Secrets (A Standalone Novel) (A Suspense Romance) (14 page)

We drove by my house slowly and there didn’t seem to
be anyone around. I had Robert drive around back and I looked all around for
anything suspicious, but there was nothing that stood out. Unfortunately, I did
have a feeling that someone was following us or watching us. I made Robert
leave and then drive all over town to make sure no one was following us. I
didn’t feel safe to go into the house and get my camera.

“I’m not sure Robert, something felt off. What do you
think?”

“I felt
fine,
”
Robert said. “Do you want me to just go inside with you?”

“
No,
let’s just
get back home, maybe I’ll go back tomorrow.”

I couldn’t put my finger on what was going on, but I
felt like something bad was going to happen. I looked everywhere and had not
seen a single thing out of place though. It was entirely possible the events of
the last few weeks had made be jumpy and were the only reason I couldn’t feel
safe.

“
Well,
I have to
work all day tomorrow. How about we go back in after work?”

Robert was a good man. Rebecca sure had found herself
a keeper. I used to make fun of her for getting married so young and starting
her family. But seeing how Robert took care of her and the kids, it certainly
was more than any woman could hope for in a partner. They both seemed so very
happy and it was something to look up to in my future relationships.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep Chris
around or not. He certainly got me hot and bothered when we were together.
There was a chemistry between us that I had never felt with any other person.
It was hard for me to imagine that there was another man out there that I could
feel so bonded to so quickly.

In the morning when Robert went to work I decided to
go with him. I wanted to keep an eye out through the town and see if I saw any
suspicious vehicles. Since his office was right
downtown,
I could easily watch people from the comfort of his building. No one would even
know I was there since he had tinted windows that overlooked the main street of
town.

Originally I had planned to venture out
into
the town a little bit, but I lost my
nerve. I was terrified of going out by myself and I couldn’t ask Robert to stop
working to babysit me. He was starting to think I was crazy as I watched all
the cars that came and went throughout the city.

“There’s a black SUV, that’s unusual. Right?”

“No, that’s the Edward’s new SUV. They just had a baby
and needed more room,” Robert said as he became more and more annoyed with me.

“Oh, wait. Look at this sedan. I’ve never seen it
before.”

“Katelyn, that’s the city manager’s wife. I’m pretty
sure she isn’t going to try and kill you.”

“Seriously Robert, what about that minivan. I’ve never
seen it around town before.”

“
Katelyn, that
is the Johnson’s
van. Either sit
there
quietly or I’ll
take you home. I can’t keep doing this all day I won’t get any work done.”

“Alright, I’ll sit quietly.”

I did sit quietly for the remainder of the day. It was
very hard for me to do as I watched car after car
went
by throughout town. But I decided to wait until I could see
the drive and then I almost always knew who it was. There was one woman that
drove by in a minivan that I didn’t know, but then I thought it would be silly
to think a woman in a minivan would be the one coming to get me.

Robert seemed to appreciate my silence and he worked
quickly on his projects so he could get off from work early. He packed his
things at a quarter after four and we loaded into his truck to head over to my
house. It was only a few blocks, but I felt relieved to have him with me. I was
thinking and worrying so much about someone following us that I could hardly
think anymore. I just wanted to relax and feel safe again and that wouldn’t
happen until Chris got back from Chicago.

“I don’t see anyone around, do you?” I asked.

“Just run in and grab your camera and come back out,”
Robert snapped.

“I also wanted to grab some clean clothes. Do you
think that will be alright?”

“Yes, just hurry up. I don’t want to be out here all
day.”

I jumped out of his truck and made my way up to the
door of my house. I got too scared and turned around and came back to the
truck.

“I can’t go in there alone. Will you go with me?”

“Oh man, Katelyn, just go in.” I stood next to the
truck and just shook my head no. I felt like I was going crazy, but I was so
scared to go back into my house. I needed Chris to go with me, but since he
wasn’t there, Robert would have to do.

“Please Robert, I know
I'm
horrible. I’m too afraid to go in there by myself.”

Robert sighed, turned his truck off and climbed out of
the cab. He seemed really annoyed as he walked up to the door of my house. I
put the key into the
door,
but it
wouldn’t open. It looked like Chris had jammed something into the door to keep
it from opening after it had been kicked in.

“Let’s go to the back,” I said as I started around the
side of the house. This made Robert even more annoyed at me. I used my key to
get into the house and then waited for Robert.

“You go first,” I said as I stood in the corner of the
kitchen.

“Oh man, Katelyn, you are going to owe me big for
this.”

Robert slowly started moving throughout the house and
I stayed in the kitchen and waited for him to tell me everything was clear.

“Is everything alright?” I yelled up to Robert as he
made it to the top of the stairs.

“Yes, just come get your things.”

I hurried up the stairs and into my bedroom. I grabbed
a bag from the closet and started to fill it with some more of my clothes. I
wanted to grab everything, but I knew Robert wouldn’t be alright with that.
Instead, I just grabbed some clothes from each of my dresser drawers and a
couple pairs of my favorite shoes. I had forgotten to grab shoes last time and
wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“I’m going to wait for you out in the
truck,
” Robert said as he made his way down the
stairs.

“No, no, no. I’m coming. Don’t leave me here,” I said
as I tried to hurry and pack my things as quickly as possible.

“You are fine Katelyn, just grab what you need and
then head out to the truck.” I heard him finish moving down the stairs and go
out the back door. I looked out the window and watched him get into this truck
and start it up. I did feel a bit silly for making such a scene, but it was really
hard to be in my house after everything that had happened. I didn’t know if I
would ever be able to feel safe in my home again.

As much as I didn’t want to blame Chris for this
feeling, I couldn’t help it. If he had never moved to Bain, then none of this
would have ever happened. I went back to packing my things and tried not to
freak out. I looked through everything one last time and then headed down the
stairs.

“Don’t scream,” I heard a familiar voice say as I got
to the bottom step.

He reached out and wrapped his hand around my mouth
and then tilted my head up to see him. It was Gunner. He looked different. His
dimples were covered up by a beard and he looked like he hadn’t showered in the
three
weeks since I had seen him last.

“Gunner, what are you doing here?” I said as I tried
to calm my nerves.

There was something different about him and how he
interacted with me though. I had an uneasy feeling and didn’t want to be alone
with him.

“Go tell your friend he can leave. You aren’t going
back with him.”

“I am supposed to stay with them until Chris gets
back.”

“Tell him now!” Gunner said as he yelled at me.

Something was wrong, I didn’t know what it was and I
didn’t want to find out. Gunner had been sweet and nice to me before and now he
was rude and agitated. Suddenly the thought came to me that Gunner wasn’t one
of the guys with Chris. Maybe he was some sort of a double agent and really
worked for the bad guys. I tried to remember the times I had seen Gunner before
and I thought he worked with Chris, but I had never heard that directly from
Chris before.

Chris had said he was working with the bad guys and
pretending to be one of them, maybe this Gunner guy was really one of the bad
guys who was trying to get to Chris. Maybe taking me with him or hurting me was
the only way they could get Chris out of hiding.

I couldn’t disobey Gunner though, I could tell in his
eyes that he wasn’t messing around. So I walked out to Robert’s truck and did
my best acting job ever.

“Hey Robert, I’m feeling better about things. I think
I’m going to stay
here,
” I said and then
I turned around and came back to my house. I walked around to the back door and
Gunner was standing there with my back.

“I need my camera too,” I said.

“No, let’s go.”

Just then Robert came around the corner and saw
Gunner. Robert threw a few punches and Gunner easily avoided them. Then Gunner
threw one single punch and knocked Robert out cold.

“Gunner!” I screamed and then ran to Robert’s side. I
could tell he was
breathing,
but he had
been hit pretty hard. It wasn’t likely that he would wake up anytime soon.

“Why did you do that?” I said.

I could feel myself getting angry, but I wasn’t about
to show Gunner that. Something was different about him and I didn’t know if he
was on Chris’ team or if he was working for the bad guys. There was just too
much unknown about this situation and I thought it would be best if I kept
quiet. I had to wait and see what was going on before I started to be defiant
with a man who could clearly hurt me very badly if he wanted to.

“He just tried to hit me three times. Get in the SUV.”

Gunner grabbed my arm and carried my bag in his other
hand. When I got to the
SUV,
he put me
into
the back seat and I was just about to let
myself out when I realized there were no handles on the doors. I looked at
Gunner and he watched me through the mirror. Something bad was going on and I
just landed myself smack dab in the middle of it.

He took off driving down the road and I looked back
and saw Robert as he started to move around. I felt a slight bit of comfort
knowing he was alright. But I certainly didn’t feel comfortable or like I was
going to be alright.

I didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t scream
for help. I didn’t trust my own opinion at all anymore. Nothing was as it
seemed and nothing about this situation seemed safe to me. Gunner had come to
take care of me after Chris was shot and taken away and I thought he was nice.
I thought he worked with Chris, but I couldn’t know for sure. Now he was being
rude and seemed much scarier that he had before. Perhaps it had just been the
intensity of the situation, but Gunner no longer seemed like a nice person. He
had a new arrogance about him that had been missing from our last encounter.

I sat in the vehicle and looked around to try and
figure out what was going on. There were two other men in the vehicle and
Gunner drove.
 
When we got a few miles
down a dirt road, Gunner pulled over and moved to the back seat and let the
other guy drive instead. I sat quietly and looked at each of their faces. I
tried not to make it too obvious that I
remembered
what they looked like. But the more I looked at
them,
the more I realized that if they were the bad guys they wouldn’t be letting me
look at them so much.

Unless they didn’t plan to let me live. If they
planned to kill me, I figured they probably wouldn’t care at all if I saw them.

I swallowed hard at the thought. Only a few weeks
before I would have never even considered such a thought, now it seemed like my
whole life had changed. Everything that had once been normal was gone and a new
normal was right in front of me.

“Where are we going?” I finally managed to ask.

No one answered me. In fact, no one even turned to
look at me. It was like I didn’t exist. I turned to watch the countryside go
past as we moved along a back road. It wasn’t a major highway and it wasn’t a
county
road. Instead,
we were moving down
a gravel road at a speed much faster than I was comfortable with.

I knew gravel roads all too well and they weren’t
meant for going 60 mph on them. These type of roads were unpredictable and way
too dangerous at that speed. I tightened my seat belt and looked for something
to hold onto. These guys had a much different level of comfort with speed and
danger than I did. I wanted to ask again where we were
going,
but I didn’t.
Instead,
I just stayed quiet and tried to pay attention to as much as possible. We were
going northeast and I could tell they seemed to know where they were going.
They didn’t use directions and the driver guided the SUV along the back roads
with expert precision.

The driver also looked familiar, his big build and
blonde hair were very familiar to me. I thought I had seen him on the same
night that Chris was shot. I thought he had been one of the men that actually
carried Chris out to the SUV after he had been shot. The other person in the
front seat did not look familiar to me at all. He had a reddish tint to his
hair and freckles on his face. Although he looked equally built and muscular as
the other two men in the car, he did not seem as stand-offish as the driver.
The red haired man looked back and smiled at me a couple times throughout the
drive.

Gunner seemed to be amped up and wasn’t nearly as
friendly as the night when Chris got shot, but he seemed to have calmed down a
bit since getting into the SUV. I still had no idea what was going on, but I
started to feel a little more comfortable because they were all much more
relaxed the further we got away from my house. I started to worry what Rebecca
and Robert would think had happened to me. They knew things were getting crazy
and they knew about Chris being shot. They knew that Chris had taken off to try
and figure out who had come after him. It would be a likely conclusion that
they would think something bad had happened to me. I couldn’t handle the
thought of them worrying about me.

Rebecca wouldn’t sleep as she thought of all the bad
things that could happen to me. I knew I needed to get word to them that I was
alright. But I didn’t feel safe to say anything yet. I decided to wait until we
got where ever we were going, wherever that was.
 

I leaned my elbow against the window and put my hand
on
my face. I closed my eyes for a moment out
of extreme exhaustion. I couldn’t prevent my eyes from closing and my body
drifted off to sleep. It seemed like a quick sleep but when I woke
up,
we were obviously very far from Bain. The
city lights of what I thought might be
Chicago
flew by as we drove down a major interstate. It was late at night now and I had
been
asleep
for several hours.

“Do we have anything to drink?” I asked Gunner.

This time he seemed to have no problem realizing I was
there and he handed me a bottle of water. I guzzled it down quickly and then
regretted it. We had been in the vehicle for at least eight hours and I had to
use the restroom badly. When I drank the
water,
it just made everything worse. I couldn’t hold it another second, or at least
that is what I felt like.

“Are we going to stop soon? I need to use a restroom.”

“We stopped about an hour ago, you were out of it. We
will be there in an hour. Can you wait?” Gunner asked. I contemplated the
question, but I really didn’t think I could wait. I wasn’t use to having to
hold my bladder. It gave me anxiety right away.

“No, I don’t think I can.” I saw a look of compassion
from Gunner that reminded me of the night I met him. The night Chris had been
shot. He didn’t seem annoyed by my
answer. Instead,
he leaned forward to the driver and whispered something.

Within a
minute,
we had pulled into a gas station and Gunner got out and walked with me to the
restroom. When a couple walked past, Gunner grabbed my hand and held it like we
were a couple or something like that. I tried to hide the shock of the
moment
but was pretty bad at it. When the
couple finally walked around the corner, Gummy let go of my hand.

I didn’t
quite
understand his reason for the hand holding, but it seemed that he really wanted
to blend in as much as possible. Or perhaps he just didn’t want me to run away
and start screaming that I had been
kidnapped
.
I went to the restroom and Gunner waited outside, when I finished we went back
to the SUV together and we quickly returned to the interstate to make our way
to wherever we were going.

I took in everything I could see and I tried to
remember each turn we made. I didn’t know for sure these guys were safe and I
wanted to be prepared for my escape if that needed to happen.