Chapter 5 #2
“I don’t know about his cohorts, whether they’ll do something about his presence in jail or not.
I don’t know anything about that side of it.
Yet he is under tight security, and I want to think that the police will do a better job of that this time—especially now that they know he’s bold, wily, and already got one cop’s weapon away from him.
It’ll take a while for that officer to live that one down. ”
She winced. “And yet obviously it was just a mistake.”
“But those mistakes can kill,” he pointed out.
“Plus, with the Hulk’s takeover in the police station, I bet his bosses know all about that too.
I would be surprised if he survives the night.
Yet I’m not sure how this night will go for us either.
If the Hulk’s bosses know where we currently are, then that’s another problem. ”
She stiffened and faced him, fear in her gaze. “So, even in a safe house, we’re not really safe, are we?”
“I contacted the security staff assigned to this community and let them know that there could be an issue here tonight or tomorrow. I don’t know where your father is either. Mason has contacted him several times, but that conversation probably didn’t go the way either of them wanted it to.”
“If anybody tried to tell my father not to come, he definitely would not consider that as going his way. He sees himself as a man completely exempt from the rules that the rest of the world lives by.” She sat back and stared at him warily.
“So, a part of me says he’ll probably arrive in New York soon.
And another part of me says he’s probably far too busy. ”
“You don’t talk about your mother.”
“No.”
“Any reason?”
“She died years ago. She was more of a socialite than a mother. I had full-time nannies right up to the day she passed away,” she admitted.
“Hard to bond in that situation. And my father never remarried. He has this steady stream of girlfriends ranging from disgusting, cut-of-the-same-cloth, mostly annihilating bitches, always letting me know that they were taking over the spot I had held, to women rather desperate to get in my good graces so I wouldn’t stop my father from marrying them. ”
Hayden chuckled, while shaking his head.
“I don’t think he ever intended to marry any of them. And they were all just making it up in their heads, which women who see huge bucks coming their way are often prone to do.”
“Do you think they were only with him for the money?”
She shrugged. “They say there’s somebody for everyone.”
“So, he’s not the easiest person to get along with?”
“No, he isn’t,” she confirmed. “Plus, I will probably never get a chance to get married because he chases off every man whom I’ve ever been even remotely interested in.”
“I don’t know about that.” Hayden stood and loaded the dishwasher while she watched. “Obviously we didn’t get to that point. Yet, if he’s like that, I can see how that would be very off-putting for a lot of men.”
“Ya think?” She carried her plate and cutlery over and rinsed them before she loaded them, all the while trying to not laugh and cry at the same time. “He chased away a lot of boyfriends.”
“I’m sorry about that,” he replied, “because that must make you feel as if you have no control over your life.”
“I don’t.” She helped clean up the rest of the kitchen.
“But the one thing I can control is the fact that, right now, I’m going to bed.
I am done, done in, or whatever variation of that you want to say.
I cannot in any way deal with any more crap tonight,” she muttered.
“So, yay me. I’m quickly collapsing here. ”
“Go get some rest.” When she hesitated, he asked, “Do you need a hand?”
She thought about it and then shook her head.
“I should be fine, and I don’t really know what you could help with anyway.
” She brushed a few tendrils of hair off her face.
“I just need to make it to bed and then crash.” He watched her go.
She stopped at the bedroom door and muttered, “I guess I owe you another thank you.”
He just waved his hand in dismissal. “It’s okay, and I don’t need you keeping score.”
She laughed. “That’s what I was doing, wasn’t it?”
“Seems so.” He smiled. “It’s really not necessary.”
She snorted. “I might be keeping score, but the fact remains that I probably wouldn’t have gotten out of the police department today without you.”
“Yes, you would have,” he noted. “The cops would have made sure of that.”
“Would they?” she asked, with a sad smile. “Or would it have just been another statistic of a situation gone wrong?”
“And what would Mr. Galanis have done if that were the case?”
She winced. “Oh, good God, that department would not still be standing if I had been killed by an escaped criminal.”
“And they probably don’t even know who you are yet,” he pointed out. “Let’s just not deal with that aspect right now. Everybody needs a good night’s sleep, and we’ll deal with this in the morning.”
“Whatever that means,” she muttered, staring at him.
He laughed. “It means we can’t deal with much more right now. So go to bed, get some sleep. I’ll be right here. Know that I’m not leaving and that you will be safe.”
She looked at him, tears in her eyes again, then walked over, kissed him, and whispered, “Thank you.” And, with that, she turned, headed back to the nearest bedroom, then closed the door in his face.
*
Hayden waited until he thought Andrea was settled and asleep before he picked up his phone and sent a text. You in position?
Trent texted right back. Yeah. All clear out here. Seems you had fun at the station today.
So much fun. She’s pretty racked over it all.
Yeah, and, with good reason, but, once again, she survived, and that’s what we’re aiming for.
I know, but she seems to be … taking it hard, whether about how the whole mess is not concluded or about something else. She’s fairly fragile at the moment.
She’s been through a lot, especially with six new faces added to our watch list, Trent responded, so to be expected.
Hayden couldn’t argue that, but he wanted to confirm they were well in position and that she would get some sleep tonight. Hayden and his team also needed sleep, but that would be a case of one at a time.
Trent added, I’m here in position, so I’ll take the first watch. Somebody’ll be outside your door, just in case.
Put Oakley on the door.
Hayden had always butted heads with Oakley, but he was a damn fine shot in a pinch, and he trusted him to be the one guarding the door. Not that Trent was any less of a marksman, but Oakley would have a lot more to prove than Trent.
He’s heading there now.
Good.
They really could use the manpower on this. All the texting was making him dizzy, so he just called Trent.
“Need to chat me up?” Trent teased.
Hayden laughed.
Trent added, “Mason and Tesla are running our six new faces through their databases. With any luck, all these guys have criminal records.”
“Or,” Hayden pointed out, “they are small-time hoods and have never been caught. This whole thing went sideways very quickly, so we’ll need plenty of people on our side.”
“It most certainly went sideways, but that’s okay. Sideways is what we do. Good takedown job, by the way, even if you did end up with a gun pointed at your head.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me. Jesus, that was not exactly part of the plan.”
Trent laughed. “It’s never part of the plan, but somehow it still ends up happening, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, I don’t really understand how the hell though,” he muttered. “It should never have happened in this instance. Not like that. We were in a goddamn police station.”
“Nope, it shouldn’t have, but—”
“No buts. It just shouldn’t have.” He was still chuckling when he got ready for bed and stretched out on the couch, with Oakley at the door and Trent outside on the perimeter.
Hayden figured they were probably good for a few hours at least. He would bring Trent in after a while to switch off with him as the night guard.
But first Hayden would grab a few hours’ sleep himself.
He was running on empty and had been for quite a while.
He sent a message to Trent. Peace out, see you in four.
And with confirmations from all, he stretched out onto the couch and closed his eyes.
He wasn’t out for more than a few minutes when he heard noises, faint but still there, in the bedroom next to him, and he winced. Everything inside him told him to comfort her, but he also knew it was not necessarily the right thing to do now.
Still, how did you turn away from a woman’s tears, particularly a woman whom he knew from the past and yet in many ways didn’t know at all?
Against his better judgment, he got up and walked into her bedroom.
She was tossing and turning on the bed, fighting the blankets caught up around her.
He walked closer and placed a hand on her shoulder to ease her awake. She bolted awake, saw him, and started crying.
He held her close, patting her back and her head. “It’s okay. You were just having a nightmare.”
She nodded and didn’t say anything, the tears still too strong, still too hard for her. Finally she relaxed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
He smiled at her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be perfect all the time, you know? When did that become a thing?”
She shrugged. “With everybody leaving and my personal life a bit of a mess, I figured, if I didn’t do the right thing, people would leave. And I became a little more … closed off, a little more guarded. I guess I was trying to prove myself without having to open myself up.”
He sighed. “I hate to say, That makes sense, but it does.” And then he looked at her and smiled sadly. “If I contributed to that at all, I’m sorry.”
“Apparently I contributed to your problems as well,” she admitted. “So, I guess that’s just part and parcel of growing up, isn’t it?”