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My heart jumped into my throat. “You were?”

“I couldn’t imagine how you did all that on your toes and shit. I about freaked out when those pansies in tights started throwing you around.”

I gigged. “They’re called lifts, not throwing. And trust me, they’re not pansies. You should see the muscle tone they have.”

Maddox wrinkled his nose. “I was too distracted by the way their tights highlighted their…you know, …” he motioned toward to his crotch, “packages.”

“Did you just admit to staring at a dude’s package?” I asked with a laugh.

He elbowed my legs. “Watch it.”

“Well, I’m really flattered and honored that you risked boredom to come and see me.”

“No, I’m really glad I did. I’d never seen you like that before. So graceful and confident…not to mention so incredibly beautiful.”

Heat rose in my face. “It’s the combination of the costumes, makeup and lighting. It can make anyone beautiful.”

“Trust me, it wasn’t all that other stuff. It was just little Lane I used to push in mud piles, and she was beautiful.”

Oh God, was this really happening? Was I alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere with Maddox, and he was telling me I was mesmerizing and beautiful? “Thanks,” I murmured.

He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Trying to steer away from any more comments about my looks, I asked, “Why didn’t you try to find me afterward? We could have gone to dinner or something.” A look flashed in his eyes at my almost alluding to a date, so I quickly added, “My parents and I would have loved to have seen you.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been cool, but I didn’t have the time…you know, I had to catch a flight and all.”

I nodded. An awkward silence hung over us until I finally cleared my throat. “I guess we better try and get some sleep, huh?”

“Yep. Well, goodnight then.”

It was seriously unnerving that the only thing separating Maddox from me was the wrought iron coffee table. I didn’t want to lie facing Maddox, so I turned over on my side, facing the back of the loveseat. It was way too hot for blankets without any air conditioning on. After I curled my legs up, I shut my eyes, and in turn, I tried shutting out the day’s crazy events. But my mind still whirled with out-of-control thoughts. I tried taking a few deep breaths to clear my head. Once again, Maudie’s face appeared before me then Jensen and his men shooting at us. I wondered what was going on at the brewery after the fire…I wondered if my parents would find out what happened.

After what seemed like an eternity, I started envisioning myself on the stage dancing in the production of
Sleeping Beauty
. My dance studio was putting it on in the fall, and I had my heart set on Aurora, the lead. I’d been watching clips of past performances on YouTube. Concentrating on the plies and leaps were exactly what I needed to finally nod off.

I hadn’t been asleep long when I started to dream. At first I was lost in a choking fog, and I couldn’t find Maddox. I kept walking and walking, but I never seemed to get anywhere. Then that dream faded and was replaced by a more terrifying one. Maudie appeared before me, reaching her bloody hands out towards me. “Help me, Lane. Help me please!” she cried.

When I stepped forward, Maudie disappeared, and Jensen’s face rose in front of me. A menacing gleam flashed on his face. “Give me the treasure map. I want the gold. You don’t deserve it,” he snarled, wrapping his hands around my neck. His fingers pressed against my throat, cutting off my air.

“No! Leave me alone!” I choked, trying to pry his fingers away.

His eyes turned over to black, giving him the appearance of a demon. “I’ll hurt you. I’ll kill every person you love until I get that gold.”

I woke up screaming into the darkened room. Gasping for air, I tried to shut out the horrible images in my mind. The lantern light flicked on. “Lane, are you all right?” Maddox asked.

I was shaking so hard I couldn’t speak. At that moment, I didn’t care about him seeing me cry. Instead, I just let the hard sobs ravage my body.

“Hey, don’t cry. It was just a dream,” Maddox said.

I wrapped my arms around my waist and hugged tight, trying desperately to calm down. My frantic gaze met Maddox’s, and I could see the conflict in his. Without breaking eye contact, he started slowly scooting across the couch to me. Hesitantly, he held out his arms, and I practically dove into them. “Shh, it’s okay,” he murmured into my ear. He lifted me onto his lap, and I wrapped my arms tightly around his chest. As he rocked me back and forth, I finally stopped shaking. “That must’ve been one hell of a nightmare.”

“Yeah. It was a really bad one.” I shuddered and then buried my face in his bare chest.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked hesitantly.

“Maudie…she—”

Maddox tensed, and I could tell he wasn’t ready to hear anything nightmarish about Maudie. Instead, he murmured, “It’s okay. I’m here, and everything’s fine.” He began rubbing my back in wide circles, making me feel so safe.

After a few minutes, I finally calmed down. I pulled away to swipe away my tears before smiling up at him. “I’m sorry for freaking out like that.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“Ugh, but it’s so embarrassing.”

“Quit beating yourself up about it.”

“Okay, I’ll try.”

“Think you can go back to sleep now?”

“Maybe…” I was sure the moment the lights were off and I was lying alone that my nightmare would continue to haunt me. “It’s just I don’t want to be alone.”

He gave me a lopsided grin. “You’re not alone. I’ll be right over here.”

“You know what I mean. I want…I want to stay like this until I go back to sleep.” At his hesitation, I said the word I never thought I would to him. “Please.”

From his furrowed brows and tight lips, it looked like he was waging an epic battle in his mind. Just as I was about to say forget it, he gave a quick jerk of his head. He eased back on the couch and then pulled me down beside him. As he wrapped his right arm around me, I nestled my head into the crook of his shoulder.

Oh man, did it feel good being so close to him. I couldn’t help it when a sigh of contentment escaped my lips. He momentarily stiffened. I raised my head. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything—for keeping me safe from Jensen and then comforting me after my nightmare. I know you don’t do the emotional mushy stuff, so it makes it mean that much more.”

Maddox’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, whatever. You’re welcome, I guess.”

I knew I was making him uncomfortable, so I laid my head back down and closed my eyes.

I don’t know how long I was out. It felt like forever and at the same time like I’d just put my head down. Somewhere in that halfway point between sleep and consciousness I heard a noise. At first, I couldn’t decide if I had imagined it or if it was real. My eyelids fluttered, and I realized it had to be close to dawn with the amber light trickling through the blinds. My neck felt prickly after sleeping on the couch. Drowsily, I stretched my arms over my head, trying to decide if I needed to wake up, when I heard the noise again.

This time I sprang up and stared towards the front door. “Maddox,” I hissed. To be an alleged on-edge, sleep anywhere, Army guy, he was dead to the world and snoring loudly. I reached over and shook him. “Maddox.”

“W-Wha-?” he asked, drowsily.

“I think someone’s at the door.”

At the distinct click of a lock, Maddox was on his feet, gun in hand. “Shit!” His eyes darted around the room for another way out. “Deck,” he said, jerking his head toward the kitchen.

I grabbed my purse and started backing up, never taking my eyes off the door. But when it burst open, I froze. There were the cabin’s owners—live and in the flesh. I turned wide-eyed to Maddox who grimaced.

“That’s the last time I ever fly Delta. I can’t believe our flight got rerouted to Chattanooga, and we’re going to have to drive to Savannah,” Barbie whined.

The man seemed to be tuning out her rant. Instead, he stood in front of where the alarm keypad was, his brows furrowed in confusion. “That’s funny. I know I turned the alarm on.”

Stamping her stiletto, Barbie shouted, “Eddie, aren’t you listening to me!”

He jumped and whirled around. “Now, sugar, don’t get so riled. We can always catch a plane in Atlanta.”

She rolled her eyes. “But the thought of being stuck out here in the boonies even for twenty-four hours during the summer is so degrading. Everyone else is already on their party boats by now.”

The man didn’t even try to cajole her. Instead, his attention was drawn to where Maddox and I stood like statues in the middle of the living room. “Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing in my house?”

I held up my hands in mock surrender. “Look, our car broke down, and we just needed a place to stay for the night.”

“We thought no one was here for the summer,” Maddox chimed in.

“And I promise we didn’t steal anything,” I replied.

Barbie narrowed her eyes. “Those are my clothes you’re wearing.”

Red, hot embarrassment flooded my cheeks. “Well, our clothes were ruined, so we didn’t have a choice.” I desperately dug in my purse and took out two twenties from Maudie’s wad of money. “Here. This should cover the clothes and the food.”

“You ate our food too!” She whirled around to her husband. “Call the police
,
Eddie!”

“That won’t be necessary. We’re leaving.
Now
.” Maddox waved the gun at them for emphasis causing Eddie and Barbie to gasp in unison. “We don’t want any trouble.” When I remained rooted to the floor, Maddox tugged my sleeve. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I dropped the twenties on the coffee table. “Once again, I’m really sorry.” Maddox started dragging me off with his free hand. “I mean, we both are.”

With the gun trained on them, Eddie and Barbie didn’t move—I don’t think they even dared to blink or breathe. I got to the backdoor, and my shaky hands started fumbling with the doorknob until I realized it was locked. The moment it was unlocked I went flying out onto the deck.

Maddox backed out the door behind me. He didn’t have to give me any commands. I knew exactly what to do. I didn’t hesitate as I pounded down the steps and sprinted down the driveway towards the main road. I don’t think I’d run as much in my life as I had in the last twenty-four hours. My already sore muscles constricted in agony from the exertion, and I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning.

It didn’t take long for Maddox to catch up with me. We’d gotten a mile down the main backwoods road when I couldn’t go anymore. “Got. To. Stop,” I huffed at Maddox, bending over on my knees.

His shoes skidded on the gravel. I was glad to see even he was winded. “Okay.”

I leaned against a tree, panting and wheezing to get my breath back. Sweat formed along my hairline and at the base of my neck before trickling down my back in salty rivers. It was barely seven in the morning, but the heat was already intense. I pulled up the corners of Barbie’s borrowed shirt and wiped my face. “I can’t believe they showed up,” I moaned.

Maddox snickered. “Talk about fate working against us with that whole plane rerouting thing.”

“Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something,” I murmured, more for myself than for him.

“Yeah, that Delta’s a shitty airline,” he replied tersely.

We stood in stony silence for a moment. I pulled my hair back in a sweat-slickened ponytail. I started to open my mouth, but Maddox held up his hand to stop me. “Lemme guess. You’re going to ask what do we do now?”

I grinned. “At least I’m consistent.”

“Yes, you are consistently irritating,” he replied, rolling his bandaged shoulder. He met my gaze and winked. “I say we hitch into town, find the nearest used-car lot, and then get whatever heap of junk our money can buy.”

My stomach rumbled. “And breakfast. Don’t forget that.”

“Okay, breakfast
and
a heap of junk it is.” He glanced left and right before stepping off the road and into a thicket of trees. He then bent over and started digging in his bag. He took out the pair of jeans he’d swiped from Eddie’s closet along with the polo shirt. “There’s no way in hell anyone is going to pick us up with me in these shorts.”

I laughed as I watched him stick one leg into the jeans. I glanced down at my own attire. I probably didn’t want to meet the Cherokee language expert wearing an
I Got Shucked at Nooky’s
T-shirt. “I guess I’ll change too.”

As I was finishing up, I caught Maddox staring at me. His eyes roamed from my head past the tighter than I usually wore shirt to the practically painted on jeans. He then gave an appreciative nod. “You wearing that just may get us a ride into town.”

“Oh, whatever.” I stuffed the shirt and pants into his bag since my purse was already bulging. We then stepped out of the woods and started ambling down the road. I swiveled my neck to gaze up and down the road. “Think there’ll be much traffic coming by?”

“Hope so.”

Hideous thoughts of murders and mayhem flashed through my mind at the thoughts of thumbing a ride. After all, Dad’s second Harrison Baylor novel dealt with a serial killer targeting hitchhikers. I swallowed nervously. “Do you really think it’s safe to hitch?”