32. Arden
32
ARDEN
Gray clouds rolled in, right along with a clap of thunder. It was the kind of stormy sky that sometimes meant rain and other times didn’t. Which meant it was also the type that held the greatest risk of forest fire. As if there weren’t enough threats in our midst.
Linc shoved a broken frame into a trash bag with enough force that it should’ve gone right through the heavy-duty plastic. He hadn’t asked if he could help clean this time; he’d simply started stomping around, muttering to himself as he picked up detritus.
“You wanna talk about it?” I asked as I wiped the paste from the walls. It had cleaned a lot of the blood, but I would still need to paint them. Even then, I wondered if they’d ever be blood-free in my mind.
Linc picked up what looked like pieces of paintbrushes. “He shouldn’t have told you that.”
The statement had surprise lighting through me. “Who shouldn’t have told me what?”
Linc straightened, finally turning his supremely pissed-off face to me. “Anson. Telling you there could be some psycho killer out there plotting your murder but deciding he wants to play with you first.”
“Whether he told me or not wouldn’t make the possibility any less true.”
“But it would make you less fucking terrified,” he spat.
“Linc,” I said quietly. “Do I look like I’m cowering in a corner?”
His hazel eyes burned brighter. “You fight through the fear. You always have.”
Damn him. He was right. I shoved the feelings down and soldiered on. But I knew something else, too. “When I have all the facts, it helps somehow. If I can name all the possibilities, it takes away some of the power.” I held up my gloved hands, ticking off the options on my fingers. “One, unhinged hitman with a thing for the drama. Two, spoiled rich boy with too much time on his hands. Three, some unknown person I cut off in traffic, and they decided I was the spawn of Satan.”
“It’s not funny,” Linc growled. A loud clap of thunder sounded as the sky darkened even more.
I pulled off the gloves and laid them over my bucket. “I know it’s your instinct to shield the people you care about, but I don’t want to be kept from the truth. The last time someone tried to do that, my whole world got ripped apart.”
For a moment, I thought Linc might fight me and hold tight to the urge to shield me from everything, even truths I needed to know. But then he exhaled, his shoulders sagging in a mixture of defeat and understanding. He dropped the bag, not saying anything. He simply wrapped me in his arms and held on.
Maybe nothing needed to be said. Because Linc couldn’t fix this, no matter how much he wanted to. He kept those strong arms around me as thunder rolled outside. Then, finally, his lips teased my hair as he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
I held him tighter, my hands fisting in his shirt. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
Linc pulled back, searching my face. “I don’t have a right to try to keep information from you. No one does. ”
“No. But I understand why you’d want to. I’d probably want the same if I were in your shoes.”
Linc lifted a hand, his callused thumb skating across my jaw. “Trace’s right. You’ve become agreeable.”
I shoved at his chest, a laugh slipping free. “You all suck.”
Linc grinned as he released me. “What do you think? More rage-cleaning, or are you ready for a break?”
I’d lost some of my mad over the past few hours as the sun sank lower in the late-afternoon sky. It was more a numbed sadness now. But as I looked around the room, I knew one thing. “I want every single thing that he touched in here tossed.”
Linc’s eyes flashed that brighter green. “Gettin’ him the hell out of here it is.” He met my gaze. “But please don’t make my ears bleed.”
The puppy dog look did it: I smiled for what felt like the first time in three days. “I can settle for some classic rock if you’ll help me.”
Linc leaned in, his lips brushing mine. “Deal.”
We set to work as Jimi Hendrix played over the speakers. I worked on the walls while Linc tackled the floors. My poor couch would need to go to the dump. But my desk had survived. I didn’t realize what we were circling until we slowed in the center of the room.
I stared down at the statue. The woman trying to break free was now beaten to hell and covered in blood. “I’m not sure she’s salvageable.”
“Why not?” Linc asked.
I gestured at the mangled piece. “Hand broken off. Face smashed in places. Dented.”
Linc met my gaze. “She’s been through hell and survived. Sounds like someone else I know. Bet you could find a way to make what she’s been through beautiful.”
My heart jerked in my chest, the urge to bolt lighting anew. But on its heels was something stronger: the need to stay. “Then let’s get her up.”
A grin spread across Linc’s face. “Let’s get her up.”
We lifted her on a count of three. Whoever had toppled her must have been strong or fueled with a hell of a lot of rage because the two of us could barely get the piece upright. When we did, my brain started to run wild with ideas. I saw something new. Something better. Something fiercer.
“Oh, no,” Linc started. “I know that look. But it’s after eight, and you haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. You can conquer statue lady tomorrow.”
I gave him my best pleading eyes. “Just an hour?”
He huffed out a breath. “After you eat.”
“Deal,” I said quickly.
Linc stared at me for a moment. “I just got played, didn’t I?”
“Maybe…” I singsonged.
He opened his mouth to say something, but his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and frowned. “It’s Ellie. She doesn’t usually call this late.”
“Take it,” I said. “I can start dinner.”
“Are you going to poison us?”
I made a face. “I’m heating up one of Nora’s casseroles. I think even I can do that.”
Linc’s lips twitched. “All right. I’ll be in in a few.”
“No rush,” I said, heading for the door.
The outdoor lights flicked on as I stepped outside, eating the darkness like they always did. Gravel crunched beneath my feet until thunder drowned out the sound, but the lightning was still in the distance.
“Storm’s coming,” Deputy Allen said.
“I do love a summer storm.”
“As long as we don’t get a fire.”
“As long as.” I paused for a moment. “I’m heating up dinner for Linc and me. You want some?”
Allen shook his head. “Already ate. But thank you.”
“Thanks for looking out,” I called as I headed for the house.
“Just happy it’s been boring as hell,” he shouted back.
I laughed as I punched in my front door code and opened it to a waiting Brutus. His tail wagged, and he pressed into me. I gave him more scratches, bending down to press a kiss to his head. Brutus moved in and licked my cheek.
“I love you, too.”
The simple admission made my eyes sting. Why did it come so easily with him, but was like pulling teeth with humans? Linc’s face swirled in my mind, and the burning sensation in my eyes intensified. That battle of wanting something so badly yet being terrified to reach for it raged.
Linc thought hearing someone might be playing a sick and twisted game with my life would scare me? Hurt me? Nothing scared and hurt more than knowing the beauty of him and losing it.
A clap of thunder swept through the house, making the walls tremble. And as it rolled through, the lights went out.
The panic didn’t come at first because I expected the electricity to flick right back on. It wasn’t like there were high winds and torrential downpours. But the lights didn’t return.
My heart rate picked up, the beats tangling with one another in an attempt to keep going. My hand fumbled, searching the pocket of my cargo pants as Brutus let out a low growl.
“It’s okay,” I wheezed. I felt for my phone and cursed when I realized I’d left it in the studio. The panic dug in.
My finger hooked around my keys, and a frisson of relief found me. But it vanished as I pressed the flashlight, and nothing happened. I tried again, my fingers shaking. Nothing.
The kitchen. There were flashlights in the kitchen. I just needed to get there. Only the hallway looked football fields long right now. I stumbled down it, struggling to stay upright.
My mom’s voice flashed in my head. “Stay here. No matter what you hear, do not come out. Do you understand me?”
And then the image of her shoving me into the hidden closet rose. “Love you to the ends of the Earth.”
The sound of a gunshot in my memory.
And then the darkness closed in on me even further.