She Can Scream (14 page)

If someone broke into the house, would she hear? Would she wake in time to use the gun? She lay still, listening to the trees move outside her window. The house settled with a low groan. Brooke burrowed under her comforter, but the fear lodged in her bones chilled her from the inside out. A gust of wind pushed against the glass, seeking weakness, looking for a way in.

Luke zipped his jacket against a current of air that slid into his collar and encircled his neck. He walked to his car and stood beside it. Behind him, the glare of Brooke’s porch light and lamppost were the only visible sources of light. No streetlights out here. None of the neon signs or headlights of New York City.

His eyes adjusted to the dark, and he scanned the fallow fields that surrounded Brooke’s house. Across the road, the slope climbed to a distant stand of trees, black and shapeless in the dark. Behind the house, grass rolled down into the shadowed foothills.

He looked at the old house, standing alone on the hillside. The front of the house was dark, but Brooke’s bedroom was
around back. Was she getting ready for bed? How soundly did she sleep? Would she wake up if someone broke in? And what would she do if she encountered an intruder?

Blood spreading toward him. Sherry’s glassy stare.

Sweat dripped down Luke’s back.

He stomped to his car, yanked the door open, and climbed behind the wheel. Shifting into reverse, he gave the car more gas than he’d intended. His tires spit gravel. He eased off the pedal and backed out of the driveway.

The drive to his grandmother’s house took less than ten minutes. The house still smelled of cookies. Luke walked back to the kitchen. Gran sat at the table, a mug of tea at her elbow, a crossword in front of her. A dark blue robe covered flannel pajamas. She always seemed to be cold lately. She looked at him over the top of her reading glasses. “Is everything all right with Brooke and the children?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Luke dropped into a chair. He turned her puzzle toward him and read one of the clues. O
RANGE ______ TEA.

Gran watched him. “What’s wrong, Lucas?” When Luke was young, he could hide things from his busy parents, but he’d never been able to pull anything over on Gran. He might not have told her about Sherry, but she knew something was up.

“I don’t like leaving them alone.” Luke picked up her pencil and filled in nine across,
PEKOE
.

Gran sipped her tea.

Luke dropped the pencil. “I’m going back over there. I’m sorry, Gran.” Luke stood and bent down to kiss his grandmother’s cheek. “I’m not comfortable leaving them alone all night.”

“I would hope not.” His grandmother clutched the lapels of her robe at the base of her throat. “Why would you be sorry about that?”

“I came here to spend some time with you.”

Gran squeezed his hand, her seemingly frail fingers surprisingly strong. “I love that you’ve come to visit me, but what’s important right now is protecting Brooke and her children.”

It was bad enough he’d failed Sherry. Luke couldn’t let anything happen to Brooke or her kids. “Thanks for understanding.”

She released his hand. “Go on. Get out of here.”

Luke ran up to his room. He yanked his overnight bag from the closet. A change of clothes and his shaving kit went inside. He jogged back down the stairs. His grandmother was in the hall.

“Lock the door behind me.”

Gran touched his forearm. “Be careful, Lucas. I love you.”

“Me too.” Luke drove back to Brooke’s house. In the driveway, he paused. He didn’t want to scare her by just walking in. He could knock. No, waking the kids wasn’t necessary. He sent her a text.

O
UTSIDE
. C
OMING IN
.

Hoping she would agree to let him stay, he waited a couple of minutes. Then he unlocked the door and went inside, careful to step over the sleeping dog. He heard the slap of her tail on the hardwood. Sunshine scrambled to her feet as Luke secured the deadbolt.

“Brooke?” Scratching the dog behind her ears, he called softly up the stairs.

Floorboards squeaked at the back of the house. The hall light snapped on. Luke blinked.

“Luke?” Brooke stepped into view. “What are you doing here? Did you forget something?”

“No. After what happened with Maddie today, um…” Warmth flooded the back of Luke’s neck. What was that behind her? “I thought I’d crash on your couch. Is that a gun?”

“Yes.” She hefted it higher. “I hate that I got it out.”

“Not me. I’m damned glad to see it.” Luke walked down the hall toward her. The overhead light glared down on her face. Exhaustion bruised the thin skin under her eyes. He wasn’t much of a hero, but she didn’t know that. With no warning, there hadn’t been anything he could do for Sherry. But he knew about the danger to Brooke, and he had to do everything in his power to protect her.

“Thank you.” Brooke’s voice was weary. “I’d say it wasn’t necessary, but I feel better now that you’re here.”

Her affirmation unleashed a few gallons of testosterone. The heat from his neck flushed right through his face, then lower. “I thought you went to bed?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I went down to my office to grade some tests.” She ducked into her office and turned off the light. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch. You can have Wade’s room upstairs. He’s not using it.”

And be that close to her all night? Probably not a good idea. Not only would he lie awake thinking about her, sleeping in the next room, but what if his nighttime horror flick decided to run a midnight showing? There was no way he could handle anyone seeing him thrash around on the floor like he’d been Tased. “I’d rather be down here where I can hear someone outside.”

“All right. You can sleep in the den. The sofa is longer, and you’ll have more privacy than in the living room.”

Luke followed her through the kitchen, past her office, and into a comfortable room with a medium-size flat screen.
Under the TV was the requisite plethora of teenage-boy electronic toys.

Brooke leaned the gun in the corner and opened a closet. She pulled out a pillow and sheets. “There’s a blanket on the back of the couch. The sofa opens into a bed, but honestly, it’s more comfortable as it is.” As usual, she put everyone else’s well-being before her own needs. Like now, when he should be waiting on her.

Luke dropped his overnight bag on the floor and walked over to take the linens. “I can get everything. You should get off that leg.”

“Thank you for doing this.” She looked up into his eyes. The rich brown was brimming with an emotion he couldn’t quite identify. Gratitude? He leaned closer. His gaze dropped to her mouth. For the second time, the desire to press his lips to her injured lip shocked him. And the scrape on her chin? He wanted to kiss that too, then maybe work his way down the delicate column of her throat, where her pulse throbbed.

He jerked his gaze back to her eyes. They widened as gratitude shifted to surprise, then darkened with the first stirrings of desire.

He’d always thought Brooke was beautiful, but had he ever looked closer, to see the complexity of the woman beneath her exterior? She was a cocktail of strength and vulnerability, intelligence and beauty, compassion and resolve.

Teenage crush aside, her sensuality was something he’d never truly appreciated.

Luke lifted the sheets and pillow from her arms. He backed away before he was tempted to ease her down on the sofa and explore every inch of her courage. “Thanks.”

He couldn’t get any closer to Brooke. Sherry had been his assistant.
There hadn’t been any relationship between them beyond a little harmless flirting. But her death had left him devastated. If he fell for Brooke and couldn’t protect her, he’d never recover.

She blinked, breaking the connection. “Thank you.”

He cleared his throat. “Can I use your computer?”

“Help yourself.” She gave her head a slight shake and moved toward the doorway. “It’s in my office. Do you want this?” She raised the shotgun.

“No. I’d feel better if you keep that with you. Goodnight, Brooke.”

She fled as fast as the bad knee would allow. Sunshine followed her, nails tapping on the floor as the dog went back to her spot by the front door.

Luke should have asked if he could take a cold shower, but he hadn’t anticipated what had just passed between them. Still keyed up, he went into Brooke’s office and booted up the computer. Her machine could use a tune-up.

While he waited, he opened the file drawer. Folders were labeled with names and dates. Luke slid one out. He opened it. Inside were printouts of Internet articles. P
HILADELPHIA
W
OMAN
M
URDERED IN
F
AIRMONT
P
ARK.
Luke returned the file and selected another. Y
OUNG
P
ITTSBURGH
M
OTHER
R
APED AND
S
TRANGLED.
He flipped through the pages. A few more articles. Some notes made by Brooke on key facts of the case. He returned the file and thumbed through the rest. Dozens of files detailing the stories of women murdered in Pennsylvania. In the very front of the drawer was a fat folder full of statistics and reports from the Bureau of Justice. The files she’d started on Maddie and the woman raped in Hillside were right behind the stats file.

No wonder Brooke knew so much about rapists and killers. She was doing more than teaching self-defense. There was an undercurrent of obsession in Brooke’s preoccupation with violence.

He turned back to the computer, accessed the system files, and started cleaning up the hard drive. The laptop chugged. With all the extraneous files on Brooke’s computer, his task was going to take a while. But he wasn’t ready for sleep anyway.

Luke thought back to Brooke’s friend’s death. He vaguely remembered Brooke moving back home afterward and getting married, but he’d been in college and hadn’t been around much. Clearly, that violent act had reshaped her world and changed her.

Would Sherry’s death haunt him forever?

The alarm blared. With part of her brain locked in the dark recesses of sleep, she slapped the
OFF
button. Her eyes snapped open, the erotic images of her dream imprinted in her mind.

Luke. Her. Naked. Doing sweaty things she hadn’t even thought about in years.

She rolled onto her back. A twinge shot through her knee. The pain helped suppress her reawakened libido like shock therapy. Part of her was glad; the other part wanted those visions back.

They were pretty hot.

She moved her leg experimentally on the bed. Still stiff and painful, but she could bend and straighten it a few inches, a definite improvement in range of motion from yesterday.

Her grogginess persisted as she pushed back the covers, almost embarrassed at how well she’d slept with Luke downstairs. She barely remembered climbing into bed.

Do not get used to having him here.

Swinging her legs over the side, she tested a bit more weight on her leg. Better. She locked up her shotgun, then went into the bathroom, showered, and dressed in another pair of loose slacks and a light sweater.

“Time to get up.” She rapped on the kids’ doors on her way down the hall.

The kitchen was empty but smelled of coffee. Brooke poured a cup, downing half while standing over the sink in an effort to
clear her head of the fuzziness left by hard sleep. She left her mug on the counter and moved stiffly toward the den.

Where was Luke? A small flurry of nerves swirled in her belly. Had she imagined the moment between them last night?

“Luke?” Conscious of his privacy, she knocked on the doorjamb.

“In here.” His voice came from the direction of her office.

“Morning.” She poked her head inside. Luke sat at her desk. Her laptop chugged in front of him.

He shifted his attention from the computer to her. “Good morning.”

Something warmed in his eyes, just for a second before he cooled it off, but it had been there. Desire. For her.

Oh. Her face heated. She hadn’t imagined it. How did she feel about that?

Confused, she decided, and pushed it away. The whole interaction needed some time to settle in her mind.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Your hard drive was bogged down. I cleaned it up some last night. Your antivirus software is updating now.” He stood and stretched. His clothes were wrinkled from sleeping in them. His dark hair, rumpled out of its precision
GQ
cut, fell over his forehead. The shadow on his jaw made her wish he’d woken up in bed with her.
Sheesh
, what was wrong with her? “Coffee’s ready. Are you hungry?”

Erotic images reeled through her mind. A lovely warmth bloomed over the rest of her skin.

“Um. I’m good with coffee, thanks. Plus, I’m running a little late this morning.” She shifted back, lifting the hem of her sweater to cool her skin. Maybe she should change into something lighter.

Luke followed her into the kitchen. “Well, I’m hungry. Do you have cereal?”

“In the pantry.”

He selected a box.