30. Lennon
Chapter 30
Lennon
Say It Again
B eckett, Helena, Kira, and Ronan showed up a few minutes later. One of the firefighters stopped to talk to them for what seemed like forever. Finally, he left.
I was going to go over, but Annette finally shook out of the quiet she’d been sitting in since we all watched Ronnie being taken away. She sprinted over to Kira and the two women hugged, then Ronan enveloped both of them.
I was still curled in Griffin’s arms, both sitting on the patio with Elmer on my lap. Once the dog spotted Griffin, he’d escaped from the girls to be by his side.
After all the drama, the fire was contained in little more than ten minutes.
I was numb as the firemen tromped through the now smokeless dining room. I could see the puddles from where I was.
I could only imagine the destruction in there.
Fire didn’t really care what it ate or destroyed. And water was just as destructive.
“Hey, you’re awful quiet.”
As if echoing his dad, Elmer licked my face.
Gently, I pushed his head away. Instead, he leaned hard against my chest instead. “How did we end up with a fire?”
“I don’t know. It looked like it was on the big griddle cooktop.”
I pushed away so I could look at Griffin. “The kitchen had been closed.”
“I know. I don’t know anything about fire, but it was so smoky, it seemed like a grease fire to me.”
“That makes no sense. At all.”
I pushed off him and struggled to my feet, immediately going into a coughing fit.
Beckett rushed over and took my arm. “Easy, there.”
Griffin detangled himself from Elmer and hurried to my side. “Maybe we should get you checked out. You took in a lot of smoke.”
I waved him off. “Beckett, what did the fireman say?”
“They won’t know until the arson unit takes a look.”
“Arson!”
Beckett rubbed my shoulder. “It’s just a precaution for the insurance. Most of the damage was in the kitchen near the cooktop. The fireman said it looked like a grease fire gone out of control.”
“Dawn and Kain keep that griddle clean enough to sleep on. There’s no way.”
Griffin smoothed his hand down my back. “Okay, okay. Shhh .”
I elbowed him. “You know that kitchen is maintained.”
“I know it is,” Beckett said quietly. “It’s just a guess. We won’t know until the arson team comes tomorrow. For now, we’re just waiting for them to do the final walk-through to make sure there aren’t any other hot spots.”
“It might be something else,” Griffin said quietly.
I turned to him. “What?”
He shoved his fingers through his hair. “Someone slammed the storage door closed on me.”
Beckett frowned. “Are you sure? The front door makes quite the wind tunnel sometimes.”
Griffin gave a slight shrug. “Maybe. We definitely need to have a safety precaution for the doors. It locked me in and if Annette hadn’t found me...”
My hand shook as I took his hand. “Thank God she did.” I glanced over at Annette who was still huddled close to Kira.
I had to believe we would have found him, but the what ifs made my head spin.
Griffin cleared his throat. “It’s not the first-time stuff has happened around us.”
Beckett frowned. “What do you mean? Here ?”
“No. It’s probably nothing.” He glanced at me and my stomach flipped.
Maybe I was being paranoid. Seeing that woman who looked like she’d been the same one from Florida nagged at me.
“Maybe it’s not.” Beckett folded his arms over his chest. “Go on.”
I curled my other hand around Griffin’s and squeezed. “I think I know what he’s talking about. Remember when both of my tires were flat? I can see one, thanks to all the building going on around here, but both is pretty hard to imagine. And my Jeep tires are durable.”
Beckett flushed a little. “I thought that was just an excuse for you two...”
“Banging?” I asked.
Griffin snorted and tried to hide it by clearing his throat. “It was very real, unfortunately. And both of my front lights were smashed too.”
Beckett rocked back on his heels. “That’s a far cry from a fire.”
“No, but Lennon got locked into one of the storerooms too. It was a while ago, but it seems like quite a few things are lining up to someone being a nuisance, at the very least.”
Beckett sighed.
Helena came over and tugged one of his arms free to curl around her. “What’s going on?”
“It’s okay.”
Helena frowned up at him. “It’s something. You have your pissed face on.”
He rubbed her arm. “I don’t want you to worry.”
“I’m pregnant, not a weakling.”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Strongest lady I know.”
“Oh, I hadn’t heard.” I reached toward her, and we linked hands for a second. “Congrats.”
“Thanks.” Lightly, she rubbed his chest. “We wanted to wait until three months. And it’s pretty much this week. Surprise.” Her tone was dry. “Now what’s going on?”
“We don’t know for sure, it’s just been a few weird months. Maybe we’re just grasping at nothing.” Griffin rubbed my back and looked down at me. “It’s been a damn long night, and we all need showers.”
I tried to swallow down the cough, but I couldn’t.
“Or urgent care.”
“I’m fine. Just gotta get it all out. I really would like a shower.”
“Agreed.” Beckett sighed. “Kira and I are going to do a walk-through. We’ll call you guys tomorrow when we know more about when we’ll be able to reopen. Chief Mills said we’ll have to get it professionally cleaned at the very least for the smoke.”
“I’m so sorry, Beckett.”
“It’s not your fault.” His smile was tired and heavy. “But we’ll figure it out. We always do.”
I nodded. “Let me know what I can do to help.”
“Count me in too,” Griffin said. “I have a strong back.”
“Appreciate it, guys.” He turned Helena back toward Kira and Ronan. Justin had come over, hovering around Annette, who still looked far too shell-shocked to me.
“It doesn’t feel right to go like this,” I whispered.
“I know, but we’ll just be in the way at this point.”
Elmer leaned against my leg, his whiskey eyes confused. “You’re right.” I reached down to pat his big head. “Let’s go home.”
“To my place?”
“You have the very best shower, so yes.”
“I see how it is.”
I laughed, but it was hollow. God, I was tired.
I didn’t want to think there could be anyone working with us who could want to harm people at the taproom. Too tired to drive myself, I let Griffin direct us to his truck. I spent the short ride with an armful of pit bull. He was warm and petting him helped calm me down.
Griffin pulled out his phone and tossed it in the cupholder. The display lit up and I glanced over.
“Baron is texting you.”
Griffin turned over the engine and frowned. “Baron barely contacts me, let alone this late.”
“Is he on the west coast?”
“Montana. Close enough.” He picked up the phone and quickly shot back a text.
“What’s up?”
“I don’t know. But he wanted directions to my place.”
Elmer barked out his approval as if he knew what we were talking about. I rubbed his ears, and he burrowed into me once more.
“I’d like to meet him.”
He tossed his phone back into the cup holder. “Guess you’re going to get the chance. He’ll be here first thing in the morning.”
Was it a coincidence?
I was probably just jumping to conclusions because none of this made any damn sense.
The trip to the Starling was quiet, both of us lost in thought. Once inside, we both went right to the shower. I wanted nothing more than to stand under the rain hood forever. I smelled like a cigarette that had gotten lost in a bonfire.
“ C’mere .” Griffin pulled me out of the spray and squeezed shampoo into my hair. I sighed as he washed it twice and the worst of the smoky scent and dirt swirled down the drain.
I was so tired that I even let him wash my back and neck. I let my head fall forward as the suds rained down over my chest and back.
Once I was squeaky clean, I turned around to do the same to him.
The act of washing away the soot and smoke helped more than I thought possible. His smooth skin, muscles, and those damn green eyes watching me could have bumped the soothing touches into something more.
Instead, we stumbled out of the shower like drunks and laughed as we wrapped ourselves in towels.
I could only imagine what my poor hair would be like tomorrow.
As was our night routine, we had a bit of ice cream as we waited for Elmer to do his business. First, he had to sniff his way around the small patch of grass and mark his whole way around.
“C’mon, man.”
Elmer came bounding over, panting the whole way.
“That is not doing your business. I’m not getting up at four so you can go then. Go on.”
He hung his head and trotted back over to the grassy section.
“Hard ass.”
He took the pint back from me. “You’re not the one who gets up with him.”
My heart skittered a bit. It sounded much like getting up with a child and that was scarily domestic.
“Hallelujah.” He handed back the pint to me and dug into his hoodie for a bag. “Good job, buddy.”
I scraped through a layer of Chocolate Covered Strawberry, grinning around a spoonful as he chased Elmer around the patch of grass, both of them obviously in love with one another.
And because I needed the tiny bit of normalcy, I jogged over to play with them for a minute.
Eventually, it was too brisk for even the fun-loving Elmer and we all filed back into The Starling. Griffin took the pint from me and I corralled Elmer into our bedroom.
I paused right before I helped Elmer onto the bed.
It wasn’t our room.
I helped get his honking butt up on the bed and collapsed beside him. But what if it was? I collapsed back on the pillows.
Pillows that had appeared after I started staying the night with him.
There were touches of me that had slowly been added to the room. Paintings and prints we’d found on our day trips hung on the once blank wall.
A few of them were printed photos from the wine tasting and a trip to a nearby falls.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t noticed them before, but on top of everything else, it seemed like I’d been so damn blind.
I didn’t want to put a label on us, but it was so obvious that it was right there.
We were building a life together.
Hell, we even had a dog now. I kissed Elmer’s head. He felt as much mine as Griffin’s at this point.
From the second I saw him, I’d fallen in love with him. Was it because Griffin had cracked me open?
Or did Florida cement exactly what I hadn’t wanted to face?
Griffin came in, and I rolled onto my knees.
“Think I’m in trouble.”
He pulled off his sweatshirt and tossed it on the bench. “What did you do?” He lifted one foot to peel off his sock.
Elmer popped up to stand beside me, his hot dog breath on my thigh making me laugh. “I love you.”
“What?” He tripped and went down.
“Griffin?” I crawled to the end of the bed and peered down. “Are you okay?”
Elmer hopped down and went right to licking his face.
“I’m fine. Let me up.”
Elmer, excited and thinking they were playing, planted his paws on Griffin’s shoulders, pinning him to the floor.
“Elmer!” He tried to push him back, but his tongue would not be denied.
I slipped off the bed and pushed Elmer off to straddle him.
Griffin pulled me down to him.
“No, not the slobber.” I held my head away.
Elmer barked and I got the same treatment.
“No! Help.”
Griffin rolled us over, so he was on top. “Say it again.”
Elmer’s hot breath wafted my way. Griffin shoved Elmer back. “One second, buddy.”
He plopped down with a harumph.
I laughed.
He grabbed my hands and pinned them down on the rug. “Say it again.”
The giggles bubbled up and so did a few tears. “I love you.”
He lowered his mouth to mine, lacing our fingers on the rug. “I love you too.”
“Say it again.”
“Pretty sure your ears work just fine.”
He buried his face in my neck, using his beard to tickle me. I arched my back, trying to get him off me. And that was far too much playing for Elmer to resist. He jumped on top of Griffin and they smothered me on the floor with laughter and kisses.
And I took them all.
“I love both of you idiots.”
“Thank God.” Griffin rolled off me until we were side by side on the rug. “I was trying to wait you out.”
I turned my head and smiled at him. “Maybe you should be renamed Elmer.”
The dog popped up and circled around both of us to crawl between us.
“No, he still wins.” We both laughed, then he reached over and cupped my face. “But you’re right. I’m not going anywhere. I told you already—you are stuck with us.”
“Yeah, I’m getting used to that.”
Griffin rolled up to a sitting position, then he groaned and got to his feet. “The floor sucks.”
“Because you’re old.”
He bent down and scooped me up, tossing me over his shoulder. “I’ll show you old.”
Suddenly, we had all the energy in the world.
And Elmer sighed as he settled down beside us in bed, his eyes firmly shut.