I hopped out of the truck with my shotgun. Once I knew she was safe, I could focus on everything else I had to do. Calling my contact, gathering supplies…
Before I could dart inside, adingsound came from the bed of my truck, followed by a rustling sound. A shape moved, climbing out of the bed of the truck in the darkness.
They followed me.
I raised my shotgun and pushed it up under the chin of the person who had followed me, ready to kill if it meant saving my own life tonight.
ThankGodI didn’t pull the trigger.
26
Jayce
A flash of lightning split the night, illuminating Charlotte’s beautiful face. Her eyes went cross-eyed as she looked down at the shotgun pressed underneath her chin. “Um, Jayce?” she squeaked as rainwater streamed down her cheeks.
I lowered the shotgun and sighed with relief. “The fuck are you doing, Peaches?”
“I was hiding!” she protested. Then, everything came out in a rush. “From the fight in the bar. Then when you drove away I was afraid of scaring you, and I thought I might be safer with you than at the motel, and I kind of wanted to see where you lived…”
I wanted to be mad at her, but I didn’t have it in me. Not after what we’d both been through tonight. The rain came down in sheets, plastering her silky hair to her head. I took her hand, helped her down from the truck, and said, “Let’s get the hell out of this mess.”
We rushed inside, and I closed the door behind us. Charlotte had a cut on her cheek that was bleeding into the rain moisture, but before I could say something, she gasped.
“Thisis where you live?” she asked while looking around. “A barn?”
Her eyes scanned the room, starting in the kitchen area to the left with the gas range and stove. Her gaze swept across the partition wall which housed my closet, past the queen-sized bed with my big down comforter. The bathroom, and the loft area above it which could be accessed by a ladder. String lights criss-crossed the rafters and filled the room with a soft amber light.
“It’s arenovatedbarn,” I said defensively. “I have running water, air conditioning, and look.” I tapped my boot on the ground. “Laminate floors.”
She gave me a curious look. “You know, my Momma always used the phraseraised in a barnas an insult, but this is nice!”
“It could be worse.”
Charlotte walked into the room, leaving a trail of water behind her. She gazed around the bathroom toward my workshop. “You work with metal?”
“I was a welder, once upon a time,” I said. I didn’t like talking about my work.
She grinned at me. “I’ve learned more about you in the last twenty seconds than in the past week!”
I suddenly remembered why I was here, and what had happened. “You’re just going to ignore all that mess back at Flop’s?” I growled, meaner than I intended.
“I’m not ignoring it…”
I was frustrated in a way that confused me, but I couldn’t help but snap at her. “Why’d you have to engage Carl? You could’ve walked out of the bar.”
“Me?” she said, incredulous. “I’m not the one who brought a shotgun into the mix.”
I set my jaw. “I grabbed it in case the situation got bad. Which it did. Your welcome, by the way.”
“And all I did was slap an asshole who grabbed my ass. Iwantedto leave, but I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was running from him.” The anger drained out of her face. “Jayce, he saw us at the cemetery. Heknows.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I heard him gloating and figured that’s what he meant. Come here. We ought to get that cheek cleaned up.”
She touched her cheek and looked at the blood on her finger as if she didn’t understand. “He hit me.”
“I saw.” I pulled some bandages and alcohol wipes out of my bathroom drawer and went back into the room. She was still standing there, shocked. And also dripping water all over the floor.
“You need fresh clothes.” I fished around in my dresser and came out with an extra long shirt that I used when I was painting, and a baggy pair of shorts. “These will do until your clothes dry. Bathroom’s over there.”