Chapter 32
CHAPTER 32
A spen pressed a hand to her chest as if that could somehow slow the thumping of her heart.
Breathe, Aspen. Just breathe.
She had a plan for when he found her—squirt soap into his eyes, then run. It was a good plan. If he had a weapon, which she was sure he would, he might even drop it, and she could make a grab for it.
So why was the fear making her heart want to jump out of her chest?
The crunch of his footsteps as he stepped into the bathroom made her fingers tighten around the soap. When her teeth began to chatter, she clenched her jaw. She could not give her position away too early. Her advantage was that she could hear him, but he couldn’t hear her.
He continued to grow closer. A couple more steps and he’d be right there. She lifted the bottle and aimed.
Suddenly, a subtle noise sounded from somewhere else in the building—the squeak of a floorboard.
Dylan’s footsteps stopped…and when they started again, they moved away from her in quick succession.
Oh no, had whoever left the front door unlocked come back?
She inched her head up to see Dylan turning into the hall.
She couldn’t let someone else get shot because of her.
She crept to the hall and stuck her head out to see Dylan still moving away from her, but slower now, gun raised.
Suddenly, someone popped their head out of a room—a woman. Her eyes widened and she quickly ducked back inside as Dylan fired.
Aspen flinched.
She had to do something. She couldn’t let him kill her.
Without caring for her own safety, she ran out of the wet room and sprinted down the hall. Dylan turned his head just as she got close, and she squeezed the soap bottle, nailing him in the face. He growled and swiped at his eyes but didn’t drop the gun.
Quickly, she kneed him between the legs. When he hunched over, she kicked the wrist holding the gun. The weapon fell to the floor and Aspen lunged for it and wrapped her fingers around the wooden stock before rolling to her back.
Before she could take aim, Dylan dropped on top of her. His eyes were bloodshot and full of rage, and blood dripped down the right side of his face.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” he growled as he grabbed her wrists and threw an elbow into her cheek.
Pain radiated through her skull, and her head fell back onto the cold floor. Her vision blurred as the gun was ripped from her grasp.
“It’s time you learned a fucking lesson.” He was lifting the gun even as a shadow appeared behind him.
Something hard came down on Dylan’s back, followed by a loud crack . He grunted, his weight dropping onto her. The air was knocked from her lungs, but Dylan was only down for a second. He twisted at the waist and pointed the gun at the woman behind him as she lifted the chair a second time.
Aspen punched him in the gut at the same time a gunshot sounded.
Aspen flinched, expecting the woman to drop. But it was Dylan who collapsed, his body once again suffocating her. She tried to push him off but it was impossible. He was deadweight.
Fast, pounding footsteps sounded, and a second later, Dylan was shoved off her. Air rushed into her lungs and she rolled to her side. Someone dropped to their knees beside her.
“Aspen!”
Her entire body relaxed at the sound of his voice.
Jesse.
A warm hand touched her back, fighting off the chill that had overtaken her. She tried to sit up, and Jesse’s fingers circled her upper arms, helping her.
His gaze narrowed on the left side of her face. She could already feel it swelling from the elbow to her cheek.
He growled before inspecting the rest of her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, his brows slashing when he obviously caught the flicker of pain in her expression. “I’m okay.” But only because Dylan was gone and Jesse was here.
She looked down at Dylan’s lifeless body. To the bullet wound in the side of his head, almost in the exact same place she’d nailed him with the key.
“He’s dead.” She wasn’t sure if it was a question or just her saying the words out loud to make herself believe they were true.
“He’s dead,” he confirmed.
She looked back to Jesse. “How did you know I was here?”
“I called.”
Aspen looked up at the woman standing beside Holden. Her chest was moving fast, and Holden was gently easing the chair from her grasp.
“I’m Sky,” she added.
“Aspen. I’m so sorry I brought him in here.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be. I don’t know the whole story, but I do know that guy wasn’t one of the good ones.”
That was an understatement.
She swallowed as distant footsteps sounded. Then the store was filled with people. Deputies with guns. Paramedics.
She was about to push to her feet when Jesse cupped her cheek. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“No. But I will be.”
Jesse’s fingers were firm around the wheel as he drove home.
Today had been what nightmares were made of. For a short while, Aspen had been out of his reach, and that time had almost killed him.
He shot a glance at her in the passenger seat. She was already asleep, her cheek resting against the sweater she’d pushed between her face and the window. She’d fallen asleep almost the second he’d started the engine. Paramedics had looked over her, but that wasn’t enough. Jesse had wanted her to go to the hospital and be properly checked out by a doctor. They needed to know what she’d been drugged with.
Luckily, the hospital had been fairly empty, so they’d be seen quickly and would get the results of the blood test soon. His sister had also taken a blood test, and Jesse was betting that whatever had been slipped into Aspen’s drink had been slipped into Clara’s too as a way to pull his attention from Aspen. Thank God, they’d both only drunk a small sip of their coffees, so neither had been out for long.
He pulled into his carport but didn’t get out right away. Instead, he just watched her, thoughts plaguing him. Dark thoughts. Of how differently today could have gone. If they’d stepped into that building a second later, Sky would have been dead, and, likely, Aspen next.
The thought made his heart lurch and darkness fill every crevice of his mind. He didn’t fear much in life, but losing her? The thought fucking terrified him.
He climbed out of the car. When he reached her side, he lifted her into his arms. She fit so damn perfectly against him. If there was anything he believed in this world, it was that they were always meant to find each other. It was always supposed to be them.
He walked through the house and into his bedroom, where he laid her on the bed. But again, he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he removed her shoes, then her jeans. Once the covers were tucked around her, he perched on the side of the bed and grazed a lock of hair from her cheek.
“You scared me today, Aspen.” He’d never been more scared in his life. The fear had been like a parasite, sucking the life from him. “Never again.”
He swallowed and was about to rise when her hand grabbed his, and she whispered, “Hey.”
Her eyes fluttered open, her blues colliding with his brown, so damn captivating they paralyzed him.
“Thank you for saving me,” she whispered.
He shook his head. “I didn’t save you. You saved you. By forcing that asshole to crash the car and running. By being smart.”
She’d told the entire story to him and his deputies, and every word she’d spoken had both terrified him and made him proud as hell. She’d fought, and she’d fought hard.
He cupped her cheek, letting her warmth slip into his skin. “I just need to lock up the house.”
“Don’t be gone long.”
“Never.” He leaned down and kissed her, his lips lingering, needing to feel her against him.
He eventually forced himself to rise even though the motion went against every one of his instincts, which told him to stay as close to her as possible.
Her eyes shut the second he stood.
After locking the front door, he moved around the house, checking every window and door. He was just returning to the bedroom when his phone rang, Becket’s name on the screen. He’d already updated his brother on everything through text but hadn’t actually spoken to him yet.
“Becket.”
“I’m so fucking sorry, Jesse. I should have been there.”
“It’s not your fault. You had work, and Dylan would have found a way around us regardless, I’m sure of it.”
“So he’s really dead?”
“He’s really dead. The bullet to the skull made sure of that.” He stood by the bedroom doorway, watching Aspen as he spoke with a lowered voice. “But this isn’t over. Someone in that building drugged her. And that same someone took her to Dylan. I don’t know who, but we will find them.”
“Of course we will. Keep her close, brother, and let me know what I can do. Until then, rest.”
He wasn’t going to rest. Not after the day they’d had. He’d be lucky to get an hour of sleep. “Thanks.”
He hung up and entered the room. After stripping off his clothes and turning off the lights, he slid between the sheets. Before he even had a chance to reach for her, she rolled and snuggled her head over his heart, like she knew exactly where he was even while asleep.
He wrapped his arm around her but didn’t close his eyes. Who had helped Dylan tonight? It had been someone in that tea house. Someone who’d probably walked past him and he hadn’t even given them a second look.
It would torment him until he had an answer.