by M. J. Eason
Davis took the gun from her unresisting fingers, tucking it behind his back.
“Don’t scream. Don’t you dare scream, Kara.”
She nodded into his hand and he slowly released her. In an instant, Kara jumped to her feet and put much-needed space between them.
“What the hell do you think you are doing here?” she demanded while keeping her voice as low as possible in spite of the emotion it carried. “Get out! I don’t want you here.”
“You don’t want me here?” Davis asked incredulously. He stepped into the light of the TV and looked at her with all the anger and resentment she’d dreaded for so long. “When were you planning on telling me I had a daughter, Kara?”
For a moment, she couldn’t get words to come out of her mouth. Her stormy gaze slipped over him in disbelief.
“Never. I never planned to tell you about Ava.”
He still looked the same. How was that possible? Handsome. Strong. Familiar. Incredibly sexy. But then, she’d seen him each night her dreams. She knew every inch of him by heart and every inch of Davis Martin still possessed the power to take her breath away and make her long for him to the point of giving up everything to be with him.
But not her daughter.
She watched Davis struggle with her answer. She wouldn’t blame him if he hated her for not sharing their child. She almost hoped he did. It would make seeing him easier.
“Dammit, Kara, I had the right to know I’d fathered a child from our—”
“From our what? Our affair? Why?” She stood defiantly before him, refusing to give in to the need to back away when he moved closer. The expected hate wasn’t there in the same gray eyes she saw each morning in their daughter.
But there was no mistaking Davis’ anger.
“It meant more than that and you know it. I loved you! You were the one who walked away from us, Kara, not me.”
“You told me you couldn’t be with me. What did you expect me to do? Hang around and become the laughingstock of DC? For once it wasn’t just about you or your precious Bureau!”
“I thought you didn’t give a damn what the Bureau thought about you?” he said, his mouth twisting wryly.
“I didn’t. But I cared about us. I cared about me. I left because of me, not the FBI.”
“I did what I thought was best for everyone involved. Including you.”
Kara fought to control the raw pain once more. He was lying. For Davis the only thing that mattered was the Bureau. “Don’t lie.”
“It’s true,” he repeated more softly. His husky whisper still filled her with longing. “I thought about calling you a thousand times. But then I kept remembering the look in your eyes that day. I didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“Very touching. But you’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you. If that was true why are you here now? Let me guess—Rachel’s case?”
“You think I came because of the case? Dammit, Kara, I came for my daughter.” They faced each other in a silent battle of wills, like so many times in the past, both completely unaware of the little girl who joined them until Ava spoke.
“Mommie, she’s scared!” Ava’s frightened words brought Kara’s attention to her daughter in an instant. Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. Ava’s eyes were glazed but not from sleep. Kara recognized that familiar look too well.
Dear God—no!
“Baby, it’s okay. You’re just having a bad dream.” Silently she pleaded for Davis not to say anything.
“No, Mommie, she’s scared for real. She’s scared for real!” Ava began to cry earnestly out of fear. Kara knelt in front of her daughter, taking her by her arms. She could feel her daughter’s shivering running through her tiny body.
“Who’s scared, Ava?”
“Justine, Mommie,” she said through hiccupping sobs. “She’s afraid of the man.”
Kara’s breath lodged in her throat. From close behind, she registered Davis’s shocked reaction.
“Oh God. She has the gift?” There was no denying the dread in that question.
“No she doesn’t.” Kara threw him a warning look but her thoughts were all for her assistant Justine.
“What about Justine, baby? What is she afraid of?”
“I told you, Mommie. The man. He’s coming to hurt her. She’s afraid of him.” Ava’s tiny voice broke into another round of sobbing. She clung to Kara, who picked her up in her arms, heading for the phone while praying this truly would turn out to be just a bad dream on Ava’s part.
“Baby, it’s okay, Justine is fine. I’m going to call her right now so you can see.”
It took Justine more than a dozen rings to pick up. “Hello?” Kara could tell from her voice that she’d been sleeping.
“Are you okay?”
“Kara—is that you? What are you talking about? Of course, I’m okay. Do you know what time it is?”
“Justine, I know it’s late. Are you sure everything’s okay there?” Kara asked while trying to keep from alarming Ava as well as Justine.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? Is this about that man who stopped by the shop today? Jeez, Kara, couldn’t it wait until morning? I was sound asleep until you called.”
“Good. Wait, what man?” Kara glanced at Davis and saw the truth. “Never mind that now. Justine, don’t go back to sleep just yet, okay. I’ll call you right back.” Kara didn’t wait for Justine to argue before hanging up the phone.
She soothed her daughter’s hair from her eyes. “See, baby, Justine’s fine. Now you need to go back to bed.”
Ava’s eyelids had begun to grow heavy until she spotted Davis.
“Mommie who’s that man?”
Kara’s gaze collided with Davis’s. Before he could say anything, she stopped him by speaking first.
“Baby, let’s get you back into bed. We’ll talk about this in the morning, okay? Now close your eyes,” Kara lowered Ava back into her bed and pulled the covers up.
“Sleep tight, baby. I’ll leave the hall light on and the door open. It was only a bad dream. Okay?”
“Okay, Mommie.” Ava rolled over onto her side, already fast asleep.
When she turned to leave Ava’s room, Davis stood in the doorway, blocking her exit. Emotions long since buried resurfaced between them in an instant before he quietly stepped aside and followed Kara back to the living room. When she reached for the phone, he stopped her.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m calling Sheriff Hanson.”
“No, you’re not.” When she would have ignored him, he stopped her, “Wait just a second, Kara.” She stood staring back at him, with the phone still in her hand, angry with him—with God for giving Ava the gift. But most of all, angry with herself for still caring about Davis Martin.
“Why? Justine might be in danger.”
“I’ll send someone to keep an eye on her. She’ll be safe, I promise. But you and I have to talk. I want answers, Kara. Does my daughter have the gift or not?”
Kara didn’t trust Davis or his reasons for being here tonight. He still belonged to the Bureau. She couldn’t trust him not to use Ava’s gift the way the Bureau used her.
“She doesn’t have the gift, okay?” she told him at last and tried to sound convincing.
“Then what was that all about just now and why are you so worried about your friend?” When Kara didn’t answer he added, “She does, doesn’t she? You told me once that it manifests itself in different ways. Ava can see into the future. Can’t she? Dammit, answer me, Kara!”
“I don’t know,” Kara said quietly.
“What do you mean you don’t know? You told me you knew you had the gift when you were still a child. Around Ava’s age, wasn’t it?” He watched her stubbornly ignore his question. “Answer the damn question.”
“I don’t know! I don’t know, okay, and you know what—it doesn’t matter. I don’t care if she does have the gift, she will never know about it.”
“Kara,” Davis took a step closer
but she turned away.
“Are you going to help me or do I call Sheriff Hanson?”
Davis took the phone from her and called the local sheriff’s office, identifying himself. He directed the sheriff to sit on Justine’s house but not to bother the girl unless something happened.
“Call your friend back and tell her everything’s fine.” Kara started to protest when he added, “There’s no use bringing this to her door tonight. It can keep until morning, surely.”
After Kara called Justine back, she found Davis in her kitchen making coffee. He looked a little too familiar there for comfort. Kara forced aside memories of all the times they’d made dinner together, made love with abandon and worked throughout the night at her small apartment in DC.
“It’s going to be a long night. You look as if you could use some as well.” She took the cup he handed her and sat down at the table.
“Why did you go to the shop today?” she asked quietly.
Davis’s gaze slipped over her before answering, “Isn’t it obvious? I went looking for you.”
Kara nodded without speaking. She could only imagine what went through Justine’s head when she saw Davis. Since she’d walked into her life, Justine had constantly tried to uncover Kara’s secrets.
“Why her, Kara? Why do you think he would pick this girl?”
“Who are you talking about?” She knew. But she needed him to deny it.
“You know who. The Angel. Frankie. Whoever the hell is doing these killings. Why pick your friend. How did he know about her?”
She wished she could answer that. “I don’t know.”
“Did you talk to her today or see her?”
“Oh God—she called.” Her worried gaze met his. “She called me earlier today.”
“Who else have you spoken to today?” he asked quietly, trying not to alarm her.
There had been only one other call. Her grandmother.
“Maggie.”
“I’ll send someone over there as well. Until we know what’s going on here, they’ll both need to be in protective custody.”
Kara nodded without answering. She couldn’t believe this was happening again.
“Anyone else?” Kara glanced up and found him watching her. For a moment, she couldn’t think clearly. Not with Davis standing so close. Not when she felt this vulnerable.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember,”
Davis scrolled through the called numbers on the phone. Too late, she remembered her call to the Bureau.
“You called the Bureau? Why?” Another pause and then he asked, “You were calling me, weren’t you? Why?”
Reluctantly her eyes meet his but she couldn’t answer. She still didn’t understand why she’d needed to call him.
“Why now? After all this time?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to…I wanted to tell you how sorry I was about Rachel.” Their eyes locked. She wanted to say so much more but she didn’t trust herself or him.
Davis’s cell phone chirped and he turned away, breaking the spell. She could breathe once more.
Kara sat listening to the voices of the dead calling out to her once more. And above their cries, she heard his voice. Frankie’s voice. The Angel’s voice taunting her.
“I’ve asked the Austin police to pick Maggie up for me.” Davis’s voice quietly reassured her over the others.
“Thank you.”
“I’m taking Ava as well,” he added in a tone that discouraged argument.
“No, you’re not. You are not taking my daughter from me.” Kara got to her feet and faced him once more. “I won’t let you.”
He stepped closer, a controlled anger in every inch of him.
“She’s my daughter as well.” When she tried to protest, he silenced her. “I have no intention of walking away from Ava, now that I know about her, so you’d better learn to deal with sharing her with me.”
“I won’t let you take her away from me!”
Davis released his breath slowly, giving in for the moment. “I’m not talking about taking her from you, Kara but she is my child and she needs to know she has a father who cares about her.”
When Kara could no longer hold his gaze he asked, “What did you tell her about me?”
Kara didn’t know how to confess her sins to him. “She thinks her father is dead.”
“For God’s sake, Kara, how could you do this to me?” he asked. The heartbreaking reality of how wrong her decision had been was there in his eyes. She’d thought she’d done the right thing for everyone involved. Now Kara wasn’t so sure.
“I thought—”
“What? You thought you could make all the decisions about our child and never expect me to find out?”
“Yes—no, I don’t know. I just thought I was doing the best thing for all of us. The right thing.”
Davis let out an explosive growl. “You had no right to make that decision for me. Dammit, I should have been told. I had the right—I earned that right.”
“You had no rights,” she told him, her anger matching his. “You made your decision.”
He came toward her once more but this time Kara backed away.
“Did you know about the baby before you left? Did you? Answer me, dammit.” He reached for her, his fingers gripping her arms tightly.
“No! No, I didn’t know. But you know what? It wouldn’t have mattered because I still would have handled things the same way.”
Davis released her as if the touch of her sickened him.
He started to say something but then turned away, unable to look at her.
All the hurt she’d stored up inside came rushing to the surface. “Don’t you dare try to pretend you’re innocent in this. You tell me you came for Ava but if that were true why aren’t you sending me away with her?”
Davis turned back to her in disbelief. “You think―”
“You need my help. Admit it. That’s the only reason you’re here now.”
“Dammit Kara, how dare you think that of me? I’m here because of Ava and you. I wanted to—” Before he could finish the phone rang, leaving Kara with the impression he’d been close to saying something important.
When’d he finished speaking, he appeared calmer. Davis sat down at the table slowly before saying, “Let’s just get one thing straight right now. There is absolutely no way I’m walking away from my daughter—ever. If I have to fight you in court I will, but I will be part of Ava’s life. And you and I can either work together to bring up our daughter, or we can fight it out in court. It’s your choice. But I think you should realize your odds aren’t looking too good right now—not after keeping her birth secret from me for all these years.”
Kara’s fingers trembled around the cup she gripped tightly in an attempt to hide her fear from him. Always in the back of her mind, she’d known this day would come.
“You’d take her from me? You’d actually do that?”
His gaze never left hers. “If I have to.” He’d seen her fear. Davis still had the ability to read her like a book.
“Kara, look, why don’t we call a truce for now,” he added gently. “Until whatever’s going on here with your friend and Maggie is settled, I think its best that we don’t talk about this. We’re both too emotional and I can’t think about it and not want to wring your neck.” He stopped when he spotted her reaction.
“As well as Ava, all the people you care about are in danger here, Kara. I need your cooperation.”
He meant he needed her help.
“I told you, I can’t help you solve Rachel’s murder. I don’t have the gift anymore.”
“You’re lying, Kara. Now is not the time to reject your gift.”
She moved to the window. She needed time to steady her frayed nerves. The waning full moon reflected back the quiet desert. Nothing stirred beyond the window. Not even Buster, who had moved beneath the kitchen table and lay listening to their conversation and occasionally growling at Davis.
“It’s not
a gift, Davis. It has never been a gift.” She turned back to him, shocked by the tenderness in his eyes. She rejected it as just another ploy to gain her cooperation.
“I know you believe that. No matter how hard you try to deny it, or run away to the middle of nowhere to escape it, it exists still. Doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” she admitted at last. He got to his feet and came to her. Just for a moment, she let herself go into his arms, accepting his strength.
Neither said a word for while. It felt right somehow. But she’d been on her own far too long to allow herself to lean on anyone for long. Certainly not on Davis Martin.
****
Davis had thought about this moment for so long. Through all the countless dreams about her, he’d ached to touch her for real just one more time. Now that he had, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more of her. All of her.
Seeing his daughter, his flesh and blood, looking like a miniature version of her mother with his eyes had shaken him to his core. It made him remember all the things he’d wanted long ago. Things like a family—children, a normal life. Davis thought he’d let that dream slip away.
Kara felt so good in his arms. He wanted to keep right on holding her, touching her forever. God, he wished he could stay here and leave the horror of death behind in DC. Believe that maybe it wasn’t too late for them after all.
“Kara?” His lips brushed her cheek. He felt her tremble in response. The years had changed her. She’d grown up. Become more confident in her own skin. But here in his arms she was the same woman he’d loved in the past. The same woman he still loved.
She didn’t answer but for the moment, it didn’t matter. He just wanted to hold her. He could feel his body awakening to hers. And so could she.
She pulled away and reluctantly he let her go. When her gaze met his there were tears there. Davis closed his eyes. The past had crept between them again.
“Kara, I apologize for hurting you. I know how difficult my decision must have been for you back then, but surely you realize with all the media that was focused on the Bureau after the Angel case, I had no other choice. It was all for show. To save the Bureau’s reputation.”
“Reputation?” She moved further away. His arms fell to his sides as he faced her condemnation. “Dammit Davis, I should have meant more to you than the stupid reputation of the Bureau. You were everything to me! I gave up everything to be with you because I loved you and you couldn’t do the same for me.”
