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Chapter Sixteen
Hands shaking, Charli slowly eased from her bed and pulled her gun from the top drawer of the dresser where she’d stashed it before turning off the lamp. Sucking in deep breaths to calm her sudden frantic reaction, nerves now ramped up and giving her hell, she crept around the open door, and into Kayla’s room.
Sneaking close to where the girl slept, she leaned forward. With her hand tight against Kayla’s mouth, she swallowed hard to get her voice above a throaty whisper. “Kiddo, don’t say a word. Someone’s outside. Get into the bathroom and lock the door. Take your phone, and if I’m not back in a few minutes, call 911.”
Even though the whites of her terrified eyes took over her small face, Kayla only nodded and followed orders. She palmed her phone and slid to the floor, crawling toward the open door of the bathroom. As soon as Charli heard the telltale click, she made her way toward an outside door.
Both bedrooms had side entrances to the patio, and she figured to sneak up and overpower the intruder rather than give him a clear view to take a shot if that’s why he was there.
Once outside, using cover from the night-blooming, fragrant Jasmine shrubs, she held her gun steady with both hands and started forward. Feet bare, slithering on the damp grass after the sprinkler system had watered the yard, shivers crawled up her legs. She bit her lip to stop any noises escaping, like the moans that threatened.
Shit! You can do this, girl. It’s a piece of cake after what you’ve been through recently. Calm down…
Heart beating crazy-like made her take in deep breaths through her nose and exhale through her mouth, a trick they’d taught at yoga classes to help clear one’s mind and ease stress.
It worked. Calmer now, blessing her years of training, she moved forward. A stooped figure peeked into the patio doors. Whoever it was didn’t seem to mind the lights, they were knocking against the glass as if paying a surprise visit. Then she heard a female voice and words that sounded like…
“Blake, baby, are you home?”
Stealing her way over the cement, sticking to the furniture that gave her some form of concealment, Charli got close enough to make out the body of a woman in a sheer, barely past her hips, wrap.
Charli called out in a no-nonsense voice, “Can I help you?”
Screams startled them both as the near-naked woman lost her cool, bellowed like a banshee and dropped a bottle of wine.
“Who are y-you?” Blonde and gorgeous, the woman stuck her hands up high which allowed her boobs to come pretty close to popping out of the skimpy covering.
“I think that’s my question.” Seeing no weapons, not any that could kill anyway, Charli lowered her gun and stepped forward into the light.
“No-o. I asked first.” Hard voiced now, nasty Miss Peeping Tom demanded, “This is Blake Sebastian’s house. Why are you here?” A dawning understanding began to form and the intruder’s voice became ornerier. “Where is he? He send you out to protect him, the big baby?”
“No. He didn’t send me out to protect him. He’s not here. I’m staying in his house for a while, with my sister.”
“Why would he let you stay here?” An angry frown formed as she spit out questions. “Are you his newest plaything? He changes them like most men change shoes. You know that, don’t you? He’s not a faithful man.”
“Why areyouhere if he’s such a shit?”
“Because. He’s fun and a fantastic lover.” Her manner still confrontational, she demanded, “You never answered my question.” Her gaze travelled up Charli’s baby-doll clad body and sneered at the normal-sized breasts pushing against the silky pale turquoise covering. “Why you?”
Blake’s deep voice answered from the other side of the patio, where the tall garage gate, digitally password-locked, would have opened to allow only someone who knew the code entrance. “Because she’s an old girlfriend from our collage days, and the only woman I ever gave an engagement ring to.”
His husky voice sent tingles all through Charli’s highly-strung body. She glanced at her prisoner, and her sense of humor kicked in. “For heaven’s sake, blondie. Put your hands down. I’m not arresting you. Although I don’t suggest you walk too far or you’re liable to slip on the wine or get cut by the glass.” She backed away with intentions to return to the house, then hesitated to see how Blake-baby would get himself out of this situation.
“Oh no, my goodness, look at this mess. Aww Blake, honey, I’m sorry. She scared the poop outta me, and I dropped my gift.” Suddenly a little-girl’s voice overrode the earlier woman’s hard antagonistic tone.
Ignoring blondie, Blake stepped closer to Charli, his hand held out as if she needed to stop and let him speak. For a few seconds, tempted to ignore his command, she looked at the grass, but she waited.
“Kayla called it in. I was close.”
“Very close. She must have just made the call.” Charli searched his features and saw the devil’s eyes narrow, as if he was thinking to invent an excuse. But he didn’t and she had to give him credit for that.
“I’m sorry you were disturbed. Candy’s my neighbor and I’ve ahh… she likes to surprise me…umm… we—”
“Listen bud, I don’t care about what you, she or we… ahh, umm, do. Just call all your female friends, neighbors, the whole flippin’ fan club and tell them your house is off limits, will you? Your Candy could have been hurt tonight.”
“Yeah, Blake. She had a gun and was going to shoot me.”
“She wouldn’t have shot you, honey.” Blake turned back to Charli. “You wouldn’t have, right?”
