Chapter 25
Somehow,Emma got through the next hour of telling the police and her parents about what she’d found in her room and who she thought was responsible.
There were questions in her parents’ eyes. Fury in her father’s. Worry in her mother’s.
It was a relief they knew because now they knew to be vigilant. Her dad had looked at Blaze and said he wanted that security system ASAP. Part of her hated that it’d come to that. Another part said it was about time because Sutton’s Creek wasn’t so isolated anymore.
Emma closed her eyes as Blaze drove them the short distance to downtown. Her skin crawled with the knowledge of what Simon had done. He’d broken into her childhood home, poured red paint on her bed, and left a bound and gagged doll in the middle of it.
To terrify her. To let her know he could get to her.
She shuddered. Blaze’s big, warm hand closed on her fisted one. His touch instantly soothed her.
“You did the right thing, Emma. Your parents needed to know for their own safety, and now the police are looking for him. Both those things are good because this was an escalation.”
“I know. It’s just so sickening that anyone would do such a thing. If he wanted to make me feel unsafe in my childhood home, he’s succeeded. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to sleep in that bed again.”
“Don’t let him ruin a place you were happy. Don’t let him put a black mark on your childhood.”
“I’m trying not to. I’m trying to think of all the good times I had growing up in that house. The sleepovers with Rory. Christmases when my mother decorated my room and put up a tree in my sitting room window. I got to pick the ornaments for it, and we added a new one every year. My room was my sanctuary when I was a kid, and he defiled it and made it feel unsafe. And now my parents are going to a hotel for the night because my mother doesn’t feel safe either.”
“I know, honey. But it sounds like you had a wonderful childhood there. The kind a lot of kids don’t get.”
There was something in his voice.
“I did,” she said softly. “But I also had problems. It wasn’t perfect, Blaze.”
He shot her a look of surprise. “Of course not. Nobody’s life is perfect. We all have problems to work through.”
She hesitated, but she suddenly wanted to know. “What about you? Did you have a happy childhood?”
His knuckles whitened on the wheel. “Not really. My mother never married my father. She had a string of boyfriends. Moved us from place to place. I didn’t often have my own room. I shared with other kids until Mom and her flavor of the month broke up and we moved on.”
Her heart ached for the little boy he’d been. Never having a home that was his. “I must sound like a spoiled princess to you.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because I’m going on and on about a single act of defilement that doesn’t change my childhood or the mostly happy home I grew up in. It’s self-indulgent and whiny.”
He pulled into the parking lot behind the Sutton building, shoved the truck into park, and turned to look at her. “Babe, you’re allowed to be upset about what happened. You’re allowed to freak out and have trouble processing that it happened in what’s always been a safe space for you. You aren’t spoiled for what you’re feeling. No, I didn’t have what you had as a kid. I had a somewhat volatile childhood, but it made me who I am today. I like who I am and what I do. I’ve made a difference to people’s lives in my career, and that counts for a lot. You don’t have to apologize because you grew up the way you did. We don’t all get the same start in life, but it’s what we choose to do with the chances we get that count.”
She had an overwhelming urge to kiss him. But if she did that, if she crossed the space and pressed her mouth to his, she didn’t know when or where it would end. Not to mention the fact that Simon could be out there, watching them.
The thought made her stomach twist.
“Thank you for saying the right thing when I need to hear it.”
He took her hand in his, threaded their fingers together, and lifted their joined hands to kiss the back of hers. “You’re welcome.”
The warmth of his breath on her skin made little shivers chase up and down her spine. She was instantly wet, her body aching for his. She’d have thought it impossible to want to get naked with a man this soon after the last one, but the fact was that she did.
Desperately.
Didn’t make it a good idea, but she still wanted it.
His expression was hot on hers one second and cooling the next. Her heart thumped at the way he seemed to shut off the heat in his gaze. The need. He smiled a friendly smile and let her go. Disappointment stung.
“You know the drill. Sit tight and I’ll be around to open the door for you.”
She nodded because she didn’t trust herself to speak. They trudged toward the building and up the stairs, stopping in front of his door. She was thinking about what to say, how to ask him why he kept shutting down, when the door to her place opened and Chance Hughes stepped out. He looked more serious than she’d ever seen him.
“Hey, man. Got a call from that client I told you about.”
“Oh yeah? How’d it go?” Blaze asked. There was tension in the set of his shoulders, the stiffness of his back.
“Good, good. Gonna need to head back to the range in a bit. He’s only in town for tonight.”
“When do we need to go?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Chance went back inside, and Blaze opened his door and went in first. She was used to letting him check the place out before he let her inside, so she stood patiently until he motioned her forward. She shut the door behind her and locked it out of habit, though Blaze would check it again if this were a normal night.
But it wasn’t normal. He was leaving her to go to the range with Chance, which meant he was going back out and she would be alone.
Emma wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.
“I don’t know how long this will take,” Blaze said as he strode back into the living room with a black gym bag in one hand. He set it down and came over to where she stood. “Hey, you okay?”
Emma nodded as he put his hands on her arms and rubbed them lightly up and down. “I don’t want to stay here alone. Can I go with you? I won’t get in the way.”
It was hard to ask, but she couldn’t get the idea of Simon in her childhood home out of her mind. Being by herself meant she’d keep thinking about it, imagining him in her bedroom, remembering the day he’d put the pistol to her head and cocked it.
Threatened to kill her.
Was that his end game now? Had she misjudged his willingness to commit a crime? Just because normal people had a healthy fear of getting caught and going to prison didn’t mean that he did.
Sympathy flared in Blaze’s eyes, followed by sorrow. “I can’t take you, Emma. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, and you have work tomorrow. You’re safe here. You have the app for the cameras on your phone, and you’ll know if anyone breaches either entrance. I’ll call when we return so you’ll know it’s me, but if an alert goes off and you haven’t heard from me, call 911.”
Her fear bubbled higher, but she wouldn’t beg him. He’d already done more for her than she could have asked for. “Okay.”
He kissed her forehead then swore softly and took her mouth with his. The kiss was hot and sweet and held the promise of more. Her insides turned to jelly, her knees wobbling as she clung to him.
The kiss ended too soon. He set her gently away from him and searched her gaze with his.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t unlock that door until I return.”
“I won’t.”
He kissed her again, quickly, and then he was gone.