She folded her arms across her chest. “I heard the noise and I was so scared.”
He sat back in his chair. “Not everything is an attack. Not around here. You’re safe, Caroline. I’m going to make sure no one turns you in and I’m going to protect you from Dustin. You’ll just have to trust me.”
She nodded and withdrew the gun from the waistband of her pants. “I do. I know you’ll do your best to keep me safe and hidden. I’d feel better if I could help . . . but you’re right. It’s not just Dustin. Every noise feels like an attack is imminent.”
He took the pistol and removed the bullets. At least one of the women he was trying to keep out of reach of a madman wanted his help.
“But I’m keeping the job,” she said.
“That’s fine, Caroline. I’m going to take a shower and then sleep for a few hours before heading into work.”
He pushed back from the table, feeling the ache in his muscles from hiking until past dawn this morning. At some point, he needed a full night’s sleep. Maybe a return to the first few days back when he’d taken over the bar from his dad. He’d crashed after closing and slept until midmorning. Some days he’d gone for a run before opening the bar, but most of the time he’d fit in a little physical training or a trip to the gun club when April showed up. Simple, easy days. And there had been no chance to play the hero.
The floorboards creaked and groaned as he climbed to the second story. He headed for his bedroom, pulling off his T-shirt as he walked. The walls were pale blue and covered in pictures from high school. There was a blank space above his wooden headboard where he’d once hung a “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” poster. He’d ripped it down when he’d first walked into the room after returning home.
He scanned the other walls as he removed his boots and jeans. Dominic stared back at him from almost every shot. And Ryan was in most of them too.
“Dom, I need you to come home and kick my ass for laying a hand on your sister,” he murmured to the picture on the bedside table. He stood in the center holding up a trophy. “I need something to keep me away from her.”
Because it feels a helluva lot like she is the only one I want and need.
He stripped off his pants, tossed them on the unmade bed, and headed for the attached bath. Running his hand over his chin, he turned to the mirror. He should probably shave too, but he was too damn tired.
Where the hell had Dustin disappeared to? He turned on the shower and stepped under the cool stream without waiting for the water to warm. He hadn’t seen any signs of a campsite, or even footprints in the wet ground from the light rain a few nights back.
He suspected their former CO was trying to terrorize Caroline. Back on the base in Afghanistan, the scumbag had laughed when he’d run into Noah escorting Caroline to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He teased her for needing a chaperone to take a piss. It had taken a helluva lot of restraint to keep from punching the higher-ranking marine. But Noah had held back knowing Caroline deserved her day in court.
And all the bastard got was a slap on the wrist for adultery. I should have knocked him out when I had the chance.
This time, he would land a hit or two. While he’d taken Caroline’s gun, he planned to keep one locked in his truck.
“Noah!” He heard a pounding on his bedroom door as Caroline called out a second time. “Noah!”
“In the shower,” he said, doubting she heard him over the water. He leaned his head back, rinsing the shampoo out.
“There’s a . . .”
He couldn’t make out the rest. He turned the water off, stepped out, and reached for a towel.
“Did you hear me?” The panic was rising in her voice and she screamed through the door. “There’s a patrol car out front!”
Noah secured the towel at his waist and headed for the door, leaving a trail of water on the linoleum bathroom floor and then the carpeted bedroom.
“Did an officer get out of the car?” he demanded, opening the door.
A pale-faced Caroline shook her head.
“Might be Josie’s dad,” he reassured her. Without bothering to take the time to pull on clothes, he headed for the stairs. If they were here for Caroline, if someone had tipped them off, he couldn’t let her meet them alone.
He reached the kitchen and spotted the car sitting in the gravel parking area that separated the house from the barn. The side read “Forever Police Department.” And he breathed a sigh of relief. Not the state troopers. He knew every cop working under Josie’s dad. Hell, maybe his neighbor had reported him for snooping around his property by the chicken coop at dawn.