Rock Me Deeper (Licks of Leather #5) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,38
but I frantically blinked them away. I was eight the night she died from the house fire I’d miraculously escaped. Since my dad had been one of the last Americans killed in the Iraq war, four months before I was born, Celeste Burton had been both loving mother and father. Even now, after all the years without her, I could still see the glowing smile on her face. Still hear the sweet sound of her laughter ring in my ears.
Of course, the days following the fire, I didn’t want to remember her at all. I’d started tucking memories of her inside a thick lead box. It was the only way I could escape the pain of losing the center of my world, the light of my life, and cope with the desolate fear of being an orphan.
“And sadly, I was with her in the ambulance holding her hand, like I’m holding yours now, when her loving light left this earth.” Doc wiped away the tear sliding down my cheek. “I saw the way you reacted when that man’s face flashed on the television screen. He’s the one who left these scars on you, isn’t he?”
I nodded as another tear leaked out.
Doc grimly nodded. “Trudy’s right, you know. You bring joy to a lot of people in this town, Caris. We love you, and we will protect you, no matter what.”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Come on, I’m taking you home. You’re too shaken to drive and it’s too cold to walk. Besides, I want you off your feet and resting today and tomorrow.”
“But Trudy needs—”
“Trudy doesn’t need squat. She’s been running that café for years. She’ll handle the customers just fine. I’ll stop in and let her know you’ll be back to work in a couple days.”
He wrapped his coat around me and helped me off the exam table. Any other time, I would have balked and done it myself, but seeing that monster’s face again sucked the fight right out of me.
When Doc Everly pulled into my driveway, I thanked him and hurried inside. Locked safely inside my warm, familiar safe haven, I peeled off my clothes, climbed into bed, and pulled the covers to my chin. All I wanted to do was sleep for a month.
But sleep wouldn’t come because I couldn’t turn off my damn brain. After tossing and turning and cursing for over an hour, I threw off the covers, donned my robe, and padded to the kitchen. After fixing a cup of tea, I grabbed the plush blanket off the couch, wrapped it around me, and stepped onto the back porch overlooking the lake.
There were no boats or fishermen this time of year. The water was like a sheet of smooth glass, sparkling beneath the midday sun. The house might be small, but the view from my weather-worn deck was enormous and dazzling and well worth every penny of rent.
The news about Zattman was still sitting in the forefront of my brain, but Trudy’s assurance that the monster was securely behind bars eased some of my worries, but not many. The animal had my purse, my wallet, my driver’s license…my address. Logically, I knew Zattman had bigger fish to fry than traipsing to nowhere Arkansas so he could keep his promise to take me out with a bang. But he’d planted that fear so deep in my brain, I couldn’t pry it out.
Yes, Trudy and Doc assured me, the people of Diamond City would protect me, but how? I lived in a secluded house by an empty lake. If Zattman did find me, no one would ever hear my screams.
Had the bastard posted bail?
Was he on his way here now to torture me more before he killed me?
The talons of a full-blown panic attack sank deep, shivering me so brutally that my tea sloshed over the rim of my mug. Bolting from the chair, I gasped for air as I hurried inside and locked the patio door behind me. Then I rushed to the kitchen and bent over the sink as bile rose up the back of my throat. Sucking in slow, deep breaths, I worked to quell my overactive imagination.
I was slowly climbing off the ledge when a knock came from the front door, jolting me up the mountain of anxiety again and ripping a yelp from my throat.
Stop it. It’s probably Trudy dropping off my car, I inwardly chided as I headed for the door. I gripped the knob and then froze.