Chapter 6
She Had a Knack
Ryan
She couldn’t be one of those women who didn’t know she was stunning.
Jesus, this woman. What was I gonna do with her?
Nothing, that’s what.
That wasn’t true. I would keep her safe because even if she wasn’t pregnant, she had a knack for finding trouble.
Yeah, that overshadowed her beauty. She’d be a handful for any man. It’s one thing to go looking for Lark, but the moment she walked into the bar should have told her it was a fool’s errand.
Maybe that was too harsh.
I couldn’t imagine life without my dad. His brothers – now my brothers – would step in if something had happened to him, but it would never be the same.
“Are you sleeping?” she asked.
“Not sleeping,” I murmured, but kept my eyes closed.
“Shouldn’t we try to break out of here?”
I opened my eyes. She stood across the room leaning against the wall.
My lips twisted with skepticism. “That could work, but then what? Somebody out there will shoot us.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s the thing. It’s too quiet. I don’t think anyone is here,” she said in a low voice.
I paused to listen as hard as I could before I met her gaze. “If we’re alone, why did you lower your voice?”
She gave me a dirty look, and hell if I didn’t feel it in my balls. “I don’t want to jinx anything.”
I rose from the floor, went to the wall, and listened hard.
I didn’t want to be in here any more than she did, but I didn’t want them to cuff me again either. Especially if they were going to cuff me to her. More than that though, I didn’t want them to separate us – even if she drove me crazy.
My troublesome girl hadn’t thought about that.
My? What was that shit?
She wasn’t my girl.
She was trouble though.
Between Killian and Mick, I’d been in the middle of all kinds of trouble my whole life. And I loved it.
Fuck.
No. This wasn’t the time or place for thoughts like that. I had at least a year before I’d be ready for a woman like her. I was here to start fresh (because finding what Mom and Dad had would never happen).
Ivy wasn’t my type.
Besides, we needed to get out of here.
We both jolted when a door slammed somewhere in the house.
“Not alone any more,” I whispered and returned to my spot on the floor.
“There is a bed. I’m sure it’s more comfortable.”
I dipped my chin. “Which is why I’m leaving it for you.”
I heard kitchen noises through the walls. The beep of what I assumed was a microwave, even though I hadn’t seen one earlier. The muffled sound of pots or pans clanging were heard, then it fell quiet.
A few minutes later, Ivy said, “Oh, no.”
“What?” I asked.
“It smells like bacon. That’s cruel and unusual punishment,” she muttered.
At her words, the scent registered and my empty stomach rumbled.
She was right – it was cruel. Until then, I’d been able to ignore my empty stomach. Filling this shithole with the smell of food made my hunger impossible to deny.
“Do you think they’re going to feed us?”
I sighed. “I’m trying not to think about food at all.”
She nodded. “But that might be our chance. Two of us to one of them.”
“You don’t know there’s only one, and since there were two of them earlier, we shouldn’t assume there’s only one now.”
She pouted her plump lips as she thought about it. “Sounds that way.”
I quirked my lips skeptically. “We thought we were alone five minutes ago also.”
She threw her hands up. “Okay, I get it, but we should be ready even if we have to play this by ear.”
I nodded. “You’re right.”
Before I could say more, the sound of heavy footsteps approached the door.
“Food’s comin’. No plates, just a pan and two forks.”
Ivy nodded at the door. “Okay. Thank you.”
My mouth dropped open with my disbelieving look and I heard the footsteps move away. “What the hell are you thanking him for?” I hissed.
A devious grin made her green eyes sparkle. “He doesn’t have to feed us and he gave us info.”
I closed my eyes and fought for patience. “We have to be a team, so this is no time for you to be enigmatic. What are you getting at?”
Her expression shifted to solemness or even disappointment. “As much as I hate to sacrifice what smells like good bacon – he shows up with a pan – I can take it and hit him in the head with it.”
“I don’t have a good feeling about that.”
She lowered her chin toward her shoulder. “He won’t expect me to attack, Ry.”
I liked hearing her shorten my name, but I couldn’t let that distract me. “I know that but how many times have you hit someone with a skillet? And a hot one at that?”
She looked abashed. “Do you have a better idea?”
Reluctantly I said, “Unfortunately, no.”
“Well, say a prayer because I think he’s headed our way.”
A key scraped in the lock and I hurried to the door.
Ivy gestured for me to stand against the wall near the door. I paused long enough to widen my eyes at her while mouthing ‘be smart,’ before I pressed myself against the wall.
A lazy smile slid across her face, there and gone before the door opened. More light poured into the room and I saw she held her hands down at her lower abdomen, both wrists close together as though still bound. That was a great touch since I didn’t want Boyd or Campbell to know I had a knife.
Not yet, anyway.
Her eyes lit up and she grinned. “Tell me I smell bacon cheeseburgers. If it’s just bacon, that’s fine, but—”
“It’s hot dogs, bitch. Move so I can put this down. The cast iron is about to burn me through the potholder,” Campbell said.
That was all I needed to hear. I nodded at Ivy, she stepped back. Campbell stepped forward, the skillet in his right hand.
I grabbed his elbow and forced it toward his face.
Campbell overcame his surprise quicker than I expected and fought back. I stomped on his foot, and he howled so loud, I saw Ivy wince. He tried to throw the pan at me, but he missed. Four hot dogs skittered across the floor as the iron skillet landed two feet from my boot.
Ivy scrambled to the pan.
“Don’t touch it, you’ll burn yourself,” I said.
Her side-eye rivaled an eyeroll from my sister. Like Mickayla, she didn’t listen to me, and grabbed it anyway.
In the meantime, Campbell whirled on me, wrapping both hands around my throat. With my left hand, I brought my knife up and plunged it into his neck.
He let out a shocked cry and squeezed harder.
Suddenly, he lurched toward me at the same time I heard a dull thunk from behind him. Then like a cartoon character his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed. I moved out of the way right before he could fall on me.
I leaned over to pull my knife out of his neck. Blood seeped onto the floor.
Ivy gasped. “What’d you do that for?”
I almost chuckled. “It’s my only weapon. Boyd could be out there or someone else. Let’s go.”
We hurried out of the room. It quickly became clear that nobody else was in the house. As we crossed through the kitchen I saw there was a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs.
Ivy stopped, tilted her head back, looked up at the ceiling, and said, “Please let this be safe to eat.”
She grabbed a rasher of bacon and popped it in her mouth.
“Are you nuts?” I asked.
She swallowed. “No. Anyone who leaves bacon behind is nuts. Besides, I have no idea what time it is, or when I might get to eat again, and I’m starving.”
I recalled Boyd’s words about us having to walk and I grabbed one of the two remaining rashers.
“Screw it,” Ivy said, picking up a fork and shoveling eggs into her mouth.
She held the utensil out to me. My gut said we didn’t have time for this, but I needed my energy. I took the fork from her, loaded it up with eggs, and chowed down.
One step onto the wrap-around porch, and I saw the beat-up Nissan.
“You think the keys are in his pocket?” Ivy asked.
I did, and yet, I couldn’t imagine Boyd underestimating Campbell’s stupidity and sending him back here alone.
“Maybe. We need to stick together, so let’s go check his pockets.”
“I’m not arguing with you, but why do you say that?”
“If Boyd’s here, he’s twice as smart as Campbell, and that means he’s even more dangerous. I don’t want either of us to be blindsided.”
“Fair. I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime,” she muttered.
I wanted to dig in on that comment about being blindsided, but we needed to haul ass out of this dilapidated mess as soon as possible.
Mid-way through the kitchen, Ivy put a hand on my chest to stop my progress. I enjoyed feeling her touch there, but willed it out of my mind.
“Let me check his pockets, you stay here in case Boyd comes inside.”
I shook my head. “We both go because I doubt you’re cool with dead bodies.”
Her eyes slid to the side and her internal debate was almost visible. Finally, she said, “You’re right. We’ll go together.”
At the door to the bedroom, I had her stand back and I quickly went inside, found the keys to the Frontier and got out of the room. In the hall, I grabbed her hand, and tugged her toward the front door.
She resisted as we left the kitchen. “What are you doing? He had the keys?”
I faced her. “Got the keys. If Boyd’s on his way back here, this is our only chance. We need to take his truck, and I’ll get us back to Lark’s.”
She pressed her lips together and visibly warred with herself.
“As much as I love that idea, we’re just going to leave him here?
I mean, if we move him outside the house somewhere, that might buy us more time since it’ll reaffirm that Campbell left.
The floors are dark enough, they might not notice the blood stain. ”
She had a point.
I tipped my head to the bedroom. “Let’s hurry. Gonna need your help to move him though.”