Page 49 of Ace (The Deuces Wild #4)
Savannah had retrieved her few things from the bedroom at the Ritz earlier tonight.
That was harder than she’d expected. Just seeing the mussed bed sheets where she and Keller had made the sweetest, tenderest love shredded her already aching heart.
But dutifully and resolutely, she’d changed into her old clothes, then neatly folded the items Keller had bought for her and left them in the shopping bag they’d come in.
She didn’t need those fancy underwear either, so she left them behind.
Plain cotton panties were more her style. Nothing special, like her.
She left a thank you note and a tip for Roger Tanner on the counter for all he’d done for her dogs.
But she left no note of goodbye for Keller.
Just took her dogs and left. He’d understand.
This was what he’d wanted all along. They didn’t belong together.
It was easier this way. He wouldn’t have to face her now.
She wouldn’t have to face him. The end. Roll credits. Goodbye.
Yet something nagged at the back of her mind, knock, knock, knocking at the mental barrier she’d locked up tight and thrown away the key to. That barrier. The only thing that stood between her and Keller. Try as hard as she might, Savannah couldn’t sleep once she’d gone home to Sanctuary.
The entire house stunk of smoke. She wished she’d at least called someone in to clean it while she’d foolishly taken off with Keller. That would’ve been smart, but apparently, Savannah was not very bright.
Yet she knew the pervasive, pungent odor of smoke wasn’t keeping her awake.
It was more of a feeling, a sense of something wrong in the universe.
It was a presence. Holy Mother, it was him.
The warlock! That was who’d crept into the back of her mind.
He was the naysayer she’d been unconsciously listening to since…
since… She had to stop and think. The whispers had all started the day Gran Mere passed.
Savannah struck out at her unwanted psychic visitor. ‘What do you want?’
‘Is Keller with you?’ Isaiah asked, his tone unexpectedly sharp.
Savannah sat straight up in bed. ‘Ooops. I thought you were someone else. No. Wasn’t he with you guys?’
‘Who’d you think I was?’
‘Umm, no one, I mean…’ She stalled, suddenly embarrassed for running off like she had. ‘It’s just that I’m pretty sure someone’s been stalking me, as in psychically stalking me, and Gran Mere warned me about a warlock, only… never mind. Shouldn’t Keller be at a hospital?’
‘We thought he was, but he never arrived, and no one there knows the medic who drove away with Keller.’
‘But he’s shot. Surely he’s at another local clinic or—’
‘He’s not, Savannah.’ That stern voice was Eden. ‘And he’s not responding to our attempts to reach him, either. I was sure he’d contact you when we were finished back at the stables. Why haven’t you heard from him?’
Savannah couldn’t reply. Worry for Keller had closed her throat.
‘What happened with you?’ Isaiah asked, accusation in his tone. ‘One minute you were with us, the next you checked out. You stopped talking to everyone. You vanished.’
Well, yeah…
‘Was it something I said?’ Eden asked. ‘Because I know I get direct and bossy when I’m—”
‘No, it wasn’t that. It was…’ Savannah tried again. ‘It was watching you guys in action. I finally saw the real Keller. He truly loves what he does for a living, doesn’t he? He is who he is, and I don’t want to stand in his way. I’m just—’
‘The woman he loves,’ Isaiah said gently. ‘Savannah, yes Keller is the best of the best. He can’t help but throw his soul into his job, but you’re his heart. He needs you in his life, and we need you to find him. Reach out. Don’t let him go, not like this. ’
‘Okay,’ she said quietly. She’d never felt so small nor so foolish before in her life.
Where had her self-confidence gone? Her positivity?
She, with all her special inner sight, hadn’t seen the real Keller after all.
Yet, she’d thought she had during that fight.
Who was messing with her head? Was there really such a thing as a warlock or had she simply felt sorry for herself?
Closing her eyes, Savannah forced her fluttering heart to calm, and then opened her mind back up to the universe. ‘Keller,’ she called out. ‘Answer me, honey. Talk to me. Everyone’s worried about you. Tell me where you are.’
A muffled ‘Can’t’ came back to her instantly. ‘Where… where you been, baby?’
What could she say? ’I’ve been wrong, Keller. I thought you’d be better off without me, but now I know better. We belong together. Where exactly are you?’
‘Shhhhh. Too tired. Too sick. Gotta sssssleep now.’
‘But you’re supposed to sleep with me,’ she scolded gently. Lovingly. ‘I need you to come home, Keller. Tell me where you are and I’ll send someone to help you.’
‘With S-S-Sandy,’ he whispered. ‘Gotta be quiet. They might hear us.’
‘Keep him talking,’ Isaiah murmured. ‘I’ve almost located his position.’
‘I love you, Keller,’ Savannah declared, tears glimmering at what distancing herself had done to him.
‘Know you do, baby. Never doubted… you… one in a million.’
Yet she had doubted him .
‘Hard men don’t know how to express their feelings, Savannah,’ Eden murmured. ‘They aren’t in touch with their feminine side. Trust me. It took Ky a long time before he let it slip. Now he says it all the time. Keller loves you. I can tell. He’ll get around to it.’
‘Shhhhh. Someone’s comin’.’ The mental link evaporated and he was gone.
‘Keller! Keller! Don’t leave me!’ Savannah cried. She’d never felt so desperate, nor so foolish for letting him go. For leaving him when he’d needed her.
‘He didn’t leave you, Savannah. He’s been drugged again,’ Eden said. ‘I’m sensing cocaine. Ketamine. Something else, only not narcotic. I can’t get a decent feel for it. Not even sure which is in him, and which is in the horse.’
But Savannah knew better. ‘He’s bleeding. I could smell it. Whoever’s got him is letting him bleed to death. He’s weak. If we can’t get to him in time—’
‘Got him,’ Isaiah growled. ‘Hang in there, Savannah. Tucker, can you hear me?’ Silence reigned while Isaiah listened to his boss.
Then, ‘Good to know. Listen, he’s about twenty miles south of Fontenette’s stables on a neighboring horse farm, McGinty’s Rainbow.
That’s why we couldn’t locate Sand Dollar at Champion Stables when we served the warrant.
Fontenette moved him to McGinty’s because—’
‘Sand Dollar’s been doped, too,’ Eden said. ‘They’re giving him ketamine to keep him quiet.’
Which didn’t make sense. Why anesthetize an animal you needed to win a race ?
‘Exactly,’ Isaiah replied. ‘Go, Tuck. Go get Keller. He’s passed out, but Sand Dollar’s with him. If that horse keels over...’
‘Hold on, I’ll guide you there, Boss,’ Eden said, her voice rapping higher. ‘Tell me when you see McGinty’s gate sign over his driveway. Are you there yet?’ A beat of silence, then, ‘Damn it, Boss, can’t you drive any faster?’
Savannah could hear Eden’s fingernails tapping impatiently all the way from Florida while they waited for Tucker to travel from Champion Stables to McGinty’s.
‘You’re going to need QuikClot and pressure bandages when you get there,’ Isaiah advised.
‘He’s in bad shape. Chest wound. But something else is going on with him.
I can hear it in his gut and in his lungs.
Okay, yeah, I get it. Yes, I know. You’re no pansy-assed civilian.
Just the same, I’m sending real medics to your location to transport this time.
They’re on their way. ETA in fifteen, can you be there by then? ’
Savannah couldn’t find the words to express her gratitude to these people she didn’t really know.
These same three professionals were working in tandem to rescue Keller.
If it were one of their lives on the line, he’d be doing the same.
He’d be just as cool, calm, and steady, ready to charge into battle and do all he could.
The same wicked self-doubt that assailed her before crept back into her mind asking, ‘What could Keller possibly see in you? Get out of his way. Let him be all he can be. You’re not fit for Washington, DC, girl. That’s where he belongs. Not you. You’re nothing but poor Southern trash.’
Girl? For the first time, Savannah listened to the unique intonation behind those nasty words.
She’d heard it before, at the Waffle House and earlier today when she’d blocked Keller and his team during the shootout.
She’d been raised by her beloved Gran Mere to be positive and kind and cheerful, yet today she’d succumbed to an uncharacteristic bout of self-pity that she would not stand for.
‘Who are you,’ she asked the demon who’d been sneaking around in her head, lying to her, making her think she was less of a human being for loving Keller. ‘RJ? Is that you?’
She sensed immediate withdrawal as if someone had slammed a door. Aware and forearmed now, she told Eden, ‘I need your help.’
‘You got it, sister. What’s up?’
Sister. That special word brought a rush of tears to Savannah’s eyes. She’d always wanted to be more than just a cast-off child, but to be someone’s sister? It was more than she’d expected. ‘I… I’ve been shadowed.’
‘You’ve got a troll,’ Isaiah stated. ‘Sorry, but I sort of scanned your mental synapsis while we were talking. You’re right. I’m not sure who the guy inside your head is, but he’s not nice. Could he be the warlock your Gran Mere told you about?’
Of course, Isiah would’ve seen that. He also had uncommon sight.