Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) (32 page)

He nudged her shoulder with his, “Stayin’ put.”

Her smile faded when the lights lowered, Gus had closed the club for the night. Walking behind the bar she searched out her bottle tucking it into the fold of her arm, then taking Landon by the hand. “Movie time, no arguments and you’re staying in the spare room.”

“Yes ma’am!” He saluted as she dragged him into the elevator.

***

The sound of a throat clearing forced Mikala to open her eyes. Carl stood over her with his arms crossed and an angry glare.

“Care to explain yourself, what the hell happened here last night?” Carl asked.

Mikala felt a body stir beneath her and raised her head to find London laying on the sofa and her body folded into his arms. Landon opened his eyes and smiled up at Carl. Carl helped Mikala to her feet and Landon stretched lazily grinning up at him.

“Nothing’s happening here, get real,” Landon said. “We fell asleep watching a movie.”

“Uh huh,” Carl grumbled.

“Wishing it was you?” Mikala heard Landon whisper into Carl’s ear as he walked off to the washroom.

“Thanks for waking me, what time is it?” she asked, as she filled her coffeemaker with water and turned it on.

Carl looked at his watch. “Ten after eleven. Kind of early,”

“Eden’s meeting me for lunch. Keep it under your hat,” Mikala held her finger to her lips as she made a shhh sound and grinned. “Girlie spa time and Landon’s not invited, think you can help keep him distracted?”

“Do I look like your slave?” Carl snarled. “Besides, do you think it’s wise going out without the incredible hulk at your tail?”

With her hands on her hips she tapped her toe on the floor and tilted her head. “Are you going to do it? How about a paid night off,”

“Friday night?”

Tucking her bottom lip between her teeth she thought for a moment. “Okay, Friday night.”

“Hot damn!” He held up his hand for a high five and she ignored it.

***

“All set?” Eden giggled as Mikala tossed her bag into the back seat and buckled in.

“You know it,” Mikala laughed. “Where is this place anyway?”

“Deadman’s Cove. Right on the beach, my friend Tadd rents it out normally, but its empty this week so its all ours.”

“I have to be back by Friday, I gave Carl the night off so he’d make sure Landon was taken care of.”

“Mason’s going to kill us if he finds out.”

“Fuck him, he left, I need some fun without men. Sun and sand and ocean water, that’s what I need.”

“Sun and sand yes, water, not so much. It’s way too cold to be swimming in at this time of year.”

Mikala didn’t care if there was a layer of ice coating the surface, she was going to dip her toes in and savor what little time she had to enjoy it. Trips and getaways were few and far between especially with her best friend Eden, it had been years since it was just the pair of them. The time they had spent in Italy before Eden’s wedding was probably the last time they had spent time lying on a beach selfishly enjoying time away. Her thoughts of Mason and her dancing for endless hours, getting to know each other at Eden’s wedding reception made her smile. She shook her head and zapped the memory to storage where it belonged as the car came to a halt in the driveway.

Once inside the A-frame cottage they quickly unpacked and donned bathing suits, grabbed a bottle of wine, glasses and a heavy blanket and towels and ran down to the beach that lay at the foot of the stairs.

“A house on stilts, how safe is that?” Mikala asked, laying on her front enjoying the heat of the sun on her back as she viewed the rear of the tan painted building.

“Will you quit exploring the worst in things and enjoy?”

“Sorry, can’t help it,” Mikala said, sweeping her hand along the warm sand and pulling it into a pile, flattening it with her fist.

Mikala’s phone buzzed and Carl’s name showed on the screen. “How’s it going Carl?”

“Don’t know how much longer I can keep him distracted, Mik. He’s going to totally freak when he discovers you’re not here.”

“Just keep him busy. Oh and by the way,” Mikala’s heart started to race knowing what Carl was going to do when she told him. “We’re not coming back until Friday afternoon.”
“What? Are you out of your fucking mind? You think I can appease the hulk for two days?” Carl roared into the phone and Mikala held it away from her ear. “What if there’s an emergency? At least tell me where you are, I won’t tell him, but I need to know.”

She relayed the address as Eden told it to her and assured Carl they’d be fine. “I’ll keep my phone with me and I’m only an hour away. Don’t be mad.”

“Mad? Oh, I’m beyond mad. You’ll pay for this, Mikala Santino. He’s going to tear me into tiny little pieces and torch me.” He didn’t laughed when he heard her laughter on the other end of the phone. “Then when I start to heal, Mason’s going to get back and finish the job.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” she said.

“I’m going to call you every hour on the hour and you better answer or I give muscles here the address. Am I clear?”

“Yes mom, I here you, love you, bye.” She hung up without waiting for a reply.

“Mom’s pissed, we’ve done a bad, bad thing,” Mikala and Eden laughed.

“What’s here besides water and a few houses?” Mason asked.

“If his intentions are to simply hide, it’s the perfect spot. Most of the houses are rentals and it being so late in the season, most of the houses are empty. I’d say ninety percent anyway.”

“And you’re sure it’s him?” Mason asked. “Are you positive?”

“One hundred fucking percent, Mase,” Chris said, annoyed with the questioning.

“Just saying I thought he would have left the country, not been a few hours away. Stay on him, we’re on our way,” Mason said.

“What’s your ETA?” Chris asked, glancing at his watch.

“Twenty two hundred.”

“Text me when your close.”

“No worries.”

Mason rubbed his hands over his face and yawned. He was assessing whether to text Mikala or not. He knew she was still pissed with him it was evident by the lack of text or phone calls from her. By his watch, she would be up to her eyeballs with customers, he would wait for morning.

He put the car into drive and checked for oncoming traffic before making an abrupt U-turn.

“So?” Chase waited patiently. “Where we headed?”

“Deadman’s Cove,” Mason announced.

Chase punched it into the GPS. “I don’t like the sounds of that, anything with dead in it can’t be good.”

“I’m none too happy myself,” Mason said. “I don’t think it’s too far from Pigeon Cove, we went there one summer with Glenn and the boys, remember?”

“Those summers with the boys tend to be a bit fogged over for some reason.” Chase laughed. “You think we’ll be there by ten?”

“Fucking right,” Mason put his foot to the floor.

Forty five minutes later they were nearing their destination as Mason was starting to get a trigger-happy feeling. Chase texted Chris, a member of Mason’s valued team, and made arrangements to meet at an abandoned shack not too far down the road from where Ross Stiles was hiding out. His escape and unexpected resurfacing had shocked everyone and it was agreed that it was best not to let Mikala know a thing until he was found and safely locked up. Mason feared that by keeping it from her all this time she was going to lose it on him, hopefully he could make her understand, and it wouldn’t cause yet another rift between them.

Blackstock nodded as Mason climbed from the truck and shook his hand. “I must be out of my mind for doing this, it’s certainly out of my jurisdiction. You’re on your own. If you screw up and my name gets dragged into this all bets are off, I’ll make sure you go down right along with this bastard.”

“You brought the fishing gear, right?” Mason asked.

“Of course.”

“So, you were fishing with buddies when you heard the call,” Mason winked.

Blackstock was the one to contact Mason regarding Ross Stiles’ resurfacing, he could be fired for giving out information before it went public, he was risking it all and Mason had no intentions of breaking that kind of trust.

“And, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Detective. I got an anonymous tip that led me here.”

“Like I said, jurisdiction and all…the names Harry,” he offered. “How do you want to handle this?”

“We surround the place and wait until he comes out. Then we swarm all over the fucker.”

“Why don’t we just bust the door down and take him while he’s sleeping and off guard?” One of the others asked.

“Breaking and entering that’s always smart, take him down and lose him on a technicality.”

Chris came forward with phone in hand texting wildly. “The neighbors are home, Martin saw a light on earlier and now he says they appear to be watching TV.”

“How many in the house,” Mason asked, waiting impatiently for a reply.

“Three. There are two women on the lower floor, a man upstairs.”

“Tell him to keep a distance but watch them, we don’t want any innocent bystanders hurt,” Mason ordered. “Let’s get into place. No one moves until I say the word.”

***

After finally figuring out how the gas fireplace worked, Eden poured them each a glass of wine and they sat side by side wrapped in blankets, watching the flames dancing behind the smoked glass of the fireplace.

“This place is kind of creepy at night, it makes strange noises too.” Eden sipped from her glass. “We are so sharing a bed.”

“Agreed,” Mikala huddled closer. “Can we talk about something else? And it can’t involve Mason or scary shit.”

“Chase and I are flying to London next month to visit his brother Sable and sister Rheanna.”

“She’s out of rehab?”

“Clean and sober for nearly a year,”

“Wow, that’s amazing.” Mikala said, as the ceiling above them cracked. She held her breath as her eyes wandered across the darkness.

“What was that?” Eden asked.

“Probably just the place settling, it’s an old building.” She shoved it into the back recesses of her mind. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“Not since Chase was shot.”

Another creak, but from the stairs this time and Mikala’s eyes met Eden’s. Her finger covered her mouth as they sat wide eyed and quiet until they heard another sound and Mikala’s heartbeat thudded violently in her chest. Her hand grasped Eden’s arm and the look of terror in Eden’s eyes assured her she wasn’t just hearing things.

“That was a long time ago,” Mikala said, as she stood pulling Eden to her feet, gesturing towards the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Eden squeaked out.

“She’ll be happy to see you
coming down the stairs
.” Mikala lay emphasis on the last of her sentence and nodded to the staircase.

“I don’t know what we’ll do when we see her.” Eden said, trying to keep her voice from quivering.

“You’ll
surprise her
of course; show her how much Landon taught you while she was away,” Mikala said, swiftly yanking her behind the stairs and waiting as the intruder stepped off the last step, walking towards the fireplace.

***

Mason and Chase lay silently in the sand watching the windows of the darkened house for any signs of movement. Chase’s phone vibrated and he pulled it from his pocket, took off his ball cap and held the phone inside to block the light before viewing Landon’s number. He knew he couldn’t answer and sent a text instead.

Can’t talk at the moment. Sticky situation. Text me.

Fuck man, got a sticky situation of my own.

?

Eden and Mik fucked off.

???? when? where?

They borrowed a friend’s place for a few days and side tracked me with moving shit.

Mason’s going to go ape shit.

Why do you think I called you?

Have to tell him, give me a sec.

When Chase looked over to Mason he was burning a hole the size of the grand canyon into his skull with a death stare. “Not the best time to be fucking around on your phone,” he whispered.

“Read this, but hold your shit.”

Mason’s face turned from confused to furious within a second. “What the fuck,” he mouthed. “Like I don’t have enough on my fucking plate,” Mason covered his hand over his phone and started texting.

Where the fuck are you, Mikala?

When there was no immediate reply he sent a second and third text and huffed impatiently at the blank screen. “Find out where they are, Chase,” he ordered.

Less than a minute later Chase scowled at the screen, his head slowly turning towards the house off in the distance, with a dim light from a fireplace in the window.

“Big problem, Mase. Huge fucking problem,”

“What are you talking about?”

“You wanted to know where they are,” Chase said.

“And?” Mason asked impatiently, watching Chase’s finger unfurl from his fist and slowly point off into the distance.

“No fucking way. It’s not possible.” He shook his head, his jaw gaping open.

“The GPS tracker on Eden’s phone says otherwise.” Chase raised his brow.