think he ever would. He has an attachment to her.”
“Yeah, fucking noticed.”
“That attachment is love to him. Not to everyone else. But, it’s as close as he can get.” She toyed with her keys. “Tell me, how close to love can you get?”
His breath sawed out. “It’s only been a few days. She’s only been in my life a few days.”
“Came in with hurricane force, didn’t she?”
Damn straight she did.
Marie slid out of the car.
He followed quickly. He needed to find Chloe. He needed—
Marie put her hand out, blocking his path when he headed for the main house. “She was with Morgan for six months. He asked her to marry him. Morgan is very good at saying the right things. At doing the right things. If he doesn’t want you to see the monster inside, you don’t. Even Chloe was fooled for a while. She doesn’t like being wrong.”
“I noticed that trait.”
“In that whole six months, she never told Morgan that she loved him.”
She told me. “She lied to me.”
“I tried to warn you about that. Even gave you clues. Said that with Chloe, what she says—”
“Isn’t as important as what she doesn’t say. Check. Got it now.”
“So why don’t you go figure out all of the things she hasn’t said? Go see her for who she really is. And if you’re not going to be here for the long haul, then do us all a favor, would you?” Her hand dropped. “Be gone by the time the sun rises. Don’t ever drag your ass back.” With that, she began walking away. Toward the main house.
He started to follow.
“Chloe won’t be in there.” She didn’t look back.
“Then were the hell is she?”
“If she was worried about you, don’t you think she’d be waiting in your place?”
He whirled around.
“Don’t forget. Be gone by—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he shouted back. “Except straight to Chloe.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
She was sitting on the couch when he opened the door. Chloe’s spine was perfectly straight, her hands were folded in her lap, and her chin was up. She wore loose, cotton jogging shorts and a blue top. Her feet were bare, and he noticed that her toes were curling against the floor.
Her only sign of nerves.
At least, the only sign Joel could see.
He shut the door. Flipped the lock. Leaned his shoulders back against the wood and tried to figure out where to start—
“I hope you don’t mind that I was waiting inside. I’m sure this is me overstepping, but…” Her voice trailed away.
“You’re not overstepping. You own the property.” Some gift deal that he’d never figured out.
“But this is your home, and you shouldn’t invade someone’s home.”
“Why the hell not?” He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “You invaded every other part of my life.”
She sucked in a breath.
Wrong thing to say. Came out wrong. “Chloe—”
“I only came inside because I wanted to make certain you were safe. After I received the card from Morgan, I was afraid he might try to wait for you in here. I sent Marie to look for you, and I came here.” She rose. “Morgan isn’t here, obviously, so I’ll get out of your way.” She headed for the door.
Morgan. He didn’t like hearing the bastard’s name on her lips. “You’re not going anywhere, sweetheart.”
Her hair slid over her shoulders.
“Met the ex tonight,” he drawled. “Got to say, he strikes me as a real prick.”
“You have no idea.”
His posture was relaxed but tension knifed through his entire body. “Because you didn’t tell me about him.”
“Yes, well, it is hard to drop certain points in a conversation. You don’t get to just say lines like… ‘Oh, by the way, I have an ex-fiancé out there who faked his own murder. He has extreme issues letting go, so I worry that he might be stalking me.’”
“Is that what he’s doing? Stalking you?” The sonofabitch.
“Morgan does many things.”
“Like pretend to be dead.”
A nod.
“Why?” But he had his suspicions, as he’d said to the bastard in the alley. Joel wanted to see if he was right.
“I’m different.”
That hadn’t been the response he’d expected from her.
“I’ve been different my whole life. I don’t think like everyone else. I can’t. I see people, and I’m constantly trying to figure out what’s driving them. I always tend to favor darker motives. I understand those motives. I understand darkness. All of the bad impulses that people have. The impulses that drive them to hurt and kill.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach. Bowed her head.