The Second Sign (20 page)

“He’ll be here in less than two hours. I suggest you
both go home and hunker down until he gets here. He wasn’t pleased
at all,” Miller said.

“It’s not our fault,” Jenna protested. “Dad will
know that. I’m not sure what he can do here. Maybe we should
leave.”

Gabby’s heart made a black flip. Jake leave? He
couldn’t. Not now when she needed him.

Jake looked at Jenna and shook his head slowly, a
grimace slowly invading his perfect face. “I’m not going anywhere,”
he said.

Gabby brought out her phone and texted him to meet
her at her house. She waited until she heard his phone beep, and he
pulled it out to look at it. Both Jenna and Miller glared at him as
he set the phone back in his pocket. “I gotta go,” she heard him
say just as she took off.

Lost

Jake met his sister’s gaze. Her blue eyes glinted
fiercely and her nostrils flared. By the way she glared at him, he
knew she wasn’t buying the shit he was shoveling. Going to the
Crossroads to be alone when he found those kids dead, or running
out into the woods in sheer panic and being struck upside the head
by a woman old enough to be his grandmother who then proceeded to
claw her way up a huge tree to hang herself was a story he couldn’t
believe. But he didn’t have another story to tell. The fact of the
matter was he didn’t know what happened. The kids in the shack were
dead, killed by a fifty-nine-year-old recluse who happened to have
been MIA for six weeks before turning up at the shack. The evidence
was concrete. Heather had left her prints all over the weapon and
the house. Sarah had concurred that it had been her aunt who killed
her friends and tried to kill her. Case closed.

And now their dad was on his way here. Miller knew
more than he claimed, and Jake couldn’t put his finger on that
relationship just yet. But Jenna was correct about one thing. If
their dad was so worried, then he should have told them to scram,
not come into Hell with them. Jake missed some important connection
between his family and Gabby’s. He couldn’t make sense of it.

“Listen, I told you everything. I have to go clean
up.” He stood up, and Jenna, still wide-eyed, went from looking as
if she were going to battle him for the truth, to someone about to
crumble in on herself. Jake had never seen his sister look so
fragile. Jenna had always been the strong one. The one with the
hope in her eyes. The calm one, while Jake tried to get himself
killed.

“Yeah, come on,” she said and walked out behind
him.

“And stay inside until this is all over.” Miller’s
warning trailed behind them.

Jake wanted to remind him it
was
all over.
Marty had killed her parents, and Heather had killed the kids. What
else was left to be worried about? Except that two separate murder
cases didn’t happen in a small town as this. Castle Rock was
definitely a better name for this place.

Jenna, ready to burst when they got home, allowed
Jake some space to shower and change. By then, the thick, gray
darkness covered the sky. His instinct told him things were only
going to get worse. A lot worse. He peeled off his blood-stained
tee, wincing at the pain that nestled in his lower back.

Standing with his back to the bathroom mirror, the
reason behind the pain lashed out at him. Clear as day, along the
ridges of his spinal column, clamped to his flesh were scale-like
ridges. It looked as if his spinal column had ripped out of his
flesh and now rested on it. Except for white, human bone, it looked
like soft, glossy snake skin. It caught the light and seemed to
branch out under his flesh in thin, dark lines, reminding him of
Gabby’s tattoo. Except he had no idea what the scales meant. He
rubbed the lower part of it, feeling the smooth surface flex under
his touch. Pain flared from his lower back up to his cranium. He’d
have to get that checked out. Yeah, if he wanted to be
lobotomized.

After showering and changing, he met Jenna in the
kitchen, opting to keep his little secret a secret for a while
longer. She had enough on her plate without him telling her he was
turning into Godzilla.

Jenna had prepared a small meal. He hadn’t realized
he hadn’t eaten anything since the early lunch with Gabby. That
seemed to have been ages ago, not a few hours ago. It had been just
this morning that he dragged her out of the river, and now they
were both entangled in something much darker than the depth of the
jump. Evil. It tinged his conscience. He broke from his morbid
thoughts and met Jenna with a smile he hoped looked real.

“Eat,” she demanded.

“Yessir,” he responded and sat with her to eat.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

He felt as if he were going nuts. The images of the
dead kids imprinted in his psyche forever. He felt the need to
follow a girl he hardly knew to the depths of Hell, and her brother
already sucker punched him protecting her...from Jake. His father
was on his way, probably to castrate him once and for all so he
wouldn’t have little evil babies, and he needed his overprotective
sister to let him out so he could rinse and repeat the day’s
experience. “Fine,” he responded, swallowing his food.

“And where are you going?”

He took another bite and chased it with cool water.
“I need to see Gabby.”

“Jake, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Jenna
shook her head.

“If I’m not out of here before Dad gets here, he’ll
never let me leave.”

“Jake. I’m scared.”

This took him off guard. Jenna had never admitted
fear or defeat. She was the strongest person he knew, next to his
mother. But his mom was dead.

“I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.” His
back stopped throbbing just as those words spilled from his mouth.
He would die first before he let anything happen to her. She was
all he had.

She forced a smile on her lips. “I’m not afraid for
me. I’m afraid something bad is going to happen to you. Just be
back before Dad sends me after you, okay?”

He reached out and squeezed her hand. “Trust me. I
know what I’m doing.”

She snorted, but her eyes were soft. “Yeah,
right.”

He kissed her on the cheek and went out, opting to
take the truck this time. Thick clouds began to creep in again, and
Jake had a feeling the rain wasn’t quite done yet.

Gabby stood out in the veranda waiting for him when
he parked his truck in front of her place. She ran and flung
herself at him. Every evil thought fled from his memory as she
pulled him in for a deep kiss. Vibrations coursed down his body,
blood rushed to his head, and he wanted to remain here with her
pressed against him. He felt his heart break when she pulled
away.

“I was so worried about you. What happened? I saw
you with Miller in the hospital. Your dad is coming? Why?” She
spoke a million miles an hour.

He held up his hand to slow her down. “One at a
time, please. I’ve just had my brain injured.”

Her eyes widened and she cupped her mouth, pushing
away from him.

He pulled her back in an embrace. “No, don’t move.
This helps.”

Her eyes were a deep violet. Enchanted by them, he
leaned down to her and took her softly by the mouth. Her lips were
cool, and it sparked a heat inside him that swirled around his
chest. He cupped her face as he devoured her, drinking her sweet
scent and hungry for more.

She pushed him gently, her breathing coming in deep
gasps. “Maybe we should go inside.”

He took her hand and led her in, remembering why he
was there in the first place. “Did you see Sarah?”

“Yeah, she was out of it. Max stayed with her.”

Jake lifted a brow. Gabby shrugged. “He has a way
with people.”

“Yeah, so I see,” Jake said, rubbing his chin. “Are
we alone?”

She nodded and led him to the plush sofa in the
center of the enormous living room, though Jake would have
preferred to be out on the veranda. Gabby sat so close to him he
could smell the vanilla of her shampoo. Before he could stop
himself, he reached his hand to the clip that held her hair up and
opened it. Her hair fell in thick, long waves around her. Her eyes
were fierce and glued to his face. He wanted to know what she was
thinking. What she thought of him? How she saw herself with
him?

He ran his fingers through her hair, soft velvet,
and cupped her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into his palm,
savoring the feeling of him. His other hand trailed her neck,
sending steady vibrations through him. He wanted her. He was meant
to have her. She was made only for him.

His vision shifted, his ears picked up the rhythmic
beating of her heart, and his eyes centered on the steady throbbing
of her carotid artery. He leaned to her and kissed it gently,
feeling the energy of her life seep into him. His lips trailed to
the hollow of her throat, the smooth line of her chin, and then he
suckled her earlobe while his hands explored her body. A soft moan
escaped her lips and he met it with his own, taking her deep with
his tongue. He had never felt this complete. Lifting himself off
the sofa he guided her down, covering her body with his.

Her hands inched along his spine, sending waves of
pain mixed with ecstasy throughout his very being. Something inside
him ignited. An explosion that rippled from the base of his spine,
leaving a jagged blade that dug deep into his chest. The pain drove
him to press her harder. The kisses became savage as he lost all
control, giving in to his hunger for her. She stiffened under him,
sending blasts of arousal through him.

She pushed him gently with her palm. “Jake, I don’t
think we should do this,” she whispered hoarsely, her lips
swollen.

But her heart drummed against him, telling him
different, telling him that she wanted him. Needed him. And he was
prepared to sell his very soul to have her. To be with her. To stay
with her...always. Melded as one they would be
inseparable...powerful. He wanted that power. To lose it would be
to die.

“Gabby,” he breathed, “I want you.” He lifted
himself just so he could look at her, torn between the pain of his
desire for her and his want to please her. He knew he was moments
away from losing all control. He needed her now.

“Not like this. Not now.”

Her words were soft, and it took every ounce of
effort to resist her. His mind told him to take her. This would be
his last chance to truly have her. She was his and they both knew
it. But he couldn’t press her. Something in her eyes held him
steady. A mystic quality in their liquid depth lifted him out of
the pit he was about to fall into.

He pulled into himself, plunging back to the reality
of her...of him, stirring all sorts of questions. What had he been
thinking? Why did she make him so nuts? How could he have been at
the point of losing control? Where was this need coming from? It
scared him shitless. She sat up, her face flushed. Sitting up with
her, he cupped her chin and lifted it so she could look at him.

“You are mine, Gabby. Only mine.” His words were
deep, slicing through the air. But they were true as he had ever
known truth. There was no going back to the way things were. She
had marked him. Trying to shake off the hold she had over him, he
kissed her on the mouth for a moment, stood up, and retreated into
the bathroom.

He turned on the faucet with trembling hands and
splashed cold water on his face. What was happening to him? The
desire was so fierce it hurt. He ran his fingers through his
hair.

She had moved into the kitchen when he came out,
safely behind the counter. He took a seat on the stool, smirking.
She ignored him and gave him water. “So what did you find?”

He had almost forgotten. “Yeah, right.” He sighed,
wishing they didn’t have to go that route. But they did. He brought
out the newspaper clipping from his jacket and unfolded it. “Turns
out that kid that saved you from the fire is alive.”

She took the paper from him. She read the article
out loud, and then lifted her wide eyes to him. He wanted to fold
her in his arms but decided against it. He wouldn’t release her if
he did. Whether she wanted to or not. That thought scared him.
Focus. He had to focus.

“It says he lives in Riverdale Nursing Home. It’s
only a twenty minute drive,” she said.

That made him snap back to reality. “You don’t mean
to—”

“I need to do this.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to know why he saved me.”

Jake scratched his head, wincing. “I don’t know. I
don’t think I can handle another surprise.” What he wanted to say
was another triple murder and a hanging.

She rounded the counter and took his hand. “I got
information on the Second Sign. I thought you wanted to help
me.”

“Jenna’s going to kill me,” he said, and before he
could hold on to her, she gave him a quick kiss, setting his heart
on fire again. It was all the nudging he needed.

Angels

Gabby knew the moment she saw the newspaper clipping
that she had to go see Kyle. Jake had found Mrs. Anne Turner’s,
Kyle’s mother’s, obituary. She had been laid to rest after a car
accident claimed her life soon after Kyle’s accident, survived by
Kyle Turner, her sixteen-year-old son who sustained third-degree
burns all over his body as a result of rescuing two teenage girls
in a fire that ravaged the Mason Fertilizer Plant. Kyle was
currently in Riverdale Hospice care. The fire took the life of one
Thomas Dyer, the maintenance worker who allegedly started the fire.
Mr. Dyer was a forty-five-year-old black man, no family on record.
His picture reflected a lanky man with blood-red coveralls—the
demon that was haunting her.

Gabby had known that one person had been killed by
the fire. She’d thought it had been Kyle. Adler had taken her out
of town so fast she hadn’t been able to talk to anyone but Marty.
And Marty had never told her Kyle was alive. Did she know? She had
to have known. They lived here. But if Kyle was alive, why hadn’t
she heard from him? She should’ve tried to reach out to his family,
but she had been ashamed. He had died for her. She couldn’t bear to
face his mom.