Till There Was You (8 page)

The sight of the chaos caused terrible things to stir to life from the darkness of Linc’s mind, bringing forth painful memories forever threatening his sanity.

“
I’m sorry
,” he gasped, balling up his fist and pushing his knuckles against his teeth. Slowly, he rocked back and forth, repeating the same words again and again. Until the memories subsided. Until the sky turned from blue to grey. Until the air returned to his lungs. Until he felt his sanity return.

When he felt ready, Linc took a few deep, steadying breaths, and in one fluid motion, regained his feet, keeping his back to the cooling body still lying in the snow. He looked around for a moment to get his bearings then remembered to retrieve his ax before setting off for home in a daze, another death to add to his conscience.

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L
inc didn’t know how long it took him to get back. But by the time he walked past the bare frame of a new building he was constructing, he realized it had gotten late—almost night, really. He ran a hand along one of the support beams, taking comfort in its simple solidness on his way to the main house, his mind still a thousand miles away. All that blood had really shaken him.

“Holy shit, have a look at you.” A voice Linc vaguely recognized snapped him back toward sentient thought.

He grunted in response.

“What happened?” Matt asked, looking concerned by his appearance.

“Found the wolf. The blood isn’t mine,” he informed Matt while he glanced at his bloodstained hands, slowly turning them back and forth, a vacant stare in his eyes.

“Let’s go inside. You can get cleaned up and I’ll make some coffee. You got coffee?”

Linc only nodded as he walked past Matt on his way to the back door. Pushing it hard against the wall, he stumbled through. As he made his way to the bathroom for the third time that day, he heard Matt enter the house and start to rummage around the kitchen.

Closing the bathroom door behind him, the sounds from the other room muted, Linc stared in the mirror while the sink filled with warm water. Linc stripped off his top and threw it into the bathtub. He would take care of it later. For now, he wanted to have a closer look at his arm that was starting to ache. The muscles were tender with a little discoloration, but luckily, his fatigues had not let the wolf’s fangs pierce his flesh. He would be sore for a few days, but no major damage.

Grabbing the soap, Linc scrubbed at the dried blood covering his hands. Clear water turned red as it spiraled around the drain, causing him to scrub more furiously until the crimson staining his skin was gone and the water ran clean.

Wiping a cloth over the rest of him, he dried off then exited the bathroom with the intent of going to his room for another set of clean clothes.

“Where do you want your coffee?” Matt asked the moment the bathroom door swung open, stopping Linc before he could make it. Matt was holding two steaming cups and almost dropped them when he caught a glance of Linc’s chest. “Holy shit. What are you, half tank?” At first, he laughed a little, although his voice dropped off as he took in the extent of Linc’s scarring. “What happened to you?”

“The world,” Linc replied, quickly walking to his room to pull on a clean shirt. When he returned, Matt had made himself comfortable in his favorite chair by the fireplace. Linc stood there staring at Matt, his body language saying get-out-of-my-chair. Matt either didn’t understand or chose to ignore him and pointed to the coffee sitting next to the chair opposite him.

With a roll of his eyes, Linc sat down and took a warming mouthful of the coffee. “Are we going to have any problems over this wolf?”

Matt shook his head. “No. Wolves that attack close to town have to be put down. You’re fine.”

Linc nodded and focused on the fire as he continued to drink the coffee.

“Those are some interesting scars. You get them all on the battlefield?”

Linc’s eyes met Matt’s and narrowed a little as he wondered what else this guy had found out about him.

“I guessed you were military after the CFA comment. Plus, Ruth’s son is military, and since you’re a family friend, it all makes sense.”

Linc conceded with a small nod. “Fair enough.”

“You must have seen a lot of combat then?” It was a statement that sounded more like a question, and again, Linc nodded. His scars weren’t all born of combat, but he wasn’t about to share the most personal details of his life with a virtual stranger.

“Anything you can talk about?” Matt prompted.

“Nope.” He hoped his reply would shut down any follow up questions.

Pressing his lips together, Matt nodded and watched the fire crackle and pop as he slurped at his coffee.

“My sister seems intent on helping you out.”

“I don’t need help. I’m sure I’ve made that perfectly clear to her,” he responded, trying for a neutral tone.

Matt’s small chuckle caused him a brief flash of annoyance.

“And what’s so funny about that?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Matt protested, holding his hands up in mock surrender as Linc continued to glare at him. Eventually, Matt gave in and elaborated on his mirth. “My sister is a stubborn woman, Linc. You’ve probably noticed already that she doesn’t exactly take no for an answer.”

“She should. She’s wasting her time with me.”

“I suppose that will be for her to decide. Just be careful with her,” he warned, placing his coffee mug on the side table. “She hasn’t had it easy either, but she cares about people—a little too much, if you ask me. So, just...don’t take advantage.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Linc wondered why Matt had felt the need to give him the big brother speech when there was nothing going on between him and Lily, but put it down to over protectiveness.

Matt let out a sigh then slapped his legs as he stood. “Thanks for the coffee. I actually only came out here to let you know Tim said you should be able to take your dog home tomorrow. I tried to call, but you weren’t answering the phone.”

“Thanks for going out of your way.” Linc stood to shake Matt’s hand, then walked him to the front door—half out of manners and half to make sure he actually left. He’d had as much social interaction as he could handle for one day.

An icy swirl of wind blasted both men as Linc opened the door to the dark night outside. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Linc watched Matt drive away, lights slowly fading before becoming lost over the closest hill.

He stood there longer than he needed to just gazing up at the night sky, marveling at the amount of stars visible in the darkness.
Sometimes you need the darkness to appreciate the light
, he thought to himself.

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L
ily woke feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep full of interesting dreams. The last one being about a tall, handsome recluse, who was a lot more appreciative of her attention in her dream than he was in reality.

Rolling over to check the clock, she almost got lost in the large, soft bed and numerous pillows spread across it. Catching a brief glimpse of the time in her morning flailing, she let out a small expletive. She had slept in. She never slept in. Normally, she woke naturally at seven every morning, and it was almost nine. It’s not that anyone was expecting her, but she liked to get up early to go into the bar and get all the paperwork done so everything was set up for when her manager, Marty, got in that afternoon.

As she extended her limbs and yawned, the winking light on her cell drew her attention. Stretching to her limit without having to get out of her warm bed, Lily just managed to grab the phone by her fingertips, almost dropping it once or twice. Lily swiped to unlock the screen. It showed she received a text from her brother, something about the incident from the other night and if she could come to the station this morning.

Throwing the cell back onto the nightstand, Lily rolled out of bed and did her morning yoga stretches to chase away the last vestiges of sleep before she headed for the bathroom for a hot shower, grabbing a towel on her way.

Just as the water heated, sending out tendrils of steam in the chill air, her cell began to ring.
It’s always the way,
Lily thought as she stomped back to her room. Her brother’s image flashed up on the screen and she punched the green answer key.

“I’m trying to take a shower, Matt,” she sighed, indicating he needed to make it quick.

“You didn’t answer my text.”

“I was sleeping. People sleep sometimes, you know.”

“You don’t, and certainly not until nine in the morning. Are you okay?”

Rolling her eyes, she released a short laugh. Her brother was always so concerned about her. It was like having their mother and father’s worries wrapped up in one person. “Of course I’m fine. I was just tired.” She walked to the bathroom and finished adjusting the heat of the water. “Did you want something? My hot water will run out if you don’t get to the point.”

“I just wanted to know where you were. I asked you to come in.”

“Give me an hour, okay?”

“An hour? Have you got someone with you?”

“Matthew!” she practically yelled, offended at his insinuations. She was not the type of girl to jump into bed with some guy on the first date—not that there had been any date.

“So, that’s a yes or a no?”

“It’s a none of your business, but no. I’m here alone.”

“Good. I’ll see you soon then.”

“Sure, Matt. See you soon.”

With a roll of her eyes, she ended the call and couldn’t resist sticking out her tongue while her brother’s photo was still on screen.

Feeling defiant, she took longer than normal in the shower, allowing the cascading water to heat her body through to her cold toes. She always did things in such a hurry; it was nice to spend a little longer in the warmth. She stayed in until the hot water had almost run out and the tips of her fingers had started to wrinkle.

With a smile on her face, Lily turned the taps, shutting off the flowing water, and stepped out, only to realize something was missing. Her towel. She’d left it in her room when she went to answer Matt’s call.

“Damn it,” she muttered to herself. With no other choice, Lily was forced to do the nudie run to her room, wet footprints leaving a trail up the hall as the chill air stole some of her hard earned warmth.

She dressed super quick in some nice warm clothes before returning to the bathroom to dry her hair and apply the basic cosmetics to her liking. Lily left the bathroom with a backwards glance, happy with the simple yet put together visage looking back at her. This morning, she looked good and felt good, and had quit paying attention to the time.

After a leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs while reading the local paper, Lily felt she’d made her pushy brother wait long enough and headed for the station.

“What time do you call this?” Matt asked, glancing at his watch with a look of disapproval on his face. “It’s almost lunch time.”

Lily grinned, getting a perverse kick out of riling her brother up to the point his lips had turned into a tight line. “Then let’s do this over at the diner.”

As they sat in a booth and looked over the menu they knew by heart because it never changed, Matt eyed his sister. “So, what had you sleeping so late this morning?”

Laying her menu flat on the table, Lily met his eyes. “Very sexy dreams. Want me to tell you all about them?” she asked, her eyebrow raised as she teased him, knowing he was squeamish about those things.

“Err, no thanks. I think I’ll pass on that.”

Lily let out a giggle as she watched her brother’s cheeks flush red. She felt the small embarrassment was the least he deserved after insinuating she wasn’t alone earlier.

When the waitress came over to take their order, Matt selected a chicken salad sandwich and she asked for the fruit salad with yogurt on the side.

“Not hungry?” he asked.

“Big breakfast.” Lily shrugged as she folded her arms in front of her and leaned forward on the table. “So, why am I here? What’s the deal with those assholes from New Year’s Eve?” she prompted, knowing there was something playing on his mind from the way he kept fidgeting with the edge of the laminated menu.

He met her eyes. “Well, some good news and some not so good news.”

“Start with the good news then.”

“Good news is, after I showed the guy the footage, he wisely decided not to take any legal action and should be gone from town by this afternoon at the latest.”

Happy to hear this, Lily just sat there nodding in slow motion, waiting for the not so good news to pop the bubble of her so far happy day.

“Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as what you could be thinking,” Matt assured her, knowing Lily’s habit to think the worst in some situations and be oblivious in others.

“He’s married, isn’t he?” she blurted, cutting Matt off the moment he opened his mouth.

Matt’s brow furrowed. “What, who are you talking about?”

Lily felt stupid the moment the words fell from her mouth. Her brother was already warning her to keep a safe distance from Linc and she’d insisted she was only interested in a friendly way. Now, with one thoughtless comment, she’d completely blown her protestations out of the water.

Slowly, a grin spread across Matt’s face and he began to chuckle. “If you’re talking about our new friend, no, not that I know of. And he doesn’t wear a ring or have any indicator he has removed one recently.”

She let out a small sigh of relief at that bit of information, but was still feeling a little anxious at what the bad news actually was. It was at that moment their food was placed in front of them.

“Well, I guess I know who those dreams were about now,” Matt commented around a mouthful of sandwich.

It was Lily’s turn to blush as she closed her eyes and tried to laugh off her discomfort. “Just tell me the bad news already.”

Taking a mouthful of water, he wiped his mouth with a napkin, then spoke. “Oh, there isn’t really any. I was just going to let you know you’re buying, little sis,” he said, signaling for the check.