Things That Go Hump In The Night (56 page)

Chapter 7

I woke up late the next morning. It had been a long time since I’d been able to sleep in. I rolled slowly out of bed and took a long, luxurious shower, enjoying every minute of my day off. Even from inside the guest house, I could smell roasting barbeque in the air. Locked safely inside the shower, I thought about how nice it would be to eat a meal prepared by someone else for a change.

But food wasn’t the only thing on my mind. When I woke up, I knew that I’d spent at least part of the night dreaming about Tucker. But for once, I wasn’t scared to think about him so much. Instead of nervousness, my stomach clenched with excitement. I’d come here to start a new life, but I’d barely allowed myself to live.

Maybe Tucker could finally change all of that.

After I dried my hair, I decided to just wear it down for the day. I picked out a bright fuchsia tank top and cut-off shorts to wear, and I even put in my giant silver hoop earrings that made me feel like a mysterious, young gypsy. After putting on some mascara and lip gloss, I looked at myself in the mirror.

“Wow,” I had to say aloud. Staring back at me was a young, confident,
happy
woman. There was nothing twitchy and apologetic about my smile, and there was no fear in my eyes. I almost looked like the girl I used to be before meeting Quentin.

And my very first thought was that I couldn’t wait for Tucker to see me. It was eleven o’clock, and I was sure Tucker was up and about by now. I threw on my sandals, locked up the house, and crossed the property to the main house, where the Independence Day festivities were going down.

The barbeque smell got stronger as I got closer, and my stomach rumbled. There were catering trucks parked in the driveway of the main house, and its vast front lawn was covered in smokers, grills, and half a dozen folding tables. The Hendersons were a prominent family in Lakeville, and it looked like the entire town had come to celebrate.

Mrs. Henderson waved to me from a table, where she sat with some other women who were just as blonde and as pretty as her. She was keeping an eye on a small pack of kids running around, and I assumed that at least two of them were hers.

“That’s Cookie,” I heard her say as I walked by. “Don’t tell Anita, but…”

I smiled privately to myself. I nodded at some of the ranch hands, whom I knew already. They were mingling with some other household staff I’d never met before, and I went up to introduce myself. But all the while, I was looking for Tucker.

I finally spotted him chatting with Mark over by the grills. He saw me at the same time I saw him, and I watched as his eyes lit up from within. I walked over, but the entire time it felt like I was floating.

“Hello, stranger,” I said.

Tucker smiled, and I could tell he was remembering last night. “Hello.”

“Morning, Hailey,” Mark said curtly, using his everyday-business-as-usual tone. He raised his eyebrows and squinted across the lawn while he took a sip of coffee. “You know, Mr. Henderson’s here showing some investors around the ranch if you wanna finally meet him.”

“Well…” I’d never actually met the famous Bill Henderson, and it hadn’t really bothered me. But I supposed I should at least introduce myself to the man who paid my salary. I turned to Tucker and put on my sweetest, most innocent grin. “I guess I’ll do that. Can you help me find him?”

“Of course.” He offered me his elbow, which I linked with mine, and off we went.

“How’d you sleep last night?” I asked nonchalantly.

“To be honest, not very well,” Tucker said. Then, he stopped and grabbed me by the waist, turning me to face him. He lowered his voice, and his face tilted an inch closer to mine. “I couldn’t stop thinking about last night. About that kiss.”

“Me neither,” I admitted breathlessly. My heartbeat sped up with excitement, and I couldn’t help but grin back at him like a little girl on Christmas Eve.

Tucker searched my eyes. His hands loosened their grip on my hips, but he still held them there. “I want us to get closer, Hailey. Let me take you out sometime.”

“Let’s just see how today goes,” I said. It wasn’t exactly a yes…but it wasn’t a no, either.

Tucker understood and nodded. “All right. That sounds fair.” But his smile told me that he was extremely encouraged by what I said. “Now, let’s go find the boss man.”

We continued walking along the grass, saying hello to various people as we went. At a certain point, our hands floated together. His finger touched mine, and soon we were holding hands. A minute after that, we reached the gravel driveway, and Tucker pointed to a cluster of men strolling in the shadow of the catering trucks.

“There’s Mr. Henderson,” he said.

I stopped in my tracks.

“He’s the one with the blue shirt,” Tucker said, tugging on my arm. When I didn’t budge, he looked back. “What?”

I stared at the group of men. I barely noticed the gray-haired man in the blue shirt, the one Tucker had said was Mr. Henderson. My attention was entirely focused on the man standing to his right. He was a head shorter than my boss, but he had the broad shoulders and arms of a rugby player. He still kept his hair neatly shorn and trimmed around the edges, exactly how he’d been taught to keep it during his time in the army.

I blinked quickly, thinking for a moment that maybe I was dreaming. That I was having a
nightmare.
But I knew that I wasn’t. It was a warm day, and I felt the sting of a sunburn beginning to form on my arms.

And even in my wildest dreams, I never would’ve imagined Quentin being able to find me here.

“Let’s go—” I began to say, but Mr. Henderson spotted us before I had the chance to run away.

“Tucker!” he said. “Why don’t you come on over here and meet some friends of mine?”

Tucker strolled forward obediently, pulling me along with him. I was so surprised and frightened that I didn’t even have the strength to turn the other way.

“Gentlemen, this is Tucker Bell, one of my capable ranch hands,” Mr. Henderson began, gesturing to Tucker. Then, his focus fell on me.

“This is Hailey, but everyone calls her Cookie. She’s Beatriz’s replacement,” Tucker said.

I smiled shakily while Mr. Henderson touched his chest.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m sure everyone has already told you what a lousy cook that Beatriz was,” he said as he offered his hand.

I laughed nervously as I shook his hand, and Tucker said something about how I was just as capable. All the while, I fixed my eyes on Mr. Henderson’s soft, kind face, trying not to feel the piercing glare of Quentin standing next to him.

“These are some associates,” Mr. Henderson said, pulling away. He went down the line, naming each one in turn. “And Quentin Carter,” he said, introducing the last man.

“It’s nice to meet you both, Tucker. And Cookie.” He smiled ironically as he said my new nickname. His eyes burned into mine, filled with so much hot rage that I could almost feel him scalding me.

How did he find me?
I wondered, my heart slamming hard inside of my chest. But more importantly than that, why wasn’t he saying anything?

I recalled that Mark had said something about Mr. Henderson giving new investors a tour. There was no way Quentin had the kind of money to invest in ranches. It appeared that somehow, he lied to
somebody
in the Henderson business hierarchy about who he really was.

Which bought me a little time, at least.

“Hey, I totally forgot!” I said, slapping my forehead. “I told Mrs. Henderson I was going to do that…thing.”

“Okay. Let’s get going,” Tucker said.

We politely said our goodbyes and strolled away. I resisted the urge to take off on a full sprint. I could still feel the heat of Quentin’s gaze on my back.

When we passed the last catering truck and rounded the corner of the main house, Tucker stopped me and pulled me to face him. His blue eyes were steely and intense as they searched my face.

“Quentin Carter is that boyfriend you told me about, isn’t he?”

My heart had been racing before, but now it stopped dead in its tracks. I gaped back at Tucker. “How did you know that?”

Tucker’s eyes hardened even more, and I could see his lips shaping words, practicing what he was about to say before he actually said it. “I wanted to tell you last night, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it after you told me your story,” he finally spat out. “But a few of the ranch hands and I take turns patrolling the ranch at night. And on one of those nights, I saw that guy hanging around your house.”

Suddenly, it felt like my stomach had filled itself with vinegar. “What? When?”

“Around a month ago. Not long after you showed up here.”

That was around the time I found the letter “Q” carved into my doorsill. I slowly backed away from Tucker without even realizing it.

“How could you not tell me this?” I whispered.

The entire time I’d been here, I’d thought I was safe. But now, that wasn’t true. My hands shook wildly, and I gripped them into fists at my sides.

“I didn’t want to scare you, Hailey.” He raised his hand to touch my shoulder, but his reach fell short. “And ever since that night, the guys and I have paid extra attention to your area of the ranch. You’ve been completely safe the entire time.”

“You don’t know that,” I said.

“I
do
know that.”

Suddenly, Tucker rushed forward and grabbed my arms. “There has never been a moment on this ranch when you’ve been in danger. You have to trust me. I wish I could explain it to you.”

“If my…my…
abuser
is in the same town as I am, I deserve to know,” I hissed. I pressed my hands to his chest, trying to pull away from him, but his grip was too strong. Instead, I made a fist and tried to pound against him without much success.

“I know. I’m sorry,” Tucker said shakily. He sounded genuine.

“You know what this means, right? Quentin must’ve been following me the whole way. He’s been watching me the entire time I’ve been here.”

“Not since that first night I caught him. He hasn’t set foot back on the ranch until now.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once, Tucker. There’s no way you could know that for sure.” I sighed, trying to calm myself. “Please let me go.”

Tucker finally released me. I spun on my heel and began walking away.

“Hailey, please!” Tucker said.

I didn’t turn around, and for whatever reason, Tucker didn’t chase after me, which was fine by me. I wasn’t walking in any specific direction. I just wanted to be far away from Quentin.

And far away from Tucker, too.

* * *

I managed to mingle and socialize through most of the day without running into Tucker or Quentin again. But while I was happy on the outside, my mind was troubled. Eventually, as the sky finally shaded over with dusky lavender, Mr. Henderson made his appearance, which meant that Quentin was probably loose on the property somewhere.

And if he went through the trouble of lying to get here, then he was looking for me.

As much as I didn’t want to, I had to go to Tucker for help. He was the only other person who knew about my past with Quentin.

I got Tucker’s attention and motioned him toward a tree standing at the edge of the property. We met under its leafy branches, and I released a long, shuddering breath, preparing myself to unload everything.

“What are you going to do?” Tucker asked.

I stared at the party in the distance and shrugged. “At the very least, I have to talk to him. I have to communicate to him that I’m never going back.”

Tucker raised his eyebrows. “You sure that’s a good idea?”

I turned my body to face him squarely. “I never technically broke up with him. I just left.”

“That means you did break up with him.”

“Not by his standards,” I said. I could hear the desperation in my own voice, and I cast my gaze to my shoes. “I can’t just do
nothing.
He’ll keep coming, and coming, and coming…” I was exhausted just thinking about it.

Tucker leaned against the tree. “Then, at least bring me with you for back-up.”

“What do you think I am, stupid?” I said sharply. “Of course you’re coming with me.”

Tucker, surprised by my outburst, laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

His laughter died down, and he slid around the tree to stand next to me. We silently. contemplated the party from a distance. Now that it was a little darker, the kids were playing with sparklers. From far away, they looked like shooting stars, dipping and swirling along the ground.

“I hope it all works out,” I said.

Tucker stretched his arm around my back and squeezed me into his side. “It will,” he said. “Trust me.”

Chapter 8

Finding Quentin was as easy as asking Mark to deliver a message to one of Mr. Henderson’s “investors.” We told him to meet us at the barn on the southern edge of the property.

Tucker and I waited inside. The old barn was in an area of the ranch that didn’t see much traffic. The cattle were housed on the other side of the property, so this barn had been dedicated to simply being a glorified storage unit. Several half-built tractors took up most of the room inside, their various parts littered around them on the dusty ground. It wasn’t wired for electricity and was so unwelcoming that not even Mr. Henderson’s teenage daughter came out here with her boyfriends, according to Tucker, which made it a perfectly private meeting spot.

Finally, we heard heavy shoes crunching through grass just outside the door. I recognized the sound of Quentin’s gait, slow and angry like a rolling thundercloud. My heartrate picked up instinctively, and I could feel my nervous system slipping into “panic” mode. I forced myself to take deep breaths through my nose and calm down.

I’m with Tucker,
I thought to myself.
I’m with Tucker, and I’m safe.

Quentin’s shadow stretched across the doorway before I saw the man himself. He strolled in, framed in the light of the dying sunset, and took a long surveying look around before fixing his gaze on me.

His eyes were cold.

“So what’s the deal, Hailey?” he said, his voice already sharp with anger. He raised his arms and began walking toward me. “You run away from home, and now you’re cheating on me with this guy?”

I closed my eyes.
I’m safe,
I told myself. When I opened them again, I was ready.

“I’m not cheating on you, Quentin. We’re not together anymore.”

Quentin laughed, but there wasn’t any happiness in it. “Right. Okay. Well you had your fun, and now it’s time to go home.”

“I’m already home. I’m not going back.”

“To hell you aren’t.”

“You heard what she has to say,” Tucker piped up. “I think you should move on, man.”

Quentin raised his eyebrows, acting as if he was noticing Tucker for the first time. “Is that right,
man
?” He laughed again and turned his attention back to me. “How many times did you open your legs for this guy? Probably a lot, huh?”

Tucker growled.

“Hailey, stop being a child. You had your fun playing house with these cowboys, but it’s time to wake up. You’re dreaming if you think you’re going to stay out here. And this is your last chance. I’m not going to come back to fix everything when it all falls apart.”

“I don’t need you, Quentin!” I shouted. Encouraged by my own energy, I continued on, “If everything falls apart, then fine.
I’ll
deal with it. But the two of us are finished. Go. Home.”

Quentin’s expression froze, and he was so perfectly still that he looked like a photograph. The next three seconds were chillingly long as I watched his unmoving form. Then, his hand whipped underneath his denim jacket, and when it came back out, I could see he was holding a gun.

A slow smile crept over his face. “You better rethink your answer, Hailey, or your sheep-fucker friend is the one who pays.”

The next few moments seemed to pass in slow motion. I rushed forward, jumping between Tucker and Quentin. Then, I realized that there was nothing between the gun and me. I had to say something, and I had to say it quick.

“I don’t want you to get in trouble, Quentin. I just want you to leave.”

Quentin’s hand was shaking slightly as he aimed the gun barely over my shoulder. “You’re coming with me,” he said.

I’m not.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Could I say no when Quentin was holding a gun and threatening to kill Tucker? Would it be selfish of me? I turned to look over my shoulder at Tucker, but…

“He left,” Quentin said aloud.

I stared at the empty space behind me where moments ago, Tucker had been standing. When Quentin laughed, I turned back around to face him, and my entire body went cold.

Quentin, catching the way my expression dropped, stopped laughing. “What?” He turned his head to see what I was looking at, and he gasped.

The bear stood in the doorway, silent as a boulder. But when Quentin looked at him, he raised his lips and released the most sinister, predatory snarl I’d ever heard. The sound of it ignited the most basic, primal fear inside of me, and I felt it flood into my bloodstream like cold cement.

“Oh, god,” Quentin said, shaking. The gun shook right out of his fingers and hit the ground.

All I could do was back away. Eventually, I ran into one of the tractors, and there was nowhere else to go. The bear advanced on us, chasing Quentin deeper into the barn until he was close enough for me to touch. It gave another growl, the sound of it vibrating inside of my bones.

Quentin tried to scream, but he couldn’t. All he could manage were some strangled, gulping noises. The bear lumbered up to him and stretched its neck forward. It roared right into Quentin’s face.

From behind, I could see the inside of Quentin’s jeans turn dark as he slowly wet himself. Then, he crumpled to the ground in a pathetic, unconscious heap.

My triumph was short-lived, because now there was nothing blocking me from the bear. My eyes flicked up from Quentin’s broken form, searching for the predator my instincts expected, but the bear was gone.

And in its place was Tucker, and he was naked.

I felt cold all over, not just on my skin but right down to the blood. My stomach churned and rolled with nausea, and my limbs shook so violently I was in pain. I tried to stay upright, but the world was tilting sideways.

Tucker rushed forward to catch me in his bare, muscular arms, but I didn’t even have the energy to enjoy myself.

“You’re in shock,” he said softly, stroking my hair. “Come on.”

My teeth chattered.
What in the world? Why the hell are you naked? Did you see that bear, or was I dreaming? Is it just me or were
you
the bear?
I wanted to say all those words, but my jaw was locked up.

Tucker supported my entire weight as he walked me out of the barn. Night had fallen during the whole exchange with Quentin, and the moment we set foot outside, the first firework raced up the sky. There was a loud pop, exactly like a gunshot. An instant later, florets of sparks showered down, illuminating Mark in a rainbow of light as he suddenly rushed toward me from out of nowhere.

“There, there,” he said, tucking a flannel blanket around my shoulders. He didn’t seem to think it was strange that I was in hysterics, and that Tucker was buck-naked. “Get her back home and get her something to drink.”

“The guy is still in the barn,” Tucker said. “He fainted.”

Mark exhaled loudly. “I guess I should call the sheriff, then.”

Hearing those words reenergized me, and I practically jumped out of Tucker’s arms. “I want to stay here for that.”

Tucker and Mark both looked at me in surprise.

“After everything that’s happened, I deserve to see the ending,” I said seriously.