Caught in the Storm (8 page)

He pushed back so she was lying on the table with his weight on top of her when suddenly she could feel something sharp poke into her side. The more he relaxed his weight on top of her, the more it hurt. It brought back memories of Jeremy and what he did to her.

Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and she couldn’t catch her breath. Panic was building and there was nothing she could do to stop it. The scream started in her belly and built as it neared her throat. She started clawing at Jackson, the lines blurring between him and Jeremy, just knowing that she had to escape someway, somehow. She couldn’t go back; there was no way she’d survive another attack.

The next thing she knew, cool air was rushing across her body, the weight from on top of her now gone. With her eyes squeezed shut, she couldn’t see what he was doing. She could hear a mewing and thought it was strange because they didn’t have a cat until she realized it was her. She curled up into a ball, wanting everything to go away. Especially Jackson, she didn’t want to look into his eyes and see the pity there. She just wanted it all to go away.

Jackson didn’t know what to do. He wanted to gather her up and protect her from the demons that haunted her but he didn’t want to push her further away. With his hands clenched at his sides, he tried to talk to her in a quiet, calming voice assuring her that everything was okay. Once the tortured sounds coming from her subsided, he sat down in the chair next to where she was lying on the table.

“Kat? Kat? I need you to let me know that you know it’s me here; it’s Jackson. Come on, baby. Can you talk to me? Anything?” Her refusal to talk was frustrating him, but he didn’t want to push it.

“Baby, I’m going to touch you now. I can’t take it anymore. I need to help you.” He reached out his hand toward her. “I’m going to touch your shoulder now.” When she didn’t react to his touch, he kept talking to her, telling her exactly what he was going to do until he picked her up and cradled her on his lap. Gently rocking them both back and forth, he pulled an old story from his football days out of his head and absently told it to her, all the time wanting to kill Jeremy if he ever got his hands on him.

Kat stayed in Jackson’s arms letting his warmth seep into her. She hated herself for falling apart in front of him. This was part of the reason she had left him before. After one of the most romantic nights of her life, she and Jackson had gone to sleep wrapped in each other’s arms. Then the nightmare started. It was the same one. No surprise there. Jeremy and what he had done to her. It was as if he didn’t want her to have any happiness, and any that she’d find he’d take away from her. He’d know that he hadn’t killed her and would come looking for her. She couldn’t hide.

She woke up that night screaming, wrapped in Jackson’s arms, not unlike how they were right now. She knew then she had to leave him. Part of her wanted to leave him right now. She knew she could leave without anyone noticing. The instinct was so strong her muscles momentarily tensed in anticipation of her flight. She sighed and knew that she couldn’t. She had to stay and help find Jeremy, doing whatever it took. No matter how much her pride hurt from falling apart.

Taking a deep breath, she moved away from his shoulder and looked into his eyes briefly before looking down at her hands. “Thank you.”

She felt his fingers under her chin and allowed him to make eye contact. “Don’t run from me this time.” When she didn’t answer, his fingers grew firmer. “Promise me. No running.”

Looking him deep in his eyes, she knew there was no way she’d be able to leave him again. They’d lost so much time because of her running. She didn’t know what the future held, but it might just be better with him by her side.

“I promise. No running.”

He pulled her into a huge bear hug and didn’t let go for a few moments. “I’m sorry baby. Can you tell me what I did so that I don’t do it again? You know I don’t want to hurt you.”

She really didn’t want to get into this but knew she had to. “It was just your weight on top of me and there was something sharp poking into my side. It brought back everything. Took me back. I’m sorry.” She looked down.

He shook her chin gently. “No, don’t you ever apologize. You have no reason to. I’m here for you. I was then, and I still am. You need to realize you can depend on me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sor—”

He stopped her with a brief kiss. “I’ll keep doing this every time you say you’re sorry for something that was not your fault and completely out of your control. Keep it up, baby; you know I love to kiss you.”

She smiled a little and wiggled off his lap. “Maybe we should get back to work?”

He gave her his sad puppy eyes. When he knew she wasn’t buying it, he said, “Probably a good idea. Now, where were we?”

They worked for the next hour compiling a list of motels that didn’t ask too many questions within a thirty-mile radius. After making numerous phone calls, they finally got the answer they were looking for. The manager said someone matching Jeremy’s description had been renting room six for the past two weeks. Without leaving a note, they raced for Jackson’s Camaro and sped out of the driveway, hoping they’d find what they were looking for. Jeremy.

As they pulled up to the run-down motel, Jackson stopped the car and turned toward her. “Now you stay here.”

“Like hell.”

“Baby, you’ve just been through the wringer, the last thing I want you to do is to see him again.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before we raced out of the house. No way am I going to be staying in the car while you get to have all the fun. Come on, let’s get this over with.” She leaned forward in the seat and pulled the gun out of the holster hidden beneath her shirt.

“Shit, you’ve had that on you this whole time?”

“Jackson, my father is a police chief; I’ve been around guns my whole life. Not to mention I’m trained as a bodyguard. I feel lost without it. Even when I am surrounded by people who are supposed to be looking out for me and have nothing to worry about.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I can understand that, but seeing you whip that thing out, well, I was kind of taken aback for a moment.”

Kat momentarily lost her train of thought when he said something about ‘whipping it out’.
Fucking Trio. Now I’m thinking like them!
“Let’s do this.”

“Fine, we’ll stay together. He’s in room six. The curtains are closed, so let’s go up and stay out of the line of sight.”

“Sounds good.” Kat couldn’t identify the feelings running through her. Part of her was excited at the thought he might be caught. But another larger part was afraid of what would happen when she came face to face with him. It was hard enough looking at Anthony all the time. But now,
knowing
it was Jeremy, what would she do? Could she pull the trigger?

She tried to take deep breaths as they walked up to his door. Knowing he was just on the other side of it, her hands started to shake and she was afraid she’d start hyperventilating and pass out.

“Maintenance,” Jackson called as he pounded on the door, making sure to stand where no one from the room could see him. They could hear someone inside the room moving around but not answering the door. He pounded again. “Maintenance. Open up now.”

They heard the lock turn and they watched as the knob slowly started to move.

“No!” she screamed. They’d found him. Her vision tunneled so all she could see was the two of them at his door. She had to do something quickly so they wouldn’t catch him. He was
hers
to play with. He had to suffer like the women he killed did. With her fingers crossed that her ID would hold up, she put her car in gear and raced toward Jackson’s parked Camaro, bracing for impact.

Jeremy had just started to open the door when he heard a crash so loud he could actually feel it. He caught a quick glance of the two people waiting by his door. He knew who it was. While they were turned around looking at the wreckage, he quickly slammed the door without bothering to lock it and ran out the back, not slowing down until he was deep in the forest.

Kat and Jackson turned back around when they heard the door slam behind them.

“Fuck,” Jackson said as he flung the door open and looked around the room, searching for Jeremy. When he got to the back, he saw that there was a rear exit. He made a mental note to check for other ways out of motels the next time. Assuming there would be a next time. He didn’t look to see if Kat was following him. He was single-minded in his pursuit. Knowing that Jeremy couldn’t be that far ahead of him, he kept running until his knee finally gave out.