Only Her (A K2 Team Novel) (22 page)

“It was arson?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, darlin’. You don’t deserve this.”

“You didn’t do it, so why should you be sorry?”

Because he hadn’t protected her, nor had he been there for her when she’d needed him. Those were his regrets, but he’d had a much-needed breakthrough during his session with Tom, and the goo in his head didn’t seem as thick as it had before. So where should he have been? With her or with his head doc? He didn’t know.

Although he still thought she deserved better than what he had to offer, he’d left Tom’s office believing that if he worked hard at it, he could dig himself out of the black hole he’d been existing in. And by working really hard, doing everything his doctor said, he could become a man who deserved the love of an amazing woman.

When he’d read the message that her house was on fire, and didn’t know if she was home or not, the thought of losing her made him feel like his chest had been cut open with a dull knife. Maybe he didn’t deserve her, but he sure as hell needed her. From the beginning, he’d known he’d find a way to screw things up with her, and now, he just had to figure out how to fix everything.

He glanced over at their animals. The cats were resting on a large towel, awake and in the process of getting a bath—Arthur from Pretty Girl, and Merlin from Sally. The dogs didn’t like the smell of smoke on their friends, and the cats didn’t seem to mind getting washed. Both appeared to still be dazed, though.

“Are they going to be okay?” He lifted his chin toward the cats.

“I think so. I ran complete blood profiles and urinalyses, and the results aren’t great, but they’re not life-threatening numbers either.” She bowed her head, as if in prayer. “I gave them both antibiotics to fight off any infection,” she said, glancing at him. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad Pelli was taken. He never would have survived the fire as little as he is.”

Desperation and sadness dulled her eyes, and although he couldn’t promise her cats would be okay, he could hold her, something he thought she needed. He opened his arms. “Come here, darlin’.” For a few seconds, he thought she was going to refuse, then she came toward him.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she crawled onto his lap. “I don’t have a house, or clothes, or a car. The few photos I had of my parents are gone. Everything’s gone, gone, gone. Up in smoke. What if she . . . he, whatever, burns my clinic down? Then I really won’t have anything.”

She had him, but that was something he’d have to prove to her. “As we speak, Kincaid is arranging around-the-clock security for your clinic. That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about.”

“I don’t know how I would have gotten through this without you and your friends. I’ll pay all of you back somehow.”

“Hush. That’s a worry for another day. Jake said you came up with a name, Ziegler?”

She toyed with the hem of his T-shirt sleeve. “Yes. He owned the dog that was accidently cremated. I was going to drive by the Zieglers’ house this morning, but realized that was a stupid move. Jake drove us by there on the way to the air show, but there was nothing to see.”

“Don’t ever go off someplace on your own like that without me . . . or at least, someone. But preferably me.”

She leaned back and stared at him. “From the day my parents died, I’ve only been able to depend on myself. Then you came along and I thought . . .” She shook her head as she pushed off him. “It doesn’t matter what I thought. When you left this morning, the way you left, it hurt. When you needed me the most, you wouldn’t let me in. You walked away, Cody. How do I know you won’t do it again?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
wo days had passed, and she and Cody still hadn’t talked. Not that he hadn’t tried, but she’d put him off. So much crap was stuffed into her head that Riley thought it might explode. Worry about Pelli, no home, no car, meetings with her insurance company, an arson investigation . . . the list was endless, and there was just no room left for dealing with what was going on between her and Cody.

At least she had new clothes, having gone shopping with Cody trailing alongside her, his eyes constantly scanning the mall for a monster that burned down houses and stole kittens. It had been nerve racking, and she hadn’t bothered to try anything on, only wanting to get what she needed and return to the safety of Cody’s house.

The problem that she couldn’t get past—trusting him to not shut her out the next time he fell into his black hole. Each time she put him off when he tried to talk about their relationship, she was hurting him, could see it in his eyes. But she would be the first to admit she had trust issues.

Almost everyone in her life had let her down. Her parents by dying before she even had any memories of them, her grandmother for resenting her, an endless line of foster parents who didn’t give a shit about the kids they brought into their homes. And then there was Reed, the one person she’d thought would stand by her side forever. Instead, he’d chosen drugs over her.

Cody had walked out on her Sunday morning, and who was to say he wouldn’t do it again? Like everyone else in her life, he had left her, and it hurt. A nagging voice said she was punishing him for the crimes of others, and maybe she was. Had she overreacted to his leaving the way he had? Everything was just so confusing right now.

He had spent the morning at K2 presumably to begin planning the operation his boss had mentioned last Saturday night. What if something bad happened and he had a relapse of some kind? Would he walk out again? This afternoon, he was meeting with his doctor, getting Tom’s opinion on how ready he was to go back to active status. In her opinion, Cody wasn’t ready, but she kept that to herself.

They’d slept in the same bed the last two nights, but other than hold her, nothing else had happened between them. That was at her request, and it was killing her. She wanted him so badly that there had been a constant ache in her heart. But until they worked things out—if that was possible—she didn’t want to fall in love with him. She huffed a breath. As if she had control over her heart.

“Stupid heart,” she muttered.

“Your first afternoon patient’s in room one,” Brooke said, stepping into Riley’s office.

“Thanks. Be there in a sec.” She scooped the last bite of yogurt out of the cup as she glanced at the day’s schedule, which showed that it was a new patient. Before she went to the exam room, she made a detour to check on Pretty Girl and her cats. Unwilling to leave them alone and vulnerable to a madman, or madwoman, as the case might be, she’d brought the entire crew to work with her. The K2 man sitting in her lobby, pretending to wait for his appointment, was using Sally as a prop. Because they got along so well, Riley had let her cats and Pretty Girl stay together in one of the large dog kennels.

Her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her lab coat pocket to see Cody’s name on the screen. She debated answering, but she had a new patient waiting, so she let it go to voice mail. After a minute, it beeped a message. She peeked around the corner to see that Pretty Girl and the cats were curled up together, napping. Not wanting to disturb them, she headed down the hallway, listening to Cody’s message.

So Mr. Ziegler had been married. Cody also said that he had died a year ago, and that Mrs. Ziegler fit some of the points on the profile. He ended the message by telling her he’d come straight to the clinic after his session with Tom.

Was it possible they had found the person making her life miserable? Being afraid all the time was exhausting. Hope blossomed that she would have Pelli back soon, but would an honest mistake in cremating the wrong dog send someone over the edge? Somehow, it didn’t seem likely, but if the woman was already unbalanced, maybe the death of her husband had contributed to her mental state.

There was no way of knowing until someone talked to Mrs. Ziegler, and since she had a full afternoon ahead, Riley shelved her questions. Just as she put her hand on the doorknob to enter the exam room, a ping sounded that she had a text, and she paused to read it.

I’m missing us darlin’.

So was she. How long was she going to hold on to her hurt feelings? It was time to trust her heart, and tonight when they got home, she was ready to have that talk. She texted him back.

I’m missing us too.

A heart and a smiley face appeared, and she grinned as she dropped her phone back into her pocket.

With a smile on her face, and a new bounce in her step, she entered exam room one. She glanced at the new patient form for the owner’s name. “Mrs. Napier, I’m Dr. Austin.” A tall, thin-as-a-rail, somewhat disheveled woman turned from the cat carrier she was leaning over.

Riley gasped. “Mrs. Decker?”

“So you remember me?”

“Of course, I do. How-how are you?” Riley was taken aback by the malice in the woman’s eyes. She shouldn’t be surprised, though, since Mrs. Decker blamed her for Reed’s death. Why was she here?

A plaintive wail sounded from the carrier, and Riley froze. She knew that meow. “Pelli?” she whispered. The odor of urine and feces coming from the carrier reached her nose, and she rushed over, opening the door. Pelli sprang out, right into her arms. As a thinner Pelli snuggled against her neck, Riley turned, intending to give Reed’s mother a piece of her mind. The words died at the sight of a gun pointed at her chest.

“Stupid cat cries all the time,” Mrs. Decker said. “Here’s how this is going to go.” She tossed a canvas tote onto the exam table. “You’re going to put on a wig and glasses, and then we’re leaving by the back door.”

“I’m so sorry about Reed, but I’m not going anywhere with you.” It had not once occurred to her to suspect Reed’s mother, and it now seemed stupid not to have considered her. But she’d tried so hard to bury her past, leaving any thoughts of him and his family behind.

“Now, Riley.”

She shook her head. If they left through the back, the K2 guy would never know she was missing until it was too late. With a gun pointed at her, though, did she have a choice?

“I have no problem with shooting you right here.” She swept her arm across the counter next to her, knocking things to the floor, causing Riley to jump. “You took everything away from me. Reed was going to make it to the pros and give us a better life. After our son died, Larry got depressed, lost his damn job. He worked odd jobs here and there, but we fell behind on the mortgage, and the bank foreclosed on our house. Six months ago he sat in our car in the garage with the motor running. You took everything away from me.” Spittle flew from her mouth as she yelled the last part.

Riley had never seen so much hate in another person’s eyes, and she backed up a step. Because she’d made a point of not keeping tabs on the Deckers, she hadn’t known that Reed’s father was dead, which was another reason she hadn’t considered Mrs. Decker when she’d read that damn profile report. As far as Riley had known, Mr. and Mrs. Decker were alive and well at their home in Gainesville.

Mrs. Decker waved the gun. “Put the damn wig on.”

Although she’d always heard you should do anything possible to keep from going anywhere with your abductor, she wasn’t willing to take the risk. If she tried to stall and Brooke came in to see why things were taking so long, what would happen? She could be taken hostage, too, or worse, be shot.

As much as she didn’t want to put Pelli back into the nasty carrier, she did so. He would be safe left behind. Brooke or someone would find him soon. His pitiful cries tore at her heart, but it was for his own good. She just wished he understood that. The wig was a shorthaired, red one, and once she had it on, she put on the oversized glasses.

“Take off the lab coat.”

“I can’t. I don’t have anything on under it.” Not true, she had a T-shirt on, but her phone was in the lab coat, and she might have a chance to call for help at some point.

“No matter. If anyone sees us leaving, I’ll just shoot them.”

The woman had always been high-strung, but now she was acting deranged, which made her frightening. “You have a chance to walk away before you do something you can’t take back. What you’re considering won’t bring them back.” Even though Mrs. Decker had never shown her any affection, Riley felt sorry for her. She’d lost so much, and Riley had played a part in that happening. “I’m so sorry. I loved Reed, too, and I’d give anything to bring him back.” As soon as she said it, she knew she’d made a mistake.

“Shut up! You’re not worthy of saying his name. I never should have allowed you in my house. What my son saw in you, I’ll never understand.” She sneered. “It was probably because you put out when the nice girls didn’t. He didn’t love you. It was lust, nothing more.”

If Riley knew nothing else, it was that Reed had loved her until the day he loved his drugs more. But the words still hurt. She’d often wondered why Reed, one of the most popular boys at school, had chosen her. But all that was history, and she loved another man now. She almost chuckled. It took having a gun pointed at her and facing death for her to admit the truth. She loved Cody, deeply, truly, and irrevocably, and she’d spent the last two days shutting him out. If she didn’t make it through this, that would be her big regret.

Mrs. Decker gestured toward the door, using the gun. “Time to go. You so much as step wrong, I’ll turn this place into a shooting gallery, starting with you.”

Riley believed her, and she had no choice but to obey.

Cody was happy. Tom had agreed that he could handle going back to active duty. Cody knew his issues hadn’t evaporated into thin air. He still had a lot of work to do, and he would keep his appointments with his head doc. But remembering the rest of his dream had been the breakthrough he’d needed to move forward. The nightmare hadn’t returned either. It seemed he had only needed to remember the rest for it to go away.

The guilt was still there for his part in what had happened, but as Tom said, “It was war, man. Instant decisions are made based on what is known at the time, and your intention was to protect the family. You didn’t go to the Taliban and tell them Asra was feeding you intel. It was her decision to do that. She had to know the risks. How they found out, you’ll probably never know, but you’re going to have to forgive yourself and let it go.”

He was going to damn well work on that. And if a successful therapy session wasn’t enough, Riley had answered his text. On top of that, Wizard had e-mailed, saying that the lead on Layla was a strong one. Life was looking pretty damn good.

As he made the turn into the clinic parking lot, a police car—siren blaring—raced up, coming in behind him. A sick feeling churned in his gut, the instincts he’d honed in a war zone screaming that Riley was in trouble.

Mike Kilpatrick exited the police car, arriving at the clinic door at the same time as Cody. “What’s going on?” Cody asked, pushing in ahead of Mike.

“Not sure. Brooke called in a panic. Said she couldn’t find Riley.”

“How long?” And where the hell was Baker, the K2 guy assigned to guard her today?

“About three minutes ago. I was cruising the area. Why I got here so fast.”

Brooke skirted around the corner and ran right into Mike’s arms. “We can’t find Dr. Austin anywhere.” She burst into tears.

Mike wrapped his arms around Brooke. “We’ll find her, I promise.”

They damn well would. Cody turned in a circle, looking for Baker. Why hadn’t the man called him? As soon as the question entered his head, his phone vibrated, Baker’s name showing up on the screen. “Talk to me.”

“You need to get to the clinic. Dr. Austin’s missing.”

“I know. I’m here. Where the hell are you?” At Baker’s hesitation, Cody knew the man had taken offense, because yeah, his question had been an accusation. Baker’s job had been to protect Riley.