Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes Book 1) (17 page)

“What?” I finally said. “Are you
sure?”

She nodded, seemingly frozen. “Yes. A
man, I think. I’m scared.”

“When?” I asked.

“Just a minute or two ago. I was about
to go get you but I heard you get up and didn’t want to start
screaming.”

“Well you should have!” I said,
getting angry – which was probably more like fear. I set my coffee
down and it splashed onto the tabletop but I didn’t care. I got up
and darted to my room to get my gun and shoved my feet into my
sneakers. Flinging open the front door, my gun was out straight in
front of me. I looked around, keeping my back up against the wall
of the rickety porch and swung the weapon from left to right,
wherever my eyes darted. My elbows were locked, my heart pounding.
I slowly made my way around the house, checking every corner. I
didn’t see anyone, so I ran around the back and checked the
entrance to the copse of trees that led to the forest that sprawled
out behind the cabin.

Nothing. Silence. The only sound I
could hear was my own heartbeat in my ears. I went back around to
the front to see if there were any footprints under the window, and
then cursed when I saw a small bush there. No way to see any
prints. There weren’t any leading to the porch or out to the dirt
road. I walked out there, past the car, and did not see any tire
tracks except ours.

Frustrated, but not letting my guard
down, I went back into the house, locked the doors, then checked
all the windows before closing the blinds on them all. Had I become
careless? Had someone found us, or was Rayanne just seeing things?
I saw her still frozen to her chair in the kitchen and quickly
darted into my room to get the cell phone.

It was almost dead. I hadn’t charged
it in days because I never used it and didn’t even think about
it.

I shot off a quick text to
Jack-N-Jill:
Check the vic’s phone for any
recent threats. Get back to me asap.

I went in search of the charger when
the phone chimed back quickly.

10-4.

Fuck… I think the charger is in the
car.

Rayanne was staring at me with wide,
fearful eyes and I went over to her and crouched down to her level.
I looked her in the eye and said, “There’s nobody out there. I
looked everywhere. You’re sure you saw someone?” I said it as
nicely as I could. For me, anyway.

She nodded and took her bottom lip
between her teeth. “Yes, I swear. I’m scared, Duke.”

I pulled her to stand and wrapped my
arms around her, the gun still in my right hand. This was the first
comforting gesture I’d done. There had been many times where I
thought maybe I should offer her some sort of physical comfort, but
kept telling myself that would be crossing a line. But after what
we did last night, I was pretty sure those lines were seriously
blurred now. And besides that – fuck the lines.

She sobbed softly into my chest and I
said into her hair, “I need to find the charger to this thing so I
can call headquarters. You stay put.”

Pulling back, she nodded again and
wiped her eyes. “Please be careful.”

Without another word, I turned around
and limped to the door, snatching the car keys from a small table.
I walked outside, down the porch steps, and disarmed the car,
keeping my gun up at the ready the whole time. I darted my eyes
everywhere, keeping quiet to try to hear anything, but there was
just nothing.

Opening the trunk, I rummaged through
the small backpack of emergency supplies the bureau had given me
and found the small black charger. I slammed the trunk down and
turned around, thrusting the gun back into the air. It was still as
quiet as a church out here.

I sprinted back inside and closed the
door, locking it behind me. I found an outlet in the kitchen and
plugged the phone in and set it on the counter. I sat at the table
again with her and said, “Look, I don’t know what you saw, but
there’s nothing –”

Her face twisted with anger. “I saw
something, Duke. I’m not lying! Why would I?”

“To avoid having to talk about last
night.” I tried to smile at my own dumb joke.

Her eyes widened briefly, then the
scowl returned. She smacked the palm of her hand on the table. “No,
that is not why!”

I reached over and put my hand on
hers. “Shh. It was a joke, Rayanne. Take a deep breath.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I can’t
believe you’re joking at a time like this.”

“Well obviously you’re a bit more
freaked out than I am. I do believe you saw something, however,
it’s gone now. I’ve texted the office to check your phone for any
recent threats.”

She nodded. “Okay.” Then she got up
and put her coffee cup in the sink. “I’m going to
shower.”

“I will be posted up right here, where
I have a view of all the windows.”

She looked at the gun I had set on the
table then back up to me, piercing me with those warm eyes. “Thank
you, Duke.”

Chapter 20

Rayanne

I stood under the hot water and cried.
The water didn’t wash away my tears, it only added to them and
didn’t make me feel any better. I was scared, confused, and had so
many emotions running through me that I could barely
breathe.

I did the bare minimum in washing and
shaving and got out and wrapped a towel around my hair and one
around my body. I cracked the door to let the steam out, then used
the flat of my hand to wipe away the mirror fog. My eyes were puffy
and red and I shook my head. I was being guarded by the government,
my life was in real and serious danger. I felt like I did when I
had started getting those death threats a few weeks ago. Scared,
vulnerable, confused, and angry, even. I wasn’t angry now, just
more frustrated. I didn’t feel like Duke believed me when I told
him I had seen someone at the window, but he wasn’t a complete ass
about it, like I expected him to be.

But I had seen someone. Since the
morning was so young, the majority of the light was at the back of
the house, the east side. The front window was still a bit dark,
but I did see someone in a black hoodie. I didn’t know if it was an
adult or a teen, male or female, but there had been someone there.
Not an animal, and not a shadow. I was drinking my coffee and going
over the events from last night, wondering how I was going to tell
Duke that my feelings had been hurt that he’d chosen not to stay
the night in my bed. I know I’d fallen asleep while he was in the
bathroom, but that didn’t mean I didn’t need him beside
me.

The sound of Duke coming out of his
room and going into the bathroom this morning had bolted me from my
thoughts and when I looked up, that’s when I’d seen the figure in
the window. I was frozen to the spot. I couldn’t even scream. I
hadn’t been able to see the person’s face, but it was definitely
pale under that hoodie, and he or she had gone as soon as I looked
up. I stared at the empty window long enough until I realized I
needed to get Duke. That’s when he’d come into the kitchen, but I
was still frozen in shock. I was seriously kicking myself for not
having reacted faster. He could have found whoever it was if I’d
had just jumped up then and there.

I brushed my teeth and hair and went
into my room to get dressed. I went over to the little knob on the
blinds at the window and twisted it to be sure they were as closed
as they could be. The window was completely covered, but there was
a smaller horizontal window above that one that was bare. It never
bothered me before because unless someone was over 7 feet tall or
had a ladder, there was no way they could see in. I also enjoyed
watching the stars and moon at night through that small window when
I couldn’t sleep.

I turned my back on both and went out
into the kitchen wearing nothing but a long fitted black tank top
that came down to my thighs and some crazy patterned leggings under
it. It looked stupid but I really couldn’t care less about anything
at this moment.

Duke stood at the counter and was
looking down at the small phone, which was still attached to the
charger. He looked up when I came in, his eyes roaming the length
of my body, then back to my face. He looked worried, which made my
stomach turn over and knot up.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Well, they checked your phone. These
are the texts you’ve received from an unknown number over the past
24 hours.”

He turned the phone to face me and
showed me three texts from Jack-N-Jill:

Here’s the first text: I
know where you are, bitch.

I saw what you did, you
filthy whore.

I’m gonna kill that
bearded pig you’re with while you watch, then I’m gonna fuck you
and kill you.

Tears brimmed in my eyes and then
streamed down my cheeks. I had never had anybody talk like that to
me. This stuff only happened in the movies. I couldn’t believe this
was my life.

Then suddenly something hit me, and I
looked at Duke. “Is he talking about last night? Oh, my God. Are
you gonna get in trouble?”

He chuckled but there was no humor in
it. “That’s the least of our troubles. The agent did ask me what
the threat meant and I told him I had no idea. Maybe you can tell
them later you were masturbating or something.”

I gasped and slapped his arm.
“No!”

“The bottom line is, we have to get
the hell out of here.”

“What? Like now?” I asked,
shocked.

“Yes, like now. If you hadn’t claimed
to have seen someone at the window, I probably would have passed
these threats off as empty and just an attempt to scare you.” He
held the phone up. “But, being that he knows what I look like, and
the comment about you being a whore tells me they’ve made our
location.”

My heart sped up. “So why haven’t they
tried to kill us then? Just broken in here and killed us in our
sleep?”

“Obviously he knows I’d shoot anyone
who tried to enter, and the alarm would have alerted us. My mistake
is letting you sleep alone. Now pack, we’re leaving in five
minutes.”

I nodded and walked woodenly to the
bedroom and began throwing my things into the suitcase I’d brought.
I found an empty grocery bag and shoved all the books into it, then
closed my suitcase, setting it in front of my room while I did a
quick sweep of the house to make sure we don’t leave anything
behind.

I saw Duke’s wallet and FBI badge on
the counter and because I couldn’t help myself, I opened it up. I
just wanted to see where he lived, as I quite literally knew
nothing personal about the guy except for the size of his dick and
how well he uses it.

My cheeks flushed hot as I opened it
up and saw his driver’s license. Something wasn’t right. That was
his picture. Height, weight, eye and hair color was right, but his
name was wrong.

Royal Wayne
Hawthorne

1858 Seaside
Court

Tampa, Florida

Royal?

And his middle name is Wayne! That was
just a joke that I’d called him cowboy after John Wayne. Oh, this
is rich. I started giggling and closed the wallet, trying to
remember I was in a serious situation.

Duke came around the corner and raised
an eyebrow when he saw what I was doing.

I cleared my throat. “Uh, here ya go,
just tidying up before we leave, making sure we don’t forget
anything.” I handed him the wallet and badge.

He eyed me speculatively and grumbled
his thanks, walking in the direction of my room. He picked up my
suitcase, and I grabbed my purse, the bag of books, and my sweater
and walked toward the door. He opened it cautiously and told me to
get behind him. He had the gun in one hand, my suitcase in another,
and his duffel bag slung around his back.

I stayed close to the back of his body
when he turned his head slightly and said, “Run.”

I ran behind him and he opened the
passenger side door and I practically dove in, breathing hard as he
slammed the door closed. He looked around with his gun still up,
holding my red suitcase in the other. He quickly popped open the
trunk, threw our stuff in there, and then waved the gun around and
got into the driver’s seat. I breathed a sigh of relief when he
started up the car and pealed out of the gravel drive backwards. He
then spun the small car around and darted toward town, my heart in
my throat.