Page 119 of Shattered By the Currents

He kept moving, keeping low.

“Hands up,now.”

No sound and no movement from inside the truck. But Connor could see the back of him. His broad shoulders and dark hair.

Quickly, he closed the last bit of distance. “I said?—”

He stopped. The man on the other side of the glass wasn’t Xander. He also wasn’t alive. There was a bullet wound in the side of his head, and his open eyes were lifeless.

Connor’s stomach dropped. He’d seen this guy before. He was the teen decoy used at the firehouse.

His gaze flew back to the house.

Raven.

27

Steam drifted into the air as hot water ran from the tap. Just the sight of it made her shoulders drop and the tension in her muscles ease.

Something about baths made everything feel okay, even when that wasn’t one hundred percent the case.

She pulled off her sweater and was about to undo the button of her jeans, when something sounded from the bedroom. The creak of a floorboard, maybe?

She opened the bathroom door. “Connor?”

The room was empty.

Great, now she was so stressed she was hearing things.

With a sigh, she turned back toward the tub, leaving the bathroom door ajar.

She opened the mirrored upper cabinet and spotted the bath salts that Connor had bought for her. Since the day she’d moved in, he’d started filling this house with little things he knew she’d like. Candles in small nooks. Caramel in the kitchen for her lattes. He’d even made a point to mention that there was space on top of his dresser, on shelves, and above the fireplace for any framed photos she might want to put up.

God, she was lucky to have him. It was the kind of love she hadn’t been sure she’d find after Xander, and the only good thing to come out of the last few months.

She poured some salts into the bath, watching them sink to the bottom.

Heaven. This was heaven.

Rising to her feet again, she put the jar back into the medicine cabinet.

She’d just closed the door when she saw Xander behind her in the mirror’s reflection.

A scream crawled up her throat, but she never got a chance to release it. Xander grabbed the back of her neck and slammed her head into the mirror.

Pain blasted through her forehead, the feel of sticky blood immediately seeping down her face.

Before she could process what was happening, he yanked her back against his chest, his forearm around her throat. “Hello, my darling fiancée. I heard you’ve been looking for me? It’s so nice to see you again.”

A wave of dizziness washed over her. If Xander wasn’t holding her up, she wasn’t sure she’d have remained on her feet.

“Since you’ve royallyfuckedme, I need you to fix it,” he growled.

Where was Connor? There was no way he hadn’t heard the mirror breaking.

Xander dipped his head and sniffed her neck. “Mm. Wish we had more time.”

“Get. Off. Me.” The words tore from her chest, slow but full of fury.