“Where is it coming from?”
“Downstairs. A banging of wood or something. It’s probably nothing, but I just…got a weird feeling.”
A harsh sound left him at that. “Where are you right now?”
“Locked in Kayden’s room.”
“Good. Stay there. I’m on my way.”
Air heaved from my nose, relief and this worry that wouldn’t let me go. “Be careful, okay?”
I would never forgive myself if I dragged him into danger.
“Don’t even give me a thought, Cookie.”
As if he didn’t possess most of them as it was.
The line went dead, and a sigh pilfered out before I began to pace, waiting for…anything. Another bang or for some creep to go hacking at the wood of the door with a butcher’s knife.
And I really hoped the last was just a figment. Before I’d gone to sleep, kept company by my overflowing glass of wine, I had listened to a particularly horrific story of a poor woman who’d moved out into the middle of nowhere to start her own farm, all by herself, and her deranged neighbor had done just that before he’d taken that knife to her.
But that was out in the middle of nowhere.
And this was…here.
In my adorable house.
In Time River where it was safe.
And I was pretty sure any craziness this town could contain had already been used up by what Paisley, Caleb, and Evelyn had gone through at the beginning of the summer.
Still, I shivered, unable to settle, relaxing only a fraction when headlights brightened against Kayden’s window, and I heard the grumble of an engine pull up to the front of the house. I could tell by the distinct sound of it that Ryder had driven over in his car.
Or maybe I just noticed everything about him.
Recognized him.
The pieces of who he was entrenched in my psyche.
His presence thick.
Powerful as it curled through the atmosphere.
The headlights cut out, and I rushed for the window, pulling back the drape to find him coming through the gate.
A silhouette beneath the star-studded heavens. His body lithe and smooth, slinking in like he was a predator on the hunt.
A slip of midnight moving through the darkness.
My heart panged at my ribs as he eased down the walkway. I couldn’t make out his features, but he moved slowly.
Carefully.
With purpose.
A moment later, he disappeared under the awning of my porch.
The second he was gone, I moved back to the door, pressed my ear to the wood, and craned to listen.
I sensed him stronger then, his footsteps heavy as he moved around downstairs, and I took a measure of comfort in the fact they were steady, no commotion or sudden attack coming from out of nowhere.
My pulse thudded a little harder as his footsteps echoed up the stairs, and a second later there was a light tapping at the door. “Dakota, it’s me. Open up.”
Breathing out a sigh, I turned the lock and opened the door.
I hated the way my breath left me on an audible rush.
A heave of relief.
The man stood there in tight black jeans and a black undershirt. Black hair a wild mess. No shoes on his feet because he didn’t take the time for that.
Was it wrong my spirit fluttered at the fact? That he’d come running for us?
But it was his gunmetal eyes filled with a worry I couldn’t quite process that sent a brick of trepidation sinking to the pit of my stomach.
“Did you find anything?” I whispered.
Ryder peered in over my shoulder, checking on my son, as if he needed to reassure himself that he was safe. Then he returned his attention to me, a sigh pilfering from between his full lips, keeping his voice lowered so he didn’t disturb Kayden. “The sound you heard was the front door banging open against the interior wall.”
A frown pulled to my brow. “I’m positive I locked it before I came upstairs.”
I mean, I’d locked it the second I’d come inside then had double checked it before I’d come up to go to sleep.
I was positive, positive.
Disquiet pulled through his expression. “Looks to me like someone fucked with the lock.”
Alarm pulsed, and that frown was pulling deeper, in confusion and disbelief. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Dakota, I’m sure. Something like that doesn’t happen by accident. But whoever it was is long gone.”
Fear sped through my senses, and I looked back at Kayden, a knot so thick in my throat I was having a hard time breathing. “I can’t believe this.”
Ryder’s words pulled me back to him. “I’m going to give Ezra a call to get someone out here to check on things, but not until I get you two out of here.”