Free After the Storm by M. Stratton

calm.
    “Do you have any idea who would do something like that? What about the guy you saw? Do you think they’re connected?”
    “There is no one here who would do something like that. Plus, for all I know it could be my overactive imagination that created a guy standing there in the woods. It was probably some kids messing around.” Why wouldn’t he just drop it? She had to get home. Her head was rapidly approaching migraine status.
    “This is not open for discussion. You can just lower that right now.” He tapped his finger on her eyebrow. “When we get to your house, I’m going through it from top to bottom. I also want to make sure that everything is locked up before I leave. I want you to keep your cell phone by the bed and call me no matter what.”
    “Is that it?” she asked sarcastically, folding her arms across her chest.
    “Yes, that’s it because what I really want for you to do is to stay at my place where there are three other people and an alarm system until we get this all figured out. Or, I could camp out on your couch. However,” he held up a hand to stop her from talking, “I know there’s no way you’d go for either of those options, so I suggested the one you would say ‘yes’ to.” He crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow, mimicking her, and waited for her response.
    “Fine, let’s go.” She turned and walked toward her house.
    “How come I get the impression you are saying ‘asshole’ every time you say ‘fine?’”
    “Maybe because I am?” Lexi just wanted to get rid of Noah. She needed to make a phone call without Noah around.

CHAPTE R SIX
    By two A.M., Lexi knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. She spent hours telling herself there was no possible way it could be who she thought it was. He wouldn’t lower himself by hiring someone to mess with her after all of these years. He enjoyed seeing the havoc he created, not hearing about it. He was still in prison. She’d called the authorities in San Diego County after Noah left, but she couldn’t get any information since the supervisors had left for the day. The last thing she wanted was to call her parents and worry them, especially if there was nothing going on.
    Her mind kept revolving around who else could have sabotaged her car. There wasn’t a high crime rate here, but there were always kids looking to cause trouble. Could it be as simple as that? If that were the case, then she really had nothing to worry about. It wasn’t like someone was targeting her.
    She’d never needed air conditioning living on the water but it was too hot in the house without the windows open. It had been a long time since she needed them, but she dug her window security locks out of a box in her office closet and installed them on all of the windows. The moon was full and the clouds had blown out so she was able to look around the beach and rocks. Since she didn’t see anything move, she opened some windows in her bedroom a few inches, just enough to let some air in but not enough for a person to climb through it. Besides, without a ladder there would be no way for someone to get to them.
    Once the sun came up, she felt a little better after snagging a few hours of sleep but her dreams had been filled with dark shadows that’d chased her through the woods with no end in sight. Deciding to make an early start of it, Lexi locked up the house and took a walk out to where her car had broken down the night before, glancing at Noah’s house as she passed by. She knew that he wouldn’t like her doing this herself, but he’d just have to deal with it. There were times when she had to face things herself.
    She hadn’t wanted to take Pepper in case she messed with any potential evidence so Lexi’d locked her in the house. Squaring her shoulders, she walked into the woods. The sun was shining without a cloud in the sky and she could hear the birds singing from the trees. There was nothing for her to be afraid of, she