But I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling there was more going on next door than what the superficial gentleman tried to present to the world. Watching him for so long, how had I never noticed the strange goings on?
I turned toward the shower head when something caught the corner of my eye. A glimpse of a shadow zipping across the room, and the feeling I wasn’t alone came upon me. My eyes widened as I stepped toward the glass and wiped away the fog to see into the bathroom. The anxiety of the moment caused my heart to race and a flash of heat to wash over me.
After all, I was naked in the shower with no weapon to protect myself if an intruder, or Ty, broke in to rob or kill me. My eyes darted back and forth, looking at any corner an intruder could hide in the massive bathroom.
Why did my father have to build such a big bathroom?
From what I could surmise, nothing seemed to be out of place, so I leaned back to shut the water off, not once taking my eyes off of the room. If something was coming for me, I wanted to be aware. I pushed the glass door open and stepped through it, grabbing the towel hanging on the hook.
I jumped out of my skin, startled by the doorbell ringing.
“Shit. Zander.” I quickly wrapped the towel around me and wrung out my hair in the sink.
The doorbell went off again as I half jogged and half walked toward the stairs, excited to see him, but trying really hard to keep the feeling under wraps. Through the frosted glass of the door, the silhouette of his shadow put a huge smile on my face. Reaching for the knob, I swung it open, but was quickly taken aback when I realized it was not Zander, but Ty standing on the other side.
“Ty. What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry—you were in the shower,” he said as he looked at me in my towel, my hair still dripping a good amount of water onto the hardwood floor.
“Don’t worry about it. Did you need something?”
“It was such a beautiful day; I wanted to know if you wanted to have lunch. Sort of a pre-date lunch.” He chuckled.
“That’s very kind of you but—”
Some women were walking their small dogs past my house and yelled out, “Hi Ty!” Their screams echoed up and down the empty street.
We both looked over to them while Ty waved back with a huge grin on his face. “Hello, ladies. Looking beautiful today.”
One woman giggled, while the other glared back at me, giving me the dirtiest look. Shifting my gaze quickly toward the ground, I bit my lip, knowing she hated me for staring at her through my binoculars.
“Well, you’re certainly popular with the ladies,” I said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, they are just sweethearts,” he said as he turned back toward me. “So, lunch?”
“She can’t,” Zander replied, smiling as he walked up the driveway, eventually finding himself standing next to Ty on my doorstep once again.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry, Ty. I kinda already made plans with Zander,” I apologized.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you two were together—” Ty said.
“We’re not!” I interrupted.
“Yet,” Zander added, patting Ty on the shoulder as he walked past him through the door.
He turned back around toward Ty and stood next to me with his legs spread open and his arms crossed. I’d say he was pretty much marking his territory without physically peeing on me.
Ty’s brows furrowed. “Well, I guess our date for Thursday is cancelled,” he replied with a slightly annoyed tone to his voice.
I looked at Zander, who was still staring intently at Ty, and then shifted my gaze back to Ty, who was now staring directly at Zander.
Gripping onto my towel, I took a step in between them, and said, “Yes, I think Thursday is gonna be a no go. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.”
I took a step back behind Zander, who grabbed the doorknob and walked back outside, closing the door behind him.
“Wait!” I hollered as I lunged forward, but I was too slow to grab the door before it shut.
I heard the slightly muffled exchange of the two shadows standing right outside the door. Unfortunately, I couldn’t press my ear to the glass because they would see my shadow against the pane, so I strained to hear the conversation as I nipped at my thumb, anxiously pacing the wooden floor.
***
Zander
I closed the door behind me so I could have a conversation with this asshole alone. I was tired of seeing him at this door, and I had only met him today.
“What are your intentions with Kenzi?” I asked in a stern voice.
“I don’t know what you mean, and frankly I don’t really see how any of this is your business,” Ty replied.
“Kenzi is my business,” I quickly replied, crossing my arms.
This cocky muthafucker.
I prayed to God he would do something crazy so I could break his arm.
“I’d like to hear Kenzi tell me that,” Ty asserted.
“I think she already has, friend.” I chuckled. “And I’d like you to stop coming by. She’s already spoken for.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“What the fuck does that mean? You think because you’re some fuckin’ pro football player you got all the women locked up?” I asked, lowering my voice a few decibels.
“You know what, you self-righteous—”
“Self-righteous?” I interrupted, dropping my arms to the side, chuckling to hold back the anger beginning to well in me.
“Yeah―self-righteous. And what makes you think that the only reason women want me is because I play football? Trust me―I have other attributes.”
“Well, take those attributes and walk your punk ass back home, because it ain’t happening today, or any other day for that matter,” I announced loudly.
“I got your number, bitch. Don’t get me twisted. I might live in a nice house on a nice street now, but that wasn’t always the case. I’ll fuck you up if you get in my way,” Ty threatened as he walked away.
I laughed, watching him scurry off with his tail between his legs. I wished for one crack at that muthafucker’s face. Just one.
***
Kenzi
As I waited for their chest beating contest to end, I relived the dominance Zander exuded over the situation. The display of masculinity at the door tantalized my womanly desires, a lust I was completely unaccustomed to. And I had to admit, I was over the moon intrigued by the soft, caring man wrapped in a Navy SEAL, alpha male, exterior.
I stopped and looked toward the door when I heard the door knob start to jiggle. One of the shadows began to recede as the other shadow darkened, its outline more defined. The knob turned, and the door slowly creaked open.
Zander poked his head through the door. “Can I come in?”
“Of course, silly,” I said, pulling the door open. “Come in, come in.”
He walked through the door and closed it behind him. “Where were we?”
“Oh no, you have to tell me what just happened out there,” I demanded, resting my palm on his chest.
Instinctively, he grasped onto my wrist, moving it closer to let me feel his beating heart.
He ran his fingers over my drenched hair. “You’re soaking wet,” he said with a wink. “Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll fill you in when you get back.”
“But I—”
“Go. I’ll be right here, I promise. Obviously, I can’t leave you alone. Every time I show up, you have a man at your door.” He chuckled.
My eyes smiled. “Are you jealous?”
“Only slightly. Now get dressed before I throw you over my shoulder and drag you upstairs.”
“Promises, promises,” I teased, spinning around toward the staircase.
Unfortunately, I slipped on the puddle my hair had created, causing me to fall backward. Luckily for me, his swift reaction time allowed me to fall right into his masculine arms. He lifted me up and pressed my body to his. Time stopped. The moment was thick with sexual tension as w
e gazed into each other’s eyes.
“I keep falling around you.”
“And I’ll keep catching you,” he whispered in a penetrating voice as our lips inched closer together.
Unfortunately, we were snapped from our moment by Zander’s phone ringing.
He pulled away. “Just give me one minute. I gave the store my phone number just in case anything went wrong and I don’t want them to call my dad if they can’t get a hold of me.”
“No problem,” I said as I awkwardly waited in the foyer. “I’m just gonna go get dressed.”
He turned to me and nodded as he answered the phone. “Yes, hello—yes, this is Zander.” I walked up the stairs slowly, eavesdropping.
“Okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just don’t call my father. Goodbye.”
I didn’t want him to catch me listening, so I quickly made my way upstairs to throw on something more presentable than a towel and scraggly wet hair. Rifling through my closet, I found an empire waist navy blue strapless dress I hadn’t worn in years. It was just casual enough to wear around the house, but revealed enough cleavage to be a sexy enticement for a man.
I threw my hair into a tousled bun and feathered some mascara onto my eyelashes, then quickly sprayed some of my mother’s old perfume around my neck and the apex of my thighs; a girl could never be too prepared. Halfway down the stairs, I found Zander standing next to the door, waiting for me.
“Hey,” I said, looking at his worried facial expression.
“Wow, you look amazing,” he said, moving toward me.
“What’s going on? Who was on the phone?” I asked inquisitively.
He gently kissed the back of my hand. “It was the store. Apparently, there was a small fire in the dumpster outside, and they had to evacuate. The cops are there, and I need to go before they call my dad and worry him with this mess.”
“Oh, my goodness. Go! Take care of the store.” I leaned over to open the door and shoo him out.
“I’m so sorry. I know I said I wouldn’t leave you. Did you want me to call Clay to send someone else?”
“No, no. I think he has run out of people to send here. I’ll be fine—I hope. What could happen in a couple hours?” I shrugged the worry away, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
I knew full well what could happen in a few hours.
“Well, you have been known to slip and fall.” He laughed.
“You’ve known me one day,” I sassed.
He grasped my hand, yanking me toward him, pressing his soft lips to mine. My eyes closed and everything I worried about every waking moment fled from my mind. I wrapped my arms around his neck, only to be interrupted a few seconds later by the ringing of his phone.
“Wow, they just don’t want us to kiss, huh?” he asked, shaking his head.
“I think we just did,” I whispered, my eyes still closed, completely entranced by the moment.
Wrapping his arms around me tightly, he buried his face in my neck and breathed me in. “I guess we just did,” he whispered.
My heart soared as the words spilled from his mouth. Nothing else mattered at this moment, not my parents, not Ty, and not my undeniable fear of leaving these four walls. One day. It only took one day to change my life, and one day held the promise to change it back.
His phone rang again. “Jesus—I really have to go.”
“Call me and let me know everything is okay.”
He unclasped his hands and gazed into my eyes. “Okay, I’ll be back as soon as possible, I promise.”
I opened the door, and stood behind it as I watched him walk down the cobblestone driveway. He turned and looked at me one last time before he got in his truck and sped off.
The Hunt
I shut the door and turned toward the stairs.
What to do now?
My attention quickly turned to my left.
Ty.
I decided to call Detective Bidwell and ask him if there had been any suspicious murders around town, figuring since he never got back to me about my parents, he sort of owed me something. I pulled out my phone and started to scroll for the 619 area code I remember he had called from.
I put the phone to my ear as it rang one, two, then three times. I was about to hang up when I heard, “Hello, this is Detective Bidwell.”
“Hello, Detective, this is Kenzi St. Claire. Do you remember me?”
“Why hello, Ms. St. Claire. Of course, I remember you.”
“Please, just call me Kenzi.”
“Okay, Kenzi, how may I help you?”
“I was sort of wondering—well—has there been anything strange going on around town?” I struggled to get the words out.
“Strange? What do you mean?”
“Like a spike in murders or strange occurrences.”
“Well, there have been some things, but honestly I can’t talk to you about ongoing investigations.”
“I understand, but can you at least tell me anything about how my parents’ investigation is going?” I asked as I paced around the couch, periodically looking through the window to Ty’s house.
“I will deny this if you ever repeat it, but there have been a steady stream of cases similar to your parents’ murder funneling their way onto my lap in the last year and a half,” he confided.
“All the same? Like a serial killer?”
“Like I said, you didn’t hear that from me, Ms. St. Claire.”
“Of course, Detective. Please call me if you find out anything else.”
“Wait, did you have a reason to ask?”
“Uh, no—no—I—uh—” I stuttered, and then quickly hung up the phone.
The phone vibrated wildly in my hands. It was the detective calling back, but I sent him to voicemail and put the phone in my pocket. I could see my mother staring back at me through the picture I kept of her and my father on the side table.
“What?” I asked. “Isn’t it enough I’m stuck in this house, now you have me talking to a damn picture? You’re makin’ me crazy even from the grave.”
I laid her picture face down as I walked by it toward the kitchen. The sun was already starting to set, and I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
***
Zander
I pulled up to the grocery store to find a fire truck, three cop cars, and a crowd of people gathered around the entrance to the alley on the side of the building. My jaw dropped.
Is this really happening the first time my dad entrusts me with the store?
He was going to be so pissed. Walking over to the scene, I bent down to bypass the yellow caution tape that had cordoned off the fire exposed area.
“Sir, you can’t come in here, it’s a hazard.” A fireman held out his hand, trying to push me back behind the tape.
“This is my store.”
I spent the next hour in the alley speaking with the fire inspector and my employees, trying to piece together what happened.
One of the firemen I was speaking to motioned over a cop. “Hey, here’s the owner.”
The cop held out his hand. “I’m Detective Parks. I’ll be conducting the investigation from here on out. The fire department has ruled it arson.”
“Arson? Who would want to deliberately set a fire here?”
“That is a good question. Would you happen to know anyone who would have a problem with the store, or you?”
“No—I—” I paused as an outrageous thought passed through my mind. “—Ty.”
“Excuse me?” The detective leaned in. “What did you say, sir?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zander,” I said, holding out my hand.
No matter what my issue was with Ty, I surely wasn’t going to accuse him of something this horrible. He couldn’t do anything this insane—or could he? I didn’t know him, so how could I speak to what he was capable of?
He shook my hand. “So we’ve spoken with a few of the witnesses,” he said, motioning to the crowd. “They said they saw a red converti
ble screeching away before the black fumes started to billow from the alleyway.”
“Red convertible?” I said, thinking back to the car I had seen Ty getting in earlier.
“Yes, red convertible. Do you know anyone with a red convertible?”
Kenzi’s home all alone with this maniac on the loose.
After the conversation I had with Ty earlier, I just knew he was planning something to get back at me, and a fire was just the tip of the iceberg.
“Sir?” The detective tried to get my attention.
“Uh—no—I don’t know anyone with a red convertible.”
I needed to get back to Kenzi’s, but talking to this cop wasn’t going to get me there any faster.
“Well, insurance should take care of all of this, and I’ll keep you updated.”
“I appreciate it. Is it okay if we stay open, or do I need to close the store?” I asked, worried I wasn’t going to be able to get back to Kenzi fast enough.
“No sir, it’s been contained. We’re wrapping up our investigation now.”
“Okay, well, I have something to take care of. Is it okay if I go?” I asked as I pulled out my phone to call Kenzi, more concerned with her safety than anything else.
“Yes, sir. Here is my card. Please call if anything comes to mind,” he said, handing me a small black cardstock with all his information typed in white ink.
I took the card and headed back to my truck with the phone to my ear.
***
Kenzi
“That’s enough, Detective,” I said sternly into the phone.
“Detective?” Zander’s voice filtered through the ear piece.
I pulled the phone from my ear to look at the caller ID. “Zander? Everything okay?”
“No. The fire was set on purpose. They’re calling it arson,” he said as the sound of screeching tires blared through the phone.
“What? Who would do that?”
“That’s why I’m calling you.”
Enemy Inside (Captive #1) Page 5
