Locked In Silence (Pelican Bay 1)

I wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. I’d been silently screaming my whole life and no one had ever heard. Now that I was prepared to do it for real, it likely wouldn’t change the outcome.

I was just about to open my mouth when I heard a loud snapping sound. The wolf suddenly turned around and I watched it trot several feet away. I lifted my eyes to follow the animal’s path and settled my gaze on a tall figure standing near a small building. He was bundled up in tan coveralls that were covered in dirt and stains and there was some kind of scarf wrapped around his neck. A baseball cap covered his head.

The man snapped his fingers again and the wolf dropped to the ground. Its eyes stayed on me, but it didn’t move.

The man and I stared at each other. He was a big guy…easily several inches taller than my own five-ten frame. The coveralls hid his figure and from the distance, I couldn’t really make out his facial features.

“Um, hi, I…I need some help,” I stammered when the man didn’t say anything. A shiver snaked up my spine as he stared at me. It reminded me of the way the wolf had stared at me.

“I found this baby raccoon on the road,” I murmured as I forced myself to take a few steps forward, though part of me still wanted to run the other way. Why the hell did it feel like the wolf was the less dangerous of the pair?

The man began moving when I said raccoon, and I froze in place as he approached me.

Yep, he was definitely a big guy. But I knew what was under the coveralls wasn’t a portly figure. Don’t ask me how I knew, I just did. I still couldn’t see the guy’s face because of the cap. I managed to stay still as he neared me and he lifted his big hands toward me. Logically, I knew he was just reaching for the raccoon, but I was still on edge so I automatically stepped back. I looked up just in time to see the man lift his gaze to mine and I saw his jaw harden.

There was something familiar about him and I desperately wanted to push the cap off his head so I could really see his face. But the sensation of the man’s fingers grazing mine distracted me.

A lot of shit happened all at once in that moment as the man took the raccoon from me.

His touch sent a shock of electricity through me that had air whooshing out of my lungs.

Heat seeped into my skin where his fingers touched mine.

And he hesitated right in the middle of taking the small animal from me and lifted his head enough so I could finally take him in.

“Dallas,” I breathed in disbelief as recognition hit me hard and fast as soon as I saw his eyes. Deep, dark, gray-blue eyes that reminded me of the waters of San Francisco Bay on a rare, stormy day.

He flinched as his gaze held mine for the briefest of moments.

“You’re Dallas Kent,” I murmured as I released my hold on the raccoon. The man didn’t confirm or deny my statement. He didn’t do anything at all except cuddle the baby, which was still wrapped up in my jacket, to his chest.

And then he turned his back on me and walked away, a slight limp marring his gait.

He didn’t say a thing…not one single word.

Just like in fucking high school.

I watched as he walked into the building, the wolf silently following him. It occurred to me that I should go after him so I could make sure the baby raccoon was going to make it, but I found myself turning away instead.

And then I did what I’d done ten years ago when I’d left Pelican Bay to start my perfect new life, which had ended up being anything but.

I ran.

Chapter One

Nolan

This can’t be right.

I shook my head in disbelief as I stared at the numbers in front of me…the red numbers.

“This can’t be right,” I said out loud this time, to no one in particular. The din of the television blaring from the living room began to add to my headache, but I resisted the urge to get up and go turn it down again.

“Nrngh!”

I sighed at my father’s garbled shout and rose to my feet. Anticipating what he wanted, I went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer and the plastic container of macaroni salad my mother had prepared earlier in the day. I took both to the living room and walked around my father’s worn leather recliner, nearly tripping over the walker that was lying on the floor. I set the beer and the container on the table on the left side of the recliner so my father could reach it and then leaned down to pick up the walker.