Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Wolfe
Remaining in the chair was far more difficult than I was making it look, I hoped. Amy had hardly told US anything at this point, and already, I was vibrating with fury. What the fuck could an almost-forty-year-old man see in a teenage girl? They couldn’t’ve possibly had anything in common.
“My uncle … he … well, to put it kindly, he didn’t like him at all.
Said he was far too old for me, that he was using me.
My aunt didn’t say much, but I could tell she wasn’t supportive of me dating him, either.
She tried to talk to me a few times, but I always went off on these dreamy tirades about how great he was.
I know she wanted to see me happy, but she didn’t want me to get hurt.
My uncle never held back. We started to argue all the time, until one day, he told me—”
Amy stopped abruptly when the door opened.
Reagan stepped inside, her eyes instantly taking in the scene before her. I gave her a brief nod, then glanced at Amy. “Let me talk to her for a second.”
Amy gave a nod of agreement, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
As I was walking over to Reagan, I heard Rhys say, “Amy, the same goes for Reagan. Like Lynx told you. Family.”
I glanced back in time to see Amy swallowing hard as she nodded.
“Is she okay?” Reagan’s expression was one of confusion and concern.
I gestured toward the door and Reagan preceded me outside.
“When I got to her house last night, she seemed upset,” Reagan explained, her face etched with worry. “I heard her leave really early this mornin’. I guess I got concerned.”
“It’s … complicated. When I got here, she was waitin’ in her car.”
Reagan seemed to process that information, and I suspected she was waiting for me to say something more.
Finally, she met my gaze, held it. “Please don’t make me leave,” she pleaded. “She needs a friend and I … I want to be there for her.”
Amy did need a friend, but whether or not Reagan stayed was not my decision to make. “That’s up to her.”
Reagan nodded, glancing at the door briefly, twisting her hands in her shirt. She seemed to come to a decision because she headed back inside. She walked right over to Amy, sitting in the chair beside her, and reaching for her hand.
“I was worried when I heard you leave so early,” Reagan explained.
To my surprise, Amy clutched her hand, watching the woman intently. “I’m…” Amy shook her head. “No. I’m not okay.”
I moved farther into the room, coming to stand beside Rhys and petting Copenhagen when the dog trotted over to me.
When Amy met my eyes again, I nodded. “Lynx and Rhys are right, Amy. The people in this room have your back. Keep goin’.”
She swallowed hard, her attention on Copenhagen when the dog came and put his head in her lap again.
“Like I said, my uncle didn’t like him. At first, he said it was because he was so much older than me.
I tried to tell him that age didn’t matter.
That we were happy together. My uncle didn’t care. He held his ground.
“One night, when he came to pick me up for dinner, my uncle met him at the door. They had a conversation that resulted in my uncle slamming the door and telling me that if I went out with him again, I wouldn’t be able to stay under their roof. He wouldn’t put up with it.”
Tears welled in Amy’s eyes. Reagan reached for her hand again, holding it tightly.
“Did you ever find out why he didn’t like him?” Lynx inquired.
Amy nodded. “My uncle was a 9-1-1 operator. Apparently, he’d heard some things about him. He didn’t know him personally, but he said he had a reputation.”
I didn’t need her to explain. If the man had a reputation and the uncle didn’t like him, he hadn’t been a choir boy, that was for damn sure.
“I rebelled.” She sniffed, a tear falling down her cheek.
“Told him I didn’t care. That I loved this man and I was gonna be with him no matter what.
I went out to dinner anyway, and that night, he convinced me to stay at his house for the first time.
” Amy seemed to fold in on herself as a sob broke up her words.
Unable to help myself, I was instantly at her side. Reagan took the hint and moved, giving me space. I dropped into the chair beside her, then pulled Amy against my chest as she broke down, her body jerking from the strength of her sobs.
It took inhuman effort to relax my arms, to not squeeze too tight. The thought of this bastard taking her virginity made every cell in my body gear up for a fight.
While I consoled Amy, Lynx moved across the room to the coffeepot, Reagan right behind him. The sink ran, which meant they were making coffee as they spoke in hushed tones. I couldn’t make out everything Lynx was saying, but I figured he was giving her the CliffsNotes version of the story thus far.
I made eye contact with Rhys. I had no idea what the man was thinking.
He was angry, there was no doubt about that.
But he was patiently waiting for Amy to continue.
I knew he was keeping his distance because Lynx and Reagan were there.
Evidently, he wasn’t interested in anyone finding out about our relationship.
If what we had could even be called that.
When Lynx and Reagan returned, they passed out coffee cups. Lynx resumed his position on the table, and Reagan pulled another chair over near me and sat. I was reluctant to release Amy, but when she pulled away, I didn’t hold on.
Resting my elbows on my knees, I dropped my head, staring down into my coffee cup. I got the feeling this story was going to get a lot worse, and probably never better.
Amy hiccuped. “I’m sorry … I…”
“Don’t be sorry,” Rhys said, coming to stand in front of her before dropping to his haunches. “We need to know what happened.”
Setting my coffee cup on the floor, I watched them.
Amy nodded, squeezing his hand as she stared into his eyes. Her words came out on a tortured sob. “That night, my aunt and uncle died.”
Once again, Amy cried, her hands covering her face.
I saw Rhys’s face harden, the no-nonsense sheriff replacing the laid-back country boy.
I knew he couldn’t disconnect himself from his job.
He’d taken an oath to protect people, and he took it seriously.
No matter what he told Amy, Rhys would have to look into this.
Whether he did it officially or off the books, it wouldn’t matter. He’d do it, regardless.
Rhys waited until Amy calmed down.
She was wiping the tears from her face when Rhys asked, “How? How’d they die, Amy?”
“A fire.” She sniffled. “It destroyed their entire house. They died. I was told it was probably smoke inhalation—I hope to God that’s true. Their burned bodies were found in their bed.”
I realized my hands were balled into fists. I got up, pushing the chair back as I did. I couldn’t sit still.
“They said it was an accident,” Amy continued.
I spun to face her. “And you believe that?”
If it was an accident, why were they in bed? Surely they hadn’t slept through it. What about smoke detectors? Or even the smell of smoke? Or the heat? Something should’ve woken them up.
“No. I don’t believe it.” Her eyes locked with mine.
“Not anymore, anyway. Eventually, he told me that no one would stand in the way of us being together. I…” She sobbed again.
“I don’t know how he did it, but he killed them.
I know he did. He never openly admitted it, but it was the little things he said. ”
Rhys held Amy’s hand until she got control of herself again. I could tell she wanted to get this over with. Probably the only reason she pulled herself together.
“Son of a bitch.” Rhys stood, pacing the floor. “Keep goin’, Amy. We need to know the whole story.”
I agreed, although I didn’t want to hear any more. I wanted to go back to not knowing the hell that Amy had lived because it was eviscerating me. And I knew it’d been hell even without hearing the rest.
Amy
I felt as though I had a four-hundred-pound weight sitting on my chest. That was how it felt every time I thought about my aunt and uncle and the horrific way they’d died.
“The worst part about it,” I said, breathing deeply, “is I didn’t go home for two days after the fight with my uncle.
I didn’t even know. He finally took me home and it was then I found everything gone.
The house, everything in it, but most importantly, the only family I had.
” I sniffed, refusing to break down again.
I had to get through this. “Those few days were a blur. He consoled me, told me everything would be all right, held me while I cried. I remember the police station, someone telling me how they died, that they’d ruled it an accident.
According to the fire inspector, there had been a leaky gas line. ”
“Convenient,” Lynx muttered, his voice hard as steel.
“I lost my parents at sixteen, and three years later, I was burying my aunt and uncle. I had nothing. Nowhere to go, no one to turn to. I was all alone.” I looked at Wolfe.
“Except for him. He was there. Always there. He made me feel safe, told me he would take care of me, that I had nothing to worry about. And from that point on, I lived with him.” I cleared my throat.
“I lived with him for the next four years, seven months, and twenty-two days.”
Yes, I had counted every painful day that I had suffered with him.
I straightened my back, feeling the need to show them I wasn’t as weak as they probably believed I was. Not that it wasn’t true, but I didn’t want them to know.
“During all that time, I suffered ten concussions, a broken ankle, elbow, three fingers, my right arm, left wrist. My nose was broken twice.” As I said the words, I realized how bad it looked that I had stuck around, continued to endure.
I knew for a fact that Reagan never would’ve put up with a man hurting her like that.
“There were no questions from the hospital?” Rhys asked.