by J. Daniels
She lifts her hand. “Shh. Reed, please. You’ll wake Danny. I don’t want him to know about this yet. He’ll drive up there and kill that man. I won’t be able to talk him down.”
I grip the back of a chair, leaning over it. My teeth clench. “What did he do to her?”
She stares at me for a long second, her eyes misting. “I think he was just very mean,” she explains quickly, wiping her fingers across her cheek to catch the fresh tears. “She said he never touched her, nothing like that, but I could tell, Reed. She said she never would’ve stayed with him if she had anywhere else to go. Why would she have said that if he was a good guy?”
I take in several slow, deep breaths, relaxing my grip on the chair before I split the wood.
Beth.
“A name,” I growl, pulling Hattie’s eyes back up to mine. “I need a name, and an address. Please tell me you know where this shit-head lives.”
Her shoulders drop. “I don’t have an address. His name is Rocco. That’s all I know. I don’t know his last name either. I’m sorry.” She pinches her lips into a thin line when the bottom one begins to tremble.
I tug the phone out of my pocket.
“Who are you calling?”
Sliding the chair out, I slump down, leaning forward onto my elbows. I hold the phone in one hand while the other cradles my head. My throat constricts. I feel dizzy, sick with blame, with a number of other emotions I’ve rarely ever felt. Some entirely foreign to me.
Rage.
Fear.
Loss.
Love.
I press the phone to my ear as a chair moves along the floor behind me. Hattie’s taken her seat. The call connects after the second ring.
“What’s up?”
“I need you to find someone for me. I need an address, and it can’t fucking wait, okay? Can you help me?”
“Hol-Hold on. Hey, turn that down a minute,” Ben says away from the phone. The police scanner quiets. “What the hell is going on?”
“Who is that?” I recognize Luke’s quick to annoy tone.
“It’s Beth. She’s gone. She went back to Louisville, to this guy. I need to go get her. I need to bring her back. She can’t be with him. I need . . .”
“Whoa, slow down,” Ben interrupts. “What about Beth?”
Swallowing, I cringe when I taste bile. I take in a shaky breath, blinking the room into focus.
“She left. It’s my fault.”
I try to speak slowly, to let the words settle in the air, but the longer they linger on my tongue, the sicker I feel.
I want them out. I want Beth back. I need to tell her so many things.
“I love you . . . I love you.”
God, I was a fucking coward.
I stand and resume pacing. “She went back to this guy she lived with before she moved here. I need to find her, Ben. You need to fucking help me find her. This guy . . . he’s mean to her. To my Beth, he’s fucking mean to her, and I am losing it, okay? I have a first name. I know she’s in Louisville. Please. I don’t ask you for shit. I need this. Can you just . . .”
“Reed, fuck, man, calm down.”
“I can’t calm down! I love her! Can you help me or not?”
Hattie gasps from her seat.
I advance to the island and flatten my palm against the cold marble. My head hanging heavy between my shoulders. My legs threatening to give out.
“What’s his name?” Luke’s voice cuts through the line, a bit distant. I realize I’ve been put on speaker phone. Fingers tap hurriedly on a keyboard.
I sag against the corner of the island. “Rocco. I don’t have a last name.”
“Rocco? The fuck kind of a name is that? He sounds like a little bitch.”
Luke’s remark is fucking spot-on.
“I doubt there’s a lot of Rocco’s in Kentucky. Should help narrow the search. Where are you?” Ben asks.
“Beth’s aunt and uncle’s house. Where she was staying.”
“Right . . . yeah, I know where that is. Mia mentioned how close Beth lived to us. What’s the house number?”
“12,” I blurt out, then question. “Why?”
“We’ll pick you up. Be there in twenty.”
“What? What do you mean you’ll pick me up? Give me the address so I can get the hell out of here.”
“And do what? Drive up there and beat the shit out of this guy for hurting Beth? Did you consider what might happen if he isn’t so willing to let her go? You don’t know anything about this guy. He could have fucking weapons in his house, Reed. What if he pulls a gun on you?”
“Don’t be fucking stupid. We’re going with you. We’re getting ready to end our shift anyway,” Luke adds.
I pinch my eyes shut. Fuck, I hadn’t thought about how this could play out. Weapons? Could this asshole actually be dangerous?
Images of Beth cowering, scared and sad filter through my mind.
I’ll kill him.
“Fine, whatever. Hurry up.”
I disconnect the call, shoving my phone away.
“Reed?” Hattie’s kind voice lifts my head. Our eyes meet across the room. “Bring her back. She loves you.”
I wait for Ben and Luke by the front door, wiping the wetness from my eyes.
EIGHT HOURS, TWO STATE LINES, and the impending obstacle of traffic stand between me and Beth.
The guys show up after ditching their patrol car, but staying in uniform. Ben insists on driving his truck, keeping his speed close to one hundred miles per hour for the bulk of the trip. I realize quickly how grateful I am to have them with me. If I had made this journey alone, I would’ve either gotten pulled over for speeding, or road rage. Most likely both. We’re making great time, but I’m ready to crawl out of my skin. My stomach has twisted into an unforgiving knot. My leg won’t stop bouncing restlessly against the seat.
“How you doing back there?”
“Mm. Fine,” I answer Ben, or Luke, was it? My head shakes against my hand. Definitely not fine. I look up front. “I’ve never thrown a punch before. Ever, but I might actually kill this guy. There’s a good chance I’ll see him with Beth and lose my fucking mind. If that happens, am I looking at jail time?”
Wouldn’t that be the perfect end to this nightmare. Telling Beth I love her behind a glass partition.
Luke turns his head. “You’re not going to kill him. We’ll let you hit him a little, but unless we see him doing shit to Beth, hurting her in some way or threatening us, there’s not much we can do. We can’t arrest him for being mean to her.”
“He might not even be home. Most people work until five, six o’clock. If it’s just Beth there, do you really want to stick around and wait for this prick to come home just so you can punch him?”
I glare at the rear-view mirror, meeting Ben’s eyes.
Asshole. Like you wouldn’t camp out on someone’s lawn for a month if they looked at Mia wrong.
His gaze trains on the road. “Fair enough.”
“If he has weapons and shit, that’s different though. And we can make it pretty fucking clear that he needs to stay the hell away from Beth. You can drive that point home.” Luke leans closer to the GPS. “We’re close. Ten miles.”
Ten miles. God, I can practically feel the warmth of Beth’s skin.
“How do I,” I clear my throat. My hand skims down my neck, tugs at my collar. Fuck, I’m burning up.
“What?” Ben probes in my silence.
“Tell her . . . I need to tell her I love her.” My tongue thickens in my mouth.
Damn it. Is this how it’s going to be?
I meet Ben’s eyes again, gesturing at him. “You’re so fucking upfront with your feelings. How can I be like that with her? Is it enough to just say it? Will she know how fucking lost I am?”
“You’ve said it before,” he remarks evenly. “To that girl you proposed to. Was it hard then?”
“No, but this is Beth. I’ve never felt like this.”
“You’ve never loved
anyone but her.”
“Right.” I lean back against the seat. My eyes lower. “Fuck,” I whisper.
That’s it. There it is, right there. How did I not see it until now?
I stirred all night in the absence of Beth. I’ve suffered through every separation from her, even in the beginning when we were only pretending.
Was I ever really pretending?
This, with her, has always been different. Molly could’ve been states away for years and I would’ve handled it. I never loved her. It’s only ever been Beth.
“It’ll be enough,” Ben assures.
I lift my head and catch his gaze briefly before his eyes turn back to the road.
“Tell her everything. How much you love her, how long you’ve felt like that. Don’t hold back. Don’t keep shit from her she deserves to hear. I think she’ll see how lost you are for her, Reed. It’s fucking obvious to everyone else. Right now, she just needs to hear it.”
“What if she doesn’t believe me? What if she thinks I’m just saying it now because she left?”
“She’ll believe you,” Luke assures me. He jerks his chin. “Just don’t say it while you’re knocking out this fucker, yeah? Wait ’til you can grab her face and hold her and shit. Girls love that.”
Ben laughs. “Really? Is that what you did with Tessa? Played the romance card?”
“Nah, that’s your style. I just fucked her ’til she knew I loved her.” Luke turns halfway in his seat. “That always works too. I . . . shit!” His body slams against the door. “Jesus! I was kidding!” he yells, prying Ben’s fist off his shirt.
“I’ll fucking bury you if you say shit like that again about my sister.” He slaps the back of Luke’s head. “Asshole.”
“You mean, my wife? You can start calling her that, you know.” Luke sits up, rubbing the back of his head. “And I was fucking kidding.”
I lean back with a heavy sigh. My leg resumes bouncing. “How much longer?”
Luke looks at the GPS. “It’s just up here on the right. 211 Willbank.”
The truck slows to a stop. Ben grabs my shoulder and pulls me back when I make to sprint for the house.
“Wait a minute. You can’t just go running in there, Reed.”
I shrug his hand off. “Why the fuck not? You’re both cops. Say you heard something suspicious. Kick the fucking door down.”
“You see that?” Luke nods toward the driveway behind me. The sight of Beth’s car makes my heart race.
And beside it, a black Lexus.
I crack my knuckles. “He’s here. Good. I won’t have to hunt his ass down to kill him.”
The sound of snaps popping open draws my attention back to Luke, then Ben. They both pull the slides back on their Glocks, then place them back into the holsters.
“Fuck,” I mumble, my anxiety pitting in my chest.
“We probably won’t need them. It’s just in case.” Ben jerks his chin. “Let’s go.”
The temperature in the air seems to drop as we climb the stone steps and collect on the porch. My eyes shift between the two of them. I’m expecting someone with an actual weapon to take charge.
“What do we do, knock? What the fuck is protocol here?” I ask curtly.
“Protocol? You realize we don’t have any jurisdiction, right?” Ben motions toward the door. “I’m just hoping this asshole is too stupid to realize we aren’t Kentucky cops.”
A low, feminine moan pulls my shoulders back, whips my head around. No. No no no she can’t be. She’s not . . .
“Shit,” Ben mumbles. “Reed, wait . . .”
Too fucking late.
I twist the knob and to my surprise and gratitude, the door swings open. I storm into the house. Grunts and wild, hungry growls muffle the commotion of our entrance. I cross the open room in four quick strides, barreling at the two bodies entangled on the couch. Long, dark hair spills over the edge of the leather. My stomach drops out. I grab the shoulders of the man thrusting into Beth and toss him onto the floor.
“What the fuck is this?” I shout, glaring down at Beth . . . only, it’s not Beth. I stagger back.
Heavily lined green eyes blink up at me. Her mouth, too thin, with a piercing in the bottom lip, pinches together. Startled, she throws her arm over her breasts and scoots up the couch.
“Hey, what the fuck, man? Shit! I ain’t breaking any laws!”
I turn my head.
Ben has Rocco easily pinned against the wall, face-first, one hand to his neck, the other securing his wrists behind his back.
“Don’t fucking move. You fight me and you’ll regret it,” Ben warns against his ear.
The asshole snarls. “You can’t just come into my house. Don’t you need a fucking warrant or some shit?”
“We heard suspicious noises. A women in distress.” Luke laughs. “You know, ‘cause your dick’s so fucking small. She sounded real upset about it.” Bending down, he grabs a white dress off the floor and tosses it onto the couch. “Get dressed and get out of here,” he orders briskly.
The woman quickly obeys. I step closer to Ben as a door closes in the distance.
My eyes flare with rage. “Where is she? Where’s Beth?”
Rocco turns his face so it’s flat against the wall. He laughs darkly. “Beth? Beth who?”
Ben grips Rocco’s dark hair and cranes his head back. Rocco winces through a moan. “Answer him.”
I step closer as Rocco shifts his eyes to me. He mouth twitches. “Ohhh, I get it. She came back ‘cause of you, right? My girl’s all sad and pathetic now. I should be thanking you. I like her better this way.”
My fist connects with his jaw the second Ben jerks him back.
“She ain’t your fucking girl!”
I get another hit in, this one to the nose. He groans as blood spills down his chin. Ben backs away and Rocco falls to his knees, cupping his face.
“Fuck!” he hisses. “You broke my nose!”
“You’re lucky I don’t fucking kill you!” A hand on my arm keeps me back when I try and lunge. I jerk my bicep out of Luke’s grip and loom over the prick on the floor. My chest heaves against my shirt. “Where is she? I won’t ask you again.”
“The bedroom.” Eyes watering over, he pinches them shut, still covering his nose. His head lowers with a strangled groan.
I make to turn and find a staircase, but I have more to say to this piece of shit. He looks up when I move closer.
“She’s leaving with me, and you’re to stay the fuck away from her. If I see you again, if you so much as think about my girl, I’ll put you in the ground. I will fucking kill you, you understand?”
He huffs out a laugh, gesturing to Luke with a bloody palm. “Hello? You hear him threatening me? Ain’t you gonna arrest him?”
Luke turns his head slowly. “Shut the fuck up. I didn’t hear shit.”
At that moment, Ben must kick against Rocco’s back, because he face plants on the carpet, bellowing in pain like a little bitch. “Oww, fuucckk. My fuckin’ nose. Christ!”
“Getting tired of seeing your pathetic excuse for a dick hanging out. Stay down.” Ben lifts his head, nodding at me. “Go. We got him.”
I find the stairs and take the steps two, three at a time. The upstairs is quiet. I pass a bathroom and an office before finally opening the last door at the end of the hallway.
The room is dark, compliments of the drawn curtains. My hand swipes along the wall in search of the light switch. A lamp in the corner sparks on, illuminating Beth’s small body curled up on one side of the bed. I cross the room hastily.
Stopping when I see her, I stare down at my girl. I nearly fall to my knees beside her.
She’s asleep in jeans and a faded concert tee, giant noise-canceling head-phones covering her ears. I brush my fingers across her cheek and she stirs, her eyes fluttering open. A lazy smile pulls at her mouth.
“Mm. I don’t want to wake up this time,” she whispers, her voice thick with sleep, her eyes slowly moving over my fa
ce.
I sit beside her and slide the headphones off. Does she think she’s dreaming?
“Beth.”
She smiles again.
I fit her sweet face between both of my hands and kiss her soft mouth.
She inhales sharply, pulling back. “Reed?”
I move away an inch, nearly laughing at the shock blooming in her eyes. “Beth Davis. What are you doing to me?”
She touches my lips, moves her fingers over my jaw. “You’re . . . you’re here? How are you here? Why?”
“Why? That’s a silly question. You’re here.”
“But . . .”
I slide my mouth over hers. “I should’ve said it.” She goes perfectly still against me, her small hands circling my wrists as I hold her face.
Shaking her head, she sits up and pulls my hands away. Her touch suddenly feels cold. “No. No, Reed, it’s fine. You told me you couldn’t want me any more than you already did. I was stupid to forget that.”
“You were stupid to love me?”
She stares at me for the longest second, her hands tangling together in her lap. “I was stupid to think you could love me back. That anyone could.”
My stomach clenches as I look at her, as I reach for her again. “I want to get you out of here. I want to take you back to that hotel room and say everything I’ve always been meant to say to you. You weren’t stupid, Beth. I was. I should’ve said it.”
“Reed.”
I move with her, refusing to let her slide off the bed. Her thigh tenses under my hand. “Just listen to me.” Her eyes lift to mine. “I thought I couldn’t love anyone again after all that shit with Molly. I hadn’t done more than one night with a woman in nine years. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want to feel that helpless for someone again, just to have them break me. But you . . . God, Beth, I wanted all of you from the beginning, from that first night at the bar. I never wanted anything less. I never will. When I didn’t say it back, it wasn’t because I didn’t love you. I was realizing I did. I was realizing that for the past nine years, it wouldn’t have mattered if I was scared to love again or not. I could’ve dated those women, I could’ve kissed them, but nobody would’ve made me fall except you. It’s only ever been you, Beth.”