Chapter 44
Ibrace for her anger. My body tenses even more than it already is in preparation for the tears. Tears that are shredding me because I can’t stand to see her hurting.
“Yes, I knew,” I tell Riley, holding her gaze.
My heart ricochets up a notch. I’ve broken this woman”s trust. Again. Fuck, if I’m not the biggest asshole in existence right now. And fuck Tracy for bringing this up when Riley is at her most vulnerable, like she doesn’t have enough to deal with at the moment.
Riley’s eyes narrow to slits as she looks between me and her best friend. She scrunches her nose and then does something I’m not expecting.
She giggles. And fuck, the sound squeezes my heart tight. I don’t care if it’s just a weird response to the trauma she’s been through and her emotions running rampant. I needed to hear that. Needed to hear that she’s still in there, because the haunted look that ghosts her features off and on absolutely guts me.
“Are you seriously laughing about this?” Tracy asks, looking at Riley like she’s crazy. “What the hell do they have in that IV?”
“I’m sorry,” Riley says, her voice still light with laughter. “It’s just that, after everything I’ve been through, this was the last thing I expected.” She sombers, grabbing Tracy’s hand. “And while you’re an asshole for not telling me the truth, I forgive you.” She looks at me. “And you. Because I’m too tired to hold on to any more anger.” Then she glares between the both of us. “Don’t do it again.”
“Well, then, while we’re making confessions, did you know Emmett is in the mob?!” Tracy whispers, like I can’t fucking hear her.
“I swear to God,” I mumble. I shouldn’t have told her the truth about how we found Riley.
“That’s how he found you. One of his old gangster buddies tracked you down.” Tracy full-on smiles at me now.
I rub my temples. I’ll be paying for threatening her all those months ago for the rest of my goddamn life.
“Is that true?” Riley asks. “Not about the mob stuff. You already told me all that. But about how you found me?”
I nod, and proceed to fill her in on everything that happened while she was gone, as well as the cover story I told police about how I found her. She listens, enraptured, and when I’ve finally finished, reaches her hand out to me. I grab it, squeezing tight.
Her eyes start to tear up again, but she doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t have to. Her face tells me more than her words ever could.
My body aches for her. To touch her. To run my hands over every inch of her skin, to kiss those lips and claim that mouth, to bury myself deep inside her and remind both of us that this is real. That I love her and nothing could change that.
Heaving myself out of the chair that’s been my bed the past two nights, I settle for a quick kiss to her lips, then leave to give her and Tracy some time alone.
My tennis shoes squeak against the shiny white floors as I head toward the elevator to take me down to the cafeteria. I need caffeine. Badly.
Sleep has been impossible, even with Riley back. I haven’t had a decent night”s sleep since she went missing, and I doubt I’ll have one until we’re back home and she’s lying next to me in my bed.
Stepping into the elevator, I punch in the floor I want, then hit the door close button, hoping no one else has a chance to jump in with me. When the doors finally close, I heave a sigh and lean back against the wall.
My phone vibrates a second later.
Jax:Chris is on his way to the hospital. Will be there in about 30
Me:Thanks
Jax:How’s she doing?
Me:Woke up a bit ago. She’s doing as well as can be expected. Tracy is with her now
Jax:Good. I’ll swing by tonight with Jeremy to see her. Chris will probably want to talk with her
The timing couldn’t be worse. Riley should be resting and healing right now, not reliving every terrible thing that happened to her. I already gave her the cover story, but I’ll have to remind her again before Sheriff Miller arrives and starts asking questions.
Me:Thanks for the heads up
I shove my phone in my pocket and make my way to the cafeteria. Grabbing an extra large coffee, I fill it full of cream and sugar, curse myself for filling it full of cream and sugar, then head back to Riley’s room, hoping like hell Sheriff Miller takes Riley at her word.
Because the last thing I need is him finding out about Vin, and consequently, a dead sheriff on my hands.
Right on cue, thirty minutes later, there’s a knock and I look to see Sheriff Miller in the doorway of Riley’s room. He waits for her to notice him before stepping in and asking, “How are you feeling, Riley?”
“Hi, Sheriff,” she says, her voice quiet. She’s nervous about lying to him. “Better, thank you.”
Tracy gives Riley a reassuring hug from her perch on the bed, promising to be back later tonight with real food and comfy clothes, then sneaks past the sheriff and out the door.
Sheriff Miller moves to the foot of Riley’s bed, so I sit in Tracy’s vacated spot, putting myself between them and grabbing her hand–as though I can act as a buffer for the fresh wounds he’s about to dig into.
“I’ll make my visit quick, as I’m sure you”re tired,” he starts, watching us both. “But I need to ask you a couple of questions. Is that okay?”
Riley swallows, but nods her head for the sheriff to continue.
“Can you explain your whereabouts for the last five weeks?”
Vin and I had decided that sticking as close to the truth as possible would be the best way to handle Riley’s return. Less opportunity for something to fall through the cracks and implicate us in Trevor’s death. The only part of the story we changed was that Riley escaped that house on her own, flagging down a random vehicle which drove her to my place, and I brought her to the hospital.
Is it likely? No. But is it easily disproved? Also, no.
Riley recounts as much to the sheriff, but I notice that she skims over most of what happened in that house.
“And you don’t know who drove you to Emmett’s?” Sheriff Miller asks when she’s finished recounting everything.
“No. It was just the first person I was able to flag down. I didn’t ask for their name.”
“What about where Trevor took you? Do you remember where that was?”
“Not really,” she says. “He knocked me out after he took me. I was in the trunk of his car when he drove me there. I didn”t see anything.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. “And what about when you escaped? Do you remember anything about the drive to Emmett’s?”
“I was pretty out of it. I don’t really remember much.”
“Hm.” His eyes narrow, just the slightest. “And the person who picked you up didn’t think to take you to a hospital? Or call the police?”
I give Riley’s hand a squeeze, not liking how this is starting to feel like an interrogation.
“I told them not to,” she explains. “I just gave them Emmett’s address, and told them that was the best place to take me.”
“Okay,” he says, giving her a soft smile. “That’s all for now. I’ll leave you to rest.” He dips his chin to Riley. “You take care of yourself, and let me know if you remember anything.”
“I will.” She gives him a small smile in return. “Thank you, Sheriff.”
“A word,” Sheriff Miller says to me, angling his head toward the door.
He waits for me to go first, then follows me out to the hallway and closes the door to Riley’s room.
“Something on your mind, Sheriff?” I ask, propping a shoulder against the wall.
He studies me for a moment before saying, “Authorities were called to a house fire just over the border a couple nights ago. They uncovered some remains. DNA results came back this morning as being Trevor Hendricks. Riley’s ex. We’re guessing this is where he was keeping her.” His eyes flit to Riley through the window of her room. “Autopsy results found evidence of foul play. Striations on his sternum and several ribs, consistent with those left by a serrated edge. They also recovered three serrated blades near the remains.” His voice drops as he asks, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you?”
“Nope.” I reply, shrugging. “Thought he was still in prison until Riley showed back up. Never saw the guy in my life, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have killed him myself if I’d been the one to find him.”
“Mmhmm,” he hums, skepticism on his face. “Remind me where you were the night Riley showed up.”
“At my place. With Jax.” We already got Frank on board to vouch for us, should anyone start poking into the story. The guy really deserves a raise. I’ll have to wire him a belated holiday bonus once all the heat dies down.
We also made sure all security cameras in the building conveniently went down for a forty-eight-hour period around Riley’s return. A hack into the system from someone in India, apparently. According to Vin. Unsurprisingly, that also included all footage of him ever coming up to my penthouse.
“Uh huh,” Sheriff Miller grunts, not believing a word out of my mouth.
I push off the wall, stepping closer. “We’d prefer you close your investigation into her disappearance now. The important thing is that Riley is back, and it sounds like we won’t have to worry about Trevor again.”
He considers me for a moment, before finally saying, “We’ll close her missing person”s case, but I can’t stop the investigation into Trevor’s death. It’s out of my jurisdiction. And if they find any of your DNA at that crime scene, I won’t be able to stop what comes next.”
They won’t find anything. Vin made sure of it. Besides, he’s connected enough to make any evidence they do find disappear before anyone’s the wiser.
I can appreciate Chris’s warning, though. “I know,” I tell him. “But they can’t find something that’s not there.”
“Let’s hope that’s the case,” he says solemnly. Giving me a slap on the back, he adds, “Take care of her. I’ll check in again in a few days.”
He walks away before even giving me the chance to respond, and I wonder just how much he suspects about Trevor’s death. I get the feeling he knows I was involved, yet something tells me that my secret is safe with him.
It’s late. I’m exhausted, and Riley looks like she’s ready to pass out.
Jax, Jeremy, and Tracy just left after having brought over burgers and milkshakes for dinner. Riley scarfed her meal down, and something about seeing her eat twisted in my chest. She was skin and bones when we found her, and it makes me absolutely livid to think about all the hell she went through.
I’ve just closed the door to her room and pulled the shade when she asks, “Can you help me with this?”
I turn to see her standing by the bed, the sweatpants Tracy brought swallowing her skinny frame up. She still wears her hospital gown with the back open, her stitches covered in a fresh bandage.
Walking toward her, I ask, “With what?”
She holds up a pair of fuzzy socks and the corner of my mouth quirks up when I see they are covered in dinosaurs. I grab them from her as she sits on the edge of the bed.
“It’s a little uncomfortable to bend over,” she explains, gingerly scooting back toward the pillow. “Now that they took my painkiller away, I’m starting to feel the ache and pull in my back.”
Her beautiful brown eyes meet mine, but there’s a hint of trepidation in them, as though this is the biggest burden she could ask of me.
I used to get off on her timidness. But this… this I don’t like.
Taking one of her feet in my hands, I slip on the sock. “You know you can ask me for anything, right?” I set her foot down and grab the other one, slipping the other sock on. “I’d never tell you no.”
A small smile teases at her lips. “What if I said I wanted to quit working for you to be a chicken farmer instead?”
I grunt. “Then I’d tell you that’s a terrible decision and enlist Jax to build you a few more coops.”
“He’d never forgive you,” she says through a laugh. “I think he still regrets volunteering for the last one.”
Sinking down into the chair by her bed, I watch as her face grows serious, and she chews at her chapped lips. She wants to ask something else, but her hesitation has my pulse spiking.
“What is it, Riley?”
Her eyes dart to mine and away again. After what feels like an eternity, she quietly asks, “Would you let me go?”
My heart stops. “What do you mean, let you go?”
She doesn’t meet my eyes, instead staring at her lap. “If I asked to leave. If I didn’t want this,” she gestures between the two of us. “Would you let me leave?”
Blood rushes to my ears. “Don’t make me answer that, baby.”
She finally looks at me, fear and panic on her face, and it dawns on me what this is. She’s scared of being trapped again. She’s scared of being controlled. She’s scared of having no way out.
“Fuck,” I run my hands down my face, scratching at my beard. “If you asked me to… if you truly wanted to leave…” My voice is tight as I work around the lump in my throat. “Then, yes, I’d let you go. But make no mistake, I’d always be watching you. I’d always be in the background. Because if I had to choose between loving you from a distance or not loving you at all, I’d choose the first every time.”
She doesn’t say anything, and the roaring in my ears increases. It feels like there’s tar churning away in my stomach, and suddenly I’m the one panicking.
I can’t lose her.
I clench my fists in an effort to not lash out. To not pressure her into speaking. I know she needs time to deal with what she’s been through, but she’s tearing my heart to fucking shreds right now.
“Emmett,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper. “Will you sleep with me?”
Her words hit like a tsunami, washing over me and quelling the rampant thoughts in my mind.
I failed her, in the worst way possible, and still she gives herself to me.
It does nothing to settle the guilt that’s been eating at me for the last five weeks, but her words are enough to at least help calm that storm for now.
I slide up into bed with her, careful not to jostle her. She presses into me, her chest against my side, and I slip my arm around her shoulders, carefully pulling her in closer. My other hand grabs her leg, moving it over me, relishing in the feel of having her against me like this again.
I rub the ends of her hair between my fingertips. A nurse helped her shower earlier today, and I’ve been dying to sink my fingers into her hair ever since. I give in, running my hand through those long, dark brown locks I love so much.
When I turn my face to kiss the top of her head, the smell of coconut shampoo fills my nose. Riley sighs against me, and I feel her body gradually relax as I continue running my fingers over her scalp and through her hair.
It’s like a trance, and for the first time in five weeks, sleep comes easily.