SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides) (22 page)

He pressed his lips together as if unwilling to tell her, but explained after a moment. “Mr. Sunshine. Apparently YFH doesn’t care for cats.”

“He’s dead?” she asked, feeling faint. He was never allowed into the house, but she had grown fond of him, enjoying quiet nights on the back porch during the summer, listening to the crickets and stroking his warm fur.

“Worse.” Lana said, her voice shaky. “Mutilated.” She pulled out of Blake’s arms and ran for the bathroom. The sound of retching followed.

“He’s never going to stop. He’s angry.” Sage looked at Joel again, feeling helpless. “What’s he going to do next?”

Joel pulled her close and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Apparently he didn’t have any more answers than she did.

When Joel stepped back outside to speak with the deputy who came to take pictures and statements, Sage slipped up to her room to pack a bag. She couldn’t stay here anymore, taking the risk that her sisters could be in danger. And she didn’t want to be apart from Joel, not now when the stalker had gotten so twisted.

Maybe it made her weak that she needed Joel so much, that she wasn’t able to stand on her own two feet, but if that was the case, she didn’t care. For once she would let her weakness guide her—to stay with Joel, where she belonged. All of this time she’d held back, thinking he wasn’t interested in her, but now she knew how strong the chemistry was between them, that it wasn’t all on her side, she wasn’t going to let him get away. He was everything now, and she wasn’t going to let him keep her at arm’s length ever again. Especially not when staying here could put her sisters in harm’s way.

She set the suitcase by the front door as Joel came back into the house.

“Where are you going?” Cami asked. “You’re not running away.” The comment was more command than question.

Joel’s gaze flashed to the bag and then to Sage’s face. His eyes showed his worry and fear, even though his face was still a mask.

“I’m going home with Joel. It’s not safe for the rest of you if I stay here anymore,” Sage said. “I don’t want to take any risks and Joel can protect us both better at his place.”

“But the rule from your dad’s will,” he objected.

“I talked to Alex a few days ago. He said there was a provision for emergencies, and that this would fit under that rule.” She mentioned the estate attorney, who was also Lana’s cousin. Her stomach quivered, proving she wasn’t as sure about Joel’s reaction as she pretended to be. What if he didn’t want her taking over the only private space and time he had left?

“Are you sure?” he asked. His eyes were asking much more than the words alone said.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, until Rosemary cleared her throat. “Are things cleaned up out there? And does anyone still feel like eating the cobbler I made?”

There was a moment of silence, then Vince stood. “I’m in. Anyone else?”

It was just the ice breaker everyone needed. Lana didn’t feel up to dessert after emptying her stomach earlier, but the rest of them sat down to cobbler. 

A few minutes later Joel stood and took Sage’s empty dish, setting both of theirs in the dishwasher. “I’m going to take a quick walk around the property, then I’ll be back for you.”

Sage nodded and grabbed her coat.

“You’re sure?” Jonquil asked. “He hasn’t been back into the house since your birthday. We’re safe here.”

“Thanks, but no. It’s bad enough that you got hurt in my car. I don’t want to take a risk that anyone else is going to get hurt. Besides, it’s not like it’s a hardship to spend time with Joel.” She smiled, though it lacked the happiness she might otherwise be feeling. She still couldn’t believe her stalker had hurt Mr. Sunshine. He was a sweetheart, and a really good mouser. She had spend so many hours loving on him when she didn’t have anyone else to talk to. Why had her tormenter done that, taken him away from her? And how hard for Mr. Sunshine. She hoped death was quick and the rest came afterward. The thought of it made her stomach turn, and her heart ache.

Joel came back in, picked up her bag and pulled out his pistol. “Stay close behind me.”

She hoped the gun was just Joel’s paranoia, and he wouldn’t actually need to use it, but she wasn’t about to call him on it. Not while she still felt shivers going across her skin at the thought of the surprise on her doorstep.

It took less than a minute before they were walking into his kitchen. Joel set the alarm and locked up tight, pulling down the shade. “Wait here while I clear the house.” He walked through the house systematically, checking every window lock and making sure all of the drapes were closed so no one would be able to see in.

Sage stood in the kitchen, shivering, waiting for him to tell her it was safe—this was a new layer of caution she’d never seen him use in his house before, and it made her even more nervous.

He returned to her, grabbing her bag and taking her hand. “Come on. It’s warmer in the bedroom.” He led her up the stairs. “When all of this calms down, we can re-evaluate what you want to do about living arrangements. For now I can set up the air mattress in the other room for me.”

“Don’t. There’s no reason for that, and you won’t sleep as well,” Sage said. Her heart was pounding in her chest. “Please, I don’t want you a whole room away.”

Joel took both of her hands and studied her face. “If I stay in here with you, I won’t promise that I’ll be a gentleman.”

She wet her lips, nerves zinging through her. She needed him close, needed the constant reassurance of him, to have him to hold, and she was sick of letting him keep anything back from her. “Maybe I think you’ve been a gentleman too long already.” She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his and he pulled her into his arms. The kiss went from tentative to passionate in a heartbeat and Sage knew she was where she belonged.

In the morning Sage woke to the sound of weights clanking in the next room, accompanied by some Queensryche turned low enough not to wake her. She smiled, realizing she was in Joel’s home. She stretched in the bed and checked the clock. It was her usual wake-up time.

She rose and headed for the shower to get ready for the day. As she left the bathroom a while later, Joel passed her, going in to take his turn. “How are you this morning?” he asked.

“Just fine.” Her eyes slid along his sweaty frame, the tank top damp with perspiration. “You look fine too.”

He leaned in to kiss her. “I’m going to hop in quick.” He checked his watch. “How long do you need to finish getting ready?”

“Twenty minutes.” That would give her time for her morning meditation.

She went down to the living room in case he turned on music while he was getting ready. She sat crossed legged and breathed in and out. She heard the water in the pipes, the refrigerator humming and eventually, the pounding of her own heart. There were no strong impressions this morning, but after the events of the previous night, that was fine by her.

Sage felt centered and at peace when she heard Joel’s footsteps on the stairs. She looked up at him and smiled.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Just meditating.” She unfolded herself and accepted his hand up. “It helps me feel more centered, in tune with the universe.”

He nodded and smiled. “Does it help you with your precognition?” There was an edge of condescension in his voice. He was verbally patting her on the head as if he thought it was a joke. He’d never done that before.

Hurt flooded her. How could she make him understand? “Yes. It makes me more receptive.”

His brows lifted a little and amusement lit his eyes. “I guess that makes sense.”

“You think I’m full of crap, don’t you?”

He walked into the kitchen and pulled yogurt and bread from the fridge. “Do I have to believe in precognition as long as I accept that you believe in it?”

She folded her arms over her chest, pain shooting through her. “Right. And if you believe communism is bad and I pat your head and say you must be right, but think you’re nuts, is that okay with you?”

“That’s not the same thing at all.” He shot an irritated look at her. “Why do we have to argue about this? It’s not like you can prove it.”

“Right. So the day you got the call about Wade and I told you something was going to happen hours before the phone rang, that was nothing, right? It was all in my head.”

He opened his mouth to rebut, but she didn’t let him. “And when I told you not to leave me at home the next week because something bad would happen and two minutes later you got the call about the blood clot, that was in my head too. And telling Lana not to open the door last night must have been a dream. Maybe I imagined that I had those impressions.” She grabbed the yogurt from him, a spoon he had just set by it and whirled to go back upstairs to eat it.

Joel grabbed her arm. “Hold on.”

“Why?”

“Wait. Are you serious?”

She glanced back at him and saw the confusion on his face. “I forgot about those,” he said. “But, that’s crazy. I don’t believe in that stuff.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Because it’s easier to forget and ignore than to accept what they mean.”

“I wasn’t thinking about what you said.”

Her voice softened. “It was a little stressful at the time.”

He leaned back against the counter. “You’re trying to say this is real? I mean, I have bad feelings about things sometimes, usually in battle or when things are about to go completely haywire. What’s the difference between that and what you do? Maybe it’s just normal intuition. How does it work for you?”

Feeling less defensive, she shrugged a little. His hand loosened, caressing her arm a little before he pulled away. “It’s not always the same every time. Sometimes I just get general impressions, feel that something bad is going to happen without any specific direction as to what or to whom. Other times I get specific impressions, like the time with Rosemary and the fish. It was weird, I didn’t have a clear idea, but I knew something bad would happen that was fish related even though it made no sense at the time. And then sometimes I get full images.” She thought of Lana folded over the toilet. That wasn’t her secret to tell, and she didn’t know if Lana knew about it yet. “I saw you the morning of the accident, grieving.” She paused for a moment, swallowing hard to get the lump out of her throat so she could finish. “I worried it would be for me.”

“This is just really a lot to take in.” Joel cupped her elbows and drew her closer, his gaze intent, searching. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. Do you believe me?” Her father hadn’t; he’d thought it was a fancy her mother encouraged. That had hurt. Having Joel think she was nuts would be just as bad, maybe worse.

“Why don’t you know who your stalker is then, if you can see all this about the future?”

She shrugged. “I never see anything for myself and I can’t see things just because I want to, or at least not very often. Sometimes if I meditate and think about a specific situation I can get something, but it doesn’t happen very often. My precognition is spotty and unreliable, but at least it’s not all bad news. Sometimes I see good things.”

His eyes narrowed. “You can’t see anything for yourself?”

Sage shook her head, letting him pull her closer until she was leaning against him. “No. Only things that affect others, and maybe indirectly affect me. I knew Dad was sick for at least two months before he told us. I asked him, but he kept denying it. I knew he was lying, though.” The pain of that rose in her mouth, tasting bitter.