Chapter 23 – Kenzie
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kenzie
I would’ve never thought I’d be thankful for having a stalker who was intent on terrorizing me, but for the next three days, I was almost exactly that. Without the stalker, I wouldn’t have had this time with Jensen.
Not only the time in bed together, but also the time out of it, getting to know each other one conversation at a time.
If we weren’t soaking in the hot tub while we watched the snow fall out back, we were cozy inside. When we weren’t tangled up in bed, tasting, exploring, and pleasuring each other, we were cuddled elsewhere in the cabin.
I was never going to be able to look at a sparse home in a negative way again. I loved the exposed beams and sharp angles of this place, and I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to leave it.
Although that ultimately had little to do with the cabin and more to do with its owner—with his own sharp angles and beams.
Jensen still didn’t say very much unless I asked him questions outright, and he talked a lot in grunts and one-word answers. That was growing on me too. Somehow, he’d told me multiple stories about his childhood—heartbreaking stories—using as few words as possible .
Since I’d grown up with my parents who had doted on me and treated me like a third little adult in our trio, hearing about Jensen’s years of neglect and some outright abuse had been hard. No wonder he’d learned to keep as quiet as possible. Nobody had ever wanted to listen to what child Jensen had to say.
But those sad stories just made experiencing the contrast of his life as an adult even more rewarding. Whether he could see it or not, the people in Garnet Bend, particularly from Resting Warrior, loved him.
Yeah, they were all big former military guys, so nobody was throwing around the l-word out loud. But it was obvious in their actions.
How Noah and his fiancée Kate were helping Susanna out in the garage while Jensen was here with me.
How Evelyn and Lena had brought us food twice in three days.
How Jude and Daniel were still consistently working on my case with Charlie and Detective Watters. Not necessarily for me, but because I was Jensen’s, and they would do anything for their friend. No. Not their friend, their brother .
I was Jensen’s.
I looked over at him now, carving a jewelry box over near the fire. He’d been carving or working on something in the cabin almost every moment we hadn’t been wrapped around each other.
Watching him work, the small box held so carefully in his big hands, humming almost silently, I felt something click in my heart.
I was falling in love with this man.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. He was someone I’d never expected from somewhere I’d definitely never wanted. Yet, here we were, with me not being able to imagine my life without him.
“Any luck?” he asked without looking up from his carving.
I returned my focus to the laptop in front of me that Daniel and Jude had brought over yesterday. I’d gone through all the male hotel employees and vendors, but when those had all proven to be a dead end, we’d switched to the females to see if any of those images would jog any memories.
“Honestly, no. Some of these people look vaguely familiar, but I’ve lived in Denver a long time and work with hundreds of people a week. So, I may have met them, but I don’t remember anything of significance.”
“You doing okay about Alan’s upcoming release?”
That had been the other reason for the guys coming over. Watters had been unsuccessful in stopping Alan’s parole. He would be out sometime next week.
“Yeah. He’s the least of my worries. I’ll deal with the bigger psycho in my life then go back to worrying about the littler ones.”
“Part of his upcoming parole agreement is staying away from you, your family, and your acquaintances.”
Hopefully that would be enough to truly get him to leave me alone. “Let’s hope that works.”
“Good.”
“Speaking of, my parents want to meet you when this is over.”
That got him looking up from his woodwork project. “You told them about me?”
“Yep. My friends too. Is that okay?”
He lost some of his deer-in-headlights look. “Yes. Actually, I like that.”
I liked it too. My parents would love Jensen. Mom was Mom and had never met a stranger. She’d be able to coax even someone as quiet as Jensen out of his shell. My dad would talk all things mechanical with him. Computer science wasn’t the same as car repairs, but I recognized that nerdy sort of analytical intelligence in both of them.
“Wait until you eat some of my mom’s cooking and then see if you still feel like you like it. My mother is many things, but great in the kitchen is not one of them.”
He grinned at me. “Apple didn’t fall far from that tree, did it?”
I threw a pencil at him. “Watch it, buddy.” But he wasn’t wrong. I wasn’t much of a cook.
He looked back down at his project. “Will your parents be disappointed that you’re…dating a mechanic?”
There was a lot to unpack in that question. Like the fact that we hadn’t actually dated yet, except for a couple meals in town. Less dating and more that Jensen had become my personal guardian angel from the moment I’d pulled into town.
But the lack of dates would hopefully correct itself once the stalker situation was dealt with. So, I decided to focus on the other part of his question.
“Not even a little bit. My parents respect hard work, first and foremost. You’ve got that in spades. Plus, you’re intelligent and pretty easy on the eyes.”
“Hey, don’t forget my sparkling wit and superb social skills.”
We both laughed. I shook my head. “You’re not as bad as you think you are.”
“I’ll look forward to meeting them.” He smiled, a real one. It was slow and sexy. He walked over to me and dipped low to kiss me soundly. “I’m not glad about why you came into my life, City, but I love that you did.”
I sighed, kissing him in reply.
“You sit tight, finish your homework, and enjoy the fire. I’ll go start some dinner for us.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Afraid to let me cook?”
He chuckled. “Maybe. But maybe I just like taking care of you.”
This man. I didn’t know what I was going to do with these feelings. All I knew was that I couldn’t imagine my life without him. We would have to figure things out.
I prayed he’d want to as badly as I did.
I closed the computer and stared at the fire as Jensen got out the ingredients to cook. I didn’t want to think about the future—either the stalker or the challenges Jensen and I would face—not tonight. The sun had gone down, and I just wanted to be present in this moment.
I didn’t know how long I’d sat there when I heard some sort of crunching noise outside the window. I ignored it the first time, thinking it was the fire, but I froze when I heard it again a few seconds later.
That pop again. This time, it was longer, a prolonged push of something crunching, not a quick pop of the fire roaring in front of me.
I stood up, trying to keep calm. I couldn’t see anything out the window in the darkness. I was letting my imagination run away with me.
The sound I was hearing wasn’t someone walking in the snow outside. Nobody was around here.
But then I heard it again.
“Jensen.” My voice wobbled in a low whisper. I licked my suddenly dry lips, but I couldn’t seem to make my voice work any louder. I stumbled into the kitchen.
He immediately knew something was wrong. “What is it?”
“I think I heard someone outside.” I shook my head, trying to clear some of the fear. “But I don’t know. Maybe not. Maybe I’m just having a panic attack.”
He didn’t dismiss me out of hand, which made me feel better. “Go sit on the couch. I’ll check it out.”
“It may be nothing,” I whispered. “I just don’t trust myself anymore.”
He shrugged as he reached the door. “If it’s nothing, then no harm don?—”
He stopped as we both heard the noise this time. I watched, holding my breath, as he crouched near the door. He grabbed a crowbar he’d placed there.
More questions filled my mind, each one more frantic and worried than the last as he reached for the doorknob.
Who was out there?
It couldn’t be one of his friends, right? They’d tell him if they were coming, wouldn’t they?
Was it the stalker?
Was it someone who was just lost and needed help?—
I screamed as the door was kicked in. Jensen was in the perfect position to attack, but also to be attacked. The door knocked him back as a masked man burst in.
Jensen’s arm was up in a block, but it wasn’t enough to deflect the man’s bat coming out of nowhere and crashing into his head.
“Jensen!” I screamed again, terrified as he fell to the floor. In the haze of panic and fright clouding my senses, all I could do was stare at him lying on the floor as another masked man burst inside, heading straight toward me.
I momentarily froze, not sure what to do, not wanting to leave Jensen defenseless on the floor. That moment of hesitation cost me. When I shook myself out of my daze and turned to run, the man was there, blocking my path. He grabbed me and yanked me toward the door with him.
I immediately started twisting and pushing to get away. His hard fingers dug into my flesh, causing me to cry out. I punched at him, but he caught my hand and wouldn’t let me go.
Dressed only in my tank top and pajama pants, I was at a disadvantage on many fronts. Suddenly, the man jerked me hard, pulling me flush against him. I immediately froze and looked up into a pair of soulless eyes full of anger and lust. I started to shake violently from the cold and fear as I felt the man’s hot breath brush across my face.
No. This wasn’t happening .
Movement by the door jarred me out of my statue-like state. My eyes immediately went to Jensen lying on the floor unconscious. The tall man who’d knocked Jensen out prodded him with his boot then kicked him in the side, waiting for a reaction. Seeming satisfied Jensen wasn’t faking, he walked around the other side of the couch to box me in between them.
“Hold her still, and this will be over quick,” the tall man said behind me. I couldn’t help the whimper that escaped.
What would be over? What were they going to do?
I was too scared to voice the question, but as soon as the shorter man in front of me shifted his grip on my arms, his hands skimmed the sides of my breasts.
I went manic. If these men were going to rape me, I wasn’t going to just stand here and do nothing.
I twisted, jerking my arms, flailing around as much as I could to get a little space between us. The shorter man was caught off guard and stepped back for balance, and I had my opening. I brought my knee up as fast as I could and jammed it in his crotch, causing him to completely release me.
“Fuck!” He doubled over.
But the other man wasn’t so easy. He grabbed me, yanking my arms behind my back.
“Hold her.” The man I’d just kicked approached with fire in his eyes, clutching his junk. I couldn’t help the small smirk that formed on my face at the damage I’d done.
“Think that’s funny? Bitch!” The fist came at me too fast for me to prepare. Hard knuckles slammed into my stomach, and I bent over, gasping, trying to find air. “Not so funny now, is it?”
The man behind me yanked me back up and bound my hands tight with some sort of zip tie. Still, I kept fighting. I couldn’t let them take me.
“Hurry up and inject her with that shit.” The man behind me wouldn’t let me go, no matter how much I fought. The other guy pulled out a needle and stuck it in my arm.
“What was that?” I yelled.
“Nighty-night time, bitch.”
A few seconds later, I felt it. I pitched forward to the couch, nausea swirling in my stomach and my eyes getting heavy. I tried to shake my head to stop myself from fading, but that only made the darkness close in faster.
I heard more rustling of fabric, heavy footsteps, and the sound of something being dragged. I felt hands on me, a cool breeze. I was moving. I tried to force my eyes open to see what was happening, but the best I could do was a hazy view like looking through a dirty window.
The short man threw me over his shoulder and followed the tall man out the door. The last thing I saw before I was carried away was Jensen’s distorted form, unmoving on the floor.
I whimpered, wanting to reach for him, but I couldn’t make anything move.
With my next breath, I was sucked into a dark void of nothing as everything faded to black.