Invisible (11 page)

I was scribbling away when Jax knocked and opened the door.

“You doing okay, baby?” He sat on the bed next to me.

I nodded yes as I wrote down one more thought and then closed the notebook, not wanting to show him what I was writing; it was too soon, too raw.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I just needed to get it all written down so I could stop thinking about what had happened every second. Putting pen to paper seems to help me push it down and get it out of the way until I think I can process it.”

He pulled me into his arms and hugged me tight.

“It’s late. Do you think you can sleep now? I don’t want Matt and Liz thinking I’m not taking care of you when they get here tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I’m tired.” I stifled a yawn. “Maybe tomorrow will be the day that this all ends.”

Chapter 12

Jax

Lainie was sleeping against my chest with her hand curled up under her chin. She’d gone through so much in the last ten years since Keith destroyed her life and took her away from me. The waiting was wearing me down, and I was itching for this to be over so we could get on with our lives. At this point, I hoped that Keith found us soon so I could take care of him once and for all, preferably with a bullet between the eyes. Maybe seeing Matt and her mom would bring back Lainie’s smile. I haven’t seen it much the last few days.

She uncurled her hand and flattened it out on my chest. Her touch always sent a shock through my body like when someone touches you with static electricity. Lainie’s touch was magical to me.

“Morning, sweetheart,” I said as I kissed her forehead. “You ready for breakfast?”

After we had used all the hot water showering together, I filled the generator’s gas tank and made sure it was running smoothly. At the sound of a car coming up the drive, I hid until I saw who it was. It was Matt and Liz.

“Lainie, they’re here,” I yelled.

Liz jumped out of the truck as soon as it came to a stop. “Where’s Elaine, Jax?”

I gave her a quick hug and motioned to the front porch where Lainie was writing. She whispered in my ear, “Thank you for keeping her safe, Jackson.”

“Always,” I whispered back before she hurried toward the cabin.

While Liz walked away, I asked Matt if he was able to get a laptop. “It’s a little beat up, but it works fine. What did you want it for?” he asked as he picked up two suitcases and started to carry them into the cabin.

“It’s a present for Lainie. She’s been writing a journal about this whole screwed up mess, and she made a comment about wishing she had her laptop so she could put her thoughts in some kind of order. Writing about everything seems to be helping her deal with it.” I managed to get the laptop case into the house and under the couch without her seeing it.
I’ll surprise her later
.

Matt and Liz were out on the porch with Lainie, and I let them have some time alone. I pulled the cell phone out of my pocket and realized it was time to call Brent. The phone rang five or six times, and I was starting to get concerned when he finally answered. I let him have it. “What the hell, man? What took you so long to answer?”

I could hear the sleep in his voice. “Jax? Shit, is it ten already? We drove all night and finally stopped at five o’clock this morning to get a room.” I heard another voice, and it sounded as if they were in the bed next to him. “What is it? Did something happen?”

“Is my sister in bed with you?” Anger welled up in me as I tried to make sense of this. I knew women seemed to find Brent attractive, but my sister?

I had to stop and get myself back in control before I could say a word. “We will discuss this when you get here.” Wishing I were on an old-fashioned phone so I could slam it down, I hit end and threw it across the room where it hit the wall and fell to the floor in pieces. The pounding in my head increased as I thought about Jordan being in Brent’s bed. It was bad enough when she married Chad, but Brent was a good friend of mine. I figured he understood that Jordan was off limits. I ran my fingers through my hair and sat on the couch with my head in my hands.

“You okay, Jax?” Lainie was looking at me with fear in her eyes as she sat on the steamer trunk in front of the couch.
God, Jackson, get a grip.

“Yeah.” I kissed her knuckles and pulled her to me and into my arms. “I just talked to Brent, and they should be here later today.” I could tell that she saw the anger in my eyes—time for a distraction. “I’ve got a surprise for you,” I reached under the couch and pulled out the laptop case just as Matt and Liz came back inside.

“What’s this?” she asked as I laid it on the trunk and started to unzip the case. I pulled out the laptop, and her eyes lit up. “I figured this would be easier to carry than all those notebooks,” I said. “I asked Matt to pick it up in Las Vegas.”

She threw herself at me and started kissing me all over my face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she exclaimed. “You are the best.”

Liz grabbed Matt’s hand and pulled him towards the kitchen as I kissed Lainie long and slow.

“Let’s give them a few minutes,” Liz said when they reached the kitchen table.

We finally come up for air when I heard Matt clear his throat.

“I think we need to have a talk, Jax,” Matt said as he pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge. “Let’s go out on the porch.”

Lainie and Liz sat at the table drinking coffee and talking. I smiled when I realized that this was probably the first time they’d been able to spend any time together since that night ten years ago.

Matt frowned. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Hopefully nothing.” He handed me a beer, and we sat on the glider and stared out over the river. “I think I know why Keith is still after Elaine...She must know something that will put him away for good, or else she has some evidence that she doesn’t realize she has.”

I stared out over the water wondering what it could be and thinking back to the day we ran. She left her purse in her car, only bringing what she was wearing and her cane. I remembered Lainie fiddling with her locket as we waited at the hospital, and just then it hit me. The locket was the only thing she had that she owned back in high school. “I think I know what it is!” I shouted as I got up and walked into the cabin and over to the table. “Lainie, can I see your necklace? I think I know why Keith is still after you.”

She pulled it over her head and handed it to me. “What does my necklace have to do with anything?” she asked.

“It may be the key to everything.” I opened it and found a picture of Liz and Lainie’s dad.
She has his eyes.
I carefully pulled the picture out and noticed a small strip of paper folded up behind it. After setting the necklace and the picture on the table, I unfolded the paper. There were two sets of numbers on it. My guess was a bank account number and password. If so, we should be able to trace any deposits and withdrawals back to their source once we find the account.

“What is it, hon?” Lainie asked. “Can we use it to put him away forever this time?” I showed her the paper and she got upset. “That’s my dad’s handwriting. Do you think Keith was behind the hit and run that killed him?”

“Maybe,” I answered. “If he knew your dad had this, it might also be why he got involved with your mom.”

I handed the paper to Matt. “It looks like a bank account and password to me. What do you think?”

Matt studied the numbers. “I think you’re right, Jax. I’ll call my partner and have him get started looking for this account so we can get a warrant.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Matt,” I said. “The more I think about it, the more I think Keith has someone in the FBI helping him. We should let Brent follow up on this. He wasn’t connected to this before I asked him to help us disappear.”

Matt frowned. “Maybe you’re right. Can you get in touch with him without giving away our location?”

We all turned at the sound of a car outside. “Baby, get in the bedroom,” I said. “You still have my gun?”

After getting confirmation of my question and making sure she went into the bedroom and shut the door, I walked over to the front door and opened it just enough to see who had arrived before I opened it the rest of the way. “About time you got here. We need to talk.” I was glad to see them safe but still not happy with Brent.

Jordan ran to me and pulled me into a hug before pulling back and looking me over. “You okay, Jax?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “Just a lot happening right now.” I hugged her tighter. If Keith had gotten to her, I would have never forgiven myself. At least Brent got that right. He was carrying their bags into the cabin. “I need to talk to Brent. Can you give us a few minutes?”

“Sure,” she said as I led her into the cabin.

“Brent,” I said through gritted teeth while trying to remain calm. “Outside. Now.”

I followed him out to the generator, staring holes in his back. When we got out of sight of the cabin, I lost control of my temper, punching him in the jaw after he turned around.

“Damn, you’ve got a hell of a right hook, J. I guess I deserved that.” Brent rubbed his jaw, making no move to retaliate. “Let me explain…,” he began.

“What the hell? My sister?” I shoved my hands in my pockets but changed my mind and hauled off and slugged him again. “How did my sister end up as your latest conquest?” I started pacing, not knowing how to get rid of the rush of adrenaline I got when I had punched him.

“She’s not the same as the others,” Brent said. “I didn’t set out to get her in my bed.” He stood tall with his arms crossed, not letting me intimidate him at all. “I’ve been attracted to Jordan for a long time.”

I stopped pacing and looked him in the eye, seeing that he was telling me the truth about this. “Why now? Jesus, you couldn’t have given me some warning?”

I’d never seen that expression on his face before. “When I got to her place after she called me, I found her curled up and shaking in the closet. She was terrified. It took me ten minutes to convince her that I was there to help.” He stopped, trying to find the right words to continue. “Do you know what Chad did to her?”

I started getting a sick feeling and wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what he had to say. I had my suspicions about Chad when she married him, but I kept them to myself.

“Tell me.”

“It started as all verbal but progressed to physical abuse. When he hit her, she left.” Matt grabbed my arm as I turned to go back to the cabin and find out why she never told me about any of this. “Calm down, J. You can’t let her know I told you.”

“You lay something on me like that and expect me to keep it to myself?” I asked as I continued pacing and grinding my teeth. “He’s lucky I don’t have time to go after him right now.” My hands were clenched so hard that my knuckles were white. It had taken a couple of minutes before I calmed down, but Brent had told me this for a reason. “So, what does the fact that Chad is slime have to do with you sleeping with my sister?”

“The whole thing with Keith getting so close to her brought back all the memories of what Chad had put her through. That night she woke up screaming. After that came the sobbing. I’ve had women use crying to try and get to me, but it never worked. I told you; Jordan is different. I…” he stopped and looked me straight in the eyes. “I think I love her.”

I glanced at him in disbelief. “You and Jordan? Jesus.”

“Jax?” I looked in the direction where I heard Lainie’s voice.

“I’ve got some news about Keith. We think we know why he’s still after Lainie.” As we walked back to the cabin, I told Brent about the locket and the paper we found.

Chapter 13

Lainie

The next day

I tried not to cry as we watched Mom and Matt drive away from the cabin. With the threat of Keith finding us, we couldn’t afford to all be in the same place for very long. At least Jax had figured out why Keith was still after me. When the car was out of sight, I turned and hugged him, burrowing my face into his shirt as I stifled a yawn.

“That’s what you get for staying up half the night on the computer.” He led me into the cabin, and I headed for the kitchen to get some more coffee.

“I’ll sleep after Brent and Jordan leave,” I said as I poured another cup. This whole ordeal had me punchy and I stared at the mug as if it had the answers. When Jordan came in from the porch, I was glad for the distraction. I missed my mom already, and they had just left.

Jordan was headed for the coffee pot but stopped abruptly when she saw Jax’s face. I saw the pain in his eyes from my vantage point. “Dammit. He told you, didn’t he?” she accused. He just glared at her, and she ran to the bedroom and slammed the door.

Last night everything was perfect and today, it’s all starting to fall apart, just like my life. I watched as Brent came in from the porch and realized that Jordan wasn’t in the room. He picked up their bags and headed back out, walking past Jax without saying a word.
I wonder what that is all about?
I limped out the door after him. “Brent? What’s going on?”

He tossed the bags into the back of his SUV as if they were empty. “Nothing you need to be concerned about, just a little difference of opinion about Jordan.”

“It’s not nothing. You and Jax are glaring at each other and Jordan locked herself in the bedroom looking like she was going to cry.”

“Shit.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “I better go talk to her, we need to get on the road.”

After a hushed conversation through the bedroom door, Brent and Jordan left. The cabin was eerily empty and too quiet now with everyone gone. I turned on the iPod and set it to random, just wanting to get rid of the silence. Jax was outside. Brent had said or done something that really bothered him, and he had been moody ever since they left.

Thank goodness for the laptop; it really helped me to get my thoughts in order. I opened a new document and started writing about how Jax and I were thrown together in high school by the principal. Even then there was something between us, but neither of us knew how strong the bond would be. I wrote about that time until I was so tired I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Night had fallen and the temperature was starting to drop, but I decided to join Jax on the front porch. I shivered as he put his arm around me and then cuddled up into him, enjoying being close.

“You okay, hon?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Are you done writing for tonight?”

“Yes. The words were starting to get too blurry to read, so I decided it was time to stop for today.” Something was still bothering him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” he said as he stared out across the river. “We’ve been here too long. I think we should move on tomorrow.”

My eyelids got heavy and I yawned. The next thing I knew, Jax was carrying me to the bedroom. I was safe in his arms so I went back to sleep and dreamed of the day we could be together without all this worry.

The sound of thunder and pouring rain woke me.
Well, the weather matches my mood.
I wasn’t looking forward to packing up and leaving today. This cabin had been our refuge; I was going to miss it. Maybe we could come back here when Keith was behind bars again.

After breakfast, we started loading everything into the car. Jax had just come back in from putting the suitcases in the car, and his hair was dripping from the rain. The clouds were so low and dark that it looked like night outside. All that was left inside was to fill the bags with groceries, so I’d started doing that when…the lights went out.

“Lainie? You okay, baby?” I heard Jax ask as he made his way to the fireplace and got the shotgun. “Stay inside, I’ll go check it out.”

I heard rustling in the brush outside, close to the river, but couldn’t tell if it was the wind or someone sneaking around. Suddenly, the revolver started to feel comforting instead of terrifying. Time stopped. The only sound in the cabin was my heart pounding in fear.
Wait, is that creaking floorboards?
The sound wasn’t Jax walking into the house; he would have said something first. I crept to the bedroom as quietly as possible, hoping to make it to the bedroom window. It was big enough to climb through. I’d thought about that the other night when I worried about someone breaking in. Total darkness. Then I heard footsteps and saw the beam of a flashlight searching every corner…looking for me.

“Elaine? Answer me, girl.” The words came from the front of the cabin.

Oh shit. I knew it; he’d found us.
My heart turned to ice.
Where’s Jax? Oh, God. What if Keith already killed him?
I was glad I didn’t have shoes on yet so I could move around in relative quiet. As I made my way to the bedroom, I was sure to duck down low enough so that I wouldn’t be illuminated by any light coming through the window.

The sash opened without a sound. I pulled myself over the windowsill and lowered my body to the ground. Standing up against the wall beside the window, I stopped and listened, trying to guess where Keith was inside. When it sounded like he was at the bedroom door, I made my way around the cabin, ducking below the level of the windows. I found Jax on his back next to the shed, hidden from the cabin by the overturned canoe. My heart stopped until I saw the rise and fall of his chest. He had a bruise on his forehead, and a fury rose in me like never before. Keith had abused Mom, gone after Jordan, and now hurt Jax. My mind raced trying to figure out a way to get both of us to safety. There was no way I would be able to get him to the car without being spotted by Keith.

I flipped the canoe as I heard Jax start to groan. “Shhh, don’t make a sound,” I whispered as I brushed the hair off his forehead. “We need to get out of here.”

He tried to sit up and grimaced. “That wasn’t a good idea.”

“I’ve got a thought. I saw this on an Indiana Jones movie.” Dragging the canoe to the river and making some noise to attract Keith’s attention, I pushed it out onto the river then hid under a bush until he came out on the porch to look around. He spotted the vessel just before it rounded a bend and drifted out of sight. When he tried to follow it, I helped Jax into the cabin and got him on the couch. Looking for the cell phones, I remembered they were already in the car and froze when I heard footsteps on the porch.

“You think you’re gonna outsmart me, little girl?” I heard as Keith entered the cabin. I had hoped it would take him longer to figure out that I wasn’t in the canoe. “Get over here and I’ll let your boyfriend live. C’mon now, girl, make the right decision.” He had a gun pointed at Jax.

I still had the revolver in my waistband but knew it wouldn’t do me any good unless I could get his attention on something other than Jax. I stood frozen in place.
Come on, Lainie, this is not the time to panic.
“It’s me you want, not him,” I said as I slowly walked towards my captor.

“No, Lainie. Don’t let him win,” Jax yelled as I continued towards Keith, who grabbed my arm and dragged me across the floor towards the door.

“I love you, Jax.”

Outside, Keith shoved me into the driver’s seat and pulled the seatbelt across my chest. Even after all these years, he couldn’t resist dragging his hand across my chest to feel my breasts. He clicked the seatbelt and pulled it to make sure it was secure then spotted the gun in my waistband. “You thought you could keep this without me seeing it? Wrong move, little girl. I’m going to enjoy hurting you.” He got in the passenger’s side seat and told me to drive.

We’d been on the road for about an hour, and I was watching for a chance to signal someone. It continued to rain, making the world cloudy and gray. Once we reached a major highway, there were some cars around so it gave me hope. Right past a rest area, I saw a blue truck pull onto the road in front of us. I pulled around them and, just as I thought, it was Mom and Matt. I wanted to scream at them to notice us, to see that I was driving but didn’t dare slow down. Keith would catch on. My eyes were glued to the mirror as they fell farther behind in our lane.

Two hours later, Keith ordered me to turn off at a small town just over the state line. We pulled into a gas station and stopped at the pumps. He followed me inside the mini-mart after giving me money to prepay for the gas. I asked the clerk about the restrooms, taking a chance that I could leave some kind of note, but he went in there with me too, locking the door behind us. Thankfully, there were a couple of stalls, so I didn’t have to use the toilet in front of him. When I had finished washing my hands, he grasped my elbow and ushered me out the door, not giving me any chance to get away. I hoped the cashier would see the fear in my eyes but his attention was on the shelves of cigarettes behind the counter as he refilled the display.

When we reached the car, he shoved me towards the driver’s side door. “Get in.” Keith filled the gas tank while I buckled myself in and waited. When he was done, he got in and ordered me to drive again. I noticed that he hadn’t put on his seatbelt, and it gave me an idea. I looked for the perfect spot. We were about twenty miles outside of town when Keith told me to turn left.
That would lead us into the woods, fantastic.
I saw a large tree coming up on the right and decided it was now or never. Cranking the steering wheel towards it, I tried to relax as we hit head-on.