Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Pandora Maxwell spent the time in the car trying to figure out what the hell she’d say to Blaze at lunch. For years, she’d thought about what she’d tell him if she ever got the chance. She wrote letters that she never mailed. She’d collected her thoughts for almost two decades.
But now that she was face-to-face with the man who broke her heart—and whom she still loved—she had no words.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
Too much time had passed. There was nothing left to say.
Instead of going to straight to lunch, she opted to park and walk around town. She showed him where On The Rocks was so he could hang with all the guys from Search and Rescue. She showed him the places she thought he’d be interested in and chatted about the town, keeping the subject matter away from the past and firmly planted in the present.
And nothing personal.
But now it was time for lunch.
Blaze opened the door to the Sunny Side Up diner and they took a booth in the back. The diner wasn’t too busy as most of the lunch crowd had already dwindled down.
“Where are you staying?” she asked, fiddling with her water glass, dunking the straw up and down, watching the ice cubes dance in the aqua.
“Red Caboose B and B.” Blaze held the menu in his hands, as if to hide behind the laminated document.
Slowly, a band of awkward tension filled the space between them. There was no more coffee talk. No more inconsequential chatter left. It was just them and all the unspoken things they could never say to one another. Or at least she had never been brave enough to send those letters. She could have. He would have gotten them, at least those first few months after he sent his because she knew he was still stationed at Camp Lejeune for at least another half a year. But the death of her father and dealing with her mother had rocked her world in an unexpected way.
And he’d been right about one thing.
She did need to deal with her family, but not in the way he thought.
“That’s not a bad place,” she said. “How long are you in town for?”
“A few days, but Brock is trying to talk me into staying longer. He wants me to apply to the search and rescue team.”
“They’re a good group of men and women. It would be a good gig.”
“I’m sure it would be. I just don’t think it’s right for me.”
The waitress appeared at their table before she could ask or say anything else on that subject.
“Hey, Pandora,” Janette said. “How ya doing today?”
“Great.” Pandora nodded.
“Who’s your friend?” Janette smiled.
“This is Blaze. He’s a friend of Brock’s and an old friend of mine.” Why she decided to toss in that little piece of information, she wasn’t sure, except Janette was always on the prowl for new meat. Every good-looking man not spoken for who came into town, Janette was all over. She was a nice girl but a bit desperate to get married and have babies. So much so that she had a reputation about it, making men run for the hills.
“Nice to meet you,” Janette said. “If you need someone to show you around, I’m your girl.”
Blaze chuckled. “Thanks. But I just got the million-dollar tour from Pandora.”
“I see.” Janette took out her little book and pencil. “Do you know what you want?”
“I’ll have a double cheeseburger with a fried egg and onion rings. Can you also give me a side of potato salad? I know it’s extra. And an iced tea.” Pandora pushed her menu to the side.
“I see you still know how to pack in the food.” Blaze chuckled. “Club sandwich, fries, and a Coke for me.”
“Coming right up.” Janette gathered the menus, tucking them under her arm, and jutted out her hip. “Maybe I’ll see you over at On The Rocks sometime.”
“I won’t be here that long,” Blaze said.
Janette turned and strolled away, swinging her hips.
Blaze had the nerve to lean out and look.
Pandora kicked him under the table.
“Ouch. What the hell did you do that for?”
“Staring at a woman’s ass is rude.” She cocked her head. “And if you’re looking for a one-night stand, she’s not the girl. She’s looking to get a diamond and a baby. So unless you want to get trapped by her, I’d go look at someone else’s ass if I were you.”
“Well, you’re sitting on yours, so I can’t stare at it.” He winked. “And for the record, I wasn’t looking at her. I was checking out some dude giving me the stink eye and glaring at you.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Fuck,” she mumbled, reaching in her bag and yanking out her cell. She found Weston’s contact information.
Pandora: I’m at Sunny Side Up and Sully’s brother, Tim, is here with Carl.
Weston: On my way. Are you with anyone?
“Who is that guy and who are you texting?” Blaze asked.
“Long story and I’m texting Weston.”
Pandora: Blaze Wright. He’s a friend of Brock’s and, oddly, an old friend of mine.
“Is Weston your boyfriend or something?”
She burst out laughing. “God, no. He’s a local cop and married to another local cop who happens to be a friend of mine.” She blew out a puff of air, glancing over her shoulder again. Tim and Carl took seats at the counter. Their backs were to her, but that didn’t make her feel any better about their presence. Sully got out tomorrow and he was pissed.
“So, who are those two over there, and why do they look like they want to hang us the old-fashioned way?”
“The guy with the man bun is Tim. His brother Sully is in prison. They blame me for Sully spending seven years there and Sully does too. He thinks he was wrongfully accused of attempted rape, which I was a witness to. For the last seven years, I’ve been dealing with their bullshit. I can’t prove they’ve done anything, but the reason my car was in the shop was because some asshole took spray paint to it. I’ve had my house broken into and I’ve had threats made against me. But the kicker is that the day Sully got locked up, he made it clear he was coming for me, and he gets out tomorrow.”
“Well, shit.” Blaze shifted in his seat, resting his arm over the back of the booth. “Has this guy Sully made threats since he’s been in prison?”
“Nope. But he still claims he’s innocent. That he and this girl were role-playing a rape.”
Blaze arched a brow. “While I’m not into that shit, I’m sure some people have done it.”
“Sure they have. But that’s not what this was and the girl in question testified to that, but Sully believes I put all that shit in her head. His attorney came at me on the stands with both guns blazing. They tried to tear me down. They found every blemish on my record. Every little thing about my past and did their best to discredit me, and it nearly worked, but Andrea’s testimony put the asshole behind bars.”
“Not that it’s any of my business, but how did they discredit you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Maybe not, but if this guy Sully wants revenge, you might not see it coming. It might not be in the form of violence.” Blaze arched a brow. “So, what did they use on the stand that made you look bad?”
She might not know Blaze anymore, but she knew his character, the kind of man he was. And she knew without a doubt that this would be more than painful for him to hear.
Even more painful for her to tell.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She could tell him about the few screwups at work that the attorney used to make her look incompetent and reckless. Or how they used her failed marriage to try to paint her as a bitter woman toward men.
However, none of those things were strong enough, and the real issue of her testimony had become ineffective for the DA. It had been a calculated risk putting her on the stand, but she was the only witness.
Blaze reached across the table and wiped her tear away. “Come on, Pandora, talk to me.”
“You have to promise me you won’t get up and do anything stupid.”
He lowered his chin.
“Eight years ago, I was working a fire. It wasn’t a bad one. We didn’t know it at the time, but the damn fire was set on purpose. I was one of the first to enter the building. I got caught in the back room after a beam came down. There was a window, but it was small. I had to take off some of my gear to get out. Someone was outside and helped pull me through that fucking window. I never saw who it was. They wore a ski mask.”
“Jesus Christ.” Blaze’s hand came down hard on the table. The water glasses sloshed. “Were they waiting for you?”
“We don’t know. My captain could never tell if that beam came down because of the fire or if it was on purpose.”
“What did that man do to you?” Blaze asked with a growl in his tone, holding her gaze with rage-filled eyes.
She turned, unable to look at him a second longer. “He dragged me into the woods. Tied me up. Beat the crap out of me. Broke a few ribs. Punctured a lung. Cracked my cheekbone. My eyes were so swollen for days I couldn’t even open them,” she said softly.
“Did he rape you?”
She sucked in a breath, but no air filled her lungs. She nodded.
“And they never caught the guy, right? That’s why Sully’s attorney was able to rip you up on the stands. He made you out to be an angry victim, unable to handle the role-play, and he victimized you on the stands all over again.”
She snapped her gaze back to Blaze’s. “He might have laid into me and used that against my testimony, but I held my own. I didn’t allow him to push me into being a victim.”
“But your rape is still an open case and that attorney used it to make it seem like you wanted revenge on any man.”
“Something like that,” she whispered.
“Are there any leads? DNA? Anything?” Blaze asked.
“This is where it gets real fun,” she said. “My fellow firefighters had come looking for me and found him cleaning me up. One of them, Greg, chased him through the woods, but never caught him, while everyone else tended to me. But that house was owned by Sully and his brother, Tim.”
“That can’t be a fucking coincidence.”
“There’s no proof. There was no semen. I didn’t get the chance to scratch him and get his skin under my nails. I couldn’t even fight because he clocked me with a rock as soon as he pulled me out that window. I was dazed and confused. To be honest, I barely remember what happened. Only the aftermath. The worst part is both Tim and Sully have rock-solid alibis and during Andrea’s trial, I was made out to be a woman who was after them.”
“And now he’s coming for you.” Blaze reached across the table and took her hands. “Do you have a husband? A boyfriend? Someone living with you?”
“Nope.”
“What do the cops plan on doing once Sully is released?”
“He’ll be on probation and will have to answer to that department. Weston, my friend, has promised he’ll increase patrols around my home. I sleep at the station when I'm working, but what else can they do?”
“Sometimes our justice system sucks.”
Janette approached, carrying their food and drinks on a tray. She placed their order on the table and smiled. “Can I get you folks anything else?” She set a piece of paper in front of Blaze.
“We’re good,” Blaze said. “Thanks.”
Janette frowned when Blaze didn’t even look at what she left him. She turned on her heel and strolled away.
He lifted the paper and crumpled it up.
“What was that?”
“Her number and I’m not interested.” He dunked it in his water and pulled out his cell.
“What are you doing?”
“Canceling my reservation at the Red Caboose B and B. Consider me your personal bodyguard for the foreseeable future.”
“Blaze. First, my apartment is tiny. It’s a one-bedroom.”
“I’ll sleep on the sofa.” He continued tapping on the screen of his phone. “Next.”
“You’re here on vacation and to visit with Brock.”
“It’s my vacation to spend how I see fit and Brock has a life. A wife. He’s busy and I’ll need things to fill my time. Any other objections?” he asked.
“Yeah. I don’t want you living with me.”
“I won’t be. I’m just a guest until we find a way to nail that asshole and send him back where he belongs.” He set his cell face down on the table. “Tell me something. How did you spend the year from when you were raped and the time Sully went to prison? Did you leave your house? Did you feel safe? Could you go places and not look over your shoulder? Or were you ruled by fear because that asshole got away with it?”
“That’s not fair. Of course I was terrified. It was fresh. It was the single most horrifying experience of my life. You can’t even imagine what I went through.”
“No, I can’t and honestly, my brain is struggling with the entire concept. Men can be such assholes and no woman—no human—deserves that. But you also shouldn’t have to live in fear. At least I can help a little bit with that, I hope.”
She leaned back, dropped her head to the booth, and stared at the ceiling. A few people had offered for her to come and stay with them. Friends from the station. Weston and Haven. A few of the guys from Search and Rescue. Even Brock. But they all had lives. Families. Children. And she couldn’t live with them forever.
And she sure as shit wasn’t going to run from a town that had become her home.
But she knew deep in her soul that Sully had raped her. She couldn’t prove it. She hadn’t seen his face. Barely got a glimpse of his eyes. But her heart and mind knew it had been him. And he’d sat in that courtroom, smiling at her with that same knowledge, knowing he’d gotten away with it.
“Let me help you, Pandora. I’ve got nothing to do and nowhere to go.” Blaze lifted his sandwich and took a bite.
“What about your family?”
He dropped his food, which landed with a thud on his plate. “They’re gone. My folks died in a plane crash five years ago and Axel died four months ago.”
“Oh, Blaze. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
“You couldn’t have.” He tapped his finger on her burger. “Eat your food, and then we’ll leave. You’ll drive me to my truck and I’ll follow you home. I’ll tell Brock we’ll have to do dinner on a night you’re working at the firehouse.”
“I don’t want you to?—”
“No arguments. It’s settled.”
“You’re still so bossy.” She sliced her burger into halves and bit into the greasy delight, doing her best to ignore the dangers that lurked in the background.
“How are your parents?”
“My father died twenty years ago. Actually, a couple of months after we broke up. And my mom?” She shook her head, laughing. “She remarried some hippie and is smoking pot and macrodosing mushrooms. She’s a total wacko and lives in California these days. Although, they move like every two years.”
Blaze stared at her with his mouth gaping open.
“I know. It’s not what you would have expected from the woman who might have well put me in a chastity belt.”
“Damn. I only met your mother once and she broke out in prayer. I was waiting for her to start speaking in tongues or try an exorcism on me or something.”
“She did believe you were the devil.”
Blaze chuckled. “I was a good little boy. You were the one who was the bad influence. You talked me into going to that underground bar. I so thought we were going to die that night.”
She rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad and you did win fifty dollars in pool.”
“We did have some good times together.” He raised his Coke and took a gulp. “Now finish up so we can get out of here before flirty pants comes back and makes me do something crazy.”
“You’d actually go out with her?”
“God, no. But if she tries to give me her number again, I might have to slide over there and give you an inappropriate kiss that will drive a specific point home.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wanna bet? Because here she comes.” He stood and slipped in beside her, resting his hand on her thigh. He leaned in close, his lips touching her cheek. “I’ll do it,” he whispered.
“Is everything to your liking?” Janette asked with a scrunched-up face as if she’d swallowed a lemon.
It was funny and made Pandora smile. Lord knew she needed some lightness in her life right about now.
“Food’s good. Company’s even better.” Blaze squeezed her leg as he gazed into her eyes, ignoring Janette.
“Can I get you anything else?” Janette asked.
“Just the check and a couple of boxes. I think we’ll take the rest home with us, right, babe?” He traced her jawline with his index finger.
She held her breath as he pressed his mouth firmly against her lips, slipping his tongue between them in an all too familiar tango. It was short, but it packed a powerful reminder of the heat they once shared.
“Um, yeah. Sure. No problem,” Janette said, disappearing between the tables.
“That was mean,” Pandora said softly.
“But it killed two birds with one stone.”
“What does that mean?”
“It got her off my back,” Blaze said. “And let those two idiots know you’re not alone. They will tell Sully about me and he will think twice about coming anywhere near you.”
“And what happens when you leave in a few days?” That was a question she shouldn’t have asked.
“Like I said, I have nothing going on and nowhere to be.”
And with that, her world flipped into a tailspin and she wasn’t sure what to make of anything. But for now, she’d take his help because he was right. Once Sully was released and back in Fallport, fear would become a way of life again and that was no way to live.