Chapter 8
Eight
Light
It's been a long time since I've actively run toward screaming.
But hers.
Melissa's bloodcurdling scream has me jumping off the couch and taking off in her direction like a bat out of hell.
"Melissa!" I shout.
"Mommy!" Tyler screams from his room and I watch as his door swings open and he darts out into the hall.
"Back in the room!" I order him. He startles but then does what I ask.
I race toward Melissa who is stumbling out of her room. She collides right into my chest and I wrap my arms around her. "Tyler? Is Tyler okay?" She hiccups through the tears that are already streaming down her face.
"He's fine. What's wrong? What happened?" I lean down and hold her shoulders to keep her from moving.
"Someone..." She takes a breath, calming herself. "Someone was at my window, they were trying to get in."
Not on my fucking watch.
"Stay here. I'll be right back." I let go of her and try to take a step back but she grabs hold of my shirt.
"No, leave it. They're probably gone."
I pull her hand off my shirt and place a swift kiss to her knuckles, "I'm just going to make sure." I tell her as I back away from her in the direction of the back door.
I'm not prepared for a fight. I don't have any weapons, hell, I don't even have my shoes on. Still I'm going to check this out.
Taking a glimpse out the window, I move to the backdoor and slowly open it. It's dark and the automatic light that should go on isn't working. I'll fix that later.
It takes a second for me to get my eyes adjusted to the lack of light but once I do I look around the corner in the direction of Melissa's bedroom.
There, without a care in the world, I see a lanky man in all black, smoking a cigarette, and strolling away. Not rushing or hiding, he is literally walking like he's in the park or some shit.
"What the fuck are you doing back there!" I bark and step out of the house.
The man's head jerks in my direction, and even in the dim light I can see his eyes widen.
"Shit!" I hear him say, and he takes off in the direction of the fence.
I run after him but not before he scales the fence and hops over. It's obvious he wasn't expecting to see me here. I'm sure, whoever he is, thought Melissa would be home alone and he would be able to scare her to pieces without any repercussions. Not tonight. Not while she has me around.
I need to know who this bastard is. Who sent him and what he's doing messing with Melissa. As fast as I can I rush back into the house and grab for my shoes. Melissa is there pacing back and forth by the entrance.
"What are you doing? It was nothing, right?" She questions as if she's already doubting what she saw. I should lie to her and put her mind at ease but I don't.
"Someone was there. He didn't expect to see me. He took off when I called him out." I slide my foot into one of my boots. Quickly I hop to the other side to get the other boot on but Melissa stops me.
"Where is he?"
"He ran off."
"Then where are you going?" The fear in her eyes enrages me. I'm going to knock that bastards head clear off his shoulders.
"I'm going to find that asshole and find out what he was doing."
"No, don't. Just stay." She grabs for me and I try to pull my arm away.
"Melissa, we need to figure this out. He can come back." I try to make her see why I need to go. Make myself see reason at the same time.
"If he does, you'll be here. Tyler is awake and freaked out.
I'm freaked out. Please don't leave us alone right now.
" Her voice hitches at the end of her request and all at once all the rage I felt evaporates.
Getting the two of them settled is more important than trying to chase after that asshole.
There's no way to be sure he didn't get in a car or something and drive off.
I'd be running around in the dark looking for someone that clearly doesn't want to be found.
"Alright. I'll stay."
I drop my boots to the floor with a heavy thud and reach for her.
Melissa practically folds into me, trembling against my chest like she has been holding herself together by nothing more than willpower.
I squeeze her tighter, tucking her head under my chin.
"It's okay," I murmur against her hair. "I've got you."
The words slip out before I can stop them. Raw. Honest. Dangerous.
I don't do this. Comforting. Holding.
But right now, with her in my arms, I feel it all pressing down on me.
The need to protect her. To protect Tyler.
The crazy part is, I barely even know her. Not really. We have never crossed any real lines, never even kissed, but the pull is there, loud and messy and undeniable.
I breathe her in, trying to push down the wildfire rising in my chest.
She is soft and warm and trusting.
Too trusting.
She deserves better than a man who has built his life around not giving a shit about anyone.
And yet, here I am, holding her like she is mine to shield.
Slowly, her trembling eases, and she pulls back, wiping at her eyes.
"I should check on Tyler," she says, her voice shaky but stronger than before.
I tighten my hand around her wrist, stopping her.
"Let me," I offer. "You stay here. Take a minute."
She hesitates, but eventually nods.
"Okay," she whispers.
I brush a stray lock of hair from her face before turning and heading down the hall toward Tyler's room.
The door is cracked open, and when I step inside, I find him sitting up in bed, his blanket clutched to his chest.
His eyes are wide and glassy, his face blotchy from crying.
Fuck.
"Hey, buddy," I say, keeping my voice low and easy.
He sniffs, scrubbing a hand over his face.
"What happened?" he croaks.
I sit down on the edge of the bed, feeling the mattress dip under my weight.
"Some idiot was messing around outside," I tell him simply. "Scared your mom. But he is gone now. You are safe."
Tyler swallows hard, processing.
He does not push for more.
He just nods slowly, but I can still see the fear lingering in his too-old eyes.
A kid should not have to deal with this kind of shit.
Not at his age.
I reach over and pull the blanket up higher around him.
"Try to get some rest, okay?" I say.
He bites his lip, hesitating.
Then, in a small voice, he asks, "Light, are you ever scared?"
The question punches the breath right out of me.
I lean back a little, staring up at the ceiling like the answer might be written there.
After a beat, I speak.
"Yeah," I admit. "I get scared."
Tyler blinks, like he did not expect me to say that.
"I'm scared of the dark sometimes," I tell him honestly. "I'm scared of getting into a bad car accident. And tonight, I was scared when your mom screamed."
Tyler shifts under the blankets, his fingers twisting in the fabric.
"But you're not scared now?" he asks.
I glance back down at him, at the way he is trying so hard to be brave.
I shake my head.
"No, not right now," I say.
"Why not?"
"Because you're safe," I tell him."Because your mom is safe."
He nods slowly, the tightness in his small frame easing just a little.
His eyelids start to droop, heavy with exhaustion now that the worst of the fear is fading.
I reach out and ruffle his hair gently.
"I'm right down the hall," I promise. "You call me if you need anything, okay?"
"'Kay," he mumbles, already half-asleep.
I sit there a few more seconds, watching his chest rise and fall, until I am sure he is really out.
When I finally get up and leave the room, I find Melissa leaning against the wall in the hallway, arms crossed over her chest, watching me with an unreadable expression.
Without thinking, I reach out and tuck another loose piece of hair behind her ear.
Yeah, I am in trouble.
And for the first time in a long time, I don't want to run from it.
"I'm sorry you went through this. I wish I would've caught the bastard." I drop my hands back down to my side flexing my fingers over and over trying to release some of this tension.
"It's okay, I'm sure he'll stay away now." She speaks as if she already knows. Like she has some sort of direct line to the intruders thoughts. I'd asked her before but she never admitted that something was wrong. After what we all went through tonight, there's no way she can deny it.
"Do you know who it was?" I ask, doing my best to keep her gaze.
She shuffles from foot to foot, already uncomfortable.
"Probably just a random-"
I cut her off before she continues with the lie. "Stop it Melissa. Don't you realize what happened here tonight. What could've happened last night when whoever it was broke in here. You're being targeted. This isn't some random person. Tell me what you know so I can help you."
She stares at me for a moment, so I add, "Please. Trust me, Melissa, please."
The words seem to be exactly what she was waiting for because she sighs deep before she slowly walks over to the couch to sit down. I follow behind her and take a seat next to her.
"I don't know exactly who it is but I'm pretty sure I know who sent them."
I nod for her to continue. Not sure what the story is but based on her body language whatever it is she has to say is bad.
"I used to live about two hours from here," she said, her voice low, almost like she was scared the words themselves might break her.
"Life was... good. Comfortable. I had a cushy job as a secretary.
A husband. A house that stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
We were happy, or at least we thought we were. "
She sucked in a shaky breath and twisted her fingers together in her lap.
"Then Tyler came along. My sweet boy. He almost didn't make it out of the hospital. His lungs were so bad, the doctors didn’t think he'd survive the first week."
Her voice cracked, but she pushed through.
"It took everything we had to get through that. Emotionally. Financially. We barely scraped by. Every paycheck went straight into keeping Tyler alive, keeping a roof over our heads. And just when we thought maybe, maybe we could breathe again..."
She looked up at the ceiling, blinking hard as a few tears slid free.
"Thomas, my husband, he gave up. Three years ago, he ended his own life. Just like that, he was gone."
She let the words hang there, like the weight of them might crush her if she tried to catch them.
"I didn’t just lose him. Tyler lost his father.
I lost... everything. Everything we built, everything we fought for, it just..
. crumbled. I didn’t even realize how bad things were.
Thomas handled all the bills, all the money.
After he was gone, I found out we were drowning.
Debt collectors breathing down my neck, no credit left to max out, no family to fall back on. "
Her voice got quieter, rougher.
"Then Tyler got sick again. Really sick. Needed surgery. No insurance. They wanted six thousand dollars just to get him a fighting chance."
She gave a broken laugh that sounded more like a sob.
"I didn’t have it. I didn’t have anything. So I did the only thing I thought I could do. I went to Deke."
Her head dropped back against the wall and she squeezed her eyes shut, a few more tears slipping free.
"I knew what he was. Everyone knew. Hell, he used to try and rope Thomas into his shit all the time.
But I was desperate. I asked for a loan.
I thought it would just be money. But he wanted more.
Favors. He had me running drugs, hiding shit for him.
Stuff that could have gotten me locked up for the rest of my life if I had been caught. "
She wiped her cheeks roughly with the back of her hand.
"I paid him back. Every dime, with interest. Twenty-five fucking percent. As soon as I could, I packed up Tyler and got the hell out of there. Started over. Thought I could disappear, thought we could be safe."
She gave a humorless, hollow laugh.
"But about a month ago, Deke showed up. Right on my doorstep like a nightmare that wouldn't die. Said I had something he wanted. I don't know what the hell it is, but the more I tell him to stay away, the more he sends people. The more he tries to scare me into coming back."
She let the last words drift off, like she didn’t have anything left to give. Just a worn-out woman trying to keep her son safe and barely holding herself together.
I stayed silent, the rage in my chest burning slow and heavy.
She trusted me with this. All of it.
The good. The ugly. The broken pieces she tried so damn hard to hide from the rest of the world.
And now I knew.
I knew exactly what kind of hell she had crawled through to get here.
Exactly why she had that look in her eyes, like she was always bracing for the next punch life was about to throw.
And all I wanted in that moment, more than I had ever wanted anything, was to be the man who made it stop.
Even if I had no damn idea how.