Never Far Away (The Never #2)(93)

She sat back quickly and pulled her hand to cover her mouth as sobs poured out from her. She cried frantically as she tried to process the fact that she had taken his life. She stood up, but then sat back down when she realized her body was not yet ready to support her. Her legs were shaky, her hands trembling, and the room seemed to be tilting like she was back in the fun house again. She took a few breaths and steadied herself, standing up slower, but making it to her feet this time.

She wobbled to the door, made it to the porch steps and collapsed down on them, sitting with her head resting on her knees. She had no idea what to do next. She was just praying she’d someday be able to erase the image of her ex-boyfriend lying dead on the floor next to her.





Chapter Twenty-Two


Porter


Porter came in from his shop where he had been taking his frustrations out on his boat for the last two hours. He was sweaty and sticky and covered in sawdust. He walked into his bedroom and his eyes flashed to his phone sitting on his bedside table. He saw the little light acting as a beacon that signaled he had a message. He reached for the phone with antsy fingers, but before he could unlock it he put it back down. There was no use trying to hurry to see if it was Ella who had called or not. She wouldn’t let him see her regardless. If it was a message from her, it would more than likely make the aching hole in his chest that much more painful to hear her voice. He put the phone down and continued into the bathroom to take a shower.

Of course, the shower was only a reminder of Ella, naked and waiting for him on that bench. He buried his head in the hot stream of water. It was no use. Again, she was everywhere. This is the same shit he’d gone through two months ago when he was being kept from her. He saw her all over his house and it drove him mad. He threw an entire plate in the garbage earlier when he’d found a piece of cheesecake hidden in the back of the fridge. He was sure she’d put it there with sexy intentions before all the shit hit the fan, and it was just taunting him, so he threw it in the garbage with more force than was necessary.

He’d had it. This was ridiculous. They promised each other no nights apart, and he’d be damned if it was him who was going to break a promise to Ella. She could shut the door in his face and he’d sleep on the porch for all he cared, but he was going to her. He was out of the shower and dressed in minutes, bounding down the stairs to get to his truck as quickly as his legs could carry him.

Before he put the truck in drive he pulled his phone out again and decided to listen to his message.

“Porter,” he heard Ella’s voice, but it sounded strange. She whispered. “I don’t think I have much time. I think he’s here.” His blood stopped moving in his veins, every part of him turned to stone at her words. His heart stopped beating, his lungs like giant boulders in his chest, locked in place not letting air in or out.

“Oh, Porter, I’m so sorry, for everything. I love you so much and I don’t want you to blame yourself for anything that’s about to happen to me. I’m so glad that you’re not here and that I could protect you this way.” He could hear her crying through the phone and he felt like he was turning blue for lack of oxygen. What was happening? Had he already lost her?

“I love you, Porter,” was the last thing he heard her say before the muffled sound of the phone being placed on a hard surface. He continued to listen, hoping to hear something that would make him believe that she was ok. But instead he heard Kyle’s voice.

“There you are, Ella.” Porter nearly vomited at hearing him say her name.

“What do you want, Kyle?” Ella said, sounding far away and distant.

“The same thing I’ve always wanted: for you not to be a problem for me anymore.” Porter heard a lot of shuffling and muffled cries, bringing tears to his eyes.

“Stop making so much damned noise, Ella,” he heard Kyle shout. “We’re headed back to where this all should have ended months ago.”

Porter froze, in so many ways, he was stuck. Where did he go from here? What came next? There was so much nothingness surrounding him, it was hard to find even the will to think about his next move. He closed his eyes and willed his lungs to give him air. His brain needed air. Finally he was able to take a breath. He took a few deep pulls of the ocean air that surrounded him and begged himself to get it together. He turned back to his phone and looked at the call log to see when she had called him.

The log said she’d called two hours ago. Two whole hours had passed since she’d called him and since Kyle had shown up and done God knows what with her. He dialed the voicemail number again to listen to the message. It would probably haunt him forever, so listening to it one more time wouldn’t make much of a difference. Hearing her scared voice, listening to her telling him that she was glad she could protect him, it took everything else out of him. Then he heard the last sentence Kyle had muttered. Back to where it should have ended months ago? What did that mean? Poppy? Their old apartment? Then, it came to him. He picked the phone back up and dialed 9-1-1. He threw his truck into drive and tore out of his driveway, relaying all the information he knew to the dispatcher.

The woman on the phone told him to stand down, that he should wait for the police to take care of it. He simply hung up on her. There was only a small sliver of a chance that Ella would even be there, and then he thought about the fact that if she were there, what were the chances that she was still alive? He didn’t have time to think about it. He pushed back all his fears of the unknown and focused solely on the overwhelming feeling of protectiveness that he was so used to. He would find Ella, he had to. And he would kill Kyle. He would take pleasure in it.