The Reaping (The Reapers Book 1) (31 page)

I shrugged. “Thank you for trying. How is Doug?”

Tucker met my eyes and smiled sadly. “He was weak before the fight and, when he was sure you were okay, he crossed over.”

I hadn’t thought it was possible for me to be any sadder, but Doug’s loss hit me hard. “I’m sorry, Tucker. Thank you for telling me.”

He placed a hand on my leg, and I almost thought I felt it. “It was for the best, Kelsey. I promised him I’d look out for you, and I will. Right now, I should go and see if I can find out who’s planning to come after you next.”

“Thank you,” I said, and he was gone.

Caleb visibly relaxed. “I can feel that he’s left. Why don’t I order some food, and you can take a nap until it gets here?”

I nodded. “That sounds wonderful. Sometime before I leave, I’d like to say goodbye to Angelica.”

Caleb stood and started pacing again. I picked up a hank of hair and chewed on it.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Kelsey. She told you she didn’t want to be a part of this and—”

“I don’t care. Once we leave, I’m not going to be able to e-mail her or call her, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“I’m going to say goodbye to her. Before I do that, though, I need something to eat, and I need you to tell me how bad my face looks where Reid cut me.”

He looked at the floor. “Kelsey, right now, it’s still red and swollen. It’s going to look better tomorrow or the next day.”

“Okay.” I should have gotten up and looked in the mirror, but I’d had enough bad news for the moment. “I’ll sleep until the food gets here, then we eat, and then I go say goodbye to my best friend.”

There was a soft knock at the door, and Jed opened it and peeked in. “Hey, guys. I hate to interrupt you, but we’re freezing out here.”

“Come on in. We were just about to order some food.”

Jed smiled and pushed the door open, and Cat followed him, an angry frown on her face. Neither of them had coffee, and both of their faces were red from the cold, so I assumed they had stayed close to the apartment. “Good, I’m starving,” Jed said.

Cat growled and sat down next to me. “Caleb fill you in on all the crap that might upset you?”

I nodded. “You probably could have stayed. I’m sorry you had to wait out in the cold.”

“Not my place,” Cat said. I wasn’t sure if she meant the condo or some hierarchy I was unaware of, but I didn’t ask.

Jed plopped down on the other side of me. He had an easy smile on his face, but his jaw was clenched. “How you holding up?”

“I’ve been better.”

That night, I waited until everyone had been silent for forty-five minutes in the dark apartment before I eased myself up and hobbled to the door. I might have convinced Caleb that he should let me see Angelica, but Jed and Cat were dead set against the idea. Apparently, I was their captive and no longer had the right to make my own decisions. A woman who called herself a witch had sprinkled holy water all over the floor and chanted for half an hour. It was supposed to keep the reapers away, but it seemed silly to me and I didn’t believe it would work. There was no way I was going to fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Landon’s. There was even less chance I was going to lay awake for four hours and not just get off the couch and go see my best friend.

I unlocked the door and eased it open. With each sound it made, I paused for thirty seconds but no one stirred. I crept out and pulled the door closed behind me. I literally tip-toe hobbled to the end of the block, before I relaxed enough to risk the noise of full-footed steps. I was exhausted and sore, but there was nothing wrong with my legs and, once I got going, I found I could walk pretty comfortably. There was no moon, so the only light came from streetlights. The shadows made me nervous. I picked up my pace to a jog and was feeling pretty good when I got to the apartment I had shared with Angelica.

I was halfway up the stairs to the apartment when someone grabbed me around the waist and pulled me tight against a well-padded chest and belly. “Hey, sweetheart,” Reid said in a low voice that I recognized immediately. Somehow, I had forgotten about him. “You’re a hard one to find.”

I turned to face him, my heart racing. “Not hard enough, apparently.”

I felt him shrug against my back. “Just meant I had more time to think about how to kill you, while I was looking.” He shoved me hard against the wall, pressing my face into the bricks. I gasped and shouted for help as loudly as I could. Reid shoved a hand over my mouth and pulled me back against him.

“None of that now. You’re coming with me, and you’re going to come quietly.” He held me still with the hand over my mouth, and I felt something cold and metallic against my temple. I guessed he’d pushed me away so he could get his gun out. “Make a sound, and I will put a bullet through that pretty face of yours.”

My heart raced so hard, I thought it might jump up into my throat and choke me, but I was sure that dead on the steps was better than going anywhere with Reid, so I pulled back when he tried to drag me down the stairs. I grabbed onto the railing and held on with everything I had. He hit me in the back of the head with his gun and it felt like my head had exploded. It hurt so bad that for a moment, I thought he’d shot me in the head. I dropped down onto the stairs, and Reid dropped with me, keeping his hand over my mouth. He leaned in, and I could feel his breath on my ear. I shivered as I tried to get my bearings and figure out how to get away from him.

He flipped me over onto my back and punched me hard in the same spot he’d cut me. I screamed against his hand as the pain erupted. I was sure he’d popped the stitches and I thought I could feel warm blood dripping down my cheek.

“Your boyfriend paid me a visit, and I think it’s only fair that I put as many bruises on your face as he put on mine.”

I noticed then that he had a black eye and what looked like a broken nose. I started to ask him who he was talking about, but his hand was over my mouth, and I figured out pretty quickly that he had to mean Caleb. He was the only one who knew what Reid had done to me, other than Jed, and Jed had been with me all afternoon. I tried to open my mouth to bite Reid’s fingers, but he had my jaw clenched so tight I couldn’t open my mouth.

Reid started pulling me back down the stairs, by my face and one arm. I twisted as much as I could and kicked him with everything I had. I don’t think I hit anything vital, but he was already off-balance struggling with me and my kick knocked him off his feet. He took me down with him, but his grip loosened and I was able to get free as he continued to slide down the stairs. I turned and started up, but he was faster. He grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me down hard.

“Help! Angelica! Call the police.” I didn’t want Angelica out here with Reid, but I needed help, and she was the most likely person to hear me.

Reid clamped a hand over my mouth, and hit me again with his gun. Suddenly, the full weight of him was pressing down on top of me. I tried to get to my hands and knees, but he was heavy, and I was exhausted and shaking.

“Kelsey, are you okay?” Angelica asked, and Reid’s weight lifted enough for me to push him the rest of the way off me.

“Yeah, I think so.” I stood up and moved away from Reid as fast as I could. He appeared to be unconscious, but I wasn’t taking any chances. “What did you do to him?”

Angelica hefted a skillet to my eye level. “I hit him with this.” She lowered the pan and, as she did, I noticed that she was shaking. “Did I… Is he?”

I bent down and stuck my finger on his neck, but I didn’t actually know the right place to find a pulse. I felt around on my neck until I found my pulse, and then I felt his neck in the same spot. “I feel a pulse. He must just be unconscious.”

Angelica nodded and tears started down her cheeks. “Thank God. Why don’t you come inside and sit down, while I call the police? You don’t look so good.”

“Angelica, thank you, but you don’t have to do this. I know that you asked me to stay away from you and…”

Angelica rubbed her eyes with her free hand, looking exhausted. “I was scared, Kelsey, I never should have said that. I should’ve supported you. Please, come inside.”

“Thank you.” I followed her inside, and sat down in the blue chair.

She leaned over me and studied my face without touching me. “Are you hurt?”

The adrenaline that had kept me going was starting to wear off and pain was taking its place. I touched my cheek and found the stitches still in place and no blood dripping, though it pounded and pulsed so hotly it felt like it must be bleeding. I ran my hands over the rest of my body and knew I’d be bruised and have a headache for a while, but nothing seemed broken. “I’m okay. Before you call the police, let me call Caleb.”

Angelica, in a tank top and pajama bottoms, flopped down on the futon, cell phone in hand. “Why? I really think we should just call the police and, probably, an ambulance.”

“Yeah, it’s just that Reid said something about Caleb beating him up. I think there’s more to this than I know.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Angelica said.

I was already dialing. I didn’t want to risk Reid waking up and breaking down our door.

Caleb answered on the first ring. “What happened?”

I told him what had happened. “I just thought we should check with you before we called the police.”

“Yeah, thanks for checking. Jed and I are here now. Reid’s still alive. We’ll take care of this. Just sit tight for now.”

“You’re here already?”

“Jed heard you leave and woke me up. I knew we’d find you here. We’re going to leave and take Reid with us. We’ll be back in an hour, tops. Please don’t go anywhere.”

“Yeah, okay.” I hung up the phone and met Angelica’s worried gaze. “Caleb and Jed are already here and they’re going to take care of it.”

“So we aren’t calling the police? Because I’m pretty sure I should be giving a police report, and we should be getting this guy locked up.”

“Yeah.” I knew that Caleb and Jed didn’t care about Reid going to prison, since I would be out of town in a few hours, but that didn’t protect Angelica. There was no way a guy like Reid wasn’t going to look for payback from her. “Caleb didn’t give me the details. I’ll ask him when they get back.” I realized I was chewing on my hair and stopped, letting my hands fall into my lap.

“Has he given you details about anything?”

“Enough, I guess. I’m leaving in a few hours and they’re going to give me a new identity and set me up with his company or with Cat’s.”

“And you trust him?”

“I think so.” The truth was, I wasn’t sure I did trust Caleb, but I didn’t have a whole lot of choice. I wanted to trust him. I wanted him to be the good guy he claimed to be, but I was almost positive he wasn’t being completely honest with me. I needed to trust someone, so I was willing to blame his lack of honesty on corporate secrets, as much as that might hurt my feelings. If he really cared about me, would corporate secrets matter?

“You have good instincts about people.”

“No, I really don’t, Angelica. I’m scared, and I’m lost, and I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in three days. I…But you have good instincts about people. You were right about Cat…I mean, has she paid any rent yet?” I realized as I spoke that saying goodbye hadn’t been the only reason I’d needed to see Angelica.

She shook her head.

“Well, so maybe you don’t have the best instincts, either, but what do you think about Caleb?”

“I haven’t gotten the best vibes from him lately, but I know he really likes you and would never do anything to hurt you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Cat told me some stuff. Like that he hasn’t shown interest in any girl in all of the years that she’s known him.”

“Like he would tell her.”

Angelica shrugged and frowned. “Yeah, probably not. But apparently, his company really wanted him to go with Jed when he left, but Caleb stayed to look out for you. He was sure that something was up, so he stayed without pay. Pissed off the people he works for, according to Cat.”

“She told you all of this?” It was nice, if it was true, but I wasn’t going to get all sentimental about Caleb over hearsay. Cat had stuck around, and I was sure she didn’t do anything altruistically, so Caleb may have had an ulterior motive of his own. Like being the guy who recruited me, the most powerful medium they’d seen since my father.

“She was drunk and—”

A knock at the door interrupted her, and she got up and answered it without even checking the peephole first. She was braver than me. Jed walked into the apartment first, followed by Caleb. They both looked tired, but they smiled at us. I was a little worried they’d be angry at me for sneaking out and getting myself into trouble again, but they didn’t seem to be.

“So, is everything—” I started.

Jed nodded before I finished the question. “We dropped the psycho at the hospital. Cat called in anonymously to the police to say that Reid had attacked her in the alley and her boyfriend beat him up. Police will figure she was scared of getting her boyfriend in trouble. Dude was pretty well worked over. I didn’t know you could fight, Kelsey.”

“I can’t,” I said, forcing myself not to look at Caleb. He obviously hadn’t told Jed about what he’d done to Reid, and I wasn’t going to be the one to let that secret out. “I just got lucky. Plus, I had Angelica and her skillet backing me up.”

“Yeah, you must have gotten really lucky,” Jed said, but he looked at Caleb when he said it.

Caleb ignored him and looked at me. “We’ve only got an hour until we need to be at the airport, so Jed and I threw your bag in the car when we left. Do you want to go downstairs and make sure we got everything?”

Jed looked at Caleb with raised eyebrows, but, when Caleb started leading me out of the apartment, he dropped onto the futon. “Keep it short, Caleb.”

I followed Caleb out of the apartment and downstairs. “Get in the car,” he said as he placed a hand on my lower back and guided me to the passenger side door.

For a split second, I considered running back upstairs and locking myself in the apartment with Angelica and Jed. Caleb just didn’t sound like Caleb, but then he smiled at me.