Chapter 32
Bonnie stood to the side of the gym, arms wrapped tightly around her waist. There was so much going on. Paramedics were with Damien, and more had run to the storage room for Stetson. Jesse was there and his deputy was cuffing Maisie.
Maisie. She’d pulled a gun on them but then shot Damien.
Bonnie didn’t know what to think. Damien had obviously been an abusive ass of a husband.
But Maisie’s participation today could easily have gotten her and Zane killed.
She’d forced them out into the open, where Damien could have shot them at any second.
Zane’s arm tightened around her waist as deputies passed her with Maisie in cuffs.
Maisie’s cheeks were wet, and when she looked at Bonnie, more tears spilled from her eyes. “Bonnie. I…I’m sorry. He made me do it. He… I was scared. Our marriage was a mess. I thought I didn’t have a choice.”
“Come on.” The deputy tugged her out of the gym.
“What are you thinking?” Zane asked gently once Maisie was gone.
“I’m not sure. A part of me feels so angry at her, but another part just feels sorry for her.” She lifted a shoulder. “I’m glad it’s over but…I wasn’t expecting it to be Damien. And even if I was, I didn’t think he’d go so far as to try to kill me. Us.”
“Greed. It makes people do unthinkable things.”
She nodded almost absently. “You’re right. It just makes me so angry.”
The paramedics came out of the hall with Stetson on a stretcher. Zane straightened. “If I go talk to the paramedics, will you be—”
“I’m fine. Go.”
He kissed her head before following the paramedics out. A second later, Indie rushed into the gym, Noah behind her.
Her sister pulled her into a hug. “Oh my God, Bonnie!” She pulled back, still gripping her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not hurt.”
Noah wrapped his arms around her next. It was a tight hug. One of those all-encompassing embraces. He didn’t speak until he moved back. “What happened?”
“It was Damien. He was the one harassing me. He was afraid his parents would find out Maisie had slept with Dean the night he died. Also, that she called Damien to pick up his brother, and he didn’t.”
Indie frowned. “Maisie and Dean slept together the night of the graduation party?”
“Yeah. I found them together. It’s the reason I fought with him and left.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Noah asked, shock clear on his face.
She lifted a shoulder. “At the time it seemed inappropriate. Dean had just died, and I fell apart. Then Mom and Dad were in that crash. It all felt like too much for me, and I just had to leave. And when I got back—I don’t know.
Maisie hadn’t said anything and I didn’t either.
Maybe deep down I didn’t want anyone, not even her, to go through what I was going through. ”
“Was she working with Damien?” Indie asked.
“I think Damien coerced her. Then she was the one who shot him.” In a way, she’d saved them. But she’d also put them in the situation where they’d needed saving.
Noah glanced at the ambulance through the gym window before turning back to her. “Thank fuck they have him.”
“And maybe we can finally move on now,” she added quietly, almost scared to feel hopeful. “Not just from the danger, but maybe the town will finally leave me alone.”
Noah slipped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “You deserve peace, Bon.”
Indie rubbed her back. “You really do.”
The next hour went slowly. She spoke to a couple of deputies and so did Zane.
They both gave their version of events. She learned from Zane that Maisie had been caught in the storage room a few weeks ago, which was likely when she’d left the box.
He’d said that because the place had been closed for a while, and they had the equipment boxes on the gym floor, they hadn’t gone in there often enough to see it.
Plus, it was in a brown box like a whole lot of other stuff.
It had just been another means for Damien to torture Bonnie out of town.
When it was finally time to leave, Zane slipped an arm around her waist. “Ready to go?”
“Back to the four walls of your apartment?” Not that she was complaining anymore. It wasn’t even lunchtime, and she was exhausted. But then, she’d woken at the ass crack of dawn. “You know what today has taught me?”
“To trust no one?” Zane asked through gritted teeth.
“No. That nothing good comes from waking before the sun.”
He chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, Bon.”
Zane shot a glance at Bonnie on the couch from the kitchen as he made coffee. She was on the phone with the new shelter manager. He’d told her to leave work stuff until another day, but she’d wanted the distraction.
He sure as hell wished something would distract him. The shower and rest hadn’t worked. He’d barely stomached food all day.
Today had been too damn close. If Maisie hadn’t had that last-minute change of heart, he wasn’t sure they’d have made it out unscathed. And that made him so damn angry he could barely breathe.
He was about to lift the mugs when his phone rang, Ethan’s name on the screen.
He leaned his hip against the counter and put the cell to his ear. “Ethan.”
“Hey, I’ve been trying to hold off calling to give you guys time to recover. You both okay?”
He’d texted his friend the CliffsNotes of what had happened.
“We’re fine. Last I heard, Damien’s cuffed to a hospital bed, with deputies posted outside his room, and Maisie’s in a jail cell.
I haven’t received an update on Stetson since he was taken into surgery.
” But damn, he hoped the kid was going to be okay.
“Jesus. Did you have any clue it was the brother?”
“None. I was so sure the entire time it was the dad.”
“What do you need from me?”
“Nothing. You’ve done enough, Ethan. I really appreciate your friendship.”
“Of course.”
“It better be fucking over now.” He sipped his drink, eyes still on Bonnie. “How’s Deep River?”
Ethan chuckled, but there wasn’t a lot of humor in the sound. “You do not want to hear about my small-town drama. Another day. I’m glad you and Bonnie are safe.”
“Me too. Thanks, Ethan.”
When the call ended, he set his cell on the counter before taking the coffees into the living room. Bonnie smiled as she took the mug from his hand, cell still to her ear.
“Absolutely,” she said to her new boss. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
He lowered to the couch beside her, hand going to her thigh. He had a feeling too close wouldn’t feel close enough for a long damn time, not after the last several weeks they’d had.
“Thanks, Mia.” She hung up and sighed, leaning her head against the couch and looking at him, fingers wrapped around her mug. “Hi.”
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah, the distraction of work is good. I think I’m going to like the new manager.”
“You deserve some good.” He swiped his thumb against her thigh.
She glanced down at her coffee. “I’m sorry that what happened today happened in your gym.”
“Why are you sorry? You’re not the asshole who pulled a gun on us.”
“I know. I just…I feel guilty.” She frowned. “And I keep thinking…what if Maisie hadn’t had a change of heart and shot him? A second longer and he would have—”
“Bonnie. I would have found a way to murder the asshole. There is no scenario where either of us died today. I wouldn’t have allowed it.
” Yeah, he couldn’t guarantee that. He’d been a fraction of a second away from shoving Bonnie to the floor and diving at Maisie, and he liked to think he would have found a way to end Damien, because losing Bonnie wasn’t an option.
“Today was a close call,” she whispered.
He grabbed her mug and set both their drinks on the coffee table before gripping her waist and pulling her onto his lap. He slipped a piece of hair off her cheek and behind her ear. “It was. And I’ll have nightmares about it for a long time. Never again.”
“Never again,” she repeated, palm pressing flat to his chest.
She lowered her head and kissed him for long seconds before touching her forehead to his. “Thank God we’re good at getting out of dangerous situations alive.”
He couldn’t even laugh. “Thank God.”