Infatuated (30 page)

I glanced down when I felt him pulling on my shirt. His fingers twisted around the fabric, pulling it slightly, like he was trying to get me closer.

He let out a loud breath. “The third time was when I realized Earl was there. You told me not to wait to tell people how I felt and slammed the door in my face and, it was just for a second, but I saw blood on the jacket.”

“You saw blood and immediately thought…he…was there?”

Kale shook his head. “No. But it connected a bunch of weird dots that hadn’t connected before. You texted in shorthand, which you hate. You texted the phone I bought you, which was pointless since it was yours. Your car was nowhere to be found and, while your excuse was believable, it didn’t fit.” His eyes were bright now. “You looked worse than I’d ever seen you before; pale face, tired, lifeless eyes. And then you said those words, about not waiting and not getting second chances.”

“I meant them,” I said quietly.

“I know.” He touched me now, just a brush of his fingers to my face, and then his hand was back on my shirt. “It was the first thing you said that I saw more than just believed. It was the first thing you said that reached your eyes. There was so much pain in them and so much anger. I looked down, because I couldn’t stand to see it, and that’s when I saw the blood and nearly kicked myself for being a fucking idiot.”

“You weren’t an idiot. You weren’t supposed to suspect anything. That was the point.”

“I know.” He laughed bitterly. “You always see that shit on TV or in movies. People in bad situations they don’t think they’ll get out of and they tell people something like that, or call to tell someone they love them. And the people don’t see it or don’t think about it. They question it, for like, two seconds, and then shrug it off as a weird mood. I hated that shit, because when you love someone, you should
know
when something is off, and those people rarely did. And then it happened and I was one of those
fucking people
.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No? I should have barged in, then and there, and fucking killed him.”

“He could have killed you.” I’d been ready and willing to die if it meant keeping Kale and my other loved ones safe. If Earl had killed him… I shuddered.

“And instead he nearly killed you!”

“Why are you yelling at me?” I shouted, hitting his chest. “Are you pissed because I tried protecting you for a change?”

“Jesus, I’m not. I am, but I’m not.” He spun away from me and ran his hands over his head. “I should have barged in, Ally. I didn’t. I got in my car, drove away, and I called the cops before I went back.”

“Why? Why did you do that then?”

“Because I was afraid if he suspected anything from me, he’d—” He took a deep breath. “I thought he’d get scared and kill you.”

“He didn’t.” I reached up to touch his face, but he shrugged my hand away. “You came back for me.”

“Not soon enough.”

I’d heard Kale pissed before. I’d heard him pissed, upset, happy, sad. But I’d never heard his tone so dark, so full of misery. “You’re pissed because you didn’t react, what? Two minutes sooner?”

“You’re missing the point.”

“What point is that, Kale?”

“I told you I loved you and then I left you there. I left you there and
he cut you open
!”

“He did that before you ever showed up! And the fact that you did is the only reason I’m still here.”

“But I—”

“No.” I shook my head. “You had your say, so you can shut up and listen now. Earl was seconds away from…ending things. Texting my friends, that was basically my last goodbye. If you hadn’t texted back, if you hadn’t shown up, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t know where he would have taken me or what he would have done—” I couldn’t fight the shudder that nearly knocked me to my knees.

He took my hand. “You’re safe now.”

“I’m safe because
you
stopped him. By being stupid and stubborn and waiting until the last minute to tell me how you felt. The fact that you went to call the cops first? You were right to do that, Kale. Earl waited, even after you’d left, to make sure you were really gone. If you’d come in right then, he would have killed us both.”

“Ally—”

“You were the one who talked about kismet. I didn’t believe in it, not really. You had pretty words, and I started to believe them when you were around me. But you know what? Fuck that.
Fuck that
. I don’t believe in kismet anymore. I believe in
you
, Kale Wilder. You’re my kismet.” When he started toward me, I shook my head. “Please don’t. I love you, but I can’t do this. I can’t stay here. I can’t—”

“Shh.” He grabbed me before I could protest again and wrapped me in his arms. He held me until there was nothing but him. His muscles, smooth and hard, pressed against me. His scent, chocolately and all Kale. “You don’t have to stay. I didn’t expect you to or want you to, because I knew you wouldn’t be happy here—even before Earl… I knew you couldn’t stay, that I couldn’t ask you to. So I didn’t.” His arms tightened around me and he rested his head on mine. “That’s why I’m going with you.”

“What?” I jerked back. “You can’t. You have a life here. Rob, Debbie, work.”

“Rob is loaded.” He shrugged. “He can afford to come visit us.”

“But you have—”

“I have you. Besides, I’m already packed.”

“You are not.” His place was full of stuff.

Without a word, he pulled me toward his room and pushed the door open. It was sparse, like my apartment had been after I packed. His shelves were empty. Boxes and a few duffel bags were right inside his door.

“I wanted you to see it when I brought you here. I wanted you to see it, and know, that I go where you go—wherever that is.”

I shook my head. “You can’t be serious.”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t see how serious I am. Everything is packed, and it has been. Hell, I probably finished before you.”

My head spun. “But you didn’t call or text me or… Debbie and Rob never…”

Gently, he clasped my hands and pulled me to his bed. “I know. I started packing two days after you left, and Rob was sworn to secrecy—he couldn’t even tell Debbie. I thought if I said anything, you’d say no or you’d think I was just…I don’t know. I thought you’d say no.”

I would have—and that’s if I even believed him. I saw the evidence in front of me now and I still wasn’t sure I did. “But—”

“I know what I said before, that I was the one who didn’t think you really loved me because of everything else.” He was talking a mile a minute now, cramming words together so fast I had to replay them in my head to make sense of them. “I was scared, I was stupid, I was insecure. I was everything Debbie said I was and more, and it nearly killed me to watch you walk away, to let you, especially without knowing the truth.”

“Then why did you let me?” The question tore from my throat.

“Because I couldn’t let you stay. The night he trashed your apartment, when you told me what he wrote, when you told me you’d stay regardless, if I just told you I loved you…I couldn’t do it. It wasn’t because I didn’t love you. I did—I do. God, I do. But I couldn’t ask you to stay. With everything that had happened—especially that night—I was scared for you. I thought I had to let you go to keep you safe.” He leaned his head against mine. “After you left, I got drunk and fell in the pool. I thought about the first night you were here, when I fell in and pulled you with me. I sat there, freezing my ass off, thinking I’d never get a chance to hear your laugh or see your smile again. You’d be living somewhere else and I’d be stuck here, alone. And then I realized that was only an issue if we were living apart.”

“Kale—”

“I’m not done.” He took my hands again, kissed them both, and then held them to his chest. “I don’t know where things will go between us, and I know it’s not going to be easy for either of us, but I love you, Ally. I love you. And I’ll prove it to you until you believe it. You have my heart, and I kind of need it to live, so I go where it goes.”

I didn’t say anything for a minute—couldn’t. My heart felt light and heavy at the same time. It pounded furiously in my chest. His, I realized, pumped even faster and harder. I looked up, into the eyes I knew better than my own. The green was fierce again, bright, like they were the first night in the bar. He told me then that he fought for what he wanted, especially when it was worth it. He’d said those words more than once since I’d met him and I’d believed him, every time, because his eyes were always full of conviction.

Like now, only intensified.

He squeezed my hands tighter.

I sighed. “I love you. No ifs, ands, or buts about it, I love you. And if I’m being honest, I think I started falling in love with you the first day I met you.” In the bar, when he’d pulled me onto his lap and kissed me. The next day, when he brought me a date. The day after, when he took my phone so I didn’t have to deal with it. “For the big things, the little things. Mostly the little things, because they’re the ones people take for granted. They’re the ones that add up and make the big picture.”

“Ally…”

I shushed him by placing my finger over his lips. “You’re really bad at deep, heartfelt confessions of love, you know that? And these are my rules, remember?”

He kissed my finger and nodded. “Your rules.”

“You’re sweet, funny, sexy as hell. You make me laugh and smile so much it hurts sometimes. And it hurts more when you’re not around. You’ve been taking care of me since day one, without complaint, without even knowing me.” And that was one of the biggest reasons I loved him, because he’d go all out for a stranger, without being asked to, and even when asked not to. “But…”

He closed his eyes and dropped his head down.

I cupped the side of his face and my heart melted a little when he leaned in closer. “Timbuktu,” I said.

His eyes opened and he blinked at me. “What?”

“What if I want to go to Timbuktu?”

“I’ll follow you,” he answered immediately.

“We’re so going to screw this up.”

He let out a breath and then grinned. It was breathtaking and heart-stopping. “Yeah, we are. But we’ll screw up together.”

Together. I liked that word.

“You know I don’t have a clue where I’m going, right?”

His hands went to either side of my face and he touched his lips to mine gently. “I’ll be right back.” He practically bounced up from the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“To get my laptop. We’ll figure this out together.” He paused at the door. “And so I’m clear…that was a yes, wasn’t it? We’re leaving together?”

“Yes.” I smiled up at him. “That was most definitely a yes.”

He smiled and ducked out of the room, returning less than a minute later. It hit me then that he still had on his jacket. He looked so much the bad boy part, but he really wasn’t. On the surface a little, maybe, but not deep down.

I didn’t know where things would go either, but we’d be together. We wouldn’t be alone.

He sat next to me and turned the computer on. His eyes locked with mine. “You’re staring.”

“Yeah. I’m just surprised.”

He looked at me with a soft smile that nearly melted my heart. “Surprised? About what?”

“That Mr. Right wears a leather jacket.”

EPILOGUE

I
asked Kale to tell me what I'd missed the night Earl grabbed me. He didn’t want to tell me, and I didn't necessarily want to hear it, but I needed the details. I needed to know so I could, hopefully, put it behind me.

After Kale hid his truck and called the police, he went back to the bar for me. He broke the door down and attacked Earl. The cops arrived a minute after Kale and had to pull him off of Earl. While they were trying to control him, Earl made a grab for his knife again, intending to finish what he’d started with me, and the cops had to shoot him.

Earl had a cell with his name on it waiting for him once he was cleared from the hospital. A cell I hoped and prayed he’d spend the rest of his life in. A thought everyone—especially Kale—shared with me.

The cops couldn’t, or wouldn’t, really tell me much about Earl, but I did hear from Kale's cop friend that they were trying to build a case against him for the other women he'd talked about—including Tonya. They were calling parents and friends of anyone in the area who'd quit Hanson’s and/or left town unexpectedly, looking for signs of foul play. It would take time. That's what I kept hearing. They didn't have a lot to go on, so it would take time to find evidence, to build a stronger case against Earl.

Kale and I left town a few weeks later. We’d have to go back to Newgrove for Earl’s trial, because we both had to testify against him. But until then, I wasn’t going to think about him unless I had to. He was invading my dreams when I slept—I refused to let him invade my waking hours, too.

Without a destination in mind, we decided to visit each of my parents for a week or two until we decided where we'd move. Mom cried a lot and swore whenever my dad was mentioned. Dad was...different. He was happy and calmer than I could remember seeing him in years. My parents hadn’t agreed on much since their divorce, but they both declared Kale their hero and were his biggest fans. To them, Kale was family.