Tyler Anne Snell - The Negotiation

June the Cat’s meows got louder. Rachel pulled her dry food from the pantry and headed for her bowl. She paused before pouring. “Wait, how did you hear about what happened?”

Marnie managed to look sheepish. “I heard about it on the radio, or at least, they said something had happened at the school. After that I kind of went into snooping mode. Called a few people until I found someone who knew something.”

Rachel gave her a stern glance. “What have I told you about looking into the gossip mill?”

Marnie huffed but answered.

“That the answers aren’t worth the trouble,” she said. “And just looking for those answers usually only makes more gossip for others.”

Rachel nodded. June the Cat looked up at her with mild interest.

“Well, I was worried,” Marnie grumbled. “So sue me.” She went to the breakfast bar and plopped down. Rachel took advantage of the silence to reheat some leftover lasagna. She cut an extra piece and slid it to her guest. It was enough to get the young woman talking again.

“I just can’t believe it happened is all,” she said around a bite. “And they haven’t even caught the men? I mean, what if they didn’t just try to grab you because you were out in the open? What if it’s you they wanted to begin with?”

Rachel was already gearing up to combat Marnie’s worries but came up short. Not because what Marnie had said made sense—she’d already entertained the thought, though she’d pushed it away just as quickly—but because light moved across the deck.

Headlights.

“Your mom wasn’t coming over tonight, was she?” Rachel asked, hopeful.

Marnie put her fork down. She shook her head.

“She’s in Tennessee for the week.” Rachel pulled out her phone.

“Great,” she muttered. It was dead. The battery rarely lasted an entire day without needing a charge. She’d been meaning to get a new one for months.

Marnie peeked over her shoulder. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“No, but I also wasn’t expecting you.” Rachel gave her a quick smile but it didn’t stay long. She left her plate and hurried into the bedroom and straight to her closet. She bent in front of the safe David had insisted they have and typed in the combo. When Rachel turned around holding a handgun, Marnie was there to gasp.

“Stay here,” Rachel warned.

Marnie’s eyes were the size of quarters but she listened.

Rachel went into the hallway, slowly moving across the hardwood to the front of the house. Her earlier insistence that she was okay started to fade away. The weight of the gun in her bandaged hand helped remind her that things could have turned out a lot differently this morning. And they still could. Every step she took toward the front door ate up her calm.

Was she overreacting?

Had she just been in the wrong place at the wrong time at the school?

Or were the men coming for her ?

She tightened her grip on the gun. Her nerves shook her hand. The muscles in her legs readied to run. It didn’t help matters when a booming knock sounded against the front door.

She paused, a few feet from it.

There were no windows to show her who it was, so she walked softly to the peephole. Holding her breath, heart in her throat, Rachel looked through it.

“Holy buckets.” She breathed out and lowered the gun to her side. She opened the door in time to catch Dane’s fist in midair. He was quick to take in her expression and the weapon.

“Before you use that on me, know that, in my defense, I called you. Three times, in fact.”

It wasn’t lost on Rachel how much seeing the man made her feel better. Just as seeing him standing in the gym, cursing at the chained doors, had this morning. Capable, sturdy, a force to be reckoned with. Handsome, too. Though that wasn’t anything new.

“I just realized my phone died,” she said, trying to get her heartbeat back on its normal path.

Dane motioned to the gun. “Well, I’m glad to see that you’re more cautious than not. It makes my—the department’s—job easier in making sure you stay safe.” His eyes strayed over her shoulder as footsteps echoed up the hallway.

“Everything okay?” Marnie called out.

Rachel turned to find the woman holding something in her hands. It surprised a laugh out of her. “Yeah, Marnie. Everything is fine, but is that my bedside lamp?”

Marnie shrugged.

“I wanted to help,” she said defensively. She raised her chin a fraction, proud.

“Well, you can help by putting that back. Please.”

Marnie rolled her eyes but went back into the bedroom.

Dane grinned.

“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t just barge in,” he said. “If a bullet didn’t do me in, the lamp just might have.”

A look she couldn’t place passed over Dane’s expression. He took a small step backward and jutted his thumb over his shoulder. His truck was parked at the mouth of the drive, since there was no true curb around the property unless you drove back to the two-lane that connected to the town. “Everyone’s still looking for the men, but until we have more information, I thought I might hang out here for a while, just as a precaution.”

Rachel couldn’t stop her surprise from surfacing.

“Deputy Ward is keeping an eye out on Lonnie, too,” he added.

She recovered. “Oh, yeah. Well, that’s good. Especially after everything Lonnie went through today. Better safe than sorry.”

Rachel omitted that she felt another surge of relief having someone so close. It was only after he started to turn away that she wondered if that feeling was because her someone just happened to be Dane.

“Okay, well, charge your cell and give me a heads-up if anyone else is coming over,” he said, already moving down the steps. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Hey, Dane.”

The words left Rachel’s mouth before her mind could catch them. Dane turned, but his expression was blank. He was shutting down.

Again.

Still, Rachel was riding the high of feeling relief and, after the day she’d had, she didn’t want it to stop.

“You could stay inside,” she said. “In the spare room or on the couch. It isn’t like you haven’t slept on either before.”

She tried to smile. She really did. She tried to remember the man who had been her husband’s best friend. The man who had been her friend. The one who had smiled and joked and never turned down an invitation from them to come over.

But time had a funny way of making memories hurt, even when they were good ones.

And maybe that showed.

Dane shook his head and averted his gaze. “I can’t.”

He went back to his truck without another word.

Then, all at once, Rachel felt her anger returning.

This time it was aimed at a man named Marcus. Not only had he taken her husband from her, he’d all but taken her friend, too.

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