Gage (Men of Honor 1)

Once I followed him and ascertained that he was most likely heading to his office I retraced the route and headed back to his home, only this time I pulled up on the street somewhere between his home and the other one, and walked the rest of the way. My heart was beating me half to death because I didn’t know what I was planning to do.

One minute I just wanted to see into their lives, breaking in would be a piece of cake, I’ve done it before. Not here of course, but I don’t see why this house should be different from any other. And the next I could see myself smashing my hand into her face over and over until she was obliterated.

She wasn’t on the first floor when I made my way around but I knew she was somewhere in there. I made my way around back and stood for a few seconds to get my thoughts in order.

No one knew I was here, sure someone might’ve seen my car parked down the street but there’s no way for them to know that I was here at this particular house, and besides, people in this neighborhood were rarely home at this time of day.

Men had nine to fives and their women spent the afternoons either shopping or lunching with friends. At most there might be a domestic worker but they stay mostly inside. So if I did something to her who’s to know?

My hands were itching to try the door, to break a window, anything. In that moment I just wanted to see her face to face, something she’s denied me for weeks now. It’s like she’d dropped off the face of the earth, no longer going to the places I knew she usually frequented. Now I know why.

I heard an engine and froze as I listened to see if I’d hear it again. It sounded like someone was on the driveway out front and I didn’t stick around to find out. Thankfully the way Gage’s place is built, there were no security walls around, just wide open space with a healthy sized garden surrounding the outside of the house and the rest of it lawn.

I crouched down and ran across from his place to the other and made my way down the neighbor’s drive and back to my car with my heart sick in my chest. What if I’d been caught? What would I have said? This was really stupid on my part and not well thought out. That’s because I’d let my anger guide me. I have to be more careful.

I drove out of the neighborhood and only breathed easy when I made it into the heart of town. I had to pull over and catch my breath as reality dawned on me. That was too close.

* * *

GAGE

* * *

All the way home I thought I was going to wreck. I kept my attention between the road and the screen of my phone where I could see Donna moving around my house. I didn’t breathe until I saw mom race into the driveway and head into the house.

My phone rang seconds after I watched her walk in and the figure ran from the back of my house. I have no doubt that it’s Donna no matter how she tried to disguise herself and a million and one questions ran through my head.

Was this the first time she’d done this and how long has she been doing it? Along with much more. I felt sick in my gut because I’ve been too dumb to realize just how serious a threat she was. Up to this point I’ve been playing games with her, but this changes shit.

“Mom, where’s Holly?”

“She’s fine, she’s still asleep upstairs. No one is here but I saw a car down the street, I took down the plate number. I called your father, he should be meeting me here soon.”

“I’m almost there. Don’t tell Holly anything if she wakes up.” I didn’t want her going back into her shell, didn’t want her worrying about shit either. I hung up the phone with mom and made another call. “Brad, where are we with that information I asked you for?”

“Almost there, I had a lot to work through, a lot of twists and turns.”

“How so?”

“Well for one, she doesn’t look anything like she used to, so it took a while using facial recognition. Plus she changed her maiden name somewhere along the way, and from what I can tell, not legally. Give me another few days and I’ll have everything for you.”

“You’ve got a day and a half, this thing just went in a whole other direction.” I filled him in on the afternoon’s events.

“Whoa, that escalated quick. You want me to put some guys on the house?”