Chapter 31
Bonnie yawned and stared at the dark street outside the car as they drove. “Just so you know, I think it should be criminal to open the gym before the sun comes out.”
Zane chuckled. “We’re only open this early Wednesdays and Fridays, and because it’s a gym. A lot of people like to work out before heading to their jobs.”
“Crazy people,” she muttered under her breath. “Those are people I have nothing in common with.”
“I am those people. I usually get a session in before we open.”
“This must be that whole ‘opposites attract’ thing.”
“Well, I’ve certainly never been attracted to any six-foot-three men who like to hit a bag before work.”
She laughed, then winced at the pain in her shoulder. Even though a week had passed since she’d been shot, it still hurt to move and laugh and do basically anything. It probably would for a while.
Zane took his gaze from the road to look at her. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“If you’re not, we can—”
“Nope. I am not spending another day looking at the four walls of the inside of the apartment.” Absolutely not. She’d lose her mind. Hell, she’d already lost part of it being home for so long.
They’d moved back into Zane’s apartment once she was out of the hospital. And Zane had been by her side the entire time, letting Stetson run the gym. He played it off like he wasn’t bored as hell, but he was. He had to be.
“It’s so unfair.”
Zane frowned at her. “What is?”
Shit. She’d meant to say that in her head. “We were kidnapped. We fought for our lives, and we survived. In a fair world, we’d have earned our right to live in a safe small town without trying to figure out who else has it out for me.”
He squeezed her thigh. “We’ll find them.”
“Maybe not. Jesse has no leads. None.”
A muscle ticked in Zane’s jaw, because he knew she was right. And it frustrated him as much as it frustrated her.
They pulled over in front of the gym. Zane frowned at the Hyundai parked in front of them. “Stetson’s here. I told him to take the morning off.”
“Maybe he forgot? He’s probably delirious after all the hours he’s worked this last week.” She climbed out of the car, immediately wrapping her arms around her waist. Man, it was cold. Another reason not to wake up at this godforsaken hour.
Zane came around the car, scanning the street before setting a hand on her back and leading her toward the gym. “Any news on the shelter?”
Her lips curved into a smile. “Two more weeks and we should be reopening.”
“Will it take time to get it back to what it was?”
She shook her head. “No. There are too many women who need a safe place. I’m sure they already have a list of people who’ve been assigned a spot.” A new manager had been hired, and even though Bonnie hadn’t met her, they’d chatted on the phone and she seemed lovely. Shelley’s complete opposite.
Zane went to put his key into the lock, but as he grabbed the handle, the door opened. “I wonder what time he got here.”
“Too early.” She bumped his hip before stepping inside and flicking on the lights. The gym lit up. “Strange that he kept the lights off though.”
Zane stepped in beside her. “Where is he?”
Good question.
Zane slipped his hand into hers and moved forward, his other hand hovering over where she knew he carried a concealed gun. The smile from moments ago slipped, and nerves kicked at her ribs.
Maybe something was wrong. A few things weren’t adding up. Stetson’s car being here. The lights that were still off.
Zane led her to his office. “Stetson?”
The room was empty.
Tension rolled off Zane’s shoulders as he pulled his cell from his pocket and hit Stetson’s number. A few seconds passed before he lowered the phone. “He’s not answering.”
Hand still in his, she trailed behind him as they moved to the back hall. After passing the bathrooms and equipment room, he tried the handle on the back door. “Locked.”
She jumped at the ringing of Zane’s phone.
Jesus. Calm down, Bonnie.
She glanced at the screen, expecting to see Stetson’s name. It was Jesse’s. And that made those nerves in her belly ripple.
Something was definitely wrong. Jesse wouldn’t call so early if it wasn’t.
Zane put his cell to his ear. “Jesse.”
Bonnie breathed deeply, frowning. What was that smell?
“His parents can’t get through to him?”
Her gaze returned to Zane. Was he talking about Stetson?
As he continued to talk, she turned back to the hall, the strange smell making her nose wrinkle. What was that? Was it coming from the bathroom?
She took a few steps, about to push into the bathroom, when she paused. No. It was coming from the storage room.
She turned, her pulse speeding up.
The second she opened the door, she gagged. Good God, it smelled like something had died in here.
She flicked on the light and scanned the storage room, shelving lined with boxes. A shoebox immediately caught her attention. It was red and had a sticker in the corner. A sticker she recognized.
She’d given the box to Dean in high school. She’d put some dumb notes she’d written to him inside, and a few other keepsakes.
Suddenly, the nerves in her belly turned into a nausea that rolled and crawled, making her feel sick to her stomach.
She shouldn’t open it. She knew she shouldn’t.
Not here, not by herself. But her feet were moving before she could stop them, propelling her forward.
A deep need to see what was inside squashing any and everything else.
With shaking fingers, she lifted the box. It took her three full breaths before she gained the courage to open it.
She screamed at what she saw, the boxing hitting the floor.
Loud footsteps sounded behind her. “Bonnie? What—” Zane cursed and gripped her shoulders, turning her away from the decomposing mouse head.
Her gaze caught on something behind Zane, hidden behind the storage room door. This time, her entire stomach dropped. “Oh my God…Stetson!”
Zane turned and saw what she did. He dropped down beside Stetson’s still body. He had a black eye and lay on his side at an awkward angle.
“Is he alive?” she whispered, praying Zane said yes.
He touched Stetson’s throat. “There’s a heartbeat but it’s faint.” His gaze shifted lower, the muscles in his back visibly tensing.
And that’s when Bonnie saw the blood on his midsection, like he’d been stabbed or shot.
She stumbled back and pulled her cell from her pocket, about to call an ambulance, when something sounded from somewhere in the gym. A bang.
Zane stood and pulled Bonnie behind him, tugging his gun from the holster.
Someone had hurt Stetson. And that someone might still be here.
Before stepping out of the storage room, Zane called Jesse back.
“Zane—”
“I need you at the gym now.” He kept his voice low and quiet.
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s here.” Two words…that’s all he said before he hung up and shoved the cell back into his pocket. “Stay behind me.”
He didn’t want to take Bonnie out there with him, but he sure as hell wasn’t leaving her alone.
He stuck his head into the hall.
Empty.
He reached behind him and gripped Bonnie’s wrist, keeping her close as he moved down to the back door. He wanted out of here and he wanted out fast. There was a possibility someone was waiting out there for him. But better out in the open than boxed in here.
There was no safe option right now.
He slipped the lock and pulled the handle. It didn’t move.
The fuck?
He tried again. Again, it wouldn’t move. The asshole had done something to the door.
Shit.
He turned and headed the other way. When he reached the end of the hall, he stopped, Bonnie’s warm body behind him. That and years of military training were the only things keeping him calm. He reached into his pocket and quietly pulled out his keys.
The second he threw them into the gym, the boom of a gunshot exploded through the room.
Bonnie flinched, her gasp cutting into the quiet.
“Come on,” Zane yelled. “Don’t you want to tell us who you are? Brag about trapping us in the hall?”
Zane didn’t give a shit who the asshole was. He was a dead man walking. Zane just needed to waste enough time for backup to arrive.
“Why not? You’ll be dead soon anyway.”
Zane frowned. He knew that voice. Who—
“Damien,” Bonnie whispered, disbelief mixing with fear in her voice.
Dean’s brother. Of course it was. The fucker’s wife had been in his damn storage room where the mouse head had been found. And he was Stetson’s cousin. He’d probably tricked the kid into letting him in, then shot him to keep him quiet.
Zane opened his mouth to say more when Bonnie gasped. “Zane.”
He glanced back and followed her gaze to a few feet away…where Maisie stood. Her right eye was bruised, like someone had hit her, and she held a gun that was trained solely on Bonnie.
“I’ve got her,” Maisie yelled.
“Good. Come out, come out!”
Zane didn’t move a muscle. Everything in him told him to stay exactly where he was.
“Do it,” Maisie said, voice hushed. “Don’t make me hurt her.”
Were there tears in her eyes?
“I will,” Maisie added. “You so much as start to move that gun my way and I’ll have to shoot her.”
Zane’s jaw clenched as he stepped into the gym.
Damien stood a couple yards away, a smile curving his lips. “There you are.”
“Maisie,” Bonnie whispered. “Why are you doing this?”
“Don’t talk to her!” Damien seethed. “This is all me. Drop the gun and kick it over here, Merrick.”
Zane’s fingers tightened around the Glock.
Damien lifted a brow before training his weapon on Bonnie.
“Fine.” Zane lowered the gun to the floor and kicked it forward, leaving himself weaponless.
Damien bent and grabbed Zane’s Glock, then slipped it into a holster.
“I’m sorry.”
Zane frowned, not sure if he’d really heard the apology beneath Maisie’s breath or not.
“Why?” Zane growled, not sure which one he was talking to. “What do we even have to do with you?”
Damien laughed. “Everything. The second this bitch came back to this town, it put a ticking time bomb on how long until the truth came out about the night my brother died. I can’t have that.”
“Really?” Bonnie said. “All this to keep people from knowing Maisie slept with Dean?”
“You think I want my family, the entire fucking town, knowing that my wife’s a goddamn whore?
Do you know what that would do to my reputation?
” Damien shook his head. “And more than that, what it would do to my parents? If they knew Maisie slept with Dean the night he died, and that’s why you left him behind?
Then they’d inevitably find out that Maisie called me to pick him up, but I didn’t because I was too busy getting high. They’d cut us both out of the Will.”
Bonnie’s head reared back as if she’d been slapped. “She called you?”
“You saw her on the damn phone that night,” Damien yelled. “She told me you saw her. And now my darling wife feels bad that my parents and the entire town are being mean to you, and she wants to tell everyone the truth.”
“And that’s worth killing over?” Zane asked, incredulous.
Damien turned back to him. “Do you know what my parents are worth? You really think I’d risk them cutting me out because my wife can’t keep her legs closed and I didn’t pick up my cheating fucking brother that night? Because they would cut me out. They always loved that dumbass more than me.”
“So we just don’t tell anyone,” Bonnie said quietly.
“Tried that. Caught Maisie sneaking out last night. Took a bit of convincing, but she eventually admitted that she was going to tell my parents everything. Decided I can’t trust her until I get rid of you.”
“How do you know you can trust her when Bonnie’s gone?” Zane asked.
“You know the saying…out of sight, out of mind. Plus, there are always consequences for bad behavior—aren’t there, honey?”
Zane shot a glance at Maisie. There was a mix of emotions on her face. Fear. Sadness.
But also a hint of anger.
“All right, let’s get this over with. Maisie, you’ve got Bonnie. I’ve got Zane.” Damien’s smile widened. “Then she really won’t say anything, because she’ll have blood on her hands.”
Zane eyed Damien’s gun, calculating how much time it would take him to reach it.
Too long.
He needed to target Maisie. Shove Bonnie to the floor, get the gun, and kill the fucker. It wasn’t optimal, but he was all out of good options. This was about survival.
“Any last words?” Damien asked, humor in his voice.
Zane’s muscles coiled, ready to act.
But before he could dive for Bonnie, Maisie swung her gun away from Bonnie’s head and fired.
The bullet hit Damien in the gut.
Maisie gasped and stumbled back, like she couldn’t believe what she’d done. Zane lunged, grabbing Damien’s wrist and forcing the gun down.
Movement sounded behind him, and he prayed that Bonnie was safe.
Damien growled and tried to knee Zane, but he immobilized him easily, knocking him to the floor and flipping him to his stomach before squeezing his wrist so hard, the gun fell from his hold.
The crash of the front door opening rang out, then footsteps. Zane looked up to see Jesse entering, his deputies behind him.
Then he shifted his gaze to Bonnie. She now held the gun and Maisie was on the floor.
Relief almost suffocated him. She was okay. Another gun had been aimed at her, but she was okay.