Chapter 19
Bonnie cracked one eye open. Darkness. Well, close to darkness. There was a small slip of light sneaking in from behind the curtains. She could just make out Zane’s navy bedsheets beneath her. His dark oak drawers against the wall.
The previous night kicked at her belly. The blood. The dead animal and running to Zane’s apartment. Then the dream that had followed.
She scrunched her eyes, but all she saw was the decapitated mouse.
Nausea rolled in her belly.
Argh.
She sat up. Where was Zane? Had he left early just like last time?
Her gaze caught on clothes neatly stacked on top of the dresser. Her clothes. Jeans. A T-shirt. There was even a pair of neatly folded panties on top.
Her cheeks heated. Zane had gone through her underwear drawer. Why did that feel like ten million degrees of embarrassment?
She set her feet on the floor, and that’s when she saw the folded piece of paper beside her phone on the bedside table.
She lifted it, her gaze running over the masculine, slanted writing.
Morning, Bon. Stetson’s sick so I’ve had to run into work. Take your time getting ready. The apartment’s locked up. I’ve left a spare key for you on the kitchen counter. Your brother said he’d be over at nine.
She tapped the screen of her phone.
Eight forty-five! Shit. And her brother was never late.
She shot to her feet, knowing she shouldn’t care if Noah found her in Zane’s room. Actually, she didn’t. She was a grown-ass woman who could date whoever she wanted.
Okay, she cared a little bit. He’d apologized for what he’d said about her at her aunt’s house, but a part of her couldn’t help but wonder what else he thought about her and wasn’t sharing.
She was just reaching for her clothes, when she froze.
Was that the front door opening? No. It couldn’t be. Zane was at work and if Stetson was sick, he’d be there all day.
But it had definitely sounded like the door.
Her heart started to pound, fear propelling the blood in her veins to move faster.
A weapon. She needed a weapon. But where did Zane keep one? Did he even have a weapon in the bedroom?
Her gaze landed on the antiperspirant spray on top of his wooden dresser.
That could work.
Silently, she padded toward the drawers. There was a small shake to her fingers as she lifted the can. She cringed at the small click when she pulled off the cap.
Spray and run. The words whispered in her head. She ignored everything else. The fear. The panic.
Three more steps and she reached the closed bedroom door. She wrinkled her nose, setting a hand on the knob. Opening it slowly, she listened.
Silence…from her and the hall. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe the noise had been in her head.
The door opened and the first thing she saw was a big, broad chest. She screamed and lifted the can to spray, aiming for the intruder’s eyes.
He moved so quickly, she didn’t have time to react, throwing his head to the side so the antiperspirant missed and grabbing her wrist before tugging it down.
His fingers weren’t punishing though. In fact, they were oddly gentle, but still firm.
When she finally focused on him, she frowned. “I know you. Well, I don’t know you, but…Ethan, right?”
“It’s good to see you again, Bonnie.” His deep, gravelly voice was clearly amused. He didn’t seem annoyed at all that she’d almost blinded him. Was there a ghost of a smile on his face?
“What are you doing here?” she gasped.
“I came to see Zane. I knocked but no one answered.” He lifted his other hand. “I have a key.”
He’d knocked. And she’d slept through it. “He had to run into work.”
Ethan released her arm. “I think Zane might kill me for scaring you. And for seeing you dressed in that.”
She glanced down. And yep, her braless nipples were pushing through the thin material of Zane’s sweatshirt.
She crossed her arms, as if that would do anything. “I, um, should get changed.”
“Good idea.”
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door.
Shit.
“Expecting company?” Ethan asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“My brother. Maybe my cousin too.”
He looked back at her, completely unfazed. “Shower. Change. I’ll let them in.”
“I don’t know if you want to do that. They’re kind of intense.”
“I can handle them.” He winked at her before heading down the hall.
Dammit.
She slammed the door a bit too hard and ran into the connecting bathroom, where she had the quickest shower of her life before pulling on her clothes. Thank God Zane had left her something to wear.
When she stepped into the living room, she didn’t see Ethan. Noah, Jesse, and a female deputy were there instead, her brother and cousin looking big and intense and angry.
Noah rose from the couch. “Are you okay?” He stepped right up to her and gripped her arms.
“Yeah. Last night was…a shock.” Understatement of the century. “But I’m feeling better this morning.”
Noah’s frown deepened, then he tugged her into his chest. And God, a hug from him felt good. The last bit of tension eased from her body as she leaned into her brother.
When they separated, she looked over at Jesse and the deputy before searching the room again. “Where’s—”
“Ethan left,” Jesse said. “We’d really like to hear what happened last night from your perspective.”
Her gaze caught on the to-go cup from The Tea House.
“Dirty chai with almond milk,” Noah said, pushing it in front of a seat at Zane’s small dining table.
“Thank God.” She dropped into the seat.
Jesse nodded to the other woman. “Bonnie, this is Deputy Claudia Russell. She’ll take notes. Can you start at the beginning?”
Bonnie wrapped her fingers around the to-go cup, the warmth slipping up her arms to her shoulders.
“There’s not much to tell. I ordered a pizza from Burt.
Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door.
I opened it and the pizza was sitting in the hall.
I realized after I picked it up that there was blood on my hand.
When I opened it, I saw…the dead, headless mouse. ”
Suddenly, the cup wasn’t warm enough. Her fingers, her skin…everything was cold.
“There was no message left with it?” Jesse asked.
“No. But…” She swallowed. “The night Dean White died, he and I had a fight. We were standing outside the party, and he called me a mouse. I’m guessing that’s why the decapitated mouse was left on my doorstep.”
Tension suddenly thickened the air in the room. Noah’s muscles visibly tightened, and Jesse’s jaw clenched.
“Did his dad know that he called you that?” Noah asked.
“I’m not sure. A few people were around at the time, and it went into a police report.” She nibbled her lip before looking at Jesse. “Have you spoken to Burt? Surely his delivery driver would have a description of the person who took the pizza.”
Jesse leaned forward, suddenly looking more intense than ever.
“I spoke to Pete, Burt’s nephew and delivery driver, this morning.
He said less than a minute after you placed your order, he received a second call.
This one from a man who claimed to be your partner.
He knew your address. Your order. And he asked that Pete leave the pizza outside the apartment building door for contactless delivery.
He went so far as to request he not buzz the apartment. ”
Oh God, that meant—
“Someone was there,” she whispered. “Someone was in the parking lot when I made the call. They heard. They changed the delivery details.”
The room fell silent. But no one needed to speak. It was true. Someone had been watching her last night. And that someone had been very close.
Zane circulated through the gym. He’d hated leaving Bonnie early that morning, but if he hadn’t come in, the place wouldn’t have opened. Today was one of their early openings. Before the sun came up. And they always did good business before work hours.
Half a dozen people filled the space. Some warming up with jump ropes. Two in the ring. A few at bags. One of them was Damien White, Dean White’s brother. Zane only knew that because of the intake form he’d filled out.
At first, he’d felt like throwing the guy’s ass out like he had his father. But unlike Carlos, Damien hadn’t done anything to Bonnie. As far as he knew, at least.
So he’d let him stay—for now.
Zane stopped beside the guy and Damien dropped his hands, shooting a nervous glance Zane’s way.
“Everything okay?” Damien asked, pulling an AirPod out of his ear.
“Just checking in. How are you doing?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
It was clear he hadn’t hit a bag much before. His technique was sloppy and inexperienced. He didn’t utilize the power in his body, and he was heaving for air after a dozen hits.
“Remember to hit with your whole body, not just your arms,” Zane said. “Rotate your hips. Push off your back foot.”
The guy nodded quickly. “I will. Thanks.”
“I haven’t seen your dad around town lately.”
There was a small flicker of unease in the other man’s eyes. “He, um, probably got scared by all the questioning after Bonnie was assaulted outside her apartment. I think he’s laying low.”
“And you don’t know who would have done that to Bonnie, do you?”
“No.” The answer came quickly. “I hate what happened to my brother. I hate that Bonnie left him at that party. But none of us would actually hurt her because of it.”
Zane studied the other man. Something he’d learned early in his life was that silence often broke a person faster than words. And right now, Damien was squirming.
The man cleared his throat. “Well, I should, uh, get back to my workout.”
Zane dipped his head before moving back. But only two steps before he continued to watch Damien hit the bag. He still wasn’t using his whole body. But maybe that was because he was nervous. Nervous at Zane watching? Or nervous because he had something to hide? Something that involved Bonnie?
The door to the gym opened, and Zane turned to see Ethan step around the partition.
Zane frowned before crossing the space between them. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to get out of Deep River. There was a town meeting last night and Ward was spewing shit about there being nothing further he could do to find the hiker. He pisses me off.”
“Well, it’s good to see you here.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “I have to tell you something. You’re not gonna be happy.”
The muscles in his forearms tightened. “About Monty?”
“No. About this morning.”
“What?”
“I, uh, used my key to get into your apartment.”
For a moment, Zane was quiet. “You walked into my apartment while Bonnie was there?”
“Yeah. And she tried to spray me with your antiperspirant. I dodged it. But I definitely scared her.”
“Fuck, Ethan.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m not used to you dating someone. You are dating, right?”
“I don’t know. Someone decapitated a fucking mouse and left it on her doorstep last night. She came to me.”
“Jesus Christ. What kind of sick asshole does that?”
“The kind who wants to scare Bonnie.” And it was working. Zane looked back at Damien. Jesus, his form was terrible. “You working out?”
“Yeah. Might even give you a round in the ring.”
“Feel like getting your ass beat?”
Ethan scoffed. “You wish.”
As Ethan went back to the changing room, Zane stepped into his office to check his emails. He wasn’t even there for five minutes, but when he stepped out, there was a new person in the gym.
Maisie.
She stood beside her husband, and they were talking in hushed tones.
What the hell was she doing here? He didn’t even know the woman and he still didn’t like her.
Yeah, she’d only been eighteen when she’d slept with Bonnie’s boyfriend, but she wasn’t eighteen anymore, and by the sound of it, she’d taken no accountability for what she’d done.
He crossed over to her. “What are you doing here?”
She turned, eyes widening. “Oh, sorry, I just came to pick up my husband. Is that not okay?”
“If you’re not working out, you can’t be in this section of the gym.”
“Um, okay. Is it okay if I use your bathroom? Then I’ll wait outside.”
“Be quick.” He was being an ass. He didn’t care.
She straightened the bag on her shoulder before crossing the gym.
Zane circled the gym again, talking to a couple of people, giving advice when he could. By the time Ethan returned from changing, Maisie still hadn’t returned.
What the hell was she doing back there?
He crossed to the back hallway. He couldn’t walk into the women’s bathroom, so he leaned against the wall.
But when Maisie stepped out, it wasn’t from the women’s room.
She gasped and clutched her bag. “Zane.”
He shot his gaze behind her before returning his attention to her face. “What were you doing in the storage room?”
“I, um, dropped my lipstick as I was coming out of the bathroom.” She lifted a lipstick from her purse. “The door was ajar and it rolled in there. I’m sorry.”
She passed him quickly.
He glanced at her over his shoulder before stepping into the storage room. Everything looked exactly as it was supposed to. Nothing was moved or out of place.
So had she really dropped her lipstick? And if not…what the hell had she been doing in there?