Courting the Darkness (17 page)

She stepped out of the shower a somewhat enlightened woman, anxious to be with Mica again. She towel-dried her hair and dressed.

While blow-drying her hair, she heard a knock at her door. Turning the dryer off, she looked expectantly at the door. “Yes, who is it?” she called out. There was no answer. Instead, a note slipped under the edge. She smiled, thinking that Mica was leaving her notes now. Reaching down, she picked up the folded paper. The smile fell from her face as she read the one sentence and the signature. The note simply read,
“I am watching you. Jason.”
The paper slipped from her trembling fingers to the floor. Leaning against the wall, she slid down it. Now what was she going to do?

* * *

Desiree had been in that bathroom for two hours. Mica’s thoughts were
enough is enough
. No one could take that long of a shower. He stopped at her door and listened. He heard her slow heartbeat and shallow breathing, but nothing else. Pounding his fist on the door, he shouted, “Desiree. Desiree, open the door.” He received no response. Trying the doorknob, he found it locked, so he pounded his fist on the door once more “Desiree,” he shouted again urgently. Still no response, so he twisted the knob, breaking the lock. He found her crying silently in the corner.

Rushing into the room, he knelt down beside her. “You’re crying. Are you hurt?” She shrugged, looking away. He reached out and pulled her into his arms, gently. “What’s wrong?”

She put her forehead on his chest. “It’s all so hopeless,” she sobbed.

Caleb walked up to stand in the doorway, watching them both. Mica placed his finger under her chin to raise her sad eyes to his. “What’s so hopeless?”

Desiree reached into her back pocket. She pulled out the note and placed it in Mica’s hand. “This note was shoved under my door when I was blow-drying my hair.”

Mica opened it and read aloud. “I’m watching you. Jason.”

Caleb’s eyes grew wide and he turned white as a sheet. “Hargrove was here?” he remarked in disbelief.

Desiree nodded sadly. Mica lifted her chin with his finger and looked into her eyes. “I protect what is mine.” She put her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest. Caleb heard him and his mouth dropped open. “Hargrove won’t get the chance to capture you again. From now on, you don’t leave my sight.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mica reached down, grabbing Desiree’s bag. “Let’s get you out of here.” He put his free arm around her. “Hargrove would be a fool to confront you directly.”

Mica handed her bag to Caleb, and he left to take it to the van. Desiree and Mica headed to the restaurant. On the way there, Mica stopped by the counter. He slipped the clerk a fifty dollar bill. “I had to break the lock on the door. This should pay for the damages.”

The clerk gave Mica a frightened look. “Yes, sir.” He fidgeted with his tablet nervously. “Which one was it?”

Desiree cleared her throat. “It was the ladies’ showers.” She looked away to keep from making eye contact.

“I’ll have it fixed right away.” Looking at Desiree in concern, he leaned forward, whispering to her, “This man’s not bothering you, is he?”

Her mouth gaped. “No, he’s not.” Her tone was a little too sharp. “But you did let someone in here who did.” Stepping back over to Mica’s side, she closed her eyes, blowing out a breath. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I know you just think you’re trying to help, but I have no reason to fear him.” She looked up at Mica, smiling. He smiled back and put his arm around her. She looked back at the clerk. “You see, I was kidnapped by a bad man a couple of days ago, and Mica here came to my rescue. My kidnapper just threatened me again and that’s how the lock got broken.” She took the note back out of her back pocket. “He slid this note under my door and I kind of freaked out a little and I wouldn’t open the door. So, Mica had to break the lock.”

Caleb came back inside, handing the keys to Mica. “I locked her bag in the van.” Pinching his eyebrows together, he looked between them. “I thought we were meeting in the restaurant. Why are you still in the hallway?”

Desiree put her hand on Caleb’s arm. He looked down at it and then back up at her. “We were just telling this clerk what happened, and that we would prefer not to have the police involved.”

Caleb’s eyes widened. He turned his head, glancing at the nervous clerk. “Hey, man, the police aren’t necessary. Jason is crafty, but we’ll catch ‘im. We can protect her.”

The clerk looked closely at all three of them and his shoulders slumped. “Okay, I won’t call the police, but we don’t need any trouble here. I need my job, and they’ll fire me if they find out I didn’t call the police and this young woman gets hurt.”

She walked up to the counter, putting both her hands on the clerk’s hand. She leaned forward and whispered softly in his ear so that neither Mica nor Caleb could hear her. “I assure you that both guys are my friends and mean me no harm. They might look a little unorthodox, but they’re a couple of great guys, and I would be in deep trouble without them. No, I’d be dead already without them. I promise you that I won’t be hurt by these two, so your job is safe.”

The clerk looked into her eyes, nodding. “Yes, ma’am,” he remarked, loud enough for Mica and Caleb to hear. “I won’t call the police.”

She smiled. “Thank you.” Squeezing his hand, she turned, walked back over to Mica and Caleb and linked an arm with each of theirs, smiling bravely. “I’m hungry, let’s go eat.”

She walked into the truck stop diner with a guy on each arm. Several truckers stopped eating to stare. The last thing they wanted to do was attract too much attention, so she unlinked her arms, walking ahead to a table as far away from everyone else as she could get, and sat down. Mica sat down next to her, and Caleb sat across from them.

A perky redheaded server followed them to the table. She placed three waters on the table along with three menus. “Hi, my name’s Flo. Could I get y’all some coffee?”

Flo smiled, chomping down on her gum enthusiastically. “Great. Y’all can have a look at our menu, and when I come back with the coffee, I’ll take your order.” She scurried off to get the coffee.

Desiree grabbed Mica’s hand under the table and whispered, “Did you get a chance to eat?”

“Yes, two hours ago.” He scanned the room cautiously and then ground his teeth. “Right about the time Hargrove would have been slipping the note under your door.”

Mica caught a tone in his voice that was off, and he looked at him closely. Something was definitely up with Caleb, and it was left up to him to figure out what.

Flo brought the three cups of coffee to the table. Taking out her order pad, she poised her pen to write. “Are y’all ready to order?”

“Sure.” Caleb was in a huge hurry to change the subject. “I’ll have the hungry man’s special with sausage and hash browns. I would also like a tall glass of orange juice.” He smiled at Flo. “Thanks.”

Flo wrote furiously on the pad. “One hungry man’s special coming up.” She paused her pen and then directed her
full
attention to Mica. “And you, sir?”

“Two eggs over medium, coming right up.” She smiled enthusiastically. “I’ll be back in a few with the food. If ya need anything else in the meantime, just holler.”

Caleb winked, giving Flo a crooked smile. “I’ll holler if I need ya,” he teased, and Flo smiled, hurrying off to turn in the ticket.

Desiree put cream and sugar in her coffee. Taking a small sip, she closed her eyes, sighing in pleasure. “I have missed my morning coffee.”

Caleb set his coffee cup down and smiled. “If I had known coffee would’ve made you this happy, I would have brought you some sooner.” She cocked an eyebrow at him. His smile grew in fake innocence. “What? Can’t I be nice?”

She nodded, pursing her lips in thought. “Sure, I’m all for nice as long as it stays that way.” She picked up her coffee, sipping it again. “So, how was your night out on the town?” She watched his eyes for a reaction.

Leaning forward, she whispered harshly, “There’s nothing to see!” Closing her eyes, she willed herself to calm down. “Flo’s on her way to the table with our food. Just drop it for now. All three of us will take this back up at the cavern.” She nodded with her new resolve. “You can bet on that.”

All three of them looked up when Flo arrived at the table. She flashed a smile, placing Caleb’s plate before him. “Here ya go, sir. A hungry man plate for a hungry man.” She laughed at her own wit. She placed Desiree’s plate before her. “That’s two eggs over medium for the lady.” She could sense the tension at the table and cocked her head to the side. “Will there be anything else?”

Caleb gave her a crooked grin. “No, baby, I think that’ll do it.”

Flo flushed at the endearment, smiling broadly at Caleb. “Okay, I’ll check back with y’all in a little while. Enjoy your meal.” She practically skipped away from the table.

“Did you see that?” He looked at Desiree. “Some women like my attention.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t dislike you, Caleb. But I will admit you are starting to wear on my nerves.” Then a thought struck her and she smiled. “If you like Flo so much, ask her out. She seemed to like you. Get all this out of your system.”

“Aw, you’re just jealous.” His eyes sparkled and he laughed. “You don’t really want me to ask Flo out.”

“I am not jealous.” Clenching her teeth, she locked eyes with him. “Tell me, Caleb, what’s it going to take to get you to stop this nonsense?”

She took slow breaths in an effort to keep her composure, and then she squeezed Mica’s hand under the table and whispered, “I don’t know what I’m going to do about him.”

Mica took his hand back, and put his arm around her shoulders. She opened her eyes and looked at him as he leaned down to whisper into her ear. “We’ll just have to stop hiding things from him. He’ll have to give up sooner or later.” She nodded. “Eat your breakfast while it’s still hot.” He squeezed her shoulders.