Chapter Four
Aaron paced back and forth outside the door as he tried to listen in to what was going on inside. He knew he should give River the space to work, but he wasn’t going to be able to rest until he knew Bailey was okay.
His mind was racing. He had no idea what she was doing here, and judging by the way she had blown up at him when he had tried to find out, she wasn’t going to be forthcoming with the answers.
Who had hurt her like that? It killed him to see her so beaten-up, and she wouldn’t even tell him who had done it.
But he had an idea. How could he not? It was the same thing that had been hanging over his head for all these years, even though he had tried to leave it behind.
Getting her out of there had been the only way he could think of to protect her.
He had accepted that she would hate him for what he’d done, but he figured that would make it easier for her to move on.
She wouldn’t come looking for him, because she wouldn’t want anything to do with him.
For the last six years, that seemed to have been true.
He hadn’t heard from her. And he had accepted that he was never going to see her again, even though the thought of being without her stung.
The two of them had worked so well together, but it was more than that.
Her sweetness, her sense of humor, her laugh—all of it had led to him developing feelings that were totally not appropriate for someone in his position.
He had tried to ignore it for so long, but even six years later he still dreamed of her sometimes.
He missed her so much, he couldn’t think about anything else some nights, but he had accepted it was over between them.
As if someone like her would ever have been seriously interested in a man like him, anyway.
She probably had a million guys who would love to take her on a date.
Guys who she didn’t have a past with. Hell, she could be involved with someone now.
He didn’t think that was the case, though.
If she was with someone else, why not go to him? Why seek Aaron out instead?
But she had come to him. And he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how she knew where he was, or that he would even have been able to help her when she arrived.
Some part of her, even if that part was buried so deep down under her anger that she couldn’t feel it, knew he would do whatever it took to make sure she stayed safe.
River, Cade’s fiancée, was working on her right now.
River wasn’t a doctor but she had extensive medical training from growing up in a wilderness compound.
He prayed she would be able to handle Bailey’s injuries.
If not, he’d need to drive Bailey in to town to the doctor, or maybe even the hospital, depending on what kind of injuries River found.
He didn’t know exactly what had happened to her, but from what he could see, she looked bad and he could tell she was in a lot of pain.
He had gone so far, done things he could never have imagined, to try and protect her, but what if it hadn’t been enough? What if she was still in danger?
Warrior Peak Sanctuary was a place for military and law enforcement members to come and heal when they needed it—physically or mentally. But he’d never dreamed Bailey would be one of those people.
Xavier rounded the corner, followed by Lawson, and Aaron could tell from the looks on their faces that they had some serious questions for him.
And he couldn’t blame them. This woman had just turned up out of nowhere, after all.
This place was important to them, and they weren’t going to let anyone in who they didn’t totally trust.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on with her?” Lawson demanded, nodding toward the door.
Aaron sighed. He didn’t even know where to start. Their relationship had been so damn complicated, and it didn’t look like it was about to get easier anytime soon.
“I used to work with her,” he explained, trying to keep it vague. “We…she started out as a rookie when I was a cop. I was training her.”
“How long ago?”
“A little over six years now,” Aaron told Lawson, sinking down into one of the seats outside the room. He could hear River talking to Bailey inside, her tone soothing, though he couldn’t make out what she was saying.
Xavier and Lawson exchanged curious looks. “Why would she come and find you after all this time? And what happened between the two of you?” Xavier finally asked.
Aaron stared off into space for a moment as he tried to figure out how best to answer that question.
He knew they deserved an answer. They had been kind enough not to press for information about his past when he had first arrived.
Told him he could share what he was comfortable with when he was ready.
He’d told them a little after a while, but never shared much.
Thought it was better all around to just let the past go.
He definitely never intended on sharing this part of his past. But with Bailey turning up out of nowhere, looking like she did, he didn’t have much of a choice now.
“I…like I said, we were working together,” he admitted.
“She was just getting her start, and I took her under my wing. I was a sergeant in the Kings Mountain Police Department at the time, and I could see something in her, even though we were just working in a small town. The other guys on the force, none of them had anything on her. She had good instincts, always knew how to handle herself, even when things got hard. That’s why I… ”
He trailed off again. Crap. He didn’t know if it was safe to talk to them about this, even after all this time.
He had done such a good job of putting it all behind him, it almost felt wrong to dredge it all up like this.
But now that Bailey had appeared in his life again, he needed to find out what was going on with her.
He had to get to the bottom of what brought her to Warrior Peak looking for him.
“I thought I knew the guys we were working with,” he explained as best he could. “Usual small-town cop stuff, you know. That was, until I found out there was way more going on in that department than I had realized.”
“Like?” Lawson prompted.
“Like…they were covering stuff up,” he continued.
“Hiding things, making sure certain information about certain investigations was lost so they could keep their contacts out of prison…bribery, threats. I had started looking into closed cases, some things that seemed suspicious, coincidences that just didn’t add up.
I was getting close, but didn’t have time to get to the bottom of it all before they started to figure out that I was on to them.
I guess they had their own suspicions and had someone watching me… and Bailey.”
His gut clenched at the thought. Even now, he could still remember the night when they had confronted him about what he knew. When they had cornered him at his car, he thought they might be fishing for information, maybe toss out a threat, throw a punch or two.
When Ziegler had pinned him against his car and the others closed in, he knew they were out for blood.
They beat the hell out of him. Busted ribs, a concussion, and a slew of cuts and bruises.
He could empathize with Bailey’s condition right now.
And that alone would have been bad enough to make Aaron rethink what he was doing, just for his own safety.
But he would have still stayed if it wasn’t for the threat they made to Bailey.
We could take her out in a second if you don’t get out of town, and pretend none of this ever happened. You understand?
Even the thought of it had been enough to scare him. He hadn’t realized how deeply he cared for her until he was faced with the thought of losing her. He knew he couldn’t let it happen. He cared for her way too deeply, and he needed to know she was safe.
And while she could handle herself, she couldn’t take an attack at the level he had just suffered. She was so vulnerable, and she didn’t even know it. He hadn’t told her a thing about his investigation, not wanting to involve her until he had something solid to go on.
And so, he’d fled town. But first, he had written a scathing report about Bailey and left it on his captain’s desk.
Something that he knew would get her sent to another department and stuck behind a desk instead of out in the field and in harm’s way.
He’d felt horrible writing those disparaging words about her performance, but at least he knew she’d be safe from the corruption and threats.
That mattered more to him than her feelings.
He filled Lawson and Xavier in on the story as quickly as he could.
When he was done, Lawson let out a long whistle between his teeth.
“No wonder she was chewing you out earlier.” He shook his head. “She thinks you just turned on her out of nowhere. I would be mad, too.”
“Yeah,” Aaron muttered, hoping her anger would fade. Surely, it had to, if she was here to get help, right? He knew she wasn’t safe, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the same guys who had caused so much chaos in his own life were the ones behind her problems now.
“So what do you think she’s doing here?” Xavier asked, frowning. “Must have been something serious if she was willing to put aside what you did to her to come here.”