Chapter 9
RHETT
If I had any doubt that I was developing feelings for Elle, they’re obliterated when I hear her scream.
I drop the trash can, scoop Mira up, and drop her on the porch. “Inside. Now.”
“But—”
“Inside the house, young lady.”
I run around the cabin, instincts firing, ready for anything.
My heart cracks when I see her pressed against the wall. Hands over her face. Chest rising and falling as if she’s having a panic attack. I scan the trees, the yard. She drops her hands when she hears me.
“Where’s Mira?” She yells. “Mira!”
Mira walks around the cabin and rushes to her sister. “I’m here, Sissy. I’m here!” She throws herself against Elle, clinging to her tightly, then turns in Elle’s embrace and looks at me. “I’m sorry. You said go inside, and I tried to, but I didn’t have the key and—”
“Hush,” I say softly. “That’s my fault. Don’t beat yourself up.” I approach the pair cautiously. “Elle, what happened?”
One hand on Mira’s hair, she raises the other to the forest. Points with a trembling finger. “I suh-saw… someone. Someone was watching me. They looked scary.”
“Man, woman?”
“Man, definitely a man.”
“Okay. Did he have a weapon?”
She glares at me. “Not that I saw.”
Does she think she saw Lucian? Is that why she’s so mad?
“I’ll check,” I tell her. “But first, I need you two inside, doors locked.”
She lets out a shuddering breath. “Yeah, okay. I can make us some huh-hot cocoa or something.”
“Hey…” I lift my hand, then let it fall. She probably doesn’t want to be touched. “Slow down, Elle. Just breathe. I’ve got you. Go inside.”
She smiles tightly. “Yeah, okay. Thank you. I’ll go inside.”
I wait until she’s unlocked the back door, gone inside, and locked it again. Then I head to my pickup and take my rifle from the false compartment in the back.
Returning to the forest, I scan the trees as I go, watching for any movement. Keeping my senses on high alert, I scan the forest floor.
Just like in my military days. Just how they taught me.
The underbrush has been disturbed, snapped twigs in one direction… and a half-smoked cigarette. I bring my finger to the end. Still slightly warm.
There are people who roam these forests. Junkies and moonshiners, mostly decent people who’ve had a bad lot. But what if words gotten around that a woman and a little girl have moved into the neighborhood, alone? What if they’ve become a target?
I return to the house, knocking gently on the back door. Mira springs to her feet and gestures at the kitchen table. “Rhett, Sissy made you one.”
Steam curls from the third cup of hot cocoa.
Mira’s eyes widen when she realizes I’m holding a gun. “Whoa.”
Shit.
“I’ll stow this—”
“No.” Without standing, Elle turns to me. She looks shellshocked, like she’s seen a ghost, like she’s relived something she’s trying with every fiber of her being to forget. “Keep it in here.”
I lay it against the wall, then join them at the table. Meeting Elle’s eyes, I nod to Mira. She might not need to hear this. But Elle looks at me stubbornly. She wants her little sister to hear the truth, I realize. Doesn’t want her to be clueless… and therefore vulnerable.
“There was definitely someone out there,” I say. “The ground was disturbed, and I found a half-lit cigarette.”
Elle makes a choking noise. “I didn’t see him holding a cigarette.”
“Did you recognize him?” I ask.
“Why do you say that?” She hisses
“Just the way you said him. It was familiar.”
“It can’t be,” she whispers under her breath. “Nuh-no. I don’t think.”
“You don’t think so?”
“I said no, Rhett.”
“Okay,” I nod, sitting upright.
“Sor—”
“No more of that,” I cut in.
She laughs shakily, rubbing her forehead.
“Maybe I’m losing my mind. But they would’ve told me, right?
I mean, I changed my number. Kept getting spam calls.
But they could’ve found my new number. Right?
” She drops her eyes, looks at me, eyes clearing.
“Ignore that. I don’t even know what I’m saying. ”
But I do. She’s thinking about Lucian being released. His sentence was sickeningly short, but Marshall would’ve told me if there was an update like that.
“I bet the bad men would stay away if you had a big, strong boyfriend like Rhett,” Mira says, blowing on her cocoa.
I glance at her. The girl looks terrified, but she’s hiding it well. She’s easily the strongest kid I’ve ever met.
Elle makes a sound that’s half a sob, half a laugh. “The crazy part is, you’re probably right, sweetie. That’s how this world works. Men do anything they want, take anything they want, unless they think the thing they’re taking belongs to another man.”
“See!” Mira exclaims. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone beam with nerves clinging to them. “So, Rhett can stay and if anybody comes back, they’ll see him and see he’s your boyfriend—”
“Take it easy,” Elle says. “We can’t ask Rhett to do that.”
“I’d do it,” I say instantly.
Elle gasps, staring at me. “What?”
“I said I’d do it. Move in here for a while until I can figure out if that was some chancer jerk or someone casing this place. Perhaps I can scare them off just by being here.”
“Why on earth would you do that?”
Because you’ve been through enough.
Because you deserve it.
Because you’re beautiful, kind, and talented. You make me feel…
“You’re right,” I snarl. “There are twisted, sick men in this world who think they can do any damn thing they want. Who thinks they can scare innocent women and girls and get away with it. I hate men like that.”
“It would be pretend,” Elle says quietly. “You get that, right?”
“I’d be moving in here to help you, Elle,” I say fiercely. “Not to take advantage of you. I’m not that sort of man.”
She swallows, then lets out a delirious laugh. “Are you actually being serious right now?”
“Yes.”
Another disbelieving laugh escapes her. “How would this even work?”
“I’d drive us to my place so I can grab some things, drive back here, and stay in the spare room.
Tomorrow, we’ll go into town and buy some security cameras.
I’ll wire the place up and keep watch. When the person returns, or if they do, I’ll find out who they are and pay them a visit. Scare them off.”
Or maybe worse.
“Mira, go to your room,” Elle says after a pause.
“But—”
“Now, Mira!”
Mira huffs, pushes back from her chair, and walks angrily toward the hallway.
Elle leans forward and meets my eye.
“I want to trust you, Rhett. I really, really do. I need someone I can trust. But if I let you into this home and you hurt my sister… You have to understand, she’s all I have left.”
I lay my hand on top of hers. Stroke my thumb over her knuckles. “I’m glad you think like this.”
“You are?”
“The world is a cold, nasty, evil place sometimes. Far too many people refuse to look it square in the face.”
She shudders. “Some people don’t have a choice.”
“I swear, Elle, I would never harm you or Mira. Or any woman, any child. Ever. And I swear, if anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll show them what a real monster is.”
“Okay,” she says after a pause, squeezing my hand. “You can move in. You can pretend to be my boyfriend.”
Later, I’m in the yard with Mira, teaching her how to shoot a bow.
She looks up at me as she practices pulling the string, a mature cast to her eyes.
“I remember you, Rhett,” she says.
I swallow. “Yeah?”
“When you came along, it was like the old Mira popped up in me, like a jack-in-the-box or something, and then I didn’t have to be quiet and scared anymore. But you can’t tell Elle.”
“Why not?” I ask, voice grave, looking at the back porch, where Elle sits, a blanket covering her legs.
“Sissy would be mad,” she whispers. “Sissy wants to make-believe it never happened. But I’ll never forget.
I’m happy you’re staying. We have to…” she hesitates.
“Keep the dream, Brrr-Rhett. Elle will want the boring real world. But I like this new dream. It’s easier to talk in this new dream. With you.”
I nod, forcing a smile.
But inside, I’m thinking how much of a mess this is.