Van, Becca - Re-awaken Me (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (9 page)

Pip lay in her bed staring at the ceiling well into the early hours of the morning. Every noise and creak sounded like a gunshot echoing throughout the house. Thank God it was Sunday. She would catch up on her sleep during the day if she had to. Her mind wouldn’t let her rest. There was someone in this town who was not happy about her returning home. And even though she was afraid, there was no way in hell she was going to let them run her out of her own home. She was here to stay and find out what happened to her parents if it was the last thing she did.

Chapter Ten

Pip whimpered with fear as the noises outside her house got louder and louder. The tapping on the kitchen window had started three nights ago, but she was too afraid to investigate. She wanted to call Mason, Randy, and Chip but knew they would railroad her to stay at their house, and she didn’t want that. She needed time to process the fact she had become a lover to three men, and she still wasn’t sure how to deal with that. She was so tired the dark smudges beneath her eyes were now a permanent fixture, one the makeup concealer could no longer hide. She must have drifted off eventually because she woke up to the blaring of her alarm. She got up, moving sluggishly since she was so tired, and headed for the shower.

Pippa hadn’t seen or heard from the three Sage brothers over the last few days. She was glad they had decided to back off. She had too much she wanted to achieve in her career, as well as the continuing investigation into her parents’ murder. She was already beginning to make a name for herself at the paper. She had been promoted and was now in charge of the two crime reporters, and she had only been there for a month. She knew Alex White wasn’t happy about her being promoted above him. She could see it in his eyes. Oh, he was pleasant enough and hadn’t done anything to make her wary of him, but whenever he smiled at her, it was false. The smiles he bestowed on her never quite reached his eyes, and the way he looked at her gave her the creeps. It was like he could see straight through her clothes to her naked body. But since he hadn’t done or said anything untoward to her, there was nothing she could do about the way he looked at her. So she determined to just ignore him as much as possible. She would often only relax totally when she sent him out to investigate a story or an accident, which she did as much as possible. And if it was not possible, she made sure she was out and about so she wouldn’t have to listen to him on the other side of the portable cubicle walls separating their desks.

Pip gave a sigh as she gathered up her purse and keys. It was Wednesday, thank goodness. She always seemed to find herself in a better mood once hump day was over and done with. She was about to head out to lunch when she heard Nate call out her name. She stopped and waited for him to reach her.

“I’m glad I caught you, Philippa. I’ve just had a tip that there is a holdup at a bank in the next town over. I want you and Alex to go over to Germantown to give a report. It seems there are hostages involved.”

Pip wasn’t happy about having to go with Alex, but since she had no argument to the contrary, she was going to have to suck it up and put up with Nate’s command. She glanced behind her when she felt the hair on her nape stand on end and saw Alex smiling at Nate, digital camera in hand. He glanced down at Pip then back to Nate once more.

“Come on then, we’d better move ass,” Pip stated as she smiled at Nate then headed to the stairs.

Pip was glad Alex had volunteered to drive the company van with the newspaper logo plastered on the sides of it. At least she didn’t have to worry about him leering at her the whole time like he would have if she had been driving. She relaxed back in the passenger seat to watch the beautiful countryside pass by. She was thankful Alex had turned on the radio to listen to the news broadcasts updated every quarter of an hour. It gave her time to relax before having to fight through the frenzy of the media once they arrived at the bank holdup site. It took them a little over an hour to arrive in Germantown, and then they had the trouble of finding a place to park. The whole block the bank was in had been cordoned off by the police. Once the van was parked, Pip and Alex hurried to the outside of the bank. They couldn’t get as close as they wanted to but had to make do and stand on the outskirts of the police tape with the other members of the media.

It had been a while since Pip had been in the thick of things as a reporter. The feel of her heart pounding the blood through her ears, her hands shaking, and a cold sweat breaking out over her body was something she hadn’t really missed. Sometimes the adrenaline and the anxiety of a situation she was to report on was nearly too much to bear. She breathed in and out, counting to three as she tried to control her anxiety. She had just about succeeded when a young woman raced out of the bank doors, sobbing and stumbling, then fell into the arms of a policeman who had run to meet her. Pip wished she could get closer to hear what the woman was saying but knew she didn’t stand a chance. She kept her eyes glued on the woman and the male officer, the sound of the digital camera in Alex’s hands continuously clicking and whirring as he snapped pictures.

Pip began to move through the crowd, elbowing her way around the excited frenzy of the media. She got close to the woman released from the bank as the police officer led her over to the waiting paramedics. He helped to seat the young woman on the back edge of ambulance as the medical officer gave her a once-over. Pip took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her anxiety easing to a manageable level. The roaring of the blood in her ears lessened, and she was able to hear what the woman was saying.

“Three men, they all have guns. They shot the bank manager in the foot when he refused to open the safe. One of them looks like he has dynamite wrapped around his waist. They let me go to pass on a message. If you don’t let them leave they are going to blow everyone inside up with the dynamite. It looks like a bomb. Oh God, you have to do something. My mom’s in there.”

Pippa didn’t hear anymore. Her body was so cold. She had never been so freezing in her life. The shock seemed to permeate her body to the depth of her bones. She was shaking uncontrollably, and her vision began to dim. She sucked in a deep breath as spots began to form before her eyes. She stumbled back away from the crowd, not sure where she was going, only knowing she had to get away. Her body felt as if it were separated from her mind. She had no idea how she was moving and knew she probably looked drunk as she stumbled through the crowd. She reached the corner of a walkway, stumbled around, and sank down to the ground. She rested her head back against the brick wall she was leaning on as she tried to control her fear and angst. She closed her eyes and counted as she went through the breathing exercises she had learned from the psychologist she had seen as a young girl. She was totally unaware of her surroundings, and even though she knew as a reporter she was putting herself in danger, she knew she had to keep herself tuned in to her body, concentrating on lowering her rapid heartbeat and her escalated breathing so she could gain control over her panic attack. She was just grateful no one was around to see her fall apart. Pip had no idea how long she sat on the sidewalk but was relieved Alex was too wrapped up taking photos to take any notice of her. Once she had a semblance of control over her wayward body, she picked herself up off the sidewalk and headed back over to Alex.

“Where did you go?” Alex asked, glancing her way then back through the camera viewfinder.

“I–I got close to the young woman who came stumbling out of the bank. It seems the bank manager has been shot in the foot and one of the perps is rigged with a bomb.”

“Shit, that can’t be good,” Alex replied.

“No. I heard the woman say her mom is still in the bank,” Pip stated unemotionally.

“I’ve heard the FBI and SWAT have been called in.”

“I would have thought they would already be here. What the hell took the cops so long to call for help? They have a hostage and bomb situation, for God’s sake,” Pip stated with ire.

Alex turned to her once more and smiled. He didn’t answer her but just stood staring at her with his evil smile and cold, calculating eyes. He must have seen something in her face and eyes, because he turned away from her quickly without answering and gave a negligible shrug of his shoulders. Pip wanted nothing more than to run back to the safe sanctuary of her childhood home but knew it just wasn’t possible. She and Alex could be here for quite some time. Until the bank siege was over, she was stuck with her strange work colleague.

* * * *

Pip and Alex sighed with relief as they walked toward the parked van. It was finally over. Apparently two of the hostages had been detectives and had been waiting for the opportunity to take the perpetrators down. It was a little after midnight when they arrived back at the newspaper offices. Pip was totally exhausted and wanted nothing more than to drive home and crawl into bed. She rolled her tense, tired shoulders and tried to stretch the muscles in her neck as she followed Alex up the stairs to their desks. They had at least a couple of hours of work to get through before they could even think about going home. Nate had left them a text message on their cell phones advising them he had saved the front page for their report on the bank siege.

Pip dumped her purse and keys on her desk, turned on her computer, and made her way to the lunch room. She made herself a much-needed cup of coffee, double her usual strength, knowing she would need it to get her through the next couple of hours. She took her steaming cup of coffee back to her desk with her and got to work. Once done, she shut down her computer and left for home.

By the time Pip crawled into bed, she was so tired her whole body ached. Her eyes were sore from lack of sleep, and she knew without looking at herself in a mirror they would be bloodshot. She had been awake for more than twenty-four hours, and her body was beginning to protest. Her head felt as if it had a thousand drums pounding behind her skull, and she felt the hot pain stabbing into her right eyeball from behind, warning her of the impending migraine. She knew she should get up and get her medication out of her bathroom, but she just didn’t seem to have the energy. She hoped sleep would be enough to counteract the pain of her pounding head. Thank goodness Nate had given her and Alex Thursday off to recuperate. That was her last thought as exhaustion pulled her down to the bliss of slumber.

Chapter Eleven

Pip was aware of the pounding on her front and back doors, but she was in too much pain to see who it was. She had her head buried beneath her pillow, and the only sound she could hear now was the pounding in her head. Her room was in total darkness, but that didn’t stop the lights from flashing behind her closed eyelids, an effect from her migraine, or the drumming in her own skull. She felt sick to her stomach and knew she needed her migraine medication, but the thought of the pain exploding in her brain as she stumbled her way through the house with closed eyes was too much to face. The churning in her stomach was a warning of things to come. She knew losing the contents of her stomach was as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. Her whole body was a mass of aching, throbbing pain. She didn’t usually suffer from migraines often, but when she did, it usually took her a couple of days to recover. She was going to walk around like she had a hangover for up to thirty-six hours after the symptoms of her migraine subsided. But that she could deal with after experiencing such excruciating pain. What puzzled her most was the way her whole body was aching. Migraines usually only affected her head, neck, and shoulders, not her whole body.

Pip whimpered as she realized she was going to have to get to the bathroom fast. She shoved the pillow and comforter aside and stumbled quickly from her room and down the hall. Her body was a whole mass of excruciating pain. She could feel herself shaking as she tried to get to the bathroom. A cold sweat broke out over her skin, her head exploding with pain that made her feel dizzy and uncoordinated. She fell to her knees at the edge of the tiled bathroom floor as she lost the fight with her stomach then consciousness.

* * * *

“Can you hear anything, Randy, Chip?” Mason asked worriedly. He had called the newspaper asking for Pip and found out she had the day off. Her car was parked out back near the steps leading to the deck.

“No,” his brothers replied as they came back to stand next to him at Pip’s back door.

“I don’t like this. My gut is telling me something’s dreadfully wrong. I think we should break the door down,” Mason stated, looking at his brothers, awaiting their opinion.

“Yeah, I don’t like it either. I mean, her car’s here. The light is on in the kitchen even though it’s midmorning. There is no need for the light to be on. The sun’s streaming through the window, lighting up the room. Something is just not right. Break it down, Mason,” Chip commanded.

Mason didn’t bother to wait for Randy’s opinion. He lifted his foot, aimed beside the lock on the door, and kicked hard. The sound of wood cracking as the lock gave way under the force of his foot was a relief. He was through the door and searching the house before the door had a chance to bounce back. He knew Randy and Chip were right behind him.

“Fuck. Call 9-1-1. We need the paramedics here now,” Chip yelled.

Mason ran toward Chip’s voice with Randy at his side. Randy had pulled out his cell phone and was talking to dispatch and asking for the paramedics to be sent. Chip was carefully moving Pip away from the mess on the floor. He laid her on her side as Mason went into the bathroom for some washcloths and towels. The three brothers worked together cleaning their woman up and getting her into a clean shirt and sweatpants. When they had her clean and covered with a blanket, they cleaned the mess on the floor.