'Will you come back for supper? I think it will make Mother feel better if you're here.' She rubbed against him. 'It'll make me feel better, too.'
He nuzzled her ear. 'You couldn't possibly feel any better.'
Laughing with self-deprecation, she said, 'I'm being shamelessly easy.'
'I haven't exactly played hard to get.' He pecked her lips with his. 'Save my place.'
She waved him off, watching like a lovesick puppy until his SUV was out of sight, then she climbed the stairs and went into the guest room that she'd occupied since last Friday night.
Upon entering the room, she spotted the bag of Oren's gifts sitting on the bed. Seeing it made her shiver. She had retrieved it this morning from the closet in her bedroom, the one Dodge had been sleeping in until last night. After getting Ski's call that Oren was regaining consciousness, they'd rushed from the house, leaving it and its contents on the kitchen table.
Who had brought it up to this room? She didn't want to look at it but was loath to touch it, so for the time being, she left it where it was. In an attempt to banish all thoughts of Oren's dying moments from her mind, she was eager to feel the heat of the sun on her skin, the embrace of the cool lake water.
After quickly changing into a swimsuit, she jogged downstairs and went to her mother's bedroom. She wanted to ask her about the bag, but when she opened the door, she saw that Caroline was curled onto her side, hugging the pillow that would have been Dodge's. Probably she had cried herself to sleep. Berry decided to leave her in peace.
She walked to the edge of the pier and dove into the lake. She swam underwater for as long as she could hold her breath, then surfaced and began swimming a vigorous crawl. The tension in her muscles gave way to a burn that felt good.
When she tired, she rolled onto her back and floated, expending just enough energy to keep herself afloat as she gazed at the white puffy clouds overhead and thought about the bizarre events that had taken place since the last time she'd gone for a swim.
So many bad things.
But good things, too.
She'd met Dodge, and, despite what her mother believed, she refused to accept that he would abandon them again. He loved her mother. Berry would bet her life on that. And he liked her. She knew that to be equally true.
No, she thought decisively, Dodge wasn't out of their lives yet. Even if he was operating under that delusion, she wasn't going to let him go.
And Ski. They'd got off to a rocky start, but sexually, they weren't merely compatible, they were combustible. He left her as hungry as she was satisfied, and the same seemed to be true for him. They'd pleasured each other until they were weak, but still they'd wanted more.
Aside from the marvelous sex, she also liked his solidness, admired his practical viewpoint of things and his unmitigated honesty, even regarding his own shortcomings. He appealed to her physically, cerebrally, and emotionally. He was as close as she'd ever come to
With enticing possibilities in mind, she flipped onto her belly, then did a surface dive and swam back to the pier. When she reached the ladder, she grabbed the top rung and was about to pull herself up when a head popped over the edge of the pier.
CHAPTER 29
OREN STARKS LEERED DOWN AT HER. 'SURPRISE!'
Berry screamed and tried to push herself off the ladder, but Oren grabbed her wrist, clamped a handcuff on it, and jerked hard. 'Get out of the water!'
Her only thought was
'Berry, if you don't get out of the water, I'll kill your mother.' He tapped the barrel of a handgun against the edge of the pier. 'Bang-bang, she's dead.'
Instantly she stopped fighting.
He smiled beatifically. 'Thank you, sweetheart.'
She gaped up at him with horror and stupefaction. Her teeth were chattering with terror. She couldn't speak.
'You look like you've seen a ghost. Thought I was dead, didn't you?'
Her head wobbled an affirmation.
'Well, clearly you were wrong.' He yanked on the cuff. 'Get out of the water.'
'I ... I can't.'
'Ber-ry,' he said in a singsong voice, 'I'm going to count to three. One. Two.'
'All right.' She gulped a breath. 'I'll get out. But you'll have to let go of my hand or I can't climb the ladder.'
He aimed the pistol at the bridge of her nose. 'With those long, shapely thighs of yours, I'm sure you'll manage.'
'I need both hands to pull myself up.'
'Let me make myself clear. Either you'll make do with one hand or I'll blow your brains out, then go into the house and do likewise to your mother. But only after fucking her in every orifice. If you don't think I'll do it, remember Sally.'
If he could rise from the dead, he was capable of anything. Seeing no option available to her, she placed her foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, but she was trembling so bad it slipped off. She fell forward and banged her chin on the metal rung.
'Hurry up!' Oren hissed.
Apparently he had had the same thought she had, that a boat might come near enough for her to scream for help. He alternated between charting her progress up the ladder and scanning the lake for an approaching craft. Unfortunately, this being a workday, there weren't many boaters out, and none on this inlet of the lake.
Berry hauled herself up onto the pier. She thought of lowering her head and plowing into him, surprising him with an aggressive action. But he could still shoot her, and then her mother would be helpless.
Besides, she wasn't sure she could muster the strength. She was shivering with fright and with cold now that the air was hitting her wet skin. Her teeth continued to chatter.
Oren grinned evilly and nudged her raised nipple with the barrel of the pistol. 'I took a picture of you like this. Have you seen it? You were stretched out here on the pier. The wind must have kicked up.' He stuck out his tongue and waggled it obscenely.
Berry ignored that, focusing instead on how this could possibly be happening. She'd seen his brain bulging out of his cranium, his body convulsing. The doctor had pronounced him dead. Yet now he looked completely healed and whole. Gone were the scrapes and scratches on his face and arms that he'd got during his chase through the Thicket. He didn't have a broken tibia.
