Safe (6 page)

“Nice outfit,” he said sarcastically, trying to hide the fact that she made him uneasy on the inside.

“Well, I didn’t get to bring my own clothes. This is what your genius co-workers thought I would like, I guess,” she said looking down at her drab attire. “Can’t we sneak to the mall?” she said with a conniving smile.

“Nope, sorry. You are stuck here. Anyway, who are you trying to impress out in the woods?” Aidan laughed, rolling his eyes.

“What time is it anyway?” she asked without acknowledging his comment.

“After ten,” Aidan said. “I let you sleep. You must have been mentally and physically exhausted.”

“I was. I still am, but I feel better today. I needed a good night of sleep. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I actually slept very sound. Thanks to you,” she said softly.

“Me?”

“Knowing you were here to protect me made me feel safe.” Carly’s admission made him want to scoop her up in his arms, but he knew he couldn’t.

“Good. That’s what I am being paid for,” Aidan said without making eye contact. What he couldn’t bring himself to tell her was that he had watched her sleep last night. An hour after she went to bed, she started screaming in her sleep. She was having nightmares about the murder and talking in her sleep. Aidan had gone to check on her. He watched her beautiful face as she slept, her long blond hair sprawled out across the pillow. He wanted to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. Instead, he settled for rubbing her arm every time she cried out in the night. He thought he might have worn a track in the stairs as many times as he went up and down them during the night. “I have some news this morning,”

“You do? About the case?”

“Yes. The investigators have found the name of who they believe is the hitman. They want to know if you recognize the name:  Marcus Cantrell.”

Carly’s breath caught in her throat. She put her hand to her chest for a moment as her mouth dropped open.

“I take it that you do know the name?” Aidan questioned, sitting forward in his chair.

“I do. Oh my God…”

“Carly, speak to me.”

“Marcus Cantrell - I thought he was my friend. It can’t be.”

“Carly, tell me,” Aidan continued to push.

“He was one of Ethan’s best friends. They met about three years ago at a convention. At least, that is what Ethan told me. Marcus was at our house a lot. We played cards together. He took me to a baseball game once when Ethan was busy.”

“Why would he agree to kill you then?” Aidan asked confused.

“I don’t know. I thought he had plenty of money. Obviously, Ethan lied to me about his background. Have they found him?”

“No. They are still trying to track him down.”

“He lived about a mile from us, but his family is all in South Georgia. Maybe they can check down there?”

“That’s a good lead. I will pass it on. If you remember anything else, let me know, okay?” he said.

“Okay. What are your plans for today?” Carly asked.

“I’ve got a load of paperwork to do, so I will probably focus on that. And you?” Aidan asked with a wink.

“Very funny… This place is boring.”

“Why don’t you read a book or something?” he asked.

“I guess I will have to. Can I sit outside?” she asked.

“No way.”

“Aidan, I need some air. Seriously. You can sit with me.”

“No.”

“Please? What about the terrace off my bedroom? We will be high up and facing the mountainside. No one can get to me that way.” She put her hands in front of her face like she was pleading and got down on her knees in front of him. “Please, kind sir,” she said with a smile.

“Very funny. Get up, you nut. I guess that would be okay. Let me make us some coffee first.”

Carly watched as Aidan made a pot of coffee. He had always been tall and lanky, but now he had broad shoulders and muscular arms. His buns weren’t too bad either. Wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans, a long-sleeve black Henley t-shirt and cowboy boots, Aidan had turned into a sexy man over the last decade.

“Are you ogling me?” Aidan asked as he turned around and caught Carly staring at him.

“Of course not,” she stammered as she walked up the stairs in front of him. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

Aidan and Carly walked into her bedroom. It was pretty stark compared to her room at home with all of her personal belongings. She missed having her own stuff around, but her house also reminded her of her murdering husband.

Walking out onto the terrace and feeling the crisp breeze of the mountains in November, Carly felt peace envelop her. She had only been cooped up for one day, but it felt like a lifetime. She didn’t know how she would manage staying inside so much. She was used to doing her own thing - coming and going as she pleased.

“It’s getting cold out here,” she said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“I love this time of year,” Aidan said.

“I know. I remember that about you. We would always go up to the Harvest Festival around this time,” Carly said smiling at the memory.

“Remember when Lucas Oliver fell into the apple bobbing station?” Aidan said with a laugh.

“Oh, yes. He was such an idiot. Wonder whatever happened to him?”

“I think he ran off to join the circus,” Aidan said chuckling. “Probably being shot out of a cannon about right now.”

Aidan’s cell phone rang. “I have to take this. It’s my supervisor. Maybe he has news,” he said as he walked into her bedroom and down the hallway. Being nosy, as usual, Carly sneaked around the corner to listen in on his call.

“Bill, we have to find this guy. Well, who’s working on it? We need more guys working on it, then. I care because I am protecting her. It’s my job, you know.”

Carly could feel the intensity in his voice. He was obviously aggravated at his co-workers for not finding the hitman, but it had only been one day. Maybe he didn’t want to spend so much time with her. Maybe she should let him know that he could have the downstairs and she would stay upstairs.

“Keep me posted.
I want to hear anything as soon as it comes up. We have to find this guy, okay?” Aidan said. Carly quickly ran back out to the terrace.

“Everything okay?” she asked nonchalantly as he reappeared outside.

“No word yet. They are still trying to track the guy. They are going to make contact with his aunt in South Georgia.”

“Good. I still can’t believe it could be Marcus. He was my friend… or so I thought,” she said looking off into the distance.

“Well, sometimes we think someone is our friend, but they end up hurting us,” Aidan didn’t mean to say it out loud, but his mouth was working faster than his brain.

“You’re talking about me, aren’t you?” Carly asked as she looked up at him. There was a pain on his face, even after a decade, and she wasn’t expecting it.

“Maybe… a little,” he said squaring up his shoulders like he was afraid he might lose his “man card”.

“Aidan, I am so sorry.”

“It’s been a long time, Carly. No need to talk about this.” He waved his hand in front of his face.

“I think there is,” she said reaching out to touch his arm.

Aidan pulled his arm away and took a step backward. “Carly, I can’t do this right now.”

“Okay. I understand. Let me just say this: What I did to you is the only regret I have in my life. And, when and if you ever want to talk about it, I am willing.”

Aidan didn’t respond, and they both sat down in the rustic cedar log chairs. Carly closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of burning leaves from properties nearby. Off in the distance, she could hear a stream trickling. It was so quiet there, and her mind needed that right now. Trying to push the images of a man being shot in front of her out of her mind had become increasingly hard over the last twenty four hours. She started to worry that she wasn’t as strong as she thought she was.

After lunch, Carly decided to spend some time reading in her room. Things had been cool with Aidan for a couple of hours. He had a sandwich while standing in the kitchen as she sat at the table alone. She didn’t know what to say or do. Her cowardly way of “breaking up” with him allowed her to never see the pain in his face.

As Carly sat on her bed reading, she noticed the big jetted tub in her bathroom through the door that was cracked open. She had tried to imagine this safe house pit-stop as a mini vacation, and what better way to enjoy a vacation than with a bath in a jetted tub?

Carly turned on the water and slipped out of her oversized sweatshirt and yoga pants. Sliding into the warm water, she closed her eyes and settled in for a long soak. Her mind wandered to Aidan. She thought about how handsome and masculine he had become. He was no longer the boy she remembered from school. He was strong and independent and capable.

She had often wondered what made her choose a life without Aidan. Part of it had been her parents splitting up, which had rocked her world. She had wanted to escape her tiny town and look for bigger things. For some reason, in her undeveloped brain, she hadn’t seen that she could have freedom and Aidan at the same time.

Meeting Ethan had been the icing on the cake. Here was a man that took her willingly, just as she was. He didn’t know about her family, her small town, her flaws and faults. Aidan had known her deeply, and she couldn’t pretend with him.

As a grown woman in a frightening situation, she realized that she was paying the price for her mistake of turning Aidan away all those years ago. He was a man who wanted to stand by her. He wanted to be her friend and her boyfriend. They had forged a bond that spanned an ocean, and she pushed him away.

Now, she was married to someone she really never knew. She was married to a murderer.

***

Aidan paced the floor in the living room as he listened to the jets running in the tub upstairs. How could she be taking a bath and relaxing when he was feeling so on edge? They had come so close to talking about the past - the big elephant in the room - and he had stopped her. Why?

He told himself that he had a job to do. Simple as that. He wasn’t going to get reeled in by that woman yet again. She had hurt him - almost destroyed him - once upon a time. Why let her in again? Getting close to Carly meant one thing:  pain.

If he focused on her again, he wouldn’t be able to do his job effectively. These past ten years had been a work in progress. He had learned how to do his job, but he had also learned how to block out emotions … or so he thought.

What did she look like in that tub? His mind began to wander. Was her skin as soft as he remembered when he held her hand in high school? Were her lips still warm? Did they still taste like a mixture of vanilla and cherries? He wondered what she would do if he burst through the door of that bathroom and kissed her.

Aidan walked slowly up the stairs. He was going to do it - walk through that door and tell her how she had hurt him. He was going to kiss her like a man this time, not like some young high school boy. He was going to show her how rough and rugged and manly he really was.

He walked into her room and stood on the other side of the bathroom door. Anger welled up inside of him as he heard the jets running. He imagined that she was laid back in the tub, daydreaming about some hunky guy who would whisk her away from here. As he put his hand on the knob, the jets turned off. Waiting for a moment, he heard something. It was sniffling.