Chapter 23
It was their final day in the city before heading home. Prior to the long drive ahead, they stopped at the mall to gather the last details needed for their upcoming Gala. Megan had not had so many options in one place in so long. She made the best of her time, gathering all of the things she wouldn’t have access to in person until another trip came up.
The men tended to the kids at the family play area within the space while the ladies did some serious retail damage. Delivering their bags to the guys, they took off for another round, Meg practically sprinting, dragging Sam along behind her.
“Who is this girl? What did you feed her this morning?” Sam teased, winded behind her friend. “Never mind…don’t answer that!” she said with her hands up to deflect any reply.
Colton and Dawson laughed and watched the women hit the next row of stores.
“Meg seems really at home here,” Dawson laughed.
“That she does. I guess it’s true what they say…you can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl. Or, in her case, the mall,” Colton reasoned.
“Well, she seems happy, relaxed even. I take it things are working out?”
“I think so. We talked about everything. She hasn’t let me in entirely, but she said she wants to tell me everything. She loves me, wants to fight for us too,” Colton said, smiling. “I’d call that progress.”
“Good! I’m happy for you. Hopefully, Coop has some info when we get back, and whatever else is looming will be resolved,” Dawson said, sincerely wishing that would be the case.
“Look at us…a couple of love sick bastards talking about our feelings,” Colton said, full of sarcasm while rubbing his friend’s shoulder.
“Go to hell, Sparks!” Dawson bit back, shrugging Colton’s hand off his shoulder.
“Yeah, we’ll need to go shoot some shit in the woods when get back and earn some of our man cred back,” Colton reasoned.
Then a little voice hollered from under the slide, “Twenty-five cents in the bad word jar. Both of yous!” Caught again by the tutu patrol.
Megan and Sam were at their final destination, a bridal shop. The perfect shoes for the Gala were somewhere in this mall, and this was the last store to explore.
“You know what they say…save the best for last,” Sam said, trying to add a little optimism to the bleakness of today’s shoe shopping.
“They’re here. I can feel it! I can almost smell them. Sexy, strappy, mile high, and a touch of glitz!” Megan replied.
Truth was, she was feeling something, and it wasn’t necessarily the shoes…but something unsettling, a roll in her gut, and a shiver down her spine. She looked over her shoulder, over and over, finally settling on it just being old nerves.
Acting brave, facing her past, and fighting for her man, was a new concept, less than twenty-four hours old. It would take getting used to.
“What is it, honey? What do you keep looking at? Afraid Colton will see you surrounded by all of these white dresses? I think he’d marry you right here in the store if he saw you!” Sam laughed.
“Huh? Oh! No, nothing like that. Just this weird feeling, probably just tired, not thinking clearly,” she said with a superficial smile.
“I hear that! Between mall sprints and, uh, the elevator…I’m sure you’re pretty exhausted,” Sam teased.
“Oh, my God, he told you? It’s not how it seemed! Ahh crap, it is exactly as it seemed, and it was fantastic!” Megan admitted with confidence.
“Whooo, go you! That a girl!” Sam said, high fiving her friend.
“Seriously, we sound like a couple of guys that just scored,” Megan laughed with her friend.
It felt good to have this again. As well as someone to talk to, shop with, and confide in. She missed this, missed her sister. She reached for Sam, giving her a side hug and said, “Thank you for being such a good friend. I meant what I said the other night over wine
. You guys are like sisters. How did I get so lucky to find the perfect guy and the best kind of friends?”
Sam hugged her back and said, “We are pretty awesome. You did get lucky, didn’t you!” lightening the somberness the mention of her sister brought on. Megan’s loud gasp interrupted the humor. She jumped up and rushed to the wall they had yet to scavenge. There they were, her shoes. They were strappy, high as hell and screaming fabulous glitz.
“They’re perfect!” she whispered, just loud enough for Sam to hear.
“Oooh. You really did smell them. How do you do that?” she questioned while admiring the lovely shoes Meg was drooling over.
They were done, had everything on their lists, including the perfect shoes. But, there it was again, that feeling. A chill chased her shoe euphoria right out of her mind. She needed to tell Colton everything, tonight, when they got home. The unease had to be due to guilt, she reasoned. Now that they had an understanding, a chance at a life together, this doubt was just a frigid reminder that she needed to share her past.
A text from Sam prompted the guys to gather the littles and shopping bags and meet them at the exit. The ladies likely hit a few more small stores on their way because the men made it there first with time to spare. An odd push from fate landed the exit right by a fine jewelry store, triggering curiosity in Colton…rings.
He perused the displays on the outside of the store as reality slapped him like the bitch that it was. Was this what they had talked about? Was this the kind of forever they were fighting for?
He heard her laughter long before she came into view. She rounded the corner, arms linked with Sam, and several more bags in hand. Her pace slowed, her smile faded, and her glow dimmed as she approached. Stopping dead in her tracks, pale as can be. Colton’s heart sank.
“Hey are you okay?” Sam asked, clearly confused. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, honey.”
Colton stood patiently, awaiting a response, concerned with the sudden change in her demeanor.
That look was all too familiar. It tugged at his insecurities as he wondered if it was the sight of him looking at rings or her past having its way with her again. Either way, it didn’t bode well for him. She was looking through him, not at him, another foray against him.
Returning from wherever her discernibly frightened mind had been, she quickly picked up her pace, adopting a fraudulent smile as they made the last several yards to their families. Colton noticed her eyes searching, looking everywhere but at him. He turned to look behind him, and saw nothing, but a man walking the other direction with his hands in his pockets and a bag swinging from his wrist.
Turning back to Megan as she wrapped her arm around him, struggling with that smile, she looked over the group, pulling Jax’s stroller close before finally speaking.
“Sorry,” she said with a nervous chuckle and quivering voice.
“Babe, are you okay?” Colton questioned, face strained with tension, searching for answers.
She looked past the group again. Dawson turned to match her view this time, noticing her unease. He met Colton’s eyes and offered a slight shrug of his brow. He wasn’t sure what to make of her behavior, either.
“Yes, I’m fine. I just…just felt light headed for a second there! That’s all!” She replied, exercising that counterfeit smile again. “I guess I shopped more than I ate. Oops!”
“Are you sure? We’ll grab something to eat when we head out right now. You’re sure it isn’t anything else?” he implored, hoping she would give him a clue, anything that would relieve him of his worry.
“I’m sure. Let’s just go. Food and a nap on the road should take care of it!” she said, pushing the stroller through the exit, side by side with Sam, in an urgent fashion for someone light headed and famished. Her eyes made one last sweep beyond where they were standing before she was on her way.
“Is it me, or is her ghost
back?” Dawson asked.
“Ghost, or me looking at rings. Maybe I
spooked her.” Defeat sounded obvious in his admission.
“I don’t know, man. I don’t think she even noticed the jeweler. She had eyes over there,” he said, gesturing to the vacant area she had been staring at.
“Maybe,” Colton said, lacking confidence.
Megan rushed to the truck, and it still wasn’t fast enough for her liking. Her heart was racing, and her panic all-consuming. It took everything she had to put on her brave face and lie to those she cared about the most. She saw him again. The man who stood outside of her shop, a few nights prior, was in Portland.
He was real, he was following her, and she knew who he was the second he grinned an evil sneer, looking at Jax. She had been found. Her nightmare finally realized.
She couldn’t get home fast enough. They needed a head start, and she hoped she had, at least, a brief one. She could figure out the how’s and why’s of being found later. She was prepared for this, had everything ready to get away without a trace. It was time to get home, grab her bag, and run…again.
Two long hours passed as fast as a rock melts in winter. This drive was a bitch, and they were only half-way through it. Tensions were high, feelings bruised, and anxiety flowed. Megan spent a good portion of the trip “napping” yet didn’t get a lick of sleep the entire journey. Laying her head against the window, eyes closed, was her way to avoid conversation and more lying while she planned her next move.
She hated treating Colton this way – she hated leaving him even more. What had she been thinking the night before? Facing her past? Fighting for forevers? Well, her past was here. It had been right in front of her, at arm’s length, all day. The harsh reality was that it had probably been there for months, waiting, reminding her who was in charge, and it wasn’t her. Not even close.
Now, everyone was in danger, and it was all her fault. She needed to leave, tonight, before tragedy whittled its way through her friends’ lives too. She had already lost enough.
A quick stop at the half way point for bathroom and diaper breaks finally crept up. She would make a point to be quick because time wasn’t on her side, or theirs. It was time to disappear.
The men stayed with the vehicles while the women tended to the children. Dawson checked his cell phone, remembering a buzz indicating he had a message nearly an hour ago. He pulled his phone to find a message from Blake. Their trip home just got all the more ominous.
“Need to talk to you both when you get here, alone…
Have info, make it happen
-B
“Oh shit,” Dawson said, leaning against the front of his truck.
Colton turned his direction and asked, “What’s up? Gotta go? I can watch the trucks.”
Dawson gave him an ill-tempered look and said, “No, Sparks…check your phone!”
Colton pulled out his cell phone and scanned his messages. The look on his face was evidence enough. He’d received the same message. He stared at his phone, reading the message over and over as if he might have missed something in that handful of words. He looked up, staring at the wooded area beyond before looking back at Dawson.
“What do you think he found?” Colton said softly with a sullen look that even made Dawson feel bad for the guy.
“No tellin’. Blake makes cake sound dark and painful, so it could go either way, man,” Dawson replied, wishing he had something more encouraging to offer.
“Okay, well, I guess it’s time to get home.” He nodded toward the restrooms, indicating that the ladies were on their way back.
Colton and Meg made eye contact, each giving a look as if they were caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Both quickly plastered on a manufactured smile. Both read trouble in the other’s look. She was careful not to ask if all was okay because she already knew it wasn’t, and she didn’t want to stoke any fires. He was careful not to ask because he knew she was anything but okay, and he didn’t want to make her run faster than she was probably already planning.