Protect Me: Oakville Series:Book Three (20 page)

E
VER SINCE
that no-good prick showed up yesterday at the party, Holly has been acting strange. She’s on edge and when she smiles, I can tell it’s forced. Last night, this morning, and during the several times we made love today, it seemed as if she were holding on for dear life. As if she were afraid to let go because if she did we’d drift away from each other. With every glance, her eyes were trying to tell me something she couldn’t. It’s almost as if she’s trying to say goodbye. But why? I tried to get her to tell me everything the bastard said to her, but she just says it was all empty apologies. “Nothing important,” she repeats. For the first time since I’ve met her, I don’t believe her. My gut is telling me our lives are about to change and it’s not a change for the good.

“What are you thinking about, handsome?” Holly says in a sleepy voice. Again, there’s that sad smile. I need her to tell me what’s wrong, but how?

“Just thinking about how beautiful my fiancé’ is,” I tell her with a forced smile of my own. She gets out of bed and quickly heads into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. When Holly finally exits the bathroom, she’s fully dressed. “Where are you going, doll face?” I inquire. I need to know what the hell is going on. The pit in my stomach is getting larger by the minute. She can’t or won’t — I don’t know which — make eye contact with me when she answers.

“Amber called. She needs me,” she says nervously. Bending down, she kisses me with so much passion, it leaves me weak. My heart is racing, not because of the kiss itself, but because of what I’m afraid it means. She runs her lips along my ear and softly whispers, “I love you more than anything, Paul Walters. Please don’t ever forget that.” When she stands up, I can see tears in her beautiful green eyes. Before I can stop her, she turns and bolts out of the bedroom. By the time I can get myself to move to try to stop her, she’s already getting in her car.

Running back to the bedroom, I fumble around, trying to get dressed. My clouded brain is making it difficult, but I have to go after her. I run into the bathroom to grab my pants and notice her phone on the counter. I know it’s an invasion of privacy, but this is an emergency. Looking through her recent texts, I see one from Ray. It came in around the time she came in here. With shaky hands, I swipe the screen and open the message.

Ray: It’s time. Meet me at the bar. Don’t take anything with you. Not even this phone. I will make sure you have everything you need when we get home.

“What the FUCK!” I scream as I throw the phone across the room and watch it break into pieces against the wall. What the hell is going on? Why is she going with him? The man who beat her, who killed their unborn baby. She wouldn’t go with him willingly.

When I pull up to the bar, I see them both there. He’s holding the passenger door open, allowing her to get in. I skid to a stop inches from the asshole and I jump out of the truck, unsure whether I put it into park or not. My head is so fucked up, all I can think about is stopping her.

“Doll face? What are you doing?” I question, anger consuming me. But when the words leave my mouth, it sounds like the plea of a child. “I know you don’t want to go with him. Please tell me what’s going on,” I beg.

She looks so frightened. He’s forcing her somehow. That’s got to be it. It’s the only explanation. Ray grabs a hold of her arm and pushes her toward the car. Him touching her sets me off. I rush him and take hold of his shirt collar, lifting him off the ground and slamming him against the back of the car. My entire body is shaking. If I’m not careful, I might just end up killing this fucker.

“Take it easy there, Hercules. She’s going with me willingly. She’s done slumming and ready to get back to her real life,” Ray gloats. I pull my fist back, ready to knock his head clear off his shoulders, until Holly places her trembling hand on my shoulder. As always, her touch instantly calms me. I let go of Ray and turn to face her. Her eyes are filled with unshed tears, pleading with me to understand. But…what am I supposed to understand? That she would willingly go back to this ass when she fought so hard to get away from him? I just don’t buy it. I can’t. She wouldn’t leave me for him.

“Please, Paul, you need to let me go. I know you don’t understand why I’m doing this right now, but you will one day. I promise,” she says before kissing my cheek and getting into the car. When she closes the door, I can see tears steadily streaming down her face. She doesn’t want to go. I knew it. Whatever it is, I can fix it for her. As I go to grab the handle, the car begins to back out of the parking spot. I’m losing her. I can’t protect her if she leaves with him. She never told me where she lived before coming here. She was always afraid I’d try to hunt Ray down.

I run along with the moving car, slamming my hands against it. “Doll face, I can protect you! Whatever he’s holding over you, we can fix,” I yell as the car switches into drive. Holly is no longer trying to hide her tears. Sadness and regret are so evident on her face, even through the tinted window. She mouths, “I’m sorry”.

“Please, baby, don’t go!” I cry before the car speeds away. I fall to my knees in the middle of the parking lot and cry. My entire life just drove off. This feels like my mom all over again. She’s walking away from me, the one person who would die to protect her and into the arms of the man she’s needs protection from. Why? Why would she go willingly back to him? Didn’t she have enough faith in me to know I’d keep her safe? “Why are you doing this to me, God?” I cry out into my hands.

“I’ve had plenty of women scream out ‘God’ in my presence, but never a man,” Angel says from behind me. I can’t help but laugh. He can always lighten the mood, no matter how dark. Quickly trying to wipe the moisture from my face, I turn to see Angel, Marcus, Clark, and Kyle all standing behind me, concern showing on their faces. They all know how hard it was for me to open up enough to fall in love with Holly. Not that I really had a choice. The harder I fought against it, the harder I seemed to fall.

“Come on, man. Let’s go get a drink. Maybe we can help you figure all this out,” Kyle suggests, reaching his hand out to help me off the ground. Its times like this I’m so glad I have these guys. I grab Kyle’s hand and he yanks me off the ground. I’m also thankful it’s Sunday and the bar is closed.

“How did you know I was here?” I ask as we walk up to the front door. Kyle looks away from me and unlocks the door. He doesn’t want to tell me how he knew, but he will.

“Holly called a while ago and told Amber she was leaving with Ray. She asked Amber to make sure I was here because you’d need me,” he says sadly and opens the door. “I called the guys and we got here as soon as we could.” I just don’t understand. If she was so fucking worried about me and knew I’d need my friends, why did she leave?

“Did she tell Amber why she was going with him in the first place?”

“She told Amber she has to go, that she loves us all and because of that, she has to leave,” Kyle says with a shrug of his shoulders. What the hell does that mean? Because she loves us she has to leave us? Kyle looks at me sympathetically. “I don’t get it either. For now, let’s drink. We can try to figure it all out later. Beasley is on his way,” he says with a wink. Well if anyone can get to the bottom of what’s going on, Lee Beasley will. Not only is he the Sheriff of Oakville, he’s Amber’s dad.

By the time Beasley arrives, I‘ve put away a few beers and even more shots. I tell everyone all about Holly and Ray. Normally, I wouldn’t tell anyone about the hell Holly’s been through, but this situation calls for it. If Beasley is going to be able to help, he needs to know everything.

“I just don’t know what he could possibly have used to threaten her with,” I explain to Beasley when he asks why she’d go with him in the first place. “Even if he threatened to come after one of us, she had to have known we’d band together to keep everyone safe. It makes no sense.” Taking another shot and slamming it back, I close my eyes. All I can see is the agony in her face as they drove away. If he hurts her, I will kill him. I’ll be damned if I allow another abusive prick to take away a woman I care about.

“I’ll get this info to my P.I. friend. I don’t know how long it’ll take to get a lead, but I promise you, Paul, I will do everything I can to find her. She’s become a second daughter to me. I don’t want her with this guy any more than you do,” Beasley confesses. For such a bad ass, he sure is a softie when it comes to family.

“Well, since I can only wait for now, how about you boys get me good and drunk,” I state, raising my shot glass for a refill. I can’t do a damn thing to help her right now and that kills me. All I can do is pray that she’s okay. The ache in my heart is threatening to tear me to shreds. Right now, numbing the pain is the only thing I can do.

I
T’S BEEN
three weeks since I came back to this house — the house I swore I’d never set foot in again. Ray has played the part of the perfect gentleman so far. He’s actually reminding me of the Ray I thought I married. The sweet and gentle man I intended to spend the rest of my life with until the monster inside him came to the surface. I’m beginning to question his motive for having me here. He said it was to prove to his dying father that we were back together, but I have yet to see his father, who’s supposedly in the hospital. He also said he wasn’t interested in me because he had found someone else, yet he barely ever leaves my side.

After the first week, I began falling into my old routine. I wake up early cook breakfast and then spend the rest of the day cleaning until it’s time to cook dinner. How the hell did I get here? This is not where I want to be, not where I need to be. With Paul, that’s where I should be. I’m just going to have to tell Ray I’m going home and pray I can get out of here without incident. He wants me to think he’s changed, but there’s no way someone like him can change. A man like him always has to be in control. The minute he believes he’s losing control, he’ll try to get it back the only way he knows how. Fear. Fear is what he uses to show he’s in control. That he has the power.