Her Only Salvation Page 3

  Terri didn’t argue. She stood up and let Luke lead her from the office, thoughts of Randy racing through her mind. Had he finally been released from jail? Was he free to come after her now? If he was, would he really do it after all this time? But she already knew the answer to that. Of course he would.

  The question now was, would he be waiting for her, ready to run her down the moment she stepped across the protective barrier of the club provided her like he did to that boy?

  She could only hope that having Luke by her side would be enough to keep her safe.

  Chapter Three

  Terri chewed her thumbnail, a nervous habit she had developed sometime between marrying Randy and leaving him. She did it now because she was worried. What if Randy was coming to get her? The safe world she had built at the edge of the cliff could finally be about to plummet over the side. She always knew this day might come. Now, she just had to hope he wasn’t lurking in the shadows somewhere waiting to pounce.

  Luke pulled into the short driveway and cut the engine. They sat together quietly, looking up at the squat ranch-style house.

  “Nice place,” he commented, his head nodding slowly.

  “Thanks.”

  It was a very nondescript house, only nine hundred square feet. It had a slab of concrete for a porch, box hedges under each shuttered window, so overgrown they blended together, making them appear as one giant bush. She hadn’t trimmed them in ages. A plastic bag, stark white against the deep evergreen, sat tangled in one of the branches, moving lazily with a soft breeze. The yard was little more than a strip of grass, plain and unremarkable.

  “You should trim those bushes,” Luke told her. “It’s a good hiding place for someone who wants to break in.”

  Terri’s stomach fell. She had never thought about that, but now that the idea was planted she knew she wouldn’t get any rest until the problem was taken care of.

  “I’ll cut them,” she assured him. Maybe even tonight, she added to herself.

  Luke’s head swiveled around, and he regarded her with a serious expression.

  Dropping her hand, she covertly wiped her wet thumb nail off on her skirt and searched for something to say. What kind of conversation can you hold with your boss anyway? she wondered. “Well.” Terri smiled awkwardly and reached for the handle. “Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She was all the way out of the car when Luke stepped out to join her.

  “I’ll see you inside if you don’t mind.”

  He was already moving toward the house, leaving her with little choice in the matter. She was actually kind of relieved. Nothing was more unsettling than coming home to a dark, empty home.

  Walking alongside Luke, Terri peered at the darkened windows and wished she would have had the foresight to at least leave on a lamp.

  “You shouldn’t come home to a dark house,” Luke remarked, echoing her thoughts.

  Terri smirked, bypassing him so she could fit the key in the lock.

  “Dangerous, right?”

  Pushing open the steel-clad door, she stepped inside and flicked on the wall switch. Light flooded the living room, illuminating the adjoining hallway that led to the back two bedrooms.

  Luke came in behind her and performed a cursory glance around the tight space.

  “I know.” Terri immediately began apologizing for the state it was in. “It’s a little cluttered, but it’s not dirty.”

  “No, it’s not dirty,” Luke agreed slowly. “Just a lot of furniture.”

  Terri took in the oversized sofa and loveseat, the recliner and two end tables, the coffee table and finally, the entertainment center, all crammed into the restrictive room.

  “I couldn’t afford a storage unit after the divorce, and I didn’t have the heart to let everything go,” she confessed, then immediately zipped her lips. She hadn’t intended to share her past with anyone. The more you revealed about yourself the more likely the past would come back and haunt you. And Terri’s past was better left secret.

  “You were married?” Luke sounded surprised.

  Terri wasn’t sure if she should be offended—as if a woman like her wasn’t capable of securing a husband—or embarrassed that she was standing here talking to her boss about her personal life.

  “Still am, actually. But the divorce will be final at the end of the month,” she went on.

  Of course, that’s what her lawyer had told her. It had been the same song and dance month after month for nearly a year. At first she thought it would be a quick process, but it turned out to be more complicated than that. Randy had disputed one thing or another all the way, resulting in several postponements until things could be worked out between their lawyers.

  Luke nodded slowly, his gaze sliding around the room. “Must have been something bad for a woman like you to call it quits.”

  Terri frowned. “What do you mean?”

  A shrug. “Just that I figure you to be the type with stick-to-itiveness. Care if I have a look around?”

  Terri was too tired to protest. She waved him on. “Go for it.”

  She followed closely from one room to the next. Luke peeked around the corner into the kitchen. He went for the bathroom next, drawing back the shower curtains and replacing them.

  “What are you doing exactly?” she asked him, moving to the side so he could get past her.

  “Making sure everything is secure,” he replied, opening first her guest bedroom, then her own. He stopped to study the room. “I think you might have a hoarding problem,” he told her.

  Terri glanced over his shoulder seeing the large queen bed framed by two bedside tables topped with elegant Tiffany lamps. There was an armchair in the corner by the closet, a five-drawer pine dresser she had picked up at a flea market and painted white to match the rest of the furniture, and a cedar chest at the foot of the bed.

  “What?” she said defensively. “This isn’t that bad.”

  He shook his head, a glimmer of a smile creeping up on his face. “No, not nearly as bad as the guest room, I’d say.”

  “Well nobody asked you,” she snapped.

  No longer in the mood to be judged, Terri shoved past Luke, hastily grabbing the handle and slamming the door shut.

  Laughing, Luke followed her back into the living room.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it, honest,” he insisted.

  Terri wasn’t having any of it. She had long grown tired of having to answer to a man.

  She spun on him, shoving a finger in his face. “Who taught you that you could just traipse into someone’s house and start passing judgment, huh?”

  He held up his hands in self-defense. “I’m sorry, Terri. Really.”

  Narrowing her eyes briefly, Terri backed off. If she wanted to keep her job, she better not get on her boss’s bad side. “Don’t let it happen again,” she warned.

  Luke tracked her as she moved around the room, retrieving the afghan she kept draped over the loveseat. She folded it into squares just for something to do. The man had a way of stirring up nervous energy.

  “Do you want something to drink?” she asked, growing tired of looking for something to distract herself while he stared after her.

  “No, thank you,” he said quickly. Taking two steps back, Luke opened the front door. “I should be heading home.”

  “Okay.” Terri crossed the room to see him out. Polite as ever, she mused, holding the door open as he stepped out onto the porch.

  “I’ll swing by to pick you up at four,” he informed her, and took off down the short path leading back to the driveway. Stopping midstride, he spun back around. “And Terri?”

  She raised her brows.

  “Don’t forget to keep a light on.”

  Jerking upright, she saluted him. “Yes, sir!”

  He grinned as he made his way to the car. Terri waited until he was out of sight before shutting and double-locking the door. Call her paranoid, but she felt much better having sturdy locks barring the outside
world from intruding on her personal space.

  A smile tipped her lips as she readied herself for bed. Luke may be her boss, but he had captured her attention from day one. She often replayed that fateful day she walked into Sunset Black. She was desperate for a job, and no one had wanted to take the time to train someone with no skills, no job experience, and no references. She had the word unemployable stamped across her forehead it seemed.

  Determined to land something before she went fully bankrupt and ended up homeless, Terri marched into the dimly lit club during peak hours of operation and demanded that she be interviewed. It was the first time she ever stood up for herself or raised her voice to anyone. So of course it wasn’t a character she could maintain.

  About halfway through the forced interview, about the time Luke was preparing to turn her away, Terri broke down into tears, utterly defeated.

  Worried by her obviously fragile mental state and realizing the deep need for her to have this job, he offered to start her right away. As in that night. She didn’t know a thing about bartending or waitressing, but she was eager to learn and that seemed to make all the difference.

  It was a rough start, but she thrived under the constant praise and encouragement from Luke, picking up things easily. Despite her attraction to him, as well as half the staff who looked at him with lust-filled eyes, she figured out pretty fast that he didn’t see any of them in the same light. They were more like sisters to him, and he kept a watchful eye to make sure they were staying out of trouble and trouble wasn’t finding them in turn. He offered a certain sense of brotherly protection, a shelter from the rain. Even though the pay wasn’t so great, Terri grew to love working at Sunset Black. The view wasn’t so bad either.

  One day some lucky girl would snatch Luke up, leaving his admirers grieving from the loss.

  Dressed in her pajamas, Terri ventured into the kitchen for a snack. Despite her pack-rat tendencies, her kitchen was sparse, lacking anything to make a real meal out of. Finding one last slice of bread in the bag, she made a peanut butter sandwich and poured herself a glass of milk. She was planning to fall asleep in front of the TV tonight watching infomercials.

  She was halfway to her bedroom before Luke’s words came back to her.

  Turning around, she went back and flipped on the porch light. It was going to make a dent in her electric bill, that was for sure, but she would do it because he was right. Safety was important.

  ***

  Randy drove aimlessly around city blocks, circling back to the club several times while he waited for the police to leave. It had been a mistake, allowing his emotions to rule him. But then they always had, hadn’t they?

  Ever since he was a kid, Randy had had anger problems. Like a match, once struck, the anger spread, destroying whatever it touched. Early on he tried to control it, but the battle proved more work than he was willing to put in, and eventually he just let the chips fall where they may. People inevitably got hurt, but he no longer worried about them. In nature, only the strong survived. And Randy was strong.

  The club, Sunset Black, came into view once again, and Randy coasted toward it. His fingers gripped the steering wheel as his mind replayed the moments before he snapped. The boy was out of line, moving in on his property. Like Randy, he was a man, and everyone knows that men are ruled by their anatomy.

  Terri knew that full well, too.

  Randy had watched her strutting throughout the club, sidling up to tables full of men in her barely there getup. Whores get what they deserve, he recalled his father telling him once. And Terri definitely played the part well.

  Yes, the more he thought about it, the more he realized the blame for what happened that evening lay firmly at her feet. He never would have had to punish the kid if she hadn’t drawn him in with her feminine wiles. She always had been one to spark his temper, and she had succeeded once again tonight. It was almost as if she enjoyed ruining men.

  Well, he would teach her better.

  The parking lot was dark when Randy pulled in. A quick scan revealed Terri’s white Ford Focus was still there, which meant she was still inside. Tucking the truck into a space shrouded in shadow at the far end of the lot, he waited. His plan was simple: When she drove home, he would follow her. From there, he would employ any means necessary to get inside and deliver the shock of her life.

  He could see it now, the look on her face when she realized he was back. She would be surprised, but would it be a happy surprise, or something born of fear? After the way they had left things, coupled with the fact that she hadn’t even bothered to visit him once, he figured the reunion wouldn’t be a very welcoming one.

  That didn’t bother him, though. They may have had their problems, but Terri loved him. She would never forsake him over a simple impassioned argument. She knew how he was, and she accepted that. It’s why he stayed with her for so long, after all. No one knew how to handle his tempers like Terri, which is why he didn’t feel it necessary to hold back.

  Sure, sometimes he would take it too far and he would find himself in some trouble, but it always worked out in the end. Give him an hour, and he would make Terri see that they still worked well together. He would make her understand what she had done wrong and accept her punishment like a good girl and they would move on. Things didn’t have to change. Love transcended all barriers.

  ***

  Two hours ticked by and still no sign of his wife. Eventually, a white Lincoln pulled into the lot. Moments later the neon sign overhead flickered out and the steel door popped open. Sitting up, Randy had his fingers wrapped around his keys, ready to get moving, when that big black bouncer stepped out.

  He was alone.

  Randy watched as the guy locked the doors, holding out hope that Terri would emerge—from where, he didn’t know. The place was a ghost town except for the newly arrived Lincoln and her car.

  As the bouncer got in and the car drove off, Randy thumped the steering wheel with his fist. As realization hit him, rage rose up like a tide, starting in his middle and swelling into every cell of his body.

  Somehow, probably while he had been trying to avoid being caught by the police, she had managed to slip away. Now he had no way of finding out where she was.

  Once again, Terri had managed to muck things up.

  Starting the engine, Randy threw the truck into drive and stomped on the gas. Rubber squealed against asphalt as the truck careened onto the street and cut around the corner, fading into the night.

  Chapter Four

  The weather this year had been all over the place. First it was bitter cold, then it turned warm and pleasant like Terri thought spring should be. Today turned out to be a cold, blustery day, quite unlike yesterday’s unseasonable warmth.

  Standing at the rear entrance, hidden from public view, Terri curled further into her coat while she waited for Luke to unlock the doors to the club. Her teeth chattered and she held the uniform clutched in her fist tighter to her chest, as if she could glean some kind of warmth from the thin material.

  “Come on, Grandpa,” she goaded, and bounced on her toes to emphasize how cold she was and that he definitely needed to hurry before she froze to death.

  “Hold your horses,” Luke muttered, trying another key.

  Finally the lock clicked open and as soon as Luke turned the handle, Terri shoved her way inside, eager to be surrounded by warmth.

  “Never knew you could be so pushy,” Luke complained. The smile on his face told her he wasn’t the least bit mad or annoyed, not that Terri would have cared either way.

  Shrugging a shoulder, Terri headed for the locker room. “I’ll just go get changed.”

  After relocking the door, Luke followed. “I’ll be in my office making a few calls if you need me,” he informed her, then ducked inside.

  Terri was just pushing open the door to the locker room when she heard Luke’s voice carrying from the open office door. The guy didn’t waste any time, Terri thought.

  The locker room
was pretty basic, just a few battleship-gray gym lockers lining one wall, a floor to ceiling mirror opposite and a long couch from yesteryear that was remarkably comfortable considering its age and appearance.

  Terri opened her own locker set at the far end of the row and shrugged off her coat, hanging it on the hook inside. Tugging the turtleneck over her head, she took her time folding it and placing it on the interior shelf, then proceeded to undress and redress in the same fashion until she was standing in her uniform, goosebumps rising on her arms and legs from the chill that hadn’t quite left her yet.

  Terri had never been alone at the club, before or after hours. With no one to talk to and without the chorus of voices mixing with music to drown out her thoughts, it felt strange. Even so, it was sort of nice being caught in the calm before the storm, all alone with her thoughts. It made the task of setting the bar less tedious somehow. And without the constant interruptions from having to take orders or clear the way for another of the waitresses, she found that everything she did went twice as fast.

  She had the glasses washed, dried and put back on the shelves in less than fifteen minutes. The counters were already wiped clean from the previous night, so she set about pulling the chairs from the tabletops and replacing them on the floor. Once finished with that chore, Terri wasn’t sure what else to do with herself, so she returned to the bar and started wiping the already gleaming countertops.

  When she was finished with that task, she meandered about the room, finally settling herself in a chair. As the pervading silence engulfed the room, her thoughts wandered down a dark path.

  She hadn’t been able to shake her worry from the previous night and ended up calling her lawyer first thing that morning. What he told her disturbed her. Randy had been released from prison nearly one week ago. No one had bothered to inform her, not the court and certainly not her own lawyer.

  She was furious, and she decided to share some of her outrage with her lawyer.