated.”

  Noah drew in a sharp breath. “You dirty, mother-fucking, son of a bitch.”

  He waved his hand around. “Yeah, yeah, I am all that and more. But not to Lindsey. She’s around the corner right now, tucked behind the hedge in front of the blue house. Pick her up. Then drive like hell and get her as far away from him as you can. Drive until your eyes are literally about to fall out. The further you get now, the less chance she’ll come back. She won’t want to listen to you. Not like she does to me. But you have to make her. You can be nice to her later. Later, when she isn’t his prisoner. Do not get on a plane. Just drive. And only pay with cash. You just get my daughter the fuck away from that narcissistic monster.”

  His mouth stayed agape. “You got her out?”

  “Barely. And I do mean barely. Do you understand me? She’s a thread’s width from going back.”

  Noah stared for a prolonged moment of silence. “You must get the profound hypocrisy of this, don’t you? There was a time when you were the monster, and Jessie was only a thread’s width from escaping.”

  Bains snorted. “Save her, Noah. That’s all that matters.”

  “Are you going to kill Elliot?”

  “I should. But no, I don’t have enough time. I just had to get her away from him. And lucky for me, here you were, sitting like an idiot. What was your plan, by the way?”

  He nearly blushed. Okay, so he didn’t blaze in there, gallantly freeing Lindsey of her situation as Will did for Jessie. Okay, he was patiently waiting and watching for the opportunity. He was… well, shit, he was doing exactly as Jessie told him to do.

  Bains shook his head and reached for the door. “Doesn’t matter. Just get out of here. And do not, do you hear me? DO NOT take her to Jessie and Will’s. Don’t even take her to the same state as where they live.”

  He handed Noah a scrap of paper. “Memorize this and drop a note to me. Tell me where she is. I must know. I have to know she’s safe. Will you do that for me?”

  The tacked-on question sounded almost polite. It was quite obvious Bains had no idea how to be polite or properly ask for favors.

  “Can’t I just email you?”

  “Nope. Technology is all traceable and monitored. Do this for me.”

  “Fine.” At Noah’s consent, Bains nodded and exited the vehicle.

  Noah squealed around the corner, nearly putting the car on its side in his haste to find her. Lindsey stood up just as he pulled over. She had a big coat over her, with the hood up. She also had a small bag and her purse, but was leaving the house with nearly nothing to her name.

  She got in and didn’t look at him, or even ask him what the hell he was doing there. She didn’t react to any of it, but put her seatbelt on in silence. Noah watched her for a moment, before shaking himself back to attention and obeying Bains’s advice. He drove.

  The miles sped by and she clutched the seatbelt around her, but stared straight ahead. He clicked the radio on, attempting to ease the awful tension in there. What did one say in such a situation? There were no words he could find to explain his helping her escape the violent predator she was married to. Or to discuss her reaction upon learning her dad was not dead, and had just spoken to both of them. Noah’s hands gripped the steering wheel robotically as he tried to keep his mind on driving instead of the myriad questions he had festering in his brain.

  After thirty miles passed on the odometer, he draped his hand casually over the wheel. “So, the general isn’t dead after all.”

  He didn’t look at her, but kept his gaze focused straight ahead. He felt her shift in the seat as she stared at him silently. He finally cast a glance her way with a small smile.

  “No. I thought I was making him up.”

  “Yeah? Me too. He had to physically beat on my window before I believed he wasn’t just an apparition.”

  She didn’t answer him. Silence. Another hundred miles. Two hundred miles. Darkness had long settled in and Noah switched the station to news radio. Then talk radio. After feeling smarter and more educated, he switched back to music again. He rubbed his eyes and shifted in his seat, doing anything he could to stay awake and keep on driving.

  Shit! He’d virtually stolen the rental car! Or was it stealing? Couldn’t he simply return it to another branch of the agency? He’d have to find out. Crap, he was no good at being a fugitive. Or whatever Lindsey and he would now be labeled. He had so many questions, but they didn’t outnumber his fears. He was not the right man for doing this. But… he was the only one around. He sighed out loud. So here he was: racing across the country with a nearly comatose woman after her dead father insisted upon it.

  He stopped finally for gas, feeling a bit worried by the general’s warning. Would she try to bolt out of there? She had long ago slumped against the door with her head resting on a balled-up sweatshirt.

  What did she actually look like? He couldn’t tell. She averted her face and kept the hood of the sweatshirt up, blocking most of her profile.

  “Do you want anything?”

  “Water.”

  “Okay, water it is.” He grimaced, thinking he sounded like a complete schmuck. His voice was too cheerful. But he had no idea how else to talk to her. Or even what tone to use with her. He had no idea how to get through her strange, almost catatonic state.

  He bought himself a coffee and water for her, as well as some candy bars and chips. He also grabbed some pre-made lunch items and a couple of sad-looking apples the convenience store kept beside the register. His eyes were riveted on Lindsey, but thankfully, she never moved. With some relief, he finally slid into the car.

/>   “There’re some snacks if you get hungry.” Yeah, that should help her.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  He started driving again. Another few hours elapsed. He yawned, feeling exhausted. He crossed the entire state and was losing steam. His adrenaline was rapidly fading.

  After fifteen hours of driving, three bathroom stops, three gas stops, and four candy bars, she finally asked Noah, “Where are we going?” lifting her head off the window. It was the most activity she’d shown yet.

  Did he dare admit the truth? “I don’t know. He said I just had to get you as far away as I could, as fast as I could. So I did.”

  “He, being my dad? And you thought he was a good person to obey?”

  He twisted his neck back and forth. “No? Yes. I have no damn idea.”

  She snorted. “So, you’re driving at breakneck speed with no destination in mind?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. Figured the opposite coast might be a good place to start. He warned me not to take you to your sister and Will.”

  “He’s probably right. I’m sure he knows how someone like Elliot would react.”

  “I need to call Jessie. She’s got to be a total mess by now.”

  “I figured she was behind this. She couldn’t come because of the baby, so she sent you.”

  “No. I actually volunteered.”

  “How did she figure it out?” Lindsey’s tone sounded dead. There wasn’t a trace of feeling or inflection. It was the same tone as someone reciting a vocabulary list might use. She seemed to ignore any feelings about her situation.

  “She didn’t. I did.”

  Her face sought his in the first sign of reaction from her. He winced when he found it. She had fading, yellowing bruises on her neck and jaw. Her eye was still uncomfortably swollen and an ugly cut slashed her forehead.

  “How? How could you possibly guess?”

  “How could I miss it? And more to the point, how could I not see all the hints you tried to leave for us? Worst of all, even with that bad feeling in my gut, I still let you go with him. Without a last word of worry or care. I think I knew, I just couldn’t accept it.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “The scar.”

  “What scar?”

  “The one you showed Tessa. The one you got in your ‘former relationship.’ The thing is: Jessie told me you had no former relationships before Elliot.”

  She nodded. “Yes, now you can see why I should never have told anyone. You tell just one, and a lot of others find out.”

  “You should have screamed it at us for not seeing!”

  She shrugged. “I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I stay in Washington? Why didn’t I tell you? Why didn’t I do something?”

  “No. it’s not what you didn’t do. I don’t think this is any of your fault.”

  “Yes, you do. You must wonder why I didn’t leave. Why I went back with him. You have to wonder what’s wrong with me to want such a thing.”

  His heart felt like all the blood was pumping out of it. He felt completely drained. She really believed that. “No. No, Lindsey. Just like I don’t blame Tessa or her six kids. Should I resent her? Instead of helping her? Or send her back because she stayed with the abuser too?”

  Lindsey’s entire torso stiffened. “No.”

  “Then why would you even suggest I might think that of you?”

  She was silent. Then, “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  “Okay. Of course. Just… do you have any idea where we should go?”

  She slouched again, leaning her head against the balled-up sweatshirt as she shut her eyes. “Yes. Keep driving west. There’s a place to go. The place I always envisioned that if I ever got away, I’d go there.”

  “Care to tell me where it is?”

  She didn’t answer, but simply closed her eyes.

  ****

  Every human body has its physical limits, and Noah could not drive another mile. He was zoned out so far, he feared he might crash. Almost twenty-four hours since he picked up Lindsey had elapsed before he finally swung into a roadside motel. It seemed clean enough, and was located just off the interstate.

  Spotting a drive-through, he got a limp, greasy meal that smelled mouth-watering to him. After six candy bars and three salty bags of chips later, the aroma was like Thanksgiving dinner. He ordered Lindsey some also, but she didn’t even flinch at his inquiry or the scent of hot food. She wasn’t kidding when she said she wasn’t hungry. Water was all she ingested.

  He tapped her shoulder, almost afraid to touch her. She finally mumbled and lifted up her head. “We’re at a motel now. We have to stop for the night. Would you prefer your own room? Or, do you want to share one?”

  “Share.”

  He pulled his hand back, unsure she’d agree to such accommodations. Okay. He quickly checked them in with the desk clerk and grabbed their meager luggage before bringing it in. Lindsey finally, after several long minutes, appeared in the doorway, keeping her head down.

  “I don’t feel very well. I’ve been on stuff since… things happened. So I’m kind of out of it.”

  His heart stopped and his hands grew clammy. Jesus. What could he say to that? “Can I do anything?” He raised his hands, palms up, as if pleading for guidance.

  She shrugged noncommittally, but lifted her eyes to his. He found it almost painful to look at her face. He had to gulp down his repulsion and sorrow. Elliot had obviously choked her. Her neck was black and blue. Elliot put his brutal paws on her slender, white, vulnerable throat and squeezed. Noah’s stomach nearly heaved at the image in his mind. Who could do such a thing? How could anyone do such a thing to another human being? Not to mention, his own wife?

  “Why were you there? Why were you parked near my house?”

  “I intended to do something.”

  Her head tilted. “What? What did you intend to do?”

  He shrugged, looking deflated on the bed, with his legs parted as he stared at the ratty, green carpet. “I don’t know. I knew I should do something. I just didn’t know what. I felt closer to you there, even though it wasn’t doing you a damn bit of good. I felt like maybe, eventually, I could think of something. It was stupid. I was useless.”

  “No. Not stupid. That’s probably the nicest thing I’ve ever heard anyone say. Probably the nicest intention for anyone to have.”

  He scoffed. “I am nothing like your father, or Will, who I’m sure would have accomplished your rescue in no time.”

  “No. But look at the man who actually drove me down the street, with my house in the rearview mirror. So yeah. You did something.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m tired now. I need to sleep.”

  “Okay. I’ll go for a walk. Take all the time you need. I’ll try not to disturb you.”

  She nodded as he got up and stepped toward the door. “Thank you, Noah. For doing something. But no one can know about my father. It would destroy Jessie. And then, all this would be for nothing.”

  “All for nothing?”

  “Well, yeah, he threatened to tell Jessie he was still alive. That’s what made me finally get up and leave.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “It’s pretty bad, Jessie.”

  Jessie’s breath stalled over the phone line. When she spoke again, tears strangled her voice. “What did he do to her?”

  “First of all, she admitted to being ‘on something’ ever since this happened, and her neck is covered in bruises. The bastard choked her. Her forehead has a deep gash and a huge knot. Her face is all swollen. I haven’t seen anymore of her, and there is no chance she might share what happened. She didn’t speak for nearly twenty-three hours. I have no details.”

  “How did you get her to leave? Last time I spoke to her, she was so catatonic, she didn’t seem to even register I’d given birth to the baby.”

  “I just told her you did it, so she could she. I put her in my car and drove. I drove as far as I could until I stopped from exhaustion.”

/>   “Where are you going?”

  “She won’t tell me.”

  “What do you mean she won’t tell you? She has an actual place in mind? What state?”

  “She won’t say. She just said I should drive to the west coast.”

  Jessie was silent for a long moment, then she softly chuckled. “She’s brilliant. Do exactly as she says. She’s right. The old Lindsey might still be in there somewhere.”

  “Jessie, you might not get to see the old Lindsey ever again.”

  Her breath intake was sharp. “No. But maybe someday, I can see a new one.”

  He entered the motel room to find Lindsey in the far bed with the covers tightly over her. She had already shut the drapes and turned the lights off. Her breathing sounded regular. Noah picked up his lukewarm fast food and ate it alone, while wondering what to do next.

  ****

  More driving. Lindsey didn’t talk. She spoke in a monotone whenever he asked her a question. She didn’t voice any opinions as to where or how often they stopped. He might as well have been driving alone. It seemed endless. And hellish. He had so many questions, and so much sympathy for her. He yearned to express that so much his throat was nearly burning to let the words out. But no, she made it very clear to him that his words, his sympathy, his questions, and his opinions were not welcome. So, the least he could do was respect her wishes. That was the very minimum and the least, so that’s what he did for her.

  Every once in a while, she gave him directions on where to go. It went beyond surreal in Noah’s mind that he was driving thousands of miles without a damned idea of the ultimate destination. Why couldn’t she just say? Was she worried he’d tell someone?

  He talked to his sister, Penny, several times. She kept calling, becoming seriously concerned about what was going on and why he refused to say. He had been gone nearly ten days now, and Penny was dying with curiosity to find out why.

  Lindsey’s gaze stayed on him while he tried to evade his sister’s questions. Lindsey didn’t comment when he hung up, or say much in general.