Chapter Ten
Another week passed, and Sunny felt like she was going stir-crazy in the condo.
Sadie was such a good baby—she was even on a schedule.
Sunny was starting to feel like she needed to go out for some fresh air, although she was feeling a bit timid about taking the baby out in the middle of January.
It was cold, but their daughter was going to have to get used to the Colorado winters.
“I want to go to the bakery today. I can take Sadie with me, and you should go into the station for a while. We need to start getting back into our routines again. Sitting here, waiting for some crazy man to make his next move is driving us both insane.” Aaron stood, letting his chair scrape along the wood floor, and she braced for an argument.
“I agree, baby. We both could use a change of scenery.” Sunny squinted, feeling as though Aaron was up to something. He would never agree to something that could potentially put her or Sadie in danger, so why did he concede so quickly?
“I need to run up to Tag’s and talk to Sawyer about a few things.
He still doesn’t have any hits back on those partial prints.
” Aaron grabbed Sadie from her baby swing, and she started to fuss.
“How about I get our princess ready for her first outing, and you take a shower and get dressed? I’ll drop the two of you off at the bakery and run to Tag’s and then go into the station for an hour or so.
There are a few new guys that I need to meet, and the captain wants to talk to me about leading up training for fighting forest fires. ”
Sunny smiled up at him and nodded. “Sounds good. I can be ready in fifteen minutes.” Aaron swatted her ass with his free hand, and she yelped in surprise.
By the time they left the house an hour later, she felt like they had packed to go on vacation.
How could one tiny person need so much stuff?
Aaron crammed most of the stuff in the cab of his truck, and she secured Sadie’s car seat in the back seat.
Leaving the house with a newborn was a major undertaking.
She was pretty sure that she was going to be at least thirty minutes late everywhere she went from now on.
“Please tell me that we are going to get better at all of this,” she sighed. “I’m exhausted from just getting into the truck. We haven’t even left our parking space yet, and I’m about ready to call it a day and go back in for a nap.” Aaron laughed at her, giving her a quick kiss.
“It will get easier, I hope.” He cringed and buckled his seat belt. “Maybe we can do some practice drills—you know, improve our time,” Aaron offered.
“Always the fireman, Mr. Steele.” She giggled.
Aaron dropped Sunny and the baby off at the bakery and missed them as soon as he left.
They just spent the better part of three weeks together, and he felt at a loss without them near.
He knew it was for the best. They would be safe with the new security system he had Sawyer install at the bakery.
He also didn’t want Sunny to listen in on the conversation that he needed to have with Sawyer and Tag.
The night before, he received a text from an unknown number.
He was just going to delete it, but he glanced at the first line and the hair on his arms stood on end.
He was pretty sure he knew who was trying to get to him and Sunny, but he also knew that it was impossible.
Travis Reid was dead, but if that was the case, the text on his phone was from a dead man.
He thought back to that day when so many of his friends lost their lives.
Travis was his captain and the man who gave the order to advance, even when the fire did a tailspin and turned back on them.
He didn’t want to go back down that mountain with his tail between his legs and tell everyone that he failed.
Instead, he got everyone, but Aaron and two others killed.
The only problem was that nothing matched up.
The man that Sawyer showed him in the pictures on the security footage wasn’t Travis Reid.
He was hoping that the new message would help shed some light on that partial print that the sheriff’s office pulled off his truck.
Sawyer met Aaron in front of the police station, which was just next door to the fire station.
The two units often worked together, so Aaron knew most of the guys in the office.
They all congratulated him on the baby, and Sawyer took him back to his office.
“So, what’s up, Aaron?” Sawyer pulled out a chair for him, and he sat.
“I got a text last night and I think I know who our mystery guy is.” Aaron winced at the next part he was about to tell Sawyer, but his friend needed to know everything.
“I’m pretty sure that we are looking for a dead man.
” Sawyer almost choked on the sip of coffee he was taking. He set his mug down with a thunk.
“You wanna run that by me again, Aaron?” Aaron pulled out his phone, showed Sawyer the text, and waited while he read it aloud. “You can’t hide away forever, deserter. You left me to die, and now I will watch as you lose everyone that you love. You can’t play with fire and not get burned, Aaron.”
Sawyer cleared his throat and handed him back his phone. “So, you know who this is just from the text?” Sawyer asked.
Aaron nodded, remembering what a prick Travis was.
“My former Captain, Travis Reid. He used to say that to us all the time. ‘You can’t play with fire and not get burned.’ The guys—” Aaron froze, realizing that he was talking about the guys as if they weren’t all gone, felt wrong, but he needed Sawyer’s help.
“The guys and I used to make fun of him behind his back. He was always so cocky, so arrogant. None of us could stand him,” Aaron admitted.
Sawyer nodded. “But you said he’s dead. I’m assuming it was during the big fire you all had here.
” “Yeah,” Aaron breathed. “He didn’t make it back, or at least I thought he didn’t.
If he did make it back down that mountain, why wouldn’t he contact any of us, at least let us know he was alive?
” Aaron shook his head, “It just seems fucked up that he let us all believe he was dead. What about his wife and kids? They have lived without him all this time, and where was he?” Sawyer started writing down a few notes on a pad of paper.
“You said he has a wife and kids? Where are they now?” Sawyer asked.
Aaron shrugged, “I don’t know, man. They left town to go live with her parents, I think. I can’t remember.” Sawyer stood, and Aaron followed him into the main lobby of the station.
“I’ll run the partial print for a match with Travis.
In the meantime, I’ll start tracking down his family.
If he is alive, it’s possible that he contacted his wife.
I couldn’t imagine letting Lorna believe that I was dead like that.
I’m betting that his wife knows where he is, or at least if he made it down that mountain.
” Sawyer shook Aaron’s hand, and he was about to leave when the police scanner went off, and the fire alarm rang.
“I guess I’m getting back to work,” Aaron smiled, and he ran towards the station.
The captain gave him a head nod and told him to suit up.
He wasn’t on duty, but the idea of getting his hands a little dirty made him happy.
He loved his job, and he was damn good at it.
Suiting up to go out on a call sounded like just what he needed after being cooped up with Sunny and the baby for the last couple of weeks.
Sawyer’s SUV gave them a police escort to the fire, and Aaron’s blood ran cold when they pulled up in front of his condo.
Sawyer found him in the crowd of people that gathered to watch the smoke coming out of the parking garage.
“I’m calling in backup, Aaron. This isn’t a coincidence.” Aaron nodded, knowing that Sawyer’s instincts were usually right.
“Get Tag or Torren over to the bakery to stay with Sunny until we are done here. I don’t want her and the baby there alone.
This could be a diversion.” Sawyer agreed and started making calls.
This was a first-class cluster fuck, and Aaron needed to get to the bottom of it before his old friend Travis could make good on his promises.
There was no way that fucker was getting anywhere near his family—he would make sure of it.
Sunny heard the fire alarm before she saw the truck speed by the bakery’s front window.
She felt an instant pang of panic, but then she remembered that Aaron was good at his job.
Still, if something happened to him because she insisted that they both spend some time at work today, she would never forgive herself.
Sunny tried to stay busy helping Justice.
She caught up with some of her regulars and showed off the baby.
Sadie slept while she did some paperwork and put in her order for next week’s supplies.
About thirty minutes after the alarm sounded, Torren came strolling into the bakery, giving her one of his easy smiles.
She always did have a soft spot for Torren Harrison.
He was nothing like his twin brother, Tag.
He and Sunny even dated for a while, if that is what you would call it.
What they did was just hook up a few times—well, until Torren asked her to take part in a foursome.
She wasn’t really into sharing, so she told him that they couldn’t keep sleeping together.
Torren was a love-them-and-leave-them kind of guy.
He “dated” most of the women in town, and she was afraid that her friend would never settle down and find the right girl.
“Hey, gorgeous,” she teased. “You come in for some of my world-famous donuts or to see me?”
Torren smiled and picked her up to squeeze her.
The man had no personal space boundaries, and he was as big as a mountain—towering over her.
He put her back down and bent to kiss her cheek.
“Well, you know how word spreads in this small-ass town. I heard that you and a certain peanut were visiting, and I thought I’d come to take a look.
” He nodded down to where Sadie slept in her little bassinet and smiled. “Can I hold her?” he asked.
“Um, sure.” Sunny went over to where her daughter was sleeping and lifted her out of her bed. Sadie squirmed and stretched as Sunny handed her to Torren. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, so she relaxed a little.
“She is so tiny and cute. Thank God she looks like you and not her father,” Torren laughed, and Sadie’s blue eyes popped open. “Well, hello, beautiful,” Torren cooed.
“Wow, Tor, you are pretty good with babies.” Sunny sat back on her desk and watched as her daughter, like most of the women in town, fell in love with Torren Harrison.
She shook her head and laughed at how Sadie was putty in his hands.
“So, did you hear what’s going on at the fire station?
” She knew she was fishing, but Torren usually knew pretty much everything that happened in Harvest Ridge.
She could tell by the way he paused sweet-talking her daughter that he knew what was up.
“Tor—tell me what is going on.” Torren crossed the office to lay Sadie back in her bed.
“Don’t kill me, Sunny, but Sawyer and Aaron sent me over to keep an eye on you and the baby.” Torren held up his hands as if in surrender. Sunny stood up from her desk and crossed the room to find her cell phone.
“Aaron asked you to—” She didn’t even get to finish asking her question. Torren followed her to take her phone away. She tried to get it back, but he held it above her head out of her reach.
“Aaron is fine. There was a small fire, and he went out on the call. They don’t want you left alone until they figure out what’s going on.” Sunny stopped trying to reach for her phone. Torren wasn’t telling her something.
“What am I missing here, Tor. You are here because Aaron went on a call and didn’t want to leave me alone? Something isn’t fitting—you’re leaving a part out.” Sunny squinted and watched as Torren squirmed and stammered, trying to cover his tracks.
“Fuck, Sunny. Can’t you just leave well enough alone for once?” She took a step towards Torren, and the giant coward took two steps back.
“First, I’m going to ask you not to cuss in front of my daughter.
Then, I’m going to make you tell me what the fuck is going on.
You know I know all your weaknesses, Tor.
I’m not afraid to bring a giant man to his knees to find out what I want to know.
” Sunny watched Torren like a lioness stalking her prey, and the funny thing was—he looked a little afraid of her.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. And, for the record—you just cussed in front of your daughter, too.
” Sunny took another step in his direction, and he started to spill his guts.
Something about a fire at her condo, and she needed to sit down.
The puzzle was all making sense now—he was sent to watch her and Sadie because the fire was at Aaron’s condo.
Was it the same guy who slashed his truck tire or got into her hospital room?
God, what if he found a way to get to Aaron?
She needed to get to the condo and find Aaron before anything else happened.
They should have never left this morning; her whole idea was a big mistake.
“I need you to take Sadie and me to Aaron,” she pleaded. She was gathering up her stuff when Torren shut her office door.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but you and that adorable kid of yours aren’t going anywhere.
Aaron and Sawyer will both kick my ass if I let you anywhere near that place.
We stay here and wait.” Sunny stomped her foot, but that only caused the big oaf to bark out a laugh.
Yeah, she was going to have to come up with something better if she had any hope of getting to Aaron. But first, she needed a distraction.