Reconnected

By Jaycee Clark

Rai needs a safe haven, she just wasn’t planning on it being at her ex’s cabin in the middle of nowhere. Lee tried to forget the woman who stole his heart, but now that a killer is after her, he’ll do whatever he must to keep her safe. 

This is a short story previously published as part a NY Times and USA Today Bestselling, multi-author anthology!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jaycee Clark
• Release date: Apr 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533762122

Book preview

Chapter 1

What the hell did she do?

Fuck.

I warned you, you little shit, Niall said, kicking the man on the floor.

She stilled behind the door to the dining room. She needed to get the hell out of here. If she moved, they'd know she was here.

But the French doors were right behind her leading to the patio and pool.

Had he installed motion lights?

He had wanted to, Niall often talked about it.

You know what would happen if you double crossed us again, Niall growled.

She peeked through the crack and saw he stood over the guy with a gun in hand.

How had she ended up here? She just came over to get a few things she'd left.

She'd been told he wasn't home. He hadn't asked for her key back. She'd kept it, and kept the fact she had left things here. He hadn't believed she was done.

He never believed and God knew she'd come back too many other times.

She had come in through the back door through the courtyard into the kitchen. There weren't any cars in the drive, only the old bike. She'd had a friend drop her off a couple of blocks away and she'd walked. She hadn't wanted Niall to know she was here, or that she'd even come to get her things and one of his neighbor buddies would tell him.

She checked her watch.

She'd been upstairs when she'd heard the garage door go up and had heard the scuffling.

Should have checked the living room.

There was a large sheet of plastic tarping on the floor and over the furniture.

She had first thought he must be redecorating. Again. Niall was always redecorating something, adding something. Now though, now he wasn't decorating, unless blood spatter was the new vogue.

He kicked the man in the head and again.

She bit down, and tried to ease back towards the French doors.

Had he set the alarm?

Probably not.

He'd know someone else had been in and set it back if he checked the logs and he would if he noticed her locket was gone.

She should have just left Seattle.

She'd planned on it, but she'd waited.

Waited on work.

Waited on a friend.

Waiting on who the fuck knew.

Look where that got her.

You owe some people a lot of money and we've let it slide. Let it slide a few too many times, Niall said.

The other man sat on the arm of the chair and watched, not smiling, not frowning.

She'd seen him a few times.

So I'm supposed to make an example out of you, Niall tapped his fingers on this thigh.

No. No. Please, the man on the floor mumbled.

They always beg, don't they? the man on the chair said.

It's like a script almost, Niall said, chambering a round.

The sound danced chills down her spine. She closed her eyes, silently praying.

The shot made her jump.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Her hands trembled as she eased back, eased a bit more. She should just hide until they were gone. She looked around.

There.

She slid between the wall and the china hutch. Please, please, please let them just leave.

She heard them talking, planning and plotting where they'd put the body.

The plastic crinkled as they must have rolled the body up.

Clean kill. Shouldn't be a problem getting rid of the body. The other guy said.

It's never a problem getting rid of the body, Niall said. You get to carry his ass though. Dumbass shoulda laid off the carbs.

They both grunted. She heard them moving through the house. Heard the door open and shut in the kitchen.

Please don't let him come in here.

The grind of the garage door raising eased some of her tension. She waited, tense. The metallic taste of fear coating her tongue.

Now? Or wait?

What if Niall didn't go with whoever it was?

She scrambled up and opened the French door hurrying over to the bushes that surrounded the backside of the pool. She slid behind the bushes, and caught her breath, waiting to see if the stupid lights came on. They didn't.

But had the alarm sounded?

She shook her head and eased down the bushes to the ally gate. Looking both ways, she shoved a strand of hair out of her face and opened the gate. Thank God she'd oiled it just last week. She eased it back shut and hurried down the ally, pulling out her cell phone.

Who did she call?

Would Niall know? Would he suspect it was her?

With her missing jewelry? Yes, stupid. Stupid.

It might be her grandmother's locket and the earrings her brother gave her, but neither were worth her life. She knew that. Knew it and they were still in her pocket. She’d wanted to grab a few other things.

The box.

Damn it! She'd left the box sitting on the damned counter, with her knives and her mug in it. She'd grabbed them in the kitchen earlier. She'd wanted to just go through the house and get what was hers, and dump it in the box.

She should she go back and get it?

Damn.

She didn't know. And now? Now there was some dead schmuck.

And a body they'd get rid of.

And she knew.

Accessory.

She had to tell someone.

Who... who...

Her hands trembled and she almost dropped the phone. Almost dropped it in the damp ally.

Chill the hell out, Rai. She took a deep breath, but kept moving. Water dripped off the pine needles plunking to the ground.

Keep moving.

She pulled her hoody up, a dark one and kept walking. Through one ally, then another. When she was blocks away, she scrolled through her contacts trying to figure out what to do.

She knew Niall. It