Sienna (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 5) Read online

  “I have my, shall we say, resources,” Keila said. She pulled out a deck chair and sat, the others dotting themselves about the room.

  Sienna perched on a chair near the door. “So what’s going on here? How did you find me?” She watched Keila, but it was Payton who spoke.

  “I was working as a waitress. Normal life, nothing-to-see-here kind of thing. Then one day I was pulled off the street.” She folded her hands in her lap, but Cole tugged one into his. What would that feel like? To have someone able to anticipate exactly what you needed. “They drugged me. I thought they were going to kill me. I woke up one day lying on the floor, tied up, and with Keila standing next to me.” She lifted her gaze to look directly at Sienna. “For the longest time, I thought she was the one that had done it. If I’d trusted her at the beginning, then things would have been a lot simpler. Both Cole and I suffered from that decision. Don’t make the same one.”

  Sienna’s gaze ping-ponged around the room. There was obviously still tension within the group, as well as what she was still feeling, but still, there was also an almost overwhelming feeling of strength. Keila was quiet, but it didn’t seem to be an issue with trusting her anymore. No, the other woman’s gaze was almost sad. “Keila? How exactly did you find me?” How could someone who was so withdrawn be their leader?

  “I’ve been doing this a long time.” Her voice was quiet, but hard. “Emily was the first that, well . . .” Emily placed a hand over Keila’s, and the pair almost seemed to draw strength from each other. “Emily was the first who’s still alive.”

  Sienna felt the blood, along with any burgeoning hope, drain from her face. “What?” she said. Her voice croaked, almost broke.

  “But we’re together now,” Lainey said.

  Keila shot her a grateful look. “And I’m never letting that happen again. Not to you, or any of us.” She wasn’t joking. Keila was probably the most serious person Sienna had ever met. Just her gaze almost had Sienna squirming in her chair.

  “But why now? What makes you so sure you can win now? Why did you hide for so long?”

  “Because you look”—Keila took a breath—“you look so much like her. The woman trying to kill us.”

  Sienna’s eyes narrowed. “Just how much exactly?”

  Keila stood and walked to stand right in front of her chair. Sienna pulled herself to her feet and forced herself to look into Keila’s eyes. If there was one thing she’d had enough of lately, it was being intimidated.

  “You could be her twin.”

  15

  Sienna

  Sienna felt like she was riding a wave of nausea as soon as she opened her eyes. Her alarm was blaring, and she couldn’t muster the strength to reach over and turn it off. She’d stayed out late at the derelict house the night before, talking to the others. Not that there was much else to learn. So far it seemed like the group knew pretty much squat about the people who had killed her mom. Well maybe a little more than the absolutely nothing she’d had before; but still, no name, address. Just a tip about some creepy lookalike running around and a vague idea why.

  She’d still been recovering from Keila’s bombshell when the door to the cabin had creaked open again, and three more guys had walked through the door. Big guys. Big enough that Sienna had leapt to her feet for the second time in a few minutes. But instead of being afraid, the others had been happy. Lainey had jumped up, too, and thrown herself into the arms of a muscular blond man. Emily was a little more reserved, but tucked herself next to the tall dark-haired man who followed. He was leaner than the blond, or Cole, but there was a sharpness about him, almost as if he were constantly assessing the room. As the two moved into the room, a last man entered, almost a mix between the two. Blond too, and tall, but strong. He didn’t say a word in greeting to anyone else. Instead he moved directly to Keila’s side, scooping her up and enveloping her in his arms. He whispered in Keila’s ear, and for the first time since Sienna had arrived, Keila smiled. Her eyes were still troubled, but it was clear this man brought her peace. Something Sienna was beginning to doubt any of them saw much of.

  After the others had arrived, the mood in the cabin had changed, dialed back from “save the world” to “vigilant waiting,” maybe even relaxing. They’d talked a little more about what each of them could do, until Payton had suggested Sienna give it another try. That she’d put the kibosh on immediately. Sienna wasn’t sure she even had a power; not in the way they were all talking. Besides, after what had happened the last few days, she wasn’t going to be letting anyone inside her head anytime soon. When she’d said as much, Keila had turned on the creepy.

  “You’ll have to. Soon. If she doesn’t already know about you, then it won’t be long. Not with you walking around with her face on.”

  Despite the shiver, Sienna scooted closer. “How dangerous is she?”

  “I’ve only seen her once, but it was like looking at an angel. You couldn’t believe that someone so beautiful could have such evil lurking beneath.”

  “But why does she want us? Is she like us?”

  “She’s something.” Even Keila’s face paled as she talked. “But she doesn’t just want us to follow her. She wants to take us over, control us. Until we’re nothing but shells doing her bidding.”

  That time, nothing could warm the chill that settled over the room. They tried, Lainey especially, but by then Sienna had been awake for over eighteen hours and her brain couldn’t handle another thing. She could almost sense it, the room going slightly fuzzy at the edges, despite telling herself to stay awake, stay alert. She could be in the middle of a fight for her life and her mind would have insisted she walk over to the corner and take a little nap. There was only so many bombshells a person could handle in one day, and apparently she’d hit her limit. Someone—maybe it was Emily—tried to convince Sienna to spend the night there, but she’d insisted on returning to the motel and Cole had driven her back. The ride had been silent that time, Sienna too exhausted to close the car door, let alone make polite conversation.

  The raucous beeping from hell brought her out of her memories, and she realized her alarm was still bleating at her. How long had she been stuck in memories? She looked over at the clock. Shit! Long enough to be late for work again if she didn’t get there in the next five seconds. She jumped from bed and threw on the first suitable clothes her hands touched, stopping only to pull a brush through her hair. Anything else would have to wait.

  Sienna frowned when she lifted her hair to pull it back for work. There were several bruises on her arms from when Jace had tackled her to stop her swan dive, but she’d missed the one on her neck until now. There was no way she had time to get out any concealer, and her hair had to go back for work. She’d just have to use her usual sunny morning disposition on anyone who brought it up. That’d stop any questions pretty quickly.

  Walking in the restaurant, she found Chico wiping down the tables. “Is that a hickey?” He made a face. “Are you cheating on me, girl?”

  It had taken about five minutes for someone to comment. Except that it was Chico, and the old man had such a look on his face Sienna couldn’t find it in her to snipe back at him. He was trying to rile her up, tease her, put a smile on her face. It had annoyed the crap out of her at first, but after the last few days, well, there were worse things in the world than being teased by your friendly grandfather-type boss. Especially when it was his way of looking out for her. She could tell that now. Sienna had met more new people the last few weeks than she had perhaps in years under her mother’s overwhelming protectiveness, and the ones who weren’t so nice had had murder on their minds. It couldn’t hurt to have one more person in her corner, even if they were nearly seventy.

  “It’s just a bruise, you old Romeo.” She walked over to clock in at the register. “I went hiking yesterday. Got some fresh air and all that shit.” She grinned. No need to let him entirely off the hook.

  He grinned back. “Well you better hurry up and serve table three or the
y might give you another one.”

  Sienna grabbed her apron and tied it, looking out to the room. There were three tables already filled up, the noise in the large area growing just loud enough to set her brain thumping against her skull. Okay, so maybe the stress and practically zero hours sleep for multiple days was beginning to catch up with her. She pushed the pain to the side and got on with work. She could just lose herself in the grind and worry about everything else later.

  As the morning moved on, losing herself in anything became practically impossible. Every slide of a fork across a plate sent shivers skittering up her spine as she resisted the urge to clap her hands over her ears. At least that was better than whenever a customer opened the front door. The fumes and the noise from the big rigs assaulted her with the slightest breeze and the nausea from earlier that morning slammed into her full force. A trickle of sweat ran down her back and she rushed to deliver another order. After dropping off the biggest plate of pancakes she’d ever seen, Sienna turned and stopped in her tracks. Standing about three feet away, at his usual table, was Jace.

  He smiled and lifted a hand in greeting, but she didn’t move. Sienna had no idea how she felt about him showing up again that morning. She wasn’t ready to process half of the day before, let alone work out whether she could count Jace in her newfound circle of “people who don’t want to kill her.” Yeah, okay, he’d probably proved by now that he was a good guy with that whole stop-you-from-walking-off-a-cliff thing. It was the comforting and wiping away of tears afterward that still made her damn uncomfortable. But he cared, and maybe she could do with more of that. If she was honest with herself, most of why she didn’t want to see him was about embarrassment and regret, not fear or anger. What was he going to think of her after she’d blubbed all over him? Her cheeks reddened at the thought.

  Might as well get it over with.

  She took a couple of steps toward his table, but then stopped when he suddenly shrunk back.

  “Please don’t kill me. I’m sorry.” He shrank back and held up his fingers like a little cross.

  “Oh, fuck you.” But she couldn’t help but grin.

  “You’re not a vampire?” His jaw fell open as he stared at her, his face so comical she was giggling. Damn him.

  “No, as you well know.”

  He grinned. “No, you’re not. But I bet the sun is bothering the fuck out of you this morning.”

  “You have no idea.”

  His face turned serious as he stopped kidding around and seemed to really look at her. Jace stood quickly, pulling out a chair. “Sit. You look like you’re about to keel over.”

  She wasn’t going to wait for him ask twice today. She plonked down in the chair and rested her head on her folded arms. “I’m dying.”

  “And it looks like table eight is about to stake you, too.” He motioned back to a couple who were openly staring at them. “I think their order is up.”

  “Oh, shit!” Sienna forced herself to her feet and grabbed their plates, avoiding their accusatory stare as best she could when she delivered the meals. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything else I can get you guys?”

  The man stared down at his steak. “Yes. A hot meal.”

  “I’m so sorry. I’ll get the kitchen right on that.” She scooped up their plates and headed through the swinging doors, the feel of Jace’s gaze never leaving. Why he’d have to pick that day to be so attentive? She walked into the kitchen and dropped the plates on the counter. The thunk they made as porcelain hit stainless steel rattled through her head and she pressed the heel of her hands against her eyes, exhaling loudly.

  “You okay?” Chico had come up behind her.

  Sienna dropped her hands and starting scraping off the ruined meals. “I’m good.” The last thing she needed was him telling her to take off early again. She needed the money, and the tips, badly.

  Chico stared at her, eyes narrowed. “No, you’re not. I’ll get this order sorted. You go bus those tables.” He pointed way up the back of the restaurant, where a large party had left a table piled with dishes. She walked slowly to the table. Oh great, they were still half covered in food. When she brought them to the trash to scrape them off, a sunny-side-up egg was half glued to the plate. Sienna pried it off with her fingers and nearly lost the contents of her stomach.

  “Uh, Chico,” Jace called her boss over. She couldn’t hear the rest of the conversation from out back, but it couldn’t have been good. Chico came up behind her straight after and put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Go sit down with Jace over there, take five. I don’t want you working when you’re sick.”

  Was anything in her crappy life ever going to just work out? “I can’t miss any more work, Chico. I need the money.”

  “Consider it a paid vacation.”

  And the catch was? Apparently nothing. Chico didn’t say any more, just pointed her away, a frown on his face. She somehow found her way over to Jace’s table. He had a milkshake and a glass of thick green liquid sitting in front of him, two Advil next to it for garnish. “You’re going to hate me.”

  Okay. Maybe she wasn’t going to sit down. The thought of walking back across the room to another table nearly made her cry. “Umm, why?”

  He pointed at the green slime drink. “Because I’m going to make you drink that.”

  Sienna’s stomach roiled again at just the thought. “No.” She pushed it away. “I’d rather die from this.”

  “Hangover, migraine. Whatever it is you’re battling with today, it’ll help.” He picked up the drink and placed it gently back in front of her. She eyed at the glass, betting there was a raw egg in there somewhere. Egg. Blech. “What’s in it?”

  “Coconut water, pinch of salt, and green tea powder.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “The science is sound. Trust me.”

  He was probably completely full of shit, but Sienna would try almost anything to stop the pounding in her brain. “Okay, but if I puke, you’re cleaning it up.” She grabbed the glass and slammed the drink down, wincing slightly as the first taste caught up with her. She was not a green tea fan, but if this worked, she’d kiss—well, maybe shake—Jace’s hand. As soon as the drink was done, she dropped the glass on the table. “God, that’s disgusting.”

  He grinned. “But you didn’t wince when the glass hit the table, did you?”

  Sienna’s eyes widened. That didn’t hurt either. “How the hell did you do that?”

  Jace shrugged. “Thank the coconut water, not me. It’s great for hydration.”

  “Well, thank you.” He opened his mouth to reply when she grabbed his milkshake and took a large swig, downing the Advil. “Sorry. It might work, but that shit still tastes awful.” His reply turned into a booming laugh.

  16

  Jace

  Jace looked over at Sienna. She was no longer wincing at every little noise, but whatever was bugging her clearly hadn’t gone completely. Her shoulders were hunched and she still looked a little green. “Wait here.” He stood and made his way to the kitchen. Chico, thank God, was already waiting for him with two plates, each filled with a greasy burger and piled high with fries. The man was good.

  He made his way back to the table, balancing the plates, nearly losing the lot when the tip of his boot hit a bump in the carpet. This server thing was harder than it looked. He landed the plates clumsily on the table, earning him another smile. He grinned in reply, but said nothing. He liked teasing her, getting her all riled up. She was passionate as hell and it turned him on. But he’d been keeping his remarks to himself the last few days. That wasn’t what she needed, and Jace was damned if he was going to add more stress to her already overburdened shoulders.

  It had been obvious as shit that something was bugging her the last couple of days. Ever since she got into town, really, but it was worse now. Something she didn’t want to tell anyone about. Not until the night before on his porch. A bit too much to drink and a near-death experience would do that. If only she’d tell him the whole
truth. Sienna was definitely still hiding something, and he wanted to help. No matter what it was. “Chico says no coming back to work until you feel better.” Well, he would when Jace asked him to give her a few extra days off. He’d make up the cash if Chico couldn’t.

  Sienna frowned. “But I want to work. I need to.”

  He leaned forward. “Why? Besides, you need a break. He said you could barely walk an hour or two ago.”

  “He said that? Really?”

  “Yep.” He reached out and stroked the back of her hand, smiling again when she didn’t pull away. Maybe she was finally warming to him.

  “Fuck.” She leaned back in her chair. “I need this job.”

  “You’ll be fine. Chico’s a good guy.” This time he picked her hand up in his, holding it lightly. Sienna sighed, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she huffed out a sigh.

  “I’m sorry, Jace. First last night, and now this.” That time she did pull her hand away. “You don’t want to hear all about my shit.”

  He shrugged. “Hey, I’m still having a blast. Besides, I want to help you. When are you going to figure out that I mean it?”

  She pulled back further, rubbing her arms. “Why do you put up with all this?”

  “Because you’re cute?” There. That got him another smile. “Sienna, your bite isn’t nearly as bad as you think it is, and I don’t scare easy anyway. Besides, you’re hilarious when you’re cranky.”

  She grinned, before reaching over and punching him in the shoulder. “Okay, fuck you.” But she was laughing with him.

  “I mean it. Besides, Old Miss Addie has been as sweet as pie to everyone since your first day.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I think Chico’s using your rep to keep the customers in line.”