Chapter 15 – Sara
Ileft a note on the counter, grabbed my purse, and left through the garage. My masked devil probably already knew that I would be in town a day early, since I’d told my parents I would just crash at their place for church tomorrow.
I slid into my car and closed the garage door after backing out.
Tonight was Oktoberfest. Why the last weekend in September was granted that title, I’d never figured out.
The word literally had the name October in it, so we were still a weekend too soon.
But the festival was usually held in September, and we weren’t the only town to do it that way.
I shook my head, trying to rein in my inner squirrel.
It was good to get out of the cabin for a spell. I would grab groceries, have coffee with Mamma at the Salted Biscoff, then walk over to the town square with my parents to enjoy the festivities.
He will be there!
I knew it.
I didn’t need to leave a paper trail as to my whereabouts.
But I left him a note just in case. My nocturnal visitor wasn’t as much a stalker, but a regular part of my routine.
He’d come over every night this week. After I cooked a late dinner the night after the pumpkin fiasco, he took it upon himself to come earlier and take over the meal preparations.
“It will give you more time to write,” he’d explained.
There was only ever a single candle, set far away from where we dined. With his back to the light, his features had been shrouded in shadows. Our interactions provided fantastic material for my novel—which was almost done.
I used the drive into town to settle a pivotal debate.
I could polish the rough draft and make book one complete.
It would be ready to publish by the time the snow fell, but then I wouldn’t be able to change anything.
But since this was my first trilogy, I was debating the wisdom of setting the rough draft aside and beginning book two, then three.
Once all the word vomit was memorialized in a digital file, I would be able to work through the project as a whole.
What if a character needed to do something different in a random chapter in book one that played out in the beginning of book three?
Or what if there was a pivotal detail in book two that should have been dropped at the beginning? It made the most sense.
“At least my premise hasn’t changed,” I mused, turning from the county highway onto the residential street where my parents lived. “I can keep teasing my readers with videos. Oh! I should put up the preorder so they can grab one if they want.”
But I hadn’t booked a cover design yet.
I paused at a four way stop to send a text to myself. “Book a cover. Set up a pre-order for June on book one. Begin talking about the story on social media.”
There.
This indie author had a solid plan.
I smiled at myself just as a horn blared behind me. I glared through the rearview mirror. Screw them! I was growing as an author, and this was a big moment for me! And it was better than before. I had a muse, but also…someone to share the journey with.
If only he would come out of the shadows.
***
Why did Camillo avoid me? I huffed and wriggled against the metal folding chair. The half-eaten brat sat on my plate. Ketchup oozed from the sides.
“The Italians make better schweinshaxe than the Germans,” Mamma chuckled, twisting her forkful of pork before taking a bite.
Papà smiled at her. “That is because the blond barbarians are ravenous. They overcook things. No patience for the finer aspects of life.”
I flicked a glance at my parents. They were adorable. Head over heels in love, sitting there happily discussing food.
Hope fluttered in my chest. The chance to have something like that was right within my reach.
If only Cam didn’t avoid me like the plague….
What is his problem? I huffed again and shoved my glasses up my nose.
He sat with a group of Made Men, sipping a mug of wheat ale.
The wise guys around him laughed and joked, but Cam stared into his mug as if it held the answer to his dilemma.
The difference in attitude was striking.
I studied him as though he was a character in a book—which he was.
Both the fiction I was creating and the story of my life.
He wasn’t an assassin for hire. He stayed in the Cove.
With a sharp breath, I sat up straighter. That was it!
He was a cold-blooded killer, carrying out the don’s dirty work. He was one of the mobsters, but also not one of them. And it bothered him.
Which means he thinks it will bother me.
I had to resist the urge to fly across the picnic tent and wrap my arms around his throat. Silly man. He probably thought it wasn’t noble work, staying here and not taking contracts like the others. But someone had to keep the soldiers in line.
“I’m going to get another pretzel,” I announced, interrupting my parents, who were chatting with some friends who’d appeared at our table.
“Bring me some!” Mamma chirped. “And extra beer cheese, please.”
I grinned at her but promptly forgot what I was doing the moment I reached the food line. Cam had gone still. His body shifted slightly as though he was tracking my movements without looking at me.
He was so close. His table was right next to the buffet of food.
I racked my brains to come up with an opening line. Something light and breezy. But my stupid tongue wanted to say something to the effect of I love it when you bend me over the bed and take me hard.
That would never do.
A body stepped forward from the right. “Evening, Sara.”
Ice drenched the hunger coursing through my veins. “Rob.”
My ex leered at me. “We need to talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” I crossed my arms over my chest. But the defiance fell flat as curious glances flicked in our direction. “What are you even doing here?”
“Well, when you wouldn’t answer my calls, I had to find you.” Rob raked a look over me, mouth twisting at the black dress I wore. He always wanted me in color. “I’ve missed you, Sara.”
“Funny, I would have thought your associate wiped the memory of me clean from your brain,” I spat.
Rob pursed his lips. “She wasn’t my associate. She worked in HR.”
“Oh, who the hell cares!” I lowered my voice, but not quickly enough. “Look, you need to go.”
“Why? I bought a ticket to this…shindig. I’m visiting town same as any other sightseer, but I’ve got to say,” he sneered, “I don’t get what the big attraction to moving home was all about. This place is a dump.”
I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the tent.
The oom-pah band blared their brass tune, and I hurried my old piece of trash across the blocked off street to the railing looking over Cedra Cala.
The river flowed past the shore, rushing out into the cove before it spilled into the Delaware River.
“First, this is my home. I won’t have you bad mouthing it!” I gave him a little shrug. “And I don’t care if you bought a ticket. You need to leave. Now!”
Rob took a step forward. I dropped my hand and scooted away, suddenly aware that I was alone with him. While that had been the point, so he didn’t get his ass beat in public, I instantly regretted the decision.
“Not unless you’re coming back with me,” he menaced. “We belong together, Sara.”
“Like hell we do! We’re done. It’s over.” It was the biggest mistake of my life. What the hell did I even see in this ass?
Rob tsked. “Is that any way to talk to your future husband?”
I scoffed. “I’m not marrying you!”
He only grinned.
“You must have bumped your head, because that is the most ludicrous plot twist you could have taken.”
“You’re funny, baby.” He advanced. “That’s why my grandpa likes you so much.”
That was all I was to him: a solution.
I pointed a finger at him as my body shook. “You only needed me to collect your inheritance. You don’t care about me. Hell, you probably never liked me!”
His right eye twitched. “We’ll discuss that later.”
Red tinged my vision.
“You can’t marry the hussy you were banging on your kitchen table, because your family won’t approve,” I barked with a disgusted laugh. “That’s why you came crawling back to me. Well, I’ve got news for you, buddy, I’m not interested!”
He grabbed my arm and shook me. “My car is parked down the block. I was going to let you stay—” he shook me again until my teeth clacked together “—so we could break the happy news to your folks, but if you’re going to be a stubborn little bitch, we can just hit the road.”
“Ow! You’re hurting me!” I gasped and tried to wrench away. “Let me go.”
Rob tugged me close and began walking to the edge of the blockade. “Don’t scream, or I’ll make you regret it.”
My ex was crazed. He wasn’t going to listen! The fact that he was willing to kidnap me meant that he probably wasn’t above hurting someone I loved. I remembered that he had a registered firearm, but it was impossible to tell if he’d brought it across state lines.
New Jersey doesn’t have reciprocity with New York.
I mentally slapped the unhelpful squirrel’s comment. Right now was so not the time to revisit gun laws. I needed to get the hell out of here!
I dropped, using my weight against his hold. The pavement scraped against my pants. I pushed the soles of my combat boots against the ground for leverage.
Rob growled in fury and snared my hair.
Before I could scream, a voice cracked through the air. “Let her go.”
“Cam,” I breathed, twisting but unable to see him due to the way I was roughly held.
“Look, this is all a big misunderstanding,” Rob said smoothly. His polished Fifth Avenue upbringing rose to the surface as he hauled me to my feet and condescendingly turned to meet the newcomer.
“I’m not asking,” Cam bit out. “Get your fucking hands off her.”
Rob lifted his lip, but the sneer was smacked clean off his face when the unmistakable sound of a bullet being jacked clipped through the air.
I was free a heartbeat later.
I stumbled, moving blindly to Cam’s side. His arm wrapped protectively around me, and I breathed in the crisp, clean scent of his cologne.
Everything was going to be okay.
“You’re not going to shoot me.” Rob laughed. “There are too many witnesses.”
Cam wasn’t smiling. “I own this town.”
Rob faltered. “What are you? Some kind of street thug?”
Cam didn’t answer.
I brushed my hand down his arm, squeezing him to assure myself he was here. He lifted his knuckles and grazed my jaw absently but didn’t take his eyes off his prey.
Rob straightened his jacket. “Look, buddy, I’ve got a cousin in the DA’s office. A friend of mine is a captain in the FBI. I’m not someone you want as an enemy.”
Cam holstered his weapon. “That’s nice. But you’re on my turf now.”
Rob took a step forward, foolishly thinking he had the upper hand. He lunged for me, but Cam moved to shield me. He grabbed Rob’s wrist, twisting it back at a wrong angle.
My ex sank to the ground. “I’ll have you arrested for assault!”
Cam grunted. Stepping to cage my ex with his thighs, while still keeping a hand on his wrist, Cam pulled a lethal looking knife from a sheath under his suit jacket. That blade had to be eight inches long!
“Sara, don’t look,” Cam warned.
I sucked in a ragged breath but couldn’t make myself look away.
“The lady told you to leave, and then she told you to let her go. Since you don’t listen, you don’t need this.” Cam released his hold on the wrist, and with a lightning movement, shoved Rob’s head to the side.
The knife flashed through the air.
An ear flopped to the ground.
Rob howled.
My dark avenger shot a look in my direction. He didn’t see a look of horror. I wasn’t crippled with disgust.
I freaking smiled.
Cam’s brows knit together. “I told you to look away.”
A manic laugh bubbled from me. “And miss the action?”
Rob leaned over and promptly vomited on the pavement.
Cam stepped back just enough to miss the splash zone. He reached down and wiped his blade on the back of Rob’s jacket.
“One of my guys will escort him out of the Cove,” Cam told me casually.
Growing up around mobsters, I knew that didn’t mean Rob was free to leave town. They would take him to the forest, where his body would never be found.
“Just as long as this doesn’t come back to haunt you!” I said quickly.
Cam shook his head. “It won’t.” He stepped in front of me, blocking the macabre sight from view. Wonder laced his words. “It really doesn’t bother you?”
“Like you said, he wasn’t using his ears.” I smirked. “This is really great material for the book I’m working on—”
I almost added that I couldn’t wait for him to read the scene. But I bit my tongue.
Cam lifted his hand, reaching for me. “You’re something else.”
He dropped it before his knuckles could caress my jaw.
I ached for him. I knew he needed time. He needed to see that I wasn’t disgusted by the horrors of the underworld.
Street justice like this was far more effective.
That spoilt Manhattan ass was going to kidnap me if Cam hadn’t been there to intervene.
So, what if blood was spilt? That made Cam a hero in my book.
“Go back to your parents, Sara. Enjoy the rest of the festival.”
“There’s Black Forest cake,” I hedged.
A small smile played on his lips. “That’s why you’re so sweet.”
“I’ll save you some.” I let the offer hang between us. “For after when you settle him with your guys.”
But the devil didn’t fall for it.
“Enjoy it for me.” Cam jerked his chin. “Have a good rest of your night.”
My chest fell. He wasn’t ready to sit with me. He needed more time. I turned, walking back to the festival, fighting the urge to cry with the determination that someday he would be ready to take off the mask.