Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(111)

"Tell Tristan I said hi," I told him.

"Bianca says hello," he relayed on the other end.

"I'll be heading over there when I finish," James explained to me. "Are you about done?"

I glanced around the room. I was pretty sure that I'd gotten everything that I'd wanted to pack myself, but I wanted to give the place another once-over, to be sure. "Yeah. That should be perfect."

"Tristan is coming over for dinner tonight. As if I'm not paying him enough to make rabbits disappear, now I have to make him dinner."

"I have a new trick where I can make pretty boy CEOs disappear," Tristan said loudly on the other end.

I laughed.

"Will you let the guys know that they're invited, as well?" James said.

I could hear the smile in his voice.

"That sounds fun," I said, meaning it. There was just something so playful and mischievous about Tristan. There was never a dull moment when that man was around. "I take it he got a favorable contract for next year's shows," I added.

"He signed on for another year, but we had to double the bastard's pay," he said without rancor.

He said something else but a noise outside distracted me at just that moment. What had it been? It hadn't been particularly loud, just something slamming against the concrete, but it sidetracked me enough that I completely tuned James out as he continued to talk on the other end of the line for several pregnant moments.

"Bianca?" he asked, snapping me out of my momentary distraction.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry," I said, trying to focus.

It could have been anything. A neighbor had been working on building something on his back patio earlier, and that had been much louder than that single slam had been. What about that noise was troubling me so much?



       
         
       
        

I kept my phone to my ear as I moved through the house, looking for Blake. The noise was probably nothing, but I figured that we would both feel better if she checked it out.

I heard it again as I moved into the kitchen. This time it was louder, and I could have sworn that it was accompanied by a low grunt of pain.

"Blake," I called out, sure now that something was wrong.

She burst into the kitchen right as James began to sound a little frantic on the other end of the phone.

"Bianca, what is it?" he was saying. "Is something wrong? Talk to me, Love."

I opened my mouth to answer, my eyes meeting Blake's, when I heard a noise that made my blood run cold and my heart stop in my chest. It was a loud echoing boom that I knew all too well, and it made me freeze in terror. A gasp escaped my throat, my free hand flying to my chest.

Blake was moving instantly, pushing me to the ground, her gun already in her hand. "Stay down, Bianca," she said. "Don't move, and whatever you do, don't leave this house. I'll be right back."

She disappeared towards the front of the house, though I thought that sound had come from the back.

I was listening so hard for what was going on in the back that it took me awhile to remember that James was still on the phone, which was surprising, since he'd been keeping up a steady, desperate dialogue the entire time.

"Tell me what's going on, Bianca? What was that noise? Why did Blake tell you to stay down? Where did she go? I need to know what's going on!"

I blinked, my mind going very shocky in reaction to that noise and the memories it dredged up. How did he not know what that noise had been? Could it sound so very different across the line?

That dreaded noise sounded again, and my body jerked as though I'd been hit, even though I was safe inside.

"We're on our way to you, Love, and we've put in a call to the police, but I need you to tell me what's going on. What was that noise?"

I swallowed hard, trying to focus on that beloved voice. I closed my eyes tight. "I love you, James," I told him softly.

I heard him take an unsteady breath. "What's happening over there?" he asked roughly. His voice broke on the words.

I shook my head, but of course he couldn't see it.

That noise sounded again, and I whimpered.

"I love you, James," I said again, my cheek on the cool linoleum of my kitchen floor. I was so happy, so unutterably relieved that he wasn't close enough to be hurt by whatever was happening in my backyard.

"Talk to me. I have to know what's going on. We're in the car now. We'll be there in less than twenty minutes, but you need to talk to me. What's all that noise?" 

I didn't want to say it. It was completely ludicrous, but saying it would make it more real. The noise sounded again and I shuddered helplessly on the floor.