Chapter 15
The tick of the clock on Noah’s living room wall was driving Addie crazy. The kind of crazy where she couldn’t work or even concentrate.
Okay, maybe the clock wasn’t the only reason she wasn’t being productive. But how was she supposed to work when someone had tried to hurt her yesterday?
She looked at the time on the laptop screen.
Shit. Three hours. She’d been working for three freaking hours and all she’d done was reschedule a couple of bookings and order some new equipment. That was it.
Jesus.
She scrubbed a hand over her face. Maybe she should take up coffee drinking. The stuff was supposed to help focus, right?
Ha, the last time she’d forced coffee down her throat, she’d felt sick for the next four hours. Yes, she disliked it that much.
Maybe Noah’s living room couch was too soft?
Or maybe, she needed to stop blaming everything else and just work.
Focus, Addie.
Her phone rang.
Thank God.
The relief quickly evaporated though when she saw who it was.
Her mother. Possibly both her parents.
Crap.
She’d called this morning to let them know what had happened. But she’d intentionally done it at a ridiculously early time, knowing her mother’s phone would be on silent so that she could very cowardly leave a voice message.
She set the phone to her ear. “Hey, Mom.”
“Are you okay?” Her mother’s words were sharp and rushed.
“I’m absolutely fine.”
“How the hell did the rope break?” her father growled.
“Um, someone actually put battery acid on it.” She wrinkled her nose at what was about to come.
Her mother gasped, but it was her father who yelled, “What?”
“But I’m fine,” she rushed to add. “And Buck only broke his wrist and got a concussion.”
Only? Not only. It was awful.
“Who’s Buck?” her mother asked, almost sounding like she was crying.
“The other guy who was climbing. His rope snapped and he fell. I grabbed the wall before my rope completely broke, and Noah climbed up to save me.”
There was a long silence, and yeah, she knew she was leaving a lot of gaps.
“Addison Marie March.” She cringed at her father full-naming her. “What is going on over there?”
She wanted to lie…but she didn’t. “I’ve received a few…texts.”
“Texts?” her mother asked, sounding confused.
“Someone’s been messaging me from an unknown number, telling me to leave Amber Ridge or else.”
“Come home.” Her father’s response was immediate. It was also hard and unyielding. It was the former Marine in him who was used to people following his orders. “We didn’t want you to move out anyway.”
“Your father’s right,” her mother added. “It’s too dangerous.”
There was such a big part of her that wanted to make her parents happy. She loved them so much that she almost needed to give them what they wanted. But with this, she just couldn’t. “I’m not coming home. I’m sorry. I like it here. I enjoy my job. And there’s someone I care about.”
“You’re dating someone?” her mother asked.
“Yes.” Or at least, she was pretty sure that was what they were doing. Living in Noah’s house, sleeping with him…that was dating.
“Who?” her father asked.
“His name is Noah, and he’s—”
“Your boss?”
She cringed against her mother’s sharp question. “Yes.”
“The Marine,” her father added. “How old is he?”
“Thirty-five.”
There was a sharp gasp from her mother.
Okay, this conversation was not going the way it should.
“Look, I know I’ve just given you a lot of information.
The short version is this: someone has sent a couple of texts telling me to get out of town.
The sheriff is aware. I’m staying at Noah’s house, and he has a great security system.
Yes, I almost got hurt yesterday, but Noah got me out of the situation without so much as a scratch. ”
“Darling.” Her mother was crying, or at least on the verge of it. “Please come home.”
She swallowed hard, closing her eyes. It hurt to say no.
But she couldn’t give up this life. “I’m sorry, Mom.
I can’t. I’m building a life here. But you don’t need to worry about me.
I’m being smart, and I have really good guys looking out for me.
” She glanced back at her laptop. “I have to go because I’m working, but I’ll call again tomorrow, okay? ”
They didn’t sound happy, but finally her parents let her go.
Guilt swirled in her belly. She hated feeling like she was disappointing them. And more than that, her mother was a worrier. They were getting old, and she didn’t want to stress them out.
But she liked the life she was creating here. She couldn’t let some random person scare her away. She felt safe with Noah. Besides, she needed to get to the bottom of what the heck was going on. If she left and the threats stopped, she’d never know.
She looked back at her screen, and if it was possible, she felt even less motivated than she had before the call.
What she needed was one of Mrs. Gerald’s frosted chocolate creams from The Tea House. And maybe pie. Yes, pie was the fixer of all problems.
She snapped the laptop shut.
The second she stepped outside, her eyes scanned the street and her fingers hovered inside her bag, where her can of pepper spray sat. Quickly, she crossed to her car, breathing a sigh of relief when she dropped inside and locked the doors.
Maybe she didn’t have a reason to be scared anymore. Maybe Jesse was questioning Rhett right now, Rhett was confessing to everything, and she was about to get a call that she was safe.
Ha. When did things work out that smoothly? Plus, Rhett didn’t seem the type to just confess to attempted murder or whatever it was he’d done yesterday.
When she reached The Tea House, she’d just climbed out when her phone rang, Noah’s name on the screen.
Her cheeks heated at the sight of his name. At the memory of what they’d done last night. Then this morning, waking up naked in his arms.
How was she supposed to leave him and them and what they were creating?
She wasn’t.
She answered as she crossed the parking lot. “Hey.”
“Hey.” There was a small pause. “You’re outside?”
“I’m about to step inside The Tea House to get a drink and some pie.”
Noah cursed. “You shouldn’t be alone. I could have come with you. I’m just around the corner. I’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“I don’t intend to stay long. I—” She stopped just inside The Tea House. Oh no. “Rhett.” His name was a whisper on her lips. He stood by the counter, but even from behind she recognized him.
“Rhett’s there?” Noah growled.
Rhett turned, and the second he saw her, his eyes narrowed.
Shit. Not good. She lowered the phone. “Rhett—”
“You blamed me?” He got so close, she could almost feel his breath on her face.
“I—”
“They questioned me for hours. Made me feel like a fucking criminal!”
“Look—”
“No, you look.” Another step forward. Now he was crowding her. “I—”
“Is there a problem here?”
Addie looked up to see a tall, dangerous-looking man beside them. He had dark hair and blue eyes.
Rhett scowled at him. “Mind your own fucking business, man.”
“When I see a woman being yelled at by an asshole, I make it my business.”
Addie opened her mouth, not sure what words were about to come out, when the door opened behind her.
“What do you mean, you couldn’t hold him?” Noah snapped, frustration heating his breath.
Jesse sighed from behind his desk at the sheriff’s station.
“It’s an open criminal investigation and we didn’t have the evidence to arrest him.
Yes, he set up the equipment, but so did two other people, and none of them admitted to seeing any wrongdoing.
He consented to us checking his car, and we didn’t find any battery acid. ”
“So, because he’s good at covering his ass, he gets to walk free?”
Jesse leaned forward and said each word slowly and deliberately. “We’re paying him another visit today under the pretense of a routine follow-up. We’re going to look for any inconsistencies in his story. We’ll also ask to search his home.”
Noah laughed. “Even if there had been something incriminating, it’ll be long gone now.”
“We’re doing everything we can, Noah.”
It wasn’t enough. Buck had already been injured yesterday, and Addie easily could have been hurt too.
He pushed his seat back and rose to his feet.
“Where are you going?” Jesse asked.
“To Addie. If this asshole’s still out there, then she’s not safe.”
He knew he wasn’t being fair to his cousin. Jesse was good at his job, and of course he was doing everything he could to keep his town and the people in it safe. But fuck, Noah was angry.
He was halfway to the door when Jesse grabbed his arm. “Listen.” Jesse waited for him to turn before finishing. “I’m working on this, okay? I’m not going to stop until we’ve nailed the person responsible.”
“I know. I appreciate what you’re doing.”
Jesse squeezed Noah’s arm, and he left his cousin’s office. He’d just reached his car when Colt called. He waited until he was inside the vehicle to answer. “What’s up?”
“Have you spoken to Jesse?”
“They didn’t have enough evidence to hold him.” Even saying the words out loud made him furious all over again.
There was a small pause. “Is it possible it wasn’t him? Yes, he grabbed her the night before, but that doesn’t mean he’d go so far as to want her or Buck to fall off the cliff.”
“If not him, then who? Buck wouldn’t have done this to himself. It could be Cass. That’s something Jesse’s also looking into. But it still brings up the question—why? Addie’s adamant that she doesn’t have any enemies here. Who would have something to gain from her leaving town?”
“Maybe we should do some more digging on everyone at the park, just in case. Cass is coming in today. I can talk to her.”
“Addie and I can visit Buck and see if he remembers anything that he forgot to tell Jesse.”
“Good.” Colt was quiet for a moment. “Do you need anything?”
Yeah, he needed to figure out what the hell was going on. “You’re already doing what I need by helping with this.”
“Of course. Talk again soon.”
When the call ended, Noah pulled onto the road and used the car Bluetooth to call Addie.
She answered on the second ring. “Hey.”
He frowned at the wind blowing over the line. “Hey. You’re outside?”
“I’m about to step inside The Tea House to get a drink and some pie.”
Noah cursed. “You shouldn’t be alone. I could have come with you. I’m just around the corner. I’ll be there in less than a minute.” With Rhett or whoever the hell this was still out there, she shouldn’t be alone anywhere.
He took a right, The Tea House already in view.
“I don’t intend to stay long. I—” Addie stopped mid-sentence. “Rhett.”
“Rhett’s there?” Noah growled.
Fuck.
He sped down the street, then slammed his foot on the brake outside The Tea House.
When he crashed through the door, he saw Rhett crowding Addie. But there was also a second guy there. He was tall and standing beside them.
Noah walked straight up to Rhett and shoved him back. “What the hell are you doing?”
“What am I doing? I’m explaining to your girlfriend that because of her, I had to sit through hours of questioning.”
“Did you do it?”
The younger man scowled. “Fuck you!”
Noah went to step forward, but the stranger grabbed his shoulder. “Not here.”
A hollow laugh burst from Rhett’s chest. “I’m done with this anyway.”
He stormed out, and every part of Noah wanted to follow him. Grab him. Force him to admit to what he’d done.
But Jesse would kick his ass. He had to trust Jesse to get the information they needed.
“Who are you?” Noah asked the other guy, the words sounding like more of a bark.
“Just someone trying to get a coffee.” He glanced at Addie. “You good?”
She nodded, and the guy headed out of The Tea House.
Noah closed the bit of distance between him and Addie. “What happened?”
“He didn’t do anything. He was just angry that he got called into the sheriff’s office for questioning.” She shot a glance over her shoulder, like she was looking for Rhett. “I would have thought he’d be at the station.”
“Jesse didn’t have enough to hold him.” Second time saying it, and it sounded just as fucking ridiculous as the first.
Her brows flickered but she nodded.
Damn, he hated how sad she looked, especially after the night they’d had.
He cupped her cheek, forcing the tension in her face to ease. “You know what you need? Chocolate.”
She laughed. “I always need chocolate, no traumatic week necessary.”
“Well, let’s allow Mrs. Gerald to make this morning a bit better.”
They stepped up to the counter and were waiting for the café owner to reach them when Addie’s phone beeped with a text.
At her gasp, he looked over in time to see her face pale. Then he glanced down at the text on the screen.
Unknown: You know, Buck would be okay if you’d done what I asked. I suggest you get out before another person gets hurt.