Page 24 of The Fence Between Us

Skye wished everyone would stop talking. Her head pounded, and the jagged gash on her forehead stung when the air touched it, which was always. The gruff paramedic who tended her wound suggested stitches, but Skye declined as politely as possible. She had a thing about needles and barely got her ears pierced for her twenty-first birthday. She would rather handle a hideous scar than brave a needle piercing her skin. She’d keep her sewing to clothes, thank you very much.

Rabble, Declan, and Dash stood by, staring at Skye and her friends as they wilted into the couch cushions. Dash was the only who didn’t look like he wanted to read them the riot act. That Rabble and Declan looked so disgruntled irritated her to no end. Head wound or not, she would screech at them like an angry hen if either said a cross word about any of her friends. They’d been through enough.

Bekah, seated at the end of the couch, vibrated with nervous energy. Her knee bounced a mile a minute, and the cushions shook despite the foam padding interior. Skye was willing to betBekah had chewed down every nail on her right hand in her nervousness. Elyza looked more ticked off than anything else, like she wanted to single-handedly track down the intruder and give him what for. With older brothers like hers, Elyza probably could have won a fight with the intruder. Not like Skye. The air hit her cut again, and she winced. If Elyza had been the one on the couch, would the lovely second-hand coffee table still be in one piece?

Kellyn, for her part, sat with her hands clasped in her lap and eyes downcast, oddly quiet. There was a story there, but it was Kellyn’s to tell when she was ready. Instead of pushing for answers, Skye laid her hand reassuringly over Kellyn’s cold fingers and squeezed. Kellyn returned her light grasp in acknowledgment.

Skye thought back, ignoring Rabble and Declan’s glaring, and focused instead on what a memorable first girls’ night she’d had. When she had come to, the intruder was gone, and every light in the house was on, including the exterior lights at the front and rear of the cottage.

Bekah and Kellyn had been fretting over Skye while Elyza had run to the backdoor where the sliding glass door stood wide open, the sheer white curtains billowing softly in the breeze. Elyza, still clad in her silk tank and shorts pajama set, had stormed out the back door onto the patio to search the shadows for any signs of the intruder. She must not have seen anything because she returned a minute later, slamming the sliding glass door shut and flipping the lock with excessive force. Seconds later, she was on the phone with emergency services, rattling off their location and situation in clipped and concise sentences. Admittedly, Skye appreciated Elyza’s calm efficiency.

By the time Bekah’s trembling fingers pulled up Declan’s number, Skye had sat up and scanned her friends franticly until she was certain they were all whole. She didn’t even realize shewas bleeding until Elyza gagged. Apparently, she didn’t “do” blood, and Skye had the absurd reaction to laugh, instantly regretting it. After that, everything seemed to blur together until she found herself seated beside her friends and wishing Rabble would stop glaring at her.

“Was it him? Was it Edward?” Bekah whispered, her voice wavering.

Skye fisted her hands beneath her thighs, letting her fingernails dig into her palms to distract her. She bit her lower lip, keeping it tucked tightly between her front teeth in an effort to keep the growing words of frustration from finding escape.

Declan shook his head, agitation wafting from him like a thick cologne. “Everything we have says he’s still in California.”

“We feared this was a possibility, but if he were on the move, we would have heard from one of our sources tracking him.” Rabble’s tone was hard and unforgiving. Though he hadn’t necessarily called any of them out, his voice held a note that grated on Skye’s nerves as he tapped his thumb against his front jeans pocket again and again.

“We need a different plan,” Dash said matter-of-factly, his tone leaving little room for argument.

Rabble’s frown deepened as he listened to his friend. Skye’s head pounded, elevating her ire with each heartbeat that echoed through her skull.

They look at us like it’s our fault someone broke in here.She ground her teeth together, clamping her jaw shut until it ached.

“Stop glaring,” she ground out.

Rabble looked startled. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Rabble. Quit looking at us like we did something wrong.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Skye leaned back while the others watched their interaction like a tennis match.

“Maybe you did. Are you sure the doors were locked? How much did you drink tonight?” He winced with immediate regret. Open mouth; insert foot.

At least he knows he messed up.“First of all,” she said, her seething blatant, “howdareyou.”

“That didn’t come out the way I meant.” Rabble held his hands up like he was trying to soothe a wild beast.

Maybe she was one. She’d be roaring if the pulsing in her skull would subside just a little bit. “You’ve got about two seconds to explain what youdidmean.”

He sputtered, searching for words to help him out of the hole he dug. Skye marveled at the light-pink tinge that crept up his neck and stained his cheeks above his neatly trimmed beard. Was Rabble, blushing?

“Can we talk somewhere else?” Rabble stood and held out his hand for her.

She glanced at their friends. Each seemed overly interested in anything in the room that wasn’t her or Rabble—everyone except for Elyza, who watched them intently, a contemplative, borderline-pleased expression on her face.

Accepting Rabble’s offered hand, Skye let him lead her into the kitchen. The still-open containers of cookies and other sweet snacks sat on the counter, and she snagged a couple. She’d had a rough night, she justified, as she reached for another cookie.

In the kitchen light, Rabble carefully tipped her chin back with a finger, letting the bulb shine fully on her cut. His eyes lost some of their hard glint and took on a softer, more tender look.

“I’ve faced down many, many things that.” He paused a moment and breathed in deeply. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been as scared as I was when Dec got that call from Bekah. She’s our client, and I care about her and the others, but my first thought was ‘Skye is at Bekah’s.’”

“Well…” She tried and failed to swallow past the lump that formed in her throat. “I forgive you for being a butt.”

He arched an eyebrow, a slight uptilt pulled at his lips. “A butt?”

She shrugged, the motion sending another bolt of pain through her head. “I’m a kindergarten teacher.”

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