Leticia (23 page)

“
Why
didn't you just hunt Luke down and kill him?” Jackson
asked
,
pure
venom
now
in his voice
.

“I still
cared for
him, despite everything, and plus, I wasn’t a horrible person
.
I didn't want to take someone’s life
,
besides;
I didn't fancy facing a murder
inquiry
.
”

“I can understand that
,
” Nancy nodded
.

“Anyway
,
” I continued
.
“
T
hat phone call before, I can safely say... that was Luke
.
”

“WHAT!”

“How the hell has he found you again?” Tristan thundered
.

“I don’t know, I wish I did
,
” I said, standing and walking to the window
.

“We’ll find him
,
” Nancy assured me
.

“Have you known it was him all along?” Jackson asked me
.

“I thought it might
have
been at first, but then I thought, how could it be? Those guys left me for dead
.
I was in the middle o
f
nothingness for eight
years;
I’ve been here about a year now and never heard anything from him. I’ve had phone calls before this one as you know, but his voice, although it sounded familiar in a way, it was also different,
very
different
.
”

“What gave the prick away then?”

“When he called me
sweet-cheeks
, it was his nick name for me
,
” I answered
.

“What exactly did he say to you just then?” Tristan asked
.

“
He
said ‘
I s
ee
you
’
r
e
still alive and kicking, that’s a bit of a disappointment’
, then
‘
Am
I boring you
?
’
and finally
‘Well I promise you
,
sweet-cheeks
,
you won’t be bored for long
.
’
”

“So he’s gonna make another move
?
Well
this time, we’ll be waiting, no more surprises
,
” Jackson stated
.

“I agree
,
” Tristan added
.

“The thing is
,
” Jackson continued
.
“We need to go looking for
them
, not just wait for them to call the shots, if he’s phoning you, if he always knows where you are, he must be close or have someone watching you twenty-four hours a day. If we find the watcher, we find him
.
”

“I
can’t
really say I have the energy to start looking now
.
These
hills are vast, he could be anywhere
,
” I said
.

“Nancy
,
” Tristan started
.
“
When
you turned into one of them for the night, the night of the summit fight, didn't they say anything that could have been of use?”

“No, they spoke about Leticia a lot saying that they didn't understand why
the boss
wanted her captured. One of them wasn’t happy about attacking a woman, but he was in desperate need of money. He even said ‘
God forgive me’
once he’d finished speaking. Other than that they just sp
o
ke about their own problems and what they’d do when they got the money off
the boss
.
”

“They didn't mention where the
boss
might be staying?”

“
No
, sorry, I would have told you if they had, I never asked
;
I thought it might have look
ed
suspicious, I’m really sorry
.
”

“It’s
OK
,
” I assured her
.
“I wouldn’t have asked either
.
”

“I need some air
,
” Jackson muttered, walking out of the room
.

“Is he
alright
?
” I asked
.

“He was worried about you
,
” Tristan told me
.
“When we were moving the bodies
before;
he lost his temper. He was shouting and swearing, I
won’t
repeat what he said, but I’ll tell you this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry. He thought
you were going to die after that guy stabbed you
. He said he’s never been so frightened in his life
.
”

“Oh I
...
”

“Would you do something for me?” he asked
.

“Of course I would
.
”

“Go outside, talk to him
and don’t
be cold with him. Before you say anything I know,
I know
he’s been cold with
you
,
” he seemed to
emphasize
that
.
“
But
he cares about you a lot, in fact, I think he’s falling for you but for
god’s
sake do not, and
I
mean
do not
tell him I said that
.
”

I didn't respond, I just walked out of the room, through the front door and looked around for him. I couldn’t see him anywhere
.
Even
with my wolf eyes, he was nowhere to be seen. I walked around the side of the house and found him in the garage. He was throwing things out of one of the draw
er
s in there, cursing as he went along.

“Hey
,
” I said, standing in the doorway
.

“What is it?” he asked, turning to face me
.

“Can I come in?”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to sit in there like a spare part with the loving couple
,
” I smiled, trying to make light of the situation for a moment
.

“Do what you want
,
” he said coldly, turning away from me again.

“It doesn’t matter
,
” I sighed
.
I think my voice sounded more disappointed than anything really. “See ya later
.
”

I turned to walk away and heard him take a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, come in here
,
” he called after me
.

“It’s
fine
,
I can see
you’re busy
...
”

“Leticia
,
please come in
.
”

I faced him
again;
he was walking towards me now. I half smiled and made my way inside.

“I don’t mean to sound rude or cold, I’m just pissed beyond belief
,
” he explained
.

“
W
hat are you looking for?”

“Eh?”

“You w
ere
rooting
through the draw
er
s for something
.
”

“Oh yeah, sorry, bullet
s
actually
.
”

“Oh
.
”

“Just checking I had plenty
.
”

“
And
have you?”

“Oh yeah
,
” he smirked
.
“
More
than enough to kill this bastard and his groupies
.
”

“I don’t know if we should kill him, I mean....”

“Are you
serious?
”

“I
’m
just worried that it will come back to haunt me
,
” I sighed
.

He walked over and stood very close to me.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” he
said in a low voice
.

“Yeah
,
”

“Be honest
with me
.
I know we asked you before but
...
do
you still love him?”

“
No
,
” I said without an ounce of hesitation
.
“
Not
in the slightest.
Why
do you ask?”

“I just wondered because you seem to want to protect him.
”

“I stopped
caring so much about
him a long t
ime ago, it upsets me, but then
it wouldn’t matter who it was that was after me, it would still be upsetting. I’ve done nothing wrong and yet I get this
. I don’t exactly want to
protect
him, I just feel funny about killing him. I knew him for a long time
.
I was so close to him... it just feels wrong, even though I know it isn’t.
”

“I understand what you mean
.
”

“
Why
don’t you come and get some rest
?
” I asked
.
“If we
’
re gonna start searching we need to be prepared for the fact that it could take a while
.
It
will
be
tiring;
we could all do with a good
night’s
sleep
.
”

“I couldn’t sleep yet, no matter how I tried
.
”

“Yeah same here actually
,
” I agreed
.
“
My
mind
i
s
too
busy running all over the place. Well, I’ll leave you in peace
.
”

“No don’t
,
” he said quickly
.

“Well I’m not standing in the garage all night, the winds picking up and
it’s
not the warmest out here now
.
”

“So let’s watch a
movie
or something together
.
”

“Wow, I never thought I’d here
you
say that
.
”

“What do you say?”

“What about Nancy and...
?
.”

“We have more than one living room in there Leticia
.
We
don’t have to share one with them
.”

“I didn't mean that, I meant what if they hadn’t have wanted to watch a film
?
”

“I had no intentions of even asking them, I meant
only
me and you
,
” he said lowering his head
.

“Come on then
,
” I smiled
.
“But no chick flicks, cheesy romances or war films please
.
”

“Not a chance
,
” he laughed
.

We went back into the house and headed for the smaller living room. It was
cozy
in here
and warm. He opened one of the large cabinet doors, I couldn’t
believe
my eyes
.
I don’t think I’d ever seen so many DVD’s in my life.