Page 101 of A First Sight
There wasn’t much to do but relax on the couch, talking and reading books together in front of a crackling fire. But we usually ended up kissing, heading for the bedroom.
It seemed like we were the only two people in the world. We didn’t have anyone else’s needs to attend to, no work to obsess over. It was…simple. And my life hadn’t been simple for a long time.
Once we finished in the kitchen, we headed back to the couch, where we settled in to listen to music.
Drake broke the silence. “The storm should clear by morning.”
“We’re good on supplies until probably Sunday,” I said. “Do you think we should go into town tomorrow to pick up some things?”
“It depends if we're going to stay longer…or go back home.” He looked at me, his expression serious. “We should talk about it.”
“I know.” I sighed. “And I think we should go back. Dale hasn’t messed with Carson or London, and no one has seen him. I even told the police we left the city.”
“Maybe he’s waiting for you to go back to work?” Drake asked. “He was furious when he got fired.”
“I called Nehemiah yesterday. He said Dale sent his lawyer to threaten legal action if they didn’t rehire him. But it won’t go anywhere.”
Drake opened his mouth to say something, but before he did, the electricity went out, leaving the fire the only source of light.
“I have generators in the garage.” He stood. “I’ll call the electric company first. I’ll find out how long the electricity will take to come back. We might have to leave early in the morning.”
I nodded. As I walked to the stairs, I saw Drake set the landline phone down without having said a word. “What’s wrong?”
“It looks like the storm also knocked out the phone lines.” He grimaced. “Check your cell. I’ll go start the generators. Be back in a minute.”
We parted ways. I checked my cell––no service, as expected––and went up the stairs to the bathroom. A couple of minutes later, I was coming out when I heard the rumble of the generator and caught the flicker of lights before they came on. I smiled as I headed down the stairs, but that changed the moment I saw Drake’s face. His expression was grim.
“Drake?”
“The storm is not the reason the landline is down.” His eyes met mine. “The line runs through the garage, near the fuse box. It’s been cut.”
Ice settled in my stomach. “Cut?”
“Very cleanly. There’s no chance it was an animal chewing through it.”
“Shit,” I breathed out the word, my lungs feeling like they were being compressed. “Should we just go?”
It was late and dark, with no streetlights, no way of knowing where trees or electrical wires were down. The rain wasn’t hard, but it was icy, which meant the roads would be dangerous. I understood why he was hesitant to leave.
A loud bang from the front sent us both spinning around to see the door open and a figure standing in the now-open doorway.
Dale almost sounded amused as he said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
Fuck.
SEVENTY-FOUR
DRAKE
I grabbedMaggie and moved my body between her and Dale.
“That’s cute,” Dale said with a bitter laugh. “You should know by now that nobody gets between me and my woman.”
“I’m not your woman, asshole,” Maggie snapped from behind me. Her hand rested on my back. “I have a restraining order in place, and you breaking in here will not look good for your case.”
“I’m not going to jail,” Dale snarled. “Because you’re gonna drop all of that shit.”
“You had your chance. I dropped the charges, but then you assaulted me again, Dale. You couldn’t stand to see me happy, so you tried to break me. You tried to destroy what I had with Drake,” Maggie said. “How did you even find us?”
