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Including the fact I couldn’t leave Noel alone. They would come for her to get to me.

That wasn’t going to happen.

CHAPTER 12

Noel

I wasn’t really a PJs kind of girl. No one could ever accuse me of preferring to lounge around in big, baggy clothes. Well, at least that never would have been said before I started my illustrious career as a thriller novelist. Up until then, I’d lived in conservative suits and low heels, acting very much the part of a nondescript federal employee.

Now I found significant comfort and joy in being able to wear them, especially when I edited a book. It was my reward for finishing one. I’d been at my desk for hours like a good girl, working diligently on the edits, which weren’t the usual brutal red-lining I was used to.

I would easily make my deadline.

As far as heading to New York? The jury was out. I hated big cities and huge crowds, more so over the last few years. I found them to be hunting grounds where anyone could adopt whatever identity they wanted. I’d certainly used the fertile grounds as juicy backgrounds for my books, which is likely what made them seem so realistic.

I’d even been accused more than once of plagiarizing crime events.

No. It had been in reverse.

I took a sip of wine, another reward for a long day. The words were starting to become blurry, all of them running together. It was definitely time to take a break.

I peered down at Max, the furry boy right by my side as he always was. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without Max being inches away. He was as good a guard dog as he was a support mechanism. And I had to admit, the nightmares were slacking off. Was it because of the pup, the knowledge the psycho freak was behind bars, or the delicious interactions with Kage?

I wasn’t entirely certain.

What I did know was how much I adored having a little companion. It helped in not feeling so alone. Sure, Kathy checked on me at least once a day, but other than our once-every-two-weeks meetings, she accomplished her work in her home office. I’d designed the position that way and not entirely for selfless reasons.

Being alone allowed me to suffer in silence.

This was the first time in so very long I didn’t feel like hiding away in dark shadows. What I did feel like was stretching my boundaries even more by randomly calling Kage. If the girl from only a month before still existed, I would have already contacted Zoe to have the man checked from head to toe.

But what was the fun in losing all the mystery about the man? Besides, he’d had every opportunity to maim or steal, not that I had much worth a lot of money. I wasn’t programmed that way. I’d been taught to save and scrimp no matter how much money I made. At least I was following some of my old convictions.

I also believed I had pretty good instincts, especially as of late. I could smell bad people a mile away. Okay, so that was actually Max who could. As soon as I laughed, Max lifted his head.

“What, sweet boy? Did I disturb your beauty sleep?”

He thumped his tail before rising to his paws and stretching. He turned out to be an amazing baby, so handsome, scars and all. Maybe he’d realized I understood that while some scars were easy to see, others were hidden beneath layers of protection.

“Come here, baby.”

With his tail swinging like a helicopter, he slowly made his way toward me, resting his head in my lap. There was something so peaceful and comforting about doing nothing more than rubbing the fur baby behind his ears. For crazy reasons, I still got hyped up over seeing the various changes to my work. I’d heard an author thinks of every book written as his or her baby, but I hadn’t fully understood until the first book had left my hot fingertips heading to my publisher.

“Would you like a treat, baby?” Before he had a chance to respond, my ears perked up from the rumble of thunder. The weather had been wacky for days. A nice, few sunny days in the high fifties followed by an ice storm followed by near record high temperatures with thunderstorms. Mother Nature was on crack. There was no doubt in my mind.

I tried not to allow the approaching storm to bother me, but raging thunderstorms were one of two triggers, the one thing that dragged me back to my horrific experience kicking and screaming.

Max had already learned my triggers, the other one being the stench of blood. I’d been forced to carry the stench in my nostrils every minute I’d been his prisoner. Only later I’d realized why, the Claw’s torture methods still unfathomable to me today.

Sadly, I’d cut my finger on a knife the day before and had almost passed out. At least I hadn’t regurgitated as usual. Max had been right there, helping me cope, nuzzling me until I’d drifted back from the dense fog.

“Okay, baby. You deserve one incredible snack for being so good. I’ll meet you right there. I just need to hit save.”

He almost never bounded off leaving me alone except when I mentioned the word ‘treats.’ The pup could easily make me laugh. I swiveled in my chair, hitting save just as I noticed a bolt of lightning outside the window. I’d left the blinds open because I’d started to feel cooped up both by the weather and by my psychosis. I was doing everything I could to get better because I had a world to conquer.

Right now, not closing them felt far too ominous. I stood, hating the fact I was shivering and moved to the blinds, twisting the rod and shutting them. I felt better almost instantly. When my phone rang, I prickled a little bit inside, but I gave myself another push.

Seeing a New York number that I didn’t recognize meant nothing since I’d learned from Vicky’s assistant that the powerful, ruthless woman had more than one phone, which she used to check up on people. Authors included.

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