Chapter Ten
Chloe fell asleep not long after she finished her account.
The combination of the events of the day, paired with alcohol on an empty stomach, had taken its toll.
Erik stood, and Jayla did as well. Quietly enough not to wake Chloe, Jayla said, “I’m going to head up to my apartment, grab my stuff.
Now that she knows what’s going on, at least one of us should stay with her until this is resolved. ”
Erik agreed. “We’ll both stay, sleep in shifts.
” Jackson Savoy sounded like he was prone to rages.
It was highly likely he would make a grab for Chloe if he got the opportunity and would possibly manufacture a situation to make that happen.
He might pull the fire alarm in the building and try to take her during the evacuation, or even force her car off the road if she tried to go somewhere.
He jerked his head toward the door. “Go ahead, get your things. I’ll move her to the bedroom.”
“Do you need to get anything from your place?”
“It can wait.” Erik had weapons stashed in his vehicle that was parked outside, and a duffel with a spare set of clothes and some toiletries. That was all he needed right now. He could get his art supplies and the remainder of his gear later.
With a nod of acceptance, Jayla moved off, and Erik bent to scoop Chloe up from the couch. She immediately turned slightly in his arms, snuggling against him, and it was such a foreign feeling for a man who had so little physical contact in his life that for a moment, he stalled out. It felt… good.
Shaking off the weird, warm, tingling feeling that had distracted him, he strode purposefully to Chloe’s bedroom.
The curtains were drawn, leaving the room dark, and since he wasn’t sure of the layout, he took a second to let his eyes adjust so he didn’t trip.
His hybrid vision in low light was far better than normal humans, but he was carrying precious cargo.
Lying her gently on the bed, he grabbed the blanket that was neatly folded at the foot and spread it over her. Turning away, he was about to head back to the living room when his hand was suddenly snagged in a warm grip.
“Stay,” Chloe sleepily mumbled.
“I’ll be right outside the door.”
“No. Stay with me.” The words were a bit slurred from the alcohol she’d consumed. “I don’t want to be alone.”
“All right.”
Having gotten her way, he expected her to release his hand, but she didn’t.
She was still holding on even as her breathing deepened to let him know she’d fallen back to sleep.
Erik could have easily slipped his hand free, but he didn’t.
He sat down on the floor by the bed to retain that small connection.
She’d been through hell, and tonight, she’d had to dredge all that shit back up. If holding on to him allowed her to sleep securely, he wouldn’t deny her the contact. And he had to admit, it was nice for him too.
He thought about what she’d said earlier, about facing her fears. “Instead of facing my fears, I ran. First, to my friend’s house, then all the way here, and now look at me. Running solved nothing.”
Those words had resonated with him. He should have faced his fears a long time ago.
Instead, he’d hidden, pushed everyone away from him.
How many times had the other Beasts tried to include him, and he’d rebuffed them?
All to spare them from having to look at his ugly face.
But the truth was, they didn’t care about that.
He did. And now that he’d discovered his face could be fixed, instead of jumping at the chance, he was running again.
Pulling his phone from his pocket with his free hand, he unlocked it and texted Sam Isaac.
I’m on an active mission right now, but when I get back, I want the procedure.
He watched the three dots appear on the screen as Sam texted his reply.
I’ll let them know.
The decision made, a sense of peace filled him.
The bedroom door opened slightly, letting in a little slice of dim light from the muted TV in the living room as Jayla poked her head in.
When she spotted him sitting on the floor by the bed, his hand in Chloe’s, her eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she didn’t say anything.
She didn’t need to. Her shit-eating grin spoke volumes as she pulled her head back and quietly closed the door.
Erik let out a quiet chuff of laughter. Jayla was Black Bay’s gossip queen, and she was likely thrilled to have a fresh nugget she could share.
Knowing the way she worked, half the base will have heard of this by morning.
Erik’s thumb stroked over the smooth, soft skin of Chloe’s hand.
He still couldn’t believe she’d asked him out on a date.
He’d pushed it to the back of his mind while the mission had taken precedence, but here, in these quiet moments of darkness, he could examine it.
She’d asked him on a date, scars and all.
Erik knew all the major world languages, at least enough to get by if he were ever in a foreign country, but earlier, on the phone, when she’d asked him that unexpected question, he’d wondered if he even understood English.
She couldn’t have possibly said what he thought she said, and he almost pinched himself to make sure he hadn’t fallen into some sort of hope-fueled dream.
It was real, though. She’d confirmed it.
But there was also a very real threat hanging over her head.
Erik was more determined than ever to eliminate Jackson Savoy.
Especially after hearing her story. The way he’d manipulated her…
Men like him didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as women like Chloe.
He was a cancer on society that needed to be eradicated.
When that was done, and the air had cleared, and Chloe had the time she needed to breathe, if she still wanted to, he’d take her out for that coffee. It promised to be the best coffee he’d ever had. Because it would be with her.
Oh, ow. Chloe scrunched her eyes closed even tighter. Her head was pounding, and she had cotton mouth to end all cotton mouth. Too much scotch. Why would she do this to herself? Oh, right…
“There’s water and Advil on your nightstand.”
Chloe’s eyes had snapped open on that first word, and she winced as her headache intensified.
Erik was standing by her bedroom door, and she wanted to cringe.
She must look a mess. Unable to help herself, she raised a hand to smooth down the tangled mass of her hair as her eyes drifted to the nightstand.
A bottle of water and a sealed packet of Advil instead of a glass from the tap and loose pills from the bottle in her medicine cabinet – as if he thought she wouldn’t trust him not to doctor the offering.
After Jackson, she could see why he might think her trust was in short supply.
But she’d had confirmation as to Erik and Jayla’s character straight from General Davies.
“My people are some of the best in the world. Trust them to keep you safe.”
Some of the best in the world. General Davies hadn’t just sent soldiers. He’d sent special operations forces. For her.
Reaching for the water, she cracked the cap and drank some down thirstily before reaching for the Advil, which proved stubborn to open.
“Here,” Erik offered, moving away from the door. “Let me get that for you.”
“Thank you.” Accepting the packet he’d opened, she drank the pills down. “What time is it?” She didn’t see her phone, which she usually left on the nightstand. But then again, she couldn’t remember coming to bed last night. Which meant…
Her cheeks heated with embarrassment as she realized she must have passed out, and Erik had carried her.
“Just past eight.”
Chloe nodded absently, her eyes wandering to the bathroom door. She needed a shower.
“I’ll leave you to get ready,” Erik said. “Jayla and I will be in the living room. We need to discuss next steps.”
Once he left, closing the door behind him, Chloe closed her eyes as her body deflated against the mattress.
Her head was still pounding and she felt nauseous.
It was tempting to stay in bed all day, bury her head under the covers, and pretend none of this was happening.
Jackson hadn’t found her, people hadn’t been injured, and she didn’t have two soldiers in her living room ready to go to war for her.
Her throat clogged as hot tears welled in her eyes and spilled over. Covering her face with her hands, she let out a quiet sob and curled into a ball. She didn’t want to do this again. She didn’t know if she could do this again.
Chloe didn’t know how long she’d lain there, silently crying, before she heard a soft tapping sound on her door.
“Chloe?” Jayla called. “Are you all right?”
Swiping at her swollen eyes, she sat up and winced as her head pounded. Crying hadn’t made her feel any better. If anything, she felt worse. “I’m okay.” Her voice sounded strained even to her own ears. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Do you want me to make you some breakfast?”
Just the thought of food had her stomach pitching, and she had to hold back a gag before she managed to choke out, “No thanks.”
“Okay. Erik wanted me to tell you that he got a text message from Lattimer Wilkes. A group text, so you likely got it too. He’s called a meeting.”
Chloe patted her pockets and rummaged through the bed covers. Where was her phone? “Okay. Thanks.”
Hauling herself out of bed with effort, she walked to her bathroom to get ready.
The reflection that greeted her was telling.
She looked as bad as she felt. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face was pale and blotchy, and her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy.
But she needed to pull herself together.
Jackson wasn’t going to just magically disappear because she wished he would.
His showing up here proved that he wasn’t going to give up.
She needed to face this. Deal with it if she ever wanted to reclaim her life.
The good news was, this time around, she had powerful backup in her corner.
After giving her teeth a thorough scrubbing, Chloe showered quickly, though it was tempting to linger under the spray of hot water.
When she finished, she didn’t bother with makeup or styling her hair; she just left it to air dry.
Still feeling a bit queasy, restrictive clothes were out of the question, so she went for comfort, donning black leggings and an oversized Washington Commanders sweatshirt.
The nice thing about the heavy garment was that no one would be able to tell that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
Out in the living room, Erik and Jayla were waiting for her, and when she flopped on the couch with a sigh, Jayla immediately handed her a cup of coffee, remarking, “Black, two sugars.” Exactly how she liked it – which the woman shouldn’t have known, unless…
“You’ve been watching me.” Of course, they’d been watching her. If she hadn’t been so shell-shocked the day before, she probably would’ve figured that out sooner.
Her lips twisted into a bitter caricature of a smile.
She should be grateful, she supposed, to have someone looking out for her, protecting her, but it still felt like an invasion of privacy.
She looked around the room, wondering where the cameras were.
One of them must have come in here, uninvited, while she was away, and placed them.
Had they been out here watching her cry in bed?
Jayla was saying something, but Chloe couldn’t hear her through the sudden rushing in her ears. Her eyes burned, and a choking feeling made it hard to breathe. She struggled to pull herself together, trying to remember what her therapist had told her. Start with five things she could see.
Her coffee cup, someone’s laptop. Before she could move on to the next, Erik was beside her, taking her hands. “Breathe, Chloe. Just breathe.”
His hands were large and warmed her icy fingers.
The callouses on his palms were an enticing texture against the softness of her skin.
She nodded, sucking air into her lungs as she focused on his face.
The turquoise of his good eye, surrounded by dark, enviously thick lashes.
His mouth as he formed the words, “That’s it. You’ve got it. Good girl.”
His last statement was a jolt to her system that snapped her out of her panic attack, and she blushed mightily until even her ears were hot because now her heart raced for a very different reason.
Clearing her throat, she pulled her hand away from him self-consciously and turned to look at Jayla, who was holding the laptop toward her in offering.
“Here. You can look at all the surveillance feeds. I did my best to preserve your modesty. There are no cameras in the bathroom, and the cameras in your bedroom are strictly monitoring the door and windows. Visual only on those. No audio.”
Chloe barely looked at the screen, her eyes snapping back to Erik as a thought occurred to her. “Did you install cameras at the opera house?”
He nodded. “I did.”
“So the light…?”
“We have someone who might be Jackson Savoy on camera doing something to it – what, we couldn’t see – but he’s not visible enough to positively ID.”
Of course not. Jackson was a cop. Even if he hadn’t known cameras were watching him, he would have kept his head down to keep anyone who might stumble upon him from being able to get a good look at his face.
“We also have him going into your dressing room.”
The missing lotion. One of his head games.
Pushing all else aside, Chloe stiffened her spine. Jackson needed to be dealt with. That was the priority. “You mentioned something about next steps?”