Here With Me Page 4

  “I suppose you’re right…again.” My body doesn’t want to cooperate, so it takes a minute to get up. Donovan tosses my clothes back to me.

  “My favorite version of you is in the buff, but hot pink looks good on you, too.” He’s already dressed by the time I start putting my bathing suit back on. “Geez, you’re slow.”

  “That’s because I had to tie my shit back together, since someone didn’t want to just take it off instead.”

  “Yeah, but you liked it better when I untied you.” He winks at me and I stick my tongue out at him.

  “And your point?” I cross my arms across my chest and pretend I’m mad.

  “My point is that you like it when I take my time with you. Although, there are times you like it rough.” Two long steps and he’s standing right in front of me. He lays a sweet peck on my nose. “But mostly, you like it when I make love to you., right?”

  Swooning over this perfect man, I sigh. “Again, you’re right. Now, let’s get going before I tie your ass up instead.”

  “Hmmm, I think I’d like that. You should try it.” He opens the door for me and I catch the faint whiff of extremely hot sex as I walk past him.

  The thought crosses my mind and I make a mental note. Note to self: tie Donovan up and give him the most erotic experience of his life.

  Chapter 6

  Donovan

  We finally finish up the shopping and head back to the inn. I try to keep my mind off the impending doom that is certainly awaiting me when we return to Atlanta, but it’s impossible. When I look at how innocent Allie is in all of this, it breaks my heart. I have pulled her into a whirlpool of trouble just by being with her. All because my dick had a mind of its own many years ago. If I would have known then what I know now, I would have saved myself for Allie. I would have no other woman but her.

  But it’s never going to happen.

  I hold her delicate hand in my own and stroke her soft skin. I love her so much and I never thought it would happen to me. To have so much emotion and heart invested in someone like this never even crossed my mind. Not even Claire, and certainly none of those sluts from back in the day. None of those girls matter¸ never really did. If only she wasn’t so psycho…

  “There’s the turn!” Allie raises her voice, snapping me out of the turmoil going on in my head. I slam on the brakes a little too hard and take the turn a little too fast. “Geez, what are you doing? Where’s your head at?” She releases the “oh shit” handle and turns to stare at me.

  “I’m sorry, I should have been paying attention.” I normally don’t drive like an idiot.

  “Just please be careful.” She doesn’t return her hand to mine, so I put it back on the steering wheel. I have got to stop thinking about deep shit when I’m on the road. I shake my head, trying to clear my mind of the wretched woman that threatens my existence.

  “When do you think we can go home?” she says absentmindedly, looking out the window.

  “I don’t know, love. As soon as it’s safe. God only knows who Claire has watching the house.” The thought makes my stomach churn and the nausea begins. “I don’t want to take any chances with you. Your safety is my one and only concern right now.”

  I feel her emerald eyes on me and it makes me stop the truck and put it in park. I face her and take both of her hands. I see confusion, fear, and doubt in her eyes. She’s just as scared as I am and I want nothing more than to protect her, to shield her from things she should have no part of. I keep her around for my own selfish reasons. The fact that I don’t want to live without her in my life is just one of many. I love her so much, sometimes I can’t think of anything else but her. But is that all it is? Selfishness on my part?

  “Look, Allie. I have to keep you safe, no matter the cost. My world would come crashing down if anything at all happened to you because of my doings. Claire is dangerous, that you already know. But I don’t know if you can honestly imagine how possessive and psychotic she can be. It’s so hard to wrap your mind around how evil she is, when you’re so good and innocent.” I take in a breath. “What I’m trying to say is…I would understand if you wanted to end it with me now.” I hear her gasp from shock and she releases my hands. “Please don’t take that the wrong way. It’s for your own good. And I’m not saying that I want you to end it. I’m giving you the option now, because if you stay, I will never be able to let you go. I want nothing more in this world to grow old with you, but not if it means you’re going to get hurt…or worse.” The words start to hang up, trying to get past the lump that’s in my throat. Hot, burning tears threaten to fall any second. Just the thought of her leaving rips a hole in my chest. A deep, black hole that would never be healed.

  “I want you to understand something right this instant, Donovan. I’m not going anywhere. End of story. I’m in it for the long haul with you. And I say what I mean. I never want to hear those words come out of your mouth ever again.” Her look of determination and resolve actually calms me, and it feels so good to hear those words come from her lips.

  “I love you so much.” I bring her in for a long, lingering kiss. I pull back to look into her eyes. “Don’t ever leave me. I’m sorry I ever said that to you. I didn’t mean it. I just don’t want you—” Before I can finish the statement, her lips come crashing down hard on mine, catching me off guard. Her tongue demanded entrance and I gave her just that. Within a minute, we went from such a serious, unwanted conversation to damn near catching my truck on fire with all this hotness.

  “Oh, Allie,” I breathe in her ear as my bulge threatens to burst my pants at the seams. God, what this woman does to me with just a kiss. Funny thing is, I can feel the anger of what I just said to her in that same kiss. Well, if that’s the case, I want to convey all the love I have for her in a single kiss. So I completely put my heart into it, trying to show her that life isn’t worth it without her.

  All the emotions swirling around in the truck seem to make us both dizzy and lightheaded. Well, it’s either that or all the heat we caused combined with this Georgia humidity. I’m guessing a combination of both. She pulls away from me to stare me down.

  “When you said that you were worried about my safety so much that you would leave me, it pretty much crushed me.” My heart broke with those words. She cut me off when I opened my mouth to speak. “I mean, I know we’ve had our problems, but to say that you would just…up and leave me behind was gut wrenching. I can’t and don’t want to fathom not being with you, regardless of the situation. I don’t give a shit about Claire and all her craziness. I will not take off when the going gets tough, I can promise you that.”

  Yep, I love this girl.

  “Look, I told you I didn’t mean it. I was just talking out of my ass. I do, however, want to keep you safe and if the only way to do that is to have you be my side twenty-four seven, then that’s what I’ll do. Leaving you isn’t the answer, nor would I ever want it to be the answer to anything. I can’t stand to think about my life without you in it.” I plan on marrying you someday. That thought I keep to myself.

  “We should head back now. It’s starting to get dark and being that you have freaked me out about wanting me safe, we should go.” She slides back over to her side and I watch her readjust her dress as I try to do the same to my shorts. I put the car in drive and head back to the inn.

  We pull up to the place and I notice something out of place. It’s twilight now, so it’s hard to see, but I’m almost sure I see a note on the door and I notice the front gate is hanging off its hinges. “What the hell? You stay here and lock the doors,” I order as I jump out and race to the door before Allie screams at me to stop. The paper is stuck inside the screen door and I rip it out. My heart pounds against my ribs as I open it up and immediately recognize the handwriting.

  Claire.

  Chapter 7

  Allie

  I watch out the windshield as Donovan seems to come apart right in front of me. His hands are trembling as he holds the white piece of pape
r that’s apparently responsible for the nervous breakdown that may occur. I fidget in my seat, not knowing whether to listen to his instruction to stay in the car or jump out the truck.

  Screw it.

  I open the door and slide on the gravel just as Donovan drops to his knees. Never before have I run so fast in my entire life as I do to him. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, trying to be whatever pillar of strength he needs right now. The short, labored breathing tells me something is extremely wrong. Well, that and the broken gate.

  “She found us. She knows we’re here.” His voice is barely above a whisper. “We have to leave. Now.” The blood starts to pound in my ears and I frantically look around, searching our surroundings. He bolts up and takes me with him through the gate and to the door.

  “I have to make sure she’s okay.” He slips in and yells for the caretaker. No answer.

  Not good.

  He yells for her again and I hear a strangled whisper come from behind the table. We both rush to her side. There’s blood everywhere.

  “Rebecca? Oh my God, what happened?” He bends down to assess the situation. A bloodied hand tries to reach up and he grabs it gently. “Are they still here?” I reach for my phone and power it up. I dial 911 as he continues to keep her talking.

  “There was…a guy and…cough…woman. He surprised…me when I came…down the…steps.” It was taking all she could to get a sentence out. I could hear the blood gurgle in her throat. “They asked…for you.” With that, her eyes roll back in her head and my heart stops beating. Donovan checks her pulse on her wrist and his blue eyes shoot up towards me.

  “She’s…dead.”

  An unearthly shiver racks my entire body as the phone drops from my hand. The operator on the other line was shouting “Are you okay? Ma’am, are you there?” There was nothing more to do but cry. Hot liquid sadness floods my eyes as I squat down to their level. Sobs came pouring out of his throat as he tried to contain himself but failed.

  “She’s dead because of me.” My heart broke right inside my chest for this man.

  “No, she’s dead because of Claire and whoever was with her.” Trying to be brave for the love of my life was wearing on me. It was never his fault that Claire’s a nutjob. But who the hell was with her to cause this kind of damage? There was no doubt that psycho bitch could beat a woman to death, but Lillian said there was a guy with her.

  I hear the 911 dispatcher still yelling into the phone. I pick it up off the floor and explain the tragedy. She promises help will be there within ten minutes. I drop it back on the floor. I can’t help but wonder why in the world would someone beat an old lady to death when she did nothing wrong? Did she have a husband? Or kids? Do we need to call anyone?

  “Gabe.” Donovan pulls his phone out of his back pocket and swipes the screen under his friend’s number. He waits patiently for him to answer.

  “Hey, man. I have some really bad news for you.”

  Pause.

  “Claire and one of her goonies broke into the inn…and they killed Rebecca.”

  A loud voice booms out the other end of the phone.

  “Get down here as soon as you can.” He hangs up. Silence fills the room until we hear the screeching sirens in the distance. We stand at the same time to meet them at the door. Three police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck all pull into the tiny parking lot. Five uniformed officers walk up to the front porch with the EMT guys that have a gurney ready to take the poor old woman away in a body bag.

  “I’m Officer Roberts. I’m sorry you had to walk in on this.” The young cop has a sincere face with deep brown eyes with hair to match. “This is Denita Ferguson, lead homicide detective.”

  The tall, light skinned officer shakes both of our hands. “I’d like to ask you both some questions, if you don’t mind.” She has a no bullshit kind of attitude, which is good for a homicide detective, I suppose. Her black hair is pulled into a ponytail and she stands just about an inch taller than me. She terrifies me, but I already have an enormous amount of respect for her. She couldn’t have been more than thirty and was already lead detective in the department. She pulls us both to the side as the other first responders get to the dirty work no one else has the stomach to do.

  “What exactly happened here?” She seems as tough as nails, but in the same breath was understanding of our situation. Her demeanor helps to calm us both down.

  “We went into town to get a few things and came back to…this.” Donovan holds his hand out towards the house. “Rebecca died, right there on the floor, trying to tell us who did this. She didn’t get to finish.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the crumpled note that was the start of all this chaos. “This was left for me. I know who did this. At least, I know who wrote this letter.”

  “And who is that?” Detective Ferguson did not take the letter until she put on some blue latex gloves. Then she gingerly handled it with care.

  “It was written by my ex girlfriend, Claire Dubois, ma’am.” The moment her name came off his lips, my insides twist and turn, making me want to vomit. “That’s her handwriting.” Suddenly it occurs to me; I don’t even know what the note said.

  “I see. Do you know where she is right now?” Her whole demeanor changes, her body tenses up and you can tell she’s about to take this personal. Her eyes scan the letter quickly, then she looks to Donovan. “I’m sorry that you both had to witness this. Did the victim happen to say anything before she died?

  I chime in. “She said there was a woman and man, but she didn’t say any names or descriptions before she died.” I try to peek at the letter, then turn my attention towards the distraught man to my right. “What does it say? “

  Donovan glances my way, but only holds my stare for a second before his eyes shift to the ground. “It said, “I know you’re here and I will find you both very soon. Tell Allison I said hello.” A new wave of shivers run down my spine. How did she know my name? The fear must be very noticeable in my eyes because he puts his arm around my waist, pulling me close to his side. A light kiss on the top of my head only soothes my frazzled nerves so much.

  “Please, baby, don’t get scared. I told you before, no harm will come to you as long as I’m around. I can promise you that.”

  The detective gently places the paper into a plastic baggie. “Now, the victim said something about a man with her. Do have you any idea who that may be?”

  “No idea. In all honesty, I don’t even know it was Claire that came here or not. She normally has people do the “dirty” work for her. She still has enough money to hire anyone she wants. And that’s the really scary part about it. You never know who is on her side.” The thought makes my blood run cold and shoots my anxiety level sky high. My heart feels like it’s going to pound right out of my chest.

  It could be anyone.

  “What should we do, Detective?” His sexy Southern drawl was laced with worry and fear.

  “Well, I would get a restraining order against this Claire.” Then her eyes lit up. “Wait, are you talking about Claire Dubois, the one that killed her husband a few years back?”

  “Yes, that’s her.”

  Then the surprised expression took on an “oh shit” look. “Well, I wouldn’t go back to your house or yours, ma’am. I would try to find a safe place to stay for awhile. Can you think of anywhere right off the top?”

  He taps his temple as he ponders about where we should go. I tried to think of somewhere, but I don’t have nearly as many options as he does. I patiently wait for him to come up with some sort of answer as to where we’ll go without worrying about if that crazy bitch will murder us in our sleep.

  “Only place I can think of is my father’s house, but I just don’t want her to find out we’re there. It could bring a whole world of hurtin’ to us, not to mention my family.” It’s obvious that his heart was torn about the whole situation. “It’s either that or just go to a different city altogether.”

  “Well, the only problem with goi
ng to a different city would be that you would have no one there to help you if you needed it. Now, I know how important family is and as a mother, I would want my child with me if he was in danger. I would do everything in my power to protect my child. So I think your best bet is to go to your father’s.” Her tone is firm, like we shouldn’t question her. All we can do is nod our heads.

  “Can we leave?” I murmur, not wanting to stay here another second. Just knowing a woman died at Claire’s hands made my stomach twist into knots.

  The detective looks towards the house just as the body is being brought out on the gurney. Tears sting my eyes and I have to look away. “Yes, you can go. I’ll need your contact information. I may have a few more questions to ask you later.”

  After exchanging information, we get back in the truck and haul ass out of there. The burning question on my mind just comes out of my mouth. “Do you think she’ll find us?” A sense of dread starts to build up along with the fear I’m feeling. Not a good combination.

  “Baby, I hope not.” His eyes stay on the road, but his hand finds mine. “I should call Dad to let him know we’re coming. And I also think we need new cell phones.”

  “Why do I feel like we’re in the witness protection program?” I slump down in my seat. Dreading the stay at Donovan’s father’s house starts to consume me. The last time I stayed there, Donna, the wicked stepmother from hell, hated me and I left Donovan after talking to his old friend, Frankie. I pray she’s out of town when we get there. He says that she does that a lot, especially lately. She’s hardly ever home from what I’ve heard.

  “Well, I suppose we kinda are.” There’s no humor in his voice; only seriousness.

  I reach for my phone in my purse and Donovan stops me. “No, we can’t turn them on right now. She could still be tracking us.” He glances my way. “She’s the sneakiest damn stalker to walk the Earth, so there’s no limits to what she might do to find us.”