Chapter 30
Thirty
SUMMER
In the parking lot, I drop my grocery haul into the backseat of my car next to my new lingerie.
Tonight, I’m going to act out one of Noah’s fantasies. I’ll break into his house with a little nightie on and let him chase me and tie me up, if that’s what he wants.
Victoria was right—I do love him. I’m an idiot for breaking things off just because I was afraid of what would happen if I let our relationship go further.
If I let myself move in with him, depend on him in any way.
If it didn’t work out, if we moved in together and he realized he didn’t want to be with me anymore, the heartbreak would be that much worse.
So I chickened out. I came up with any excuse to not be together. But if Victoria can be brave enough to end her engagement, I can be brave enough to put my heart on the line.
I’ve already hurt Noah, so there’s a good chance he won’t want anything to do with me now. I turned that camera back on, but I never caught a glimpse of him. He’s probably done with me, but I need to try. He deserves to know I care. And this time, he can decide whether we should be together or not.
When my ringtone blares, I jump. I’m always on edge when I’m out in public alone.
Or alone at home. Basically always now that I know Michael Hunt was able to track down the address of my old apartment.
What’s to stop him from finding me again?
I can only hope getting confronted by Noah and Aries was enough to scare him off.
For the first time ever, Victoria’s name is on my screen. Victoria is calling me? That can’t be right. What could she want?
I swipe my thumb across the screen and wedge the phone between my shoulder and ear while I fumble with the rest of my bags. “Hello?”
“Summer, oh my god!” Victoria screeches in my ear, breathless, and I wince.
My poor eardrum. “I went over to your house to, you know, thank you for . . . everything. For talking sense into me and being there for me and blah, blah, blah. And I saw a strange car in your driveway, and when I got out, there was a man in your backyard.”
My heart jumps to my throat. “Oh my god.”
“He had a knife, Summer. I think he was . . .” She trails off. “I mean, obviously he wasn’t there with good intentions.”
A buzzing fills my head. A man with a knife was waiting outside my house. For me.
It had to be Michael. He . . . holy shit. He showed up with a goddamn knife to my house after dark. He was planning to kill me. Is planning to kill me.
What do I do? Call the police? File for a restraining order? How long does something like that even take? I’m in danger right now.
“Are you okay? Did he see you?” I toss the last of my groceries in the car, not caring where they land. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I need to go.
“I’m fine. I keep a shovel in my car for gardening emergencies”—Yeah, we’ll have to circle back to gardening emergencies at another time—“and I hit him on the head with it.”
“Holy shit!”
“He went right down. Then I put him in the trunk of my car.”
So it turns out Victoria is a badass. Glad I never pissed her off enough that she pulled her shovel on me. “You put him in the trunk? How?”
“You know what they say about moms who lift cars off babies.”
“She had help,” a low voice interjects in the background.
“Aries?”
Victoria sighs. I can practically see her rolling her eyes. “And I may have called Noah and Killian to come help me, and when neither of them picked up, I called my last resort.”
My brain is spinning trying to keep up with all of the new information being thrown at me. Victoria found a man with a knife on my property, hit him in the head with her shovel, and Aries showed up to help her move the body into the trunk of her car. How is this real life?
“Where are you now?”
“We’re in the parking lot behind Aries’s flower shop. It’s out of town, so no one should see anything.”
“Plant nursery,” he corrects, irritable enough that I’m sure this isn’t the first time they’ve argued about it.
“Plant nursery doesn’t sound any more masculine than flower shop.”
“You think I care what sounds more masculine? I’ve got an eight-inch—”
“Send me the address!” I don’t really care where they are as long as I can reach them quickly.
“I sent it,” Victoria says. “Try to get here as quickly as you can. Then we can call the police.”
“We’re not calling the police.” Aries clearly believes Victoria has lost it. “We just abducted a man. This is human trafficking. Not to mention, you assaulted him with a shovel.”
“He was armed with a knife and trying to break into my friend’s house! What else was I supposed to do?”
Despite the severity of our situation, I can’t help but smile that Victoria referred to me as her friend.
“Can I take that cart for you, miss?” A friendly elderly man points at my cart, and I practically nail him with it as I send it careening in his direction. He jumps back, wide-eyed.
“Yes! Thank you so much!”
I jump into the driver’s side of my car and nearly hit the poor man when I peel out of the parking spot. Even though there’s no one else around to hear me, I whisper, “Is he . . . still alive?”
“I don’t know.” Aries’s answer makes my blood run cold.
“He’s not dead!” Victoria snaps. “He was moving when we closed the trunk. Not much, but moving. He’s alive. Most likely.”
Michael Hunt is alive. Most likely. But since Victoria and Aries transported him to another location, can we still report this to the police? Or will we be in trouble because we’re the ones who committed a more serious crime? All they would be able to charge Michael with is trespassing.
Fuck. We’re in deep shit.
As soon as I get there, I’m calling Noah. He might be just as clueless as we are about how to proceed, but he’ll do whatever he can to help. And . . . I need him.
“I’m on my way.”
Aries’s flower shop—excuse me, plant nursery—is cuter than I anticipated for being out of town and relatively isolated.
And for being owned by Aries. An adorable sign out front points the way to the only building in the lot, and flourishing flower beds border the tiny parking lot and brick walkway.
During the day, I’m sure this place is vibrant with color.
Not exactly the business I expected a fantasy-book-reading biker to own, but he must be doing well for himself.
Oh my god, why am I wasting time admiring Aries’s flower shop? I need to figure out a plan with him and Victoria before someone reports Michael missing or something.
I zip into the parking lot, tires squealing as I jerk to a halt, leap out of my car, and race toward them.
“You would definitely get more jail time,” Aries tells Victoria. His arms are crossed, and they’re standing nose to nose. At least, they would be if Victoria were several inches taller. Somehow, they’re unaware of me beside them. “I’m a mere accomplice.”
“We’re not going to jail,” Victoria seethes.
“Is he still unconscious?” I blurt.
They both blink at me like they’re just noticing me for the first time. Victoria turns her attention to the trunk, considering. “I haven’t heard anything from him.”
Hopefully, he’s still knocked out and not in there biding his time, ready to leap out and stab us with that knife as soon as we open the trunk.
I swallow around the rock lodged in my throat and nod at Aries. “Open it.”
There are three of us and only one of him. Even if he’s armed, he’ll be dizzy and confused. Not exactly in the best state to stab three people in a frenzied attack.
As Aries starts to pull on the latch to the trunk, Victoria calls out, “Don’t try anything! We have a gun!”
I yank on her elbow and hiss, “What? You have a gun?”
“No,” she whispers. “But he doesn’t need to know that! He has a knife, Summer. Remember?”
“Right. Good thinking.” I knew getting on Victoria’s good side would come in handy.
We all stiffen and hold our breath as Aries pops the lid open.
No one jumps out. From here, I can’t see Michael’s body. “Is he still in there?”
Aries confirms at the same time Victoria says, “Where else could he have gone?”
Tentatively, Aries reaches inside.
“What are you doing?” Victoria hisses.
He pulls out the knife. I gasp, mouth going dry. That thing is huge.
Michael showed up at my house with one purpose in mind.
I throw my arms around Victoria. She’s stiff, but at least she doesn’t push me off. “Oh my god! You saved me! He could’ve killed me!”
“You’re welcome,” she chokes out, and I loosen my hold so she can breathe again.
“Stupid question: Does this knife look . . . fake to you?” Aries points the blade to the night sky. “It’s really lightweight. And the handle is plastic.”
He pokes the end tentatively, then presses harder. The blade slides fully into the handle.
“What the hell? It’s fake?” Victoria asks before we all stand there in silence, dumbfounded.
A fake knife? Why would Michael show up with a fake knife if his intent was to hurt me? Someone with a retractable prop knife would use it for a prank or maybe to give someone a short-lived scare, but not to actually hurt them.
Oh my god. What if the unconscious body in the trunk isn’t Michael at all?
Heart slamming against my ribcage, I rush toward the trunk while Victoria objects. The man flat on his back in the trunk has his face and hair covered by a full-head mask. I reach down and yank it off him.
Victoria gasps at the same time Aries hisses, “Shit.”
Noah blinks up at me slowly, his blue eyes dark in the minimal light. A relieved gush of air whooshes from my lungs.
He’s okay. He’s alive, he’s conscious, he’s—
In the trunk of a car. Rubbing the back of his head where Victoria smacked him with her shovel.
“Oh my god, Noah—”
“What the hell were you thinking?” Victoria practically shoves me out of the way to shout at her brother. “Why were you stalking around Summer’s house? With a knife? I thought you were a psycho! Wait. Are you a psycho?”