22. Landon
22
LANDON
“ H eather, oh, my God, are you okay?” It feels incredible to have her back in my arms once more, to know that she’s safe at long last. I might not have been able to do it alone. It seems that I did need the assistance of Troy and Clay, and the police too, but I got to be there to see her rescued from what I can only imagine would be a horrible situation. “Oh, Heather, are you alright?”
She doesn’t answer me. She seems to be in shock as we watch the drama unfolding in front of us. The guys are being arrested, thrown in the back of police cars, and of course not taking it easily, which I think has her very scared. I pull her closer to me, trying to let her know that I’m here for her no matter what, but Heather is stiff. I don’t know if I can get through to her right now. She’s gone from screaming hysterically to nothing but silence, and that’s more terrifying to me. I want to help.
“It’s over,” I tell her quietly, trying to let her know that she really doesn’t need to feel fear anymore. “It’s over now, okay? There won’t be any more trouble you need to worry about. No one will ever be able to get to you again, I can promise you that much.”
I can say that with absolute confidence because I know that I won’t let Heather out of my sight again. I’m not going to allow her father to take her away because Max was wrong about him. He didn’t do the job that he was supposed to. He didn’t look after Heather as he should have done. We all let her down. But not anymore. Never again will I let that happen.
“You are safe now, okay? I’ll make sure of it.” I almost can’t stop talking because the silence is a lot. “You are. They’re going to be locked up for a very long time. There is no way they’ll get out again. Don’t forget these men killed my father.”
“Other people too,” she rasps back. “They were talking about it in the van. The Kelley twins and someone called Axel.”
“Oh.” I don’t quite know what to say about that. “Well, I think we’re going to have to tell the police that at some point. We’re going to have to give statements and everything. Are you prepared for that? Because I’m pretty sure we will have to do it soon.”
She nods slowly, but I really don’t know if she will be able to. I’m going to have to speak to the cops to make sure that they’re gentle with her. Poor Heather has been through enough. She doesn’t need a grilling from the police on top of that. But she also needs to get her story across to add to the convictions that I want these men to face. We need them locked up.
“Did they…” I gulp back the thick ball of emotion that lodges in my throat. “Are you hurt? Did anything happen to you?”
She shakes her head no before shrugging just the one shoulder in my direction. That isn’t really an answer, which doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. I don’t want to push her too far and stop her from wanting to speak to me at all.
“I’ll make sure that they can’t get anywhere near you again,” I reassure her, hoping that she listens. “It’ll be okay.”
Once the police have the guys shut away in the cars and people drive them away, an officer comes over to us. We’re immediately separated and taken off for questioning, which is challenging for me because I want to make the words right. I need to ensure that the police have everything, but I also want to keep one eye on Heather to ensure she’s okay. I can’t make out her mood at the moment, which is hard. Heather has always been so easy for me to read until now.
If she falls apart, then I’ll need to help her out. I won’t be able to stand back while she weeps. But actually, Heather seems to hold it together pretty well. She has her arms wrapped tightly around her like she’s trying desperately to hold herself together, but she’s being strong and speaking to the police more than she has me. I don’t know whether to be offended by that or not. I suppose I’m grateful that she can speak to someone, but I really do want to be the shoulder she can cry on. I want to be the man she can rely on at all times. Maybe it’s because I’ve let her down too many times…
“Mr. Ross, can you please focus?” the police officer finally snaps at me. “I’m trying to get the truth out of you here. It isn’t easy for me when I’m asking you questions and I’m not getting anything back from you. This is supposed to be your statement.”
“Sorry, yes.” I shake my head, trying to forget about Heather for the time being. Nothing will happen to her here. This isn’t the middle of the road in the early hours with no one around. There are people protecting Heather everywhere. “Yes, I’ll focus.”
I lurch into my side of events, darting back and forth between the murder of my father and what’s happened with Heather too. As much as I want to keep my thoughts straight, it isn’t easy. This could be the most important statement of my life and I’m messing it up. I guess I should be glad that the information is getting out there. I just hope they can decipher it. The officer isn’t looking at me like I’ve lost my mind or anything, which I hope is good news. I need to help them lock the assholes up…
“You’re done?” Heather takes much longer than me when she’s talking to the police, but eventually, she comes back to me. She might not be talking to me about what happened to her, but she’s leaning on me, coming to me for physical comfort when the time is right. “How did you get on? Was everything okay? I was worried about you for a while.”
“They had a lot of questions for me,” she tells me quietly as she rests her head on my shoulder. “They kept asking everything over and over again. I was a little worried that I was under investigation for a while. It was a lot. It was starting to make me a bit dizzy and confused, so I hope I answered everything right.” Her eyebrows knot together. “I think I did, anyway.”
“Huh.” That’s weird. I didn’t get asked anything more than once. Then again, the officer was having trouble keeping my focus, so maybe asking everything more than once was just too much to ask for. “Well, it seems like you’re done now.”
“I don’t know if we can go yet. I think they might want us to stick around for a little while longer. The guy said something about needing me to sign something in a moment if I don’t want to go to the station. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
Urgh, that’s super annoying, but I suppose we have to just do what they’re asking of us. I need to get Heather away from here because it’s obviously a traumatic place for her, but the police aren’t allowing that to happen. Never mind…
“Oh, God.” But all of a sudden, I start to realize what the real reason for the police keeping us here is and it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Just as one bolt of drama is over, the next rolls toward us once more. “Your father is coming here.”
I see his car and immediately know that there’s no getting away. We’re about to face yet another battle. Only this time, I can’t just stand back and let him take her, not when it didn’t work out last time, which means it’s going to be a drama.
“Not my dad.” Heather’s head falls into her hands. “I can’t have another argument with him. I can’t face it. Who called him?”
I don’t have an answer for that. I can only assume who called him, but I don’t know for sure. I don’t want to start throwing accusations around and making this weirder than it already is. I mean it already is odd at the moment, the strangest ever.
“Do you want me to try and get rid of him?” I ask her cautiously, wondering if I’m overstepping the mark by even suggesting this. I can’t read Heather at all right now. “I know he doesn’t like me and he won’t take to me well, but I can try to explain.”
“He won’t hear anything from you.” She sighs heavily and rises to her feet. “He’s going to have to hear this from me. Prepare for shit to get very ugly because I can’t even begin to imagine how angry he is right now. This could be horrible.”
I feel like we’re gearing up for war as I stand beside her, and it’s just Heather and me without any army by our side. We should be strong, the two of us together, but I don’t know if we can be. Not against him and when it feels like we’re a million miles apart. I still can’t get much of a read on Heather, even now as we stand shoulder to shoulder, waiting for her father to pull up in the parking lot and for the meteor to hit earth. Honestly, this does kinda feel like the end of the world right now.
The car stops and out Officer Buchan bundles, looking like a red ball of rage. I stiffen up beside Heather, sensing that this isn’t going to go the way that I want it to, no matter what I do. I don’t want him to take Heather away from me, but how will I control him? I haven’t forgotten the way that he threatened to throw my ass in jail.
“What the fuck did I say to you, Landon Ross?” he spits out, the words flying out of his mouth much too fast. “I told you not to go anywhere near my daughter, and here you are. You just can’t keep away, can you? Do you want to be locked up?” I part my lips, but he holds up a finger to silence me. I can’t seem to stop myself from obeying his command. “No, I don’t want to hear any excuses from you. I don’t want to hear anything. I told your shitty boss to keep you away from Heather too, but it seems that no one is able to listen to me. Well, fuck that. Heather, you’re coming with me. We’re getting out of here.”
He reaches out to grab her, but she snatches her arm away. It seems that she isn’t about to take this just as much as I don’t want to. Unfortunately, this only makes her father even more enraged than before.
“Heather, I’m not messing around here. You will not go the same way as your mother. I thought that by explaining it to you, letting you know the past, you would act in a more rational way like an adult. But you are never going to be an adult, so I guess I’ll have to treat you like a child forever. You have brought this on yourself. I hope you realize that.”
The whole world seems to collectively hold their breath as those words leave Officer Buchan’s mouth. I don’t know what Heather is going to do, but things can only get messier from here.