A Jar of Hearts (22 page)

He spun on his heels and strolled out of the study. “I’m leaving, Anne,” he called out to her.

“I thought you were staying for dinner.”

“Not tonight.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “But we will have dinner another day.”

James clenched his fists by his side. He wanted to kill him, but now was not the time. He had to consider Anne first. He had to protect her.

He glanced at the clock through the utter darkness and noted its fluorescent hands. Ten o’clock. It had been four hours since Juan had paid them a visit; declaring his sudden obsession with Anne.

He peered out through the blinds in his window. If Juan’s goons had been on a watch, they were now gone.

“James, what’s going on?” Anne asked as she felt her way into the living room. “You said you were going to bed early and yet you’re still here.”

He took her hand and sat her down on the couch. If he wanted her safe, he would need to tell her about Juan.

“Anne,” he began. “I need you to listen carefully. Juan isn’t a friend.”

She sat down, taken aback briefly and then smiled amusedly. “Is it because he kissed me? Honey, are you jealous?”

He frowned. Damn right he was. He had wanted to kill the bastard when he had touched her. But that wasn’t the issue at hand right now. “It isn’t that.”

“No?” She chuckled, disbelieving him.

“Anne, hon-”

“Really, James? Do you think I’m so fickle that I would fall for any man trying to charm me?” She nuzzled his neck, laying soft kisses down the side. “Would you like me to show you that you are the only one who turns me on?”

He closed his eyes, momentarily blinded by her seduction. He loved it when she talked like that. “No,” he rasped.

“No?” She pulled her head back with disappointment.

He shook himself out of his daze. “I mean yes, but not now.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said with a hint of growing anger. “I guess I’ll have to gauge your mood swings before I try it again next time.”

“Anne, it isn’t that.”

“Forget it. I should go to bed.” She rose out of the couch to leave but he grabbed her wrist.

“Anne-”

She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held her tight, yanking her against him.

“Stop it!” she growled.

“Juan is Avanna’s brother,” he let out quickly before she could storm off.

She froze. And even in the dim light of the street lamps seeping through the blinds, he could see she had lost color.

“Avanna, your ex who is trying to kill me Avanna?” she muttered.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t
anyone
tell me?”

“Mark thought it would compromise the mission.”

Her legs wobbled under her and she fell into the couch again. “He was here. He spoke to me. He kissed me. And I was offering him dinner.”

He sat next to her, caressing her thigh. “Honey, it isn’t your fault.”

“What did he want? Did he try and hurt you?” She clutched his hands, her body wrought with fear.

“No, but there is something you need to know. He wants
you
.”

Her grasp on his hands grew tighter. “What do you mean he wants me?”

“He is obsessed with having you.”

“That is ridiculous. I barely know him. In fact, I can count the number of times I’ve spoken to him on one hand!”

“He’s been watching you.”

“Wh- what? But why?”

“I don’t know. Nobody knows how the mind of a stalker works and why they stalk. There could be a thousand reasons.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I’ve spoken to Mark. Tomorrow, I’ll drop you back at your house and I’ll move out of mine.”

“No.” She shook her head profusely. “You can’t give up on us, James. I won’t allow us to separate only because he threatened us.”

He clasped her hands and kissed them. “He can’t scare me, Anne. And I won’t let anything split us up either. But we have to be clever. We’ve got to outsmart Juan or we’d never make it through this at all. Do you trust me?”

She pinched her lips together and nodded.

He tugged her to him, rocking her. She had every right to be scared. He never wanted her messed up into his problems. He had only wanted to love her. But he should have known life would never hand her over to him on a silver platter. Like everything else, he would have to fight to claim her.

He stood in her bedroom, reluctant to let her go. If there had been another option in which he could have resolved this without involving her, he would have snatched it up immediately. But even after hours of deliberation with Mark’s team, there was no way other than this.

“I need to go now, Anne,” he whispered against her.

But she wound her arms tighter around his waist. “Just a little while longer.”

He smiled. “If you had your way, you’d never let me go.”

She sniveled into his shirt. “I’m scared I’d never see you again.”

He cradled her head. The last time he left her as Eric, she never did see him again. “You will.”

“When people say that, they don’t come back.”

“I will.” He lifted her chin and kissed her on her brow. “I’ll be careful.”

“James,” Mark called from below the staircase.

He leaned his head against her. “I’ll see you in a few weeks?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

He threw his bag into the trunk and then slammed the lid down.

“You have everything you need?” Mark asked, leaning against the wall of Eric’s garage.

“Yes.”

“Your ticket?”

“Yes.”

Mark straightened up and gave out his hand. “Take care then.”

Eric looked at it and smiled. “Thanks,” he said as he shook it.

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I really did enjoy working with you.”

Eric grinned. “Yeah, I kind of surprised myself as well.”

“You hated me.”

“Despised would be a better word.”

Mark chuckled. “Well, it was both ways; let me assure you on that.”

Eric nodded. “Take care of Anne.”

“With my life.”

Eric slid into the driver seat and pulled out of the driveway and into the road. In his rear view mirror, he watched the house he had called home for two years disappear into the distance. Outside his garage stood the man who had started it all, watching him leave as he faded with it.

Three weeks later

Anne stepped to the side and against the wall in the arrival section of the Philadelphia International Airport, her fingers fiddling nervously with the head of her cane. She could hear wheels rolling by on the plush carpet while the excited chatter of the airport’s occupants rang through the air. Some of them brushed past her as they hurried to leave the busyness of the airport.

He would be here, Mark had told her. Anxiety pitted in her stomach. It had been three weeks since James had left and he had promised her he would be safe. She checked her watch for the time again. It had been fifteen minutes since she had arrived, where then was he?

She clutched her cane tightly. Was it possible that Juan had got to him and hurt him? What if he had died… just like Eric?

She paled, her worry washing over her.

“Are you okay?” a woman asked her. “You don’t look too well.”

“Umm… yes…” How else should she answer that? She didn’t know who this woman was. And unless she received some form of confirmation the woman was just a harmless concerned stranger, she would have to be suspicious of everyone as being a possible contact for Juan.

“Can I help you with anything? Is there someone here to pick you up or do you need me to call someone for you?” the woman asked again.

Anne fidgeted with her cane. “Yes, someone should pick me up. I am fine… really.”

“Okay, then,” the woman said and Anne could feel the smile in her voice.

She smiled back as she heard the woman’s sneakers squeak away. For a moment, she wished she could call her back. In a place full of people, she ironically felt so lonely. Her short conversation with the woman had strangely brought a little calm to her uneasiness.

“Anne.”

She spun on her heels to turn towards the voice, her eyes welling with her tears. Her body trembled, her relief that he was finally here choking her in her throat.

“James,” she sobbed.

He gathered her face in his hands and kissed her, his mouth sucking deliciously at her tongue.

“You’re late,” she moaned.

“I’m here.”

“You’re here.” She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He brushed her hair back, the heat from his hand warming her soul again. “Let’s go.”

The wind tousled her blonde curls as he drove up the highway. He threaded his fingers through hers, caressing them occasionally with the pad of his thumb.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

She looked so much more at ease, unlike the tension he had seen in her at the airport. He had wanted to grab her in his arms then, but he needed to be careful she hadn’t been followed.

“To Huntingdon,” he said. “It’s about an hour’s drive.”

“Will we be safe there?” She was worried.

He picked her hand and gave it a soft kiss. “Yes.”

She closed her eyes, letting the breeze brush over her face. He could sense she was still bothered about something despite his assurance.

“I promise you we will be fine,” he added.

She shook her head. “It’s not just us, James. I feel guilty about leaving Julia and Ashley behind. I hope Juan doesn’t hurt them in order to find us.”

He smiled. “Mark will take care of them. You do know he loves them, right?”

“I do. But Julia can be stubborn sometimes. I wish she’d open her eyes a bit so she could tell the difference between charity and love.”

He released her hand to rub his chin. “Did… Juan meet you at any time during these past few weeks?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “Twice but I was with Mark and Julia each time. They wouldn’t let me out of their sight.”

“What did he say?”

“Just that I looked beautiful or we should have dinner.” She shrugged. “Something of the sort.”

“Were you scared?”

“Only because he might discover our break-up wasn’t real.”

His jaw stiffened. “Well, let’s just hope that once you’re out of his sight, he’ll learn to forget about you.”

“Will he forget about
you
?”

“What do you mean?” he said, giving her a quick glance.

“Mark told me your undercover task was to work as an assassin for The Pachecos. According to him, you were one of the best snipers he had ever seen. He believes that Juan envies you and the reason he wants me is probably because he is obsessed with you. He wants to be you.”

“Yeah, well Mark is no shrink,” he muttered. “Just because he has a theory doesn’t mean he is right.”

“But James-”

“Let’s not think about that yet,” he said, cutting her short. “We are here together and we can only pray that Juan wouldn’t bother making the effort to come find us.”

He gripped the wheel of his vehicle tightly, her words resonating through his mind and a thousand questions flooding into him.
What if Juan did come after us? What would I do then? How long would I keep running with Anne?

Mark rapped softly on her door before walking into her bedroom. Julia was standing by the window, looking out of it quietly. Her hair was hung loose, her curls flowing freely over her shoulders and the silhouette of her figure shone through her nightdress.

He licked his lips, trying to focus more on her face rather than her delectable body. It wasn’t respectable, he chanted to himself, doing his best to keep a firm control on how his body was responding to hers.

“You’re still here,” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

“Why?” She turned to him tiredly. “Your duty is done. Anne is safe with James now and I would be heading back for Boston soon.”

He coughed. “I thought we could arrange something for Ashley’s sake.”