Page 48 of Tempting Fate
“Is that your way of changing the subject?”
“No, it’s my way of asking if you want to eat.”
“I don’t want to eat; I want to finish our conversation.”
“Okay, you want to finish our conversation, here goes. I don’t want to do a fourth cycle of IVF, and I’m definitely not doing six. So if you don’t want to eat, we’ll drive.”
And they did, in silence.
Chapter 13
Raylene thought she heard a car door slam. Deciding it was a dream, she rolled over and went back to sleep. A few minutes later, she heard it again. This time it sounded like the squeak of a tailgate.
She quickly sat up and lifted the lace curtain next to her bed. It was too dark to see the driveway below her bedroom, so she pressed her ear to the glass and listened. Maybe it was the sound of snow hitting the tin roof of the shed, or a raccoon rummaging through the trash. She started to lie back down when she heard it again.
A rustle and a thump and something that sounded like whispering. But maybe that was just the wind wafting through the pines.
She tried to convince herself that it was merely being in a big house alone. There was an alarm—Logan was over the top when it came to security—but she hadn’t thought to set it after Gabe had dropped her off. It was Nugget, after all. The only person she’d ever been afraid of here was her father, and he was dead.
She got out of bed and padded to another window, hoping there’d be more moonlight at that end of the room. The view proved to be just as dark, and she wished she would’ve thought to turn on one of the outside lights before she’d gone to bed.
Too spooked to go downstairs, she went into Logan and Annie’s room at the end of the hall and peered out their windows. She still didn’t see anything, but she could’ve sworn she heard a creaking sound coming from her truck.
She thought about calling 9-1-1, but by the time anyone got there she’d be lying in a pool of blood. Plus, she didn’t want to have to face Jake Stryker again. Rhys Shepard lived down the road, but he was no fan of hers either.
She’d rather take her chances on her own.
She crept down the stairs. First thing she’d do was activate the alarm, then shine a light on the driveway. It seemed like a sound plan until she heard what was for sure the slamming of a door.
Shit!
She ran back up the stairs, dove into her bed, grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand, and hit automatic dial.
Wake up,wake up.
“Hello.”
“Someone’s in the driveway. I think they’re stealing my truck.”
“Where are you?”
“In my room. I started to go down there but got scared.”
“Stay where you are. Better yet, go into Logan’s room. He keeps a Sig P226 in the closet. You know how to use a handgun?”
“It’s been a while, but Daddy taught me.”
“Go!” he said, and she could hear him moving. “As soon as you get it, call 9-1-1 and stay in your room. I’ll be there fast as I can.”
“Hurry.”
“Call 9-1-1, you hear me? And Raylene, don’t shoot us when we get there.”
She found the gun in Logan’s closet and sat in there, wondering if she was a complete paranoid wackadoodle. What if no one was down there and all she’d heard was the wind and snow, playing tricks? But she’d heard what she heard. And it wasn’t the weather. She’d slept through Sierra blizzards; she knew the difference.
She gritted her teeth and called the police. An operator told her someone was on their way, and she prayed it would be Wyatt or that new woman in the department. Anyone but Jake.
Then she waited.
