Chapter Nine #3
“She would,” she whispered, letting some of the fight seep slowly out of her as she stepped away from him and stood by a window that overlooked the front porch.
The night was black and the light on the porch barely cut through the thick curtain of shadows.
The silent scene reminded her of her life.
No matter how she tried to find the light, lately, she couldn’t defeat the shadows that kept attempting to pull her back into the darkness.
“Colton, she gave me a second chance at life. One where I don’t have to constantly walk on eggshells because I’m afraid to lose my job if something goes wrong.
I’m trusted to do my work without anyone looking over my shoulder with suspicion.
Yeah, I might get a few strange looks when I go into town.
But here on Restoration Ranch, I have a job I love and friends and a family that care about me, who believe in me. ”
She closed her eyes and tried to block out the darkness.
If she could stay close to the light for a little less than a year, then she wouldn’t have to fear the outside world so much.
Her freedom would mean she could finally breathe again, and all the help and resources Aja had provided for her wouldn’t be in vain.
“I can’t let the ugliness of my past touch her.
Not when she’s worked so hard to help me rebuild my dream. ”
When he stepped behind her, she could feel the lack of tension in his touch when he pulled her against him and wrapped her up in the protective circle of his arms. As he spoke again, some of the bluster had left him as he placed a kiss in the crook of her neck and tightened his hold on her.
“You don’t need my permission, Seneca. I’m just asking you to listen to me and let me use my resources to help you without getting you killed.”
She turned in his arms, looking at the worry pooling in his eyes.
Part of her was touched. She could see real emotion there in his slack jaw and the slight droop of his shoulders.
“You don’t know what it’s like to live under the suspicion of the entire world.
How soul-destroying it is to keep having the biggest mistake you’ve ever made thrown back in your face every day and never being able to get the memory of the concrete walls that surrounded you for seven years out of your head. ”
He pulled his hand from behind her back and lifted it to cup her cheek.
For the second time that night, she instinctively nuzzled into its inviting warmth.
His touch was soothing and strong and when he held her this way, she could almost forget they were who they were.
When he had his hands on her, she could forget about his badge and her past conviction.
She could forget about the threat Hastings posed and pretend the only thing she had to worry about was making fleeting moments like this last.
She took a deep breath, placing her hand against the back of his to keep it in place against her face.
“I just want to live in peace, Colton. To be able to breathe without the fear that some arbitrary monster in the shadows dressed in their hypercritical righteousness is going to take it all away from me just because they can.”
“I won’t let Hastings take your freedom from you, Seneca. I won’t let him take your life. I know you want to do this yourself, but I care too much to let that happen. I won’t let Holden treat you like you’re just another C.I. for him to exploit.”
She stepped out of his embrace and wrapped her arms around herself.
“For once, I really wish you’d just trust me, Colton.
If you’d trusted me with who you were in the first place, if you trusted me to handle this now, who knows how much better things could’ve been between us.
” She shrugged her shoulder and let her frustration spill into the air in an exhausted humph.
“But I know as an ex-convict, that’s way too much for me to expect. ”
She stepped around him and kept walking until she was behind the closed door of her bedroom.
It took a minute, but soon after, she heard his footsteps head in the direction of the front door.
She held her breath as she waited for the familiar snick of the lock falling in place before she released the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding.
A little under a year, that’s all she had left on her parole.
Freedom was so close she nearly tasted it.
But now more than ever, it seemed further out of her reach.
How could she ever win this when both sides of the law were standing in her way?
“You’d better figure this out soon, Seneca,” she huffed as she fell back against the plush welcome of her mattress.
“Because if you don’t, you’re liable to lose it all. ”
*
Colton waited until he was inside his cabin before he pulled out the burner phone Holden had given him. He needed the privacy of the guest space Aja provided, otherwise he knew he’d run the risk of upsetting Seneca more than he already had.
His body hummed with the pent-up frustration of his anger.
Who the hell did Holden fucking think he was disregarding his mandate that Seneca be kept out of this investigation?
Holden was lucky the closest Colton could get to him was a phone call, because if they’d squared up face-to-face, Colton would beat him into the ground.
He tapped the lone number programmed into the phone and put it against his ear, trying to hold on to the anticipation of laying into Holden’s ass. He swayed from side to side on the balls of his feet like he was preparing for a boxing match.
“What’cha need?”
“Oh, I’m so happy you asked,” Colton answered. “I need one thing: for you to stay the fuck away from Seneca. Don’t visit her, don’t call her, and don’t accidentally on purpose run into her in the Main Street diner.”
There was a brief silence before Holden whistled through the line. “Sounds like someone’s still as selfish as he was when we were kids, never wanting to share his things.”
Colton growled low in his throat. If Holden were here, that would be the only warning he’d get before Colton popped him in his mouth.
“Fuck you, Holden. You’re still the same reckless, selfish bastard you always were, not giving a damn if you got the rest of us in trouble with your bullshit.
Understand me, if you don’t stay the fuck away from Seneca, you and I are gonna have a real problem.
It’s rare that I get to engage in beating someone’s ass and not have to worry about the consequences.
I will unleash hell on you if you don’t stay away from her. ”
He could hear the low chuckle in Holden’s voice, and it was pissing him off more. His head was ready to explode from his heartbeat pounding into overdrive.
“This girl,” Holden said. “Why is she so important to you? I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this hyped over anyone, let alone some random ex-con. Why are you so mad about this? It’s standard operating procedure, Colt.”
“Listen,” he gritted out through his teeth.
“She is off-limits. You have enough already to charge that son of a bitch. If you want bigger fish, and heftier charges, you’ll have to do it through old-fashioned investigative work.
You’re not going to take the easy way out by dangling Seneca in front of Hastings as bait. ”
He could hear what sounded like rustling paper in the background before Holden spoke again. “We’ve done this a dozen times together when we were both in the rangers. The only reason you’re losing it over this girl is because she’s got your nose wide open.”
“That’s none of your fucking business,” Colton shouted.
“It is when it’s my investigation you’re trying to obstruct.
Dammit, Colton.” He noted the annoyance lacing Holden’s voice and he wondered what kind of shit this man had to be smoking to think he was the injured party in all of this.
“I’ve been on this damn case for the last two years.
I’m not gonna let you fuck it up just because you’re sniffing around this woman.
You don’t want to help me, fine. But I’ll be damned if I let you keep her from doing it. ”
Holden cleared his throat, letting silence hang in the air for a brief moment before speaking again.
“You have no jurisdiction over this case. If you do anything to obstruct it, I’ll either slap cuffs on you for obstruction, or better yet, I’ll go to Hargrove and see what he thinks about one of his rangers interfering in a federal investigation. ”
The mention of Major Hargrove’s name instantly brought back the subject of their last conversation.
He’d specifically warned Colton against getting into any kind of professional trouble while he was laying the groundwork for Colton’s promotion.
Add to that Jackson had pulled rank and ordered him to stand down.
Holden had him by the balls. If word got back to Hargrove or Jackson that Colton had stepped out of line because of Seneca, his career would go up in smoke.
Part of him was ready to say fuck it and drive over to wherever the hell Holden was laid up and beat his ass just for throwing his boss in his face.
“Don’t make the same mistakes you did in Afghanistan, Colton. Don’t blow up your career over another woman.”
“I promise you, you’re gonna regret those fucking words.”
“I promise you that friendship won’t keep me from making shit hard for you professionally if you cost me this case. Stay the hell out of it, Colton.”
The line clicked and the call ended, leaving Colton just standing in the middle of the room, staring at the phone, contemplating if the ass whooping he was so desperate to give his old friend was worth ignoring Holden’s warning and all the professional hot water he’d be in.
“He’s right. You know that don’t you?”
Colton’s gaze followed the sound of the familiar voice. Leaning against the guest bedroom doorframe, Storm stood with his legs crossed at the ankles, staring at Colton. His face was free of its signature affable smile and his accusing dark brown eyes bored into Colton from across the room.
“I forgot you were here.”
“I know you did. That’s why you were yelling loud enough for them to hear you down at the main road.”
Storm’s smile might’ve been gone, but his snark was still there in full force, apparently.
“He’s not wrong, Colton. We’ve all done shit like this before to get a sick fucker like Hastings off the street.”
He ignored Storm’s question and looked at him through his narrowed gaze. “I guess Jackson filled you in on the situation.”
“He did.” Storm nodded and walked over to the couch, taking a seat and tilting his head in the direction of a nearby armchair, telling Colton to sit down.
“Told me he ordered you to stand down.” Colton nodded to confirm Storm’s statement.
“I also know,” Storm continued, “that Hargrove is trying to promote you. Don’t fuck that up because of an asshole like Holden.
I know he’s yours and Jackson’s friend, but I’ve never liked him.
He’s too much flash and not enough substance.
He’ll throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. ”
Colton flopped down into the chair and rubbed a hand down his face, sighing in bone-deep exhaustion as everything began to weigh on him.
“You’d better watch how you talk about him. That asshole’s going to be the stepbrother of your immediate supervisor once Jackson’s daddy marries Holden’s mom.”
“As long as Holden stays away from me, I got no issue with him. But you’re different.
You’re allowing him to goad you into some shit you don’t need to be wrapped up in right now.
I understand Seneca is important and Holden shouldn’t treat her like her life is expendable.
But, man, you gotta protect your neck in all of this.
Besides, you can’t help Seneca if you’re kicked out of the rangers or worse, put in cuffs yourself. ”
“Even with my badge, I can’t figure out a way to help her. If I open up an investigation, Jackson is gonna yank on my short leash. If Hargrove finds out why I wanna help Seneca, he’s liable to demote me or toss me out on my tail. I’m between a rock and a hard place.”
“You might be.” Storm’s cocky grin evoked both hope and fear in Colton’s chest at what that smile might mean. “But I’m not. Jackson said you had to stand down. He didn’t say anything about me.”
Colton shook his head. “I’m not gonna let you end up with a reprimand in your file trying to help me.”
Storm shrugged. “I’m the baby on the team. I’ll just chalk it up to misunderstanding the rules. Besides, all I plan to do is check in with Gleason and Jennings and see if they can remember anything that might give you what you need by way of cause of action.”
Colton let the tension slip away from his body and let his heavy head drop back into the soft cushions of the armchair.
Storm was right. If he lost his badge, he definitely wouldn’t be able to help Seneca out of this mess.
If he wanted to help Seneca, the best way was to stay on the inside of law enforcement.
What Storm was offering, it might be the only way around the mess he found himself in.
“When did you get so smart and so sneaky, kid?”
Storm shrugged. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking ’bout. I always been the smartest man on the team.”