Jasper
“Hey, Sheriff. I got an emergency call out on Pine Hollow Road. Right on the edge of town.”
Clicking in, I sigh. “What was the call?” I turn on my car and head it out of town.
“I don’t really know. They didn’t answer. But I swear I could hear breathing so I know somebody was there.”
“Tessa,” I groan. “It’s probably just a kid.”
“You need to go check it out. I don’t know. I got a bad feeling about it. That’s the house where that woman never comes out. She might be hurt.”
“I know I have to check it out.” We both know that. It’s gonna piss me off when I get out there and there’s nothing but a cat that accidentally dialed emergency services or something stupid.
After all, it’s a quiet Sunday night. What the hell could possibly happen in sleepy old Whispering Pines on a Sunday night?
Absolutely nothing that’s what.
I hit my sirens and punch the gas pedal down, speeding towards the farthest house from town. It’s been updated. I even looked at it when I thought I might move out of my house, but my mom needs to be close to town for her doctor’s appointments.
She’s been better lately. But she’s not getting any younger. And she wanted to move in with me and be in the middle of town.
I wasn’t telling my mom no. She’s my hero. She raised me as a single mom. She’s the reason that when my wife ran off and divorced me that I didn’t lose my mind.
She takes care of my house and my daughter without any complaints. Even when her arthritis kicks up and she’s sore as hell.
She’s amazing. I’ve never met any woman that could hold a candle to her so I quit looking. After all, my ex was enough to kill any thoughts of romance. The woman was a menace but she sure as hell hid it well when I first met her. Hid the drug use and the partying and the alcohol. All of it.
I see a dimly-lit house up ahead of me and I pull up, eyeing the two-story farmhouse.
It’s my dream house to raise my daughter in. But not at the expense of my mother’s health.
I slip out of the car after I turn off the sirens and lights. As soon as I do, the quiet out here seeps over me and a chill goes down my spine. It feels like there’s something waiting out there. Just beyond the light.
I jog up the front porch steps and knock on the door. “Hey! This is Whispering Pines PD! Come to the door, please!”
No reply. No lights. Nothing. But I have this feeling that there’s somebody waiting. Somebody watching.
I turn the knob on the door and that’s when I see the scratches on the lock and the jamb of the door.
I slip my gun out and open the door quietly, not surprised when the knob turns and the door opens.
Sliding inside, I feel a cold tension wash over me. That sense of something off clings to me. That feeling has saved my life more than once.
I don’t announce myself again. Instead I walk door to door downstairs, clearing each room slowly, my eyes on the spotlight in my hand.
By the time I’ve gone to the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen, the living room and an office with a computer still dimly-lit in the corner, I eye the stairs and set one of my cowboy boots on the stair, gently shifting my weight, endless calm and patience keeping me sane as I pick my way carefully up the wood stairs.
One shrill squeak and then I’m in the upstairs hall, my breath still slow and steady.
I don’t rush. Don’t skimp on the slow task of clearing each room.
Until I reach the bedroom at the end of the hall. I step inside and my eyes go to the window immediately. It’s a big one and the curtains are shifting slightly in the breeze.
There’s no way that somebody left that window open tonight. It’s been raining and chilly today.
My eyes search every dark corner of the large bedroom. But there’s nothing here right now.
Then my head whips around when I hear a quiet sound beyond a door that’s closed in the corner of the room.
Silently, quickly, I rush over and knock lightly at the door.
“Whispering Pines PD. Are you in there?”
A quiet, feminine voice answers me softly. “How do I know that’s who you really are?”
“Are you still on the phone with Tessa? She’ll tell you that I’m here.”
I hear her and then my radio goes off. “Get your id out.”
I pull my license out and hold it up to the door. It opens slowly and then she peeks out, her long, red hair tousled around her face.
And what a face!
My heart stops in my chest and then it feels like it starts again for her. Only her.
Her pale, no-color eyes look up at me as she steps out of the bathroom. “Sheriff?”
Her voice is just a soft breath but my whole body stiffens. “Yeah. Can you tell me what happened?”
Her tousled hair has my fingers itching to push it out of her pretty face as she dips her head. “Th-there was somebody here.”
I nod my head, my eyes locked on hers. She’s such a tiny little thing. I can barely tell what her body looks like but her heart-shaped face is a little sharp, a little intense. A lot worried.
“Are you sure? Did you see them?”
“No. But I heard footsteps when I woke up.”
I move closer to her, needing to be near her. Needing to make sure that nobody else can touch her.
What the fuck is wrong with me right now? I’ve got a damn job to do and it’s not chase this tiny little woman around like a fucking puppy!
Get your head straight, asshole! You’ve got a job to do.
I’ve already cleared the lower rooms and I’m just about positive that whoever was in here went out the damn window but I still need to do my damn job. Without her near me.
“Go back in the bathroom and lock the door. I’m gonna take a closer look and make sure there’s nobody still here and then I’ll come get you, okay?”
She nods her head, her eyes wary and confused. She stumbles back into the bathroom and looks back at me and my whole body goes rigid, desperately wanting to go with her.
Instead, I push her back lightly, gritting my teeth against the heat that’s roaring like a wildfire through my body starting where my palm touches her back through the thin fabric of her long-sleeved tee. I close the door and growl, “lock it.” Waiting until I hear the lock engage.
Only then do I take a slow, deep, ragged breath and step away.
The window is still open and when I look out I can see a rose trellis that’s bare of flowers and hanging on the side of the house.
An absolute safety hazard on the whole but easily something that a full-grown man could use to get the hell out of here with nobody the wiser.
My breath hisses out in a sharp growl. She’s right. Somebody was in here. I’d bet money on it, dammit!
I pace room to room. The whole top floor has two more bathrooms and three more bedrooms. The whole farmhouse is huge but most of the other rooms are either empty or full of boxes that haven’t been unpacked.
It looks like she just moved in but this house was sold six months ago and she moved in almost immediately after that.
But I never saw her in town and I sure as hell would have noticed the little mouse creeping along and trying to stay invisible.
Not that she can hide from me anymore now that I’ve seen her. I’m going to know where she is every damn second of the day from now on.
I creep down the stairs and turn on the lights, checking in every damn nook of this place, even downstairs in the small basement. Then I head back upstairs, my whole body vibrating with the need to get to her.
“What the hell is going on, asshole?” I grumble to myself, heading back to the first bedroom and my little mouse. I’ve never been so fucked up before. I can’t think straight.
All I see is her soft, scared, wide eyes that I can’t tell in the dim light what the hell color they are. Her curvy little body shivering, her arms wrapped tight around herself.
Not one inch of skin was bare except her hands, face and feet and yet she looks sexier than every other woman I’ve ever met.
I jog a little faster. I need to get to her. Need to make sure she’s alright.
I knock at the door. A little crack appears. Her tousled, fiery curls appear and then her wide eyes and she stares up at me.
“A-are they gone?” Her soft voice shakes and my arms want to reach out and pull her into me. I want to keep her safe and tell her that nobody’s ever going to touch her.
She’s mine.
Shaking my head, I slide my gun back into the holster to keep my shaking hands busy and smile at her. Her strange eyes widen and she gasps softly.
I hold up my hands, palms out. Like I’m trying to coax a wild animal to me. “I checked every room. They’re gone. The window was open, did you leave it open?”
She shakes her head and her shoulder-length hair slips into her face, my hands shaking to keep from tucking it behind her ears and finding out if her skin is as soft as it looks.
“N-n0. I would never.”
“There’s a trellis out there that he could find and get out of the house on.”
Her eyes widen. She gasps and goes so white that I reach out for her myself.
“Hey, hey! All you need to do is remove the trellis and that avenue’s gone. Get some new locks on the house and maybe a security system if you can afford it and you’re safe as a baby in its mama’s arms.”
I barely touch her and she shifts away, her arms wrapping tight around herself again.
My eyes narrow. There’s more going on here than a simple break-in. I don’t like it.
But she nods her head and closes her eyes.
“Hey. I need to fill out some paperwork so I’m going to ask you some questions. Think you can hang on long enough to get this over with?”
Her slim shoulders straighten and yet she looks so fragile I just want to hug her.
I need to see a therapist. I’ve obviously lost my damn mind.
“Why don’t you sit down on the bed and we’ll get this all taken care of and you can go back to bed?”
And I’ll be spending the rest of the night right outside until she gets that damn lock fixed.
Nobody else is ever getting near her again. Not without going through me first.