Chapter 17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
MONROE
“You coming to bed?” Clay asked, wrapping his strong arms around me.
Police had come and gone. Interviews were conducted. Crime scene photos taken and any sign that Kael had been here was cleaned up. The only physical reminder of what happened today was the boarded up window at the front of the house from where Kael's gun misfired.
Clay promised it would be fixed first thing tomorrow, come hell or high water. I believed him.
What I had a harder time believing was that all of this was over.
“I don’t know if I can. I just keep thinking about Maverick growling.
The sound of Kael’s voice out in the hallway.
Clay, I was so terrified that he was going to hurt Kaleigh.
I don’t know what made me think to put those headphones on her to drown out the noise.
Or why she even listened to me. If she had heard everything… ” A sob broken loose.
“Hey,” Clay kissed my forehead. “You did the right thing. Kaleigh’s fine. You’re safe. It’s all okay now. Baby, Kael is gone. He’s in custody.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t matter. He has a club. He has people.”
“He does,” Clay admitted. “But he also kicked in the front door of an SBS employee’s home, pointed a gun inside that house, and discharged it. There were cameras. Witnesses. Rafe. Me. There isn’t a version of today where he walks away from that.”
My throat tightened.
“Sloane has already contacted the agencies we work with in Colorado,” he continued. “They've been building a file on Devil's Ridge for a long time. Kael handed them exactly what they needed.”
“You really think it's over?”
Clay didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I think you're finally allowed to stop looking over your shoulder.”
Tears burned behind my eyes.
“And if anyone's stupid enough to try some shit like that again?" he said quietly. “They won't be finding you alone.”
“I was so scared,” I sobbed against his chest.
“I know, baby. I was too. The hardest part of today wasn't wondering if Mercer was in my house."
I frowned. "What was it?"
"Thinking I might be too late."
I cried harder.
Clay held me in his arms and let me get it all out, until I was too exhausted to cry anymore.
“Come on, I think we both need to get some rest.”
“I…I really don’t think I want to be alone right now.”
He snorted. “You really think you’re going back to the guest room now that I’ve had you in my bed?”
My cheeks heated. “What about Kaleigh?”
“Honey, I don’t think she’s going to be the least bit surprised. Hell, she’ll probably say ‘I told you so, you two weirdos’.”
I laughed. “You’re probably right. We’ll never hear the end of it.”
We headed upstairs together. Clay offered me one of his shirts to sleep in and pulled back the covers on his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and waited for me to lay down before climbing in beside me and wrapping me back in his arms.
“Listen,” he whispered in my ear. “Do you hear that?”
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Excatly.”
Maverick jumped up in the bed and laid on the other side of me.
Clay sighed. “Mav, you have your own bed.”
The dog ignored him and curled up against my belly.
“Yet another losing battle for you,” I laughed.
“I knew the minute I walked in that conference room that you were going to completely flip my world upside down,” he kissed the back of my shoulder.
“Oh, you think I am responsible for your dog’s bad training?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. My dog and my daughter both seem to think you’re the good cop. Their ally and enabler.”
I smiled to myself. “Not my fault you’re such a hardass.”
“Someone has to be.”
“I knew’d it!” The sharp squeal of Kaleigh’s voice startled me from sleep.
Clay groaned beside me as he rubbed his eyes. “Kaleigh.”
She jumped up on the bed and started bouncing like she was on a trampoline. “I knew’d it! I knew’d it! I knew’d it!”
I laughed.
“I knew’d Monwaoh was going to be my mommy one day!”
That had the laughter dying on my lips.
Clay froze beside me.
“I lub you SO much Monwaoh!” she plopped down right between me and Clay and grabbed our hands. “Does this mean you’re getting married?”
Clay coughed and sputtered while I tried to hide my laughter, and my tears.
“Kaleigh, honey. One day at a time, okay kiddo?” Clay finally said.
“You always say that.” She sighed dramatically. “Now. Who’s making me breakfast this morning?”
Clay looked at me from over top Kaleigh’s head with an eyebrow raised.
As I looked in his eyes, I remembered the first night he promised me I wasn't alone anymore.
At the time, I'd wanted so badly to believe him.
Now, with his fingers laced through mine, Kaleigh snuggled between us and Maverick now stretched out at our feet, I realized he hadn't been making me a promise after all. He'd simply been telling me the truth.