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“Why do you need to disappear?”
He looks ready to hit me. “Because I stole from the wrong guy. Now I suggest you shut up and get your notebook. I know that’s where you keep all your account numbers, except passwords. That’s damn inconvenient, otherwise I would have done this myself by now.”
I hesitate on the first step and as I do, Jake bursts through the front door, surprising both Nick and me. As Nick turns to face the onslaught from Jake, my knee moves of its own accord and plows straight into Nick’s balls. A loud squeal fills the room as Nick buckles under the force of my kick and I run over to Jake, straight into his arms. “Thank God, you’re here.”
His arms squeeze tightly around me and I feel safe, at least for the moment. “I heard you over your cell. You’re okay now.”
Nick sneers. “Well now, I thought you were with the older guy. Perhaps I got it wrong, and then again, perhaps you’re with both.”
By now he’s practically on top of us, Jake puts me behind him and as Nick gets in Jake’s face, Jake pulls his arm back and slugs Nick hard. Staggering back, Jake grabs Nick’s arm and drags him out of the house, just in time to see a police cruiser pull up.
*~*~*~*
I sip the coffee and try to will my hands to stop shaking as Jake thanks Sheriff Jacobs for everything he has done. I ignore the view of the car outside and the angry face of Nick staring out of the back window as I take another sip—trying to will the warmth through my body. I feel cold and a part of me knows that I’m in shock from what happened. I’d managed to make it through the questioning by Sheriff Jacobs, but I don’t remember what I said, or what Jake said. All I remember is collapsing onto the sofa and being given the coffee mug that I’m now hanging onto for dear life.
The click of the door closing makes me jump, and I watch as the Sheriff’s cruiser navigates down the driveway behind the tow truck pulling Nick’s car back to town.
Jake crouches down in front of me and carefully takes the cup from my hand. He grasps my cold fingers and rubs them to give me some warmth. “Hopefully, that’s the last time you’ll see him. You must promise if he gets in touch with you again that you’ll tell either me or my dad.”
“Okay.” My body begins shaking even harder.
Jake moves to sit across from me. “I need to ring my dad a
nd tell him what’s happened.”
I lean forward. “Jake, no. Please. He doesn’t need to know right now. I’ll tell him tonight. He’s in Denver and will only worry about me. Please leave it, and I promise I’ll tell him tonight when he rings.”
“I’ll leave it for now.”
“Where were you when I called?” I ask, falling back into the sofa in relief at Jake’s acceptance of me talking to his father later.
“I’d already turned up the drive. I left the truck and came in on foot while putting you on hold and called Daniel for back up.”
“Thank goodness, I was really frightened. He hasn’t done anything like that before.”
“Hopefully he’ll leave you alone now that Daniel is involved.”
“Jake, he said he has stolen from the wrong guy and needs the money to disappear.” I rub my forehead, feeling a headache brewing. “He also said he has a friend who will come after my boyfriend, if anything happens to him. I’m really scared.” I start to weep uncontrollably.
Jake moves to wrap his arms around me. “Rona, please don’t cry. Everything will be all right. I don’t know what he was going on about, but Daniel is a good guy and will run his prints. He’ll try to get to the bottom of this, okay?”
Moving slightly away from Jake so I can look at his face, I ask, “Do you really think so? I couldn’t bear it if something happened to your dad.”
“Yes, I do. C’mon, mop up and we’ll get lunch, then I’ll take you to see my house on the way to Anna’s. By the way, you’ve been invited for the afternoon. Beth and Elise will be there. That’s if you feel up to it?” His eyes are full of worry as they search mine.
“I could do with the distraction to take my mind off everything,” I tell him as I stand up and head to the kitchen. I can feel him fall in step beside me.
Stopping, I reach up and kiss him on his cheek. “Let’s put some ice on your hand first. And thank you, Sir Galahad!”
He laughs. “I’m not Sir Galahad, but I’m glad I was around to help you.”
“Me too. Now sit while I find some ice.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Hmm. A smart ass as well as a pretty face.” I grin.
Jake chuckles.
