Slowly, I peeked from behind the stump. Not only was Abram not marching back toward me, but it seemed he didn’t hear anything at all. Because he was nowhere to be seen.
But how could that be? This particular stretch of woods was flat and expansive. It would have taken him at least five minutes to make it out of my line of sight, and it hadn’t been near that long.
I stood, brushing leaves and twigs from my dress, cursed my current trend of ruining all my designer things, and took a long look around. Where the hell was this guy? I had never seen him run and, given the sexual encounter I had with him earlier, he didn’t seem like the type to do anything in a rush.
I clutched my purse and thought about turning around. But I knew that was no good. If I didn’t get to the bottom of this, I would never have a clear head around Abram again. I would ruin this relationship before it even started.
Well, Char, there’s only one thing to do.
I didn’t know everything that was going on—in fact, the only pieces I did have about what was happening didn’t make sense when I tried to put them together—but I did know it had something to do with that old house, and I was pretty sure I could find my way back to it.
So long as Abram wasn’t there, I could make peace with the idea he didn’t have anything to do with this—that whatever he was doing in these woods was as innocent as I hoped it was. And peace, it seemed, was in short supply these days.
***
The mile up the road out of New Haven seemed shorter when full of anxiety instead of fear, but the trek through the woods was as unenjoyable as ever. Considering I had never been a nature lover—heels and hills don’t mix—I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the trip, regardless how much shorter it was this time. But something about that house seemed to draw me to it, as if a piece of myself was waking up and guiding through this place where all the trees and paths looked the same.
I barely had to think as I moved toward my destination, which was good considering my mind had basically melted into paste by this point.
The house came into view. First that awful peak, jutting out from the tree line. Next, I saw the top floor, with the beckoning light still burning in the window.
It had taken me nearly an hour the other night to get away from this place, and I was a bit stunned to realize how close to the road it actually was. Maybe being disoriented from the attack had slowed my escape.
As I drew nearer, the chipped paint and quaint structure exposed beneath the waning sunlight made the old house look less monstrous and more lonely. Or, as lonely as a house could look anyway.
Here was this house, sitting untouched and outpaced by the rest of the world. It was sort of sad. But, more than that, it was almost beautiful. Or at least it would have been if this hadn’t been the location where I’d nearly been eaten alive by a pair of quarreling monsters.
I stepped closer to the house, pursing my lips at the already repaired window. For a house that looked as though it hadn’t been touched in fifty years, it sure had an efficient handyman.
I pushed all of that out of my mind. At this point, I didn’t care about solving this mystery. The only thing that mattered was ruling out Abram as a participant in it.
Inching forward, I bit my lip as the door revealed itself to me. He wasn’t going to be here. He was a good man—a bit of a dick, sure, but not the sort to lie, not about something like this. He was old fashioned in a way I couldn’t really describe. He was untouched by time, sort of like this house. Sort of like—
Sort of like the kind of man I would find standing in the threshold of the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. Apparently.
My heart sank at the sight of him. No, Abram. Please, no. However small it was, this man who I had just slept with had a part in all of this.
His dark eyes scanned the periphery of the woods and, for an instant, I thought he was looking for me. Maybe he had heard my ringer go off. Maybe he had sprinted away from me quickly enough for me to lose sight of him.
He turned and walked into the house. The door slammed shut behind him, and I was alone, gasping in shock and slumping against a nearby tree.
Shock soured in my stomach, turning to hurt and finally to anger. He had lied to me. It must have been Abram himself who found me in the house that night. Of course, that would have also meant he’d fought back those monsters and saved me. But if that was the case, why didn’t he just tell me? Why did he let me limp back to town with cuts, bruises, and a mind so rocked with questions that it barely functioned?
I wanted answers. Abram owed me those answers. And, by God, I was going to get them. But I couldn’t just barge in there. He had lied to me at least once. I would have to be sneaky about this and gather some clues, or else he might hide more from me before I ever had the chance to find out. But I also couldn’t wait for him to leave. It was getting late and, if I didn’t show up soon, Lulu would worry.