A Time to Live (15 page)

It hurt too much to care.

****

Nikki had no idea how long she sat sipping from the bottle.
She felt as betrayed as she had been with Bradley. Tears burned her eyes and leaked down her cheeks. She should have never trusted Michael. Why didn’t she listen to the others? Why did she let Michael into her heart? She was making the same mistakes all over again, caring for the wrong man. She had talent for that.

A small gust of wind rattled the door slightly and she flinched.
She kept trying to tell herself she wasn’t waiting to hear the whine of the snowmobile, she wasn’t listening for any sound that would indicate Michael had returned, she didn’t want to hear his knock on the door, she didn’t want to hear his voice explaining this was all a crazy misunderstanding, she didn’t want to lose herself in his embrace.

A sharp thud against door brought her bolting to her feet, her heart rattling in her chest.
She spun. “Michael?” she called, her voice hoarse.

The door lurched again and Nikki recoiled.

What happened to his wife and girlfriend wasn’t an accident.

Nikki retreated, staring at the door. Something crashed into it again, cracking the wood around the frame. A third blow knocked it open and Nikki tightened her hold on the wine bottle.

The man wearing the camouflage snowsuit stood before her, the huge hunting knife in his hand.
He charged and tackled her, slamming her into the floor. Air whooshed from her lungs and blinding pain shot through her chest. She swung blindly. The wine bottle plowed into the side of his head, shattering, and knocking him off of her.

He grunted and rolled.
Nikki scrambled to her feet, pain throbbing through her chest. She couldn’t breathe. The man started to haul himself up and Nikki sprinted out the door.

She ran through the snow, heading for the trees.
The man was right behind her, she could feel him. Terror threatened to steal sane thought - all she could do was run. Never truly realizing her direction, she instinctively ran straight for Michael’s house.

Michael’s axe slid neatly through the wood, cleaving it in twain.
Even though it was cold, he was sweating like crazy and shed his jacket and sweater. Only a soaked long-sleeved thermal shirt covered his torso. He had more firewood than he needed, but the activity kept him from wandering to Nikki’s house.

He had tried to think of some excuse, a good reason to visit her, but everything sounded lame, and he didn’t want to come across as some love-struck calf.

Michael put another chunk of wood on the dead trunk.
“Which,” he muttered to himself and lifted his axe. “Is exactly what you are; a love-struck calf.” The thunk of the axe punctuated his statement.

He reached for another piece of wood. A terrible chill shuddered down Michael’s spine.
Dread and unease clawed at him, just like when the stalker....

“Oh God,” he whispered.
Fisting the axe, he jumped over the pile of deadwood and sprinted up the trail towards Nikki’s house.

He crested the hill and saw Nikki running toward him, terror in her eyes.
Behind her ran a man in a snowsuit.

“Michael!” Nikki screamed as the man tackled her and dragged her to the ground.

“Nikki!” he bellowed, charging toward her. He dropped the axe, he couldn’t use it without endangering her.

****

Nikki’s heart soared the instant she saw Michael running toward her. Suddenly, she knew all the terrible accusations were untrue. The man’s weight bore her to the ground and she tried to roll. A knife flashed above her and she battled to grab the man’s wrists.

Michael’s deafening roar startled her attacker.
He looked up just as Michael dove, knocking him off of Nikki. They rolled a pace away and broke apart, leaping to their feet.

The attacker slashed his knife at Michael, who jumped back with an agility of a panther.
Michael swung, slamming his fist into the man’s jaw. The man staggered, tripping over a log and falling into a ditch. Michael lunged over the log. The man scrambled to his feet and ran with Michael right behind him. Nikki sagged, a coughing fit ripping through her. She fought to retrieve her rescue inhaler from her pocket.

“Nikki!” Michael called
, exploding through the bushes and dropping to his knees beside her. Gently, he took her in his arms, pulling her inhaler out of her pocket and helping her hold it to her mouth. She sucked in three bursts of the medicine before it finally relaxed her lungs.

She buried her face against his chest. Michael held her tightly, his hand caressing her face. He pressed lips against her head.

“Where...?” she asked hoarsely.

“He vanished into a thicket,” he panted.
“I almost caught him, Nikki, but I knew you would need help. Are you hurt?”

“My chest aches but I’m all right.”

He sighed softly and lifted her into his arms. “Let’s get you home.”

****

Michael’s body shook with adrenaline and fear - the realization of what almost happened struck his heart. His emotions tangled into a confusing knot. He wished he would have caught the man, so Nikki would no longer be in danger, but he was grateful he had not, for he would have been definitely guilty of murder.

He entered the cabin and placed Nikki on the couch, then examined the door.
“Blast,” he muttered, “the door jamb cracked. I’ll have to fix it tomorrow.”

Michael closed the door and wedged a chair in front of it, then stepped toward the phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling the sheriff.”

“Michael, no.”

“Nikki, please. He almost had you this time.”

“But, Michael, you don’t understand. After what happened in town today—” She snapped her jaw closed, tears filling her eyes.

Michael frowned. “What happened?” he asked, quickly returning to Nikki.

She clung to him tightly.
“Michael, I am so sorry.”

His fingers tugged her chin up.
“What are you talking about?”

“I never should have believed them.”

He scowled, then the blood drained from his face. “Believed them?”

She nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I went to the café today. Taylor was there. He told me about your...your wife and girlfriend. Then Denise showed up and—”

Horror cut through him, and his grip tightened on her shoulders.
“Denise?” He stared into her agonized green eyes. Suddenly, everything made sense. “You didn’t know did you?”

She shook her head, fighting to control her sobs.
“I knew people treated you terribly, and Emma said you were bad news, but that’s all.”

“Dear God, Nikki,” he whispered, pulling her tight against him.
“I thought you knew. I figured Emma and the sheriff told you all the rumors.”

“What...what happened, Michael?
Why did Denise say you attacked her?”

Pain wrapped around his heart and he forced himself not to pull away from her.
Thinking of the past only brought misery. But Michael knew he had made a mistake in not telling Nikki about it. He thought she knew all of the terrible lies, but in reality he had made her vulnerable to Taylor’s vindictiveness. His fingers gently caressed her cheek. “How about if I get us something to drink? This is going to take a while.”

She nodded and Michael walked to the kitchen.

****

Nikki fought valiantly to pull herself together.
Her chest ached and she found herself using her inhaler constantly. She forced herself to put it on the table when Michael handed her a steaming cup of coffee.

“I found the Bailey’s in the cupboard,” he said with a smile as he poured a generous amount in both cups.

She returned his grin. “Great idea.”

Michael settled beside her, with his arm around her shoulders.
Nikki took a drink, then automatically nestled against him.

“Where should I start?” he whispered and took a deep breath.
“I married Laura about three years ago.” Nikki saw him glance at his left hand, as if expecting to see a ring. “She was an art acquisitions agent for auction houses, so she was out of town a lot. We hadn’t even been married for a year, but Laura was overseas for about three months.” He paused and took a drink. “I wasn’t sure if I was liking that life.”

“We’re you two having problems?”

“No, but I didn’t like being apart so much. To me, marriage means sharing your lives. You can’t do that when one isn’t home for months on end.”

“True.”

“But I found ways to keep myself occupied. Josh came home. On the weekends we would go to the bar, shoot pool, and drink with a few other friends.”

“I thought you and Josh had a bit of a falling out.”

“We worked it out and started doing stuff together again.” He paused and snorted cynically. “Shadow Mountain doesn’t have much of a night life.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Denise was a waitress at the bar, I’ve known her since we were kids.
But she also supplements her income by...how should I say...the world’s oldest profession.”

He paused and looked down at her.
Nikki nodded.

“She makes no secret of it.
In fact, if you ask her, she’ll tell you.”

“I don’t think I want to talk to her for
a while.”

Michael’s arm tightened around her.
“I don’t blame you.” He rubbed his eyes then continued. “It was Denise’s night off from the bar, but she was there to earn her second income. She was playing pool with us and also drinking. I think one of the guys was giving her drugs.”

“Drugs?”

He nodded. “We were all getting pretty tanked.”

“You weren’t
—”

“No,” he said sternly.
“I just drink, but now I don’t do much of that either.”

Relief washed over Nikki.

“Well, Denise and I started falling in together. I don’t really understand what happened. I knew what she did for a living and I don’t buy in to that crap. I’ve never gone to bed with her and I didn’t plan on doing it that night. I was married, for crying out loud. But we were having fun and things were friendly. As the evening started winding down and we hit last call, Denise started getting even more friendly. Well, even though I was drunk, I knew where it was headed and politely told her no. I even gave her a twenty and told her to go sleep it off and get some food. As I tried to leave, she got mad. I’ve never seen her like that before. I think it was both the booze and the drugs. She kept hanging on my arm and I literally dragged her out of the bar when I tried to leave.”

He stopped and ran a hand through his hair.
Nikki’s arms tightened around him.

“If I knew then what I know now, I never would have left that bar without a gaggle of witnesses.
She wouldn’t leave me alone so I thought if I took her back to her place and poured her in bed, she’d sleep it off and everything would be okay. I walked with her and she kept trying to kiss me. I did my best, but like I said, I was three sheets to the wind anyway. At the door of her apartment, she was furious because I wouldn’t stay, clawed my face and arm as I left. That’s the last I saw her. I walked home, too drunk to drive. The sheriff pounding on my door awakened me the next morning. He arrested me on the spot. That’s when I found out that Denise had been....” Michael stopped and sucked in his breath. “She almost died, Nikki. I may not have approved of her profession, but she was a friend. Dear God, no one should suffer that kind of agony.”

Nikki again pushed herself up.
Her fingers touched his cheek then brushed through his hair. Michael squeezed his eyes shut and Nikki could never put words to the anguish she saw lining his face.

“I thought when Denise recovered, she would set the sheriff straight.
But my naiveté collapsed like a ruined house when I stood before the judge in shackles and Denise swore to all I attacked her. I found myself in a terrible nightmare and could not awaken from it. The twenty I gave her became evidence, as well as everyone in the bar who saw us together and knew I walked her home. They found my skin under her fingernails, but the other physical evidence didn’t match.” His voice broke and he gulped more air into his lungs. “I don’t know why, Nikki, but she is convinced I attacked her. The case went to trial and was a television fiasco around here. It was the most humiliating...awful experience of my life. I had tried to call Laura, but could never get through overseas. Then she came home.”

“Oh no,” Nikki whispered.

Michael nodded, his mouth twisted bitterly. “I can imagine the shock and horror she felt coming home to this. I hated having to try to explain it all while wearing an orange jumpsuit, looking at her through bulletproof glass, and talking on a filthy phone. But I thought once I explained everything, she would understand.”

Nikki blinked, remembering Josh had called her Michael’s ex-wife.
“And she didn’t?”