Chapter Twenty-Eight
He’d made it in time.
Dawn broke from the east, painting the sky in pastels and bright oranges as smoke from the fires of the past couple days mixed into the atmosphere. For the first time in nearly a week, Murray could breathe easier.
Crews—both fire management and law enforcement—had worked through the night to get the fire under control and neutralized the last few embers that refused to go out thanks to the canister of gasoline Jaylan Kennex had used to start the blaze. But the fire was under control.
He’d managed to contain Jaylan Kennex with ease once the bastard realized he’d lose his sister if he killed Aslen.
Murray didn’t know what to do with that information, the lengths the arsonist would have gone to protect his sister, to keep a promise he’d made to her.
It was…all too familiar. And terrifying.
Because Murray wasn’t sure if there was anything that would stop him from doing the same for Aslen.
Law enforcement rangers had taken custody of the duo within seconds of arriving on the scene.
His rangers did their jobs well, taking statements from both him and Aslen and collecting the evidence they needed to make the arrest—including the physical damage done to Aslen’s face.
It was clear what had happened, and considering Aslen’s and his eyewitness statements and the evidence collected during the investigation, Murray was sure Jaylan Kennex would spend the rest of his life getting visits from his sister from behind bars.
Though Danny hadn’t had a direct hand in killing her parents, she too was arrested on charges of obstructing the investigation and currently waited in the back of a separate SUV from her brother as they finished up at the scene.
But Murray couldn’t deny her hand in saving Aslen’s life.
Without her interference, Jaylan Kennex would’ve killed Aslen right in front of him, which he would be sure to mention to the judge come trial.
Murray scrubbed a dirty bandage down his face as one of the EMTs assessed his other palm.
The blisters had broken open during his struggle with the arsonist, but it was nothing compared to the pain that’d nearly suffocated him in watching Aslen take those punches.
He’d wanted nothing more than to destroy Jaylan Kennex for putting his hands on her, but he’d have to leave that to the justice system.
“Switch.” The EMT grabbed for his opposite hand, unwinding the old bandage, cleaning the wound and applying more burn ointment, but Murray didn’t notice the pain as Aslen finished up with the EMT across the clearing.
The blood had been cleaned away from her delicate features, but the swelling and bruises—along with the bandage across her nose—told a gut-wrenching story of survival.
One she almost hadn’t made it through. Staring out at what remained of the woods surrounding Lava Point Overlook, she closed her eyes and tilted her head back as if to absorb the morning’s sunrise.
And, damn, she was beautiful standing there.
Though he was ready to drag Jaylan Kennex out of that SUV and beat the man into unconsciousness for breaking her nose.
“We’re done here.” Murray ignored the EMT’s protests as he crossed the clearing to reach her.
She opened her eyes and turned at his presence, like the invisible thread tying them together warned her of his approach.
But she wasn’t yelling at him to get the hell away from her after how he’d treated her the last time they’d had a conversation, so he’d take that as a win.
He wished he could go back in time and keep her from having to go through any of this—his rejection, the fire, her abduction, the brutality spelled across her face.
Except there was nothing he could do to fix this for her.
Whatever happened, he could only promise to be at her side.
If she allowed him. “What’s the damage?”
“Broken nose, a few lacerations. Nothing I haven’t survived before.” She tried shrugging her shoulder but only managed to upset some unseen injury. “Your self-defense lessons came in handy. Jaylan Kennex is sporting a busted lip and a cracked cheekbone right about now.”
“Let me see your hand.” Murray reached for her, letting her meet him halfway. Relief charged through him as she slid her hand over his bandaged palm. He probed her knuckles and the tendons running down the back of her hand with both thumbs. “Nothing broken as far as I can tell.”
Aslen retracted her hand in offense. “Excuse me, I know how to throw a punch.”
“That’s because you learned from the best.” His smile came easily without the weight of a killer on the loose, but Murray realized he might have unintentionally done more damage than Jaylan Kennex ever could between them. “It was never about you, Aslen.”
Her smile slipped. She seemed to stand a bit straighter but wasn’t cutting him off entirely. “I know.”
Where he expected hesitation and fear to strangle him, courage took the lead.
He’d already faced the nightmare of losing her, watched her nearly be taken from him.
There was nothing left to fear, and he was tired of letting the grief win.
He loved his parents, he loved Jackson, but denying himself the ability to remember the moments he had with them had been nothing short of a disgrace to their memories.
And he didn’t want Aslen to become one of those memories he refused to acknowledge.
“I lost everyone I’ve ever cared about. First Mom, then Dad right after her.
I suddenly had these two teenagers to take care of and all the pressure that came with it.
I was determined to give you and Jackson everything you deserved no matter what sacrifices needed to be made, but when he disappeared…
” Murray cut his gaze to the rising sun still hiding behind the mountains to the east and let it cleanse the final remnants of grief from his system. “I let myself become numb.”
She didn’t interrupt, didn’t give them a way out with shallow attempts at forgiveness or platitudes.
Murray ran a bandaged hand through his hair, igniting the pain in his palm.
It kept him in the moment, allowed him to push through.
“I didn’t want to feel anything for anyone ever again, including you.
I counted down the days until you graduated high school, and you would go off on your own and leave me for bigger and better things.
I wanted the misery of being alone because it was easier than letting anyone else in, but you decided to stay in state for college and live at home.
You kept insisting to be part of my life, to remember Mom and Dad and Jackson, and I kept trying to push you away because I was afraid of the pain I’d been ignoring. ”
Tears glinted in her eyes.
“When I made that promise to protect you all those years ago, I meant physically. I wasn’t going to let anyone else hurt you that way, but over time, that promise transformed into something bigger.
I found myself protecting you from me. You deserve better than me, Aslen.
I’ve always known that. I’ve always wanted that for you.
” The muscles in his jaw ached under pressure of his back teeth as all the wrongs he’d committed in the past few years rushed to the forefront of his mind.
“I was supposed to let you come to Zion alone. I told myself you were better off, but you were the last link I had to my family. You felt like home. You always have, and I couldn’t let you go.
You stayed strong for years, stronger than I could ever be, and now I know I don’t want to let you go. ”
“What are you saying?” Her voice barely carried over the chaos of the scene as shouted orders, fire hoses and sizzling trees demanded attention.
Murray closed the distance between them, locking his gaze with hers.
She could run, she could leave Zion like she’d planned and never give him a second thought, but Aslen only stood her ground against him.
Just as she’d done from the beginning. “I’m saying I crave your scent on my clothes and the glances you steal when you think I’m not looking.
” He secured a strand of her hair behind her ear.
“I’ve come to need you in the same room as I’m in and get anxiety in less than five minutes if you’re not.
I’ve never slept better than when you’ve been next to me, every single time. ”
Her inhalation hitched as she looked up at him, and a single tear slipped free down her face.
“I love the way you fit in my arms, even though I’m three times your size.
I love the passion you have for your job and all those random facts you spew when you’re nervous.
” He skimmed his thumb over the tear then across her split lip, careful of the injury but needing to make himself very clear when it came to the woman standing in front of him.
“I respect the hell out of you, Aslen, for a lot of things, but especially for showing me how to face my fears. You became a firefighter after everything you’ve survived, and I’ve always admired that.
And I need you to know you will always be safe with me.
You will always belong. You’re a gift I’ve been denying myself for twenty years.
I care about you, and if at any time you didn’t feel those things from me, I failed.
Because I love you, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure you know that every day for the rest of our lives if you’ll give me the chance. ”
“Took you long enough.” Aslen shot onto her toes and threw her arms around his neck.
Crushing her mouth against his, she pressed herself against his chest as if in attempt to make them one.
But they’d always been two halves of the same soul.
That familiar tug in the center of his chest where he could’ve sworn a thread of connection stirred was like a balm for the wounds that’d been bleeding for years.
His heart beat so hard he was sure everyone on the scene could hear it, and he didn’t give a damn.
Murray wound his arms around her waist, hauling her off her feet.
The hollowness behind his sternum screamed to let it survive, to go back to thriving in loneliness and misery, but as long as he had Aslen, that darkness would never take hold again.
This was nothing like that kiss they’d shared on the couch a few nights ago. This was something more, something he’d never imagined.
A small moan escaped up her throat. She pulled back, her eyes brighter than he’d ever seen them before.
Fisting her fingers in his shirt, she pressed her mouth to his with a smile that threatened to buckle his knees.
That smile. He’d waited so long to see that smile, and now it was his. “Oh, I love you, too.”
An animalistic growl resonated through him as he fought the urge to simply claim her right here in the middle of the woods in front of their colleagues.
He’d waited twenty years for Aslen Woods.
He could wait a little longer. For her, he’d wait forever.
Murray narrowed his gaze on her kiss-swollen mouth and thumbed the sensitive flesh again. “Your lip is bleeding.”
“I don’t care. I don’t care that everyone can see us making out in the middle of the scene.
I don’t care I don’t have any place to live.
I don’t care that I look like I lost a fight with a kangaroo.
” Aslen shook her head then dragged his mouth to hers.
“You’re finally mine, Murray Simpson, and I’m never letting you go. ”
He liked the sound of that, kissing her hard enough to leave another bruise. “Forever.”