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“Ow.” He grabbed his ribs.
“Oh my God. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I was so wrapped up in my fear I kept forgetting his pain.
He winced. “I’ll live.” He struggled for breath.
“You haven’t even showered yet. You need hot water and at least to take some ibuprofen. You haven’t slept. I’m worried about you.”
“Is this you playing nurse?”
I bit my lip. My cheeks turned red. How did he do that so easily? We were in the middle of the most serious situation of my life and he had a way of taking my mind somewhere fun and dirty. Somewhere in time that reminded me of a freer, more adventurous me. A time when I didn’t know AJ could break my heart.
“You were never a good patient,” I reminded him.
“True. I won’t ever be. And I’m not heading to the shower until you tell me about these emails.”
“The last one was in my inbox Sunday morning. Just before I left for the airport.”
“And the first one?” he questioned.
“I think about six months ago.” I leaned into a stack of pillows on the bed. From the dirt bike ride, the lack of sleep, the tropical storm, and now finally landing somewhere soft it was hard not to feel the exhaustion settle in.
“Who were they from?”
“I don’t know. It was just a shell dot com address. I tried to trace it.” My eyes sharpened. “Just using a search engine. No hacking.”
“And it went back to nothing?”
“Right. There were a few at first. I thought they were a scam. And then I realized they weren’t. But just when I started to be concerned, they stopped. I hadn’t received one until Friday when I landed in Dallas. And then I had another one Saturday. Back to back, which was weird after he hadn’t sent any in so long.”
AJ rubbed the side of his face. “Do you have the one from Friday on your phone?”
“Yes. I didn’t delete it.” I reached for my phone on the bedside table. It had charged over the last hour. I powered it on and tapped my email icon. I scrolled through, searching for Friday’s emails first. I needed to do a better job of sorting my junk mail. My inbox was filled with sales offers and coupons.
“I kept them both.” I kept searching. I checked my spam and my trash boxes. I checked the dates for Friday and Saturday. My days were getting mixed up in my head, but I knew I had flown into Dallas for the weekend. Friday and Saturday were definitely where they should be, but the emails weren’t there.
I looked at AJ. “They were both here. I swear.”
“Damn it,” he swore. “They must have had time encryption in them. Ok. So, what did they say? Do you remember?”
I nodded. “I’ll never forget them.”
“Syd, this might be the connection to the guy at the farmhouse. You might have him.” He looked hopeful. “Anything you can remember will help. A single word can be a piece of the puzzle. This is huge.”
I closed my eyes. “I-I thought it was a sick joke. You know? Some prank. Like I was on one of those weird list serves or something. It didn’t seem real.”
“Syd, what did he say?”
I swallowed hard. “I didn’t tell anyone. I thought he was gone. He was supposed to be gone.”
AJ cupped the side of my face. “Do you want to write it down instead? If it’s too hard to tell me, you can write it. I need to know so I can keep you safe. However you want to tell me is fine, babe. Please, just tell me.”
“Destiny,” I whispered. “He said I was his destiny.”
Chapter Fifteen
I think it was only the second week we dated when AJ and I went to this swanky jazz bar below the street. We took the M for several stops before we found it. It felt like we were sneaking into a speak easy, but once we got there we ordered drinks and sat in the corner. We couldn’t keep our hands off each other. We had finally hit the three-date mark and discovered sex together was incredible. I wanted our nights together to start early so we could end up back in bed.
That night I had worn a cute dress. The hem was lined with sequins. It was short. I already knew AJ had a fondness for my legs and ass. I wore it for him. Not for the asshole sitting at the bar. Not for the string of assholes scattered around the night club.
