The Butterfly Effect (Boggy Creek Valley 1)

“No!” he screamed so loudly I nearly jumped away from him. I was suddenly terrified. Not for me, but for the dream that Aiden was clearly stuck in.

I pushed against him harder. “Aiden! Wake up! Aiden!”

Strong arms flipped and pinned me to the bed. His hand came up around my throat, and I gasped for air as dark gray eyes met my blue.

“Aiden!” I cried out.

It only took him a moment to realize what he was doing, and he quickly jumped off me and out of the bed. I brought my hand to my throat and instinctively rubbed at it. Aiden’s eyes widened in horror, and I dropped my hand and crawled out of the bed to stand in front of him.

“It’s okay,” I said softly. “It’s okay. You were having a dream, and I shouldn’t have woken you up like that. It’s just…”

My voice trailed off as I watched Aiden turn and then quickly start gathering up his clothes. A strange darkness filled the room, and it instantly made me want to turn back the hands of the clock.

“What are you doing?” I asked, watching him with what I knew was a confused look on my face.

“I’m going home. I shouldn’t have stayed the night,” Aiden said, his voice void of all emotion. The only sign of any reaction at all was the utter regret in his eyes.

He stopped and looked at me, and I nearly took a step back. His normally beautiful gray eyes were now nearly black. His face wore a pained expression, and I wanted to run to him and wrap my arms around him. It wasn’t that I was afraid he would hurt me; no, I knew he never would. I simply had no idea how to calm the storm in those eyes. And that scared me more than anything.

I clenched my fists together to keep from reaching out for him, sensing that was the last thing he wanted. “I don’t want you to leave,” I said, infusing as much truth into the words as I could while my heart hammered in my chest. “Please, Aiden. Please don’t do this.”

I could feel the fear building inside of me as I watched him slip his pants on. Fear of what? Him leaving? This being over? No. No. It was the fear of him running from whatever it was that scared him. He wasn’t going to share this with me, and I had no idea why.

I did the only thing I could. “Please don’t leave,” I said again, my voice cracking with the onslaught of tears.

He stopped what he was doing and slowly faced me. For the longest moment, he stared at me.

Don’t do this, Aiden. Please don’t push me away. I wanted to scream that out to him, but I couldn’t make the words come. The storm continued to brew in his eyes until he broke our connection and turned away.

“I would never hurt you,” he finally said.

I felt a rush of air push out of me and I walked over to him, still naked and so raw from what we’d shared only hours ago.

“I know that, Aiden. God, I know that with my whole heart.”

He drew in a deep breath, and I turned him to face me. He frowned and then looked around, reaching for the T-shirt I said I was keeping. He slipped it over his head. Then he leaned in and gently kissed me. It was short, and when he drew his mouth back, he leaned his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Willa.”

I went to wrap my arms around his neck, but he stepped away.

“I have to go.”

And just like that, he was gone, and I was left standing in the middle of my bedroom alone. I crawled onto my bed and curled up into a ball, crying until I finally let exhaustion overtake me.

The sounds of men yelling and a dog barking told me I was in the right location. When I had stopped at the police department to talk to my brother, they told me he was in the training field with Jack, Hunter’s K9 partner, and Chris Smith, the lead K9 trainer.

Hunter and Jack had been partners for a year now, after spending sixteen weeks training together. Hunter loved that dog like he would any partner, if not more. They looked after each other, and Ben adored Jack. To see Jack with Ben, you would never know he was a police dog. And the fact that Hunter had named him after our father made their connection that much deeper.

I stopped and leaned against a bench as I watched Hunter and Jack. They stood in front of a wooden wall with Chris at the top, wearing a padded arm.

“Leave it,” Hunter said as Jack sat still. I could practically see the dog’s body trembling from where I was standing.