Chapter 28 Reed
reed
My entire body went on alert, the hairs on my arms even standing at attention.
“Lina, stay behind me,” I hissed, stepping in front of her and pulling her flush against my back.
“Did someone break in?” she whispered. She was so close, I could feel her breath against my neck.
“Stay close.”
I instinctively reached for the .38 at my waist before realizing it was in my bag in the trailer.
Hopefully, it was still in my bag …
“Shit,” I cursed under my breath. “Let me go in first and make sure it’s safe.”
She gripped the back of my shirt, her nails digging into my skin. “Fuck that. You’re not leaving me out here. I’m coming with you.”
I gave a nod, scanning the campsite around the fifth wheel. She was right. The threat could be out here, waiting for us. Waiting for her.
“We’re going in slowly, then. Stay with me.”
Lina didn’t reply, her hand only becoming a viselike grip on my shirt.
I held my breath, walking as lightly as I could on my boots as we inched closer to the open door. We took the three steps quietly, peeking inside.
The trailer was cast in the shadows. Everything appeared undisturbed. My ears pricked up, straining to listen for movement, but all I heard was silence.
We entered together. My duffel bag was still zipped up beside the booth seats. In two strides, I was in front of it, pulling out my revolver and cocking it.
I led with the gun, steadying my arm as we walked through the dark, stepping wide into the doorway of the bathroom and then around to Lina’s bed.
We both froze. The wardrobes on either side of the bed hung open, Lina’s clothes and gear strewn across the bed as if someone was searching for something.
Fury boiled in my gut. To see her things touched, searched, and discarded …
I ground my teeth. My fingers gripped the handle.
I warned him.
“What the fuck?” Lina asked, now releasing her grip and stepping out from behind me.
We both scanned the area, searching for something we were missing in the dark. Lina flipped the switch, bathing the room in yellow light.
“What was he looking for?” Her voice was no longer teary from earlier, but hard.
“He must’ve heard us and left in a hurry,” I gritted out, uncocking and stuffing my gun in my waistband. “Stay here and lock the door behind me. Look to see if you’re missing anything.”
“Reed—” she began, reaching out to stop me, but I was already walking back out into the dark.
The campground was silent, except for some distant crackling of fire and laughter and crickets. I scanned our camp again, peering into the shadows to see if anyone lingered in the trees.
Then I saw him, ducking under a branch. He was quick, but I was quicker.
I ran after him, drawing my revolver. I reached out for anything I could grip, grabbing his arm and using his momentum to carry him into the side of my truck.
His cowboy hat flew off his head, revealing dark, sweat-matted hair and a crooked nose above his chew-streaked beard.
I leaned the weight of my forearm into his throat while I gripped his shirt collar and pressed the barrel against the underside of his jaw, forcing his head back to look me in the eyes. His brow furrowed, and he bared his teeth like he was the fucking predator in this scenario.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing breaking into a woman’s trailer at night?
Sicko!” I slammed my weight harder against him.
He gave a choking noise. For a moment, his eyes flashed with surprise before returning to their original glare.
“Why the fuck are you going through her things? Did you find what you wanted, asshole?”
He was silent for a beat, then he leaned into my arm, straining his neck, his voice raspy with the chokehold. “I took nothing.”
“Empty your pockets,” I gritted out. He didn’t move, his eyes bravely drilling into mine. “Now!”
He didn’t even flinch. Heaving a sigh, the revolver still trained on him, I fumbled through his jean pockets, tossing his wallet and cell phone into the bed of my truck. Producing a switchblade from his back pocket, I growled, returning the full weight of my elbow into his jugular.
“Were you planning to fucking use this on her? Were you hoping you could force her at knifepoint?” I was fucking fuming now, the potential fear and threat to Lina making me see red.
I had a million questions. “Who the fuck are you? I swear to God, you need to tell me now, or I will not hesitate to use this on you.”
“Bullshit,” he hissed through his teeth.
It was my turn to bare my teeth at him. “No bullshit here. We’re in a region where if someone comes onto my property whom I deem to be a threat, I have every right to shoot first and ask questions later.
The law will be on my side here.” I watched as blood drained from his face as it dawned on him. “Name. Now.”
He cleared his throat to eke out, “John Wayne.”
I scoffed, but none of this was fucking funny. “You do realize I’m now in possession of your wallet. Might as well make this easy on yourself. Who are you? And why are you stalking Lina?”
An evil, tobacco-stained grin spread across his face. “Check my fucking ID. It’s Wayne Urban, and my interest in Lina Larsen has nothing to fucking do with you.”
“The fuck it doesn’t. Do not say her fucking name. Do you know Junior Matheus? Do you know Elise?” His expression did not crack once at the mention of their names. This man was a fucking psycho. “Do you know who the Larsens are?”
“Everyone knows who the Larsens are,” he seethed.
“Do you know anything about the vandalism on Thornbrush Ranch?” I know I wasn’t giving him any time to think, but I needed to know what the fuck he wanted.
“Feeling a little territorial? Is she your little plaything, too?” he asked, his chin nodding toward the trailer. “Need to piss on her so the rest of the dogs stop sniffing around the porch?”
I fucking growled liked a deranged beast. “You’re pushing your luck. Answer my fucking questions.” I cocked the gun this time.
“She likes it from behind, doesn’t she?”
“Fuck you, asshole. Do you have a death wish?”
He gurgled a laugh. “Yeah, I know Junior. He may’ve learned about my little obsession with Lina.”
“Don’t. Say. Her. Fucking. Name,” I warned again, more sternly this time.
I could feel my control slipping. The murderous rage rattling my bones.
My mind begged me to pull the trigger, but something was holding me back.
Penn and Lina flashed across my vision. Them snuggled in bed together. My future. “What did Junior tell you?”
“Just that I should keep doing what I’m doing … that eventually, she’ll put out.”
My mind was reeling, trying to process this. Trying to think what his angle was. But my brain was foggy with the anger pumping through me. I needed to reel it in so I could make some sense of this.
“Why the fuck would he tell you that?” Other than the fact he hated the Larsens.
Wayne shrugged, no longer fighting against me. “Said it could be a good distraction. Whatever the fuck that means.”
What the fuck is Junior up to?
“I’ll tell you what. You find out what the fuck he meant by that, and I’ll let you walk away from here.”
I pocketed his switchblade before reaching over into the truck bed to get his wallet and cell phone.
Uncocking the revolver, I stuffed it back into my waistband before flipping open his wallet.
Sure enough, he’d given me his real name.
I pulled my own cell phone from my back pocket, opening the camera to snap a photo of his ID.
“But now that I know where you live, John Wayne Urban from Livingston,” I said, shoving his phone and wallet into his chest, “the next time I see you—let’s say in two weeks—you better fucking have answers for me, or my face will be the last thing you see.
I promise, you won’t want me to come looking for you. ”
Wayne gulped, the natural human emotion of fear finally registering, before he offered, “I’ll make it easy on you.”
“Appreciate that.” I said the words calmly, but I was anything but calm. Next to the boiling rage in my gut was a sense of panic. I needed to get back to Lina. “Now let me see you walk away from here, and don’t fucking look back.”
Wayne nodded, backing away before turning on his heels and doing exactly what I told him to do.
Once he had disappeared into camp, I hurried back to the trailer.
Lina let me in as soon as I knocked and called out to her.
Just like she had last time, all the lights were flipped on and her hair was frazzled, like she’d been running her fingers through it while waiting for me.
“You found him.” She nodded, stating it like a fact.
“Did you hear us?”
I watched her throat bob on a swallow. Her face was pale. “He knows Junior.”
I grimaced at his name. “Yeah, but he’s going to find us some answers.”
She shook her head now, a look of panic mirroring my own. “We need to go home to Thornbrush.”