by Paris Hansen
“Look, I know you hate me and I deserve that, but Finley can we please go inside. I need to explain things to you. Once I’ve done that, if you want to throw me out you can. I’ll go peacefully and never contact you again, but there is something you need to know and I won’t leave until you hear me out.”
Finley sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “Fine, I’ll let you get whatever it is off your chest, then you’re gone.”
She moved aside allowing him to enter. He headed for the kitchen figuring it would be the easiest place for them to talk. As soon as he sat down at her kitchen table, he pulled a thick manila envelope out of his bag. Dumping the contents on the table, he dug through them until he found the letter he’d received on her last day in L.A.
“I brought all of these with me so I could take them to the police after I leave here. I heard about Heat. I’m really sorry that its gone,” he said as he slid the letter across the table to where she stood. “I got this one on your last day. It scared the shit out of me. I didn’t go out with the guys that night, I went to my agent’s house to show him the letter and tell him about the other ones. Together, we came up with the only plan that made sense. We knew that the cops wouldn’t do anything. Their hands would be tied until whoever this asshole is physically tried to harm either of us. After that letter, I couldn’t take that chance. I couldn’t sit around and wait for them to hurt you. So instead, I did.”
She’d picked up the letter examining it while he talked, but the minute he stopped her eyes met his. He couldn’t read her like he usually could. He had no idea what she was thinking or feeling in that moment, although he was pretty sure she was still pissed as hell at him. Taking a deep breath, he continued.
“The girl in the pictures is my agent’s daughter. She’s been in a relationship with a lovely woman for the last five years. The pictures were all just a show to prove that you and I had broken up. I couldn’t actually go through with breaking up with you, which is why I never answered the phone. I knew if I talked to you, I’d give up the stupid plan and that would only put you back in danger. I thought that whoever this person is would hold true to their threat and leave you alone if I broke things off. If I’d known they’d go after you anyway, I never would have done this. I never would have hurt you like this.”
“You broke my fucking heart Liam.”
“I broke my own heart Finley. I know it’s no consolation, but I’ve been so fucking miserable since I let you go. This was the biggest mistake I could have ever made. I’m sorry I didn’t just talk to you about it. I brushed off your concerns about the letters and then reacted rashly the minute I got one that really scared me.”
Sinking into the chair across from him, Finley’s head dropped into her hands. She sighed loudly before shaking her head. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears. Liam had never seen her cry. As far as he knew she didn’t do it often or in front of anyone. He hated that he was the one who put those tears in her eyes. He hated himself for that.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me, although I’m hoping for it. I just thought you should know what happened. I love you Finley. I’ve loved you since the minute I saw you in that gazebo and that love has grown every second that we’ve spent together, whether that was in person, on the phone or over video chat. I haven’t been the same since I met you and I honestly don’t know who I’ll be without you in my life, but I guess I’m going to find out. Thank you for letting me into your life and I’m so fucking sorry I hurt you, that I broke your trust. I hope someday you will find happiness and will give love a chance again.”
Liam gathered up the letters that were strewn across the table and shoved them back inside the envelope. A tear slid down his cheek as he thought about the fact that he was really going to walk away from the best thing that had ever happened to him. He had fucked things up beyond repair and now he had to leave her behind. His heart broke all over again knowing that this was it. He looked at her one last time, then stood and turned away.
He walked to the front door, his shoulders hunched. Turning to look at her one last time, his eyes met hers. His heart thundered in his chest as he watched her get up and walk toward him. His mind raced with the possibilities before landing on the obvious, she was coming to escort him out and lock the door behind him. That was the only explanation. He turned away, reaching for the door.
“Wait,” Finley said, her voice cracking on the word.
Liam turned back to face her, noticing now the tear stains on her cheeks.
“Say it again,” she demanded although her voice was soft and unsure.
“I’m sorry.”
She sighed. “No, the other thing.”
Liam smiled knowing exactly what she was asking for. “I love you Finley. I love you more than anything in this world.”
She sighed again as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know what to think Liam. You know I love you, I said it that night and you cringed. Now I know why and I get it. I understand why you did what you did. I might have done the same, hell that could have been a decision we made together, but you made the decision for me. How do I know you won’t do it again? How can I trust that you won’t run around half-cocked making life-altering decisions without consulting me? How do I know you won’t hurt me again for the sake of saving me?”
“I promise that if you forgive me, I will never keep secrets from you again. I’ll never make rash decisions that affect your life again. I will never try to keep you safe without consulting you first. If it helps, Abby would help you kill me if I did. She’s been reaming my ass since the minute I told her what was happening,” he told her. “I’m sorry Fin. I’m sorry I hurt you, I’m sorry I broke your trust. I promise I will do everything I can to make this up to you and to gain your trust again.”
She stood there saying nothing instead she just stared at him like she’d be able to see the answer in his eyes. Liam waited unsure about what came next. Did he keep talking, did he wait for her? The ball was definitely in her court. He could keep telling her how sorry he was, making promise on top of promise to never hurt her again, but he didn’t think it would help her make up her mind.
She took one step forward and then another until she was standing so close to him he could feel the heat coming off of her body.
“Don’t ever fucking hurt me again Liam. You won’t get another chance if you screw this up again. My heart can’t take it,” she said before she closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his.
Letting the envelope fall to the floor, Liam wrapped his arms around her so he could pull her even closer. He put everything he had into the kiss, his apology, his love, his hope for their future together. He was getting a second chance and that was something he would never take for granted.
Breaking the kiss, Finley pulled back a little so she could look into his eyes. “Before this gets too out of hand, we should take your letters to the detective that’s on my case. We can come back here later and find out if make-up sex is as awesome as everyone says it is.”
Liam smiled down at her before pulling her in for a hug. It had been too long since he’d held her and he wanted to relish in it just a moment longer. Kissing the top of her head, he let her go so he could pick up the envelope he’d dropped on the floor.
“Let’s make this quick. I have a lot of making up to do.”
* * * * *
“I’m glad you brought these in. We’ll get them tested for fingerprints and DNA, but most likely they’ll be clean like your letters were Finley. There’s always a chance they made a mistake though. In fact, we have news about the fire. I was going to call you as soon as I got back from the lab, but you were already here.”
Although the drive to the station had been quick, waiting for Detective Perry to return had been long and torturous. They could have just left the letters behind, but Liam wanted to meet with the man that was in charge of Finley’s case. He wanted to know if they had any leads and what they were doing
to keep Finley safe.
Sitting across from the man, who bared a striking resemblance to Tom Selleck down to the infamous mustache, Liam liked what he had to say so far. Though there had really only been one incident and so far no proof that the incident and the letters were related, Detective Perry was under the opinion that it was all connected. Unbeknownst to Liam, the detective had contacted his agent asking for any suspicious or over the top fan mail that Liam had received in the last few months. Liam rarely ever got to see that mail himself, so it wasn’t an avenue he would have thought to explore to find possible suspects.
“Does the name George Douglas mean anything to either of you?” Detective Perry asked.
Liam shook his head, then looked over at Finley.
“I had an employee at Heat with that name, but I had to fire him a few months ago because he was being inappropriate with me and a few of the other female staff members. I asked him repeatedly to back off, but he got more aggressive and more inappropriate so I had to let him go. He wasn’t happy about it and came around a lot the first week or so until I threatened to call the cops. I haven’t heard from him since then.”
Detective Perry made a few notes on the pad in front of him then looked up at Finley. “Is there any reason after a few months his fingerprints would be on a bottle of vodka?”
Finley shook her head. “No. Even the high-end stuff we go through pretty quick. We finish a bottle in about a week maybe two at most. With the bump in business we’ve had since I started dating Liam, we’ve been ordering booze far more frequently.”
“Is this a brand you sell in your club?” the detective asked as he pulled a photograph out from under his notepad before passing it to Finley.
Liam assumed the picture would be of the bottle among the wreckage of the club, but instead it looked like it was lying on a table, black dust covering it in places where fingerprints stood out. The label was fairly charred, but the brand was still legible.
Finley shook her head again as she handed the photo back to the detective. “We stopped selling this brand about five weeks ago. They raised their prices and I could get better quality vodka for less from someone else, so I packed up what we had left of their stuff and sent it back to them.”
“So there’s no reason a bottle of this vodka would be in your club with George Douglas’ fingerprints on it?”
“No.”
“Thank you. This has all been very helpful. If you haven’t guessed, Mr. Douglas is a person of interest in your case. We had a feeling the bottle didn’t add up, but we had to double check there wasn’t a legitimate reason for his fingerprints to be on the bottle. It was found by the back door next to where the arson investigators believe the fire originated. There’s a burn pattern from the back door to the main bar. We believe whoever did this poured the bottle of vodka out along the floor from the bar to the door to make sure they didn’t get caught in the fire.”
“This is crazy. Why would anyone go to all this trouble?” Liam asked.
“This whole time we thought it was one of your crazy fans, but turns out it was one of mine. If it is this guy, it would make sense. He constantly asked me out then he’d get angry and weird when I turned him down. Some of the other employees actually went out with him, but afterward he’d ask them if they’d be open to dying their hair black and getting tattoos. He creeped everybody out,” Finley said. “After he was fired, he’d come in and tell me that nothing could keep us apart and that since he was no longer my employee us being together was no longer a problem. He brought me gifts in that first week too. Oh god…I can’t believe I forgot about that.”
“What?” Liam asked.
“One of the last things he gave to me before I threatened to call the cops was a picture of us together. It was obviously manipulated since I was in a wedding dress and he was in a tux. He said it was a glimpse of what we could have if I just gave in to him.”
“You don’t by any chance still have that picture do you?” the detective asked.
“No. I threw it away that day. I should have kept it though in case he came back or did something else. I just didn’t think he was this crazy,” Finley said as she ran a hand through her hair.
Liam reached over to take her hand hoping his touch would calm her a little. When he agreed to bring his letters to the police, he never expected to find out they had a suspect and he definitely didn’t expect that suspect to be someone obsessed with Finley. The odds that the letter sender wasn’t one of his fans had been slim to none; at least in his eyes.
“I still don’t understand why he would burn down Heat though since for all he knew we were broken up.”
“Unfortunately, we may never know the answer to that,” Detective Perry said. “I’ve seen people do crazy things without explanation and others who logically thought their actions were justified. Hopefully we’ll find him and bring him in. Until then I need you to be vigilant. Don’t go anywhere alone. Keep all your doors and windows locked. Get an alarm if you don’t already have one. We don’t know for sure this is our guy, so keep an eye out for anything suspicious. We also don’t know what this persons next move is going to be, so please be careful.”
Finley sighed, her shoulders slumping even further. Liam knew the situation was killing her. Although the person probably behind all of this wasn’t one of his fans, Liam still felt responsible. Would any of this had happened if he hadn’t barged into her life? Or was it just a matter of time before this person lost their mind and went after her anyway?
“Do you think it would be safer for her if she left the state? I could take her back to L.A. with me. It would be harder for anyone to find her and my building has great security.”
“I don’t think leaving town is a good idea. It could end up putting her at greater risk and make our jobs harder if he follows her. He’ll be out of our jurisdiction and Los Angeles has enough of its own crime, they might not have the time or the resources to deal with this guy.”
Shaking her head, Finley stood. “Thank you, detective. I’ll stay put for now, but please keep me up to date on the case as much as you can. I don’t want to live in fear because of this psycho and I won’t do it for long.”
Liam and Detective Perry stood following Finley’s move. She was obviously ready to get out of there and Liam couldn’t blame her. The entire situation was a lot to take in. He couldn’t imagine how she was feeling, but he knew how he felt about it. His blood boiled at the thought of some sicko out there after his girlfriend. He hated that he couldn’t do more to keep her safe.
Although he had some free time at the moment, there was a chance he was going to have to go home before the man was caught and if something happened to her while he was gone, he’d never be able to forgive himself. Hell, he could barely forgive himself for not being there when Heat burned down. She could have been inside. She could have died while he was foolishly trying to keep her safe.
They each shook the detective’s hand before saying their goodbyes. Neither spoke as they walked back to her car. Liam kept his hand on her lower back the entire walk, more for himself than for her. He needed to feel her, to know that she was real and safe. If he didn’t think it would piss her off more than she already was, he would have pulled her in tight with his arm around her shoulders. He wanted her as close as possible until he knew she was safe.
And even then, he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to let her go.
Finley
The entire situation was a giant clusterfuck. Finley couldn’t help but think she should have seen this coming. She should have realized that George Douglas was a crazy son of a bitch capable of burning down the only thing she had in her life. The fact that he burned down Heat made no sense to Finley. What did he have to gain from taking away her business?
The drive back to her place was filled with silence as she tried to wrap her brain around what was happening. None of it made any sense and trying to figure it out was just giving her a headache. She knew she was just wasting her time. She
had no idea how long Liam was able to stay in Seattle and she didn’t want to waste all that time thinking about a psycho.
“I don’t want to think about this or deal with this crap any longer tonight. Can we just forget about it all until the morning?” Finley asked as she pulled into her driveway.
They had spent a lot more time at the police station than Finley had realized. She was surprised once they walked outside to see that it had gotten dark while they were there. Now that they were sitting in her car in the driveway of her home, she realized that since they hadn’t planned on being gone so long, she hadn’t turned on her porch light or the motion sensor light above the garage. With her brain working overtime, every shadow surrounding her house was a place for her stalker to hide, even ones that were far too small to hide a human being.
Getting out of the car, Finley looked around trying to make sure she was aware of her surroundings. She knew no matter how hard she tried, she’d be jumping at every noise or shadow around her until they found George Douglas or whoever was actually behind what was happening. The last thing Finley wanted was to be afraid of everything, but it didn’t look like she was going to have a choice.
“Come on, let’s go watch a movie or something. Maybe get started on that make-up sex that I mentioned earlier,” Liam said as he met her in front of her car.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her against his side. Some of the tension in her body eased as she soaked up his warmth. Finley was thankful that Liam was there. She didn’t know if she’d be able to keep it together if he wasn’t. The cops thought she was in danger. On top of that, the one thing she had going in her life was taken from her.
Sure, she’d been having doubts about wanting to keep Heat, but it was still her baby. Heat had been the first thing she could call her own; the first thing she’d fought by herself to put together. Now it was a pile of rubble and ash and she no longer had to make a decision about what to do with herself. She no longer had to decide what to do about the place she’d called home for almost a decade.