Hunted Love (A Dangerous Kind of Love Book 2) (15 page)

“But not all the time,” Emily said.

“Jamie will watch out for me and when he can’t, Casey will take over.”

Zoe smiled, casting an appreciative glance toward Jamie and Casey. “Well, in that case, you hardly need our help.”

Terry laughed. “I don’t think we need to worry about Sarah,” she said before changing the subject to an actor Casey reminded her of.

Emily pulled Sarah to the side. “Sarah, I’m really worried about you.”

“Oh, Emily, I’m okay now,” she said trying to reassure her friend. “Come on, I’m tired of talking about depressing things. I’d much rather hear how your date went.” When Emily continued to stare at her with a worried look in her eyes, Sarah put a pleading note in her voice. “Please, cheer me up. Is he nice? Did you two hit it off? You promised me details,” she cajoled.

Emily slowly smiled. “I think I’m in love. He took me ballroom dancing. Oh, you should have seen me.” She lifted a hand to her face. “I didn’t know a step. I kept bumping into him. I must have stepped on his toes a dozen times, but he didn’t seem to care. He promised to teach me. His parents are pros.” She sighed. “We were supposed to go out again tonight, but I had to cancel.”

“Why?”

“Nathan called just before I left to come here. He’s expecting a full house tonight—he’s doing some sort of promotion to get people back in the restaurant—and has suddenly realized he’s short-handed. He asked me to come in around eight and I need the money.” Her face broke out into a happy grin. “Ballroom dance shoes don’t grow on trees, you know.”

They turned to watch as Ashton entered. She looked around in surprise before giving her sister a look. “You’re supposed to be resting,” she said when she reached them, “not hosting a party.”

“It’s not a party,” Sarah said, reaching over to turn down the music, “it’s a book club meeting.”

Ashton unbuttoned her light blue wool coat, her gaze sweeping around the room before landing on Casey and Jamie sitting at the dining room table. “Are they a part of your book club?”

Sarah straightened her back. “They just joined.”

Ashton raised an eyebrow. “What book did you all read?”

“Um…” Sarah looked over at Emily who simply shrugged. “Well, we haven’t really gotten around to it yet.”

Ashton looked at her sister in bemusement as she dropped her briefcase on the desk in the corner of the room.

“Why are you so late getting home?” Sarah asked. “I was starting to get worried about you.”

“I had some research to do.”

“Anything interesting?”

Ashton’s gaze flicked over to Jamie and back.

Sarah groaned. “I thought you already checked up on him,” she hissed as Ashton passed her on the way toward the bedrooms.

“Speaking of which,” Emily said lowering her voice, “Jamie stopped by the pub this afternoon.”

“I know, he told me he went to speak to Nathan.”

“Did he also tell you about the fight he had with Moose and Danny?”

Sarah glanced over at Jamie. “No, he didn’t mention that.”

“Knocked Danny out cold. Moose could barely walk afterwards. Did you know they were carrying guns on them? I had no idea until Jamie took them away with him. Scared me to death. I was just about to call the police when Moose took the phone from me.”

They glanced over at Emily’s purse as her cell phone rang. “It’s him,” Emily sang as she looked at her phone. She gave Sarah a giddy little smile before moving off into a corner of the room with the phone pressed to her ear.

Sarah wandered over to the dining room table. She stood next to Jamie, resting her hand on the back of the chair.

“So I had Jones in a headlock,” Casey said, “and I was all like, dude, tap out all ready, but he just kept fighting until I choked him out.”

Sarah picked up a chip from the bowl on the table and popped it into her mouth, almost choking on it in surprise when Jamie reached out a hand and laid it on her hip, bringing her closer to him. She laid her hand on top of his shoulders inordinately pleased with the ease in which he was touching her in front of the others.

“Have you ever been in a real fight?” he asked Casey, his hand lightly pressing on her hip.

Casey raised an eyebrow. “A real fight?”

“You know, like a street fight.”

Casey laughed. “How about you set aside your weapons and join me in the ring sometime and I’ll show you how real I can get.”

“No thanks, champ. I think I’d last longer on this side of the ring.”

“Yeah,” Casey said, “I’ve been in street fights. How about you?”

“Too many.”

“So, what’s your go-to fighting style?”

“Dirty.” He glanced up at Sarah, “Although, I mainly practice avoidance right now.”

“Is that what you call it?” Smiling, she leaned over to pick up another chip. When she reached his ear, she whispered, “I hear you fell off the wagon this afternoon.”

“Well, Moose and Danny are rather hard to avoid.”

She glanced over her shoulder as Emily approached. “That was Mark. I’ve got a date for the weekend.”

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks. I hate to leave early but I’ve got to get to the pub.” A worried look crossed Emily’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well . . .” Emily’s gaze briefly flickered to Jamie and then back to Sarah. She motioned for Sarah to follow her into the living room. “I really wish you wouldn’t let Jamie stay here,” she whispered.

“I’m safe as long as Jamie’s here.”

Emily scowled. “You heard what Moose and Danny said. He’s a murderer. He pled guilty to shooting his last girlfriend in the head. He’s carrying a gun right now.”

There was a gasp from the couch behind them.

Every eye turned to look at them. Zoe spoke up. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

Terry rose to her feet. “Who’s a murderer?” She turned to look at the woman next to her. “Did she say he had a gun?”

Emily’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “I wasn’t—” She glanced at her watch as she made a hasty retreat to the door. “I really need to get going. Bye, Sarah. I’m so sorry.”

After the door had closed behind Emily, the women turned their attention to Sarah. “You’re letting a murderer stay with you?” Zoe asked in a strident tone.

Sarah watched as each one of her friends stopped to stare at her with a mixture of horror and disbelief before turning their attention to Jamie.

*  *  *

“Do all of your book club meetings end so abruptly?” Ashton asked a few minutes later as she helped Sarah clean up.

Sarah refrained from rolling her eyes as she gathered the dishes scattered about the living room. “Do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?”

“If I were you, I’d get used to this sort of reaction,” Ashton said as she carried a couple of wine glasses towards the kitchen. “Having Jamie Murphy for a boyfriend is seriously going to put a crimp in your social life. If I—” She paused, surprised to find Jamie standing in the back corner of the kitchen, a cell phone pressed against his ear.

Sarah noted that he barely made eye contact with her as he slid past them without speaking and out the door.

Sarah gave her sister a look. “He heard you.”

“Sorry,” Ashton said, “I didn’t know he was in the kitchen. It doesn’t change what I was saying though. You saw how quickly your friends left you when they realized who was sitting in the room with them. Your social life is going to suffer.”

“I don’t care about my social life,” Sarah said setting the dishes down on the counter. “I lost it all when I left New York last summer to move here, and managed to survive just fine. I can start over again and again if I have to. I don’t care. What I do care about is Jamie, and as far as my friends go, not a single one of them, besides Emily, offered to take me in and protect me from whoever is after me. They all basically said that’s too bad before turning the conversation to the latest celebrity gossip. Jamie cares about me. He might not be able to show it easily but he does care. He saved my life New Year’s Eve and he will always have my loyalty,” she said before turning towards the door.

“That’s not all he has of yours,” Ashton muttered.

Sarah found Jamie at the end of the hallway standing next to the elevator.

“Just tell me what’s wrong,” he said into the phone. After a moment, he sighed heavily. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure. Phoebe’s upset about something. She wasn’t making any sense though. I told her I’d stop by the pub and talk to her.”

When he still didn’t look at her, Sarah gently took his hand into hers. “I’m sorry about what happened in there.”

He smiled softly. “It’s okay. I’ve gotten kind of used to that reaction. Your sister is right though. Maybe you should reconsider being so close to me.”

“Not on your life,” she said taking hold of his jacket and tilting her chin up. “I’m afraid we’re just stuck with each other.”

He stared down at her a moment before cupping her face and kissing her tenderly.

When he started to pull away, she threaded her fingers through his hair, returning his kiss, desperate to show him how much he mattered to her.

After a moment, he reluctantly broke away. He leaned his forehead against hers. “Phoebe’s waiting at the pub. Are you hungry? We could get something to eat there.”

She smiled up at him. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said with a smile.

“Great.” She slipped her hands underneath his dark brown leather coat, frowning when her fingers encountered the hilt of a gun hidden underneath his tee shirt at the back of his jeans. “Jamie, I’m worried.”

“It’ll be all right. I’ll be there with you.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m worried about the gun you’re carrying. What if the police stop you? They’re out there looking for you, remember? If they find you with a gun, they’ll revoke your probation.”

He lifted his hands to her cheeks. “Sarah, you were just attacked last night. I can protect you better if I’m carrying.”

“You can protect me better if you’re out of jail. Besides, I don’t think we’re going to need one.” She slid her hands to his biceps. “I mean, you
appear
strong enough.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Appear?” he asked in amusement.

She furrowed her brow as she backed up a step examined his body with a critical eye. “Well, it’s hard to tell with this leather coat you’re wearing.”

“I guess I could take it off.”

“Would you mind? I’m only asking because I need to know whether you can actually take care of me or not. I should probably see if you have what it takes.”

“If I recall, you discovered that the first night at your grandad’s hunting cabin.”

She felt her face grow warm. “I told you, I kept my eyes closed the entire time.”

“I know. I just don’t believe you.”

She pursed her lips together. “You ought to be thanking me. Frostbite can be very serious.”

He smiled as he pressed the elevator down button. “Come on, Florence Nightingale. Let’s go see what’s wrong with Phoebe. Sooner that’s done, the sooner I can get back to taking care of you.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Ten minutes later, Jamie led Sarah to a secluded booth in the back of the dining room. The old juke box nearby, playing the same old rock ballads it had played when it was brand new, partially drowned out the noise and commotion surrounding the bar. He looked around, surprised at the amount of people at the bar. While it wasn’t standing room only by any stretch of the imagination, it was busier than he had ever seen it.

A flyer taped to the menu promising to raffle off a motorcycle had apparently worked like a charm at getting people in the doors.

His attention fell to a small green glass votive sitting at the edge of the table. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a lighter. “I think I saw that bike sitting out front earlier today,” he said, lighting the candle. “The winner will be lucky if he can push it out of here, much less ride it.”

Sarah laughed, her pretty blue eyes shining in the candle light as she looked at him.

Jamie held out his hand, his heart beating faster as she laid her hand in his. “I was thinking we might go to my place later. It’s not that far from here and . . .” He sat back against the dark green leather booth as Nathan appeared at their table.

Nathan ignored Jamie, instead focusing all his attention on Sarah. “Sarah, I’m so glad to see you. Teresa called in sick, Evan quit and Holly is hopeless. I need you.”

“Nathan, she was just released from the hospital,” Jamie said in annoyance.

A vein in Nathan’s temple began to pound. “She looks fine,” he said still not looking at Jamie. He peered closely at her face. “Better than fine. I would just need you for an hour behind the bar, tops. Please, Sarah, Emily needs you.”

Sarah sighed, suddenly wishing she hadn’t done quite so good a job on her makeup. She glanced over as Emily passed by with a frantic look on her face, mouthing help as she rushed to another table.

“Okay,” she said sliding out of the booth. She patted Jamie’s hand when he started to protest. “You came to talk to Phoebe anyway.”

“Phoebe?” Nathan asked with a scowl. “Why do you want to talk to Phoebe?”

“She called. Where is she?”

“How should I know?” he asked. “I didn’t even realize she was here. If I had, I would have made her help out,” he threw over his shoulder as he moved away from the table.

Sarah squeezed Jamie’s hand. “Meet you back here in an hour?”

Jamie nodded as he climbed out of the booth. He kissed her on the cheek, lingering close to her, unwilling to move away. She pulled away, smiling as she did, promising him that she’d be back soon.

He reluctantly let her hand slide out of his, watching as she walked away from him. He hated letting her go, even for a moment. All night, he sat by her bedside, swearing that he’d never leave her again.

It hurt too much and what did he gain by it? Absolutely nothing as far as he could see. He didn’t stop loving her. He didn’t stop thinking about her. Fantasizing about her. Dreaming about her. Everything remained the same. The only thing that had changed was that he missed her so much it hurt. The last month without her had been torture for him, and to his surprise, for her as well.

Jamie smiled as she laughed at something one of the men at the bar was saying to her. She glanced over his way and smiled at him, her face lighting up as she met his eyes. At that moment, he fancied to himself that she only smiled that way for him. After all, he never noticed her looking at any other man that way. She ducked her head, shyly it seemed, breaking the connection as she went back to work. He was glad to see her smile again.

Brian had said she had been nursing a broken heart. Jamie didn’t bother asking his friend how he knew that.
Probably because it was exactly what I wanted to hear
, he thought to himself. He wanted so badly to believe she missed him as much as he missed her that he was willing just to accept what his friend said without question.

It felt good to think she cared and it had been such a long time since anyone made him feel good. He didn’t know what she saw in him, but he was determined to make her never regret throwing her lot in with his. He was going to make her happy. No matter what it took.

First, though, he had to keep her safe, which meant he had to find out who was targeting not only Sarah, but Kristen and Phoebe as well. With any luck, whatever Phoebe wanted to say to him would lead him to the man terrorizing them.

It took him less than a minute to find Phoebe hiding in her sister’s office, crying. She jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck as soon as he walked into Kristen and Nathan’s office.

He hugged her, patting her back reassuringly. “What’s wrong, kiddo?”

Phoebe wiped the tears from her eyes with a tissue. “Someone followed me here. He’s been following me all day. He appeared right after you left me this afternoon.”

He held her away from him. “Is he still here? Can you point him out?”

“I don’t know. Probably. He’s been following me since I left Bellemeade.”

“What happened to Brian? I thought he was supposed to stay with you.”

“He got a call at the hospital and said that he’d be back as soon as he could.” Phoebe’s bottom lip quivered. “Jamie, someone was in the house. I could hear him moving about upstairs. I got so scared I ran outside to my car. I was half way here when I noticed him behind me.”

“Did you call the police?”

“I couldn’t. I left my cell phone in my bedroom. Once I heard someone moving around upstairs, I just grabbed my purse and ran for my car. As soon as I got here, I started calling everyone I could to let them know what happened.” She nervously wrapped a lock of blonde hair around her finger. “Thank you for giving me your cell phone number this afternoon. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to reach you.” She gestured to the office phone. “I can’t get hold of Brian or Kristen. I keep leaving messages for them but they aren’t responding. Jamie, I’m so scared. You saw the letter. What if this guy finds me alone?”

“Shh,” he murmured, holding her hands. “Everything’s going to be okay,” he said leading her out of the office and into the hallway. He opened the door to the dining room and gently pushed her forward. “All you have to do is point him out to me and I’ll take care of everything,” he said leaning down and whispering into her ear.

Phoebe’s face crumpled as she turned in his arms. “I can’t. I don’t know what he looks like. I never saw him.” Her voice started to break as tears flowed down her cheeks. “I just heard him moving around.”

“You said he followed you. Could you tell what kind of car he was driving?”

She wiped at her tears as her sobbing increased. “It was too dark and he was too far away for me to tell. Jamie, what am I going to do. Where are Brian and Kristen? What if—”

“Phoebe, Phoebe, calm down. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I don’t know who’s after me or why. All I know is that he wants to hurt me.” She pressed the corner of her tissue to her eye. “I don’t know what do.”

They turned as the back door opened and Kristen walked in. She took one look at Jamie and rushed into his arms, pushing him against the jukebox by the door. Tears streaming down her face, she pulled back and slapped him.

Jamie lifted a hand to his face in surprise as Kristen burst out into tears. “Where have you been?” she asked with a choked sob before dragging him back into her arms again.

*  *  *

“What a drama queen,” Danny said from his perch at the end of the bar.

Sarah followed his gaze toward the back of the pub. She raised her eyebrows, surprised to see Kristen holding onto to Jamie for dear life. “What did I miss?”

“Just more of Kristen’s histrionics.” Danny smiled mirthlessly, revealing a gap where a tooth had once been as he pushed his empty glass toward her. “I really admire Nathan. I would have killed her by now if she was my wife.”

Sarah scowled as she filled his glass. “Lovely,” Sarah muttered shoving the glass back towards him.

“Yeah, well, I’ve known her longer than you have, Princess. Trust me, if you had to deal with her as much as I have, you’d be ready to get rid of her too.” He took a long drink, almost emptying the glass in one gulp. He closed his bruised and blood shot eyes. “Phoebe’s almost as bad.”

The hair on the back of Sarah’s neck stood up. She looked at Danny through her lashes, wondering just how much he hated Kristen. Did he hate her enough to leave threatening Valentine’s Day cards on her pillow? And not just threatening but sick and disturbed fantasies outlining exactly how they were each going to die. Whoever left those cards was mentally unbalanced. Was Danny that sick?

Truth was, she didn’t really know the man despite seeing him almost every single work day for the last five or six months.

To her, Danny had always been one half of the Moose and Danny duo, regulars that hung around the bar and did odd jobs every so often for Nathan. While Moose was tolerable and often friendly, Danny quite simply made her skin crawl.

She disliked the way he looked at her when he thought she wasn’t watching and she absolutely loathed the cruel and hateful way he treated Jamie. Whenever Jamie was around, Danny went out of his way to insult and hurt him, and as she slowly got to know Jamie and love him, she began to hate and avoid Danny as much as possible.

Perhaps that was a mistake
, she thought as she took Danny’s glass and filled it up. “I thought you and Kristen always got along,” she said trying to act as if her sudden interest was nothing but casual curiosity.

Danny returned his attention to the back of the pub. Nathan was there now, cradling his wife. He wore a disgusted look on his face as Moose spoke to him.

“Yeah, well, that’s before I got to see the real Kristen.” He leaned across the bar. Shifting his gaze over his shoulder, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “That Kristen that you see every day, the beautiful, friendly, kind, caring Kristen is an act. It’s not real.”

Sarah was about to question him further but a customer at the end of the bar motioned for her. By the time she got back to Danny, Moose was sliding into his usual spot next to him.

He clapped his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Nathan wants us to stick close to Kristen and Phoebe.”

Danny paused, his glass part way to his lips. “Why?”

“Someone’s following them around,” the big man said. “Kristen’s convinced someone took a shot at her an hour ago.”

Sarah gasped.

Danny rolled his eyes. “A car probably backfired.”

“Yeah, well, anyway,” Moose said, “you’ve got Kristen and I’ve got Phoebe.”

“And Nathan’s got Holly.” Danny leaned over the bar, his voice set at a conspiratorial whisper. “You know that guest house near Bellemeade? Holly spends a lot of time there. So does Nathan.”

“Hey!” Moose glanced over his shoulder with a worried frown. “Stop it.”

Danny ignored him. “He’s also got an apartment across the street from here. You know, for late nights when he’s too tired to drive home,” he said with a snort. “It’s right next door to mine.” He held a finger to his lips. “It’s a secret though. Kristen doesn’t know anything about it. Holly, on the other hand, spends a lot of time there—”

Moose hit him in the arm. “Hey! Hey! Knock it off.”

“You’re spilling my drink,” Danny complained, shaking his now wet hand. “I don’t want Kristen. Much like Nathan. I don’t want Phoebe either. She’s weird. Why don’t you take them both?” Grinning, Danny motioned for Sarah to refill his glass. As she did, he said, “I hear some creep’s after you too. How about I protect you? I’m much better than Jamie.” He leered down at her body. “I’d be happy to guard your cute little body anytime. You don’t even have to pay me.”

Moose shoved his friend a bit harder. “Knock it off, would you?” He gave Sarah a concerned look. “Nathan told us what happened to you earlier. I’m glad to see you’re okay.”

Sarah smiled. “Thank you, Moose. I’m fine.” She gave Danny a look as she handed back his glass. “And Jamie can take care of me just fine,” she said sharply.

Danny returned to his drink. “Your loss. Just don’t come crying to me when he runs off on you again and leaves you alone and unprotected.”

Moose gave Danny the side-eye before turning back to Sarah. “If you need help, give me a call, and if you find out who attacked you, you let me know. I’ll take care of him.” He patted his friend on the shoulder. “Come on, Dan, Nathan wants us to take Kristen and Phoebe home.”

Danny held up his drink. “I’m busy. You take them home.”

Moose glanced at Sarah who took the hint and turned her attention to another customer. She kept her head bent as she worked, keeping part of her attention on the conversation going on a few feet away.

“What is your problem with Kristen?” the big man asked, clearly frustrated with his friend.

“She thinks she’s better than us.”

“That’s probably because she is,” Moose said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. When that didn’t work, he blew out his breath in frustration. “Kristen’s always been like that. It’s never bothered you before.”

“Yeah, well, I just now noticed it.”