“Betrayed by the Angel” Chapter Twenty-Five
Makenna actually thought being in that dirty ass water was the worst part of her ordeal. Nah. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Walking around on dry land while her clothes and shoes were soaking wet had to be the most uncomfortable experience of her life. Couldn’t even tell the difference between her underwear and her skin. Plus, she smelled like wet dog. If Alex seen her now, he’d insist on calling off the wedding.
“How much longer do we have to go before we find civilization?” she whined mercilessly. “I’m going to have to burn these clothes. God knows they’re never touching my body again.”
“I think we still have a few miles to go, love,” Mickey reassured her in a tired voice. She was also disturbed by the squishing going on inside her shoes but she decided to keep it to herself. Her sister was doing enough complaining for the group of them. “Can’t wait until we spot a Target or something.”
“Yes. Target. Yes.” Makenna sighed with relief. “Music to my ears. I could grab another outfit without worrying about looking tacky, you know? I still have a reputation to uphold you know.”
“We don’t want to waste too much time looking around for the perfect outfit. Vaughn still might be after us,” Kieryn reminded them, walking a few steps ahead to make sure to keep his eye on everything. He was the only one of them who had a single clue how dangerous Vaughn really was. He had to expect the worst. Not to mention the fact he had dangerous men working for him all over the east coast. Anything can happen. “Something simple; easy to run in will do just fine.”
“You know I don’t do simple, right? I tend to have expensive tastes. You should ask my sister about me.”
“Do you have your wallet on you?” Mickey question impatiently. “Or even your bank card? We’re relying on Kieryn to get us out of this alive, remember? Don’t be greedy. We still have food and shelter for the night to consider.”
“Fine; whatever.” She wasn’t very happy about it though. She also wasn’t very happy about having all these moist bushes slapping her in the face. She needed dry land beneath her feet. Concrete. “What are we talking about here, hm? What’s the damage? How many outfits can I buy?”
“A shirt, some shorts, and some shoes.”
Her face fell. No fucking way. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Do I look like I’m kidding? Kieryn’s in charge. We’re not going to take advantage of him the rest of this trip. He’s got to be able to support himself once Vaughn is finally behind bars. Or, dead. Whatever comes first.”
“Next time you find yourself trapped underwater in a car I’m going to leave you there.”
“Keep dreaming. You wouldn’t know what to do without me in your life. What do you know about being a single?”
She did sort of have a point.
“Look, up ahead.” Kieryn stopped in his tracks, pointed. He’d spotted a clothing line stocked with clothes. Maybe he didn’t have to go broke buying them something dry to wear. “Is that a house?“
Mickey turned out to be more excited than she thought she’d be. A house could mean food and shelter; someplace dry and warm to possibly take a nap. She couldn’t wait to stand underneath the shower head. Maybe they wouldn’t have to go back out into the pubic again until they were certain the coast was clear. An encounter with Vaughn right now would definitely end up bad. “That’s someone’s home, Kieryn. What do you think we should do about it?”
“I think we should check it out.”
“I don’t know…” She was naturally hesitant. “What if they’re just waiting with shotguns for intruders to dare cross their porch? I don’t want to be shot by crazy hillbillies living in the wilderness.”
“After what we went through with Vaughn, you don’t think we can handle a hillbilly with a gun?”
Makenna shoved past the two of them, made a beeline for the three story house. “I don’t know, but we’re sure going to find out. I can’t stand looking or smelling like this another minute.”
As it turned out, no one’s been home for a few hours. The clothes were still somewhat wet when the girls went to go change. That included the blankets and sheets hanging on the line. Bummer. Mickey flopped down onto the wooden picnic bench, disappointed. “What are we going to do now? I was really looking forward to getting out of these clothes. Plus, I’m starting to get a little hungry again.”
Kieryn looked up from the garbage can he was casually shifting around, glanced at the back door. “Think we can get inside without alerting the police? People might see us if we keep wandering around outside.”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“Better than wandering around out here hoping Vaughn doesn’t catch us, right?”
He did have a point. “What if we have to break in? I don’t want to get arrested just for trying to survive.”
“Nothing bad’s going to happen,” he reassured her. “I just need to know if stopping like this is really worth it. Yeah, breaking and entering is illegal, but what other choice do we have right now? We don’t know how far away downtown is.”
“Risk of getting arrested versus getting captured by Vaughn…again.” Mickey took a minute to weigh her options. “None of these plans sound very good.”
“You think I don’t?” he asked her, voice slightly higher than usual. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I don’t want anything to happen to me either. Or, to my sister.” Sighing, she shoved a hand through her wet hair. “We have to get through this together. Which means, I’m going to have to trust you.”
“You’ve done just fine so far.”
Mickey’s eyes went over to where Makenna was examining a pair of capris with bedazzled legs. They looked a size too small. “Vaughn cannot get his hands on my sister again, Kieryn.” Her voice was lowered now. “I’ll kill him.”
“I know.” Kieryn did his own sighing and hair adjusting. “I feel the same way about you.”
“Kieryn…now’s not the time for this.”
“When will we get the time?”
“We’re going to have to make time. We need to talk about what’s going on between us, Mickey.”
Mickey fell quiet. “What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. I like you, Mickey. Wouldn’t go through all this trouble for someone I couldn’t picture spending the rest of my life with.”
Spending the rest of her life with him? How could he think of such a thing at a time like this? She was worried about keeping her sister away from a sadist. Plus, she had to deal with this attraction thing she had going on. Sometimes she couldn’t stop thinking about kissing him; other times, she wanted to know how he’d react to her kicking Vaughn’s ass right in front of him. “I don’t think you know what you’re saying, Kieryn. We’ve both been through some trauma. The fact we have that in common is what’s drawing us together.”
“No. I don’t believe that.”
“That’s because you don’t want to believe it. What’s normal about this? Huh?”
“I just think you’re trying to run away.”
Of course she was trying to run away. He was digging too deep. “I…think I’m going to go check that lock now.”
“Why are you running away, Mickey?”
“I don’t want a relationship like this, Kieryn. This isn’t even real.”
“It’s about as real as it’s going to get. You and I are in this together whether you want to come to terms with it or not. We have a common enemy: Vaughn. We know know Makenna isn’t strong enough to defend herself.”
Mickey shook her head. “You don’t know my sister, man.”
“And you don’t know me.” Kieryn reach out to grab both her hands, gripped them lightly. “What happened to wanting to find out what could develop between us?”
“You think too much. What the hell happened to just feeling?”
“I…” What could she say to that? He was right; she was ignoring her feelings. He made her feel things she’s only dreamed of. And they’ve only known each other a day. Imagine what could happen if they had more than that just to not worry about Vaughn capturing them? “This just doesn’t seem like the right time, you know?”
“Boy, do I know. Vaughn’s my father, remember? I’m going to have to live with the fact someone I’m related to by blood has threatened your life.”
“He put his hands on my sister too,” she reminded him quietly.
“And he hurt your sister. I can’t forgive him for that. At the same time, I can’t forget my feelings for you.”
Why couldn’t he just leave well alone be? “Please don’t make this more complicated than it has to be. I need to check out that lock.”
His grip tightened slightly. “You’re just trying to avoid the obvious.”
“Stop pushing me, Kieryn. I’m not ready.”
“I’m not trying to push you.”
Her eyes locked on his, focused. “Then let me go.”
He did as he was told without hesitation. “You’re just going to walk away from this?” he wanted to know. “From me?”
“Where am I going to go?” she tossed back at him. “We’re stuck in this together, remember? I just don’t want to be forced to feel something I’m not ready for, okay? It’s not that hard to comprehend.”
“So, you’re not running away?”
For whatever reason, one side of her mouth curled up. “When I’m ready to deal with whatever’s going on between us, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Guess I’m going to have to accept that.” He was relieved though. At least he didn’t have to give up hope.
“Like you have a choice.” She shifted awkwardly. “Should I go check whether or not we can get inside?”
“Do what you have to do, babe. I’ll be right here.”
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