“The rose last night. Gifts and flowers are not going to win me back so just give it a rest.”
“Kady,” he says, shaking his head. “I didn’t leave you any flowers.”
My head snaps up and my stomach drops. There is a ringing in my ears as I stare at him, my mind racing.
No…
He scowls, studying me for a moment before he takes another step toward me. “Kady?”
“You need to leave now.”
He shakes his head. “Hell, no. What is going on?”
“Leave now, Noah. I’m not playing around.” I start shoving him toward the door and Jack stands up from his bed, barking as he inches closer to the two of us.
“What the fuck, Kady?”
Ignoring his question, I push him again and he holds his hand up in the air before walking toward the door. He yanks it open and turns back to me. We lock eyes, staring at each other for a moment before he shakes his head and walks out, slamming the door behind him. I go to the window, my heart pounding as I watch him drive away and as soon as he’s gone, I go to the kitchen and grab the shotgun off the table. Once I check that it’s loaded, I sink into my chair and lay it across my lap as my hands tremble. Jack whines, looking up at me for reassurance and I lay my hand on his head in an attempt not to hyperventilate.
“He found me,” I whisper, staring blankly ahead as my whole world crashes down around me.
Chapter Eight
Kady
The motion sensor goes off, blaring through the cabin and jolting me from sleep. I spring forward in bed with a gasp. My fingers wrap around the shotgun laying on the mattress next to me and I pull it to my chest before throwing the covers back and climbing out of bed. Jack is already pacing in front of the door, growling low as he glances down the hallway, ever my protector. My heart thunders in my chest as I cock the gun and creep toward the window, each second feeling like eternity as I cross the hardwood floors. The alarm cuts off and the silence is even more nerve-racking than the piercing wail of the motion sensor. At the window, I suck in a breath and pull the curtains back just far enough to peek out into the backyard as my heart feels like it’s going to burst out of my chest. I scan the tree line, searching the darkness for the threat I know is there and when I come up empty, I drop the curtain back in place before pressing my back against the wall and releasing a breath. I clutch the shotgun to my chest as Jack looks at me from his post at the door.
“Let’s go,” I whisper, nodding as I push off the wall. He turns away from me and starts heading down the hallway a few feet in front of me, guarding me as we move to inspect the rest of the cabin. The taunting silence is only amplified by the quiet click of Jack’s nails on the floor as we creep into the living room and it fuels my paranoia. God, what if he’s back? The thought sends a cold chill down my spine and brings tears to my eyes but I don’t stop. My grip on the shotgun tightens as I move through the living room to the window, flattening my back against the wall and my stomach churns as I reach over and pull the curtains back. I peek out at the driveway and blow out a breath. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
A large German Shepherd is standing in the middle of the driveway, his nose to the ground as he walks in what looks like aimless circles. Jack barks and the dog lifts his head, studying the cabin for a minute before he turns and runs back down the driveway. Sighing, I drop the curtain back into place and my entire body sags.
Jack watches me expectantly and I shake my head as I move away from the window and sit down in the chair by the fireplace. He follows behind me and lays in his bed next to me. To anyone else, he looks at ease and relaxed but he is still just as alert as I am and it makes it impossible to feel safe. As I focus on my breathing in an effort to calm down, each little noise outside the cabin sends me jumping out of my skin and my heart races out of control as I try to breathe through the fear. Images, memories from years ago, come racing back to me and I press my hand over my heart as tears slip down my cheeks. For the last six years, night has always been the hardest to get through. Most days, I can put on a happy face and muddle through but at night, I’m tormented by the darkness and the danger hiding in her shadows. Before Noah returned, I assumed I was getting better at handling that fear but apparently, I was wrong.
The funny thing is, I used to feel so safe with Noah. All he had to do was wrap his arms around me and all my cares just disappeared because with him standing beside me, no one could reach me. But all that went out the window when he got locked up. Sighing, I push out of the chair and walk to the kitchen before turning around and marching back into the living room. With the gun firmly in my grasp, I pace back and forth through the cabin, remembering a time when my life wasn’t so damn complicated.
God, things were so easy before Noah was locked up.
Life was simple.
I was just a girl working at a little diner, madly in love with the boy I met in sixth grade and planning our future together. My vision was clear and everything I had ever wanted was within my grasp. Things weren’t perfect, what with Noah’s involvement in the club and the drugs, but they were certainly headed in the right direction.
We had a plan.
And then Noah was arrested.
Wiping away my tears, I continue pacing through the cabin and blow out a breath. If he found me, if he knows where I am, then everything I’ve been building for six years is gone. I might as well light a match to this place and run as far and as fast as I can because I’ll never be able to go back. Even as I think that, though, I know I could never do anything to this place. To most people, it’s just a cabin but for me, this is the only home I’ve ever known.
In the kitchen, I plop down in one of the dining room chairs and wipe away more tears. I was a year old when my mother abandoned me at a fire station and I went into the foster care system. When I was three, I met Hannah at the orphanage where we both lived and she’s one of the only people who has always had my back. In sixth grade, I met Noah and between the two of them, I managed to create my own version of family. After graduation, Noah’s parents didn’t like how serious we were getting and they kicked him out of the house in an attempt to set him straight but it sent him right into the arms of the Bayou Devils MC. The president, Blaze, sold the club as a family but it became pretty clear after he joined that it wasn’t what it seemed. It did bring Bobby into my life, though, and I’ll always be eternally grateful for him.
Bobby was one of the original members and he became somewhat of a father figure for me while he saw me as the daughter he never had. There isn’t anything in the world he wouldn’t have done for me and I cherish the years I spent with him. This cabin was his and when he died five years back, he left everything he had to me. Of course, he had to put it in Hannah’s name to keep me hidden but it’s something he was happy to do which is why I could never destroy it.
So I guess faking my death is out of the question.
I yawn and rub my hand over my face, exhausted, but I know there’s no way in hell I’ll be able to go back to bed at this point. Glancing at my phone on the table, I mutter a curse before scooping it up and dialing Hannah’s number. It’s three in the morning but she won’t care. In fact, she’ll be pissed if she finds out that I’ve been just sitting here for the past thirty minutes freaking out instead of calling her.