Page 11 of Threat of Danger
Oh God, I’m going to be sick.
“You can’t come back!” the man shouted.
Jess’s fight-or-flight response broke. She stood there, frozen to the spot.
I can’t do this.
She could barely even breathe. Sweat popped out on her forehead. Her skin tingled. A wave of dizziness washed over her.
She hadn’t had a panic attack in years. She no longer even carried pills.Should have asked for a prescription before coming here.Hindsight, meet twenty-twenty.
The man strode toward her, even his stride angry.
The man who had witnessed her pain, her humiliation, her bloody torture. The man who was tied so tightly to her unbearable past that she couldn’t separate him from the events. The man she’d only seen, for the past decade, in her nightmares.
“What are you doing here?” Jess whispered as he reached her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
Derek Daley.Boy next door. Star of her teenage dreams. Witness to her darkest hell.
Chapter Four
JESS NEEDED TOmake him leave.
Don’t let him get to you.
Too late. He already did, just by breathing.
Please go. You can’t be here. I can’t handle it.
Her past was going to rise up and swallow her. And if she somehow survived that, the sheer awkwardness of having to face Derek would probably be enough to kill her. He’d seen her at her worst. He’d seeneverything. Derek Daley knew all the sordid details.
“I drove past you at the stop sign.” His voice was deeper than at eighteen and rumbly. He let go of her, blinking as if he hadn’t realized that he’d grabbed her. “I convinced myself it wasn’t you. Drove halfway to the farm store before I turned around.”
High school Derek had been tantalizing. College Derek had been a walking Ralph Lauren commercial. Adult Derek was devastating—in more ways than one, even when wearing scuffed work boots, worn denim, and a plain plaid flannel shirt.
His slate-colored eyes were harder. His entire presence was harder, really. He’d always had more than his fair share of muscles—he’d been on the rugby team both in high school and college—but now he was built like an armored tank, like he could break through a brick wall, no trouble.
The way he exuded dominance and control made Jess bristle.
She liked to have the control in any given situation. The extreme control was one of the reasons why she loved her job. Sure, stunts were dangerous. But they were choreographed and strictly controlled. She knew what to expect, what was going to happen, every single second.
“Are you back for a visit too?” she asked, so she wouldn’t just stand there, staring silently at him like an idiot.Please say you’re leaving tonight.
“I moved back last year. It’s a quiet place to work.” His gaze raked her body, then fastened on her face. His expression tightened. With displeasure? Damned if she knew.
He said, “I’m an author. I write books.”
She knew, but she didn’t want to tell him, didn’t want him to think she’d been following his career. She’d never read any of his books, but didn’t want to say that either, didn’t want to sound spiteful. Instead, she said the next thing that popped into her mind.
“Your parents?”
There, a good neutral topic.Except then she thought,Why am I trying to make polite conversation?
“Pops got out of sugaring. He’s leasing to a guy from up north. I can’t believe your mother is still working the business. I heard she broke her hip.” His tone softened, but only just. “How is she?”
“The surgery went well. Hopefully, she’ll have an easy recovery.”
“I was planning on visiting her tomorrow, take Mom too. I already asked Chuck this morning if he needed help. He says he has everything in hand.”
