Authors: Elle Saint James
Tags: #Romance
She peeked around the corner and didn’t see anyone or anything moving. Declan’s SUV wasn’t there. She moved across the opening and along a littered alley to the edge of an overgrown lot. Careful where she stepped, Ava crossed the space, headed to the highway and toward the sheriff’s substation. She paused a few times, uncertain her decision was sound. They had protected her, hadn’t they? Maybe, or maybe not. Mostly her satisfied body was doing the talking. She shook off her lust and kept moving.
The fear of being caught by anyone enabled her to keep going. Ava didn’t dare look over her shoulder. She definitely wasn’t ready to face having Declan or Troy chase her down so they could use their
supplies and plastic
.
Troy finished his call with Clay as he hunkered in the bathroom to let Ava sleep. He heaved a troubled sigh of frustration. The news from Clay regarding her recent bench warrant had them both puzzled. Who was after her and why?
Clay’s assessment of the situation made sense. Someone else had a copy of Ava’s blurry Denver bank picture and wanted to ensure the original target was gone.
Troy had been happy to help Clay and his new partner Jake initially. However, in this instance they’d apparently opened a huge can of worms. One that would not easily be cleaned up.
He pocketed his phone after making a second call to the guy delivering their new vehicle. It was possible their rental had been identified. The guy he’d called, Jimmy, was doing a favor for Clay and promised to be prompt.
Troy’s whole body felt spent and gratified. What had they been thinking, fucking her before any other concern? They didn’t even know the details of this mess with her home or if it had anything to do with her photo. But taking turns with her had eclipsed any other consideration.
Now Ava had to disappear. He and Declan would have to make it happen. He hated what they had to do to her now. Hated it, but had to do it anyway.
Troy flipped the bathroom light off, eased the squeaky door open, and entered the room. His gaze went directly to the bed where she slept. He wanted one last look at her the way she was now. The way she was as they’d taken turns bringing her to climax.
Once Declan returned they’d have to get to work quickly so they could meet Jimmy on time and take their new ride out of town.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds to help adjust to the room’s dim light. It didn’t help much. Two steps toward the bed and a seed of unease took root in his belly. The bed didn’t look right. His heart leapt to his throat as his legs propelled him forward.
Troy took two more steps before realizing the bed was empty. He spun around, scanning every surface, nook, and cranny of the small space. There was literally nowhere to hide in here. He bent to turn the nightstand light on and only confirmed his initial assessment.
Ava was gone.
He crossed to the door and wrenched it open. Not caring about the late hour, he stuck his head into the night and called out her name, “Ava!”
He listened intently, but heard nothing beyond the sounds of the night. Crickets, cicadas, and creatures making noise weren’t quite as noticeable as the dense, dank humidity that filled the night with thick, barely breathable air. He called out again a few more times.
The anguished tone of his own voice made him quiet down. No need to panic. Where could she have gone? To get ice? To get a vending machine snack? To run to escape what they were about to do to her?
Shit
. Maybe she hadn’t been sleeping and had overheard their plans.
He ducked back into the room to search for a note. Nothing. Damn it. He darted outside again.
When Declan pulled in to the parking area, Troy was still standing helplessly in front of the motel room door, trying to figure out why she wasn’t in the room.
“She’s gone.”
Declan gave him that incredulous look he was famous for. “Where?”
Arms spreading wide and then shooting toward the sky, he said, “The moon, maybe? I don’t know. If I knew, I would have already brought her back here.”
“What did you say to her?”
“I was in the bathroom talking on the phone. When I came back out, she was gone. Her shoes and clothes are also missing.”
Declan handed him a plastic grocery bag and scanned the parking lot area.
Troy glanced inside the bag and huffed. “You didn’t get the plastic.”
“They didn’t have any. We need to call Clay and find out if he can hack into that satellite feed again and see if she’s still nearby. Our only chance of finding her is if she’s still walking around out here close.”
“We’re fucked if the police find her first and—”
“They won’t.” Declan cut him off and pointed at the motel door. “Stay here. Call Clay. I’ll start driving around. Text me if he sees anyone wandering around at this late hour within a two-mile radius of the motel. She couldn’t have gotten any farther than that in the time that I’ve been gone.”
Troy called Clay and waited as he did another illegal hack into a private satellite. They’d really be screwed if she’d managed to hitch a ride with someone else. Worse if the police found her wandering around.
They’d arrest her in a second. She’d be completely out of their reach. And he and Declan would never see her again.
Troy couldn’t even think about that as a possibility. They had to find her.
* * * *
Ava hurried along the sidewalk away from the motel toward the old little-used highway leading to the sheriff’s station. She’d have to cross a grassy area and scale a short wall to get there, but heading the way they’d come might make her run into Declan. It was unlikely there’d be many people on the road this late, but her options were limited. And it was only a couple miles to the sheriff’s building anyway. The walk wouldn’t kill her.
In fact, it would give her a few moments to think of what she’d say. “Well, officer, these two strange yet very sexy men tried to arrest me, but then my house blew up, so I ran away with them because they said someone was chasing us. We escaped into a field, got shot at by a local farmer, and ended up at a cheap motel where I was so stunned by recent events, I fucked not one but both their brains out. Although the sex was incredibly amazing, I can’t be sure, but they might be plotting to kill me in a really messy way requiring plastic.” Accurate, but not a story she wanted to repeat out of the privacy of her mind. So far she just sounded crazy, or stupid, or an equal mishmash of the two.
She crossed the field, scaled the wall, and made it to the side of the road. There was not a single vehicle in sight. Walking along the soft shoulder of the highway, Ava started crying for the second time tonight. She wasn’t normally someone who dissolved in tears at a moment’s notice. But recounting the day, even in a ridiculous manner in the privacy of her mind, made the reality of her situation smack her in the heart.
After salvaging her pride from the betrayal of her ex, she’d rallied her limited resources back in Colorado to create a new living for herself. She’d moved to an entirely different state to start over all alone. Everything she owned—except the clothes on her back—was now destroyed. All the hard work she’d put into her bed-and-breakfast venture trying to make a successful new life for herself now rested in a zillion pieces across her worthless property.
This time yesterday her largest worry was keeping her housekeeper safe from foolish, nosy Mr. White and Marisol’s vile, brutal ex-husband. Now everything was changed, never to be the same again.
What she needed was a plan. The first chance she got, she’d call the insurance company and find out how long it would take to get the money to rebuild. If she even had the wherewithal to start again. She stumbled over a rock on the side of the road and stopped daydreaming.
Ava had been plodding along for quite a while. When she looked up this time, she finally saw the lights of the sheriff’s station ahead. Almost there. Sanctuary.
She picked up her pace in light of seeing her destination, and took greater precaution where she put her feet along the road. Refusing to admit that traveling in the dark wasn’t exactly a big part of her comfort zone.
The streetlights overhead were spaced in such a way that the dim light only lasted a few yards before she was cast in darkness for several long steps, which didn’t help her childish fears in the least.
All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a large vehicle coming up fast behind her. Before she could barely glance over one shoulder, Declan’s SUV roared past like a marauding beast trying to run down its prey. He screeched to a stop several yards ahead of her right beneath a comforting ray of lamplight and pulled across the shoulder at an angle blocking her path.
Damn it
.
Even though she knew it was a futile effort, Ava turned around and started running in the opposite direction.
“Ava,” Declan shouted. “Ava,” he called again when she didn’t stop.
She broke into a trot, but he was gaining on her. She heard his heavy steps closing in. She finally slowed to a stop, breathing hard as he neared. Bending at the waist, she rested her palms on her thighs and tried to catch her breath.
“What do you think you’re doing out here all alone?” Declan came up alongside of her, but didn’t touch her at first. “Why are you running from us?”
“I was headed to the sheriff’s station,” she managed before resuming the hard breathing.
Under his breath he cursed, but then asked very calmly, “Why would you do that?”
She straightened and stared up at him. The streetlight above cast ominous shadows across his handsome face. Yet even now, she wasn’t frightened of him. She wanted to kiss him in a most desperate way. She wanted him to pull her tight in his strong arms. She wanted to feel his hard embrace. She wanted him to kiss her and love her and tell her everything would be all right. She wanted to feel safe like she had earlier.
However, first, he had some explaining to do.
“Why
wouldn’t
I go to the police?” Ava put her hands on her hips and straightened her spine. “Especially after I heard you both whispering about me.”
His fierce gaze narrowed. “What could you have possibly heard that would make you run?”
“What was the secret you were trying to keep from me?”
“Secret?” Declan frowned. He broke the intense stare and searched the highway behind him before turning to her again. “Come back with me to the motel. We need to have a talk. and I’ll tell you everything. Here out in the open is a really bad idea.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere with you. I heard things like ‘drastic measures’ and how I ‘couldn’t be found.’ What was that about?”
“I can explain. Just come with me.” He reached out and gently grabbed her upper arm.
Ava pulled from his grasp. “Really? Can you explain the nature of the
supplies
you needed so badly that you snuck out of the room in the middle of the night to get?”
“Yes. I can.”
“Then start talking, because I’m not going anywhere with you until I’m sure you aren’t going to murder me in my sleep using the plastic Troy insisted you get because whatever
shit
you were about to do was so messy.”
Declan wiped a hand down his face, and amusement shaped his lips.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” He sobered immediately. “Nothing about this whole night is funny.”
“Fine. Then explain.” She crossed her arms and resisted the urge to tap her foot with impatience.
Declan gazed deeply into her eyes as if what he was about to say was the most important thing in the world to express. “First of all, Ava, I would never hurt you. Neither would Troy. You have to know that.”
Her anger abated. She believed him. But she said in a snide tone, “So you say.”
“All right. Fine. Here it is. The secret is that someone wants you dead. They blew up your house. Within minutes, a team was dispatched to ensure you were gone. Since a body wasn’t found in the rubble, the people trying to kill you now know you’re alive. In the short time it’s taken for
that
information to be discovered by the unknown assailant or assailants, a bench warrant has been issued for your arrest.”
She was alarmed at first and then dubious when she remembered them hauling her off her porch as they recited her rights. “A warrant for my arrest? Again? Isn’t that the line you used on me when we met?” The sarcastic tone was surely hard to miss this time.
He shook his head as if in exasperation, remembering the trick he pulled earlier. “No. I only recited your rights. Besides, that was different,” he muttered and then cursed under his breath again. He stared at her as if trying to quickly discover what words to say in order to convince her that he was her friend.
The truth was, she wanted to believe him, but doubt crept into her mind like a sneaky burglar in the night. She didn’t want to be the stupidest woman ever born by once again easily trusting men she’d allowed into her bed.
That hadn’t worked well for her last time.
Now here she was a year later, on the run with no home, an uncertain future, and not one but two men she was hesitant to trust. The phrase
history often repeats itself
blared in her brain. She did a mental sigh. Was she like the “too stupid to live” heroine in a suspense novel compelled to explore a scary sound in the basement after hearing that a subterranean psycho killer was on the loose nearby?