Chapter 14
My breath catches sharply, and for a moment I can’t seem to draw air into my lungs. I sit there, fingers clenched on the edge of the sofa, and when I stare at the two stern, solemn officers at the door, all I can think is one thing.
This could be my way out.
They would take me out of here, and I’d have the chance to tell them everything that’s happened. I could be back in my bed, in my too-loud apartment that’s not very welcoming, with my almost dead plants, by sundown.
Hell, they could probably even find my car.
All I have to do is tell them what’s happened.
All I have to do is show them to the slaughter-shed and the body parts still there, along with the bloody chainsaw.
I’m sure the smell alone would tip them off by the time we opened the door. They wouldn’t even have to go inside.
That’s all I have to do to make all of this a memory.
My eyes lock onto Jed as he opens the door wider, arm up to gesture them into the cabin.
He looks at ease and relaxed. Like he has nothing to worry about and nothing to lose.
I have no idea how he’s doing it, when I know he must be worried about what they could find. Or, worse, what I could tell them.
But he barely glances my way before closing the door behind him and offers the two officers water. They decline, and Jed just shrugs before dropping into an armchair, looking like he’s the definition of relaxed.
It’s such a change from the normally hesitant and cautious looking Jed.
In fact, he reminds me more of Wren as he crosses one leg over the other, runs a hand through his hair, and settles back lazily into the chair.
It’s such an accurate impression of Wren’s comfort from when he was here that I’m pretty sure that’s where he’d learned it.
That would make sense, after all. None of them can have a weak link if all of them are going to stay out of jail.
If he used to be unable to face a police officer, they would’ve had to do something about it to help him.
That’s my guess, anyway. But what do I know? Maybe he’s just naturally good at this…though I wouldn’t take bets on it.
The officers look around the room and I take that time to inspect the two of them, though I’m not exactly impressed by what I see.
The man, who’s definitely older than the woman, looks like he might be able to chase a criminal twenty steps before doubling over, wheezing.
His brown hair is graying at the sides, and his snub nose looks like it had been broken at least once in the past. Beady eyes complete the too-small features of his doughy face, and they dart everywhere in the room with boredom.
It’s the woman that appears to be the hard-ass.
Her mouth is too big for her face, and set in a line that gives her resting bitch face.
She, unlike her partner, wears a pair of sunglasses that she whips off as I watch, folding them and shoving them into her shirt pocket.
She’s shorter than the man, and possibly around my height.
Her black hair is chopped short and layered, like the start of the typical Karen Cut that was so popular a few years ago.
Absently, I pull my hand to my mouth, chewing on my thumbnail as I watch her suspicious gaze flow over everything in the room. She’s looking for something, it seems. Her partner is just looking like he has nothing better to do.
“I’m Officer Rayez,” the woman introduces, pivoting to look at us. She hooks her fingers in her belt loops, glaring at both of us as she does. “This is my partner, Officer Brown.”
Yeah, he looks like a brown. Just standing there, wheezing, even though he isn’t doing anything physical and existing in a brown way. He’s unimpressive, non-threatening, and probably the worst partner for her possible, unless there’s a side of him that’s not exactly obvious here.
“Can we help you?” Jed asks, rolling his shoulders as he watches her with eyes that remind me of chips of ice, instead of the warm blue of a Caribbean island commercial I see when he looks at me.
“Because I’m not sure what we did to warrant this visit.
” He grins at them, all sweetness and innocent puppy-dog eyes.
But all I can think is that he needs to be careful. He has too many secrets and too many bodies buried here to piss them off. Surely he knows it, too.
Blinking, I realize too late the female cop has zeroed in on me.
She crosses the room and, without invitation, plants her ass on the sofa beside me.
She watches me the whole time, her dark eyes never leaving my face.
“What’s your name?” she asks, whipping out a small pad of paper from her shirt pocket and nearly knocking her sunglasses to the floor.
I have a choice. I know that the moment she gives me that glare once more, obviously waiting for my answer.
All I have to do is tell her what’s going on.
Hell, I’m sure that if I even look nervous, she’d get me out of here.
I could glance at Jed right now, to see his face, and I know even that would set off her instincts with how high-strung Officer Rayez is.
It’s so easy. I can get out of here just like that.
“I’m Saylor,” I tell her, tucking my black hair back behind my ear. “Saylor King.”
“How old are you?” She barely waits for me to finish telling her my name before she goes on, her tone demanding as my heart pounds in my chest. “And where are you from?”
“I’m twenty-four,” I inform her, keeping my voice level. My fingers still dig into the couch cushion, but I draw one foot up under me, trying to keep my shoe off of the couch while I make myself more comfortable, as if I actually live here or visit often. “And I live in Akron, when I’m not here.”
From the corner of my eye, I see Jed stir, but I’m too afraid to actually look at him, in fear of Rayez realizing something is wrong.
But don’t you want her to know? Some voice in my brain screams. Don’t you want her to take you out of here, you idiot?
Yeah, this probably isn’t my smartest move.
But I still have time. I don’t have to decide just yet.
There are a ton of moments between now and them leaving for me to change my mind so they’ll take me away from Jed and let me go back home.
That has to be what I want, so why can I feel the ghost of Jed’s lips on mine, and the way he’d held my hips in his hands when we kissed?
Why can I suddenly remember every dream I had last night, when my face was buried in his pillows while I slept?
“How do you know Mr. Shaw?” she nods her head at Jed, jolting me out of my reverie. The way she’s looking at me, I wonder if she’d had to ask more than once before I’d realized she was talking to me, and I hope to God that’s not the case.
“He’s my friend,” I reply, then clear my throat, knowing that sounds…not very believable. “Sorry, it’s a habit that I tell people that. It’s new, so…” I suck in a breath. “Jed is my boyfriend.”
“That so?” There’s no shock on her face, but she jots something down in her little notebook. “How long have you been dating?”
“Two weeks, but we’ve been, uh,” I let my natural insecurity and inability to sound confident at the most necessary of times do me a favor here, and my hands come up to make stupid gestures in front of my chest. “We’ve known each other for months.
You know?” I know what I’m hinting at, and I raise my brows at her before glancing at Jed with a rueful half-smile.
The other officer, Brown, catches my eye and nods with a comforting smile, like he’s convinced I’m telling the truth. Well, at least I’ve got one of them convinced.
“Have you seen anything suspicious since you’ve been here? We got a call about strange cars coming up here from town. And there’s been a man reported missing this past week. We’re checking our bases,” the female officer asks, explaining her reasoning before she’s done.
“No,” I shrug. “No, I haven’t really seen anything out of the ordinary. We walk the trails a lot, so I’d probably see something?” I gesture toward the door, pointing one way, then the other, to illustrate the two paths that I’ve now explored since being here.
But I still can’t look at Jed. I’m afraid I’ll crack if I see the look on his face, and more than that, I worry what he thinks of me right now.
I worry, because my brain is calling me ten kinds of stupid and I don’t know what to do other than continue on this awful, terrible path I’m on. At this point, I’ve committed to it right? I can’t do anything else.
Convince me. That’s what I’d said to him.
That’s what I’d dared him to do before he came closer and let me kiss him.
Fuck, Jed’s lips are so soft, so inviting, and so, so dangerous if I’m lying to the cops just to get another taste.
But I’d told him to convince me. It feels only fair that he gets a chance to do so.
And it doesn’t feel right to expose him to the police now.
I continue to answer the officer’s questions, and while Rayez is more aggressive and fires them off at me without giving me much time to answer. Brown only chimes in a few times, asking me easy questions or allowing Jed to chip in with an answer of his own.
By the time Rayez stands up, my body and mouth feel numb from answering her questions and all the lying I’ve done. She sighs, like she’d hoped to find something, and I rise to my feet as well when she sticks a hand out for me to shake.
“Well, we just ask that you both keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary,” she tells me, looking between the both of us for the first time in at least ten minutes.
It almost feels like she’s met Jed before, and isn’t impressed.
Or maybe one of his friends? I’m sure Wren could do that to someone, if he’s given even half of an opportunity.
“And we’ll be back if we have any more questions. ”
She heads to the door, Brown on her heels murmuring to Jed in a tone much kinder than the one Rayez has been using.
I wonder if she suspects that Jed is more than he seems. I wonder if she has a reason to suspect him.
But I’m certainly not about to bring that up, when my first priority is getting out of this uncomfortable situation.
Before the door closes, Rayez turns, her sunglasses in her hand.
“Hey.” She holds the door open with her hand, curled fingers white with the force of how hard she’s holding the door.
“Saylor, right?” I dip a nod, confused. “If there’s something wrong…
” She glances at Jed over my shoulder, her eyes narrowed in a glare.
“If there’s anything going on here, you can tell me.
” She sidles closer, and my heart does a flip while my stomach flutters. “I can help you.”
She can help me. My brain latches onto that statement and my lips fall open, parting like something will come out when there’s nothing there at all. Not even a whisper. I just stare at her, nonplussed, and wait for my brain to catch up.
“I can get you out of here, okay?” For the first time, her voice is gentle when she says it, and while I can feel Jed behind me, waiting, he doesn’t do or say anything. He doesn’t try to get between us, and I don’t feel his hands on any part of me, in reassurance or in warning.
He’s waiting for me to decide.
“I’m fine.” My eyes meet the officer’s, and my chin tilts upward with confidence. I say it again, repeating the words to her flatly. “I’m fine.”
The worst part is that she believes me. The suspicion fades from her gaze and she slips her sunglasses back on, nodding curtly while Brown waddles back to their car.
“If you think of anything you’ve seen, please let me know.
” She hands her card to Jed, who has come to stand at my side sometime in the past few seconds. “Have a nice day, both of you.”
Then she turns, gets in the car, and they drive away without stopping. Without seeing the slaughter shed.
Without taking me with them.
But all I can do is stand there while Jed pockets the paper, my hand tight on the door while the rest of my body vibrates with tension.
“Saylor…” There’s relief in Jed’s voice as he looks at me, and he reaches one hand out for me, stopping when I whirl on him.
“Stop. Please,” I whisper, holding my hands up in front of me like a shield.
I can feel the tears burning at my eyes, and I see my upraised hands shake.
“Please, Jed. I just…” Cutting myself off, I close my eyes hard, shaking my head.
“I don’t know what I did. I don’t know why…
” He doesn’t interrupt me. He doesn’t say anything as my stomach threatens to reject the water I’d had.
“I need to go. I need to—” I step out of the cabin, onto the gravel beyond as my breathing comes in sharp, jagged pants. “Just for a little while. Let me think.” He isn’t arguing with me. Hell, he isn’t saying anything.
But his gaze says it all. It expresses the worry, the concern, and the thing I’m not sure he wants me to see.
I can tell, in his eyes, that he doesn’t just like me, though the strong emotions there should be impossible for someone who’s only known me for a few days.
“I’ll be here,” he promises, his own voice low. “I’ll be here, for whatever you need. Saylor, I’m—”
But I step away because I can’t listen to him say it, even though I don’t know what it is.
I want to kiss him; I want to slap him, and I want to run away.
Finally, my brain settles on one option just as I pivot on my heel.My tiredness and sore muscles are forgotten as once again I do the thing I’m starting to think is my true calling after all these years.
I run from him.