“We didn’t touch anything. Our DNA and fingerprints aren’t in the system. Hopefully, they don’t find the rotting corpses for a long time. Nobody is going to miss Axel. Hell, I think we would be lauded as heroes to the folks back in Boston.”
I nodded my head, still unable to escape the nervous feeling. I headed back to Lincoln, ready to see my baby girl. I wanted to hold her tight and tell her everything would be okay. Tomorrow, or today rather, was going to be the first day of the rest of my life without Axel Lloyd tracking me. I could even go back to Boston if I wanted to.
I didn’t think I wanted to move back. I wanted to start fresh and Beatrice was where that would happen.
“You okay?” I asked when Kevin was silent for a while.
“I’m good. You?”
“I can’t believe that just happened. I have a feeling I’m going to be having some serious nightmares for a good long while after that.”
“I’m sure you will. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”
When I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, I half-expected the police to be waiting for us. It was quiet. No one was moving. I grabbed the first-aid kit and headed toward our room door with Kevin following behind me. I dreaded knocking and waking up Jenna or Rose.
I tapped at first, repeating the same sequence before knocking a little louder. It was Rose who pulled open the door. She looked from me to Kevin and smiled. “You’re alive.”
Kevin grinned. “We are, but I got a boo-boo.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get in here and don’t wake them up. She was up pretty late.”
“Abby?” I asked.
“No, Jenna.”
“Oh,” I murmured.
“You come with me so I can clean you up.”
“Here, you’ll need this,” I said, handing her the first-aid kit.
While Rose and Kevin went into the bathroom, I kicked off my shoes and crawled onto the sofa bed with Abby, pulling her little warm body against me. She was why I had just broken every moral code I had.
Her and the woman lying in the bed with the covers pulled up to her ears.
Chapter 32
Jenna
I couldn’t believe my eyes as I stared at the little pull-out bed. Colton was out cold, Abby tucked against him as he slept. I sat up in bed and saw Rose sleeping next to me. Kevin was in the bed across from us. They were back. And alive. I almost cried with relief when I saw him. I couldn’t stop staring at him. I didn’t see any bruises or bullet holes marring his gorgeous body, or what I could see of it.
Holy shit.
I couldn’t believe he was really here. At some point, I had decided it was a suicide mission. I never actually expected him to come back. I had thought about where I would run and how I would go about raising a little girl I barely knew. I didn’t have to. He was here. I had so many questions about what happened. Was it over? Did we have to run away again?
Sitting up in bed, I stared at him, taking in every feature of his face, remembering the feel of that beard stubble against my inner thighs and my sensitive breasts. His hair was growing out faster than I thought was humanly possible. He had a very rugged look about him that made my breath hitch. I knew under that hard exterior was a man who would move heaven and earth to protect what was his. I didn’t think I fell under that umbrella, but knowing Abby did warmed my heart.
His eyes popped open. We stared at each other for several long seconds.
“Hi,” he whispered.
“Hi,” I said, feeling the stupid tears well in my eyes once again.
It wasn’t exactly the reunion I had been expecting, but it was perfect. He slowly extricated himself from Abby.
“What time is it?” he asked, sitting up in the bed.
I turned to look at the clock that I had pointed at my side of the bed last night while I watched the minutes tick by. “Seven.”
He nodded. “Still early.”
“What time did you get back?”
He shrugged. “Four or so.”
“How’d you get in?”
“Rose.”
I nodded my head, trying my hardest not to laugh at the conversation. If he was here, I knew what had happened last night. I didn’t want to think about that. It was easier to ignore it, pretend it never happened.
Abby began to stir. “Daddy?” she said, sitting up.
“I’m here, sweetie.”
“Daddy, you’re back!” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.
When his arms came around her, I saw the mottled red bruises all along his forearm. There was a nasty purple lump on his left elbow. He caught me staring at it.
“Are you okay?” I asked, suddenly wondering what other unseen injuries he had.
It was stupid to think he could have walked away without any injuries. He wasn’t Batman.
“I’m fine,” he assured me.
Abby pulled back and held out her hands. “Look! Jenna painted my nails!”
I cringed. I had seen her with nail polish before but wasn’t sure how he would take it. She also had the remnants of mascara and blush on her face.
He looked at her, then me, an eyebrow raised. Fortunately, I didn’t have to explain. Abby told him everything we did the night before in great detail. Kevin and Rose had both woken up about halfway through her long-winded story. Rose looked a little embarrassed when Abby told Colton all about the makeup she got to put on and look like a big girl. The revelation had earned a small scowl from him.
I looked over at Kevin and winced. He had a bandage on the side of his head that was stained with blood. I pointed to the side of my own head, letting him know he needed to change the bandage before Abby’s story finished.
To my surprise, Rose followed Kevin into the bathroom. That was a new development. I had apparently slept through quite a bit last night.
“Thank you,” Colton said when Abby stopped talking.
I looked at him. “For?”
“Showing her such a good time.”
“You’re welcome. So are we going home today?” I asked the question without really asking.
He nodded. “Yep. Checkout is at eleven. We’re all up. No reason to stick around.”
I felt relief wash over me. “Good. I’m ready to sleep in my own bed.”
Kevin and Rose came out of the bathroom with a fresh bandage over the wound. I had no idea how bad it was, but if Rose could tend it, it couldn’t be all that bad. I got out of bed and started packing up Abby’s things. We were all packed and ready to go in record speed, all of us anxious to get back to our lives.
As we got closer to town, the gravity of everything was slamming into me. We’d been on an adrenaline high the past couple days, but now that the danger was gone, reality was sinking in. Colton turned onto Rose’s street. A sense of panic was making me jittery.
“You can drop me off at Rose’s house,” I announced from my seat directly behind his.
“You sure?” he asked. “I thought you’d be ready to get back to your own house.”
“I’m sure. I’ll go home later. I want to help her clean up her apartment. I kind of trashed it.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Rose insisted. “Go home. I can clean up.”
I shook my head and gave her a look that only a best friend would know. “No, I’m not leaving you with that mess,” I said, silently demanding she go along with what I was saying.
“Okay, fine, I need your help,” she mumbled.
“Can you come by when you’re finished?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure, but it might be late,” I said, not really committing.
“That’s okay,” he replied. “I’ll wait up.”
Kevin insisted on going up to the apartment with us to make sure everything was okay while Colton and Abby stayed in the truck. We stood outside the door while he went in. He was back in a minute, nodding.
“All good,” he announced.
I looked inside and grimaced. It was as it should be—a total disaster.
“Thanks,” I said, waving goodbye.
“Take care, ladies,” he said, leaving us alone.
“Finally,” I breathed, falling onto the couch while Rose shut and locked the door. I had a feeling we would both be locking our doors while we were home for quite a while.
Rose laughed. “What do you mean, finally? Why didn’t you want to go home?”
I rubbed my hands over my face. “Because I need a break from him. I can’t be around him. It’s like being exposed to the sun for too long.”
“Did you guys get a chance to talk at all?”
I looked at her. “When would that have been?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. You two really need to talk.”
I scrunched my nose. “Do we?”
She laughed. “You are such a chickenshit. You can’t hide from the problem forever.”
I shrugged. “It’s not a problem—anymore. If we don’t talk, we both get to go back to our regularly scheduled lives. No harm, no foul.”
She eyed me closely. “You’re not a very good liar, but good try.”
“Okay, let’s get this place put back together. Man, I really did a number here.” I looked around at the mess.
She laughed. “Yes, you did. I’m proud of you. I hope you kicked his ass.”
I laughed. “I certainly tried. I think this is mostly from his throwing my body around and me kicking—a lot.”
I went into the kitchen and grabbed the broom, then started sweeping up the broken vase and other glass. We spent the next thirty minutes righting her apartment.
“So?” she asked.
“So, what?”
“What are you going to do? He wants to talk. He asked you to come by tonight. Are you going to?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You can’t stand him up! How do you feel about him?”
I groaned. “I don’t know. It’s like there is something there, but is it one-sided? I don’t know if it’s lust or if there are real feelings. I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want to go over there, expecting the conversation to go one way and have it go another. I hate looking like a jackass. Seems like it would be easier to pretend none of this ever happened.”
“Come on now. You can’t mean that. Look what the man did for you.”
I scoffed. “I was in that position because of him.”
“Details. I saw it in the way he looked at you when you didn’t know he was watching. And you were always staring at him, watching him. The look on your face said it all. There is definitely something between you. I think you both have some issues to work through. And you know how you work through those issues?”
I shrugged. “No, I don’t.”
“You talk.”
I wrinkled my nose. “That doesn’t sound fun.”
She laughed. “Being an adult rarely is. Navigating a tricky relationship is even less fun.”
I moved to the couch and sat down. “I don’t know. I mean, if I get involved in a relationship, I’m not going to want to leave. I want to finish school and get my degree. I think it might be easier to make a clean break.”
“You can do online school.”
“I could, but maybe it’s time for me to make a change. This place doesn’t seem to be agreeing with me. I got fired. I got kidnapped. It isn’t working out so great.”
She laughed. “But what if he’s the one? I think it’s worth exploring the idea.”
I shook my head. “He was mixed up with the mob.”
Rose sighed. “Yes and no. I believe him when he says he didn’t know that the guy was mixed up in that mess. He said the guy was a respected member of the Boston elite. You can understand how he would be fooled. He was trying to work a normal job and give his daughter a good life. Kevin told me Colton wanted to retire.”
“I want to believe him, but I don’t want to get hurt.”
“You’re not going home, are you?” she asked, blunt as usual.
I shook my head. “I can’t. If I go home, he’s going to be there and he’s going to want to talk. I need a minute to figure out what I want to do.”
“Fine. Stay here again, but I am not sleeping with you. You’re a bed hog.”
I laughed. “I am not!”
“You are. Now, I’m opening a bottle of wine. We both deserve it after the last few days.”
“I second that.”
She got up and returned a minute later with a bottle of white wine and two glasses. We sat back, our feet propped up on the coffee table as we enjoyed the silence and the wine.
“Figure it out yet?” she asked, refilling my wine glass.
I laughed. “You’re trying to get me drunk.”
She shrugged. “A little buzz can give you some clarity. Relax all those walls you have up. It will help you see what’s right in front of you.”
She was right. As usual. The first glass of wine did strip away some of the defenses I had erected around myself when Jason broke my heart. It couldn’t hurt to give Colton a chance. Hell, there was always the chance he may tell me to kick rocks down the road.
“Thanks again,” I muttered.
“You’re welcome. Now, I’m going to take a long, hot shower, with my glass of wine,” she said with a wink.
“Oh, Jenna, what have you gotten yourself into?” I whispered into the empty room.
Chapter 33
Colton
I couldn’t really be pissed that she didn’t show up last night. I’d called her once to see if she had an estimate about when she would be stopping by. When she didn’t answer or call me back, I got the hint. She didn’t want to talk, and she wasn’t coming by.
It stung a little, but I think deep down I knew that was her plan all along. I wasn’t going to pressure her. She’d been through hell and needed some time to herself. I could understand that. Especially considering the hell she’d been forced to endure was directly because of me.
Staring at the ceiling a little while, I thought about what to do now. Landon had been pretty cool about me needing to take some time off for my family emergency, but now I needed to figure out what to do next. Stay in Beatrice to keep working part time at the gym or head back to Boston and pick up where my old life left off.
Deep down, I wanted to stay. I wanted to explore the idea of a relationship with Jenna. I didn’t know if she had any intentions of sticking around herself. She could be heading north to finish her degree.
There was so much to think about and figure out. It was all very overwhelming. I closed my eyes, wishing it would all go away and that I didn’t have to make such big decisions.
There was no way I was going back to sleep, no matter how hard I tried. I rolled out of bed, pulled on my sweats, and headed to the living room to check out the window. Her car wasn’t in her driveway. She hadn’t come home at all. She was avoiding me. I sighed and headed for the kitchen in need of coffee.
I started the coffee, lost in thought as I stared at the drops of brown liquid dripping into the clear glass pot. I had no idea what was going on between Jenna and me or if there was anything at all. It could be me looking for something that wasn’t there.
I knew very little about Jenna. I had to acknowledge she could have only wanted a tumble in the sack. I was probably reading more into it than I should.
“Hey,” Kevin said, walking into the kitchen, rubbing the bandage on his head.
“Hey,” I said, grabbing a second mug from the cupboard. “How’s your head?”
He shrugged. “It’s fine. I’ll survive. My head is a lot harder to crack than the average skull.”
I chuckled. “You’ve got that right.”
“I take it you don’t have company this morning. Did she leave already?”
I paused. Kevin had gone to bed early last night, saying he wanted to give us some privacy. It had all been for nothing. “She didn’t come by.”
“Oh,” Kevin said.
I pulled the half-full pot from under the spout and filled our mugs. “Don�
�t start,” I said, knowing he was going to lecture me.
He shook his head. “Nope. You don’t get off that easy. You need to shit or get off the pot with that one.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“You know what it means. You’re keeping her at arm’s length. She didn’t come by because she doesn’t have a clue who you are or what you want. You can pretend there’s nothing between you, but it’s bullshit, and you know it. You fell for her and I have a feeling your pretty little blonde is stuck on you as well. You two are doing this strange dance around each other. Both of you are afraid to make that first move.”
I wanted to believe that, but I couldn’t say for sure. “How do you know? Maybe I’m missing the signs. I see it as her wanting to stay far away from me and I can’t say I blame her. I haven’t been the best friend or neighbor.”
“It’s plain as day. You two have this explosive chemistry between you. Hell, I think it’s contagious. Rose kissed me in the bathroom yesterday and I know there’s nothing between us. Being around the two of you is like an aphrodisiac. We were both feeling the moment, even if you two couldn’t figure it out. You two kept looking at each other like you were going to pounce at any second. It was really uncomfortable, man.”
I burst into laughter. “Since when are you so damn sensitive? You’ve been watching too many Lifetime movies. I don’t think either of us was looking at each other quite like that. And what the hell? You and Rose?”
He shook his head. “It was nothing. Just a quick kiss. It ended as soon as it started. Don’t change the subject.”
“Rose is a firecracker. I don’t think you can handle her.”
He rolled his eyes. “Please. I can handle her fine. I’m saying you two need to figure out what you’re doing. Try talking—in the upright position.”
“Ha ha, very funny. We’ve only slept together a few times.”
Kevin burst into laughter. “Only a few. Admit it. You are into her. Hell, don’t admit it to me. Tell her. This is never going to get resolved if you two don’t actually speak to one another.”
“I think I scared her off,” I mumbled.
Going After What's Mine Page 20
