Caught in the Storm (10 page)

Kat walked up to her room slowly. It had been a long day, full of highs and lows. Just knowing how sick and twisted Jeremy had become, made her want to keep looking over her shoulder. She was seriously worried about nightmares tonight and wondered if she should lock her door. Something she never did. When she entered her room, she stopped and looked around, not sure if she had been so lost in thought she’d gone to the wrong room.

“You’re in the right room,” Jackson said from behind her.

She spun around to face him. “Why is there another bed in my room?”

“As much as I want to, I am assuming you don’t want to share your bed with me and cuddle the night away like we used to.” When she continued to stare at him, he pushed past her and into the room. “Come on, baby, I know with everything that happened today you are going to be a little freaked out. Not to mention, I’m a little freaked out and would feel better being closer to you. Lexi and Noah are together, so are Evie and Anthony. Please let me stay here with you and protect you.”

She didn’t want to admit it to him, but having him here would allow her to sleep better. “Fine. But don’t think I won’t kick you out if you start snoring.”

Grinning at her, he said, “Baby, it wasn’t me who snored,” and ducked when she threw a pillow at him, just like he expected her to. It drove her crazy that after all this time, he still knew her so well. But he was right; she would feel better with him in the same room as her. Knowing that he was just a few feet away all night long might not be easier, but getting through the night and the possible nightmares would be.

Jeremy made his way slowly to the farmhouse. He was thankful he had studied the map so well, cutting through the forest hadn’t been his first choice but it was better than the alternative.

He clutched his phone in one hand. He really didn’t know why it felt so important to have it with him, but he always seemed to have it close by. Maybe it was the pictures he had downloaded from the internet. Pictures of women he’d killed that were plastered all over the news sites. It was all he had left.

There was no electricity to the barn, but that didn’t worry him; he had it in the house. Lighting a lantern, he looked around the room. He’d set up three beds waiting for them, knowing he’d have them here at some point. He began to stroke himself as he got hard thinking about the three of them chained to the beds, and going from one to another slamming into them as their bodies cooled in death.

She was surprised that he went to the farmhouse. It was sooner than she expected, but she had spent the prior day out there setting up her equipment after he’d left, so there was nothing to worry about. She could continue to monitor him and pick the perfect time to make him curse the day he’d started down this path, and each and every day afterwards. Retribution would be hers. She’d give the women the justice they so rightly deserved. She would have the power to show him how wrong he was. How much it hurt.

Since the Halloween party was coming up, Kat was being fitted for a baby bump that would match Lexi’s. It was a gel based filler and when you touched it, it would move and felt like an actual pregnant belly. The ladies sat around trying to think of costumes. Once the Troublesome Trio entered the room and talked about what to dress up as, all of the men decided they had better things to do and quickly left.

“You know I’ve got a great idea. You’ll love this. Are you ready?” Leigh asked as she stood up.

“No,” Evie and Lexi said at the same time.

Kat had to hide her smile at the look on Leigh’s face when they were both so quick to stop her.

“Well, I’m only trying to help. You haven’t even heard it yet.” Leigh sat down in a huff and crossed her arms across her chest.

“If it were up to you, I’d barely be wearing anything, and I know you’d want Noah just about naked,” Lexi said dryly.

“So, what’s wrong with that?” asked Evelyne. “Naked men are good.
Real good.
”

“While I can’t argue with that, she does have a point,” Marie said. “Jackson is going to have to take Noah’s place. They don’t have the same tattoos. It’d be a dead giveaway.”

“Well, shit, there goes my idea. You’re right, Marie, we’ll have to think of something where Noah and Jackson are more covered up since they don’t look as much alike as Lexi and Kat do,” Leigh said.

“Are they having any kind of theme to the party? Because that could help.” Kat queried while she stood there and had her measurements taken for the fake baby bump to match Lexi’s. She hadn’t really considered that she was actually going to have a baby bump; something she would never be able to experience in real life. Following orders, she turned around and looked out the window. Staring blankly at the storm as waves crashed on the beach, she remembered the pain and shock that had ripped through her body when the doctors told her she’d never be able to have children.

She had fallen into a black hole of depression that had lasted years. Even now, she knew she could slip back down there, never to climb out. She felt like she was right there, grasping the edge, grasping for happiness, but one false move and she’d fall. She knew she didn’t want to go back to being the person she was, but changing was just as scary.

Looking down, she saw the men standing out on the patio pointing to the sky and it looked to her like they were arguing. It had taken her awhile, but she was finally starting to relax around Anthony. It had taken her much longer than Lexi, but she wasn’t as forgiving as Lexi. And Noah, she had always felt that Noah was like a brother to her, even when she was just an employee guarding the person most precious to him.

Then there was Jackson. The man she had fallen in love with so many years ago. At that point, she was already broken and trying to find information on Lexi to exact her own revenge on her attacker who, at the time, she thought was Anthony. She had lost track of what her goal was and fell for Jackson until that night she’d had that nightmare. The one that brought everything back. She couldn’t look him in the eye after that and had snuck out in the middle of the night after he had fallen back to sleep. She didn’t like him knowing how damaged she was, how she could never be whole. She had honestly never expected to see him again, but now that she had, and he had pretty much told her she wasn’t going to be sneaking away from him again, she didn’t know what would be coming next. What she wanted next. Well, she knew what she wanted, but that wasn’t ever going to happen. Not for someone like her.

“Kat. Kat. Kat!” Evie yelled at her.

She shook her head to clear it of all the memories and looked over at Evie. “I’m sorry, what?”

Noticing the look that Evie gave her wasn’t easy to swallow. She knew Evie still didn’t trust her and she couldn’t blame her. Evie was also starting to suspect something more was going on between her and Jackson. She didn’t want to think of the hell to be paid when Evie finally figured everything out. It wasn’t going to be pleasant to be around her, which was for sure.

“We were talking about a costume for the party, remember? Martha found the invitation and it says it’s going to be a horror movie theme.”

“Well, that sounds about right,” Kat muttered under her breath then louder, “Any ideas so far?”

“Well, first we started with our favorite horror movies,
Beetlejuice
,
Poltergeist
,
The Exorcist
,
The Mummy
; you know the one with Brendan Fraser and all those hot guys,
Phantom of the Opera
,
The Silence of the Lambs
, any zombie flick you can think of
, Evil Dead
; I could go on, but I’m running out of fingers,” Evie said with a shrug.

“Anything sound interesting to you, Lexi?” Evelyne asked as she attempted to look up costumes on the internet.

“I don’t know. Really, with the hair and make-up people Noah knows, we could really go as anything. What about movies where the woman is pregnant?” asked Lexi.

“Hmmm … I think you’ve got a great idea there Lex. Let me see what I can come up with.” Leigh grabbed the laptop from Evelyne and started searching. “A-ha, here we go. You’ve got the classic
Rosemary’s Baby
and a few others, mostly foreign films. Oh, and there’s Fargo, but I’m not sure that really falls under the horror category, gore yes, horror no.”

“The possibilities are running around in a long blue nightgown or a sheriff’s parka all night. What’s a girl to do?” Lexi sighed and rubbed her belly.

“Well, you can choose if you want to carry around a knife or a gun,” Evie said.

“Decisions, decisions,” Lexi remarked dryly.

“I think we should think more of what Noah and Jackson will be wearing,” Marie said.

“Of course you would,” Evie snickered.

Marie sighed and said, “No, that is not what I meant, although now that you mention it…” She shook her head, “Anyway, we need to come up with something so that you won’t be able to tell if it is Noah or Jackson dressed as the character in the movie.”

“We also are going to have to talk to the men about the security. Since everyone is going to be in costume, it would be very easy for Jeremy to get in there without any of us knowing,” Kat said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

“Hey, I just had a great idea!” Leigh leapt off the couch. “We could go as Charlie’s Angels! That way, we’d be another set of eyes looking out for Jeremy!”

“Oh, I like that; I’ll be Farrah Fawcett, and Leigh you can be Jaclyn Smith and Marie you can be Kate Jackson! We’ve got it set. Now, we just need some handcuffs.” Evelyne picked up the laptop again. “Okay, I’m doing a search for stores in the area that carry handcuffs. Ohhh … look, there’s a store not too far from here. We’ll have to check it out, ladies. Come on.” She stood up and handed the laptop to Marie.

“Not so fast. I don’t think it’s a good idea that you go. Jeremy has already been too close to hurting you. I don’t want to give him another opportunity,” Evie said as she stood in the doorway, blocking their exit.

“Oh, come on. You know I’ve been itching to get my hands on him. I’ve been doing some research; I’ve got plans for him. He’s going to be in a lot of pain.” Evelyne rubbed her hands together.

“Exactly. No. Now go back and sit down.” When the Trio did as they were told, the younger three ladies looked at each other and Lexi raised an eyebrow. “And don’t even think of sneaking out,” Evie added. “Don’t think I don’t know what is going on in your mind.”

“Really, Evie. Would we do that? We know it would just worry you, so we’ll just come up with another way to get the handcuffs. I’m sure they deliver.”

Kat couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of what they might purchase, but her next thought of seeing the security guards faces as they inspected the packages;
that might be worth it,
she laughed to herself. She’d have to remember to be around when the packages came in. Might be something to do since she was stuck here all the time.

They all spun toward the door when they heard someone come running up the stairs. Noah burst through the door, grinning from ear to ear. “Come on! It’s snowing! The first of the year! Let’s go have some fun!”