Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
MILES
When I woke up and didn’t feel her next to me, panic immediately set in.
Somehow, I knew she was gone. I jumped out of bed, my heart hammering in my chest as I searched the house.
But everything was gone. If not for the pink vacuum she’d left behind and the endless bottles of coffee creamer in my fridge, it’d be easy to think I had imagined her ever being there.
I swallowed hard, the silence choking me, but then I spotted the guitar leaning against the coffee table with a pile of scattered papers.
They were her lyrics, her notes, and I had been careful not to read them because she said they were private.
But leaving them there was intentional, so I sat down and grabbed the first page.
The words burned into my chest and the realization finally sank in…. She ran. I didn’t bother with the rest of the notes, they were everything she had written over the past couple of weeks and I knew reading them would be reliving our story that I didn’t want to end.
But I couldn’t understand why she’d leave them. They were the reason she wanted to escape, the reason she hid away. To write, to find herself again. Leaving it all behind made it all pointless, didn’t it?
I let the papers fall to the coffee table and stood up, numb.
I had already checked her room once, but I couldn’t stop myself from going back, needing to be sure.
I opened the door, and everything was the same.
Her bed was made, the bathroom wiped down and spotless, fresh towels hanging like she’d never been there.
The faint smell of her perfume lingered in the air, but even that felt like it belonged to someone else now.
She had fallen asleep in my arms last night, but she couldn’t have slept long. She had spent hours, maybe the whole night, preparing to leave while I slept in some blissful state of ignorance.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my mind spinning.
I glanced toward the spot where that damn mouse had startled her.
A brief smile tugged at my lips, remembering how she screamed and jumped on the bed, trying to act all tough.
Everything changed in that moment. I didn’t kiss her that night, but I knew then I wouldn’t be able to resist her forever.
Especially after she spent that first night with me in my bed.
My phone rang from the other room, snapping me out of my thoughts so I jumped up, rushing to grab it. It was Linc and I hesitated for a second, feeling my heart sink just a little before answering.
"What’s up?" I forced the words out, trying to sound normal.
"Are you coming to work today?" Linc’s voice was casual, but I could tell he was already worried.
"Shit, I forgot I had to work." My mind was all over the place, and the weight of what had happened hit me harder. I had a meeting with the captain and someone else at 10 a.m. about Loxley. If it wasn’t for the fact that I knew that meeting was about her, I’d tell Linc to fuck off and leave me alone.
But instead, I muttered that I was coming in and hung up quickly.
I threw on my uniform and jumped in my patrol car, speeding toward the station. Thirty minutes later, I pulled up, and Linc was standing outside, waiting for me.
"You okay?" he asked, concern in his voice.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk. My mind was racing, my heart was aching, and all I could think about was the girl who’d just vanished.
"Move, Linc," I growled, pushing past him. "I’ve got a meeting with the captain."
"Do you wanna tell me what’s got you so fucked up?" he called after me, but I didn’t answer. I wasn’t ready to say anything yet.
I stormed down the hall to the captain’s office.
I had twenty minutes before the meeting, but I couldn’t wait.
I barged in, slamming the door open. The captain stood up, and next to him was a man I’d never seen before.
He had a somewhat recognizable face that made me think of the ID Loxley had handed me when I pulled her over.
And he definitely looked like Mr. Belding.
Without any pleasantries, I grabbed Sam by the collar of his oversized jacket and shoved him back five feet, slamming him into the wall.
The captain moved quickly, trying to pull me off him, but he couldn’t get past the rage that had taken over me.
I was too big, too angry, and though he was formidable, I was unstoppable in that moment.
Behind me, I heard the captain shout for backup, so I leaned in while I had time and lowered my voice to a dangerous tone. "Where is she?"
Sam grinned, like he was enjoying himself. "You mean she’s not with you?" He laughed, and I could see that smug, shit-eating grin.
"You know damn well she’s not." I pushed harder into him, wanting to feel his bones crack under my grip.
Finally, Linc was there, stepping in, and pulling me away. He pinned me to the other side of the room as the captain’s voice demanded, "What the fuck is going on?"
"Yeah, Officer Brooks, what’s going on?" Sam smirked.
His tone was condescending, and I could feel the victory in his words.
"I originally came here to talk to your department about helping me find Loxley Adams," Sam said, straightening his jacket. "But I thought I’d give the captain a little heads-up that she’s been found safe and sound. Do you know where she’s been? "
The captain and Linc looked at me, both of them waiting for an answer. Sam was trying to back me into a corner, to force me to confess that I knew where Loxley was. He knew I would be in trouble for lying to them all along, for using up assets, and the fruitless time I spent looking for her.
I wasn’t about to give them a reason to strip me of my badge and my gun. It was all I had left, so I backed down and shook my head.
"I don’t know where she’s been," I said, my voice a fake calm. "But I thought maybe you did."
Sam’s smile widened, and I wanted to knock his teeth out.
"Well, we’re still working on her story," Sam said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. "She’s got a lot to explain, but we’re thankful she was found safe, despite the fact she appears to have been through a lot."
Everything he’d say from then on would be a fucking lie, so I turned and left. I knew I’d be called back in later for the inevitable reprimand, but I didn’t care. There was nothing to say to Sam. He and I both knew she had left on her own so there wasn’t much else I could do in terms of the law.
What I didn’t know was what story they’d spin about it. Would everyone believe that she’d been sick, finally getting better? Or would they know that a small-town cop from Harmony Haven had helped her hide and foolishly fallen in love with her?
When I stepped out into the parking lot, Linc was hot on my heels. I turned sharply, not wanting him to follow me, and pointed my finger in his face.
"You don’t even want to know," I said, my voice harsh.
"Try me," Linc shot back. "Does it have anything to do with the fact that you had Loxley Adams in cuffs a couple of weeks ago, shoving her in your backseat and trying to convince me she was some hardened criminal from the next town over?"
My face fell into shock, but it shouldn’t have. Linc was smart and a good ass cop. He’d seen enough to put it all together.
"Who else knows?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"No one," he snorted. "I assumed you had your reasons for keeping it to yourself. I wasn’t gonna push. I mean, I kind of hoped when we grilled those steaks at my place that you’d say something, but I knew you had your reasons."
“I pulled her over,” I confessed, owing him the truth after he’d let me get away with so much, including lying to him and dodging his phone calls. “She wasn’t even speeding by much but something told me to give her a warning. She ended up being a handful.”
“And then you fell for her,” Linc nodded, knowing he was right.
“Yeah I couldn’t help it. She’d dance around the house barefoot, humming new songs, wearing my t-shirts. Captain read me in on the fact that she was ‘missing’ and I lied to his face. But I had promised Lox I’d keep her safe and secluded for as long as she needed.”
“What are you gonna do now?”
I sighed, tempted to tell him I was going to go find Lox and bring her back, even if she was kicking and screaming.
But the lyrics in her song made me rethink that idea.
She said she would burn me to the ground, and although I wasn’t scared of anything, it did make me realize that she left to save me.
But from what?