Retribution Boxed Set (Books One and Two) (26 page)

That was the last time she’d ever return to this
place. Another chapter over and done.

Sam’s muscles bulged as he lifted her stuffed
suitcases. “I want you to go first. If that kid kills the few brain cells he
has left and decides to come after us, I want to be between you and him.”

She didn’t argue. The man knew what he was doing,
and in the short time she’d known him, she was certain she wouldn’t be able to
change his mind.

Outside, they stuffed her items into his trunk and
backseat, and were on the road once again.

Sam rolled down the window halfway, letting the
cool night air into the car. Lights from the dash illuminated his face, but he
kept his eyes on the road, his expression neutral. When he merged into a lane that
led to Interstate Five, she allowed herself to relax. She was safe. For the
moment.

“Thank you.” Her voice filled the darkened space
and then disappeared with a rush of the wind blowing inside the car.

“You’re welcome.” He flicked a glance at her
before he returned his gaze to the road.

She searched for something else to say. “What’s
going to happen now?”

“I’m going to take you to our safe house. As soon
as Paul has recovered enough, he will be charged with assault and battery.” He
paused. “And any other charges I can think up. I’m sure he’ll lawyer-up, but
his attorney will have to be damn good to get him out of this one.” He glanced
at her again. “You have some pretty damning evidence. Once it goes to trial,
he’ll be screwed.”

“Are they going to want me to testify? She hadn’t
planned on sticking around that long.

“Their case will be pretty weak without your
testimony. Unless he pleads guilty, which I doubt, it will go before a jury. They
need to see your face, hear your voice to bring home exactly what a sick
bastard Paul is.”

“What will happen if I can’t do it?”

“What do you mean? He exited the interstate. “Why
wouldn’t you be able to testify?”

“I don’t know. I just…I don’t know.” She shrugged.
“I hadn’t planned on staying in town for long.” More than that, she didn’t want
her bad choices put on display for a courtroom full of people to hear.

“Look, I know it’s a tough thing to face your
attacker. Especially when you don’t ever want to see him again, but you need to
so we can put him away for a long time.”

“Can’t you get him on drug charges or something
else so I don’t have to be there?”

“I had them send in a drug-sniffing dog while you
were at the station. They had a couple of hits, but all they could find were
two small joints. Do you have some information you’re willing to impart that
could help with that charge?”

She sighed. “No.” This was exactly why Paul would
never let her go. He believed she could give away his secrets. She wished now
that she’d paid better attention and had gained herself some leverage if she
needed it. “I stayed away from anything he did that was illegal. I guess I
tried to tell myself if I didn’t listen, it wasn’t happening. Deep down, I knew
if he thought I knew too much or if he thought I’d talk, he’d kill me.”

Headlights delved into the shadows between a
multitude of trees as Sam drove along a residential street. She could see a few
houses here and there, but most were hidden by greenery. He slowed and pulled
into the double driveway of an older gray rock house with a steep, pitched roof.
Neatly-trimmed shrubs ran along the front of the structure. More bushes and
trees grew thick along the sides, protecting the privacy of the backyard.

Sam pushed a button above his rearview mirror and
waited for the garage door to rise. Once they were inside and he’d shut off the
engine, he turned to her. “There must be something.”

The skeptical look on his face bothered her. “There’s
not.”

“I understand that people don’t like to get
further embroiled in sticky situations, but if he’s awake, his guys are already
looking for you. He’s going to believe you’ve told the police everything
whether you have or not.”

Her irritation spiked. “I just told you I don’t
know anything. I don’t lie.” Except to Paul and that was justifiable.

He let out a sigh heavy with frustration. “Okay. But
I hope you’ll at least think about it. See if there’s anything you can
remember.”

She opened her car door and got out, shutting it
and his words behind her. She didn’t need the doubting detective harassing her.
Not this night.

She tried to enter the house through a door in
the garage, but a flashing red light warned her that the security system had been
activated. She refused to look at him as he walked up behind her, set down her
suitcases and entered the code, opening the door for her. “Let me take that for
you.” He slipped her carry-on bag from her shoulder before she could argue.

He set her suitcases inside the door before
flipping on the lights. They’d entered through a mud room which led to the
kitchen. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t this. The well-appointed
house had been decorated in rich reds and golds, and had an old English feel to
it. The dark wooden table with nicks and scratches looked like it might have
come straight out of an English pub.

“This is a safe house? Do the police own it? It
was hard to imagine the police chief could get away spending taxpayer dollars
on something so…maybe luxurious wasn’t the right word, but it was close.

“No. This doesn’t belong to the PD. Your room is
this way.” He started down a hallway, turning on lights as he went. He stopped
inside a mid-size room, and then backed out and continued down the hall to the
end. “I’ll give you this room, instead.”

“What’s wrong with the other room? The rust-colored
comforter had given the space a warm, cozy feel, and she could picture herself
there. However, when she entered the next room, any remaining questions
evaporated. A massive walnut bed covered with a dark green quilt greeted her,
calling to her to come rest a while. “It’s beautiful.”

“Yeah. You’ll enjoy the bathroom more than I will
anyway.”

“The bathroom? Her gaze wandered to the adjoining
door, and she couldn’t help taking a peek. A wondrous marble tub with two
faucets rested in one corner and gorgeous natural stone tiles covered the floor
and the shower walls. “Oh…wow.” She’d never had the luxury of soaking in such a
tub.

“See? He caught her expression and returned the
smile. “You’ll enjoy it much more. The only way I’d use it was if we—if I—never
mind. It’s all yours.” He turned and left the room.

She stared after him. His Freudian slip and the hint
of a blush on his cheeks caught her off guard.

The confident cop had been thrown off his game as
well. She blinked, a little shocked.

By her
.

She’d experienced a definite attraction the first
moment she’d met him, but wasn’t sure how one-sided it was on her part. Sure,
he’d flirted with her, asked her to dance. But she actually affected him enough
to make him forget his words?

She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.

He returned a moment later with her suitcases,
and then left again without uttering another word.

The tub was heaven. She melted into the warm,
bubbly water like hot fudge on vanilla ice cream. The delicious jets pounded
against her tense muscles, stealing away her stress. She was hidden away in an
unknown location with an experienced police officer watching her. For the first
time in a long time, she didn’t have to worry about her safety.

She’d been well into her soak, thinking about her
recent interaction with Sam, when she realized she’d entered the bathroom,
turned on the water, and hadn’t had a thought about Paul forcing her to take a
scalding shower. She had Sam to thank for that.

She glanced down at her hands, prepared to scrub
the blood from beneath her fingernails, but it was gone. Soaking in the warm
tub had taken care of that, too.

When she’d warmed and relaxed to her heart’s
content, she abandoned her loving tub and sought out her soft, pink tank top
and a pair of black yoga pants. She looked longingly at the huge bed, aching to
test it out.

But first, she had a few questions for Detective
Holden. Never again would she trust and not ask when her life was at stake.

The house was quiet when she exited her bedroom. She
retraced her steps back down the hall and followed the trail of lights from
there. The kitchen was empty, and so was the entertainment room connected to it.
She was about to head back to her room thinking Sam had left lights on in the house
and had gone to bed when she spied the open door leading outside.

Sam leaned against a wooden railing that
separated the patio from the lawn, staring off into the distance. He looked up
as she joined him. He’d changed into a snug dark blue t-shirt and jeans, his
dark blond hair looking rumpled, the expression on his face pensive.

“Thought you’d gone to bed,” he said. His voice
held a tiredness to it.

“Soon.” She peered out into the forested backyard.
A chill owned the air, enhanced by the greenery and lack of sunshine. Lights
from the house played with thick tree branches, casting suspicious shadows
across the lawn, and she had to remind herself no one knew where she was. Except
Nicole and Xander. In the distance, she could hear the rush of the river.

She leaned against the rail, too, leaving a
respectable distance between them. “Something isn’t quite right here.”

Sam stiffened, quickly glancing around the
surroundings as though searching for the source of danger. “What do you mean?”

“With you.” She studied him, searching for a hint
that would help her understand some of the puzzle pieces that weren’t fitting
together.

He crooked a brow in question, his intense dark
eyes flashing with an interested, searching expression. “Explain.”

“You’re a detective.”

“So?”

“I might not know all the ins and outs of police
procedure, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t part of a detective’s job to hide out
with people at a safe house. Especially one that doesn’t belong to the police
department.”

“It could be. Depending on the case.”

“But it isn’t. Not in this case. Is it?”

He met and held her gaze for several long moments,
and she began to wonder if he’d give her an answer. Then he nodded. “You are
correct.”

The fact that she wasn’t under official police
protection made her shiver. “Then what’s going on here? Who owns this place?”

He hesitated again, and she was certain this was
not a discussion he preferred to have. “Technically, I own it, but we’ve used
it as a safe house for a while now.”

“
We,
as in the police bureau?”

“No. We, as in a select group of people dedicated
to serving justice.”

“But not cops. Or, at least not working as cops
at that moment.”

He sighed and turned toward the trees. “Janie, this
isn’t something you need to know. It could endanger my job as well as the lives
of my partners.”

She frowned, not liking his answer. “So, I’m
supposed to trust you with my life, but you won’t trust me? Was Xander part of
this group? Had Nicole agreed to the same terms?

He turned to her, took a step closer, the energy
bouncing between them increasing exponentially. Light from the house played
over his features, and he seemed every inch the authoritative cop. “You’re safe.
That’s all you need to be concerned about.”

“It’s because of Paul, isn’t it?”

Sam hesitated a second too long.

“You don’t trust me because of him.”

“Look. I trust you, okay? But there are certain
things that you don’t need to know. It’s better for everyone involved.”

It didn’t feel better to her. In fact, Sam’s
words reminded her of Paul when he’d begun the metamorphosis into a monster. “Fine.”
It didn’t matter if he trusted her anyway. She wouldn’t be there long. “It’s
been a really awful day. I’m going to bed.”

He nodded, an unhappy look on his face. She
didn’t care. He was the one who put the wall between them. So be it.

She’d made it halfway to her bedroom when a knock
sounded on the front door.

Janie stopped in her tracks, not certain what she
should do. Her safe haven was being intruded upon, and while she didn’t think
it was a certain threat, she couldn’t help but wonder.

A second later, Sam passed by the hall, giving
her a raised-brow glance, as though hinting she needed to retreat to her
bedroom.

Forget that. If she was jumping from one hornet’s
nest into another, she’d just as soon know right now. She turned off the hall
light so she would be less visible, but she walked back to where it led into
the kitchen and waited.

Sam greeted someone named Christian.

“Is she here?” a male voice responded.

“Yeah. She’s been through some serious shit
tonight. She went to bed, so you’ll have to—”

They’d moved closer to where she stood, and Sam
stop speaking when he spied her. “Or not. Janie, I’d like you to meet Christian.
He’s a friend of mine.”

A friend or a
friend
, she wanted to ask. She
stepped forward into the light and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

He shoved the bag of groceries and jug of milk
into Sam’s arms before he took her hand in his as an interested smile lit his
face, warming his brown eyes. His longer dark hair gave him a laid back look,
and she instantly liked him. She was certain she’d seen him at Nicole and
Xander’s wedding as well, and she had to wonder who was this group of guys that
hung around her best friend’s new husband.

“Hello, Janie.” He didn’t release her hand as he
kept talking. “I’m sorry you had such a rotten night. Anything I can do for you?
He dropped his gaze in a quick assessment of her, but for whatever reason, his
actions didn’t feel creepy. It was the good vibe coming off him or something.

“She’s fine,” Sam interjected. “She just needs some
rest, right? He eyed her.

She wanted to argue so she could spend more time
with them figuring out their operation, but she could take a hint as well as
most people, and it was obvious Sam wanted her to disappear. So she would. “Thanks
for asking, Christian.” That would annoy Sam, and he deserved it. “But I do
need some sleep.”

“Sure.” He smiled again, slight dimples showing
in his cheeks. “I’ll see you later.”

But would he? She wouldn’t be around for too
long, and chances were, he wouldn’t be back before then. “Goodnight, then.” She
could feel two sets of male eyes boring into her back as she left.