Chapter Ten
Memphis
Iwatch as a crime scene guy processes Waverly’s fingernails, digging under the long nails to find out if the two fuckers left anything of themselves behind.
I’m betting the answer is yes if memory serves me right.
I’m pretty sure I saw her rake her nails across one of their arms. She’s not said much since I called it in after scooping her up and holding her while she cried.
I rocked her back and forth while little pieces of my heart seemed to fall with every tear she shed. It damn near broke me.
“Maybe protective custody isn’t such a bad idea, huh?” I don’t say anything but turn my hard stare back to the chief who has stepped up beside me. “Her apartment was ransacked. They flipped, broke, or cut everything in it.”
“Damn it.”
I should have stayed with her. I should have been quicker noticing her light didn’t come on right away.
I hung back when I followed her to the library and my sister’s place because I didn’t want her to think I was stalking her or that she didn’t have a certain amount of freedom.
I shouldn’t have held back and followed my gut, which was telling me the only place to be was right beside her.
“You need a vacation, Memphis.”
My attention snaps back to the chief. He didn’t call me Wrath like he normally does. I know he isn’t about to hand me some crap about being too close to the case.
“The best vacations I ever had were the ones I took with your parents up at that old cabin in the woods no one knows about.” He looks at me with serious eyes that have made a lot of criminals break. “You know where I’m talking about, don’t you, son?”
Ah.
I give him a nod. “Should be nice this time of year.”
“Nice and secluded and easy to protect.”
Son of a bitch. Chief is smarter than people give him credit for. If I take Waverly up to my family’s cabin for a nice romantic vacation, we don’t have to file paperwork saying where she’s at. No one will know except me and him. And maybe mom and dad, but they’re not going to tell anybody.
“Tonight.”
“Sounds like a good time to me. In fact, I’d say as soon as possible isn’t fast enough.”
I give him one more nod and finally let my feet take me to where my heart was already sitting.
Shock has set in, and her forest green eyes are blank when she turns them on me.
I don’t like it. I step in front of her and tell Clark, the tech processing her, to give us a moment. He nods and grabs the evidence bags.
I brush the back of my hand over her soft cheek as the memory of that fucker hitting her rushes through my mind and burns inside of me with a hate I’ve never felt for someone before.
If I could have gotten my hands on him, I would have killed him, and when I check in with myself, I find no guilt or remorse about it.
My thumb trails down her soft face. As she stares up at me, I trace her full bottom lip as everything around us fades away. So soft.
“Sweet girl.” I bet her mouth tastes like honey. I bet everything about her is sweet and sugar-coated. From the little kisses I’ve given, I can say her lips are definitely candy-coated. I cup the back of her neck so I can tilt her head up just a little bit more. “You doing okay, baby girl?”
She doesn’t verbally answer me but instead gives me a shrug of her shoulder.
“Look, baby…”
“When can I go in?”
“Go in? To your apartment?”
She nods for me. Well, damn! I thought I would have more time. I thought I would be able to ease her into the idea of taking a trip with me.
“You, um, can’t go back up.”
“What do you mean? I have to go back. All my clothes and…”
“They broke into your apartment, Waverly.”
She sits with a stunned look on her face for a second before closing her mouth and asking me more questions.
“Sadie? She was supposed to be home and…?”
“She was with Boston. She’s safe.”
The shock is gone, only to be replaced with anger and frustration. “Where the hell am I supposed to go tonight? How am I supposed to get my clothes out? What am I supposed to do, Memphis?”
“You have some options.” She really doesn’t.
“How long will it take before they turn it back over to us or finish or whatever?”
“It’s going to take some time, baby. That’s…”
“How bad is it? What the hell did they do?”
I take her by the hand, the good one without the new splint on it, and lead her to the side of the ambulance before gently pushing her back and using my arms as a cage.
Not that I want to cage her in, but she needs a sense of safety, and she can find that in my arms. She’ll always find that in my arms.
Before she can say another word, I take her chin in my hand and tilt her head so I can lean down and put my lips on hers.
All the fight goes out of her, and she brings her hands up to grasp my biceps.
I run my lips over hers, gently pulling her closer to me and taking the kiss even further.
I lick and nibble along her puffy bottom lip before taking a step back.
If I hadn’t, I would have done more than kiss her right here in front of God and everybody, including the chief.
“Let’s go to the hospital and have that wrist looked at to make sure it’s alright and then get on the road. I’ve got everything figured out.”