Authors: Elle Saint James
Tags: #Romance
She’d changed majors three times after that first year in college. Nursing got difficult when she got behind in the program after her parents died and she was the only one to take care of the burial arrangements. She switched to something completely opposite after the end of the first year.
Interior decorating had been fun, but she wasn’t good at it, according to her professors and more specifically her grades at the semester’s end. Accounting came next and was discarded quickly during her first exam. Debits and credits were minions of Satan put on earth as far as she was concerned.
The final program she managed to stick with was hotel management. She loved the idea of greeting guests, treating them like family in her place, and best of all, she’d never be alone again. She could hire an accountant when the time came.
Marisol’s face flashed in her mind. Now she and her son were back on the road and homeless. She hoped her friend had made it back to her family. She’d taken Marisol and Javier in and tried to help them. But had lost them all the same after an unexpected explosion. Or in other words, another failure. She couldn’t help others if she couldn’t even help herself.
Declan and Troy didn’t
need
her. They’d never planned on her being a fixture in their lives. Declan had a difficult ex-wife and issues about settling down. She understood that. She didn’t blame him.
A loose plan formed in her head for when they got to the property that would
supposedly
be a supremely protected place. She’d thank them for their kindness and then head out on her own. They’d probably be relieved that she was leaving.
A sudden movement outside the kitchen window startled her.
What was that?
She almost dropped the half carton of eggs. She put them back safely and peeked out the window again. Another flutter of movement at the edge of the porch made her turn toward the front door. Was it a bird? A wild animal? Troy returning? She walked to the door and opened it slowly.
Outside and to the left of the porch, two adorable fawns frolicked at the edge of the tree line. She clapped a hand to her mouth and sucked in a sharp breath of surprise, stifling the urge to squeal in delight at seeing something so sweet and endearing after all the excitement of the past few days.
She crossed the threshold, toes barely covering half a step past the door, for a better look.
A noise behind her forced a glance away from the adorable fawns in the direction of the bedroom. Had Declan called for her? But then the mama deer emerged from the side of the house as if to protect her young from Ava’s visual intrusion. She took two slow steps farther out onto the porch to watch the charming nature scene before her. She glanced at the dirt road nearby, which disappeared down a small hill toward the convenience store.
As if suddenly spooked by a predator, the mama and her young suddenly darted into the woods and out of sight. Ava leaned forward to watch them run as a sudden prickle of unease made her spin around.
She was no longer alone on the porch. The familiar smiling face of the intruder in her sights went to war with the bad feeling circulating in her gut. The man showed a brief expression of relief and smiled. But it turned menacing one second later.
“Diego?” she said in surprise one second before her building contractor frowned, growled, and lunged for her with murder in his eyes.
Troy left both Ava and Declan sound asleep and headed to Jed’s Gas and Go for the few supplies they’d need on the coming trip to Colorado. He collected a six-pack of cold water bottles and deposited it on the counter, eyeing the snacks next to the register.
The owner, Jed, was just coming in through a back door. “Sorry, Mr. Markham. I hope you weren’t waiting long.”
“Nope. Just got here.”
“I been on a tow call.” He wiped his hands on a towel behind the counter and walked to the register.
“I’m gathering some things for our trip home.” He grabbed a package of sunflower seeds, some beef jerky, and several Snickers bars and dumped them next to the water.
“You’re leaving already?” Jed pointed over his shoulder. “But your friend with the broken-down car just got here. I haven’t even unhooked it from the tow hitch yet. I thought he called you when we were on our way here.”
“Friend?” A dark feeling scurried along the bottom edge of Troy’s belly. “What friend?”
Jed squinted. “Well, this feller called for a tow earlier today. He was across the border in Arkansas, but I’m the only twenty-four-hour tow service for fifty miles. So once I picked him up, well, we got to talking on the way back here. I mentioned that some folks from Arkansas were staying in one of the cabins nearby. He got real interested and asked about what you looked like. I described you, and he said he knew you. He knew your name and everything. We just now got back here, not more than five or ten minutes ago. I pointed out your cabin. He thanked me and said he would wait at your place until his car was fixed—”
Troy was running back to the cabin before he even felt his legs moving.
He heard Jed call out, “Hey, where are you going? Don’t you want your snacks and stuff?” The door slammed hard on any further questions.
Troy ran as fast as he was able. Just as he crested the small hill arriving at the final fifty yards to the front door of the cabin, he saw Ava standing on the front porch an arm’s length away from a strange man. A man she didn’t seem to see.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and drew his attention briefly away. Ignoring the phone, he glanced back at Ava. She’d whirled around and now faced the stranger.
Forty yards away. Thirty. Still too far.
The man growled and lunged for her with his hands aimed at her throat. Troy watched also, but heard the unmistakable sound of Ava’s shriek echo across the seemingly endless space he still needed to traverse.
* * * *
Eyes still shut, Declan shot straight up in bed, waking all of a sudden when he heard the front door open. He’d heard Troy leave earlier. Was he back already? A sudden feeling of ill ease swept down his sluggish body. With one arm he reached out to the rest of the bed’s surface and felt nothing but quilt. His eyes popped open. He was alone in bed.
Shit
. Where was she?
“Ava,” he called out to the closed door. No response. A really sinister feeling crept farther inside, all the way to his bones. There was another sound that he couldn’t quite identify. A sharp intake of breath? Was she in trouble? He slid from the bed, still wearing only his jeans, and treaded barefoot a couple of steps, listening intently. Something was wrong.
Acting on gut instinct alone, Declan bolted through the bedroom door, rounded the corner into the living room, and charged full speed ahead. The front door was wide open. He saw Ava on the porch looking at something to her left.
One long step later, she suddenly turned to her right and said, “Diego?” Then a man lunged completely across the frame of the open door in Ava’s direction like a rogue animal from a pack of feral wolves. The growl from the stranger’s throat was an ominous precursor to his deadly intent. As Declan moved far too slowly, he saw the man’s hands outstretched, the fingertips curling and aiming for her neck.
Ava shrieked, “No!”
She pounded his forearms and struggled against his choke hold like a caged animal.
The scene before him then morphed into slow motion. Declan tried to send more power to his legs so he’d be faster. He needed to get to her. He needed to pull the strange man off her. He heard his phone begin to ring from the other room and ignored it, pushing himself to get to her. To save her.
Run harder. Faster
.
He leapt through the front door in time to see the man tighten his hands around Ava’s neck. Her movements slowed. Her eyes, at first wide and frightened, started to drift shut. Declan shot one hand around Diego’s neck and with the other grabbed a handful of thick black hair, wrenching him from Ava.
The sound of his phone ringing incessantly from the bedroom intruded on the edge of his consciousness, but he shoved it aside, ignored it, and kept moving as hard as he could and as fast as he could. The man kept his hands on her throat and shot his head sideways, narrowly missing hitting Declan in the nose with his forehead.
Bastard
.
Declan squeezed his fingers tight around Diego’s throat. He wheezed once and released Ava. She crumpled to the porch, gasping for breath as Declan shoved the struggling man down the couple of porch steps. Together they stumbled to the grass. He lost his hold around the man’s throat when they hit the ground. Now that the assassin’s hands were no longer around Ava’s throat, the man kicked, twisted around, and grabbed at him freely. Declan tried to get some good punches in, but Diego resisted.
They fought this death match for not too long. Diego’s meaty hands went around Declan’s throat, pinning him to the ground. He kicked at Diego’s legs and shoved his palm under the man’s jaw. He inched his fingers toward his opponent’s eyes, trying to get him to let go. Declan’s air was cut off. He was losing his grip. He needed help. Just as he formed the thought,
Where’s Troy
?, he heard an angry roar from the direction of the road.
Good. Reinforcements
.
He dug his thumb into the lower edge of the man’s eye socket, trying to get him to let go.
Diego screamed, shifted his body away, and more importantly, his hands came away from Declan’s throat. But suddenly Diego slammed something hard into the side of his head, setting off the mother of all headaches.
A wicked darkness with stars spread quickly across his vision. He tightened his grip, but Diego broke away easily. As his eyesight cleared, he saw the man run into the woods, Troy hot on his trail, but Ava called out to him. He closed his eyes because the effort of keeping them open hurt too damn much.
“Troy. Wait. Declan’s hurt.”
Declan couldn’t speak for a moment. He suddenly felt Ava’s soft hands on his face. She must have bent closer because the sultry floral scent of her suddenly overwhelmed him, easing his pain. He slid his eyes open again to see her worried expression. Time to man up. He lifted his hand up for help.
Troy reached down and grabbed Declan’s wrist, pulling him slowly to his feet. This action hurt like a knife stabbed repeatedly to his brain, but he was grateful to be alive. He swayed, and Ava supported him.
“Fuck. You’re bleeding,” Troy said as if surprised. “What did he hit you with?”
Declan groaned. “Felt like a brick.”
“It was a rock,” Ava said quietly. “Diego, my building contractor, hit him with a rock from the flower garden border.” Her gaze was fixed on the woods where he’d disappeared.
Still holding on to Declan, she sniffed loudly, and then started babbling nonstop. “I don’t understand. I hired Diego two months ago to fix my house. Why is he here? How did he find us? Why would he try to strangle me? Why would he try to kill Declan with a rock?”
She turned back to face the two of them and kept asking questions. “Was he the one who blew up my house? Why would he do that? Why would anyone do that?”
Troy put a hand on her shoulder. “Calm down. We’ll figure this out. Unfortunately, it’s entirely possible Diego may be the assassin trying to kill you. We’ll have to confirm it later, but for now let’s get out of here.” He turned to Declan. “Can you walk?”
Declan nodded. Troy reached a hand out to help him up. The sound of several engines revving in the direction of where Diego had run suddenly rose in the woods. Had he called for backup already?
Troy herded them both quickly toward the shed where the minivan waited. “We need to go. Right now. Before he comes back with reinforcements and more weapons than just his hands.”
“Not until you check to make sure he didn’t wire the van to blow sky-high.”
Troy shook his head. “The van’s locked, besides, he didn’t have time to plant a bomb.” They kept moving toward the shed.
“Says who?” Declan stopped ten feet shy of the opening where the front bumper was visible. “How do you know how much time he had?”
“Because I talked to Jed from the convenience store. He just towed the guy’s vehicle here ten minutes ago. Come on. Let’s go.”
Declan wasn’t convinced. “Are you willing to risk all of our lives on Jed’s estimation of time elapsed? If Diego does turn out to be the assassin, we should take that into consideration. He sets bombs and kills people for a living. At least take thirty seconds to pop the hood and check the engine for things that don’t belong. And take a glance at the undercarriage, too.”
“Fine.” Troy left them outside the vehicle at a relatively safe distance and quickly checked beneath the hood and under the vehicle all around before getting in and starting it up. He had one eye closed when he turned the ignition as if he half expected to be blown to smithereens. It started up right away. Thankfully, nothing exploded.
Troy motioned them forward and not a second too soon. The pain from his head wound radiated through his skull and down his spine with each step he took. Declan felt a trickle of blood on the back of his neck, but ignored it in favor of getting inside the van before he passed out from pain.
He and Ava climbed into the center row of seating, and he pushed her to the floor. Troy slammed it into gear and shot out of the shed.