Chapter Twenty-four – Heal Me
Chapter Twenty-four
Cooper
HEAL ME
Performed by Snow Patrol
I was shaken to my core by her story. Not because the violence and evil she’d described was anything different from what I’d seen in my job, but because it had happened to her. She was a stunning example of resilience and courage and strength.
It also explained her seriousness. Why it took so damn much for her to laugh and smile.
She’d been betrayed by every single person she’d ever trusted from her parents on…except Dawson. I swore to myself I wouldn’t be another person to let her down.
“I’d like to talk with your brother.”
She pulled away from me enough to look up at me. “Why?”
“If he’s former FBI, I’m sure he’s done his own investigation trying to find whoever is terrorizing you. I want to know what he knows.”
Andie wiped at her tears, and for the first time since I’d pulled out the clips, she tried to straighten her hair. It was nerves as much as it was habit.
“If he has, he hasn’t told me about it.”
“I’m sure he didn’t want to get your hopes up until he had something solid.”
Finally, the fire I’d seen in her from the very beginning returned. Her back went rigid, and her lips thinned. “I won’t be kept in the dark. Not by Dawson or you. I deserve to know what’s going on. It’s my life.”
Damn, did I love to see that spark. It only proved exactly what I’d said to her.
She was a phoenix. Fierce and powerful. It infuriated me that Eddie had tried to steal that from her.
That her parents had tried to stifle it.
And yet, somehow, miraculously, she’d kept this essential part of herself intact.
“Anything I learn, you’ll know.” Her shoulders relaxed. “Now, go pack a bag.”
“What?”
“Pack a bag. You’re staying with me tonight.”
She bristled once more, and I realized just how careful I’d have to be not to cross a line that reminded her too much of the controlling asshole who’d tried to ruin her life.
“You told me they kept getting into your place in Idaho, even after you changed the locks, and yet you never saw them. What happened here, on Halloween and tonight…they had to have watched the house closely. It feels like someone knows not just your schedule, but every single time you’re in and out of your place. ”
Her eyes widened, and she jerked around, searching the dark outside the windows. It was worse than having some peeping Tom lurking, and I was going to have to break it to her.
“I want to have someone go through the house and check for cameras or listening devices.”
“Y-you think they might be watching me inside my own home?”
“Yes,” I told her, hating the way it made her tremble again, but I would always be honest with her. “I’d like it if you’d stay with me until I can get a team here. I’m not sure if anyone at the department has enough experience, but I know some folks in LA who can take care of it.”
She rubbed her arms. “I’m sure Parker and his ex-teammates know someone also, but I really would prefer to keep this away from the ranch as much as possible.”
“I agree. The less people who know, the better for now.” She wasn’t ready to disclose her story to everyone after years of hiding it, and yet she’d told me. She’d trusted me.
I reached out my hand, and she took it, tucking her fingers in mine, and I was overwhelmed with that same sense of rightness I’d felt in our slow dance. She was here. She was with me. And I wanted her to be mine.
Maybe it was the same damn hero complex that had blinded me to Eden’s true nature, but I didn’t think so.
This felt different. This felt—I hated the word—fated.
I didn’t believe people were fated to be evil or fated to be good or fated to live one way or another.
Everyone ended up where they did because of the choices they made.
I guessed that meant Andie and I were here now because of our choices, both the good and bad ones.
Regardless of how it had happened, now that we were here, it felt right.
I guided her down the hall, watching closely as she chose only clothes that hadn’t been disturbed.
After she’d packed a small suitcase, she took a quick trip to the bathroom for her makeup.
When she was done, I took the bags while she grabbed a dress still on a hanger, and we made our way outside.
Once she’d locked up, I stole her hand again.
My house was dark and quiet. I flicked on a few lights as I led her to the back of the house and the hall that split in two directions.
One went to my room, the other to Luca’s and a spare room, which had a bed shoved up against the wall to make room for the exercise equipment Luca and I used regularly.
“The guest room is a mess. Why don’t I stay there, and you can have my room?” What I really wanted was her in my arms where I could protect her, but I needed her to make the decision, to feel like she was in control after reliving all the moments in her life when she’d had none.
“I’m not kicking you out of your room,” she said, hesitating before she asked, “Can I stay with you?”
Relief rushed over me. “Always.”
Maisey and her dad had renovated the place before I’d bought it.
The main suite was now crisp and modern, full of soothing cool tones and brushed metals that somehow weren’t at odds with the Craftsman-style home’s wide moldings and built-ins.
It wasn’t exactly what I would have chosen, but it still worked for me.
I set her suitcase in my walk-in closet and took the dress from her to hang. When I turned around, she was eyeing the room, rubbing her chin once more.
“I’m going to grab a glass of water while you get ready for bed. Do you want one?”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
When I returned, the sound of the faucet running in the bathroom greeted me.
I tossed my clothes into the hamper and reluctantly grabbed a pair of sweats.
They’d strangle me, but I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.
I had literally zero expectations about what would happen once we were in my bed together.
I was just grateful she’d agreed to stay with me.
If she hadn’t, I probably would have spent a sleepless night on her porch.
I was already under the covers when she came out of the bathroom. She wore a T-shirt that read I’m sorry I offended you by using facts and logic and nothing else that I could see. I hoped she had a pair of underwear on, or my sweats wouldn’t be the only thing keeping me awake.
But who was I really kidding? I was unlikely to sleep tonight anyway. I had her story whirling through my mind and a to-do list growing by the minute. The instinct I’d had to check out the people in her life had been proven right. Somehow, someone close to her had let the wolf in the door.
She drank from the water bottle I’d left on the opposite side table and then studied the bed.
“This is a beautiful headboard.” She ran a hand over the poplar wood I’d spent hours carving into a relief detailing a forest scene with animals peeking from around the trees.
“Took me nearly a year to finish it.”
Her eyes jerked to me. “You made this?”
I couldn’t hold back a smile at her obvious appreciation.
“This is…incredible. A true piece of art, Cooper.”
The awe in Andie’s voice acted like a salve, smoothing the marks Eden had left behind as if she was sanding them away. Taking the rough, stained planks and shaping them into something new, something worthy of gracing her life.
Andie slid into the bed and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Even though there was practically a foot between us, I could feel the stiffness that had returned to her body.
“Baby,” I said gently. She turned her head on the pillow and met my gaze with a worried one. “I’m not going to bite. I’m not even going to kiss you. But slide on over here so I can feel you, and you can feel me. It’ll reassure us both.”
She hesitated again, and now I understood why.
She was analyzing and assessing and worrying over every step she took with me.
I despised it, but I’d have to fight my desire to take control if we were going to make this work.
At least until I’d proven I wasn’t Eddie.
That I wouldn’t turn my charm into abuse.
I pulled back the covers a bit and offered my hand. When Andie took it, when she let me pull her toward me, I took it as the win it was.
Having her warm body tucked up against me was a relief. She was in my arms, back to my front, and she was safe, at least for tonight. I renewed my vow to make sure she always would be.
I reached behind me to flick off the light. When the room turned dark, she stiffened again slightly.
“You need a light?”
She exhaled a long, slow breath. “No. I’ll be okay. With you here, I’ll be okay.”
I’d said I wouldn’t kiss her, but I couldn’t help it. I touched my lips to the top of her head and squeezed her gently before easing my hold. “You will be. I promise.”
We lay, tangled together for a few moments, but neither of us was sleeping.
Andie was the one to break the quiet. “I freaked out.”
She’d freaked out multiple times with me, so I wasn’t quite sure which time she meant.
“Even before I saw the dresser…” she said softly. “I freaked out at your words. About belonging with you.”
She flipped around, facing me. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, but even still, I could barely make out her expression as Andie caressed my jaw.
“I don’t want to freak out with you,” she said. “I want to finish what we started in my bedroom, and I hate… I hate that even now, all these years later, he can still destroy the good things in my life.”
My heart split in two.
I slid a finger down her cheek. “Together, we’ll banish him. You tell me when I do or say something that triggers you, and we’ll step over those moments. We’ll layer over the bad memories with moments that are ours and ours alone. The more we do that, the less he’ll be able to slip in.”