Blonde Demolition

by Redding, Chris

  Then he'd be on a plane and no one would be the wiser. Maybe. They'd wonder about him, but wouldn't connect him to her death.

  He chuckled.

  In the firehouse, Mallory heard a noise. She whirled around. Then she smiled, relaxed. "Jesse."

  He pulled out a gun. His hand shook as he pointed it at her. He looked half-crazed, wild. "I'm here to kill you."

  "Jesse, what are you talking about?"

  He held a gun to her. Jesse. Her lover. She'd not only shared a bed with him, she'd shared more of herself than with most people. What the hell is going on?

  Realization struck her.

  He was going to kill her.

  "Jesse, please."

  "Mallory, I've been sent to kill you. You can make it easy or you can make it hard."

  She held out her hands and took a step toward him. "Jesse, let's talk about this."

  "No talk."

  She inched closer. One hand on the walkie-talkie, one hand out to him. Three short clicks, three long, three short. God please let someone might get my SOS.

  "Move."

  He waved the gun for her to go past him. That was a mistake.

  As soon as she was past him, she spun around and landed a flying roundhouse kick to his hand. The gun fell to the floor and skittered down the hall.

  He grasped at his hand. "Bitch."

  She didn't give him time to say more. She jammed a knife hand strike to his Adam's apple. He had one hundred pounds on her, but she had the skill to take care of herself—wherever, whenever.

  Jesse pulled out a knife as he gagged from her hit. She stepped out of range, bounced on the balls of her feet. She could outrun him in the maze of fire trucks, but not if he could throw the blade.

  She wouldn't chance it.

  He struck out at her, missed and caught her shirt.

  "Freeze."

  Jesse spun around in the direction of the voice, and Mallory used that moment to pounce. She struggled to get the knife from him. Sweat dripped off her and her heart beat pell-mell in her chest.

  Trey walked toward them, his gun raised. "Up against the wall." He cocked his head at her. "Friend, huh?"

  "Who knew?" she said.

  Jesse obeyed but snarled under his breath. "I'm not sorry, Mallory."

  Mallory patted him down "Yeah, yeah."

  He was clean. The knife and gun had been it. Inadequate for a killer.

  Stone appeared from behind her with handcuffs and put them on Jesse. "Any place we can put him until the cops get here?"

  "The office," Cal said when he appeared from around another truck.

  The cavalry had arrived, though she was confident she'd had everything in hand before they got here.

  She stood there in shock. "I can't believe that Jesse tried to kill me."

  In fact, she had no idea what to think. So much had happened in the last few days. But Jesse?

  How did I miss that Jesse was one of the bad guys?

  "Here's Officer Ketchum," Trey said.

  The officer took custody of Jesse, then Stone walked out with them to the patrol car. He didn't return until the man was locked in the back.

  Cal hugged her and looked at Trey. "Is there always this much excitement when you two get together?"

  "Sorry."

  Cal released Mallory. "I need a beer."

  After he'd left, Mallory glanced at Trey and cleared her throat. "Thanks."

  He pulled her to him. "We need to talk and you need to take me to our son's grave, but for now I'm just glad you're alive."

  CHAPTER 28

  Cal woke early that Monday morning. He had a date with destiny. And his daughter. Or at least a phone call since he didn't know her name or where she lived. The woman at the Adoption Registry would at least give him his daughter's phone number.

  Minutes later, he hung up the phone and stared at the phone number he'd jotted down. A familiar phone number.

  Of course it would be her.

  A grin split his face.

  Mallory was just hanging up the phone when someone knocked on her door. Damn. She didn't want the distraction. She'd finally received the call she'd been waiting for. She now had the name of her father. Her father!

  I can't believe he's been so close all along.

  She opened the door and blinked. "Hey."

  Cal shuffled his feet, looked down at them. "Uh…hey back."

  She laughed and hugged him. "We have so much to talk about."

  "Yes, we do."

  Mallory grinned. "Breakfast?"

  "This may take all the way to lunch."

  They spent most of the day together and she'd never been happier. She finally had a real family. Their joyous reunion was somewhat marred by his illness, but she was glad she would at least get to know him as a father, not just her friend, in his final days.

  The following day, Mallory slept until late afternoon, exhausted by the recent events and by her thoughts of Cal.

  And Trey.

  He hadn't contacted her yet and she was okay with that.

  She could hear rain pouring outside and she rolled over to look out the window. But a shadow blocked her view.

  "You're slipping," Trey said. "That was too easy."

  "I guess I missed the alarm system."

  "Oh?" His raised his eyebrows and moved closer.

  "I decided I don't want to live looking over my shoulder."

  She shifted so he could sit on the side of the bed and took in his cut-off shorts, T-shirt and far too much exposed skin.

  "I'm sorry you felt you couldn't tell me," he said, his gaze never leaving hers.

  She chuckled. "I think that's three apologies in what—a week? That's a new record."

  "Turning over a new leaf, I guess."

  She tugged her pillow against the headboard and sat up, pulling the covers with her.

  "I quit," he said.

  "Quit what?"

  "I sent my resignation to Washington. I'm done with service to my country. I hear they have a good pension."

  "Look around. I'm doing okay."

  "This is a warm place. Private too."

  His finger played with the end of the sheet. It traveled up to where the sheet covered her breasts.

  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was pregnant."

  "You didn't know I―" He caught himself. "You didn't think I wanted a child."

  "No, I didn't. I wasn't sure if I wanted a child to grow up in the world we were in."

  "Gives you a false sense of what people are like."

  His finger dipped in the valley between her breasts. Her breath caught as he stroked one nipple and then the other.

  "I've realized most people are good," she said. "The guys in the firehouse would do anything for each other."

  Trey nodded. His attention was on her exposed breasts.

  She wasn't sure if she'd be able to talk if he kept staring at them.

  "You need to show me his grave," he said.

  She nodded. "Later?"

  "Later."

  She cocked her head at him and tried to ignore the sensations he was stirring within her body.

  He leaned closer. "Mallory Sage."

  "Yeah," she said, breathless with anticipation.

  "I love you."

  Her heart stopped for a moment. "I love you too, Trey."

  "I'm sorry I never said it." His lips touched hers, a gentle sweet kiss, and then he pulled back. "So are we good?"

  She smiled and pulled him closer. "Trey, we're better than good."

  Message from the Author

  Dear Reader,

  I hope you enjoyed entering the world of Coleville, New Jersey, where Mallory Sage lives and volunteers for her local fire company. If you've read any of my other books you'll realize I love firefighters, EMT's and paramedics. I've been involved in Emergency Medical Services in some form for twenty years so they are the people closest to my heart.

  This book started as one of those, "When are you going to write a book about us?" con
versations. My dedication will clue you in to where I was having that conversation. The local fire company did have a fair for over twenty years and I helped a lot of those years so that was my starting point for the book.

  If you enjoyed Blonde Demolition, I'm sure you'll like one of my other novels.

  Chris Redding

  About the Author

  Chris Redding lives in New Jersey with her husband, two kids, one dog and three show rabbits. Her youngest son is a member of 4-H, hence the show rabbits.

  Chris graduated from Penn State with a degree in Journalism and is still a diehard Nittany Lions fan. In fact, she bleeds Penn State Blue! Her dream would be to get her Master in Education and teach creative writing at Penn State.

  She also dabbles in copywriting, including web content and product descriptions. When she isn't writing she works for her local hospital helping to run their CPR training center. She wishes she had more hobbies, but writing is a tough business.

  http://www.chrisreddingauthor.com

  http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com

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