Chapter 16
RAFE
Too many thoughts battled in my head. The possibilities were endless and in each one, someone discovered Alex. A cop. Nikki. Even Zach. I didn’t like unexpected developments. Since her declared death had hit the news, I’d grown lax.
My mistake.
I pulled out of her and wound an arm around her neck, smothering her mouth with my hand. “Who is it? Did you let them in?”
Jax shook his head. “It’s a woman. I have no idea who she is or what she wants.”
“Grab the duct tape from my dresser,” I told him. “Top drawer.”
He moved quickly and pulled out the tape, and all the while, Alex struggled, her protests coming out as muffled whines.
As Jax pulled a strip from the roll, I picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.
He and I worked together to get the tape over her mouth.
I wound my belt around her wrists and anchored her hands to the headboard.
“Sit tight. We’re not done yet.” I got to my feet and threw on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and Jax led the way down the steps.
“A woman’s here?”
“A hot blonde,” he said. “I didn’t let her in, and boy was she pissed.”
Fuck.
Had to be Nikki. Once we touched ground, Jax folded the stepladder to the loft. I cast a glance toward the front door, dread twisting my gut for what waited on the other side.
“I tried telling her you were sleeping, but she wouldn’t leave.”
“I’m not surprised. If it’s who I think it is, she doesn’t have an agreeable bone in her body.” I strode to the door, Jax on my heels, and pulled it open. She stood tapping a foot, arms crossed with a scowl on her face. “Who’s the watchdog?” She jabbed a finger in Jax’s direction.
“I think the real question,” he said, lip curling, “is who the hell are you?”
“Who the hell am I?” She clenched her hands.
Double fuck.
“That’s what I said, ’cause from where I’m standing, you’re nothing but a stranger on my doorstep. A gorgeous stranger, but still.”
She let out a growl of indignation, and I spoke before things escalated.
“He’s my roommate. What are you doing here, Nik?
” And how could I get rid of her before the whole damn situation crumbled to the ground?
I glanced over my shoulder and let out a small breath, as if I expected to find Alex standing behind me.
“I’m overwhelmed by the warm welcome.” Nikki stepped forward, a sign she wanted to come inside. “I’ve been calling, or had you not noticed?”
“I noticed.” Another glance behind me, another expelled breath. Thankfully, nothing but silence came from upstairs. “Can we meet somewhere in town later? Now isn’t a good time.”
She shook her head. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. You might want to avoid town for a while. Lyle’s got it out for you, been saying all kinds of crazy things. People are starting to talk. He thinks you had something to do with that girl’s death.”
Jax stood straighter, his back rigid. I knew what he was thinking, but I wasn’t about to let some small town gossip bring us down. I willed my face into a mask, though my pulse throbbed at my temples. “What girl?”
Her eyes widened. “You haven’t heard?”
I arched a brow. “Heard what?”
“The girl who sent you to jail, her car was found in the river a few days ago. They said it was an accident, but Lyle thinks you had something to do with it.” She raised her brows, and her forehead creased under honey blond wisps of bangs.
“The timing’s kind of convenient though.
They found her car just twenty miles from here.
” She swept a hand between us. “And now you’re here. ”
“You think I had something to do with it?” I dragged a hand through my unruly hair.
“No, I’m just saying I can see why some people might talk.”
Jax folded his arms. “My head is spinnin’ here, guys.” He gave Nikki a slow once-over. “Who’s Lyle, and who the hell are you?”
The first woman to catch his attention, and it would have to be the mother of my kid.
“Jax, this is Nikki.”
“Well that tells me a lot.”
I sighed. “We went to high school together. She’s engaged to…” Fuck, he wasn’t going to like this. “Lyle, the sheriff.”
“Perfect.” He gave me a pointed look, and I hoped Nikki didn’t notice.
She took another step forward. “Can I come in, please? You took off so fast the other night—”
“Let’s go for a walk,” I interrupted as I wedged my feet into my sneakers by the door.
I glanced at Jax, and he gave an imperceptible nod.
We were good at communicating without words.
A dip of the head, a flick of the wrist, a furtive glance.
We’d learned to talk in code long ago. He’d keep an eye on the prisoner while I chased off the threat.
I closed the door behind me and followed Nikki down the steps of the front porch.
We walked in silence for a while, the hum of the highway and the roar of a freight train blending into one in the distance.
“That yours?” I asked, gesturing toward the small fishing boat docked next to my larger form of transportation.
It was a stupid question, but I didn’t know what else to say.
“My dad’s.”
“How is he?”
“Not good. He’s been drinking again, ever since Mom left.”
Muttering the word “sorry” wouldn’t cut it, so I said nothing. As we neared the dock, a few more feet down the sloped path, she slowed.
“I didn’t come by because of Lyle.”
“I figured as much.”
“I mean, you always could handle yourself when it came to him.”
I raised a brow, waiting for her to get to the point.
She twirled the engagement ring around her finger, a large princess cut diamond that looked as if it weighed down her hand.
I wondered how a man on a sheriff’s salary could afford such a ring.
The whine of the train’s engine grew louder, closer.
She cleared her throat. “Thing is, Lyle doesn’t know you’re Will’s father. ”
Her words stopped me cold. “Who does he think is his father then? Was there someone else?” The thought hurt more than it should.
She shook her head. “A few one-night stands when you were away at competitions or busy training, but no one around the time of conception. It was just you.”
“But he doesn’t know that?”
“Well, he didn’t. I think he suspects now, since we met up for dinner. Small town and all that. You remember how it is. Nothing goes on in this place without everyone knowing about it.”
I almost snorted. I guess living on an island gave me certain advantages, like being able to kidnap a woman and hold her prisoner. No one knew about that. Talk was one thing, but knowing was something else entirely.
“So what are you saying?” I threw my hands up in the air. “I don’t know what you want from me. You didn’t even tell me about him until a few days ago.” I folded my arms to ward off the chill wafting from the river.
“Because you were locked up!” Wind whipped her blond hair into her face, and she angrily swiped it from her eyes. “The last time I saw you, I didn’t recognize you, Rafe. I’d never seen you so pissed, so…so…”
“So what? Just say it.” I stepped toward her, invading her space.
“So broken.”
I took a deep breath. “Let’s not do this shit.
What do you want from me? You want me to step aside so you can have your perfect little family with Lyle?
” I rolled my eyes. Lyle and picturesque family dynamics didn’t mix.
Who the fuck was Nikki kidding? I might have been dead to the world for the last eight years, or broken, like she said, but people didn’t change.
Not like that. If they did change, it was usually for the worse.
She lowered her head. “I don’t know why I’m here, don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Lyle is just getting nasty when it comes to your name. You need to watch your back, Rafe. He has a lot of power in this town. You already went down once for something you didn’t do.”
I stared at the river, recalling how Alex had fallen in the other night.
I tried not to display any emotion. No clues, no ticks that would give away my guilty ass.
“You should go,” I said, knowing I was being rude but unable to stop myself.
I had no explanation for Nikki. I didn’t know what to do about my son.
Fuck, I didn’t know what she wanted me to do about him.
“If you want Lyle to be his dad, I’ll honor your wishes.
Eight fucking years is a lot of time to miss. Maybe it’s too late.”
Why did that abrade so much? I’d barely glimpsed the kid, but the thought of letting him go, just as I’d found out about him, chiseled a hole in my heart.
She frowned. “You’re his father. He should know you.”
“He’s probably in what…second grade now?”
She nodded.
“Kids talk, and they’re mean as fuck. Maybe it’s best if we keep it under wraps for now. Last thing I want is to disrupt his life by meeting him, then do it all over again by the talk that’ll follow.” I grimaced. The poor kid would take a lot of shit because of my time in prison.
“Okay.” She turned and headed toward the dock, though I glimpsed the sadness in her eyes before she went.
A few minutes later, after she’d started the motor and began across the river toward the boat ramp, I headed up the path to the cabin, my thoughts on Alex and whatever it was she was hiding.
I didn’t like it. Too much of the situation was on the verge of crumbling.
I couldn’t afford to be in the dark about anything, especially with a kid to think about.
Jax met me at the door, shrugging into his jacket as he stepped onto the porch. “Gotta go. I’ll be back late tonight. Work is getting heavy.”
“See you later.” He and I needed to have a heavy talk, but first things first, Alex was going to spill, and seeing the river, remembering how absolute her fear was, would give me the perfect leverage to make her stubborn ass bend.