Duncan (The Protectors #3)(22)

Jared and Sid were already there, sitting on their own bikes. As soon as she and Duncan pulled in next to the Warriors, with a coolness that would make any woman’s heart flutter, they stepped off their bikes. Jared waited until Duncan parked before carefully picking her up and setting her down so Duncan could step off.

No one said a word. It was if they all knew something major was about to happen, at least something major to her. Without thinking twice about it, Pam reached out and grasped Duncan’s hand tightly. She was scared, scared to death. She was about to step into a past that terrified her.

Walking in the door, she stared straight ahead, swallowing the bile that hit the back of her throat. The smell was the same. She hated the smell of this hallway. It smelled like pain, fear and defeat to her.

Duncan stopped. Immediately, a few steps behind them, Jared and Sid stopped too, waiting for Duncan’s signal. “You don’t have to do this.” He looked down at her, his eyes searching her face for any sign of retreat.

Gratitude filled her, but she shook her head. “I do have to do this, Duncan. I have to take back my life. It’s just an apartment…right?” She forced the small smile on her face, but he didn’t return it. He just squeezed her hand gently.

They stopped in front of apartment 3. Pam made no move to open the door. Clearing her throat, her eyes steady on the door, she dropped Duncan’s hand. “I don’t have a key.” She was thankful that no one said anything; she would have lost her nerve to speak if they had. She felt their eyes on her. “I wasn’t allowed to have a key. If he wasn’t here, I waited outside until he got home.”

Three different tones of growls filled her ears as Duncan moved her carefully to the side. With one well-placed kick, the door flew open, bouncing off the wall.

“Who needs a key when you have one of us with you?” Duncan winked at her, but didn’t walk in, he waited for her to make the first move.

Taking a deep breath, Pam moved one foot in front of the other, feeling Duncan right behind her. Stopping just inside the door, her body froze. Kenny had liked to hide from her after locking the door. He would hide behind the door, and as soon as she walked in, he would either push her into the room or smack her in the back of the head. Her eyes shifted to the door Duncan had just kicked open feeling an unsettling fear that he might be there, ready to pounce.

“No one is here, sweetheart,” Duncan said behind her. “You’re safe. Nothing and no one will hurt you.”

Pam jumped at his voice then slowly looked at him over her shoulder and saw the truth in his eyes. She was safe. Kenny had no power over her anymore. With a slight nod, she stepped the rest of the way into the room and felt a small sizzle of power edge its way back into her mind. She walked into the apartment without Kenny being there. Yeah, she’d take whatever she could; even something as little as that gave her a surge of power. Her eyes searched the small apartment, purposely avoiding the dining table. He had liked to use that table for his sick games. She knew she would have to confront it, but for right now, it was enough that she was inside without breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Where do we need to look?” Sid asked, keeping his voice low, knowing her nerves were on edge and ready to break.

For a second, she didn’t say anything. She had to figure out how to keep them out of the bedroom. She knew what was in there waiting for her, but she didn’t want them to know. If they had been through it already while she was missing, she didn’t know it, and she didn’t want to face it with them watching her every move. She could smell the old blood and knew they could too.

“Why don’t you start out here?” Pam pointed to the living room area, her voice shaky praying they didn’t question her motives. “He liked to hide papers in books. You might find something there. Also under and behind the couch as well as inside the cushion covers.”

“Done.” Sid nodded glancing at Jared and Duncan with a knowing look. Each Warrior looked toward the closed door at the end of a short hallway where the scent of blood came from.

“Can you look in the kitchen?” she asked Duncan when Jared and Sid started going through their area. “He hides stuff in the freezer at lot. Also, pots and pans.” It wasn’t like she was lying. Kenny did do all of the things she just said, but she knew where the most important things were hidden, and she had to take care of that…alone.

Duncan stood staring at her, searching her face, but finally nodded. “I’ll be right there if you need me.”

Feeling her throat close with tears, she could only nod back. He turned first, his gaze landing back on the door at the end of the hall before disappearing into the kitchen. Pam gave a sideways glance at Sid and Jared to find them still searching, but eyeing her. With a deep breath, she focused on her destination, and once again, put one foot in front of the other.

She found herself standing in front of another closed door, this one even scarier than the last. Reaching out, she touched the knob with shaky fingers. Slamming her eyes closed, she gave a twist, swinging the door open with force. When nothing happened, her eyes opened, and just like that, she was taken back, back to the past where every foul word said to her and every foul deed done to her smacked her in the face shocking her with the pain that pierced her chest.

Without warning, she bent to the side, throwing up the toast she had for breakfast.

*****

Duncan stood in the kitchen trying to calm down. His body was buzzing with too many emotions; he felt like he was going to explode. His focus wasn’t really on what was in the kitchen because he knew this was a decoy. Pam knew exactly what she was doing and where she needed to look, but she wanted to do it alone. It took everything he had to abide by that because he smelled the blood; though old, he smelled it and knew it was Pam’s. That alone sent his protective instincts into overdrive making him shake with rage. Hearing her small footsteps moving down the hall, Duncan stepped out of the kitchen and leaned against the wall where Pam wouldn’t see him. He glanced at Jared and Sid, and saw they too had stopped their search, their focus on Pam. They had also seen her ploy and were ready to aid her if needed. It touched him that his fellow Warriors cared for his woman and would protect her if he couldn’t.