Chapter Thirteen – You Found Me
Chapter Thirteen
Andie
YOU FOUND ME
Performed by Kelly Clarkson
Cooper turned from where he’d watched his son walk out the door with Akela, and for a moment, I saw again the conflict I’d felt in him as he’d weighed the truth of Luca’s words.
For both their sakes, I was glad he’d ended up believing the teenager, but the momentary relief I’d found at thinking it had been Luca in my kitchen withered away.
Someone else had been in here.
It could have nothing to do with me. It could be local teenagers or a vandal or someone casing the house, thinking I had more to steal than I did.
But the towel on the floor the other day came back to me, and I knew with a shudder up my spine that it wasn’t someone stealing.
The towel had been purposeful. It had been weeks since that had happened, and I’d intended to call Dawson afterward to check and make sure no one had been probing my fake identity, but I hadn’t.
I’d let it slide because I’d felt ridiculous at freaking out over a towel.
Now, my stomach turned sour.
“I have to make a phone call,” I said, turning around and starting for the bedroom where I’d left my phone charging.
“I’d like to check all the locks on your doors and windows,” Cooper said.
I turned to take him in. He didn’t want to do this.
He didn’t want to be tied in any way to me.
I sensed that as much as I sensed the attraction that brewed between us.
I understood the dichotomy of his feelings completely.
I didn’t want him here, messing in my life, and I certainly couldn’t afford the attraction.
But it was his job to make sure the town’s residents were safe.
And he was right that Luca was here all the time.
I didn’t want to risk Luca’s safety because I hadn’t let the sheriff do his job.
I swallowed. “Okay. Thank you.”
He strode off in the direction of the back door, and I continued to my bedroom.
I dialed Dawson’s burner phone, expecting to leave a message that he’d return after he got the alert. Instead, he answered. “Hey, little sis, I was just about to call you.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. But you tell me first why you’re calling. Everything okay there?”
I hesitated. Did I really want to drag Dawson into all of this again? He’d saved my life multiple times already. He’d called in favors and put his family at risk to do so, and I hated the idea of involving him again.
But the evil that had surrounded me in Clover Lake had once followed me to Idaho when Dawson moved me there, and an innocent person had died because of me.
The idea of that happening here… The thought of any of the people I’d come to care about being hurt or worse was enough to bring on another panic attack.
Dawson’s voice dripped with concern, “Did something happen today?”
I tried to counter the spike of adrenaline sending my heart rate through the roof and finally breathed out, “It’s probably nothing.”
Then, I told him about both incidents.
“This is how things started in Idaho, right?”
It was. I’d ignored the signs then too, thinking my mind was playing tricks on me.
Until Ben had ended up dead.
A tremor ran through me, and goosebumps littered my skin.
“It could be nothing,” I said, but we both knew better.
He hesitated for a second and then asked, “Are you seeing anyone?”
“No,” I said, but my mind instantly filled with Cooper and the attraction I felt for him.
“What do you want to do?” he asked. “I can be there in a few hours, bring you home with me, and then figure out our next move from there. We can start over again.”
The entire idea of starting over made my stomach ache.
“I love my life here,” my voice cracked.
I’d bought a house and had friends—Fallon and Maisey and the people at the ranch.
I’d been here eight years! Eight years, and I’d thought I was safe.
I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to spend the remainder of my life battling to make a home for myself, only to lose it over and over again because of the stupid mistakes of my youth.
For loving someone who’d never loved me back.
Someone who’d simply seen me as a tool to control.
Dawson sighed, his voice gentle. “I told you in the beginning, living a life on the run was going to be exhausting. We had other options.”
I scoffed, “Can you imagine Dad’s face when the full depth of the scandal came out?
It was bad enough Eddie was murdered, and I vanished.
At least my disappearance allowed him to garner sympathy with the voters.
If they’d found me and uncovered the truth, that I was stealing from the casino, it wouldn’t have looked as good for him. ”
“Mr. Dick doesn’t deserve your concern, sis,” Dawson said with disgust. And he was right.
Our father didn’t deserve either our concern or loyalty.
Whatever emotional abuse Richard Langley and my mom had handed out to me was far less than they’d handed out to Dawson.
I remembered so little from that time, except the boating accident that had sent Dawson running across the country after his friend lost his arm.
When I didn’t respond, Dawson continued, “The reason I was going to call is because someone has been checking you out. I’ve had several alerts on your credit, your school history, former addresses, and your credentials in the last few weeks.”
My chest tightened. “That would be Swift River’s sheriff.”
“Are you in trouble down there?” Dawson asked.
“Not like that. My new neighbor is the acting sheriff. His son accidentally broke a window in my house, and then I, stupidly, dodged his calls because he irked me. My ignoring him only made the sheriff curious, so he ran me.”
“He irked you…” I could hear the humor in his voice. “And is this sheriff good-looking?”
“That’s entirely beside the point,” I huffed.
Dawson laughed, and just the sound of it eased the tension in my shoulders.
I was so damn lucky to have him in my life.
I’d only been five years old when Dawson had left Clover Lake for good, and he’d been living with his mom the majority of the time before that, so I didn’t have many memories of him.
But when I’d had no one in my corner, he’d shown up.
He’d taken our meager relationship by DNA and turned it into something solid and good.
“Okay. So you’re happy in Swift Rivers, have a great job, friends, a house, and a guy living next door who irks you but is decidedly good-looking. I can see why you don’t want to leave.”
He’d intended it as a joke, but it brought back into perspective why we were having this call.
“I’m going to do a little digging,” he said.
“We thought the flags on your credit history earlier this year were because of the house purchase, but I’m going to make sure it’s nothing more.
And I’ll take a closer look at the trail from the recent activity and make sure they all tie back to this handsome sheriff. ”
“Just a reminder, you’re the one who said the sheriff is good-looking, not me.” The words were out of my mouth just as the subject of our conversation stepped into the doorway.
Cooper raised a brow, lips twitching.
I rubbed my forehead. “I have to go. But thank you for digging deeper for me.”
“I need to hear from you more often for a while. Text me every day, or I’m going to come looking for you.”
My chest burned with gratitude and love, causing me to say words I rarely did. Words neither Dawson nor I had heard growing up. “I love you.”
A pause on the other side of the phone indicated that I’d surprised him as much as myself. “Love you too, sis. Please be careful.”
“I will. Talk soon.”
When I hung up, Cooper was still leaning against the doorframe, studying me with a hooded look.
Dawson was wrong. Cooper wasn’t simply good-looking.
It was so much more than that. There was something about him, some indescribable aura that, combined with his good looks, turned him into something almost mythical. Legendary.
The silence that settled between us stretched, filling the room with a dangerous tension.
Attraction and desire wrapped in mistrust and frustration.
Neither of us wanted to feel the electricity zapping between us, yet it was impossible to deny.
I saw it spark in Cooper’s eyes from across the room, even as it spun through me, landing low in my core and making me ache once more for all the things I’d given up wanting.
The fact that a bed sat between us, just waiting for us to tumble on it and assuage the hunger that built between us, didn’t help. It only made me long for his touch. Or was it just for anyone’s touch? Nine years was a really long time to go without that sort of intimacy.
Cooper cleared his throat. “I don’t see any signs of a break-in.
No scratched locks or broken window latches.
I recommend a different bolt for both your exterior doors.
I can pick them up and install them. I also recommend you get a new security system.
You don’t have that old alarm hooked up to a company, right? ”
I hadn’t seen the need, but I should have.
I’d been lulled into complacency in the last couple of years and dropped my guard, which was exactly what had happened in Idaho.
I’d finally thought I was safe. The nightmares had stopped, a sweet, gentle man had befriended me, and with my shield lowered, the monsters from my past had snuck in the door.
“I’ll talk to Lance at the ranch,” I told him. “He has a team that can install a system and monitor it for me from there.”
Cooper nodded, eyes drifting from me to take in the entirety of my bedroom, lingering on the bed with its lavender lace. The room was soft and feminine.
As if reading my thoughts, Cooper said, “This is the only room you’ve made yours.”
It felt like an accusation.
“Luca said the same thing about my living room being so empty. He’s observant, like you.”
With one last look around, Cooper stepped back into the hallway, and I followed, glad to get him out of my personal space. Glad to get away from the bed and the thoughts of us in it together.
“Is there a reason you haven’t moved in more?”
“I wanted to paint the rooms before I added a bunch of furniture, and I just haven’t had a lot of time until recently.”
That was what I’d told myself, but the truth was, I was also struggling to figure out what I wanted. What did making the house “mine” entail? What colors and fabrics and knickknacks would scream “Andie” when I wasn’t even sure who she was?
I may be thirty-one years old, but I’d never had to decorate a home. I’d gone from my parents’ home to Eddie’s to a furnished studio apartment to my staff room at the ranch. Figuring out what I wanted was harder than I’d expected.
“What changed recently?” Cooper asked.
“We’ve finally hired someone to help me at the ranch, so I’m hoping to make a dent in the rooms over the next few months.”
In the living room, some of the remaining tension eased. Cooper would leave, we’d be done with this conversation, and I could process the entire day. I’d deal with the headache sure to flare from my anxiety attack, and I’d finally get some food in me.
As if on cue, my stomach let out an embarrassingly loud growl.
A frown creased Cooper’s face. “You haven’t eaten?”
I shook my head. “I will.”
He glanced around my living room. “You'd better grab something quick, because once your doorbell starts ringing, you’ll hardly have a chance to breathe for a few hours.”
“What? Why…” my question trailed off. Halloween. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten. I’d actually been excited when I looked at the bags of candy in the store last week. “You mean because of the trick-or-treaters?”
“Do you have any candy?” he asked.
“I bought a bag at the Emporium.”
“A bag? As in singular?”
“Yes? Why? Is that not enough?”
And that was when something stunning happened. Cooper’s face broke into a wide smile, and a deep laugh boomed from him. Warm and delightful. It curled through me, taking the attraction that simmered and brewed and brought it to a full-on boil.
When he finally got control of himself, he said, “Andie, we may be a small town, but I guarantee you, every single kid who lives in the county is going to be stopping by the shops on Main Street, and after they’ve finished there, they’ll hit up every single house in the neighborhoods on either side. ”
My stomach bottomed out. I hadn’t bought nearly enough candy.
“I… I had no idea. I mean, I’ve never passed out candy before.”
“Because you were living at the ranch before now.”
“Well, yes. And before that, I lived in an apartment, and it wasn’t really a place where kids came on Halloween.”
His brows lifted. “So, you’ve never handed out candy?”
I shook my head, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
He eyed my living room, rubbed his jaw, and then said, “Look. It probably isn’t a great idea for you to be opening your door to strangers after your little break-in anyway.
You can just leave your porch light off.
You don’t have any decorations on your porch, and without a light, kids will get the hint that you’re not open for business and move on to my house. ”
I had no idea why that hurt so much or why it caused tears to prick my eyes. Maybe because I’d been looking forward to the entire experience. Maybe because it was another failure.
“Y-you’re probably right.” I hated that my voice shook, exposing more of my emotions for this man to bear witness to.
Cooper sighed. “Why don’t you grab your measly bag of candy and bring it over to my place? We’ll add it to the mountain I bought and sit out on the porch, passing it out.”
I hesitated, and in the silence, my stomach grumbled a second time, objecting to my ignoring it for the last hour.
His lips twitched at the sound. “I have leftover carne asada soup and cornbread.”
The sweetness of his offer proved my earlier thought.
Cooper Wylee wasn’t hard or cold at all.
He was a kind man who hid his strong emotions behind a stoic guard.
Maybe it was his job that required him to do it, or maybe he’d been hurt deeply and built those walls to protect himself and his son from more pain.
Just the simple knowledge they’d been hurt and that I could do nothing but bring them more should have been enough for me to stay away. Instead, it made me want to uncover all the reasons he hid his emotions. Made me yearn to show him and his son a bit of devotion in return.
So I did one of the stupidest things I’d done in a really long time—I gave in.
Grabbing my keys, I said, “You sold me at carne asada soup.”