Chapter 7

Now that she'd told me everything about what was going on with her and the scumbag she was running from, everything seemed to make a lot more sense. Alex sounded like some of the worst pieces of shit that I'd had to deal with back when I'd been on the force, and I knew that it was going to be a hell of a job protecting her, especially because she was so stubborn.

The look on her face when I'd told her that she would need to follow my advice had been truly priceless.

"I know you're going to hate this," I said to her as I walked back to the kitchen with her, "but you're not going to be able to leave the cabin. Not until we find Alex and know for sure that he's either left town because he thinks that you're gone, or because we've gotten him arrested."

She sighed, putting her head into her hands. "You're right," she mumbled. I could barely hear her with her hands covering her mouth.

"About what?" I asked, leaning forward to meet her gaze.

"About the fact that I hate this."

I chuckled. "Fair enough. But I promise that if you stay here, you will be safe. I have security cameras rigged up going two miles out; there's no way he'll be able to get within spitting distance of this place to hurt you without me being ready to stop him."

She pressed her thumbs into her eyelids, the stress clear in all of her body language.

"Does your building have security?"

She snorted. "No. It's a wonder that it actually has locking doors. But still, there is a buzzer for the front door, and you need a key fob to get in."

"Is there a garage, or do you park on the street?"

"Street parking." Her eyebrow furrowed again. "Are you saying that he knows my car? He just got here from Nashville, and my car was at the trailhead all day yesterday."

"Yeah, but he could've gotten the description from one of your neighbors." I kept my voice pitched low and calmly. "I have a friend who owns a garage in town; I'll ask him if we can store your car there, just for now. At least this way he won't have a sure way of identifying you."

She sighed, going to sit on the sofa and putting her head in her hands. "I can't believe this is happening. This is all just…" Her voice trailed off, and I saw the light bounce off her thick dark hair, turning it ruby red.

I went to sit next to her, deliberately keeping a few inches away. "I can't imagine how overwhelming this is for you. But I promise that I will do everything I can to keep you safe."

She looked up at me, her big blue eyes going wide as she met mine. She bit her lip, and I had to physically hold myself back from reaching out and touching her lip to keep her from tearing into it with her teeth.

"If you give me your keys, your address, and a description of Alex, I can take your car over to the garage and then get Hank to give me a ride over to your place. Tell me what you want from your place, and I'll pack a bag for you."

She looked at me, swallowing hard before nodding at me. "Do you have a pad of paper?"

* * *

Idrove my truck down to the trailhead where she'd left her car the day before and climbed into the driver's seat of her Camry, readjusting the seat and chuckling at how tiny Macy was. I had to move the driver's seat out by almost a foot in order to get into a position that I actually found comfortable. It took me a few minutes to drive from the trailhead over to Hank's gas station, thankful for the easy rapport that I'd managed to build with the man.

I pulled in and walked into the gas station, nodding at Hank as I walked up to the counter.

"Hey, Dillon. What happened to your truck?" Hank asked, looking out over the counter as he peered into the parking lot.

"Hey," I said, leaning on the counter. "It's a friend's. I've got kind of a weird situation, and I was wondering whether you would be able to help me out with it."

Hank raised his eyebrow at me but nodded, waiting for me to continue.

"There's a new girl in town. She works at the grocery store."

"Oh yeah, Macy." I must've looked surprised by his knowledge of who I meant because he quickly said, "You know Nadine. She knows everyone, and she spotted Macy as soon as she got to town. She's been trying to get her to come over for dinner too."

"Of course she has," I said under my breath. "Well, she just found out that her ex is in town, so she's staying with me up at the cabin."

Hank's face was so shocked at the revelation that I almost started to laugh before I remembered why I'd gotten the reputation that I had.

"I'm guessing," Hank said, slowly, "that this ex isn't a good guy, is he?"

"No. No, he's not. And I don't want to take any chances that he might be able to find her or see the car. Do you think that you can store it in the back of the garage? I'll pay you for the space."

"You don't have to do that," he said, coming out to look at the car. "She's one of the Ridgers, now. We've all gotta pitch in and keep her safe."

I sighed in relief. "Well, if you won't let me pay you for the space, then will you at least give it some service and an oil check? And write me a receipt so I can pay you the next time I come down the mountain for gas."

He twisted his mouth in a grin and sighed. "Sure. Fine."

"I have one last thing to ask you." He nodded, waiting for me to go on. "Do you think that you can give me a ride to her apartment so I can scope it out and grab some stuff for her? She got stuck at the cabin without any of her things."

He came out from behind the counter. "Let me just get Jeremiah to cover the front," he said, referring to the kid he had as his assistant manager. "Meet me out by my car in five."

A few minutes later, we were in the car, driving toward Huston Street in Hank's old Jeep. When we pulled up to the building, I looked around for a few minutes for the guy with light brown hair and brown eyes. The guy who Macy had described as a taller Tom Cruise.

He was nowhere to be found, so I walked steadily into the building, buzzing myself in with the fob and going upstairs to the fourth floor. As I looked around, I felt another fissure form in my heart as I thought of what it had meant for her to go from the rich, rewarding life she'd had in LA to this filthy, run-down apartment building. I felt another wave of hate for Alex wash over me.

When I got to the door of number 413, I fit the key into the lock, pushed the door open, and sucked in my breath. I'd figured that he'd found her apartment, but I couldn't have predicted that he would've done this. This was proof that we were actually dealing with a madman.

The coffee table in the living area had been flipped over, and papers had been tossed all over the room, as if someone had gone through them and tossed them helter-skelter when he hadn't found a clue as to where she was. The couch cushions had been taken from the sofa and ripped to pieces on the floor. When I looked closer, though, I saw that they hadn't been ripped but stabbed.

I went into the space where her bed was, feeling my skin crawl as I saw the way her pictures had been thrown onto the floor and shattered. A few pieces of her underwear had been pulled out of her drawer and tossed on the bed, making me outright nauseous. I went into the closet next to the bed and pulled out the gym bag she'd told me about before going into her dresser. I grabbed the pairs of leggings and the pajamas she'd asked for from the bottom drawer before getting a few T-shirts and socks and, finally, opening the top drawer to grab a few pairs of her underwear. I tried not to think about it as I touched the silky material, but a base part of me knew where these parts of clothing would go, and I shoved the knowledge down before I could think too much about it. I went and got the book from the side of the bed. It was a dog-eared copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.

In the closet, I got the bag of toiletries and shoved it into the bag, closing it hurriedly before locking the door after me. I rushed down to where Hank was waiting in the Jeep, feeling the sweat pouring down my face as I slammed the door after me. "Good to go."

Hank turned away, heading back up the mountain. The two of us were quiet as we drove away, and I closed my eyes as I tried to get my breath back.

"So," Hank said, his voice coming in softly from beside me, "how did she come to stay with you?"

Hank had been friends with my uncle and had known me as a boy. Even though I'd become a stranger to pretty much everyone in the town when I'd moved away, Hank still felt like an old and trusted friend.

I opened my eyes and turned to him. He was keeping his eyes on the road, but I could tell he was interested. "She got lost when she was hiking the other day, and she wound up on my doorstep. I could tell that she was in a bad spot, so I offered her a place to stay."

Hank nodded. "So, you guys haven't—"

"No." I said the word with as much finality as I could. "No. It's not like that."

He looked at me for a second. "Not even a little?"

I didn't say anything, simply looking outside the car as we continued driving up the mountain. Thankfully, Hank took the hint and didn't ask any more about Macy, simply turning on the Johnny Cash tape he kept in the deck.

He dropped me off at the trailhead where my truck waited, and I thanked him again. He made me promise to protect Macy and to reach out if she or I needed anything else. I gave a silent nod of affirmation and headed off.

When I got to the cabin, I was shocked to see Macy standing in the front yard, throwing the ball for Bucky. I couldn't help the frustration that roiled over me in a wave.

I took a deep breath to try and calm myself before getting out of the truck and slamming the door. "What are you doing outside?"

She looked back at me, smiling with a raised eyebrow. "Bucky was getting restless."

"You need to be inside."

She folded her arms over her chest, her smile disappearing and her eyes going dark. "And you need to be less of a controlling asshole."

"Let's get inside," I said, not leaving any room for argument as I opened the front door of the cabin.

Once inside, she went and leaned against the countertop, looking at me with anger. "That dog can't stay cooped up all day. He's going to start chewing your computer cables."

"Are you talking about the dog or you? Because he's never chewed anything but that rubber bone a day in his life."

She rolled her eyes.

"Look, I appreciate you taking care of him, and I know it's hard for you to stay inside all day, but it's not safe for you out there until we know where Alex is." I handed the bag to her and looked at her hard. "I need to talk to you about your apartment."