Deep in the Alaskan Woods (Alaska Wild #1) - Karen Harper Page 0,2
for the front door and got it open, Spenser at her heels.
To her relief, Lyle didn’t chase her, but came out past her slowly, glaring at her, shaking his head and fingering what must be a sore throat. They stood glaring at each other on the edge of the parking lot in the late blast of sun. She was sweating as she scooped up Spenser in her arms.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he told her, pointing a finger almost in her face to punctuate his words. “We need some new rules or else.”
“I prefer the ‘or else,’ and I’ll determine what that is,” she said, amazed how steady her voice sounded, how sure she was of what she was doing. It all fit together too well now, and it scared her and made her sick. How could she have been so stupid and ignored so many subtle signs? She’d fallen for a controller, a potential abuser, and she knew what she had to do. It would be the same tomorrow, even if he had some rest, even if she had time to think it over. How could a man who was so good with animals and people turn so mean? Surely not just jet lag. What had she missed?
“Lyle, I think we should break it off.”
“Look, pretty baby, I’m your boss. You need me.”
“Take your ring back,” she insisted, squeezing Spenser closer to take it off, so heavy and hard in her hand. She started to cry. Darn, she didn’t want to cry. Didn’t want to lose him, didn’t want to admit she’d been stupid to have loved him, but he’d seemed so caring, so eager, so protective and well-off and stable, an achiever who adored her.
She pressed the ring into his hand. At least it was still broad daylight in a public condo parking lot or she wasn’t sure what he would have done. Suddenly, even here, she was afraid of him.
“You’ll regret this,” he said with narrowed eyes and deadly calm. “You and that damn little dog, too.”
He walked away, got in his car and backed out of his parking place. He squealed the brakes, then roared away.
Alex rushed back inside, locked the door. Fastened the safety bolt, since Lyle had a key. She leaned back against the door, then slid to sit on the tiled floor, holding Spenser, sobbing.
That threat, the last thing he’d said about “you and that damn little dog, too,” haunted her. She’d watched a rerun of The Wizard of Oz on TV last week and that’s more or less what the Wicked Witch had said to Dorothy.
“Alexandra Collister, you have been an idiot,” she whispered to herself as Spenser whined in sympathy, thinking she was talking to him.
How...how had it happened that Lyle had turned so bad? How had she gotten this far with him, been swept away by his initial charm, his spoiling her and wanting her? And he was her boss, so there went her job, too. She’d have to find work elsewhere, though he’d probably never give her a recommendation. Her career might be over, but she knew she was right to get him out of her life.
She sat there, not sure for how long, cuddling Spenser and agonizing until it got dark outside. Oh, why hadn’t she listened to Spenser? The one-eyed little guy had more smarts about Lyle than she did.
When the dog had fallen asleep, she finally put him down on the couch to close the vertical blinds to her little back patio lined with containers in which she grew many of the plants for her Natural Beauty products. But when she reached the window, she gasped.
Despite the darkness, with the streetlight coming over the privacy fence and gate only she and Lyle had a key to, she could see that her lavender plants, even her four tea rosebushes, had been violently yanked from their pots and containers, spewing their soil all over the patio. And her tall sunflowers had been beheaded.
Leaning against her Double Delight rosebush, which lay uprooted on its side, was a crudely written sign that read in big letters: You Are Mine or the End!