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“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Killer heard something and when I turned to see what caught her attention, someone hit me on the back of the head. Hard.” She gingerly touched her skull. “I woke in an old tobacco barn, my wrists and ankles bound. I have the gag and ropes in my pockets, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to get anything off of them.”
Josh’s eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed. “When you woke? You were unconscious?”
“I guess so. Yes.”
“For how long?”
Chase studied her face as she searched her memory and apparently came up blank.
She shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“Okay, we need to take you to the hospital and get you checked out.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t need that.”
“You were unconscious. You probably have a concussion and after everything you went through last night, you absolutely have to get checked out. The last thing the doctor said to you yesterday was to go home and rest.”
Chase stepped forward. “He’s right. You don’t want to take any chances with brain injuries.”
She sighed. “Fine, I’ll go as soon as I get some barbecue, and I’m not staying in that hospital another night.”
Josh looked at Chase, who held up both hands and shook his head. “I only follow orders here.”
“Chicken,” Josh muttered in disgust.
Chase grinned. “Maybe”
As the three walked back to the festival, Chase had to stop himself from putting his arm around Jacquie once again. The need to protect her was overwhelming, but she wouldn’t welcome it, and it wasn’t his place. He left her, taking their future and shredding it. He could have called her after Basic. He could have written her multiple times, but he chose not to.
He had cut her loose, telling himself it was for her own good. Truth was, he had done it for himself. He couldn’t come back to this town. Couldn’t face what his brother and father, for that matter, had done, and what he’d been a part of. He foolishly thought if he left Granite Falls, he could bury the past so deep it wouldn’t ever come up.
He was wrong.
He never dreamed Jacquie would leave Granite Falls. Had he known she wasn’t even here, that she was in Raleigh, maybe… Maybe what? Maybe he would have looked her up? Maybe they could have fixed what he broke?
No. He lost his chance. How could she trust him again? Why should she?
Chases’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and glanced down at the display.“It’s my mom.” He answered the phone. “Mom, what’s up?”
“Chase, I went back home to get more cookies out of the freezer that I had baked for the bake sale, and…someone has been in my house.” Her voice rose in pitch. “They’ve destroyed everything.”
The hysteria in her voice made his throat close. “Go to a neighbor’s. Now. I’m on my way.”
“What is it?” Josh asked, as he disconnected the call and slipped the phone in his pocket.
“My mom. Someone trashed her house. I need to go, can you take Jacquie to the hospital?”
“What, is she okay?” Josh said, pulling out his phone. “Let me call a deputy to meet you there.”
“I’ll go with you,” Jacquie said, touching his arm.
Chase shook his head. “Not a good idea. We don’t know what’s going on there or what we’ll run into.”
“I agree with Chase,” Josh said. “You need to see a doctor, not put yourself back into harm’s way.”
She spun on him, eyes blazing, and it was clear she would not be cowed. “You know I’m not one to run from danger. Chase needs me.”
