Her Forever Hero (Unexpected Heroes) (23 page)

The words were simple, and she’d read them a thousand times over, trying to inject meaning into them, but the bottom line was that she couldn’t find fault with them. He wasn’t suddenly trying to make her do something she didn’t want to do. He was leaving any decision up to her.

And she didn’t know what to do with that. She didn’t know how to handle this new way he was choosing to communicate with her. So she’d sat at home and watched movies since noon. Along with her movies, she’d eaten a few bowls of heavily buttered popcorn and drunk a little too much wine. Talk about a glamorous Friday night.

And still, unlike the endings of the movies she had chosen to watch, she was feeling distinctly unhappy. During the course of the evening, she’d grabbed her phone about two dozen times and tried desperately to work up the courage to call Cam, to tell him she was ready to talk. But each time she put the phone down without dialing.

Finally, her eyes were drifting shut, when there was a knock on her door. Jumping up, she glanced at the clock, noting it was nearly midnight. Who in the world would be knocking on her door at that hour?

Something horrible must have happened. It could only be Sage or one of the Whitmans. It took a moment to get her frozen muscles to move, but finally she managed to get up and struggle toward the door.

She didn’t want to open it, didn’t want to find out who was out there this late at night. She loved her new place because it was away from the main hustle and bustle of Sterling, such as it was, but she was all alone in the woods. That thought normally didn’t frighten her, but the only people who came calling this late at night were bearers of bad news.

She reached the door and listened but didn’t hear any noise on the other side. “Who’s there?” she asked, but she got only silence in response.

“I’m not opening the door unless you tell me who’s there,” she called a little louder.

There was a thump on the other side of the door that made her heart race. Someone was out there, and whoever it was didn’t want her to know his or her identity. Slowly, trying not to make a single sound, she tiptoed over to her window and tried to work up the courage to peek outside. Easier thought than done, though.

When there were still no more sounds, fear filled her. And suddenly being in the middle of the woods wasn’t quite as pleasant as it had been. Tiptoeing over to her phone, her heart raced as she dialed emergency services. Had she shut her bedroom window? She’d opened it earlier to let the cool spring air inside.

“Nine one one. What’s your emergency?”

“Someone is at my door. They won’t answer,” she whispered into the phone.

“What’s your address, ma’am?” Grace gave her address and the voice continued: “Please stay on the line. I’m dispatching the sheriff to your place.”

The next ten minutes were the longest of Grace’s life. She curled up in a corner of the kitchen, below the counters and away from the windows, and clutched her phone in a death grip as she waited for either the sheriff to arrive or the intruder to come through her door and end it all.

Fear. It was a tangible thing. Only moments before the knock had sounded on her door, she’d been tired, ready to drift into oblivion, and then that noise, the knowledge that someone who was up to no good was on the other side of her door, had made her adrenaline spike, shaking her to her foundations.

“It’s just a prank,” she mumbled to herself, although in her gut she knew she was lying to herself.

When a pounding sounded on her door, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Gracie, it’s Sheriff Thompson. Open up.”

Shivers racked her body as she got to her knees and then stood on wobbling legs. She hesitated at the door. “No one is there, Sheriff?” she called through it.

“You’re safe now, Gracie. Open up.”

The kindness in his tone made her suspicious, and her fear skyrocketed again. She undid the locks and threw open the door.

“I don’t think you should stay here by yourself, Gracie” was the first thing the man said.

“It might have just been a prank, but I’m really glad you’re here,” she told him, her entire body shaking.

“You can hang up the phone now, darling.”

Grace hadn’t even realized she was still clutching the phone and pressing it against her ear.

“Oh. I . . . I’m sure it was nothing. I’m sure it was just my imagination,” she told the sheriff, whom she’d known most of her life.

“It wasn’t a prank, Gracie,” he said, and he pointed at her door. She looked where he’d indicated and saw a note, written in big red letters, pinned to her door with a sharp hunting blade.

“What is this?” she gasped.

“It’s a threat, and I don’t want you here by yourself. You were real smart not to answer the door,” Sheriff Thompson said.

Just then, a truck came racing around the corner of her drive, squealing to a stop only a foot from the bottom of her stairs. Cam jumped out, looking wild-eyed, wearing jeans with the top button undone . . . and no shirt.

“Grace!” He rushed up the steps, practically knocked the sheriff over, and pulled her into his arms. “Hawk heard the call. He dialed me right away,” he said, holding her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.

“I’m fine, Cam. I . . . I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said as she fought back tears.

“This is too much, Grace. Too many things have been happening. I want you to come home with me now,” he said, finally releasing her so he could look at her face.

“What do you mean, ‘too many things’?”

“You’re not unintelligent, Grace. Think about this. Someone was in your apartment, then there was a spill on the top of the outside steps right before you were about to walk down them. Your car was disabled, and you got lost in the snow,” Cam said, and her heart thudded more and more wildly with each thing he listed. “And now this note. The person is letting you know they aren’t playing. They want you afraid.”

“Well, it’s succeeded, Cam, because I am definitely scared.”

“Gracie, you need to go with Cam,” the sheriff said grimly. “You shouldn’t stay here alone until we figure this out.”

“But this is my home! They can’t chase me from my home,” she practically sobbed.

“It won’t be forever. This is a small town with a lot of neighbors who are more like family,” the man told her. “We’ll figure this out and we won’t let anyone hurt you, not ever.”

“Please, Grace. Don’t make me beg. Please just let me protect you,” Cam said.

If he’d been demanding . . . if he’d insisted . . . if he’d been controlling, she would have faced her fears and told him to go away. But she was frightened, and he was being kind.

“This has to do with the case, doesn’t it, Cam?”

“I don’t know, Grace, but I think so. I think that whoever set you up wants to scare you or harm you so you can’t talk.”

“I’ll pack a bag. I’m ready to do whatever it takes to stop this.”

Cam sighed with relief before walking with her into the house. Sheriff Thompson waited until she was ready, and they all walked from the house together. Grace looked at the note one last time before the sheriff collected it for evidence.

I’m watching you everywhere you go!

Blind fury rushed through him during the ride back to his place, but Cam couldn’t allow Grace to see that. She was frightened, and rightfully so. They could set up all the security measures they wanted, but some person had come to her home in the middle of the night and stuck a knife in her door.

The message was clear. He wanted to review the footage, but he didn’t want her to know yet that it even existed. They were going to nail whoever was doing this to the damn wall. But for now, he had to keep it together.

She sat next to him on the bench seat of the truck, her arms around him, her head resting on his shoulder while he drove. He’d seen many sides to Grace Sinclair before, but this wasn’t one of them. He’d never seen her in the grip of fear.

That only served to fuel his fury. As he pulled up to his house, the lights were burning, and several vehicles were in the yard. A small measure of his anger drained at the sight of his family.

“What’s going on, Cam?” Grace asked as she looked up.

“I think there are a few people who want to make sure you’re okay,” he said as he turned off the motor.

“They shouldn’t have come out. It’s so late.”

He took her chin and looked into her ashen face. “Grace, a lot more people love you than you realize. And if you think any of them would be able to sleep when something has happened to you, you’re crazy,” he told her before leaning down and caressing her lips.

The front door opened and his family filed out, waiting for Cam to bring Grace in. Of course, Sage was too impatient for any waiting. She rushed down the steps and pulled Grace from Cam’s arms to hold her.

“I’m so glad you’re okay! I didn’t know someone was after you. I should have known. You told me strange things were happening, and I laughed it off. I’m such a fool!” she sobbed.

“I didn’t know it, either, Sage. It’s not your fault. Or mine. And it might not be as bad as it seems right now. Everything always seems so much worse in the middle of the night,” Grace said, bringing Cam’s rage back to the surface.

He managed to tamp it back down before Grace had a chance to see it.

“Well, you have all of us, and no one will get to you through this wall of muscle,” Sage assured her as they reached the doorway.

Michael, Spence, Jackson, and Martin were all standing there, their faces solemn as they each took a turn giving Grace a hug.

“Alyssa stayed home with our daughter, but she said she’ll be here first thing in the morning,” Jackson assured her.

“You’re all making way too much fuss,” Grace told them. “I shouldn’t have pulled you from your beds.”

“We’d be furious with Cam if he hadn’t let us know,” Martin informed her. “The ladies are going to be mad enough I didn’t call, but Bethel just isn’t pleasant when she’s woken up.”

“We have some hot tea ready for you,” Sage said, pushing the men aside and leading her friend into the living room.

Grace sat down and took the cup. Cam could see she was grateful to have something to hold on to so they wouldn’t see her fingers shake. But it was too late. He’d already noticed, already knew how rattled she was.

“Really, I think it’s a pathetic person trying to get a rise from me, which he did. But honestly, if he had wanted to harm me, he could have done it many times over.”

That didn’t seem to reassure anyone in the room. Cam looked at her and wondered if he was going to have to strangle her for scaring him so badly. He needed to punish someone.

“I’m going to go in the other room with my brothers while you sit with Sage,” he told her, then bent down, kissing her firmly on the lips. Her wide eyes told him she wasn’t expecting him to do that in front of his family. Well, too damn bad. She was his, and the sooner she accepted that, the better off they’d all be.

“Good. I want to visit with Sage.”

Cam brought his brothers to his den. The first thing he did was pour a double shot of whiskey. When the soothing fire burned into his gut, he felt his nerves begin to calm.

“You all know what’s been going on,” he finally said.

“Bryson has already been called. We can go over the footage and see if we can identify this person,” Jackson said as he followed suit and poured himself a drink.

“We need a plan of action. Because until this case is solved, Grace is in danger. Someone out there doesn’t want to be caught, and the more I’ve been asking questions, the more the stakes have risen.”

“Who have you been talking to lately?” Spence asked.

“Her parents.”

The room went silent with that information. The brothers looked at one another, no one wanting to ask the obvious.

“Her parents certainly won’t be getting any parent-of-the-year awards, but they wouldn’t do this to Grace, would they?” Michael finally asked.

“I don’t think so,” Cam replied, running a hand through his hair. “But someone in their circle is responsible. I just spoke to her father two nights ago, and I honestly don’t think he knows anything about this, but I’m telling you that someone is talking to them, and that someone knows I’m closing in. And that person is getting desperate.”

“And desperate people do foolish things,” Jackson growled.

“Yes, yes, they do,” Cam sighed. “Until this is solved, then, Grace doesn’t leave our sight. She won’t like that, but we can do it in a somewhat sneaky way.”

“We’re just going to have to figure out more creative ways to keep her company,” Michael said, and grinned at Cam. “I’ll babysit—no problem.”

“Very cute, Michael,” Cam said with a roll of his eyes. “But, yes, you’ll get some babysitting time.” He wasn’t worried in the least that his youngest brother might hone in on his girl.

While Sage chatted with Grace, Cam and his brothers came up with a solid plan. If Grace figured it out, they would all be toast, but as of right now she wouldn’t be alone for five minutes straight.

They just hoped she wouldn’t figure out what they were doing.