“Yeah, I can imagine.” Kyle looked him dead-on. “How are you holding up?”
“Good.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Marissa is keeping my head on straight. Besides, she has some solid theories. We just need to prove it.”
Kyle managed a smile. “Never expected it, but you two really do fit together.”
“Nothing has ever felt so right.”
* * * *
At home, Marissa set up her laptop. She invited Metcalf and Ashton over, and Isandro and Arianna, hoping to distract everyone from the day before.
Until everyone showed up, she continued to work. She spent her lunch reading everything in the file Madison dropped in front of her. Yes, there had been incriminating evidence, but not enough to arrest Chelsea.
Chelsea was adopted when she was three. She got into a bad crowd, fell for the wrong guy. He beat her. She left, going as far as changing her name to keep Guy Reardon from following her.
Her car was stolen. It was still registered under her old name. The thief wrecked the car, dying in the fire started by the crash. Hence, it looked as if she’d faked her own death.
Marissa hadn’t found the records for Cameron’s parents, but she was waiting on the state to get back to her. And by tomorrow she should have some records for Mr. Tomb’s family.
For the moment, Chelsea was the lead suspect, thanks to the file. But something felt wrong. Marissa couldn’t put her finger on it, but it seemed too convenient.
Besides, after Mr. Tomb’s crazy behavior the other day, he could be the arsonist. Rick, as much as she hated to admit it, hadn’t been ruled out. Neither had Josh Manning, who had been arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge and was overheard shouting about fires and burning people alive.
The only one who couldn’t have started at least two of the fires was Brad Cosgrove. But four suspects were still too many.
Tempting as it was to blame Chelsea, part of Marissa wanted her to be innocent to spite Madison. Besides, Carson deserved to be happy.
The door opened and Marissa shut the laptop, looking up with a smile. Ashton walked in with a big box of chocolates and white magnolias, followed by Metcalf, who had a bottle of wine and more magnolias.
She stood up and walked over to take the vases full of flowers. “You two don’t have to fill my house with flowers to be my two favorite guys.” She glanced out the window and put her finger to her lips. “Shh, don’t tell Isandro I said that.”
Ashton giggled and made the motion to zip his lips, mumbling something that could have been, your secret is safe with me.
Metcalf took the chocolate and brought it to the kitchen while Ashton wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
“How was school?”
“Busy. I have homework again. But Dad said I could do it here.”
“Of course you can. And if he can’t help you, I can while I make dinner.”
“Awesome. What are we having?”
“Someone told me you love tacos.”
“Ooh, my favorite!” Ashton bounced into the kitchen and climbed up on a stool at the island.
Metcalf wrapped her in his arms and took a quick kiss. “Hey, Marissa. Missed you.”
“You too. I should probably start cooking, huh?”
“We’re not in a rush,” Metcalf answered.
“Yeah, but I’m guessing it won’t be long until Isandro and Arianna get here.” She started for the refrigerator and winked at Ashton. “Thank you for the chocolate.”
He grinned. “Arianna helped us pick out your favorites.”
“And she let Ashton sample some,” Metcalf pointed out.
“Because she’s sweet,” Ashton answered.
“She’s pretty awesome,” Marissa agreed.
“Yup. Now, you work on homework. I’ll work on dinner.”
Ashton took the empty seat, and Metcalf sat where she’d been. He pushed her laptop away with a raised brow. “Work?”
She nodded. “Nothing solid. We can discuss that later.”
“Okay,” he responded slowly.
“Oh, and if you two want, you can spend the night. There’s a big stuffed lion in the guest room. It was Isandro’s, but he probably won’t admit it.”
“Won’t admit what?” he asked as he came through the door without knocking.
Her brow arched. “Seriously, you aren’t knocking after what you walked in on a while back?” Marissa demanded.
Arianna giggled. “We could see everyone in the kitchen. Figured it was safe.”
“Fine, but get in the habit of knocking. Please.”
Ashton perked up. “What happened?”
Metcalf licked his lips. “A grown-up conversation.”
Isandro laughed out loud. “Oh, very grown-up, buddy.”
Marissa rolled her eyes. “We were just talking about Roar.”
Ashton giggled. “His lion is named Roar?”
Isandro ducked his gaze. “I was six when I won him. I couldn’t come up with a better name.”
“Can I snuggle him tonight?” Ashton asked.
“Sure can, buddy,” Isandro answered. “Now, I better help Marissa get dinner going.” He rubbed his belly. “I’m starved.”
Chapter 25
Marissa moved around the living room, trying not to fidget. Metcalf had been in the guest room with Ashton for what seemed like forever. It was probably twenty minutes, but she started to get paranoid they would go back to Metcalf’s apartment.
She stopped at the window and stared out. Then her phone buzzed and she looked at the person calling. “What the fuck?” she whispered harshly.
She thought about declining the call, but then answered, “What do you want, Carson?”
“Marissa, thank you for answering. I have to ask. Did my mother come to you?”
Her grip on the phone tightened painfully. “I’m sorry, why are you calling me?”
“Did she give you some crazy story about Chelsea starting a bunch of fires?”
She leaned her head against the glass. “Yeah, but I took her crazy with a grain of salt because let’s face it, she wants any excuse to tear you away from someone. That’s not my problem, though. It’s yours. Good night, Carson.”
“Wait, I’m sorry.” He let out a long sigh. “I hate how things are between us.”
“There isn’t anything between us.”
“That’s the problem. We used to be friends.”
“Shit, Carson, I’m not doing this. Good night.” She hung up and blocked his number. She’d still see if he bothered to call, but it would go straight to voicemail.
Arms wrapped around her waist, then the heat of Dave’s body warmed her. “Why are you so annoyed whenever he tries to talk to you?”
Marissa turned and found his blue eyes. “His mother came by today, told me some crazy story about Chelsea burning all the buildings down. She gave me a file full of stuff a private eye dug up. Things I haven’t found.”
“You think she did it?”
“Something is going on, and she is still a suspect. But something about her starting the fires doesn’t feel right. God, it was a strange day.”
“Want to talk about it?”
She shifted her weight. “First, how’s Ashton? Seemed to take a while to get him to sleep.”
“He wanted me close until he fell asleep. He said he wasn’t sure if he should come into your room. I told him it would be fine if he needed me.”
“Of course it’s fine. He comes first for you and he should.”
“So do you.” He threaded his fingers into her hair and pulled her closer.
She went with a smile. “I want him to feel comfortable here.”
“He does.” He kissed her softly, then pulled her toward her room. “Tell me about your strange day.”
She sat on the bed, facing him, but he pulled her back into his arms as he lay back.
“Talk to me. What’s going on?”
She told him everything from Mr. Tombs, to Madison, to Josh Manning, an
d everything in between.
He trailed his fingers over her side, considering her words. “Sounds like Chelsea has motive.”
“Which is why I’m still looking into her, but Madison wants her out of the picture. What if she’s baiting us? It’s not like it’s a secret we are investigating three arsons. She could be using it to drive a wedge between Carson and Chelsea.”
His brow pinched. “Why didn’t you warn Carson?”
“Because he finally grew a set and loves Chelsea. And if it is Chelsea, he’s probably the safest person there is.”
“But if she’s the one starting fires, she started the one at Guy’s. So, love wouldn’t stop her from killing him.”
“Carson would never hurt her. Not physically. There were domestic violence charges against Guy, but he got out on bail. Hence her leaving town. If she left when she claims, and when the few witnesses believe, she didn’t start that last fire four years ago.”
“What about Old Man Tombs? If he’s her grandfather…”
“Which I believe he is. I doubt he’d start fires for her. He was pissed about the demon spawn. He wouldn’t defend her.”
“Maybe. What about Josh?”
“Honestly? His wife is leaving him. The shit he was spewing sounded more like PTSD. I could be wrong, but his alibis are more solid than anyone else’s.”
“Maybe get a doctor to talk to him. Rule him out?”
She nodded. “Already in the works. I wish I had solid evidence that put anyone there. I need to find that van. If I can find that van, I can make an arrest.”
“Stop thinking about it for now.”
A smile pulled at her lips as his fingers trailed down her abs. “You going to help me forget?”
“If you’ll let me.”
“Mmhmm. I need you.”
He opened her jeans and slipped his hand down to tease her clit. “Want to taste you. Want you to come on my tongue before I slide into you.”
She nodded as he got rid of her pants and moved down the bed. Then his tongue was on her, circling that bundle of nerves.
Marissa grabbed a pillow and bit down as pleasure crashed through her. He hummed, driving her crazy as he lapped up her essence. Then he moved up her bed and pulled the pillow away.
Emotion filled his eyes as he entered her. Caressing up his chest, she took one hand further, up and around his neck as she brought him down for a kiss. His pace was slow, deliberate, full of unsaid feeling.
“Dave,” she breathed. Nothing else came.
He captured her mouth in a passionate kiss. His climax triggered hers and he rolled, pulling her tighter as her leg wrapped around him. She clung to him.
“Never felt so much for anyone, besides Ashton. But that’s different. I need to be there for him, but I need you here with me.”
Tipping her head back, she stared into his blue eyes. “Same here.”
“Still worried Ashton won’t like you?”
“Nah, but when Jeanette is gone, he may not be happy. And yeah, I’m a little worried about that, but I’ll be there and we’ll help him through. We’ll make it work because I can’t let you go again.”
“I love you,” he whispered.
Her heart stopped a second before kicking it into gear. She swallowed down her fear and let the words roll through her. “Love you too.”
His lips descended on hers, and she held him close before rolling away. “Okay, just in case he needs you, we should get dressed.”
He trailed his fingers down her back. “You’re what we both need, Marissa. You’re healing both of us.”
“He hasn’t gone through the worst of it, Dave. It’s coming. After that, this won’t seem so strange.”
“After that you won’t be running to cover yourself when he’s here.”
She sighed. “Okay, I’m paranoid he’ll see something and hate me. That’s fading.”
“He loves you. Give him time, he’ll—”
“Don’t finish that.” She pulled on a pair of sweats and a tank before turning around. “I’ll never replace his mother. I’ll be another woman in his life. Hopefully one he trusts. That’s all I want.”
“He gets excited when he knows he’ll see you. He trusts you. He wants you around as much as I do. Trust me.”
And she couldn’t help wondering what would happen when Jeanette was gone.
Dave turned her and pulled her back into his arms. “Stop overthinking. Please. We’ll take this a day at a time. But you’re mine. I’m not letting you get away.”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
He kissed her head and pulled her into bed with him.
* * * *
Sometime in the middle of the night, Dave sat up at the sound of sniffles. He climbed out of bed and hurried to the guest room. Ashton clung to the lion, his shoulders shaking.
“Hey, buddy. Need to talk?” he asked.
“Nightmare.”
“Can I lie down?” he asked.
“Don’t you want to be with Marissa?”
“Not as much as I want you to be okay. What’s going on?”
Ashton scooted over, and Metcalf lay down facing him. “What was the dream about?”
Terrified eyes latched onto his. “Mommy was dead. She rotted away.”
His heart stuttered. He rubbed Ashton’s arm. “It’s a nightmare.”
“She is dying. Rotting from the inside. The cancer is eating her away.” He buried his head against the lion.
“Come here, buddy.” He slipped his arm under Ashton’s head and got comfortable. “I know this is hard. I wish there was something I could say to make it all go away.”
“There’s not.” Hopelessness bled into his voice.
“You know I love you, right? That if there were anything in my power to take it from Mom, I would?”
“Yeah.” He met his gaze again. “But then I’d lose you, and I’d rather be with you. Brett is a jerk.”
“He ever hurt you?”
“With words. He didn’t like me.”
Metcalf nodded. That wasn’t surprising. “Hey, you don’t ever have to see him again.”
“Why did Mommy stop loving you?”
He shook his head. “Don’t know, kiddo. But we weren’t meant to stay together.”
“You weren’t happy with Mommy. You are with Marissa.”
“No, I wasn’t as happy as I am now. Don’t get me wrong. Your mom and I did love each other for a long time. Sometimes, that’s not enough. She wanted more than I could give her.”
“Brett only made her happy sometimes.”
“Well, Brett is a selfish ba—” Dave sighed. “He always puts himself first. Maybe I should have realized that sooner.”
“Mom said you were friends a long time ago. I don’t remember that.”
“He stopped being my friend before you were born.” He kissed Ashton’s head and changed the topic. “Are you looking forward to this weekend?”
Ashton snuggled closer. “Mmhmm. Going to be the best weekend ever.”
He smiled. “I think so too. Now sleep. I’ll stay with you.”
“Don’t have to.”
“No, but I want to.” He kissed Ashton’s head.
Chapter 26
Three minutes after walking into his apartment Metcalf received a call. He answered, “Hello?”
“Dave?” a familiar voice asked. He hadn’t heard that voice since he’d moved across the country with Jeanette and Ashton.
“She gone?” he asked.
“You don’t give a damn, do you?” Brett snarled.
Metcalf huffed. “About what you’re feeling? No. What my son will go through, yeah, that worries me.”
“No, about the mother of your child?”
“I never wished any of this on her, or even you. Did she pass?”
“Yeah, early this morning. Her mother and I are making the arrangements for the funeral to be in Lakeridge next Friday. Think you’ll be there with Ashton?”
“I wouldn’t dream
of leaving him alone. Don’t worry, I won’t expect you to do a damned thing where Ashton is concerned.”
“You have no idea how hard it was to step into your shoes. He never saw me the same way.”
Metcalf snorted. “No wonder that never worked. Marissa has the right idea. She doesn’t want to replace Jeanette. She just wants to be there for the two of us.”
“The slut who couldn’t keep you from Jeanette?” Brett bit out.
“She’s not a slut. And she thought she was doing the right thing by letting me be with the mother of my child. And I fought that a good long time. I should have kept fighting.”
“Yeah, because maybe your kid would have seen me as a father then.”
“Doubtful, because even if I never took her back, I wouldn’t have abandoned my kid.”
“You never knew when to give up,” Brett hissed.
“You didn’t want Ashton then, and you sure as hell don’t now. So stop the shit, Brett. Give me the details and be done with it.”
“I’ll have Mara call you. I can see you’re still bitter.”
“Believe what you want, Brett. I moved on a long time ago.” With that he hung up and put in a call to Mara, who had been in his corner, ensuring he got to talk to his son every single day. Even when he was wiped out from working the forest fires, he made sure to call to hear Ashton’s voice.
Mara answered, “Morning, Dave. Brett call you?”
“Yeah, he did. Would you make sure I know when the funeral is? If Ashton wants to be there, he will be.”
“As soon as I know, you will. And if you want me to take him to the service, I can.”
Metcalf rubbed his face. Her offer was tempting, but he needed to be there for Ashton. “If he wants me there, I’ll be there. And if he prefers my parents take him, they can. I’m sure you have enough going on. I don’t want to overwhelm him by being in the midst of all you have to do.”
“I wish my girl had chosen the better man.”
“Thanks, but I’m in a good place. I found a woman who loves my little boy.”
“I’m sure I’ll meet her soon. You sound happy.”
“Are you moving back to Lakeridge?”
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