Page 5 of Lone Star Country Protector
What if Ski Mask got to Chase?
Hot, burning tears welled in her eyes.No. That didn’t happen. Chase ran. He got away in time.
Panic gripped her with fingers that squeezed so hard her ribs might crack. The simple act of breathing hurt as she dropped down on all fours and crawled along the sidewalk in front of her neighbor’s house.
She needed to think like a seven-year-old. And fast.
What did Chase like to do the most? The answer came immediately.Tents.He loved to climb in tents or find the smallest hiding places.
The trunk of her sedan? Could he have climbed in from the back seat? Would he know it was possible? Would he figure out how?
She popped to her feet and ran toward her vehicle while jamming her hand inside her handbag in search of the key. Her fingers closed around the key fob. She pressed the third button down, the trunk release. It automatically opened by the time she reached it.
Heart in her throat, she looked inside with a prayer Chase would be curled up playing his Switch—which was missing from the back seat—with the sound on mute.
Nothing.
How was she going to tell her sister that the light of her life was gone? Missing?Abducted?
To what end? Revenge?
Ski Mask wantedher. Would he kidnap Chase to get back at her?
Bethany, call me back.
Her sister’s trust ran so deep that she turned off her phoneduring date nights. She insisted her husband do the same. International businesses ran twenty-four-seven. Even though her brother-in-law, Greg, had a capable junior manager, Greg felt a responsibility to take calls personally to give the kind of individual service that ensured their customers stayed on with the company. Being the sole breadwinner came at a price, and that cost was long hours and missed time with his wife and child. Greg was a good person, devoted husband and loving father. He was a damn fine brother-in-law too. Greg and Bethany Vendenburg were marriage goals because they made decisions together and worked as a team.
It was a great life for Bethany. At least, it had been.
Stress seemed to be getting to Greg, and he hadn’t been himself in recent months. He’d obsessed over making plans for Chase in case something bad happened to either of them. He’d even brought up Blakely and Bethany’s parents’ unexpected deaths as a reason to get paperwork and finances in order. Cracks had been showing in the marriage for a while now too. A year? Ever since Blakely took the bench?
Bethany chalked it up to having a normal marriage. Said it was common to have ups and downs. That she and Greg were on a “down” cycle, but that it would get better. It was logical. Relationships were tricky, full of potholes and landmines.
Blakely, on the other hand, couldn’t see herself being happy in so-called domestic bliss, not even when the relationship was on an upswing. She needed her work and had kept her head down for too many years, sacrificing everything, including a personal life, to give up what she loved doing. Besides, what Bethany and Greg had wasn’t realistic for most people. Especially not Blakely. Not with her history.
A noise to her left caught her off guard, startling her. She jumped into a defensive position, ready to defendherself or strike anything that came her way. Realized it was just a rabbit.
She checked her watch. An hour and a half had passed since the attack.Where are you, buddy? Please come out of hiding. Please.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noted Dalton kept watch over her no matter where he was. Having someone around who had her back was a foreign feeling at best. Since her parents died in a highway pileup on icy roads, she’d been the one to step into the adulting role. Even while attending college in Arlington at the UT branch there, Blakely had looked after her sister, who attended Texas Tech in Lubbock, where she’d met her future husband.
While Dalton had her back, she could focus her full attention on finding Chase.
But where should she look next?
Other vehicles in driveways?
Backyards?
Dog houses?
Didn’t her neighbors have kids and grandkids? Would they have forts outside? Tree houses? Jungle gyms?
Since there were a dozen neighbors or more searching the street, this area was more than covered. She glanced over at Dalton, who immediately picked up on the fact she was about to make a move. His offhand remark six-ish weeks ago about having found his twin flame had scared her then because there’d been some truth to it. Once he told her what he did for a living, she’d bolted. The last thing she needed was a fling showing up in court to protect her. Like now. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. She prized her professional relationships and had no intention of damaging her reputation.
The whole fling caught her off guard anyway because she wasn’t into casual sex with someone she barely knew.
Twin flame?
