by Jenna Jacob
“I miss being a father… a husband,” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion. “I want you, Mellie. I ache to feed your submission, spar with your feisty spirit, spend my days and nights with you, and watch you grow ripe with our child. Christ, I’ve never wanted anything as much as I do you.”
As his words echoed in my brain, a sense of completeness seeped deep into my bones. Nothing had ever felt so right. I sighed.
“Yes,” I whispered softly into his ear.
Rising up, Joshua stared at me in surprise. Reaching up, I wiped the trail his tears had left before lifting my head from the pillow and kissing him deeply.
“My beautiful little fantasy,” he whispered in awe.
Suddenly, the bedroom door swung open with a bang. Both Joshua and I jumped as Ian raced into the room.
The grimace of interrupting us quickly vanished, replaced by obvious excitement. “Sorry for barging in, but look. You two need to get your clothes on and get downstairs. James got here a few minutes ago. You two gotta hear this.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Did they find Tideway?” I asked.
“Better. James just got a call from a friend at the precinct. Chicago PD picked up Davis Walker at his house about forty-five minutes ago.”
A huge smile spread over my lips as relief flooded my veins. “We can go home now.”
Joshua shook his head. “Not until they pick up Tideway, baby.”
“James will fill you in when you get downstairs,” Ian promised, then rushed back out.
“I would love to be in the room when they interrogate him.” A flash of retribution zipped through my veins as Joshua eased off me and stood. Rolling out of bed behind him, we quickly re-dressed.
“I’d rather have a two-by-four and five minutes alone with the prick,” he sneered.
Back downstairs, Sanna wore a knowing grin. I gave her a wink and blew her a kiss as Joshua sat down on the couch and pulled me into his lap. James sat across from us in one of the big leather chairs talking on his cell phone as we silently listened to the one-sided conversation.
“Did he have a burner phone on him? Well, shit. That’s not the news I wanted to hear.” With a disgruntled expression, James shook his head. “Let me know if he gives up any info about Tideway.”
Joshua combed his fingers through my hair in a calming touch as James ended his call and sighed.
“Walker’s attorney showed up demanding the captain charge Davis with something or let him go. He cooperated fully while our guys checked his alibi. Several people corroborate that Davis had in fact been in China on business for the past two weeks. So, my captain had to let him go. Davis handed over his cell phone and wasn’t a damn thing on it… no messages of any kind to Mellie, even in his deleted files. Of course he could have wiped them off, but right now the mother fucker has an iron-clad alibi.”
“Dammit,” I whispered as I scrubbed my fingertips on my forehead. “Did they ask him about Tideway?”
“Yep, and Davis claims he’s never heard of the guy. My buddy Tommy, who I was just on the phone with, shares an apartment with one of the detectives. They’re looking under every rock and sewer lid for anything that ties Davis to Tideway, but they haven’t found a damn thing yet.” James exhaled a heavy sigh. “I really thought this house of cards would fold once they brought in Walker, but I was wrong. I’m sorry, Mellie.”
“It’s not your fault. I appreciate everything that you’re doing, James. I really do.” With a weary sigh, I painted on a smile. “Well, I guess we’ll be staying here for a little bit longer then. Anyone up for a game of ‘go fish’?”
Turning his head, James scowled at Drake. “Speaking of fish, where’s my food?”
“You’re lucky I like you. It’s in the oven, asswipe,” Drake chuckled.
‘Yes,” James hissed, gave a fist pump in the air before racing off toward the kitchen. He quickly returned with a heaping plate of food and devoured it in minutes flat. Patting his belly, he grinned. “Dylan and Nick, you two need to open a damn restaurant. I’d be your best customer… as in nightly.”
“I agree.” I nodded with a grin. “Of course, anyone that cooks for me is a god in my book.”
“No, the hours are too long. Besides, we’d rather spend our time cooking up ways to heat Savannah up.” Nick let out a low, raspy chuckle.
“Can’t argue that reason,” James agreed. “Speaking of bed, I need to get my stuff out of the car.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ian offered, grabbing his gun before following James.
Pulling the sturdy wooden door open, James lunged back. “What the fuck?”
My heart skipped a beat as I tried to peer between their muscular bodies, worried that another dead rabbit was hanging on the porch.
Pushing past him, Ian stuck his head outside peering to the left first, then to the right. Fear lined his face. “Son of a bitch,” he spat, reaching for his phone.
“What’s going on?” Dylan demanded, racing toward the door.
“Fire. The whole fucking woods are on fire and I think it’s moving this way,” James relayed.
Joshua set me on the floor, stood and gripped my hand as we all clustered around the portal. The night sky was filled in a smoky haze. A flickering red and orange glow crept toward us on the horizon in a slithering, fiery snake of destruction. Surrounded on all three sides, I prayed the fire wasn’t edging in on us from the back of lodge as well. The distant crackle of dry, dead timber being consumed sent a chill up my spine. Red twinkling embers whipped through the air, landing in the nearby trees, and on the fringes of the manicured lawn.
James pushed us back and slammed the door as Ian frantically alerted the fire officials. Joshua slid his arm around my waist as we numbly stared at one another, unsure of what we needed to do.
Shoving his phone into his pocket, Ian studied us with a worried expression. “We’re pretty remote out here, so it’s going to take the volunteer fire department a while to get to us. We should start saturating the ground around the place with the garden hoses…make a fire line as best we can until they get here. Hell, we might even have to evacuate. I just don’t know yet.”
“We need to think about this for a minute. The fire may have been set on purpose to flush us out of the house and into the open. We might be playing into Tideway’s hands if he’s behind this.” Joshua voiced the same worries that were rolling around in my own head—and likely the others, too.
“I’d say there’s a real good chance of that. Dylan and I did some recon over the past couple days. We didn’t come across any campers, and it hasn’t rained in a week up here, so we know lightning didn’t start it.” Ian’s suspicious tone made me tremble.
Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Dylan stomped across the room, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. Turning, he pinned Sanna with a stern look. “Stay glued to Nick, kitten.” Then with a tortured expression he stared at Nick. “Keep her safe, bro. I’m going up on the roof to see if I can get a bead on anyone with my scope. I’ll be back in a few.”
“With my life, man,” Nick vowed. “Keep the target off your back. Got it?”
Dylan gave a solemn nod.
“I’ll go with you. Two eyes are better than one,” James announced. Nodding at the rifle in Drake’s hand, he grinned. “Mind if I borrow that?”
“Help yourself. I’ll get another, there’s plenty more,” the big Dom assured himas he handed James his gun.
“I’m going with you two. I want to see how close this goddamn fire is,” Ian stated. “You all sit tight. I’ll be back in a few. I need to figure out if we’re going to chance going outside or not.”
As the three men raced up the stairs, Drake ambled over to a pile of duffle bags heaped in the corner. Nick and Joshua led Sanna and me back to the couch, both eyeing their handguns poised on the coffee table and at the ready. Drake retrieved another big rifle and began to pace. I reached out, gripping Sanna’s hand in mine.
“We’re going to be fine,”
I said with a tight smile, uncertain who I was trying to convince, her or me.
“I know,” she replied with a resolute nod, but I could still see her fear.
The others had been on the roof for only a few short minutes, but it seemed like hours. Joshua did his best to calm my riotous nerves, massaging the back of my neck, but I couldn’t keep my mind from looping with worst-case scenarios. Was someone actually lurking outside waiting for us to abandon our sanctuary so they could pick us off, one by one? Or was our only physical threat the raging fire crawling in around us?
Not knowing what we were truly up against was nerve racking, and the palpable vibe emanating off the four of us seated on the couch told me I wasn’t alone. Drake’s incessant pacing, pausing now and then to peer up the staircase, wasn’t helping either. I wanted to scream for the burly Dom to sit the hell down, but there was enough tension in the room, I didn’t need to add any fuel to the proverbial fire.
Suddenly the entire lodge shook with a deafening boom. Sanna and I screamed, clutching our arms around each other in terror. Leaping to their feet, Nick and Joshua snatched up their guns. Eyes wild, they swiveled their heads back and forth searching for signs of danger inside the room. The sound of breaking glass from somewhere on the second floor, filtered down the staircase, only to be drowned out by thunderous footsteps echoing from the roof overhead.
“What the fuck?” Drake barked.
We could hear the men above us shouting, but couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“What was that?” Sanna gasped.
“It sounded like an explosion,” Joshua replied.
A gunshot rang out, followed by yet another, and a muffled cry of terror peeled from my throat. Sanna squeezed me tighter as more shouts and heavy footfalls reverberated through the lodge. A cacophony of chaos had erupted above us.
Joshua knelt down in front of me, fear dancing in his gorgeous eyes. “Don’t get split up from me. Don’t leave my sight. Understood?”
“I won’t, I promise,” I swore as fear surged through my veins. “Joshua, I’m scared.”
“Don’t be.” He shook his head. “I’ll keep you safe. If I have to fight the devil himself, I will, because I’m not going to lose another woman I love.”
“You… you love me?” I whispered.
Flashing me that incredible heart-melting smile of his, Joshua grunted. “You bet your sexy little ass I do.”
My heart fiercely galloped in a combination of bliss and fear. Dazed by his admission, I remembered what my little voice had told me: “You’ve searched for him your whole life… Deep down you knew that you’d never be whole until you found that perfect person.”
Releasing Sanna, I wrapped my arms around Joshua’s neck and kissed him, pouring the depths of my heart and soul into it. As I pulled away, the three words I’d never spoken to a man, besides my father, sat poised on the tip of my tongue.
Ian came bounding into the room, his eyes wide and his expression grim. Skidding to a halt on the polished wooden floor at the base of the stairs, he sucked in a quick breath. “Somebody just blew up Mellie’s car.”
“That was my car?” I screeched.
“Yeah,” Ian nodded hastily. “But Dylan clipped the guy good as he ran back into the trees. Come on. Grab some flashlights out of the bags. We need to track him down. Hopefully all we’ll find is a fucking dead body.”
Drake, Nick and Joshua nodded before Ian glanced at Sanna and me. “You two run upstairs and start packing up. The fire’s getting too close for comfort. Throw what you can in your suitcases and line them up by the door. As soon as we find this fucknut, we’ll be back to start loading them into the cars. Dylan and James are still on the roof. Holler if you need them.”
“Keep the doors locked,” Nick instructed Sanna before he kissed her hard.
“I’ll be right back, little one. You stay safe,” Joshua ordered. For once I didn’t argue.
“You too,” I cautioned. Joshua gave me a quick, forceful kiss then Sanna and I watched them rush out the front door.
Following behind them, I locked the deadbolt and pulled Sanna to my side. “Come on. Let’s get our stuff packed up so we’re all ready to go when they come back.”
“So, do you?” She asked with a cheesy grin.
“Do I what?”
“Love him, too?” She rolled her eyes and shook her head, mocking my question.
I grinned. “Yeah, I do.”
“I knew it. I knew it,” she squealed. “Can I say it now?”
“Say what?” I asked as we walked up the stairs.
“I told you sooooooo,” she giggled.
“Shut up,” I laughed then gave her a quick kiss before we each dashed into our rooms.
Tossing clothes back into our suitcases like a wild woman, I couldn’t help but grin.
“So that means you are moving to Chicago, right?” Sanna called from the other room.
“Looks like it,” I laughed.
“Fuck yeah,” she screamed.
I just laughed. Even though we were probably surrounded by fire and going to have to run for our lives, I knew the guys would find Tideway’s body and this surreal nightmare would be over. Joshua and I could begin a new journey in our lives… together.
I heard a thud, followed by a howl as Sanna let out a curse.
“You okay?” I hollered out, as fear slammed the joy from me.
“Yeah, just stubbed my toe,” she growled.
I sighed with relief and finished filling the suitcases. After packing the last bag, I lifted a box in one arm and gripped a suitcase in my hand before heading down the stairs. Lining them up by the door, as Ian had instructed, I turned, ready to go back up for more when a strange noise from the back door caught my attention. It was a quiet tapping sound. Cautiously, I eased closer toward the door, trying to peer through the small crack in the hurricane shutter, but could only see darkness. There was another tap and I flinched.
“Mel. Mel. Open up,” Sanna whispered in a soft, scared tone.
Gripping the knob, she called to me again.
“Mel. Hurry, open the damn door,” she whispered, her tone more frantic than before.
Leaning in close to the crack I frowned. “Sanna? What the hell are you doing outside? I thought you were upstairs?”
“Shhh,” she instructed. “I climbed out the window, Mel. He’s inside the lodge. Open the door and get out. We’ll hide in the forest until the guys get back.”
With a snap of my head, I shot a terrified glance over my shoulder. How’d he gotten in? I was standing out in the open. Tideway would easily find me and slit my throat on Davis’ behalf if I didn’t get moving. My mind whirled. I needed to stay with Sanna, find a safe place away from the fire and hide.
“Mel,” she hissed. “Hurry.”
Nervously fumbling with the locks, I yanked opened the door but Sanna was gone. My heart thundered in my chest. Had Tideway followed her out the window? Had he discovered her tapping on the door? Oh god, had my questions bought him precious seconds to capture Sanna instead of me?
Seized with a gut-wrenching panic, I raced onto the back porch. Turning to the left, I frantically called for Sanna in a terse whisper. Spinning around, I jumped, then froze as a figure dressed in black raised a gun to my head. Edging back slowly, we both stepped into the light that poured onto the porch from the open kitchen doorway. It was a woman whose hair had been tucked beneath a black ski cap, but instantly, I recognized the face.
Carnation.
“Don’t make a fucking sound, Mel,” she warned with a demented whisper, sounding so much like Sanna, I blinked in surprise. “Lace your hands behind your head and don’t move.”
My whole body vibrated in a petrified quiver. “Why are you doing this? What do you want?”
“I said don’t make a sound, cunt,” she snarled on an evil hiss. “I told you you’d be sorry if I had to hunt you down, didn’t I, bunny?”
Oh my god. All this time… I’d thought it had been
Davis, when all along it had been Carnation. She’d slashed Joshua’s tires. She’d probably hired Tideway to smash up my house and plant the cameras and microphones. She’d been the one sending me all the threatening texts. The bitch was certifiably insane, one hundred and ten percent bat-shit crazy, but how did she know about my connection with Davis?
“Surprise,” she giggled as her face scrunched up in a demonic grin. Sliding the barrel of the gun around my temple to the back of my head, she stepped in behind me. “Now shut the fuck up before I blow your brains out right here. Walk to the end of the porch and turn the corner. Don’t even think about running, or I’ll kill you right now.”
My mind swirled with questions. How had she found out about Joshua and me? What could I do to buy myself some time? The barrel of the gun pressed hard against my head, making it impossible for me to focus on anything other than fear.
Had Carnation sent the flowers or had they truly been from Davis? I needed to get that damn gun off the back of my head so I could think. I could stumble and fall, cry out maybe. Glancing up, I inwardly cursed. The fascia covering the porch shielded the two of us from being seen by Dylan and James. Coupled with the darkness, I would be dead long before either man figured out what was going on.
Moving at a snail’s pace, I tried to think of a way to draw attention to the bat-shit bitch without ending up in the morgue. Turning the corner, advancing along the west side of the lodge, she whispered for me to stop as she jabbed the gun against my scalp. Flicking on a tiny flashlight, Carnation shone a faint beam on a set of stairs, leading to a storm shelter or an underground root cellar.
“Go down the steps and get inside. Not a fucking peep, whore,” Carnation hissed in a seething tone.
My head screamed ‘No’, but my body obeyed. Praying that somehow one of the men would catch glimpse of the tiny light, I quickly scanned the horizon. My hope dwindled. I couldn’t see anything but the glow of the encroaching fire. The guys were out there somewhere, blinded within the thick forest of trees. Help wasn’t coming.
