Page 64 of The Way Back Home
“Have a heart, Sheriff,” Josh said, playing to the crowd. “We just got engaged.”
“Miss McKenna?” the sheriff said, ignoring Josh and looking directly at her. Under different circumstances, she might have trusted him, but it was too late for that now.
Teagan forced a smile, even as Josh squeezed her healing ribs in warning. “Of course, Sheriff. But later, okay?”
Worst of all was knowing that Noah’s family was there, watching the live broadcast outside the diner. She refused to meet their eyes.
Teagan leaned her head close to Josh’s, whispering into his ear. Josh looked apologetically at the crowd.
“I’m sure you will understand if we continue our celebration in private,” he said, smiling. “Thank you, everyone, for sharing this special moment with us.”
With his hand firmly on the small of her back, Josh pushed her toward the rear exit. Teagan kept her eyes down and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other while Josh continued to thank everyone for their well wishes and congratulations, skillfully brushing away the multitude of attempts to speak to Teagan.
When they reached his truck, Josh opened the driver’s side and lifted her in, following closely behind.He made a big show of pulling her into his arms and kissing her before driving off, waving to the townspeople behind them. Teagan kept her head down. She’d come back to Saughannock to put an end to her nightmares, but they were only beginning.
A few minutes later, Josh pulled up in front of Teagan’s old home. She wasn’t surprised, not really.
“I moved in after Tony went to prison, then convinced him to sell it to me,” he explained. “I knew you would come home eventually.”
She wanted to scream. To cry. She’d come full circle. Ten years of running, only to wind up right back where she’d started.
A nasty voice in the back of her mind laughed.You’ll never be free, Teagan.
For the first time in her life, she believed it.
Josh got out of the driver’s side and jogged around to open her door. In those few seconds, half a dozen desperate thoughts fought for space in her mind—kick him away, jump from the truck, and run. She’d always been a survivor, and those instincts hadn’t changed simply because she’d made a deal with the devil. They were screaming at her to get out and get away by any means necessary. She scanned the cab for anything she could use to defend herself.
Nothing.
A wave of helplessness hit her hard. Running wouldn’t do any good. Even if she did manage to get away, Josh would go after the Zieglers. Noah and hisbrothers might be able to hold their own against Josh, but what about his sisters? His parents? The kids? Vivid visions of the house and stables burning to the ground while they slept filled her mind’s eye.
She couldn’t risk it.
Ignoring the hand he held out to her, Teagan slid out of the truck.
“I’ve done some renovations,” Josh said, his tone light and cheerful. He reached for her hand, enclosing it in an iron grip. “The roof doesn’t leak anymore, and I replaced the water heater.”
He unlocked the door with his free hand and tugged her inside when her feet refused to move. The sense of déjà vu was suffocating. Not much had changed. The worn, secondhand furniture was still the same, as was the old wallpaper and flooring. It was a little cleaner perhaps. The overflowing ashtrays were gone. So were the empty bottles of beer and the overpowering stench of cheap liquor.
“We can paint, get new furniture and fixtures—whatever you want. I want you to be happy here.”
“I could never be happy here,” she whispered.
“Sure you can. You and me? We belong together, and nothing—not time, not distance, not”—he clenched his jaw—“other people—can change that. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move on with our lives. I’m a patient man, Teagan, but I’m done waiting.”
Teagan flinched when he removed her coat, tossing it onto a nearby chair.
His fingers brushed her hair aside, then trailedalong her neck. “You’re so tense. I know what you need. A hot bath. Scented candles. A massage.”
“No.”
“Yes,” he said, and this time, there was a steely edge to his tone. He gripped her right above her elbow, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh as he jerked her toward the stairs.
She caught glimpses of photographs framed and hung on the wall—candid images of her over the last decade. Outside a fast-food place in West Virginia after her shift. Sitting with a cup of coffee in a café in a college town in northern Jersey. Mucking stables at a ranch in Tennessee.
Her stomach bottomed out. Joshhadbeen following her the whole time. Her freedom had been nothing but an illusion.
She had to end this.
