Chapter 16
A ticking sound tugged at Polly’s consciousness. It was steady and rhythmic, pulling her from her sleep. There were other sounds too. The clicking of footsteps against a hard floor. The echo of voices. They sounded far away, whereas the ticking was close.
A clock? She didn’t have a clock that ticked in her house.
Someone squeezed her hand. The fingers were cool, almost cold, and small. It wasn’t a man’s hand.
She scrunched her eyelids, then slowly opened them.
The brightness blinded her.
She blinked at least four times…and slowly, a figure beside her came into view. “Maggie?”
Her best friend straightened. “Polly! You’re awake! Thank God. ”
“What…what happened?” She felt groggy and heavy, and her mouth was so dry her tongue threatened to stick to the roof.
“You rolled your car,” Maggie said quietly. “You don’t remember?”
The flash of headlights in her memory made her blink. Then the beeping. God, it was so loud she could still hear it. “Someone was behind me.”
“Yeah.”
“They ran me off the road.”
Maggie leaned closer, her fingers tight around Polly’s hand. “The guys are going to look into it, okay? They’re going to find the person responsible.”
A shudder crept down her spine. The person responsible…because someone had followed her. Targeted her. Wanted to hurt her.
“Who found me?” she whispered.
“Joel.”
The second Maggie said his name, Polly heard him. The door was closed, but his voice filtered through from the other side. He was angry and yelling at someone.
Suddenly, that same door flew open and Ward stepped in. “See? She’s awake.”
Deputy Cox cringed behind Ward. Then Joel stepped in, closely followed by Ethan.
The second her gaze fell on Joel, everything before the crash came back to her. Bronte. The ring. The call from him in the car.
His focus was intense as he took her in, studying her face, her eyes, her body. He looked powerful and lethal and angry all at the same time.
Ward cleared his throat. “Polly. It’s good to see you’re doing okay.”
Okay hardly felt like the right word.
“I understand you believe someone ran you off the road?” he asked.
She frowned at his wording. “I believe someone ran me off the road because they did. They hit my car.”
“We’ll have that confirmed by the mechanic.”
Because he didn’t believe her?
“They were also flashing their brights and beeping their horn at me.”
“What speed were you driving?” Ward asked. “Because sometimes drivers can be impatient, and when they aren’t able to get around you, they get frustrated.”
Was he trying to paint this as her fault?
Joel opened his mouth, but Ethan clenched his shoulder.
“I can’t remember how fast I was going,” she finally answered. “But when they dinged my car, it certainly wasn’t slow, because I was trying to get away from them. As I’m sure you’d be able to tell with one look at the car.” Her car… God. The thing was probably totaled.
“So you were speeding?” Ward confirmed.
“Do you intend to fine her if she was?” Maggie asked in disbelief.
Cox cleared his throat. “Do you remember anything about the car behind you, Polly? A make or model? Color?”
She shook her head. “It was dark and they had their high beams on. I was also distracted by a phone call.”
“You were on the phone?” Ward asked, almost suspiciously.
“For fuck’s sake, Ward,” Joel growled. “That has nothing to do with this.”
“I’ll do my job how I see fit,” Ward yelled back. “And what I’m hearing is, she was distracted and driving too fast. So far, I’m not fully believing this was intentional. Maybe they were just trying to get around her and scraped the back of her car.”
“It was not an accidental scrape,” Polly growled.
“There was a note,” Ethan said through gritted teeth.
Polly’s gaze flew to him. “A note?”
Ethan pulled out a small piece of paper. It was in a Ziploc bag, but Polly could read every word.
Stop looking into things that are none of your business.
All the fine hairs on her arms stood on end.
That was it. Confirmation that this wasn’t random or some road rage incident. She’d been targeted. Run off the road and left to die because she’d looked into the missing women.
Ward snatched the bag and his eyes ran over the note before he looked at her. “What things are you looking into?”
“Jenna.” The single name was quiet. She felt numb. The kind of numb that trickled from her vocal cords right down to her fingertips.
Someone was trying to keep the truth buried. To stop her from asking questions. And the person was close enough to her to know that she was asking questions.
Ward and Joel started a back-and-forth, but she barely heard a thing. Someone was working overtime to keep their identity hidden—stealing the phone, killing Jenna, now this.
“Out. Now .”
At Joel’s raised voice, her gaze flicked back to Ward.
He touched his belt beneath his protruding belly and straightened, but it didn’t bring him close to Joel’s height. “Look here, son, I’ll tell you when I’m done, not the other way around.”
“She—”
“There’s nothing more to tell,” Polly interrupted. “I was looking into Jenna’s death. But I’m not anymore. This person is clearly confused. Hopefully they’ll leave me alone.”
Ward nodded. “That’s a smart girl. Leave it to the professionals.”
Her fingers curled into fists.
Patronizing jerk.
The second Ward and Cox left, Joel stepped forward. “Hey, Sunshine. How are you feeling?”
Confused. Exhausted. A million other things she had no energy to think too deeply about. “I’m actually really tired. I might nap and get Maggie to stay with me until the doctor okays me to go home.”
Disappointment skittered over his face. And yeah, she didn’t want him to leave either. But she wasn’t in the right head space to have the conversation they needed to have.
“That’s really what you want?” he asked quietly.
She nodded. Because if she tried to speak, the wrong word might pop out. A no from her heart instead of a yes from her head.
“Okay. I’ll go, Sunshine. But this thing between you and me…it isn’t over.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple. His lips lingered. Then he whispered, “Stay safe.”
Her heart ricocheted against her ribs.
He straightened and turned to Ethan. “Keep her safe for me.”
“Of course.”
Then Joel left, dragging little pieces of her heart in his wake.
Joel stepped into the hallway, every part of him, every fucking limb, screaming to go back. To stick as close to Polly as possible and shadow her in case the person who ran her off the road made a reappearance.
But she didn’t want him there. Not after the shit with Bronte.
Ryan pushed off the wall. “You okay?”
“No.” He tore down the hall. Heat pulsed beneath his skin. He felt restless and agitated, like his body was trying to hold itself together even as his world spiraled out of control.
He was on edge, and not just because of this faceless asshole who’d run Polly off the road. Because of his mother. His father. Because Bronte was playing along with the clusterfuck.
And at himself, for not telling Polly about his family drama sooner.
“Why doesn’t she want you to stay?” Ryan asked, matching him step for step.
They rounded a corner. “Bronte went to my house.”
“Bronte? As in the woman your parents want you to marry, that Bronte?”
“Yes. She was in my home. She opened the fucking door when Polly arrived this evening and told her we were engaged. She showed Polly my grandmother’s ring on her finger.”
“Shit.”
Joel shoved outside and stopped. He tried to breathe in the fresh air, even though every inhale felt thin and every exhale was a hiss between his teeth. “I’m so pissed I can’t think straight.”
“I would be too.”
He swung toward Ryan. “It wasn’t enough that I had to grow up in a house with people who believe love is transactional.
Who believe people are only worth what they can give.
No. They still want to control me. Even though I got out.
Even though I’ve built a life away from them.
They don’t just want a piece of me, they want everything . ”
“They’re assholes.”
“There are no words for what they are.” He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I love Polly despite them. Despite them trying so hard to teach me that people are either resources or liabilities.”
“You love her?”
He could have laughed. Because yes, he loved her. It was a damn miracle he was capable of that after his upbringing. After being hardwired to believe as a kid that love wasn’t a feeling, but a business deal.
“What do I do?”
“Give her some space. She’s just been through something really shitty. Once a little time passes, talk to her. Explain your side of what happened.”
“And if she doesn’t listen?”
“She will.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’ve seen how she looks at you. And I don’t think you’re the only one who’s fallen in love.”
He knew he wasn’t. She’d told him on the phone that she’d fallen for him. And that almost made it worse. Because she didn’t give love easily. And if she’d let herself fall, that was big. But in her mind, he’d trampled on that love.
“Thanks.” Joel stepped back. “I’m going to head home and shower. Have a beer and clear my head.”
“Want company?”
He shook his head. “Stay. Be an extra set of eyes on Polly’s room.”
Ryan handed him his keys.
Shit. He’d forgotten he’d come with Ethan.
“It’s in the last row to the right.”
Joel nodded in thanks.
The drive home was a blur. A blur of noise in his head. Of tight fingers around the wheel. Of images of Polly hanging upside down in that car.
He craved to be with her. To sit with her, protect her, make sure she was safe.
But he’d fucked things up. He should have told her. He hadn’t because he’d been scared. Scared that if he revealed the complicated mess of his family, she’d run.
But there was no scenario where he’d thought Bronte would come here. His parents? Sure. But not her. And he certainly hadn’t thought she’d enter his home wearing his grandmother’s ring and answer the door to Polly. It was like the perfect storm of everything that shouldn’t have happened.
He’d just pulled into his driveway when his phone rang, his mother’s name flashing on the screen. He shouldn’t answer it right now. He should give himself time to cool off.
He didn’t.
“Mom—”
“You kicked Bronte out? Really, Joel. We’ve come to understand that you’ll willingly treat your father and I like dirt, but Bronte? Your fiancée?”
“I don’t know how to speak to you in a way you’ll understand, so I’m just going to say it as bluntly as I fucking can.”
His mother gasped. “Language, Joel!”
“I’m not marrying her. Ever . I’m not marrying her in Houston. I’m sure as shit not marrying her in Deep River. I am not marrying that woman.”
“But her parents?—”
“Could be the leaders of the fucking nation. I wouldn’t give a shit.”
A shuffling noise sounded, then his father’s booming voice came over the line. “That’s it. We’ve had just about enough from you. If you don’t agree to marry her in the next six months, we’ll do it. You’ll be cut out of our wills. You’ll get nothing .”
He laughed. “Do it.”
“Joel—”
“No. I’m speaking. I don’t want your money. I don’t want your company. I don’t want that ridiculous million-dollar watch you wear to work every day. I want nothing from you.”
“You dare speak to me like that?” his father growled.
“We’re done. You and Mom don’t ever call me again. I want nothing more to do with either of you.”
Then he hung up, not a single bone in his body feeling guilty for speaking to his parents like that and cutting them out of his life.
He climbed out of his truck and stormed into his house, one single thing on his mind—getting back the woman he loved.