“Look, Noah… it’s fucking complicated, okay? You have no idea…” She stops herself and clamps her mouth shut as surprise flashes across her face. My heart jumps.
“What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
She holds her hand up to stop me. “I’m not going to tell you anything so you can stop right now.”
“I need to talk to her, Hannah. I need to know what happened. I need her.”
“I’m sorry. You need to leave,” she replies before turning back to her work, clearly dismissing me and I stand in the doorway for a few moments before spinning on my heel and marching out.
Goddamn it.
What the hell do I do now?
Trudging back to my bike, I try to imagine what my future looks like without Kady in it but it’s fucking bleak. No, beyond that. From the moment I met her, she was always a part of my future so if I don’t have her, what the fuck do I really have?
When I reach my bike, I swing my leg over and settle on the seat, watching cars drive by the clinic and wondering what I should do next. It’s not like I can leave the state - run and leave all this shit behind but going back to the clubhouse feels like accepting my fate and I can’t say that I’m ready to do that. Maybe I could try to see my dad…
As I pull my phone out of my pocket, a piece of paper flutters to the ground and I grab it with a scowl. It’s the address for Bobby’s old cabin and I’m about to crumple it up and toss it on the ground when I pause, studying it.
Hell…
I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to swing by and check the place out, would it? Streak didn’t say whether Hannah had another place of residence so it’s possible that she’s living there and maybe I could slip in and poke around a little bit. Maybe there is something there that could help me find Kady.
Shit.
There’s not a single part of me that has any desire to go back to prison but I’m not ready to give up on us and I have a feeling that I never will be. Blowing out a breath, I program the address into my GPS and study the map for a minute before stuffing my phone and the slip of paper back in my pocket. As the bike fires to life beneath me, I glance up and meet Hannah’s eyes across the lot. She’s on the phone, a worried expression on her face as she talks to someone, and I feel a sense of certainty settle into my gut.
Kady is still around and I’m going to find her.
Chapter Four
Kady
“Jack,” I call as I step into the kitchen and drop my keys on the counter. The screen door slams behind me and I jump, my heart climbing into my throat. Glancing over my shoulder, I shake my head as I press my hand to my chest, feeling stupid.
Good Lord.
I need to get a grip.
Sighing, I shut the main door and make sure it’s locked before turning toward the table as I sort through the mail and call out for Jack again. After I’ve thrown away all the junk, I set the bills down on the table and glance up to the living room.
Where in the hell is that dog?
“Jack!”
After a few seconds of waiting for him, I shake my head and walk into the living room in search of him. Jack looks up from his bed near the fireplace and his tail thumps against the wooden floor in greeting as he flashes me a wide puppy smile.
“Some guard dog you are, Jackie,” I tease him, shaking my head, and his tail thumps harder. Jack is a three-year-old American Pit Bull that I adopted after he was dropped off at the animal clinic where I work in pretty bad shape. He was skin and bones and covered in mange as well as being heartworm positive. It took months of care from the doctors but he is strong. He managed to pull through and in the process, he stole my heart. Honestly, I wasn’t even looking for a pet but I took one look in his warm chocolate eyes and I was done for. So, when he was all healed, he came home with me.
Sinking into the chair next to his bed, I hold out my hands. “You gonna come say hi to me?”
He stands and lets out a grunt as he stretches and when he’s finished, he walks over, his whole back end wiggling from the force of his wagging tail. As per our usual routine, he lays his head on my chest and looks up at me with total devotion shining in his eyes as I scratch the top of his head.
“Did you have a good day?” I ask, using the baby voice that he loves so much and his tail swings back and forth a little bit harder. As I drag my finger down his nose, he closes his eyes and practically groans. I laugh.
“Oh, look at you, you big bad Pit Bull. What would the bad guys say if they could see you now?”
He opens his eyes and snorts as he pulls away from me and walks back to his bed before grabbing his favorite toy and bringing it to me. I shake my head.
“Sorry, boy. I’ve got work to do…unless you managed to do a load of dishes while I was gone today.”
Ignoring my refusal, he drops the toy in my lap and I shake my head again as I stand and throw it across the room. As he runs after it, I retreat to the kitchen and stare at the sink full of dirty dishes with disgust. Doing dishes is my least favorite chore, which means I always put it off until I’m out of clean plates and forks and each time, I think to myself how much easier it would be if I did them before it got this bad. Of course, I don’t ever see that happening.
Pushing up the sleeves of my shirt, I turn on the hot water and dump a little bit of soap in the sink before glancing up. The bottle of dish soap falls from my hand into the water as my heart seizes. The motion detector at the edge of the driveway goes off, sounding an alarm through the entire cabin. Through the tinted window that provides me with another layer of security, I watch him inch closer and closer to the cabin and my heart hammers against my ribs as memories flood my mind. Tears sting my eyes.
“Noah,” I whisper.
Shit.
What the hell is he doing here?
Bracing my hands on the edge of the sink, I suck in a breath. My mind races and yet, is somehow still completely blank as I try to figure out what I should do. I could just stay inside but I know him too well to think that he’d give up and walk away. One way or another, he is going to get into this cabin and when he does, he’ll bring my whole world crashing down.
Why is he even here?
I thought I was so damn careful; I thought I was hidden but apparently not well enough. And if he can find me…
Fuck.
My thoughts drift to how much money I’ve got stashed away in this house if I wanted to run and how far it could get me before I’d run out. At the very least, it could get me through until I made a new plan for myself.
He slows down as he gets closer to the house and I take my time to take him in as a memory from the last time I saw him flicks through my mind. I smile as my heart aches. God, we were so happy then. A more recent memory, a darker one, follows right behind it and it spurs me into action.
Shutting the water off, I turn and grab the shotgun from the table before turning back to the window. He is still inching closer to the front door so I turn toward the back door and cock the gun. The back door will deposit me on the side of the house so hopefully, I can get the jump on him and make him leave before his presence destroys everything I’ve built over the last six years.
With renewed determination, I creep out of the back door, careful not to let the screen slam before slinking along the side of the house. Sweat forms on my brow and my heart thunders in my chest as I inch along. Each breath I take rings in my ears and my belly does a little flip as I stop at the edge of the house. When I peek around the corner, I let out a breath. He’s turned away from me and it gives me the perfect opportunity to step out from behind the house and fire a shot off into the trees above him. He spins around and we both freeze as our eyes meet.