It’s too late for me to run. It was too late by the time they surrounded me in the barn.
I was theirs.
I climbed in Arsenio’s car, tilting my head to the setting sun. When the calm came, I let go and gave myself willingly, eyes falling shut.
My phone lay unused on my lap.
I wouldn’t be calling Paris, Frankie, or Bella that night. Frankie’s children would go to school in the morning safe and sound.
Why would I need to warn them? Why should I call the police and drag anyone else into my battle with the Letter Man?
I knew exactly what to do next.
Chapter Twelve
Arsenio arrived clean-faced and seemingly normal, if not for the damp stains on his black shirt. He got in and reached for his keys.
“Arsenio,” I began. “Will you let me stay? Paris can come pick me up.”
“No.”
“Please.” I chanced stroking his arm. “It’s important.”
“If someone is threatening her, they won’t live long enough to understand the mistake they made. Give me their name. We’ll handle it.”
He started the car.
“I lied,” I told him. “I said it was about Paris, but it’s about me.”
“Meaning?”
“I was a virgin before Cairo decided I needed a change in status. I wasn’t on birth control. Our relationship is between the six of us. I’m not ready for us to become seven. Are you?”
He flicked to my stomach, gazing at it with an expression I couldn’t read.
“If you’re pregnant, we’ll do right by our kid.”
My chest thumped at our kid.
“I appreciate that. I really do, but if I’m not pregnant, then it’s past time to be responsible. I’m not far from the doctor’s office, and I’d prefer to do this alone. Paris can drop me home after.”
Arsenio gave me a long, studying look. He was a guy who wanted his yeses and nos obeyed without question. I also assumed he was a guy who wasn’t looking to be fitted with a baby carrier in the next nine months.
He nodded.
Not wishing to test him, I hopped out and closed the door without another word. His car blew off, leaving me in the parking lot.
Naturally, everything I told him was more bullshit. I’d been on the pill since I was thirteen for acne and to regulate my periods. We were good on that particular front—except for the wild thoughts Arsenio put in my head at the mention of our kid. I called him a stunning collection of ethnicities in one handsome man. What would our baby look like? Would she or he do what I couldn’t? Soften the beast.
I shook my head, chasing the pictures away. It was more than likely the Letter Man, or even the Bedlam Boys, would destroy me before I got to my picket-fence dreams. Time to do something about that.
I crossed the street, passing one bus stop and continuing seven more blocks to the right one. Frankie would drive up in about fifteen minutes. There was something I needed from home.
***
“Thanks, Frankie. Are you sure you don’t mind waiting?”
“Nah. You’re fine. I don’t pick up many people at this time, and those I do can wait.”
Who could question why I’d do anything to protect this woman?
Even so, I didn’t test her flexibility. I hopped the fence and ran all the way to the farmhouse. I didn’t bother with Cruella’s new lock. The Letter Man hadn’t left a new one in the box. Just as well, because I had one for him.
Tearing a notepad and his last letter from my bag, I wrote two words on a blank piece of paper.
Axel Verlice
I couldn’t believe that morning I mourned fate. The Bedlam Boys unwittingly gave me the perfect opportunity to kill Scott Cavendish and shift the blame away from me. I told myself another chance wouldn’t be served up on a silver platter.
I’d never doubt them again. They were brought into my life to restore me. Fate had not let me down, neither would they.
I slipped the note in the black envelope and listened to the soft ting of the letter falling in the mailbox.
Crossing to the pen, I stuffed myself through the loose slats and breathed relief at the sight of my trunk waiting for me in the loft. Cruella removed everything that made the farm livable. But what was I going to do with a bunch of bows and arrows?
Nothing, I thought as I picked through my collection. I didn’t need my bow, and a single arrow would do.
I held a small, tapered arrow in the light.
Perfect.
Frankie waited for me as promised. I stepped up, moving carefully due to the arrow secured by my bra.
“All set?” she asked.
“All set.”
She dropped me off on the same street she picked me up. “Have fun with your friends. Girls’ night out is exactly what you need.”
“It is. Next time, it’s you and me. We’ll swing by your ex-husband and key ‘cheating bastard’ on his hood.”