32
Jack McLachlan
I can’t stay away from Laurelyn until tomorrow afternoon. I leave my parents’ house early to come home to be with her, but not without hearing a shitload of trash talk from my brother about being p-ssy-whipped. I may be, but I’m not complaining.
I come through the garage door and stumble over a pile of luggage. I turn on the light and recognize the bags as Laurelyn’s. What the hell is going on here? First, she wouldn’t answer my calls and now her luggage is by the door?
I walk to the bedroom, not sure of what I’m going to find. Please don’t be gone, Laurelyn. I hold my breath as I stop in the doorway. It’s pitch black, so I turn on the bathroom light and see her asleep in my bed. I release the breath I was holding.
It’s three in the morning and I only want to strip down and climb into bed with her, but I don’t because I know something isn’t right. I sit on the bed next to her and brush her soft cheek with the back of my fingers. “Laurelyn.”
She stirs, but doesn’t wake, so I say her name again. “Laurelyn, baby.”
She opens her eyes and bolts up in the bed, taking the sheet with her. “What are you doing here?”
This isn’t the welcome home I’d imagined. “I live here.”
“You told me you wouldn’t be home until this afternoon.”
“I left early because I wanted to be with you. I’ve sort of developed a habit of doing that.” She doesn’t say anything. “What’s going on? Why are your bags by the door?”
“Because I’m leaving.”
I feel my heart jump into my throat. “Why?”
“Your wife thought it would be the appropriate thing for me to do and I tend to agree with her.”
What the hell is she talking about? “I don’t have a wife.”
“Audrey paid me a visit, and she says differently. She’s stunning, Lachlan. And I should know because she stunned me.”
That psycho has traced me to Avalon. She’s getting smarter. And braver. Attempting to destroy two of my vineyards was ballsy, but now she has walked into my house and f*cked with my personal life through Laurelyn. “I’m not married to that woman.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I swear I’ve never been married.” She doesn’t say it again, but I see she doesn’t believe me. I run my hands through my hair. How am I going to prove this to her?
There’s only one way. I reach for my phone in my pocket. “You can ask my mum. She’ll tell you.”
It’s three o’clock in the morning, but I bring up my contacts and press the one labeled “Mum.” I put it on speaker and it rings a few times before she answers the phone.
“Hello?”
“Mum, this is going to sound crazy, but am I married?”
“What are you talking about, son?” My mum has no idea she’s the only one who can save me with Laurelyn right now.
“Have I ever been married?”
“No. What’s this all about?”
“Laurelyn and I had a bit of a misunderstanding. She just needs to hear that I’m not married.”
“He’s not married, dear, but I’d sure like for him to be. How are you feeling?”
Oh, hell. I mute the phone. “Tell her you feel much better. I’ll explain later.”
I unmute the phone and hold out for Laurelyn to answer my mum. “I’m feeling much better, ma’am. Thank you for asking.”
“I’m sorry to wake you, Mum. Go back to sleep and we’ll talk later.”
After I end the call, I put the phone down on the nightstand. “She wanted to know why you didn’t come with me, so I told her you had the stomach flu.”
“Oh.”
“Tell me what happened with Audrey.”
“I was in the gym working out. I stopped to take a break and I thought I saw something in the mirror. When I looked, I saw this redheaded woman in the middle of the floor watching me. I’m pretty sure she’d been standing there for a while, but I can’t be certain because I didn’t hear her come in.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That she was your wife and she loved you. She wanted to work things out because of the children.”
“Children?” Wow. She is desperate.
“She asked me to stop seeing you and leave without any contact ever again.”
Huh. “You were going to leave me without saying goodbye?”
“Only because I believed you were married with children. You know how I feel about that.”
“And you know I understand how bad it would hurt you if I were married. Why would you doubt me?”
“Because I don’t know you.”
Wow, that hurt. “But you’re wrong. Maybe you don’t know my real name, but you know me like no one else does.”
“Who is she?”
Psycho bitch. “Number three.”
“A previous companion?”
“Yes, of the deranged sort. Crazy stuff has gone down with that woman. She found out my real identity after our relationship ended and she’s been stalking me for three years. Because I travel so often, it’s hard for her to keep up with my whereabouts. When she can’t find me, she causes mischief at the vineyards to draw me out.”
“What has she done?”
“Countless things, but the most recent include the fire at Chalice and the crop poisoning at Marguerite.”
“I didn’t know about a poisoning.”
“She’s the reason I had to leave Avalon after Christmas. She hasn’t been able to find me since I came to Wagga Wagga. I think I evaded her after the fire at Chalice and that’s why she poisoned Marguerite—to bring me onto her turf at Lovedale.”
“That’s where she’s from?”
“It is, but I didn’t give her the opportunity to find me. I had a private investigator locate her first so I’d have the upper hand. I contacted her and told her to meet me in our old spot. She thought she was coming because I wanted to rekindle our relationship. I confronted her about the fire and the poisoning, but of course, she denied doing either.”
“Did you sleep with her?”
“Hell no, but not because she didn’t try. I turned her down and told her there was someone else. She didn’t take it well, so we didn’t part on good terms. Convincing you to leave me was her way of proving she could f*ck with my personal life.”
“She almost succeeded. I would’ve left last night if I’d had a place to go. I was going to the airport this morning to make arrangements to fly home.”
I kick off my shoes and crawl into bed next to Laurelyn. I need to feel her against me to prove she isn’t gone. I don’t tell her how glad I am she’s still here or about the fear I had when I thought she was leaving me. Maybe she already knows. If she does, she doesn’t mention it. She lets me pull her close, and I’m content with simply holding her in my arms after almost losing her.