“But she suspected,” I sighed. “And instead of telling someone, she protected her lover by packing my father’s clothes and getting rid of them, along with his car.”
“I didn’t say she was smart, or even a nice person, but she’s not a murderer,” Reel chuckled.
“Just a bitch,” I mumbled, leaning into his embrace.
I had to admit, even if it was just to myself, that it felt good having Reel around all the time. He was warm, strong, and safe. But old feelings, feelings that never quite died, were resurfacing and I couldn’t keep depending on him.
“No,” I said, pushing away. “It’s time for me to exert my independence. It’s almost closing time, and I’ll set the security alarm and stay indoors to work on the books tonight. But I need to start being alone again.”
“I don’t like it,” Reel said, shaking his head.
“I can stay,” Colby shrugged. “Vince would be fine home alone tonight. He’s firing on all pistons these days.”
“No, Colby. Thank you, but there’s a difference between me being willing to step out on a ledge and me dragging you with me. If you need a break from Grandpa, you can go to Aunt Carol’s or Aunt Loretta’s.”
“Fine. I’ll just head home,” he pouted, snatching a couple more biscuits before he lumbered out the door.
“That kid’s going to be as big as a house,” I laughed.
“We weren’t done discussing your staying alone,” Reel said, pulling my chin over to face him.
“You have to let me live my life, Reel,” I said, placing my palm on his cheek.
He grasped my hand and kissed my palm. “Promise to set the alarm and not go anywhere?”
“That’s the plan,” I smiled. “Now, get your bag out of my spare room and go home.”
“Your spare room?”
During my two-week protection detail, we had been renovating my share of the upstairs, converting the offices into a living space. So far, I had a makeshift kitchenette, an unfinished but framed bathroom and a framed room for a large bedroom. Reel had been sleeping down the hall on a couch in one of the untouched offices. It wasn’t ideal, but we had made it work, and the renovations had helped take my mind off of a madman trying to kill me and the memories of my dead father.
“It’s time, Reel.”
“Are you sure? Maybe I should stay a few more days,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine.
“You can’t,” I grinned. “I plan on soaking in the tub tonight, and the walls aren’t finished, so it requires me being home alone.”
“I won’t peek.”
Aunt Carol snorted as she walked past us and put a container of macaroni salad in the oversized refrigerator. “You need anything else before I take off?”
“No, I’m good. Take Reel out the door with you.”
“Come on, Reel. You can give me a ride home. Mike took my car in for service this morning.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Reel kissed me on the cheek before jogging up the stairs to get his bags.
“You sure about staying by yourself? Tansey has to work tonight and won’t be home until late.”
“I’m sure. I need the quiet.”
“Alright then. Call if you need anything,” Aunt Carol nodded as I walked her to the door.
“Love you,” I said, kissing her on the cheek as she left.
Reel returned and followed her out.
“Love you too, Tweedle,” Aunt Carol said, leading Reel down the porch stairs. “Enjoy that hot steamy bath.”
“I plan on it,” I giggled, shutting and locking the door.
I set the alarm, not because I didn’t feel safe, but because I had promised. Walking through the bakery and deli shop, I checked all the windows and doors to make sure everything was buttoned up for the night. I still had cleaning to do, but tomorrow was Sunday, and we didn’t open until 10:00, so I would do it in the morning.
Tansey was only working Friday and Saturday nights at the bar now. She worked the rest of the week in the deli with Aunt Carol. Samantha covered the bakery side, and most of the time I was happily tucked away in the kitchen baking. Special orders from five counties kept me busy, on top of the town’s donut and pie consumption. Profits were actually better than expected, and Tansey was selling her paintings regularly too.
Turning off the downstairs lights, I looked around the shadowy rooms one last time before climbing the stairs. I smiled when I walked into my apartment. Drywall had been hung on my new bedroom walls. Reel and Rod had been upstairs earlier in the day and must have installed it while I worked. I stepped into the room that still lacked a door and laughed to see that my bed had been moved and set up, complete with sheets, blankets, and a single rose laying on top. I finally had some privacy to sleep, the same night I had kicked everyone out.
Stripping off my clothes, I dropped them in the washer on my way to the bathroom. I started the water, dumping some bath salts into the tub and setting a towel on the floor. I didn’t wait for the water to fill, getting in and letting the warm water rise around me.
When the water reached my shoulders, I shut the faucet off and relaxed.
My phone rang from my purse, sitting on the kitchen counter.
“Damn it.”
Wrapping the towel around me, I ran to answer the phone, dripping water across the floor. As I pulled the phone out, my foot slipped, and I landed on my butt, towel thrown off of me; I was sitting naked, in a puddle of water that I created. I sighed and looked at my phone, still resting in my hand, but no longer ringing.
I hit call-back and wasn’t surprised to hear Tansey’s voice answer immediately.
“I can’t reach Rod or Reel, and their father is three sheets to the wind and needs a ride. Can Reel come get him?”
“Reel’s not here, but I can come pick him up. Just let me throw on some clothes.”
“Are you in your PJs already?” Tansey laughed.
“Actually, I’m sitting naked on the kitchen floor, but the story that goes along with that isn’t so great. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“How are you going to get here?”
“I’ll find a ride and then drive Everett’s truck home. Don’t sweat it.”
After disconnecting, I turned over on all fours to crawl up off the floor. I stomped carefully into the bedroom and found a hot pink sweat suit that was ugly as hell but clean. I left my hair up in a pompom-style ponytail. I didn’t care what I looked like. My nice relaxing night at home had been interrupted, and I was grumpy.
Not able to find clean socks, I stuffed my feet into a pair of flip-flops and marched out the door. I walked into the middle of the street and waited for the next car to come. A blue SUV slowed and stopped, and I walked to the passenger side and got in.
“Miss Tweedle,” Mr. Palmer, the bank manager, grinned.
“Mr. Palmer,” I smirked. “I need to drive Everett home. Can you drop me off at The Bar?”
“My pleasure,” Mr. Palmer nodded, resuming his drive down Main Street. “Still don’t have a car yet?”
“No. I haven’t really needed one. Maybe I’ll keep Everett’s truck for a while.”
“He’ll think he misplaced it,” Mr. Palmer chuckled.
“I doubt anyone would rat me out,” I grinned. “So, anything new lately?”
“All the gossip the past few weeks has been centered on you. Oh, except your grandpa tried to pay off your mortgage, and I told him to go to hell.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I enjoyed it. Your grandpa is a good man except when it’s about money. Then he’s a pompous ass.”
“Alpha idiot,” I mumbled.
Everett wasn’t the only drunk who needed a ride home. Tansey laughed out loud and rolled her eyes at me when she saw me in my neon pink outfit. I winked at her as I pushed through the crowded bar toward the back wall, where Darlene was eagerly being groped as she leaned against the wall. I grabbed what I hoped was an exposed elbow and pulled her out, away from the man who was feel
ing her up.
“Hey, what the hell?” the drunk yelled.
“Come on, Darlene, the night is over,” I said, dragging her along.
The drunk grabbed her other arm and jerked us both to a stop.
“Take your hand off my sister,” I demanded, stepping between Darlene and the drunk.
“And if I don’t?” he slurred.
“Davey,” the bartender yelled.
The drunk looked briefly at the bartender with blurry eyes before dismissing the warning. He jerked on Darlene’s arm again, and I saw red. Swinging my arm back, I let my heavy purse swing like a wrecking ball into his family jewels. He caved to the floor, instantly puking as he cupped his nuts.
Several men and women laughed as I guided my sister’s drunk ass through the bar, grabbing Everett on my way past and pulling them both out to the parking lot and toward Everett’s truck.
“Everett?” I said, holding my hand out.
Everett handed me the keys, knowing better than to argue with me. I opened the passenger door and helped both of them into the pickup before I shut the door and walked to the other side. As I went to open the door, I heard something from the edge of the tree line. I looked, but it was too dark to make out what caused the noise. Probably a coon scrounging up dinner. I shrugged and climbed into the truck, turning it over to hear its low rumble. After carefully backing out of the lot, I drove toward Everett’s house. Darlene, unfortunately, would probably be sleeping at my place tonight. She was too wasted to be left alone and with Mother in jail, I had inherited the problem.
Turning down River Road, I slowed for a sharp curve. High-beam headlights turned on behind us, glaring into the mirrors and windshield. I hadn’t noticed anyone driving behind us, but now I could see the bright lights approaching fast. The curve up ahead was too sharp to speed up, and I watched helplessly as the vehicle behind us slammed into the back of our truck.
The tail of the truck veered into the center of the road, but I tucked the wheel tight and accelerated as we pulled out of the curve. She straightened out on the other side.
“What the hell?” Everett yelled.
“Seatbelts,” I yelled back. “Help Darlene get buckled in.”
I dug into my purse, finding my phone. I hit redial and put the phone on speaker as I sped up and prepared for the next turn.
“The Bar,” Casey, the owner, answered.
“Casey! Tell Tansey to call for help. I ran into trouble on my way to Everett’s house. Someone’s trying to run us off the road.”
The vehicle behind us slammed into us again, sending us skidding toward the side of the road. I dropped the phone as we all screamed. I struggled with the steering wheel, trying to keep us partially on the pavement. Jerking the wheel hard, the truck skipped over the graveled edge so all four tires were once again on asphalt, but we had lost speed. Before I could put any distance between us and the other vehicle, it rammed us again, sending us spinning in circles in the other direction, launching us over the edge and down a steep hill.
Darlene grabbed my hand as we both screamed. Trees and brush flew past us at an alarming rate as the truck continued straight down. Everett leaned forward, grabbing the wheel, jerking it toward his side. A large tree scraped down my side of the truck, flinging the side mirror off as we passed. The friction slowed our speed, but not enough to stop us from slamming into the large evergreen that stood in front of us. Everything turned fuzzy as my eyes closed.
My ears were ringing, and I felt nauseated. I looked up to see Darlene was standing over me and appeared to be yelling. I couldn’t understand what she was saying, but Everett helped her drag me up out of the brush, and they pulled me deeper into the woods. I felt heat on my back and turned to see the truck ignite. I forced my legs under me and turned away from the truck. I started running on shaky legs, pulling them with me.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I mumbled, when we stopped near a stream.
I pulled Everett and Darlene down beside me. We would be hidden from sight, but any fool would be able to track us. I looked down at my feet, realizing my flip-flops were long gone and my feet were covered in mud and bloody scrapes.
“Who the hell was that?” Everett asked, peeking out to see whether anyone approached.
“My guess is that it’s Morgan Marlian.”
“My father is trying to kill me?” Darlene squealed.
I covered her mouth with both my hands and pulled her down into the mud beside me.
“No,” I whispered. “He’s trying to kill me.”
“Why?” Everett whispered.
“Because I witnessed him kill our dad.”
Darlene pushed my hands away and glared. “You mean your dad.”
“That man loved you like his own. Don’t you dare disrespect his memory.”
She bit her lip when it started to tremble. I had been so busy with everyone and everything else, I had never made the time to see how Darlene was handling everything. She might have been a bitch, but she was still my sister. I should have been there for her. Maybe during the funeral I had been too big of a mess to help her, but afterward, I should have been there.
“It’s going to be alright,” I said, throwing an arm around her. “But we are sitting ducks here. We have to get moving.”
“If we try to circle back up to the road, he’ll spot us for sure,” Everett said.
“Isn’t this the creek that heads up to Reel’s fishing cabin?”
“Might be,” Everett said, looking around. “Can’t say as I’ve been sober long enough the past few years to come out this way.”
“I’ll recognize it when we get closer. If I’m right, it should be about two miles up the creek.”
“Two miles?” Darlene whimpered.
“If we stick together, we’ll make it. Come on,” I said, as I pulled her up behind me.
We stayed low for the first mile and close to the creek. If anyone was following our trail, though, they’d have an easy time of catching up with us. After another half mile, the ground started to flatten out. We were losing our cover.
“We need to move faster. Let’s run for it,” I called out to Everett, who was leading the way.
“You sure?” he asked, looking back at me and the dark woods surrounding us.
“It’s our only chance. We’ll be exposed as the ground flattens out, anyway. We need to hurry.”
“Come on, Darlene,” Everett said, pulling her by her other arm. “Let’s book, but stay together.”
We took off running along the bank of the creek. The ground flattened out in a valley, and a gunshot split the silence. The bark on the tree next to me ricocheted around us as we kept running as fast as we could. Another shot rang out, and Everett went spinning to the ground. Darlene and I both grabbed him under an arm and hauled him along with us.
Passing three pines in a clump by the creek’s edge, I ordered Darlene to turn right. We had to run, dragging Everett uphill, but when we reached the top, we could see the cabin.
“Hurry,” Darlene cried out.
Everett was conscious but didn’t seem to have the use of one of his legs. “Leave me. You can make it if you leave me.”
“Not happening, old man.”
“Who’s out there?” a male voice called from the front porch, holding a rifle.
“Friends of Ryan’s!” I yelled. “There’s a man trying to kill us!”
Another shot rang out, kicking the grass up against my back as we ran.
“Drop to the ground!” the man on the porch yelled.
The three of us dropped, throwing our hands over our heads as shots rang out over us.
“Move! Now!” the man yelled.
Pulling Everett up with us, we followed orders and resumed our dash across the yard to the fishing cabin. Once we were close enough to the porch, the man jumped off the side and took over getting Everett inside as we all barreled in and locked the door.
“Storm shutters,” the man ordered.
Darlene and I ran through the
small cabin and locked the windows and interior storm shutters. The only light inside the cabin was a small fire in the fireplace. Everett laid on the floor in front of it, sweaty and pale. Filling a bowl of water and gathering some rags, I rushed back as the stranger was ripping a hole in Everett’s jeans.
“Leo, come in. Leo, it’s an emergency,” I heard Reel’s voice over the nearby CB radio.
“Get that,” the stranger said, taking the rags and water from my hands.
“Reel, we need help,” I answered over the radio.
“Is Leo with you?”
“If that’s the man mending up your dad, yes.”
“We’re on our way. What’s happening?”
“We were run off the road. We made it to the cabin, but your dad was shot in the leg. We are locked inside.”
“Tell Leo that I have guns hidden in my room under the bed. We are fifteen minutes away.”
“Reel, I’m scared,” I admitted, my hands shaking.
Darlene walked over and took the CB.
“Reel,” she said over the CB. “He was right behind us when we got to the cabin. You have to hurry. I will never forgive you if you don’t save my sister. She’s the best person I know.”
“I’ll get there, Darlene,” Reel answered before the CB squawked and cut out.
“Did you hear that?” Leo whispered, looking around the cabin like he was trying to see through the walls. “You,” he said pointing to Darlene, “Help me drag him into the hallway. He’ll be better protected there.”
“The name is Darlene,” she said, hurrying over to help drag Everett. “This is Everett, Reel’s dad. And that’s my sister, Deanna. But everyone calls her Tweedle.”
“I’m Leo,” he nodded. “Let’s hope we all live long enough to have made it worth the time wasted on introductions. Deanna, get the guns.”
I ran down the short hall into the bedroom and shoved the bed out of the way. The gun storage unit was already open, with a gun missing. Probably the rifle that Leo had shot to give us cover to get to the cabin. I grabbed two handguns and checked the clips.
“You know how to shoot that?” Leo asked, taking the other handgun.
Slightly Off Balance Page 19
