Chapter 7

7

Dante kept a keen eye on Madison as they waited for the police. Unfortunately, he was well aware of what to look for when it came to PTSD. Too many of his friends and family had their brushes with the debilitating condition. Hell, he’d had his own issues after returning, still did to a point. But, at this moment, she was still in control. She was hyper-alert, but not to the point he thought she needed medical help. Charlie followed behind her as she walked back and forth through his living room.

“Want some coffee?” he asked.

She shook her head but she didn’t look at him. “Not good in my state. Do you have any tea? Decaffeinated would be best.”

He didn’t like the way her voice sounded. Not the way it vibrated with fear, or the doubt he heard right beneath the surface. He knew what every Marine knew. Doubting your instinct could get you killed—or it could kill you slowly inside.

She needed to focus all the nervous energy on something else. After that kiss earlier, he knew exactly how he would like to help her get rid of that energy, but he knew that wasn’t what she needed right now.

So, he tried a different tactic.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorjamb. “No, I don’t have tea. I’m a man.”

“What?” she asked absent-mindedly as she continued to walk back and forth. She chewed on her thumbnail. Charlie kept pace with her.

Not good. Her tone was turning flat and that was a bad sign. She was disengaging with him and the world around her.

“You asked if I had tea instead of coffee. No self-respecting Santini man would drink tea.”

Madison stopped and stared at him. She blinked then he saw her eyes focus on his face. “What the hell does that mean?”

Dante shrugged. “Santinis don’t drink tea. We’re real men.”

At first, she said nothing. He knew it was taking her a moment to get her brain to work around the conversation. The moment the stupid comment hit home, he saw it on her face. Her eyes narrowed.

“I have never heard such an asinine comment in my life.”

He tried not to smile but it was hard not to. Getting her to focus on him felt like a major victory.

“I doubt that. You spend a lot of time with my sister. Or did in college, so I am pretty sure you have heard a lot of asinine comments.”

She stepped closer to him. Charlie sat down beside her, his demeanor less agitated. That told him the dog understood that she was calming on some level. Dante’s own nerves started to settle, and it was then he realized he was attuned to Madison on some level. It struck him then that he always seemed in tune with her; with the way she was feeling. He had always thought it was just because they’d been competitors, but that couldn’t be said about them anymore. Now, the connection was there and it was stronger. He didn’t understand it and at the moment, he really didn’t want to figure out why exactly. He would use it to his advantage if it helped her.

“How can you use a time like this to say horrible things about your twin sister?”

She looked less stressed and more irritated. That was a good thing. “Oh, please, Elena would do the same damn thing. She says horrible things about me all the time to my face. Lord knows what she says when I’m not around.”

There was a long moment of silence, then her face flushed. “No comment.”

She started to turn away from him, but he caught her. The sight of her cheeks pinkened with embarrassment held him enthralled. The woman rarely showed emotion.

“You’re blushing.”

She rolled her eyes and tried to move away again. “I don’t blush.”

Instead of letting her go, he slipped his fingers around her wrist. “Yes. Yes, you do.” He tugged her closer, then slipped his arms around her waist. God she felt good against him. “And I want to know what she told you.”

“I am not about to tell you anything your sister told me.”

She wouldn’t make eye contact with him. Whatever Elena told her was probably horrible and only half true. Damn.

“I have my ways to find things out.”

Her gaze shot up to his. His voice had deepened, and there was no mistaking the arousal now vibrating through his tone.

“Is that a fact?” she asked, her voice breathless.

He nodded slowly and bent his head. “I know all kinds of naughty things to get you to talk.”

He brushed his mouth over hers. Just a feather of a kiss, barely even touching of their lips, but he felt it stir something deep within him. Just like earlier, he felt as if he had been sideswiped. He raised his hands to her face, cupping her jaw and cocked his head to take the kiss deeper. Before he could, the doorbell sounded, sending Charlie into a fit of barking. With regret, he pulled back from her. He drew in a deep breath and rested his forehead against hers.

“I’ve been thwarted twice in one night by an annoying sound.”

“I would take it as a life preserver,” she said. “You dodged a bullet here, Dante.”

Anyone else, he would have taken it as a joke. But, her solemn expression told him she was serious. He pulled back then brushed his thumb over her lower lip.

“Let me worry about what I’m getting myself into, Madison. Remember, I’m not only a Marine. I’m a Santini. We’re made of pretty sturdy stock.”

Then, with regret, he pulled away from her and headed for the door. The sooner they got this straightened out; he would get back to kissing Madison.

“So, what did you do when you saw the incident?”

Madison could tell from Officer Ellis’ demeanor that he didn’t believe her. Mainly because he kept using the word incident . It wasn’t an incident. It was a murder. She knew she shouldn’t get so pissed about his attitude. It was something she was accustomed to. Truth was, she’d had issues when she first returned. She’d had more than one brush with reality not being what she thought it was.

“I shouted or something. I can’t really remember. But the man noticed me and turned the gun on me.”

“And you came here to Mr. Santini’s home?” Ellis asked, disbelief tinging the edge of his voice.

She rubbed her temples. “Captain.”

“What?”

She opened her eyes and looked at the young officer. “Captain Santini. He’s a Marine.”

Her voice came out a little more forceful than she expected. Dante chuckled behind her.

The officer looked behind her, then refocused his gaze on her. He seemed like a nice guy, but he was a little too much on the Opie Griffith side for her. Red hair, freckles, and a fresh face that told her he hadn’t seen a lot of action. And he was so young.

“Captain, excuse me, sir,” he said to Dante. “I should have guessed.”

“No worries, officer. I take it you served.”

The officer nodded. “Marine myself.”

There was a long moment of silence. “Okay, so you came here and not to a police station?”

“I didn’t know where the closest station was and I’ve known Dante for a long time. I had just dropped him off, so I headed back here. I didn’t call 911 because I was driving. I thought if I stopped, the shooter might catch up with me. When I arrived, Dante called it in.”

The officer’s cell phone rang and he looked at the number. “Excuse me for a minute.”

He stepped out of the kitchen to take the call.

She shoved both her hands through her hair. “He doesn’t believe me.”

Dante stepped up to her. “Doesn’t matter. You know what you saw.”

She closed her eyes. She couldn’t go through things like this again. During the worst times, she had issues with memory loss. Waking up not knowing where her clothes were, only to find them sitting in the tub, which had been unnerving. It had almost pushed her to use meds again, but she had worked hard to overcome that particular problem. When she opened her eyes, she found Dante there. His gaze was steady, telling her that he believed her. Something dislodged in her chest at the realization.

“Excuse me,” Officer Ellis said, stepping back into the room. “I sent a patrol car to the area you told us you saw the murder.”

“Shooting. I am not entirely sure she was dead.” But she felt that if the woman didn’t get to a hospital, she was as good as dead.

“Yes, the shooting.”

He said nothing and her irritation grew. Damned if he was going to make this easy on her. “And?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. There isn’t a body or any indication there was a murder.”

She couldn’t seem to get that to compute in her brain. “Wait, what?”

“There was no body.”

Panic was now tickling the back of her throat. “There has to be. Or at least some kind of sign that she had been shot.”

The young officer shook his head again. “Nothing. No blood.”

“Did you check the cameras in the area?” Dante asked.

“Yes, but it shows nothing. Of course, the angle isn’t perfect.”

“I know what I saw,” she said. “There was a man. He shot a woman and he came after me.”

“I promise we will keep investigating, but I do have a few more questions for you.”

Oh that didn’t sound good. “What?”

He hesitated, then he straightened his shoulders. When he looked at her, regret filled his expression. “I understand you were also a Marine at one time.”

“Once a Marine, always a Marine. There is no such thing as former ,” Dante said.

“Yes, well, there seems to be an indication you suffer from PTSD.”

It was as if he ripped a scab off. She felt as though she had been punched in the chest. “You looked me up?”

“When we get someone who reports a crime in an unusual manner and then there is no body, yes we do.”

“I know what I saw. A man and woman were arguing, she pulled away, and then he shot her. I know he would have killed me if he had been able to reach me. I’m just thankful I was far enough away, and it was dark enough that he couldn’t probably see me any better than I could see him.”

The officer shook his head. “Sorry, but there’s nothing I can tell you. If something comes up, I’ll give you a call. Don’t think I am blowing it off, but there is only so much I’m allowed to do.”

He left, apologizing once again. It felt like a million tiny ants were moving over her flesh as she started to pace again. She knew what she saw. A man shot a woman. She couldn’t be losing it. Not again.

She could hear the shot, but did she hear it? When she drove off, she was sure she had heard the noise, but what if she had just imagined it? She had been down that road before, one that had left her no choice but to enter the hospital to get help. Madison didn’t believe life would be that cruel to her. She had just climbed out of that deep, dark hole in the last year. She wasn’t fucking going back.

“It’s kind of late, so why don’t you bunk in the extra room?” Dante asked.

“Can’t.” What the hell was she going to do? If Dr. James got a hold of the information, he might suggest meds to her again and she would not do that. Or worse. He could suggest going back in the hospital and she would die before she would do that again. She couldn’t deal with that—not again.

“You need to have someone around.”

She shook her head and started to gnaw on her thumbnail again. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I need to go back to my place. Be in my house.”

Even she could hear the panic in her voice. Her heart was pounding against her chest, her head was spinning, and she felt the panic attack coming on. The black spots were there before her eyes again.

Dante stepped forward. “Okay. Then I go with you.”

She stopped and looked at him. She wanted to tell him no. No one she knew well had seen her lose it. Sure the doctors and nurses, but she had kept it from her family and friends. It was the one thing she had been able to do. People knew she had gone loony; they just didn’t know the extent of it. Until tonight, she had been sure she wanted to keep it that way.

“Can you tell me you can make it across town okay?”

She sighed and shook her head.

“Besides, there’s a shooter out there who might or might not have seen you. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”

The enormity of what he said hit her. “You believe me.”

“I have known you for enough years to know that you are telling me the truth. You saw a woman get shot.”

He kissed her nose as if it were the most natural thing to do. That was not a good sign. Dante now thought he could kiss her when he wanted to. And what kind of lunatic was she that she didn’t want him kissing her?

“Don’t frown,” he said.

“You need to stop kissing me.”

“Now that is just a silly request.” He winked. “I’m a damned fine kisser.”

She opened her mouth to argue but how could she. He was a damned fine kisser.

“Let me grab a few things and we’ll head on over.”

He walked off and she shook her head. The man thought he was in charge of everything. And that was one of the things that had irritated her in school. Now he thought he needed to be around to make sure she was safe.

Something shifted in her chest again. It had been a very long time since someone had wanted that job. Madison couldn’t seem to stop the smile that curved her lips.

Damned Santini.