Eighteen

GOOD GRIEF! HOW did I make it this far in life without experiencing this kind of sex? Being married to Dylan, duh—her brain answered. Melanie immediately shut down the unnecessary thoughts infiltrating her after-sex fog. Don’t ruin it, she silently told herself.

Braden rolled over and wrapped himself around her, spooning in a way she’d never done before. Her ex didn’t like to cuddle because he would get too hot. Braden tickled the side of her neck with light kisses. “I love you, Melanie. I’ve always loved you,” he said before relaxing his head on the pillow. His breathing returned to the slow steady rhythm of sleep.

His hand lay against her stomach and she tucked her hand beneath his. If she spoke the words in return, the expectations would start again. She wouldn’t do that to herself, not tonight.

Sleep didn’t come as easily for her as it did for Braden. Moonlight slanted across the wall, causing one corner of the room to glow with pale silver light. The candles needed to be extinguished before she fell asleep. Melanie committed to memory every detail of their night together. Dinner, before and after, the laughs they shared, the way they worked together so effortlessly in the kitchen. The way their bodies fit together, the hardness of his arms and chest, and the strength of his hands. His smell. There were a thousand memories to savor and the mental replays kept her awake.

She remained unmoving in his arms until her body insisted she move. Melanie slid out of bed, making every attempt to not wake Braden. He didn’t stir as she tiptoed across the room to retrieve her bathrobe from the back of the bathroom door. Melanie tied the robe closed and blew out the candles. A drink of water often helped her sleep so she left the room and went to the kitchen.

Tweeny jumped down from the back of the couch when Melanie entered the living room. Melanie did a double take. She’d never seen Tweeny on the back of the couch before and wondered why she had been up there. Tweeny went to the dog door and scratched at the cover blocking her exit. She was a white shadow in the dark, but Melanie knew the sound of Tweeny scratching the door. Melanie ignored the dog and found a glass in the cabinet. Water first, she thought and filled the glass. She hoped ignoring Tweeny might discourage the dog from wanting outside.

Tweeny scratched again, this time with more enthusiasm.

“Go lie down.” Melanie whispered the order.

She made sure Tweeny had been outside at her normal time before bed. The dog never asked to be let out in the middle of the night, and Melanie didn’t want to escort the escape artist at—she looked at the digital clock on the stove—two in the morning.

Tweeny barked, ran to the kitchen, and pranced in place at Melanie’s feet. She dashed back to the dog door, barked once, growled, then barked more.

“For goodness sake, dog,” Melanie said and slid the cover off.

Tweeny darted outside, the flap slapping back into place behind her. Melanie’s first thought was that Braden was definitely awake after all the ruckus, and her second thought was she would watch the dog through the glass. She wasn’t wearing shoes and didn’t want to go outside.

Her mind was made up for her about staying inside while Tweeny took care of business when the dog went tearing across the yard at full speed and top volume. Tweeny was also headed for her latest escape hole along the fence.

“Oh, no!” Melanie unlocked the sliding glass door and was outside as fast as she could move. She’d left her shoes, which had been soaked in the lake, by the patio door, and she jammed her feet into them before running after Tweeny.

She figured there must be deer in Braden’s yard again, and the deer must have been what Tweeny was watching from the back of the couch. The other thoughts running rampant in her head were to not wake the neighbors by yelling too loudly. But she didn’t want to chase Tweeny all over the place by moonlight either, so she whisper yelled.

“Tweeny, no! Stop right there, you monstrous little hooligan!”

Melanie caught up with the dog and squatted down to grab her, but Tweeny’s hind legs slipped through her hands. The dog was through the hole and on the other side of the fence. Melanie stood back up and hurried toward the gate, determined to catch her dog before Braden came outside and saw Tweeny harassing the wildlife. This wasn’t exactly how she wanted the night to end. What would Braden, the game warden, think about Tweeny’s bad behavior?

By the time she was through the gate, she’d lost sight of her dog, but she heard her. Tweeny’s barking would wake up the neighbors, but at least she was headed toward Braden’s and not the other direction. Braden’s house was the last one on the street. No flash of white tails bounded through the yard, but Melanie remained alert for deer.

She made it across the yard until Braden’s deck blocked her way. The barking continued like an alarm from the far side of the house. Melanie moved around the deck and stood on the edge of the moonlit yard peering into the shadows. “Tweeny! Get over here.”

Redwoods, pine trees, and evergreen shrubs created a nice privacy screen around Braden’s backyard, but at night the back corner of Braden’s lot became a black void. The shadow of the house blended seamlessly with the yard and Melanie couldn’t see past the end of her nose. She peered hard into the night but her instincts refused to let her move forward.

The barking ceased and was replaced by a long, low growl. Melanie was ninety-nine percent sure the growl came from her dog, but Tweeny never growled and she couldn’t remember ever hearing her dog make that particular sound before. Goosebumps rose over her skin and she suddenly realized how naive and careless she was being. Being trampled by deer would be a godsend compared to being eaten by a mountain lion or attacked by a bear.

Sorry, Tweeny, she thought as she spun on her heel to retrieve a flashlight and maybe a brawny, fearless game warden, too. She screamed as a hand wrapped around her upper arm. Her body was flung to the side then arms like vise grips wrapped around her chest and middle. A hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her. Something hard like a gun pressed against her ribs.

“Shut the fuck up, lady,” a gruff voice ordered. “Who are you?”

A sound that could only be described as a melon falling on concrete made her stomach clench. The arm around her chest and the hand over her mouth fell away as her attacker fell to the ground. Before she could scream again, Braden’s voice spoke near her ear. “Go to the house and call nine-one-one.”

Braden squatted next to the body. He picked up the fallen gun, checked the man’s pulse, then stood at his full height, a towering figure in the dark. A high-pitched yip pierced the sudden silence of the yard and Melanie jumped.

“Tweeny!” she said.

“Go, now! There’s someone else out here,” Braden said.

To confirm Braden’s statement, they heard a crash like a window breaking. She stepped toward her house, but her gaze was fixed on the direction of the noise. Melanie saw the orange glow of flames near the back of Braden’s house. She turned and ran. Behind her, she heard a man’s voice followed by a grunt, and possibly a struggle, before she was on her patio and through the door.

Her hands shook so violently she could barely dial the phone. She reported the emergency and the dispatcher wanted her to remain on the line until officers arrived. Melanie didn’t hear everything the operator said. All she could think of was finding a weapon and returning to Braden. He was out there alone with bad guys! She couldn’t abandon him.

She grabbed her weapon of choice and convenience, a section of two-by-four from the garage. She ran across the house and a gunshot cracked the night like thunder. Melanie threw herself to the floor. Her phone skidded away in the dark. Thinking of her own safety didn’t occur to her. Maybe being a mom taught her to put the people she loved before herself, or perhaps she was born this way, but Melanie scrambled back to her feet and ran out the door wielding her lumber without pause.

The flashlight was forgotten. Sirens sounded in the near distance, but all she could see was the looming house next door, the contrast of moonlight and shadows, and the small glow of flames behind the house.

She rushed forward until she found the shape of a man. He stood with his back to her. Even in the dark, his silhouette was recognizable. She ran straight to Braden’s side. He must have heard her coming because he looked over his shoulder.

“Stay back!”

Her momentum and adrenaline carried her forward.

“Are you all right?”

“Stop!” he yelled.

She finally caught his demands and skidded to a halt. Then she noticed Braden pointing a gun at two men on the ground. The first man, the one who grabbed her, appeared to still be unconscious. The second one was face down with his hands laced over the back of his head.

“Go back and wait for the police. When they arrive, tell them where we’re at,” Braden ordered.

Melanie nodded. Braden had the two men under control. Her heart still raced, but seeing him upright and knowing he was alive lessened the sheer panic racing through her blood. She heard his order but had to process the situation for a second before her body would obey.

Braden tried again, demanding she leave him with the two intruders. “Get back now,” he said loud and clear.

Her gaze dropped to the men on the ground. She was vaguely aware of the neighborhood dogs barking. That reminded her of Tweeny. Her dog took that very moment to come running out of the trees toward Braden and the men.

“No!” She moved to intercept Tweeny.

Braden stepped to the side, gun still pointing at the conscious man. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”

Tweeny darted around Melanie and went straight for bad guy number two’s face. Melanie dived in to snatch up her. The man may have been trying to protect his face from Tweeny’s teeth, but his hand ended up wrapped around Melanie’s ankle.

Another shot went off, loud enough to render her temporarily deaf, and definitely loud enough to cover up her scream. Her protective instincts shifted into overdrive and she swung the two-by-four. Because she was still deaf, she didn’t hear the crack of wood against skull, but she felt the impact, and her insides curdled. Her ankle was freed and she jumped back. Tweeny ran home with her tail between her legs. The bad guy was shot in the leg, thanks to Braden, and he was also unconscious or possibly dead from the blow to his head.

Cops informed her shortly thereafter that the men were not dead. The scene in front of their houses turned into an instant reality show featuring an ambulance, fire truck, and quite possibly every police vehicle in the county. Her street was blocked off and the neighbors were asked to stay inside with the doors locked.

If this reality was hard to get a grip on, things became exponentially stranger as the night turned to day. She and Braden answered questions together in her kitchen until men in suits arrived. Braden was escorted outside and he didn’t come back. Melanie was asked if she had someplace safe to go for a few days.

She was not given details or satisfactory answers as to why she needed to leave her home when it was the house next door that had been burgled and set on fire. An Officer Kilpatrick was assigned to stay with Melanie as she packed her bag in preparation to go to Emmeline’s house. Melanie was given a ride in an unmarked car to her sister’s. Since she’d had no sleep on top of the craziest and most dangerous night of her life, she accepted the offer and didn’t insist on taking her own car.

It was during the nearly silent transfer to Emmeline and Carson’s house that the unusual treatment of her and Braden’s situation truly began to sink in. Knowing this had to do with Braden’s job and the secrecy he’d been maintaining over the summer only fueled the confusion running rampant in her exhausted mind.

After a lengthy and detailed conversation with her sister, Melanie crawled into the guest bed with Tweeny, four hours away from her house in Granite Lake, and fell into a fitful sleep.