Theirs To Claim (Predatory Desires Book 1) (18 page)

CHAPTER 19

Emily slid the last bite of her steak into her mouth and closed her eyes to savor the flavor. Noah could cook even better when he had a grill at his disposal, but he’d done just fine with the oven. She smiled as she scooped up the final bite of potato on her plate and licked the fork’s tongs so she lost none of the sour cream.

“Emily,” Gabriel called. He settled a hand on her upper leg and applied light pressure.

“Hmmm?” she asked, and licked her upper lip when she felt a last bit of sour cream there too.

He narrowed his eyes at her and shook his head. “Stop.”

“What?” She frowned, truly perplexed at the serious tone he was using.

“Ease up, Gabe. She has no idea,” Noah chuckled. He reached out and took Emily’s fork from her hand. He placed it gently on the side of her plate and then laced his fingers through hers. “You were turning him on in a big way, Emily. He just has to cool down a bit, that’s all.” He winked at her and smiled, helping her through the awkward moment.

The sound of a phone ringing made her jump hard in her seat, and she clamped down on Noah’s fingers in a punishing grip before she thought better of it.

“Shhh, it’s just our phone,” Gabriel reassured her. “Be calm, honey.” He ran his palm over her head and then rose to retrieve it from the bar.

Emily bit her lower lip and tried to extricate her fingers from Noah’s, but now it was his turn to hold on. He shook his head at her and continued to sweep his thumb across her skin while Gabriel answered the call.

“He’s talking with Lawton,” Noah said.

“How can you tell?”

“Just can.” He shrugged, no real way to explain what had become second nature to them all. Their team knew one another well enough to know who was calling, even if they were only hearing one side of the conversation.

“What did the sheriff say?” Gabriel asked, turning back to look at Noah while he awaited an answer.

Emily grew very still from the look in Gabriel’s eyes. He was angry. Very angry. And she didn’t envy the person on the other end of that wrath one little bit.

“You’re kidding me?! No visuals, no video whatsoever? Damn it! Are they all asleep down there?” he fumed. Gabriel lifted the laptop and brought it over to the dining table. Emily hurriedly moved their plates out of the way to give him room and he murmured his thanks as he started up the machine.

“Well tell me that you and Ethan have pictures of the scene, at least,” Gabriel huffed. “Thank you.” It came out as a relieved sigh, and Emily looked to Noah to gauge his reaction.

His brow was furrowed too. He had propped his elbows on the table and rested his chin atop his stacked hands in the air. He wasn’t looking at her now, only at Gabriel.

“Yeah, it’s coming up. Hold on.” Gabriel set the phone down and placed it on speaker, letting Lawton know that he had an audience.

“Hey, Law,” Noah offered by way of greeting.

“Noah,” he said, in his usual quiet way. “Emily, you’re there too?”

“I am, Lawton. Sorry to talk under these circumstances, but it’s good to hear your voice again.”

“No worries, sugar. We don’t mind helping take care of you one little bit.”

“Thank you, Lawton,” she chuckled softly.

Noah arched an eyebrow at Gabriel in surprise. The big guy had turned into a ball of fluff in two flat seconds when he’d heard Emily’s voice. “
Sugar
?” he mouthed and saw Gabriel stifle a laugh.

“When this is all over we should get together. Have a cook-out maybe,” Emily offered. “I would love to see you and the other guys again. It’s been almost a year.”

“I like the sound of that,” Lawton said, his smile clearly heard in his voice. “But I just patched the rest of the team through, so you can invite them yourself, sugar.”

To that statement there was a chorus of hellos, and Emily laughed a little louder as she spoke to each member of Gabriel and Noah’s team. Each man had a distinct tone that they used when they talked to her, and it warmed her that each voice radiated sincerity, friendship, and support. Exactly what she needed during the current situation to make her feel more secure. Less alone.

“Miss Emily, are you ready to make honest guys out of those two cavemen holed up with you there?” Ross chuckled, teasing her as he always did.

“I think so.”

“You
think
so?” Garrett grumbled. “Hell, I knew they didn’t know what they were doing. You should
know
by now, Emily. Just say the word and we’ll step up to the plate if they can’t get it right.”

“Watch it,” Noah warned.

Laughter sounded from each person on the line and he couldn’t help but smirk. He stood and pulled Emily up from her chair. Noah quickly slid into her place and then drew her down on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, anchoring her there as they readied themselves to hear the bad news.

Noah had no illusions about the nature of Lawton’s call. He didn’t place a call like that, unless he had something of significance to share. And from Gabriel’s reaction, Noah knew Lawton wasn’t calling with good news from home.

Gabriel had their laptop running and logged in before he turned to face Emily. He reached out and cupped her face, sweeping his thumb over her skin. She placed her hand over his and nodded at him.

“I’m ready for whatever you guys need to say or discuss, Gabe,” she said in a quiet, but reassuring tone. “We can do this.”

“Yes, we can. And you remember that, Em.
We
implies more than one, and we’re all in this together.” Gabriel nodded firmly. He gave her face a light squeeze and then he slid the laptop a little closer to her and Noah, so they could all look at the screen.

“We’re ready now, Lawton. Give us the rundown,” Gabriel prompted.

“Yeah,” Lawton sighed. “Emily, I don’t know how much the guys have shared with you yet about what the rest of us have been working on…”

“She only knows Garrett and Kaden are in the next cabin over,” Noah cut in. “We just finished eating supper and we’d planned to delve into all the old photos afterwards.”

“Gotcha,” Lawton rumbled. “Well, Ethan and I are staying at Gabe and Noah’s place. We made contact only with the sheriff once we arrived, but we’ve told those we’ve run into that we’re just crashing at their place while they’re on assignment.”

“Who have you run into?” she asked, picking up on that comment immediately.

“Smart girl,” Ethan chuckled across the line. “Two of your so-called friends dropped by with casseroles. One named Becca and the other named Heather.”

“
What
?!” Emily asked in disbelief. “What in the world?” she spluttered as she stared at Gabriel.

“That was our reaction too, honey,” he said and clasped her hand in his. “They’ve never done anything like that before, so we were perplexed as well.”

“Good grief,” she muttered.

“I couldn’t agree more, darlin’,” Ethan chuckled. “Desperate, pushy women do nothing for us.”

“Anyway,” Lawton jumped back in, “we got a call a little over an hour ago from Sheriff Strauss. He asked us to come over to your house, Emily, with our gloves and cameras. It would seem that your near week-long absence has pushed this stalker a bit too far.”

“What has this person done to my home?” she whispered.

“They got inside, Emily, and they took out their frustration that you weren’t there, sugar.”

Noah’s arms tightened around her as Gabriel accessed the pictures Lawton and Ethan had taken. She bit her lower lip as the first appeared on the screen. Her home was now a crime scene, taped off in a yellow, plastic barrier that screamed of someone’s actual invasion into her sanctuary. The home her grandparents had taken her into. The home where she’d always felt safe. But not anymore.

Yet, the house was just a structure, she quickly told herself. A thing she could replace. And Emily knew she had left something far more precious unattended there in Whitford Falls. A certain some
one
whom she loved to pieces.

“Lawton, have you or Ethan checked on Tara? She’s the only one back home I’m worried about now. Not the house.” Emily’s breath stuttered unevenly over her lips as she tried to maintain control.

“Just another reason we all love you, Emily,” Ethan praised. “We have Tara here at Noah and Gabriel’s house with us. We went straight to her apartment after we left your place and got her to pack a bag. We’re not letting her out of our sight until this is all said and done. She’s safe.”

“Oh, thank you,” Emily breathed as the first of her tears began to come. “Don’t let anyone hurt her, guys.”

“Not gonna happen, sugar,” Lawton said in a deep, gravelly tone that was warning enough on its own.

Gabriel scrolled through the initial shots until he came to those taken inside her cottage. “Where did the perp do the most damage, Lawton?”

“Yeah, that’s honestly the worst part of it all. He or she tore into each room, upending furniture and shredding anything that covered the windows. They hit all the rooms, but one. The suspect left only Emily’s bedroom intact.”

Gabriel growled softly and scrolled until he got to the specific photos that spoke of the rage this person felt at being denied her presence. Her living room looked like a tornado had hit it, as did her kitchen. Drawers had been pulled out and all of their contents spilled on the floor in a haphazard array of utensils and the typical gadgetry most people accumulate over the years.

Emily saw her grandmother’s collection of recipe books scattered over the old linoleum and she felt fresh tears flood her eyes. “I’m so glad Gram isn’t still here to see her house destroyed like this,” she whispered.

“Em, no,” Noah said gruffly. He pushed her head down on his shoulder and held her there. “Don’t do that, baby.”

She swallowed hard, but didn’t say another word. Not until she could get herself back under control.

“Listen to him,” Garrett urged her. “We’re all looking over these pictures now too, and there is no way in hell that you can give this predator even an ounce of your time or emotions. Give them nothing, Emily. If they get inside your head, even a little bit, they’ll try to take it all. Trust me.”

“I do, Garrett,” she murmured without hesitation. “I trust you all.”

“Good girl,” he rumbled in his own gruff voice.

“Show me the photos of my bedroom,” she prompted Gabriel.

Noah removed his palm from the side of her head so she could turn and look back at the screen. He began to rub her back, still trying in some way to warm her and help Emily bear it all. It was either that or go outside and empty his gun into the nearest tree.

“Oh, my,” Emily said softly. “Enlarge it, Gabe.”

Gabriel nodded and then did as she asked. “Is there anything out of place, Emily? Anything that is not as you left it?”

Her eyes carefully scanned the photo Ethan had taken, drinking in every facet of the room that was her true sanctuary. Slowly, Emily began to nod. She reached out a shaky hand and pointed to her comforter.

“I didn’t leave the covers turned down. I made my bed the day I left, and there were three decorative pillows stacked up in front of the two I lay my head on at night. I normally place my old stuffed rabbit in front of those pillows, but I brought him with me.”

“We know.” Noah smiled and then kissed her temple. “When we went to your house to check on you, I noticed he was gone.”

“Yeah, and we noticed that some of your photos in their frames were gone too,” Gabriel said as he pointed to the area of the screen that showed her dresser. “Any missing, other than the ones you took?”

“Um, actually yes,” she nodded. “I had two on the end that I left there. They were pictures of me without anyone else in the photo. One was of me in my college cap and gown, and in the other I was washing a car for a local cancer fundraiser a few years ago. Tara took it, and I always kept it because she gave it to me. I was in shorts and a tank top, soaking wet, but laughing my head off.”

“That sounds like something our stalker would love to have in his or her collection,” Garrett huffed in disgust.

“I’d say,” Ross sighed. “Anything else, Emily?”

Gabriel scrolled to the next photo and gave her time to look over it thoroughly.

“I… Um… I’m sorry,” she paused and scrubbed a hand over her face.

“Just take your time, honey.” Gabriel settled his palm on her knee and lightly stroked her leg while she got herself back together.

Emily drew in a deep breath and then forced her words out.

“I didn’t leave the nightgown out that’s draped over the chair in the corner. I would never have left it there, and certainly not positioned it like that. That’s all I see that’s different.”

“And that’s good, baby,” Noah praised. He kissed her temple again and left his lips there.

“Yes, it is,” Lawton quietly agreed. “We found no decorative pillows in your room, so I think we can assume the perp took them and your two pictures. He or she turned back the covers and selected a white nightgown, leaving it in a place where you’d see it, if you were there.”