Cut Too Deep(52)

How can he not come? He said he loved me, and he knows exactly where I’m going.

She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe he would allow her to collect her car and drive out of his life forever. They’d had the sort of connection that only happened once in a lifetime. Surely he’d want to fight for her?

Maybe he’s had enough of fighting? She hadn’t exactly been the easiest person to get to know. She’d plunged his life into uncertainty, even if he hadn’t bought how dangerous Garrett could be. Maybe he’d come to his senses and decided Mikey was more important than she was, which was exactly the right thing he should think, even though Jenna felt horrible and selfish for hoping he’d think of her too. Maybe she didn’t deserve to be loved if that was the type of person she was? Mikey deserved as much stability as possible, and her being in the picture did the exact opposite.

Yet, still, her stupid, hopeful heart clung to the possibility that he’d come after her.

He might already be at the garage. He might be waiting for me there.

She clutched the last strands of her hope as she trudged the final half mile to the garage.

The square, concrete building came into sight up ahead. Jenna sighed with relief, but at the same time her stomach twisted with nerves. There was no sign of Ryker’s truck parked outside, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. He might have parked his vehicle inside the building.

She reached the open front of the garage and dumped her bags to one side of the metal door which was rolled up and suspended in brackets overhead. Ryker’s truck wasn’t parked inside, and her heart sank. She’d been wrong about him. He hadn’t bothered to come after her after all. The only assumption she could make was that he decided he didn’t love her as much as he’d declared he had.

Her car sat on the forecourt, and she gave a small, sad smile at the sight. She walked over and gave the hood a pat like a pet. “Hey, old fella,” she said softly, despite knowing vehicles were supposed to be female. “Did you miss me?”

She turned her attention from her car to try and find Sam. She needed to settle up for the work he’d done and get the keys back.

“Hello?”

She didn’t get any sense of movement from the back of the garage. Perhaps Sam was out back making coffee?

“Hello?” she called again, her neck craning to one side to try to see through the door leading into the rear of the garage. She didn’t want to interrupt him if he was doing something private. “It’s Jenna Armstrong. I’m here to collect my car.” Her voice sounded echoey and hollow in the shell of the garage.

Still no answer came. Jenna frowned. Strange, she was sure he’d said he was working up here this morning. Maybe he got called out on a job? But then she didn’t think he’d leave the whole place unlocked. Anyone could walk in and help themselves to the till, or to the numerous tools lying around.

Yeah, but Ryker said the town had a low crime rate. Maybe people were simply more trusting around here than she was.

Damn it. Now what was she supposed to do? She couldn’t go back to Ryker with her tail between her legs and ask him to bring her back here.

Jenna made a decision. The keys for her car must be here somewhere. She’d leave him a note with her email address asking him to invoice her for what she owed, and she’d find the keys and get the hell away from Arlington.

With her mind made up, she approached the counter which held the till, where she’d sat nursing her coffee, watching Ryker work, only a few days earlier. The memory made her heart clench with pain. It was hard to believe that had only been a matter of days ago. She felt as if she’d known Ryker for months, not days. He’d settled into her heart as if he’d been there all along.

A board with hooks embedded into the wood and keys hung from them was positioned on the wall behind the counter. She scanned the sets of keys and quickly recognized her own.

Jenna rounded the counter and froze. Her heart clambered into her throat, her eyes widening, all the blood draining from her face.

Sam lay on his back on the floor behind the counter. His eyes were open, but unseeing, staring sightlessly at the roof of the garage. His skin was white and almost waxy-looking. Even in death—and she had no doubt that he was dead—an expression of surprise remained on his face. But it wasn’t his expression that was the worst thing. Behind his head, a dark pool of blood spread down to his shoulders and beyond. A heavy wrench lay abandoned in the pool, clumps of hair and flesh still clinging to the silver metal. Jenna’s eyes flicked back to Sam, and she saw the cause of his death. Above his ear, a large part of his skull had been crushed in, creating a strange crater in his head, as if the inside of his skull had become a vacuum and had sucked in on itself.