“What happened, Mom?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say much more to her once I came out. All I heard him tell her was to remember what he’d said.”
He pulled back, looking her in the eyes. “What are you supposed to remember?”
She still couldn’t talk. She shook her head. She knew she was going to have to go back to Austin. There was no way she could take a chance of him killing Zane. Just when she was finding some hope that they could actually be together, Austin had to come up with the one thing that would scare her back to him.
******
Mindi passed Luke the potatoes, eyeing Amanda across the table from her with genuine concern. “Amanda, what’s wrong? You’ve barely said two words since we all got here, and you look like you just lost your best friend.”
Amanda glanced up at Zane before looking at the other woman and shaking her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m fine.”
Zane gave the woman beside him a sour look. He had noticed the almost panicked expression she had, just before she turned away. “Is Austin’s visit from earlier still bothering you?”
She nodded her head, dropping her eyes to the table. She didn’t know what to tell him, but she knew she couldn’t tell him Austin’s visit wasn’t still bothering her. She knew he would see through that.
He reached a hand over, turning her eyes up to meet his. “Will you, please, tell me what he said to you? Whatever it was, Baby, I can handle it. If I can’t handle it on my own, I’ve got back up. Plenty of it,” he added, glancing at several of the others around the table before stopping at Jeff and Boston. Andy had been planning on coming to dinner as well, but his mom had called at the last minute, and asked if he would join her and her new husband for dinner with the rest of the family. Whether he was at the dinner table with them or not he knew he could depend on Andy Rogers for back up while protecting Amanda, and any of his family, for that matter.
She glanced up at him again, seriously thinking about telling him what Austin had said. She really might have, if the phone hadn’t picked that moment to ring.
An ominous feeling fell over the room and the phone managed to ring twice more before Jamie managed to shake herself enough to stand to go answer it. When the older woman immediately hung back up, Amanda knew it had been a warning from Austin. He wasn’t going to let her forget what he had said.
The phone rang twice more during the course of their dinner with the same results. Only difference was, Zane and Carl answered. Unlike before when Zane had answered, Austin didn’t bother to say anything. He just hung up. Amanda knew it was because he was sending her a message and he didn’t need to antagonize Zane to do that.
She could tell when Zane went to leave to go home, he wasn’t happy with her not telling him what Austin had said, but he made the decision not to push any harder tonight. He didn’t know he wasn’t going to get a chance to later.
******
Jamie sighed and crawled into bed beside Carl, a very serious look on her face. “Okay, come on,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Tell me what’s bothering you. And don’t do what Amanda kept doing to Zane with that whole nothing crap. I could tell by the look on his face, he really wanted to push, but he was afraid she would get more upset.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. I know Austin said something,” she cringed and shook her head. “Her reluctance to tell him what it was makes me wonder if that creep has found a way to scare her into leaving Zane and going back to him.”
“I’m afraid I’m not following you. What could possibly scare her into leaving Zane?” he asked, shaking his head. “She knows he would walk through fire to protect her.”
“That’s just it,” she huffed, throwing her hands up. “He would do anything necessary to protect her and she knows it. The only thing Austin could use against her is Zane.”
Carl’s head dropped back against the head board behind him when it finally dawned on him what Jamie was getting at. “You think he threatened Zane.”
“You know as well as I do, he would have had to threaten Zane, or one of the other of us to scare her that bad. And she was definitely scared,” she added with a snarl. “That man is a total creep.”
Carl rubbed his temples, trying to ease the headache that had started forming at his wife’s words. “Well, we both know Zane’s the one with the best chance of getting her to talk about whatever did happen.”
“That brings me to the next thing I’m worried about.” She looked up at him, biting her bottom lip. “I don’t think he’s going to get a chance to get her to talk. I’m afraid she’s planning to run.”
“Run?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Like maybe leave early enough in the morning, no one’s up yet. It’s unfortunate that Luke got her car back to her this week.”
“I’m guessing you plan on being up earlier than normal,” he said, raising his eyebrow again, and finally getting a small smile from her.
“I have to,” she shrugged. “I don’t know what else to do. I’ve got to at least try to get her to talk to him before she runs off.”
“Yeah, I’m sure if she would talk to Zane, he could reassure her enough to get her to stay.”
“He’s way too close this time,” Jamie sighed, snuggling into Carl’s side for warmth. The thought of the pain her son would go through if Amanda walked out on him now was too much to take. “I’m afraid we’ll lose him if she leaves now.”
“They’re both strong. They’ll get through this,” he replied, trying to reassure her.
She sighed, wrapping an arm around his waist and doing everything she could to get closer. “I always worry about him when I know he’s out on patrol. Even in our small town. With everything going on with Amanda, I just have more to worry about. I know there’s no way he’s ever going to get over her, but sometimes, I almost wish he could.”
“Jamie?” Carl said, looking down at her with a severe expression.
“I said, almost,” she sighed. “I know better. If he wasn’t in love with her, she’d still need help. There’s no guarantee she wouldn’t have come to him anyway. The only thing that would probably have changed, is his heart wouldn’t be on the line.”
“You have to leave it in God’s hands,” he said, holding her tight. “Maybe that’s why he had to be a cop, so he would know how to help her.”
She smiled up at him and kissed him on the cheek. “That, and he always needs to help everyone.”
Chapter 20
Friday, August 22
Amanda had been up since four this morning, when she finally gave up on trying to find sleep that was never going to come. She felt both overused and hollow. She knew she was going to have to leave Zane, but she wasn’t going back to Austin. He could live with that delusion if he wanted to, but she wasn’t going to let him touch her any more now than she had before.
She managed to make it downstairs with her bags, without waking anyone else up. At least, so far it seemed like she had. It was only five in the morning. No one in the house got up before six. Not even Jamie. So, she had the mistaken thought she was going to manage to make a clean getaway.
She walked through the batwing doors to leave a note on the table to find Jamie in the kitchen, already sitting there. She had obviously been waiting on her. Thinking back on it now, she knew she should have expected this. She had been so wrapped up in her own problems, she hadn’t given Jamie and her almost psychic abilities a single thought.
The older woman gave her a sad and serious look. “Where are you going, Amanda? Why are you doing this?”
“I’m sorry,” she breathed, working hard to hold back the tears. “I have to, Jamie. Trust me, it’s not what I want. But I have no choice. I can’t let Austin hurt him.”
Jamie shook her head and stood to her feet, coming around the end of the table to reach her. “When I tell him what’s going on, he’s not going to just stand back and let you do this. You know that.”
&n
bsp; “You have to promise me, you won’t tell him,” she said, pleading with her eyes. She was so close to tears, she knew she was going to have to get out of there soon, or the woman was going to manage to get her to stay. “Just give him this note. Please. He can’t come after me.”
The older woman shook her head, close to tears herself. “Amanda, this is going to kill him. I know he’s not ready to admit it yet, but he loves you.”
“And I love him,” she said on a sob. “That’s why I have to leave. You have to promise me, you won’t tell him everything you know. Just give him the note. Nothing else.”
“Amanda, he can protect you.”
“Yeah, but who’s going to protect him?”
Jamie shook her head in confusion. “Amanda, he has more than enough back-up. I don’t understand. Austin couldn’t beat him in a fair fight anyway. What did Austin threaten you with?”
She shook her head, the tears sliding silently down her face. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Amanda, please,” the older woman pleaded.
“No, Jamie. I have to go now.” She turned and walked back out through the door without looking back, the tears falling harder. It was the single hardest thing she had ever done in her life.
******
Jamie had fretted all day about what to do about the situation with Zane and Amanda. She knew she was going to have to try to stick to what Amanda had asked, but she didn’t know for sure that she could. She had barely resisted the temptation to read the note herself.
Part of her really felt she needed to know what the note said before she gave it to him. The other part kept telling her it was none of her business. It was between Zane and Amanda. Even if he was her son and she kept remembering a little boy with his plastic police badge and his toy guns.
This was the first time she had found herself in this kind of position with one of her children, and she prayed she never did again. She knew he was going to be devastated. She just prayed they all came out on the other side of this before there was any permanent damage done.
She sighed, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. She had never been more hesitant to call one of her children before in her life. She brought up her recent call list and took a deep breath before calling.
“Hey, Mom,” Zane said on the first ring. “What’s going on?”
“I need you to come out here,” she answered. “I need to talk to you.”
“Well, I was planning on it,” he said, sounding suspicious. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to talk to you about it over the phone.”
“Is Amanda okay?”
She could hear the alarm in his voice and nearly burst into tears. She had to take a couple of deep breaths before she could finally answer. “I don’t know. She’s not here.”
“What do you mean, she’s not there?” he growled.
When he immediately snapped into cop mode, she wasn’t sure she was going to even get him to come out to the house before he went after her. Which, honestly, might not have been such a bad idea. If he never read the note to start with, she wouldn’t have to worry about what it said. “She left this morning before anyone was out of bed.”
When he started using a few of those words she usually got on to him for, she cringed and waited till he fell silent long enough for her to speak again. “She left you a note.”
“A note,” he growled. “I don’t want a note. I want Amanda.”
“Son, please, just come out here,” she said, pleading with him.
“Why didn’t you call me when she first left?”
“Honestly, Son, I didn’t know what to do,” she answered, shrugging her shoulders despite the fact he couldn’t see her. “Please, come out here.”
“What does this note say?” he growled again.
“I don’t know. I haven’t read it.”
“I knew something was wrong last night,” he grumbled.
She could hear the pain in his voice and all she wanted to do was hug him. “Do you want me to read it to you?”
“Yeah, you might as well,” he grumbled. “I guess I need to know what it says.”
“Hang on. I’m going to have to lay the phone down.” She laid it down only long enough to take the paper out of her pocket and unfold it. She read through it quickly, which didn’t take long, before picking the phone back up.
“Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere,” he snapped. Then immediately said, “I’m sorry. None of this is your fault.”
“I know, Son. Are you ready?”
“Go ahead.”
“She kept it short. It just says. ‘Zane, I have to go back to Austin. It doesn’t matter that I don’t want to. I don’t want you to come after me. Amanda.’ That’s it.”
“Why would she not want me to come after her, if she didn’t want to go back to him?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “She told me she didn’t have a choice.”
“She had a choice,” he growled. “She could have told me what he said.”
“Zane, I’m more than certain he threatened you somehow.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he snapped right before she heard a really loud thudding noise.
“Did you just punch the wall?”
“Yeah, and I think I broke a knuckle, but I certainly don’t feel any better.”
“Honey, I know you’re angry and hurting, but you need to go after her. Whatever he said to her had to do with you. She’s trying to protect you.”
“She clearly said she doesn’t want me coming after her,” he snapped again.
“Don’t make that kind of decision based on your emotions right now.”
He took a deep breath before answering this time. “It’s not my choice, Mom,” he said very calmly. “It’s hers.”
“Okay, Son, I’ll drop it for now.” She knew he was making the wrong decision, but she was going to have to stop pushing for the time being. She was going to have to keep praying he came around before something terrible happened. She knew he would never be able to live with himself if something happened to Amanda.
******
Ashley walked across the Bayheart Bar, doing her best to ignore all the stares she noticed were coming her way. She stepped up to the bar and tossed her purse down beside Austin’s empty shot glass. She huffed in irritation when he held up a finger, indicating she needed to hold her tongue for a bit. She glared at him, tapping the toe of her stiletto heel impatiently, waiting for him to guzzle down the rest of his beer.
Finally sitting the empty beer bottle down with a thud beside the used shot glass, he waved the bartender over for another round. He then slowly turned to smirk at her. “Can I help you?”
“Why has Zane not called me back yet? I’ve left him several messages today, alone,” she hissed, pointing her finger right in his face. “You told me you had a sure-fire way of getting Amanda away from him.”
He shrugged, not really caring about her problems, giving her a decidedly evil grin. “Amanda is back where she belongs. She’s over in the apartment, crying her eyes out over having to leave her precious cop. If he hasn’t called you, that isn’t my fault, or my problem.”
“Don’t get snotty with me, you little creep,” she hissed, jabbing him in the chest with her finger.
He grabbed her wrist, twisting her arm and causing her to cry out in distress. “Ow! Let go of me,” she whined, nearly crying from the pain, tears already forming in her eyes.
Her cry of pain drew the attention of Jerimiah, who had until then been standing at the other end of the bar. The big bartender ambled over, giving Austin a hard look. “Considering who it is, I’m sure she did something to ask for a form of retaliation, but I’m going to have to ask you to let her go. And I’m only going to ask once,” he added, cracking his knuckles.
Austin let go so fast, Ashley stumbled backwards, bumping into a rather large form. When she turned to look up, she found one of the other MacGregor b
rothers standing behind her. “Oh, excuse me,” she mumbled, still feeling somewhat shocked by the entire situation.
The big man just grinned down at her before glancing back up to his brother. He lifted an eyebrow in question. When Jerimiah held up one hand in response, saying hang on, the big man spread his feet and crossed his arms in front of him. Then looked over at Austin, raising his eyebrow again, and waited.
“She assaulted me,” Austin stammered in answer to the unspoken question. “I was just stopping her.”
Jerimiah snorted, shaking his head, clearly not happy with the man’s excuse. “Like I said, I figured she had done something, but if a man has to resort to causing physical pain to a much smaller woman for something she has done, he’s not much of a man at all. You should have been able to stop her without hurting her,” he snarled. “I’ve heard rumors. I think you just like hurting women.”
Ashley stepped forward, clearing her throat. “I’m fine,” she cut in hesitantly. “There’s no problem.” She’d learned her lesson. She wouldn’t be touching him again. She was only working with him to a similar end. Which, apparently, his part was done, and she wouldn’t have to worry about working with him anymore, anyway. If he was an abusive jerk, that was Amanda’s problem to worry about. The woman deserved it anyway. She shouldn’t have tried to come between her and Zane.
Jerimiah eyed her skeptically but nodded his head in agreement. “If you say so, but I’m warning both of you now. Another outburst, and I’ll have both of you escorted from the building. I’m not going to have that kind of crap going on in here,” he added, eyeing Austin hard.
She nodded and sat down on the stool beside Austin’s. “Can I get a diet soda?” He nodded, then eyed the large man still behind her, indicating he could go back to his usual post.
Austin's Revenge (The Townsends Book 4) Page 19
