Physical Distraction: A Sinful Suspense Novel (16 page)

Chapter 27

Tashlyn

It felt good to strum my guitar. I hadn’t touched it. In fact, I could safely say that the last person to play it had been Dane Wolfe. Too much had happened. Never in a million years had I expected the emotional monsoon I’d experienced since my arrival in Blackthorn Ridge. I thought, at best, I’d find out a few details about my dad’s death and possibly bring some closure and some memories to the surface. I’d completely underestimated my adventure. Heck, adventure was far too small of a word for what I was going through. And in the midst of it all, I’d fallen hard for Jem.

Everly came out from her bedroom. “You play so well,” she said. “Guess that doesn’t surprise me with the way you sing.” She grabbed her sweatshirt off the back of the chair. “It’s getting cold at night. I’ll be late. Uncle Landon wasn’t feeling well, so I told him I’d close up tonight.” She pushed her arms through the sleeves, and a smile popped up on her face. “I had an ulterior motive too. Finn is coming in later for one of my chicken salad sandwiches. I will have that kiss before week’s end, Tash. I can feel it.”

I lifted my crossed fingers to assure her I was pulling for her.

“What are you going to do tonight?” she asked.

“Not much. I’ve got to drop a postcard in the mailbox, and since it’s Friday night, I think Jem is coming by later to pick me up.”

She walked over to where I was sitting. “I’m so relieved you two got back together. I could have kicked myself for pushing my nosy nose into your business. I think I was feeling a little jealous that Finn hadn’t kissed me that night. But, Tash, be careful when you walk to the mailbox. As my uncle always says—‘eyes in the back of your head, Ever, eyes in the back’.”

“I will just run to the mailbox and race right back home. You be careful too.”

I put down my guitar and walked to the bedroom to grab my coat and the postcard I’d written. I’d come close to telling Carly that I’d been in the truck with my dad. While it explained how I’d ended up miles from home, it didn’t explain how I’d survived a truck bursting into flames or my appearance at the ranger station several miles away. I decided I would send her more gritty details once I knew them and only if they wouldn’t freak her out too much. I was definitely leaving out the scary stuff.

I pulled on my coat and lifted my hair out from under it. My fingers grazed the gold chain on my neck. I hadn’t seen the shark’s tooth again after that awful night in the mill, and I was all right with that. I still couldn’t remember how or when I’d lost it, but something told me, finding out would be dangerous.

I headed out the door. Daylight hours were getting shorter and it had already been close to dark when Jem had dropped me off after work. I always hated leaving him at the end of the work day. Even though he was out on the water and I was in the office, he was still close enough that I could catch glimpses of him or even quick words or touches when we were at the mill. Tonight, he’d decided to do some work on his car before coming back to pick me up.

I’d promised Everly that I’d vacuum and dust, so it worked out well. There hadn’t been any more incidents since the night at Rotten Apples, and I hoped that I’d seen the end of it. Maybe whoever was unhappy to see me in town had decided to just accept my presence.

I pulled up the collar of my jean jacket hoping to keep some of the icy breeze off my face. I glanced around. Every shadow, every tree, every squirrel was enough to send my heart racing ahead. Most people were already home from work, sitting at the dinner table or in front of the television. The few cars that were still out on the road provided some light and some assurance that I wasn’t completely alone. I reached the mailbox and dropped in the postcard.

Alice’s Bookland was just a few feet farther and around the corner. I decided to peek in her window and see if she was around. With all that had happened, I’d forgotten the missing newspaper. I hadn’t wanted to bring it up to Jem again. It had upset him plenty. And Jem had mentioned more than once that his dad was hardly getting out of bed anymore. If he did have anything to do with my dad’s death, it seemed Alcott Wolfe would be taking the secret with him to his grave.

There was one small light on in the back of the bookshop, but I didn’t see Alice inside. I pressed my face closer and looked around. The place was empty. As I leaned back, I caught my reflection in the wavy glass. I wasn’t alone.

“Pussycat,” the deep voice growled. I smelled stale smoke, beer and my own fear as I tried to dash away.

A callused hand grabbed my arm and my foot shot back and made contact with a knee or shin. Whatever I hit, it made him lose his grasp on my arm. I ran. The scream stuck in my dry throat as my feet flew along the uneven sidewalk. I couldn’t tell the difference between my pounding pulse and the man’s determined footfalls behind me. The few remaining cars had all but vanished, and with the exception of the man chasing me, I was alone.

Everly’s house came into view. I fidgeted with the key in my pocket. My hands were shaking. There was no way I could stop and get a key in the lock and get inside the house before the man grabbed me again.

I kept running, too scared to look back. Whoever it was, I could still hear them plodding behind me. I was faster. It was my only chance. The diner sign lit up the sky several blocks ahead. I used it as my focal point. If I could make it to Jem’s or the diner, I’d be safe.

Just as the plan solidified in my head, my foot hit a crack in the sidewalk. I flew several feet before landing and skidding painfully on my knees. The denim on my jeans ripped away along with the skin beneath. Tears clouded my eyes as I pushed to my feet. His hand wrapped around my arm before I could get my feet moving again. A car rounded the corner. Its headlights lit up the sidewalk, and the hand fell away.

I took off running again. My heart was pounding so loudly, I couldn’t hear anything but a thrumming pulse in my ears. My knees were numb, but I could feel warm blood trickling down my shins. I would have been crying hysterically, but I was struggling just to catch my breath.

Jem’s bike sat in the driveway, and a cry of relief erupted from my lips. I was no longer sure I was being chased, but I wasn’t about to slow down to find out. I raced up the driveway and as I pushed through the back gate, I slammed right into Jem.

I fell against him. He swept me up into his arms and without a word he carried me into his house. By the time we were inside, my gasping breaths had been replaced by sobs.

Jem lowered me onto the small sofa in his front room. He looked down at my legs. “Shit, Tash, I need to clean those knees.” He turned to walk away, but I grabbed his hand.

“Don’t leave me yet, please, Jem.”

He sat down and I crawled onto his lap and pressed my face against him.

He rubbed my back with his hand. I clutched at his shirt, never wanting to let him go.

“Tell me what happened, baby. Did you run all the way here?”

I pulled in a few more shuddering breaths and swallowed back the dryness in my throat. My entire body trembled. “I was being chased. He was there again. I was looking in Alice’s window, and I saw him in the reflection. His face was blurred in the wavy glass, but he was there. And he called me pussycat, just like in the mill. Just like in the bathroom at Rotten Apples. I kicked him, and he let go. I ran.” Tears flowed again and I pressed my face against his shirt. “I just ran straight here.”

“There wasn’t anyone behind you when you came through the gate. They must have taken off. Did he hurt you?”

I looked down at my legs. My jeans were ripped at the knees and blood stained the fabric. “I was running so fast, I tripped. He grabbed me again, but a car came around the corner. I guess it scared him off.”

“Did you see him well enough to describe him?”

“I don’t know.” I closed my eyes and leaned my cheek against him. “I can’t think straight yet.”

Jem kissed my forehead. “I’m sorry, Tash. I promised I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, but I wasn’t there.” He hugged me tighter.

“You can’t be with me a hundred percent of the time. I don’t understand what he wants from me. I’m not a threat to anyone. I’m just here looking for a little piece of my past.”

“It’s that piece of your past that is a threat. There’s something I need to ask you. I’ve just been waiting for the right time, but I need to get this out. It might drudge up the accident and some other painful stuff, but I think if we don’t get to the bottom of this, you won’t ever be safe. Only first, I need to take care of those knees. Slide off your jeans and I’ll get something to clean those scrapes.”

I moved off his lap, and he got up.

“Can’t believe I’m asking this because it tastes like paint thinner, but do you have some of that whiskey? Every cell in my body is vibrating. I need something to take the edge off.”

Jem returned with the whiskey. I took a few sips and shimmied carefully out of my jeans. “I haven’t had scrapes like these since my infamous summer of scabs.” Just being with Jem had taken away some of the horror of the night. I felt so incredibly safe with him.

“You had a summer of scabs? That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It involved a lot of roller skating and a particularly gnarly crack in the sidewalk.”

He leaned down and gently poured some antiseptic on the scrapes.

I winced as the stinging liquid covered the broken skin. I took another sip of whiskey. “Shit, I wouldn’t have made a good soldier on the battlefield. Those guys used shots of whiskey to endure a leg being cut off. I’m just getting some scrapes cleaned.”

Jem looked up at me. “Pretty sure you’re not sipping whiskey because of these knees, Woodstock. When you reached the gate, you were as white as snow.”

He covered the scrapes with bandages and sat across from me on the table.

My fingers were still trembling as I took hold of his hand. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been that scared in my life and then I saw you and—” My voice broke. “Everything was better the second I landed in your arms.”

He leaned over and kissed me. My eyes were feeling heavy from the whiskey. I rested my head back and closed them. In a few seconds, I’d floated into that weird state of twilight sleep filled with images of the day that made it seem you were still awake. My body tensed and I was trapped, my legs were pinned and a pair of eyes peered down at me. The eyes glowed at me from the bookstore window, and I heard his voice again. I jolted awake.

Jem was covering me with a blanket from the bed. “You all right?”

He gazed at me with intense brown eyes, only they were set in the face of a young boy, a younger Jem. ‘You all right’. The words had sparked a distant memory.

He sat on the couch next to me. “Tash? What’s wrong?”

I reached up and touched his face, a face I knew so well. “This will sound strange, Jem. But just now, the way you looked down at me and the question you asked—it feels as if we’ve met before, back when we were kids.”

He took a deep breath. Then he lifted his face to me. “That’s because we met once—sixteen years ago.”

Chapter 28

Jem

Tashlyn was pale as she sat up on the couch. She trembled once and pulled the blanket tighter around her. She’d had a rough night and even though I had a lot to tell her, there were still so many parts missing. I needed her to tell me what she knew first. I wanted it to come back to her naturally and when she was ready to absorb it. I wasn’t completely sure tonight was the right time.

I put my arm around her shoulder, and she melted against me. “Tell me, Jem. Tell me what happened. When did we meet?”

“There’s a historical landmark down below Phantom Curve.”

“Yes, I saw the marker when I traveled down there.”

“Right. It’s a wooden shelter that some fur trappers built there a few hundred years ago. It kept them safe when the weather got brutal.”

I could feel her body tensing beneath my arm, and she tugged the blanket shut tighter.

“I’ve been inside of it,” she said weakly. “It was dark and terrifying and . . . cold. I remember it was really cold.” She grew quiet and sat forward, out from under my arm. She stared out the front window of my house. The light was on in my dad’s bedroom, but the house was quiet.

Then she turned to face me. Her cheeks were pale white, and her eyes were glassy. “You let me out. There was a big hatch door and it lifted. I was sure whatever monster had trapped me inside was coming back to kill me. Then there was this face.” She touched my cheek. “You asked if I was all right. You lent me your hand, and I pulled myself out. Then you told me to run. ‘Run away from this place’. And I did. Just like tonight, as fast as my feet could carry me. But who put me inside the shelter?”

I shook my head. “To tell you the truth, all these years I thought my brother had done it for fun. He did some crazy shit when he was young. But it wasn’t him. That’s why I need you to remember anything you can about this ‘pussycat’ man. I think he knows how you ended up in the shelter.” I swallowed to relieve the bitterness in my throat. “No doubt Everly has told you about the missing girls.”

She nodded. Then it seemed to dawn on her why I’d brought it up. “I was going to be one of them.”

“I think so.”

She crawled back into my lap, and I wrapped my arms around her.

“You saved my life back then.” She cuddled against me. “You seem to be really good at that.”

“So far I’ve kept a good record, and I want to keep it that way. I know you want to push what happened tonight out of your mind, but I need you to think. Is there anything you can tell me that would help?”

She was quiet in my arms for a long time, and I thought she’d drifted back to sleep. But then moisture dampened my shirt. She was crying.

“Tash? What is it? Did you remember something?”

“His eyes, the ones I saw in the window, I’d seen them before.” Her body shook with a sob. “He was staring at me through the cracked windshield of my dad’s truck. I’d been sleeping in the compartment behind the seats when I felt as if I was falling. I must have still been limp with sleep when the truck rolled. That must have been why I wasn’t hurt.” She sniffled a few times and buried her face into my shirt.

“Anything else? What color were his eyes?”

She shook her head but didn’t pull her face from my shirt. It was as if she was hiding from something, a terrible memory, it seemed.

“What was he doing outside your dad’s truck?”

A long shuddering breath came and more tears followed. “He was hitting my dad in the head with a rock. There was no fire. My dad had survived the accident, but that man killed him.”

She shrank down in my arms. I’d released her from the trappers’ shelter, not even understanding the danger she was in. All the grim truths about this town would soon be on full display. For all these years, the ugly shit had been buried, until now, until Tashlyn walked into town. And that was why someone was trying to kill her.

“God, I’m so sorry, baby. I knew this town had a lot of closet skeletons. I just didn’t know how many. You don’t need to think about it anymore tonight.”

She buried herself tighter against me as if she couldn’t get close enough. “The way he says ‘pussycat’.” Her words were muffled against my chest. “Cat always sounds funny. Like he has an accent. It sounds long and flat. Like a—”

“Like a splat.” I finished for her. 

She lifted her face to look at me. Her nose was pink from crying. “Yes.”

I nodded and wrapped my arms tighter. It was Draven. Fucking Draven. But there was no way he’d been controlling my dad all these years. There was more to it, and I knew just who to ask.