Chapter Twenty-Eight
Present Day
Belle barked outside her cabin door. Cayden let her in ahead of her to shut her up. The blue beast ran around the sexy man who took up most of the space in her kitchen.
“I thought you were asleep.” Levi stood in front of her sink, washing out his travel mug.
“My cabin, I ask the questions here.” She shut the door behind her. “What happened to hunting?”
“Sucked. Your turn.”
“Someone’s parents came home early, which I’m guessing is why you’re in my cabin.”
He finished drying out his mug and wiped his hands on the drying towel. “I saw the Winnebago pull up on my way back.” He nodded at her. “What did you do, sneak out?”
“Yeah, Belle almost blew it for me, she started going nuts.” Cayden snagged an apple off the counter, but before she could bite it, he took her arm and guided the fruit to his open mouth. He took a huge chunk out of the sweet Fuji. Not sure how to measure his mood, she stepped into the living room and nibbled on the other end.
“Are you going to tell me what Wes wanted, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?”
“Pry it out,” she challenged him.
“Have it your way.” When he tackled her on to her big couch, she squealed. Nearly knocking the wind out of her, the apple hit the floor. Within seconds, Belle gobbled the rest of it before she spit out the core.
“Was that necessary?” Cayden huffed in a tangle of Levi’s limbs, trying to push him off.
“Pretty much, but just imagine what I’m going to do to you next if you don’t talk.” He shifted his weight and spooned her from behind.
It was a custom model couch where they could both fit comfortably. Toned but huge at six-five, she bought it with his size in mind. She didn’t want to roll on the floor every time they were on it together.
“Now ’fess up.”
“Where’s my Starbucks?”
He kissed the temple of her head as the fog of exhaustion finally sunk in. “Sleep first, then coffee.”
“When I wake up?”
“Fine,” he murmured against her ear.
She didn’t remotely believe him.
“Two girls who resemble Shana have gone missing in the last thirteen years,” she blurted out, unable to hold it in any longer. “While two others were found murdered.”
“Four all together!” He pushed up from the couch and away from her. “In Illinois?”
After Levi left early that morning, she did a remedial search for missing teenage girls, around the same age and general appearance. Two were left in a field, strangled.
“One was found fifty miles from here, and the other girl was discovered in a neighboring city of Wisconsin. The two who were never seen again were kidnapped from towns beyond the Iowa border.”
“But no one was taken or killed in this state?”
“No.” He moved from behind her. As he covered her up with one of Lydia’s quilts, Cayden immediately felt the coolness from his absence. “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere, I’ll be around. Just close your eyes.”
Happy to get a margin of the heaviness off her chest, she faded into that weird space that hovered dangerously close to deep sleep.
****
Expecting the worst, Levi took a deep breath before he stepped through his back door.
“Honey!” his mom shouted over the music—Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl”. Tipsy bordering on drunk, she had once again taken over his house. Pots boiled on his stove while she chopped vegetables on the counter.
He placed the Starbucks cup on the farm table.
“Enjoy your trip?” He kissed her on the forehead.
“Spas and room service,” she sang. “How was the wedding?”
“What wedding?” While she dried her hands, he dug into the candy jar full of Peanut M&Ms. Mom never went out of her way to get junk food. He wondered about the strange appearance of the candy.
“This one?” She pointed to her tablet, which held the Rich America Instagram page, with a picture of him leaning into Cayden and untying her shoe. Their foreheads touched and their bodies were only inches apart.
“Who’s the rugged hottie?” his mother read off the comments. “I sure wish he would take off my shoe… So sexy, this is what Cayden Young is hiding, lol.”
“Don’t feed the trolls, Mom.” He reached over and turned off the tablet.
“Why not?” Cayden walked into the room from the living room. Dressed in jeans and t-shirt, she stepped into the kitchen appearing every bit the beauty queen. His heart skipped a beat. He wished it didn’t, but he had little to no control over his heart since their teenage years.
“What is with all these nuts?” he asked, changing the subject. Acorn decorations hung from the door and five different jars of M&Ms, separated by color, lined his counter.
“No clue. I unpacked the box on the porch,” his mom admitted before Cayden grabbed her for a dance around the kitchen to Joe Cocker’s “A Little Help from My Friends” while they laughed. A sweet, endearing moment he didn’t want to get used to. Cayden twirled her around from what appeared to be punch-drunk silliness.
He turned to the stove and stirred the pasta his mother had put on. “For my quilting club.” She laughed, out of breath once they were done dancing.
“You do know you don’t live here anymore, right?”
“Ha, ha, funny man, and where are my piano and Louis the IV chair?”
“In storage,” he told her flat out. “And if you want me to put it in your cabin, let me know.”
Her face fell into mighty frown before she grabbed the spoon and shoved him out of the way.
“Now you.” He pointed at Cayden. “What’s with all the nuts?”
She shrugged innocently. “’Tis the season. Thanksgiving is coming up and nuts are all the rage.” Her right eyebrow twitched at the lie.
He made a move around the table but she dodged him and picked up the Starbucks cup.
“Greg stopped by,” his mom said over her shoulder. “He wanted me to tell you that the offer is still on the table if you want it.”
“What offer?” Cayden asked. She drank her candy mix of sugar and cappuccino while slipping him the evil eye over the rim of the cup.
“Probably the same one that came with the nuts.”
“Well, I’m certainly glad you two are playing nice,” Mom hissed. She quit stirring long enough to confront them. “My quilting club will be here soon and I’d hate to subject them to this crazy tension.”
“Are you seriously kicking me out of my own house?”
She pinned him with the same pissy look he gave her about the furniture. “I think that dimwitted Assistant DA has donated enough to the gossip mill for at least another week. Trust me, you two should scatter.”
Never easily embarrassed, he felt the color drain from his face. “Fine… We have an appointment anyway,” he muttered. “Clean up your mess when you’re done.”
As his mom turned up her nose, she went back to preparing her food. Walking out with the same ominous dread he walked in with, Levi grabbed Cayden’s hand and guided her out the door.