CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX #2
I glanced at Raina, hoping to see some semblance of relief in her eyes after hearing that. There was none. She still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t here somewhere. Hiding, preparing to strike.
Ever since we arrived home from dropping off Marco, she’d been distant and quiet with me. When she did speak, her tone was snippy. I just let her roll through her emotions and didn’t push. Rather, I gave her some space and went down to the pub to help my brothers with a few things.
By happenstance, I was home when Myla called, just changing my shoes because I accidentally stepped in a massive fucking puddle and got a soaker.
“We’ve got eyes at the terminals on every island that has a connecting ferry to San Camanez. None of your brothers, or Soloman, will be able to get to San Camanez.”
“What happened to Soloman, Ezekiel, and Azriel once they were taken back to Seattle?” I asked.
“They were detained, but eventually released,” Myla replied, defeat in her tone.
“Free to strike again,” Raina said bitterly.
Myla sighed. “We’re doing everything we can.”
“We know you are, Myla,” I replied. “Thank you. Keep us posted.”
We disconnected the call and Raina plunked her elbows on the table, then buried her face in her hands.
“He’s here. I can feel it. It’s like a choking gas, or cloud, or something follows him wherever he is.
The man is pure poison. Draining the energy and joy out of anyone within a quarter-mile radius of him. ”
I went behind her and rubbed her shoulders, my gaze drifting to her laptop screen, which had their land proposal open. The words “wedding, pavilion, cottages, south-facing slope, and events” caught my eye.
Just how similar was their land proposal to ours?
Because we also wanted the land so we could expand our business ventures.
We wanted to plant our own hops, start an herb garden and greenhouse for the restaurant, build a pavilion and venue center so we could host weddings and events, as well as build more cabins to increase our accommodation revenue.
We even tossed around the idea of building a bunkhouse for seasonal employees.
“Are we going to pick up Marco?” I asked, using my right thumb to work out a knot in her shoulder.
“Yeah.” She craned her neck around to glance at me and unfortunately, at that very moment, like a fucking idiot, I was staring at her laptop screen.
She lost it.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she demanded, pushing me away and getting up from her seat. “Are you spying on the proposal over my shoulder?” Rage filled her green eyes. “Is that why you were acting all squirrely this morning? Did you go onto my computer?”
Holding my hands up, almost like an animal refuge worker suddenly getting trapped in the jungle cat sanctuary, I slowly backed away.
“I will admit, I thought about it this morning, but I didn’t.
Nor did I the time you left all your work information, binders, and laptop open the night I stayed on the futon at your house.
And right now, I honestly just came behind you to massage your shoulders. ”
She was a terrified mother lion and needed someone to lose her shit on. Unfortunately, that person was me.
“However, I will say …” I swallowed, after realizing I’d actually backed myself right into a corner in the kitchen—literally. “I maybe scanned what you have up right now.”
She spun around, raced back to the table and slammed the laptop closed before rounding on me, fury and betrayal all over her face.
“I saw a lot of words that are very similar to what we’re proposing …”
That fiery heat only intensified, and it was like she pressed a button to initiate spike sequence. She was suddenly very prickly, and I knew right then and there, fear had taken over and there was no talking her out of this fugue state of rage.
So why the fuck did I keep talking then?
No idea.
“We’re also interested in the land in order to expand our business ventures,” I went on.
Stop. Fucking. Talking.
“So, you obviously did sneak a look at the proposal when you stayed at my house. And now you’re trying to copy us.”
“No, I didn’t.” I exhaled in frustration. “Raina, you’re not thinking clearly. You’re upset and scared over Marco, and you’re taking it out on me.”
“Do not tell me how I’m feeling,” she practically roared. “You just admitted that you were in a room with all of our sensitive business information. The fact that you said you didn’t look at any of it is you just trying to cover your ass.”
“When have I ever lied to you?” I asked, searching my brain, and my six months of grad school for a way to de-escalate this situation and help her see clearly. Help her realize I was not the enemy. Not anymore.
“All the fucking time, apparently,” she blurted out, before returning to the table to gather all of her things. “This was such a terrible fucking idea. We never should have come here.” She took off upstairs, and I chased after her.
Grabbing her duffel bag from the closet in the guest room, she started to load up her clothes and belongings.
“Raina,” I said, trying to grab her by the shoulders.
She jerked away from me. “No, Jagger. You snooped. Just admit it.”
“For fuck’s sake, woman, will you just listen to me?” I tried to grab her shoulders again, so she could look into my eyes and see that I wasn’t lying. That I didn’t snoop or do any of the things she had accused me of.
Applying just a small amount of pressure, not enough to hurt her or anything, I held her shoulders and made her stop throwing things from the dresser drawers into the bag on the bed.
With a huff, she stopped fighting me and let me square her body to mine.
Gingerly, I released her shoulders. I bent my knees a little.
“I didn’t snoop. I swear to you. I’ve never lied to you, Raina.
Not ever. Sure, we didn’t always get along, but I’ve never been dishonest with you. ” She refused to look at me.
“Look at me,” I said, adding a bit of edge to my tone, then softening with a, “please,” at the end.
Reluctantly, she met my gaze.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, my chest aching, pulse racing at the idea of her leaving like this.
Not like this. Please, not like this. “I can see it in your eyes that you don’t actually believe I did what you’re accusing me of.
You know I’m not that person. If it’s just because you’re scared for Marco, then I get it.
And you can stand here and beat my chest with your tiny fists until you feel better.
But if it’s something else, if you’re pushing me away for another reason, I need to know. ”
Her jaw was once again clenched tighter than a drum, and that same muscle pulsed.
I wanted to reach out and poke it, to keep her from getting a headache or chipping a tooth, but I refrained.
Tears filled her eyes, but never fell as she stood there, staring at me in defiance.
In a pain I wanted so desperately to take away.
“This isn’t working,” she finally said. “I want to go home. Please take me home.”
“For good?”
All she did was nod before taking off across the hall to begin packing up Marco’s belongings.
I stood there in the guest room, unable to understand what the fuck just happened. How did we go from almost confessing our love for each other last night, to this? To her leaving, and telling me it wasn’t working.
Confusion and heartache took up residence in every cell of my body as I helped her load up her stuff into my truck. I shot off a text to my brothers, letting them know what was going on, but ignored every one of their responses—and there were a lot of them.
We climbed into my truck and started the tense drive back to the vineyard in silence. “How are you going to get Marco from the school?” I asked, my voice not sounding like my own. It was almost like I was speaking into a tunnel.
“I’ll take Gabrielle’s car. They’re out shortly, so please speed up.” She stared straight ahead at the road and kept her tone so irritatingly monotoned I wanted to scream.
“You don’t want to go pick him up together? Then I can take you both home?”
“No. He’ll be angry we’re leaving your house, and I’d rather deal with that on my own.”
We arrived at the vineyard, and I put the truck in park and helped her unload all their stuff.
“So … that’s it then?” I asked, shoving my hands in my pockets, my throat raw, and the back of my eyes burning.
She shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Raina, you know I didn’t do what you think I did. I didn’t look at your computer.”
“You literally admitted to it,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest again.
“I admitted to reading a few words on the page, over your shoulder. And that some of them were very similar to our proposal. But I never went snooping.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see how it all comes out in March. Won’t we?”
“Don’t do this,” I pleaded. “Please.”
“I need to go get Marco.” She must have had a spare set of Gabrielle’s car keys as she didn’t bother seeking out her cousin before she climbed into the SUV and started the engine. I needed to get my truck out of her way, so I climbed in and drove off, Raina right behind me.
It was awkward as fuck, seeing her face in my rearview mirror, and not being able to understand the way she just flipped a switch from rose to thorn in the blink of an eye. There had to be more to it than the proposal. There just had to be.
I needed there to be.
We turned a corner, in the direction of the brewery and the school, but I had to throw on my brakes abruptly when an enormous tree, that absolutely was not there when we drove this way ten minutes before, was across the road, blocking both lanes.
Memories of earlier this winter and the big storm that knocked down a tree and kept Dom from getting to Chloe when she was in trouble, flashed through my mind.
I put the truck in park and climbed out.
An angry Raina was also behind me, out of her car. “What the fuck, McEvoy?” Her gaze landed on the tree and her temper fizzled a little. “That wasn’t there when we drove this way ten minutes ago.”
I stepped closer to the shoulder, then down into the ditch to locate the stump of the tree. Sawdust littered the ground and the cut to fell the tree was straight. This was done by a chainsaw.
“Fuck,” I breathed, facing her. “Someone cut this down deliberately.”
“What?”
I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and dialled Clint. Raina was already on her phone, presumably calling Myla. Her gaze met mine as we both clutched the phones to our ears, listening to the rings.
This tree was here on purpose. To block Raina and stall her.
Which meant they were back on the island, and we needed to get to Marco, and fast.