And he owed it to her to at least have the balls to say so.

Undoubtedly, he’d get his stupid heart broken for the effort, but hell if he’d let her go without at least putting it all out there on the line. That decided, he whipped out his cell phone and called her. It went right to voice mail, and he absently rubbed his aching shoulder as he left her a message. “Call me, Bella. I’m coming back to the shop, I need to see you, we need to talk.” He paused, wondering if he’d sounded too scary and would maybe cause her to bolt before he could get there. “I told you that I miss you,” he said, drawing a deep breath. “But what I should have also said was that I love you.” Hoping that would cover everything, he started to close his phone, then added, “I’m on my way. Please-” He closed his eyes. “Please be there.”

BELLA’S PHONE WAS ON SPEAKER, so both she and Trevor heard the message.

“Sweet,” Trevor said. “A little too little too late, but very sweet.”

She was driving, but she took a quick look over at him. How had she never seen the menace just beneath his surface before? And now that she had, how the hell was she going to get out of this without getting hurt? Or worse. “If I don’t call him back, he’s going to come over.”

“Yes. And find you already gone.” He affected a regretful expression. “So sad.”

“He’ll look for me.”

“No, he won’t. He’ll see that your duffel bag is gone-thanks for staying packed, by the way, I’ve got your bag in my trunk. Face it, Jacob is going to assume you’ve done what you’ve been talking about, that you’ve left town. Which you are doing. He won’t try to come after you. He has far too much pride and testosterone for that.”

She’d have thought so, too, until that phone call. In his voice had been bare, heart-wrenching emotion. For her.

“Turn right at the marina, Bella.”

She didn’t want to.

She wanted to turn left and get back on the freeway and head north to Jacob’s house. She wanted to reverse time, to the time before she’d told Jacob to let himself out, the implication being that he should let himself out of her life while he was at it.

She wanted to plant both her feet in the ground and make roots. She wanted to tell him she loved him, too, so very much.

Why hadn’t she told him?

“Turn right,” Trevor repeated softly, and gestured with the gun he had pointed at her.

She turned right.

16

WHEN JACOB GOT BACK to the shop, it was empty. He went upstairs and knocked on Bella’s door.

Across the narrow hallway, Willow’s door opened and she poked her head out. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “She’s gone.”

“What?”

Willow handed him a note. “This was taped to my door.”

Thanks, Willow, for the lovely memories. I’ll never forget you, but it’s time to move on.

Willow sniffed. “Lord, I’m going to miss that girl.”

Jacob’s heart had pretty much stopped at the “she’s gone” but he read the note again, looking at the hand writing. Neat, and legible.

His heart started again, with a dull thudding that echoed in his ears.

“What is it?” Willow asked.

“It isn’t Bella’s writing.” Or if it was, she was trying to tell them something. He ran down the stairs and found Tom in the lot. “Did you see Bella leave?”

“No,” Tom said. “I just got here. Hang on, I’ll check with Scott, who I relieved.” He pulled out his cell.

So did Jacob, and immediately called Ethan. “We have a problem.”

“That’s okay, being as I’m the solution king today,” Ethan said. “Did you know that the marina started fingerprinting people to store their boats? The chief told me just today. He found out when he went to store his new boat. It’s a new security system, letting people in the gate by their prints.”

“Fascinating, but-”

“So the chief puts his fingerprint in, and starts to think. The first shooting, we found that tread, with the marina sand. We canvassed the docks, all the hotels and motels on the marina, ran the boat owners, and found no one connected to Bella. But the fingerprint list doesn’t just include the owners, but anyone they allow to use their boat. I’m only half way through the log and I’ve already found two of the Edible Bliss’s regular customers, the coffee shop guy who was Bella’s fourth date, and her coworker, Trevor Mann.”

“Trevor,” Jacob repeated slowly, just as Tom hung up his phone.

“Yeah, his stepfather owns a thirty-two-foot Morgan,” Ethan said.

“Trevor and Bella left twenty-five minutes ago out the front,” Tom reported. “We were watching for unauthorized people going out only-”

“Tom says Bella left with Trevor,” Jacob told Ethan. “And there’s a note here from her saying she’s leaving town.”

“On Trevor’s sailboat?”

“Doesn’t say, but I can tell you if the note was written by Bella, it was written under duress.”

There was a beat of silence. “You sure?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” Jacob said.

“Okay, so she’s a missing person.”

“Yeah. I’ll meet you at the marina.”

BELLA WATCHED AS THE MARINA came into view, and her stomach cramped. This wasn’t going to be good. “I still don’t get why you’re doing this.”

“Don’t you?” Trevor asked.

“No!”

“You were meant for me, Bella.”

She stared at him. He looked so normal. How could someone who looked so normal be so insane?

“Breathe, Bella,” he reminded her gently.

“Look, if we go back now, I’ll talk to the police for you. I’ll help explain that you need help, and that-”

“I don’t need help. I got what I wanted, and that’s you.” He stroked a finger down her jaw and she shuddered.

“Don’t worry,” he said very softly. “It’s going to be okay.”

She sincerely doubted that. She really wished she’d finished those self-defense classes. If she had, she’d probably have been able to come up with a better escape plan then having an overdue panic attack.

“Turn here into the parking lot,” Trevor told her.

She wondered if she could slow down enough to jump right out of the car. Maybe. But an older man was walking along the sidewalk. What if she jumped out of the car and it ran him over?

“Ten points for the old guy,” Trevor said lightly, a small smile in place. “You’re sick.”

“Aw. I’m just a guy in love.”

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “This just doesn’t make sense. If you wanted me so badly, why didn’t you ask me out?”

“I did.”

“No, you joked about it, I never thought you were serious.”

“Your mistake.”

No kidding! “Why did you stop the shooting spree? You only hit three out of eight.”

“I shot Seth because you liked him. A lot.”

Oh, God, Bella thought, sorrow nearly choking her.

“I shot B.J. because he kept calling you and asking you out. I tried to shoot Tyler just because he was bugging the shit out of me with all that snooty talk. How could you stand him?”

When she didn’t answer, he went on, unperturbed. “None of the others posed a threat until Jacob. Goddamn perfect Jacob.”

Bella took her eyes off the road to stare at him with a mirthless laugh. “He only started coming around because you started shooting people! How did you get the information on my eight dates?”

He shrugged. “I know one of the coordinators, and he let me get on his computer to let me do some research. I neglected to tell him the research was you. And later, Jacob.”

“Oh, my God. If you would have stayed sane, I’d never have seen him again.”

“Yeah.” Trevor let out a long-suffering sigh. “Maybe I made a mistake there. But it wasn’t necessarily his feelings for you that got him shot.” He paused. “It was your feelings for him. With Jacob around, screwing you senseless, you didn’t give me the time of day.” He looked at her solemnly. “You’ll have to forget him now, Bella. He might be the big, strong, silent type, but there’s a limit to a guy like that. He’ll never be romantic and sweet and loving. I’ll be that guy for you, I swear it.”

“No, you won’t,” she told him. “I love him. I love him for exactly who he is. You can kidnap me and force me to be with you-” Only until she got a chance to run like hell. “But I will not stop loving him.”

“Yes, you will.”

Resisting the urge to thunk her head into the steering wheel and put herself out of her misery, she pulled into the parking lot, brain racing for a plan. Maybe she could keep him talking until…until what? No one was going to save her. She’d been seen leaving with Trevor, who no one had ever considered a threat.

But maybe…maybe if Jacob went back for her like he said and saw the note that Trevor had made her write, maybe he’d realize that she was trying to leave him a clue…

“We’re going to go sailing on a nice, long vacation,” Trevor said. “And live the way you’ve always lived, taking each day at a time. It’s how you love to do things, right? No ties, no hold to anyone or any place.”

That was true, that’s how she’d always lived. But that no longer made her happy-not that she planned on sharing that life-altering epiphany with Trevor. “You can’t make me stay with you.”

“We’ll be out on the open sea, you won’t have a choice. If we stay out long enough, you’ll fall in love with me the way I love you.”

The way he loved her was koo-koo crazy, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Park here,” he said, pointing to a spot. “Out of the car.”

She got out of the car, and extremely aware of the gun, she kept silent.

For now.

Trevor stepped out, as well, his eyes on her. His hand was in his pocket.

On the gun. “Slowly, Bella,” he said. “We’re going to walk to the building. No funny stuff, we don’t want anyone to get hurt.”