10. Grayson

CHAPTER 10

Grayson

A soft thud wakes me from a sound sleep and I jerk a bit, freezing when I hear Raine mutter in her sleep.

But that doesn't stop me from getting up and grabbing my gun. I just do it quietly so I don't wake her.

Hopefully I don't have to shoot someone. That would be a shock I'm sure.

But I slip through the half-closed door to the hallway and tiptoe lightly through my house. I have the alarm system on. I checked it when I went to bed. But there's no sound from it and I know that I heard something in here.

I slip down until I'm low to the ground by the bar outside the kitchen and glare silently out, my eyes fixed and focused, staring at where I feel like that noise came from.

And like a wraith in the dark, I see a shadow move in my home. In my home, dammit! How the hell did he get in here?

Doesn't matter. Not really. His ass is grass as soon as I get close enough to catch him.

But like he can hear me thinking, he stays just far enough out of reach to keep me from catching him.

I grind my teeth and try to slip around behind him, hoping to get my hands on him, maybe rough him up a little bit. Not much. After all, he's got a date with a jail cell.

But if I could just prove that I'm the perfect person to protect Raine, that wouldn't go amiss. She's a hard woman to understand and an even harder woman to protect.

But it's ingrained in me that I need to take care of her.

She means so much to me. Always has. Always will. And now that I've been with her, I know that I can't let her go. Even if it breaks up our friendship, I can't let Colt tell me that I can't be with her. It would kill me.

The wraith moves for the door quickly and I curse under my breath, angry that I zoned out so much I didn't see that he either spotted me or he was done with whatever he was doing. And he moved fucking fast!

I cursed silently and ran at the door but he already vanished into the night.

But there had to be a reason that he's here and I turn on every damn light in this place until I find it.

A miniature doll house. Really tiny and filled with all of these strange toys that somehow manage to look evil, not playful.

When I look closely, my blood boils and then chills to frostbite. The girl in the building has wild red hair like Raine. And she's lying in a casket. Laying across her chest is a single blue rose.

My brow scrunches. That has to mean something right? A blue rose?

But the only way I find out is if I wake Raine up and let her take a look at this monstrosity. And I just don't want to do that yet. She's finally sleeping well and this will probably kill that for the rest of the night.

But that blue rose is niggling at me, pushing at something just outside of my reach.

I pick up my phone and call Colt, who's on midnights this week. Even though he's the boss, he doesn't take any job that he wouldn't give one of his men and vice versa.

"Hey, Colt."

"Yeah, man. What's up? Isn't it kind of late to call me."

"Yeah. But someone was just in my house and they left a damn calling card and it's bugging the hell out of me."

"Someone got past your security system? How the hell did they do that?"

"I don't honestly know but it's bugging the hell out of me. I know that this thing he left is a clue but I can't figure it out, although I feel like I know."

"What is it that he left?"

"A dollhouse?"

"A dollhouse? That's weird."

"Yeah, right? But there's more."

"Okay. Tell me. Quit eking it out."

"Okay. The house looks a little bit like your parents' house. And in one of the rooms that looks like Raine's childhood bedroom, there is a coffin with her in it. Or rather a doll that looks like her."

"Oh shit, that's creepy."

"Tell me about it. I don't know what to do about this. But especially the damn rose is bugging the hell out of me."

"Rose? You didn't say anything about a rose."

"Oh. Yeah, that's the part that stuck in my head and I felt like I should know why."

"Well, for starters. The dollhouse. One year for Christmas, my mom and dad got Raine a special dollhouse. It looked just like their house."

Whatever happened to that house?"

"She threw it away when she outgrew things like dollhouses."

"So it went in the trash. And found its way here?"

"Sounds like it. But it didn't have a little goth bedroom with a vampire bride."

So what's the significance of the bride in black with a blue rose?"

"Blue? A blue rose?"

"Yeah. Why do you keep repeating every thing I say?"

"That means something. I vaguely remember this really weird guy that lived near us. And his house had blue roses outside of it. I was fascinated by that bush and those roses for the longest time. But I also recognized that there was something different about that dude. He was just strange. Not to mention that he seemed absolutely fixated on my baby sister."

"Why didn't you mention him before?"

"Because it's ancient history. I never would have thought of him if it wasn't for those blue roses. He even tried to give her some once. A small arrangement and she handed them back. Said she couldn't take something like that from a stranger."

And there's more?

I can hear it in his voice. "Okay. I also noticed how he acted around her and I didn't like it. So I cornered him and told him to stay the hell away from my sister."

I groan. "Well, that could explain the hostility. But where did he hear about her and how did he find her?"

"I think I might have an idea. Your sister needs to get this solved and I've got the perfect idea to make it happen. So we're gonna make him think that we broke up. And we're gonna tempt him into revealing himself a little bit. Just enough to nab him."

"Okay. But I don't like the idea of using Raine as bait."

"I don't either. But it has to be done. I cannot stand knowing that whoever this is is out there and they think they can steal her from me."

I want to slap my own face because Colt is not an idiot.

"Where is Raine?"

"She's sleeping."

"Whose bed is she sleeping in, Gray?"

"Mine, Colt."

He explodes and I almost duck to avoid the shrapnel from his tongue.

"Why the hell is Raine in your bed, Gray? And be very careful how you answer that question. Because your legs hang in the balance."

"You won't hurt me, Colt."

"I don't know that yet. I'm really considering it."

"I love your sister. I've always loved her and I intend to marry her as soon as she'll let me tie her ass down."

A startled gasp sounds behind me and I straighten up, closing my eyes.

"I've got to go. I promise you that I won't hurt Raine. It would be like hurting myself because every piece of me belongs to a piece of her."

He doesn't say a world, just hangs up.

That was hard enough. But facing Raine? That's gonna take a strong stomach.

I groan and sense her stiffening, getting ready to put up a fight that she doesn't need to participate in.

But if she does, I'm going to win.