Chapter Eight

A ticking sound could be heard as Priety walked along the path. The warm rays of the sun kissed her skin sending wonderful heat through her body. She loved the sun. When she was a child her mother would often times find her lying on her back in the front yard, with her eyes closed, just basking in it. But as she got older, more and more hardships came her way and the chance to enjoy nature’s heat was gone. She pushed the bad thoughts from her mind and tried desperately to allow the one small chance of reprieve that she was feeling. Birds chirped happily and the air smelled so fresh she wondered for a brief moment when she arrived in the country. But she wasn’t one to complain or dwell on the technicalities—she was in paradise.

Suddenly it went dark. The birds were gone and the feeling of safety she felt previously somehow disappeared. Removing her sunglasses she glanced around as the ticking got louder and more insistent. Something pulled her toward the ticking. Her legs moved as though she had no mind of her own and when she tried to stop, nothing happened. It was as though her brain was firing but her feet weren’t listening.

A bitter taste rose in the back of her throat as she began sweating. Stopping before a large bush, she found herself leaning forward. Instantly, there was a man standing before her; he had no face but she knew he was smirking. Inside her mind, she could see his lips curled upward at her. She tried to back away but something held her in place. She began flailing her arms, to get away, desperately yelling at her feet to remove her from such danger.

The ticking sound kept going and the man neared her. A bell went off and Priety could see the gun slowly lifted at her. A deranged laughter could be heard from the darkness behind her.

A scream ripped from her lungs piercing the dark and the arms holding her clenched tighter.

She looked down and Luke was lying on the ground, bleeding from his head.

The migraine came out of nowhere starting as a dull throb and quickly graduating into the grand poo-bah of migraines. He was glad Priety decided to get some sleep; at the moment he wouldn’t be any good for her. He switched all the lights off and tried to turn his brain off, as well, but it didn’t happen. With each thought, each moment, the ache got worse until he could literally feel his temples shaking. He lay on his back with his head pressed backward and his eyes closed.

Luke hadn’t realized he fell asleep. He meant to sit down for a quick second, to rest his aching back and throbbing head. But something yanked him from his sleep and he shoved upward. His mind was still a bit hazy.

Was that screaming?

Luke’s mind ripped from the daze of sleep and his hand snaked underneath his pillow to clasp the cold handle of his gun. Shoving his feet out of bed, while removing the safety on the gun, he tore through the cabin from his room to hers and slowly pushed opened the door. The scream erupted again. Training his weapon around the room he noticed it was empty but she was flailing on the bed like a mad woman.

Luke tucked the gun in the back of his pajama and moved to the bed. Sitting on the side, he held her hands and inched close to her. “Priety,” he whispered, and her body relaxed. “Open your eyes.”

“No! I didn’t mean it!” She screamed and Luke reached down and scooped her into his arms ignoring the slight throb in his shoulder. He held her against his bare chest and stroked her head.

“Come on, wake up…”

“Luke!” She cried and clung to him as her body rocked with sobs. “It was so real…”

“I know,” he whispered with more emotions than he thought he possessed. His tenderness toward her scared him because he was once called a big oaf who wasn’t capable of such things. Her smaller body against his made him shiver even more. She melted into him and wrapped her arms around his back. She felt like she was built to be against his body. He bit back the groan that threatened to escape his lips.

Her face pressed against his chest and Luke could feel the hot, wetness of her tears flowing over his skin. He caressed her back and whispered things to her; things that didn’t make sense to him but he knew they made a difference to her.

* * * *

Priety let herself be comforted in the arms of her protector. She couldn’t believe she had freaked out the way she did but in her state she felt she had the right. Even after the hurtful things she said to him, he still ran to her rescue and held her because she acted like a child and had a bad dream.

A deranged killer wanted her dead.

She held onto Luke Stanton enjoying the wonderful heat that wafted from his body and surrounded her. The way his large hands caressed her back and her hair made her bite back a moan.

“Sorry I woke you,” she whispered and scooted away from him.

“It’s okay…”

They sat there side by side not really sure what to say to each other until Luke spoke, “I think we should head back in the morning.”

“Are you going to hand me over?”

“Do you really think that little of me?”

Priety didn’t answer. She got off the bed and walked out the door. She wasn’t sure what she thought of Luke Stanton because every time he got close to her, he tensed up and pulled away. Except when she screamed her fear to the night and he came running in to save her.

That made her feel like a princess and a tear trickled down her cheek. She dreamed of her prince charming but she always thought he would be a nice Hindi man from a good family. Instead, she got Luke Stanton, tall, dark and handsome. Sighing she wiped the tear away.

She heard heavy footsteps behind her and knew it was him. She turned around to face him. There was hurt in his beautiful brown eyes and she felt like the biggest jerk on the planet. “Please, I didn’t mean to…”

“Yes you did,” he interrupted. “I believe a woman who’s worth anything doesn’t say things she doesn’t mean. Neither does a man that’s worth his salt.” He avoided her eyes. “Get some sleep and I’ll take you back tomorrow. We can hopefully get something done about this whole arrangement and you can go back to you life.”

Priety felt hurt by his words; it was like he reached out and slapped her and as he stepped by her, his scent of musk tore through her senses and left them in shambles. She wavered on her feet slightly and had to grip the wall to avoid falling over.

Following him into the den she stood by the door and folded her arms as she leaned against the frame.

“Tell me everything,” she implored before walking in to sit down across from him.

She felt naked underneath his stare.. The look he gave her was smoldering as he locked eyes with her before letting his gaze roam over her body. Each place he looked, Priety felt wonderful heat caress the flesh beneath her clothes and she sighed.

Luke’s scrutiny gave her the feeling that she was the sexiest woman in the world. She knew Luke Stanton made his women feel that way just by looking at them. Then again she wasn’t one of Luke Stanton’s women.

“It doesn’t look good,” Luke spoke finally when she bit down on her lower lips and rubbed her palms over her thighs. “We’ve got nothing but that tape and I am still waiting to hear if they found anything on it.”

Priety nodded. “So what do we do until we hear something?”

“We head back to Edison tomorrow and I try and light some fire under forensics.”

The ringing telephone caused Priety to scream and her hands flew to her mouth. She stared at him as he leaned over and hit the speaker phone button.

“Stanton,” Luke spoke his name with authority.

“Stanton,” Chief Chen’s voice barked over the speaker and Priety flinched. “You two need to get back here. I think we found something.”

“What do you have?”

“Where’re you anyway?”

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“I think we found the Ojo Killer!”

* * * *

Luke couldn’t believe his ears as he looked over at Priety who stood to her feet and wavered as though she was about to fall. He flew out of his seat and caught her right as she started plummeting to the ground.

“Damn it!” he swore.

“Stanton?” Chen’s voice rang out with confusion.

“We’ll be in first thing tomorrow,” he reported and hit the button to kill the speaker phone.

Carrying her to the chair, he lay her down and tapped her cheek gently. When she didn’t move, he kneeled beside her and watched her. Her eyes fluttered open and he smiled at her. “You really need to stop doing that,” he said. He wasn’t the kind of man to make jokes especially at a time like this. When she smiled at him and tried to sit up, he gently pushed her back against the seat.

“Stay still,” he told her. “I’ll get you something to drink.”

Wondering what was going on with her, Luke filled a glass with water and was walking back toward the den when he heard a scream. He fought to keep from dropping the glass because he knew she wasn’t dreaming. There was no possible way she could have fallen asleep in the little time it took for him to reach the kitchen, pour the water and take a few steps back. Placing the cup down on the floor, he stepped over it and moved toward the den.

Slowly, he made his way to the door where he could see inside the room and see her but if anyone else was there, they wouldn’t see him. He switched to the other side and when he saw no one, he entered the room.

Her eyes were glued to the window and he wondered why. When he turned around he saw it, a face with blood down from the eyes.

She flew into his chest and he cuddled her face against his skin as he reached behind him and pulled his gun. He led her out of the room and into the basement. It had no windows and only one door in or out.

“Stay here.” He told her as he lowered her into a corner between two book shelves. “Don’t move.”

“No, I can’t stay here alone. Please don’t leave me here.”

“I’m going to lock the door upstairs behind me. There’s no other way in or out,” he assured her. “Just stay down. I have to check outside.”

When she finally released her death grip on him, he climbed the stairs and locked the door as promised and proceeded outside in the dark barefoot. His gun aimed for instant discharge as he passed one foot over the next around one side of the house.

The wind seemed to sense something was wrong because it was quiet. The moon disappeared behind a cloud.

With one side of the house cleared, he checked the other side before stopping at the body. Anger coursed through him. The killer was right under his nose and he didn’t even know it.