Cut Too Deep(43)

Ryker grabbed her arm. “Jenna, stop it. This might have been Mikey.”

She repressed a sob, her voice choked. “Why would he do something like this?”

He rubbed at his mouth. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s jealous that I’m spending time with you and wants to frighten you off. Who the hell knows? He’s a teenager and their brains don’t work in the same way as everyone else’s.”

She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. “I don’t know what to think.” She looked up again. “All I know is that Garrett is out and the authorities don’t know where he is. Ever since he’s been out bad things have been happening and I’ve had this horrible feeling he’s somewhere close.”

Ryker pulled her into his arms. “Hey, it’s okay. You’ve been careful about covering your tracks. How would Garrett even know you were staying here?”

“He’s smart. That’s one of the things about him. People he encounters think he’s barely got enough brain power to get out of bed in the morning, but he’s frighteningly clever. Everyone underestimates him.”

“Even so, there’s no paper trail that could lead him here, is there?”

“No, but if he found out I’m in Arlington, he might have seen us out somewhere and followed us back.” Even though she was frightened for herself, the main thing that scared her was getting innocent people hurt. In some way, she felt she deserved Garrett’s wrath, but there was no way either Mikey or Ryker deserved to be brought into this mess.

She’d been trying not to think about her car, somehow clinging to the ridiculous hope that this situation could have a happy ending—that she wasn’t in a situation at all. She’d been hoping that simply not thinking about it would make everything normal.

Jenna forced herself to be strong, but her voice came out shaky. “Have you heard anything about the parts for my car being delivered yet?”

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No, I haven’t. But listen to me, Jenna. I don’t want you to run away again. I can’t stand the thought of you packing up and clearing out of town, especially not when you’re clearly frightened and probably still traumatized from what happened to you.”

She lifted a hand and motioned toward the sad pile of crushed little bodies. “Of course I’m frightened. This is a threat, Ryker. There’s no other way of seeing this.”

“Yes, there is. It might have been Mikey, or hell, maybe someone else out to get their own back. What about Megan and her friend? They’re the bitchy type, and they certainly didn’t appreciate getting knocked back. You don’t know that this is even meant for you. This is my house and my yard. How would anyone even know those sheets belonged to you?”

She pushed her hair away from her face and let out a sigh. “Okay, you have a point. But this doesn’t seem like the work of a couple of bitchy girls.”

“I’m saying that there are a number of possibilities, so we shouldn’t do anything rash. Remember what your detective said on the phone. If Garrett killed that man, he couldn’t be here as well.”

“No, but it also means I have a vengeful ex-boyfriend out there somewhere who is now a murderer.”

“Just please don’t think about leaving right now, Jenna. Please. The idea of you alone and frightened, and on the run, just about kills me.”

She took in the sight of his strained expression, the hurt and worry in his eyes. Her heart felt as if it might break. The idea of doing something that would cause him pain almost broke her. The last thing she wanted to do was leave him. She was crazy about him, hell, she might even be in love with him, though she had no intention of telling him such a thing.

“Okay,” she said. “I won’t leave yet.”

He breathed a sigh of relief.

She glanced back over at the small pile of bodies. “What about all of this? Should we go to the cops?”

Ryker shook his head. “I don’t want to get them involved. Having the police here isn’t good for me and Mikey with social services. Can we keep this between us?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll get this mess cleared up,” he said. “What do you want me to do with the sheets? I can put them back in the machine, but I’m not sure how well the blood will wash out.”

Jenna shuddered at the idea of ever going anywhere near those sheets again, never mind sleeping on them. “Put them in the trash—hell, burn them. I never want to see them again.”

Ryker nodded. “Okay. Go back inside and leave me to it. I’ll be back in as soon as it’s done.”