Chapter 11
11
ALEC
R ae slumped into my awaiting arms. Tucking her to my chest, I studied her lax face, panic restricting all reasonable thoughts. Only the rise and fall of her chest in a slow and steady rhythm kept me from losing all semblance of control. My thigh muscles tensed and bunched as I stood and adjusted my hold to support her neck.
“Get some water,” I ordered Charlie as I strode to her bedroom.
With a gentleness I didn’t know I possessed, I laid her on the unmade bed. Two fingertips to her throat, I held a breath until the steady, strong beat of her pulse thumped against them.
“Rae,” I whispered. Knees pressed against the hardwood floor, I drew closer to her side. Hand hovering over her face, I brushed loose strands of dark hair from her forehead. Reaching back, I removed the tie containing her thick hair so she could lie flat against the pillow. Unable to stop myself, I dragged my fingers through her silky strands as I studied her beautiful, petite face.
“You look like a creeper.” A glass of water dangled over the bed. “She’s fine, just overwhelmed. I can’t blame her.”
I set the full glass on the nightstand. “Finding out you could’ve died the night your parents did would be a lot to handle for anyone. Why didn’t he?”
“Well, that’s confusing.” I tore my focus off Rae to Charlie. Something silver rolled along his lips.
“Do you have a fucking tongue ring?” I said, completely surprised. Few people could surprise me, but that left me shocked.
Charlie grinned down at me and slid his tongue out, showing the silver bar punctured through it. I frowned. How had I not noticed before?
“It’s new. Don’t beat yourself up about it. We can still be friends.”
“Debatable. And I don’t feel bad,” I said carefully. “I’m just wondering.”
“Wondering what?”
“Wondering when we stepped back into the nineties when those things were cool.”
Charlie’s roaring laugh echoed in the room. “You’re funny for a Texan.”
“And you’re not so bad for a dumbass.” Rae stirred along the bed, soft mumbles whispering past her parted lips. I watched her for any signs of discomfort. “What’s confusing about the case, not your choice of body piercings.”
“First, the ladies love it. Especially when I add ice to the mix and?—”
I held up a hand, cutting him off. “I don’t need details.”
“Obviously you do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I challenged.
“It means that woman doesn’t know you’ve dropped your life to come save her from this mess. If memory serves me right, and the bit of research I read on the plane, this isn’t your territory, which means you had to jump through hoops to get assigned this case.”
I frowned and watched Rae for any signs of her waking. “She doesn’t need to know, and probably wouldn’t care. She called me,” I said with a sigh. “Which means she knew how to contact me and only did so when she needed me. Not because she wanted to see me.”
“What happened between you two? It’s obvious you both want the other, but you’re both holding back.”
“We were just kids, but what we were, what we had, was real. The only thing like it I’ve ever had.” Damnit, why was I spilling my fucking guts to this asshole? But now that I started, I couldn’t stop. “Bottom line, I left and never came back. And to make it worse, I left after I promised her the world. Promised her a future.”
“Why?” I shook my head and waved off his question. “You’re both hiding something.”
“Damnit, Charlie, just answer the question about the case.” I fisted the quilt to keep from lashing out and punching the smirk off his face.
“The pool of blood in her room. I figured it could mean one of two things. Theory number one, the killer killed her parents and came to her room to let Rae know they were dead, meaning she was awake, knew the murderer, and helped plan the attack.” Sitting on the bed, he leaned back, situating himself too close to Rae for my liking. With a growl, I shoved his shoulder until he rolled off. “Fucker, we’re both dressed. Your possessive side needs work.”
“Whatever you say, Charles,” I mused, loving the glare he shot my way. Who knew why he hated that name, but because he did, I kept using it. Getting under other people’s skin was a fun hobby of mine.
“Second theory.” He kneeled beside the bed and pressed both elbows onto the mattress. “The person responsible knew Rae and changed his mind about killing her, which doesn’t make much sense. Unless he was instructed to only kill her parents, but then why the overkill if it wasn’t personal?” He paused. “I’ll look into her financials. I can do more digging than the local police could back then. Maybe I can identify some suspects that they couldn’t.”
“Rae mentioned meth swept into town around that time, but her parents didn’t seem like meth heads. They were good, hardworking people when I knew them.” A slow grin spread up my cheeks. “Her dad hated me.”
Charlie scoffed. “I bet he did. I’ll check the blood work in evidence to be sure. If they were on something, that would fit in with the second theory.”
A string of softly spoken words drew our attention to the beauty who was slowly coming to.
“Look into her too,” I said under my breath. “I agree with you, she’s hiding something. Find out what it is.” When I didn’t get a response, I looked at Charlie. His face pinched like I’d said something wrong. “What?”
“If you go down that road, you can’t go back. If she finds out you were looking into her background, that you don’t trust her, it’ll end badly. You sure about this, Hulk?”
Was I? I didn’t want to hurt what little trust Rae had in me, but I still had a job to do. If it turned out Charlie’s first theory was true, there would be other clues that would tie her to the murders. I was almost positive she wasn’t the suspect we were trying to find, but almost wasn’t good enough.
“Do it.”
Rae’s lids fluttered open. After a few long blinks, her dark eyes frantically searched the room, stopping on me. With a gasp she sat up, both palms sunk into the bed behind her.
“You passed out,” I explained. Sliding my fingers through her hair, I urged her back to a prone position. “Don’t sit up too fast or it could happen again.”
“How did I get in here?” she rasped.
Slick, cool glass of water in hand, I lifted her head off the pillow a few inches and pressed the rim to her lips. Rae downed several sips. “I carried you.”
Water spewed from her sputtering lips across the bed and showered my face. Raising a shoulder, I wiped my face with the sleeve of my T-shirt. I shot the cackling Charlie an unamused scowl.
“You did what?” Rae exclaimed.
“I carried you.” I kept my words soft and slow, not understanding why she appeared to be freaking out.
“How?” She blinked at me, expecting an answer.
“Um.” I curled my arms, mimicking how I carried her bridal style. “Like this.”
“Is your back okay? Are you hurt?” Worry knitted her brow as she scanned my shoulders and leaned forward to see my back.
Ah. Now I understood. She actually believed those fucksticks’ comments about her figure. If she only saw herself the way I did, she’d know she was perfect. All woman, fully capable of taking everything I could give her. And that ass would look perfect, pink from my hand, as I slammed into her from behind, making her scream my name.
“Alec? Shit, are you okay? I hurt you, didn’t I?”
I shook myself out of the erotic daydream and casually reached down to adjust my hardening dick. This had to stop. No losing control around her, not again. It was for the best. At least that was what I told myself for years after I left Sweetcreek, and what I needed to remind myself of now.
“Rae, I think you see yourself much differently than I do.”
“I’m no fool, Alec. I can read the double-digit size listed on the back of my clothes. Don’t attempt to convince me I’m small.”
“You’re not big either,” I stated, but she snorted and shook her head, dismissing my comment. Pushing off the floor, I stretched my arms high overhead and groaned. “You stay in here and rest, and we’ll keep looking into the other cases.” Grabbing Charlie by the back of the neck, I practically dragged him to the door.
“Alec.” I shoved Charlie out of the room and turned to Rae. “You’re sleeping in here tonight, right?”
I wasn’t sure which seemed happier at that reminder, my heart or my cock.
Both needed to chill the fuck out.
“Yeah, Sunshine. I’ll be quiet though in case you’re asleep.”
Before the door closed behind me, she called out my name again. “Yes?” I asked, poking my head through the door.
“Why would he watch me sleep?”
A surge of possessive anger flared, and my grip tightened on the doorframe. “Who watched you sleep?”
I’d kill them. Rae was mine to watch.
That internal declaration smacked me in the gut, that immediate urge to inflict harm the reason why I was bad news for someone as sweet as Rae. Why I was always bad news for her.
“The person who killed my parents. Why did he not kill me too?” Sitting up, she wrapped an arm around her bent knees. Watery eyes found mine. “I wish he would’ve.”
In three long strides, I crossed the small room and scooped her off the bed, placing her on my lap. Her shoulders trembled. Quick breaths brushed across my neck as she sobbed against me. Each soft cry ripped a new shred through my heart for this woman.
Running my fingers through her strands in long soothing strokes, my chin to her crown, I closed my eyes, fighting back the waves of regret and grief her sadness conjured.
If I hadn’t confronted Dad that day, we wouldn’t have fought, which means I would’ve stayed in Sweetcreek, none the wiser of the monster I would become.
“Sunshine, don’t say things like that. You don’t mean it.”
“You don’t know how hard life was after they died. Foster homes, figuring out how to make it on my own, then more death and accusations and more death. Everything I’ve loved ripped away from me. I’m so tired of it all. It’s not getting better, and now it’s happening again.”
“Hey.” Finger beneath her chin, I tipped her damp face up. For a second I allowed myself to become lost in her dark chocolate eyes. “It is getting better.”
“How. How is it getting better? They threatened you today.”
I forced a cocky smile. “Well, for starters, I’m here.”
Some sadness lifted with her almost laugh. “And?”
“Isn’t that enough?” I joked.
“For now. But how will I go back to my normal life when you leave me? Again.”
My lips parted to reassure her, but I couldn’t think of a damn thing that wasn’t a lie. I would leave. Again. We both knew that.
“It’s okay,” she whispered with a watery smile. “I survived you leaving me once. I can do it again.” Fuck, that hurt. The accusation in her harshly spoken words made me blanch. “Go work on the cases.” She slid off my lap and stood. “That’s why you stuck around this long after all, right?”
I was a chickenshit. I was a motherfucking Texas Ranger, and this little sassy-ass woman’s words made me desperate to tuck my tail and retreat. There were many things I could tell her to make her understand why I left and why we couldn’t be together now, but instead I stood from the bed and walked out without a second glance.
If she only knew I wouldn’t leave because I didn’t care. It was the opposite. I cared too much about her. Fuck, I was pretty sure I still loved her, which was why I had to leave.
I swore a long time ago to protect Rae. And now I had to protect her from me. Even if keeping my hands off her tested the limits of my control. I had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.
Especially with us sleeping in the same bed.
That lumpy couch seemed a better option now that I thought about it. Sure, it would be uncomfortable, but so would lying beside the woman I was desperate for and forbidden to touch.
Tonight’s gonna be another long night.