Waiting on Faith (She's Beautiful Series Book 2)

by Nicole Richard

  I was still standing on the steps, watching them talk to Natalie, when Peter pulled into the driveway. Thank God, because I wasn’t sure how much more of dickface deputy I could take. Peter made his way up the front steps. His gait was brisk, telling everyone that he was in full authoritarian mode. He shook my hand and clapped my back.

  “Did you guys do a walk through yet?” He turned, asking both his subordinates.

  “No, not yet, Captain. We wanted to ask Natalie here what all happened first,” Brendan respectfully answered.

  Peter nodded, and his facial expression softened when he turned his attention to Natalie. “Natalie, is it?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to look around and make notes of the damage done here tonight.”

  Natalie nodded her permission and whispered, “Thank you.”

  Peter nodded once in return and headed straight into the house. I sat with her in my arms while Brendan and dickface were a few feet away from their patrol car, probably exchanging notes. When Peter emerged from the house, he stood in front of Natalie. “Natalie, I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but is there anyone you can think of who might be upset with you or would want to target you?”

  “I don’t think so.” She shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

  I rubbed my hands up and down the length of her arms, doing my best to comfort her.

  Peter nodded again, and I saw the frustration on his face. “It’s odd that your bedroom was untouched, it’s almost as if someone was trying to scare you.”

  Natalie shook her head. “I haven’t even lived here long enough for anyone to hate me this much. I don’t know who would have done this.”

  “It’s okay. We are going to dust for prints. Maybe we will get a hit.” Natalie relaxed a little bit against my chest, and Pete turned to me. “Cy, you said you went inside for water, right?”

  “Yeah. I only touched the door handle, but my fingerprints will be everywhere inside.”

  “No that’s fine. We have your prints on file, so we will be able to rule them out. I need to know if you left anything for Natalie in the bathroom.”

  “No. No, we were at my place all day and then at Mom and Dad’s. Why?”

  Pete looked a little uncomfortable for a second, rocking back on his heels and looking between us a few times before answering. “I found a long-stemmed red rose lying across a black negligee in the bathroom, they look like gifts.”

  Shit! I didn’t check her master bath.

  Natalie sat up ramrod straight, and her hand flew to her mouth to cover up her sobs. She shook frantically, shaking her head while I tried to make out her mumbles. Peeling her hand away from her mouth, I asked, “Talk to me, Blue. What’s going on, baby?”

  “No, oh God, please no . . . it can’t be,” she squeaked out while her tears fell freely.

  I kissed her on the forehead, my arms holding her tight, leaning close to her ear. “Can’t be what? Please talk to me.” I was on the verge of begging.

  She whispered out, “Trent,” before the wracking sobs took over again. I felt ice fill every last crevice in me and move all the way to my soul.

  Pete shifted again, pulling my attention. He was clearly confused.

  “Her ex,” I explained. “Her abusive ex.”

  He looked at Natalie with compassionate eyes. “How long ago? When was the last time you saw him?” He had told me more than once that he thought this was the hardest part of his job—having to talk to women who had been abused.

  She got her tears under control and answered Pete. “Just about two years. I left him in Houston and ran to San Diego to live with my cousin Spencer for about a year and a half before moving here. But that. . . that. . .” She looked at me, but I didn’t have the answer she needed. “Those gifts, they hold significance.”

  Peter seemed to think about it for a second. “Have you had any issues with him since you left?”

  “No, nothing. I didn’t think he knew where I was.”

  “Well, we can’t be sure it was him. That’s a long way to come just to trash a place. Did you guys notice anything strange in the last week or so? Anything at all?” He jotted his notes in a miniature black spiral tablet as the conversation continued.

  We both shook our heads, but then Natalie paused. “Actually,” she started to say, and I looked at her, needing to hear every word she was about to say. “I came home the other day and the window over there”—she pointed toward the house and motioned to a window we couldn’t see from where we were standing—“was open. I was confused at first, since I could have sworn I had closed it, but shrugged it off.” She looked at me with an apologetic look. I closed my eyes and nodded. Damn it, I couldn’t be mad at her. She could have easily forgotten to close it.

  “It’s okay, Nat.”

  “Were you planning on staying here tonight, or is there somewhere else you can stay?” Pete asked Natalie, and I butted in. “She’s staying with me.”

  “Right.” He nodded again and offered a small smile. “Good. Is there anything you need from inside?”

  “I was coming home to grab some clothes, is that okay?”

  “Should be fine, but please be careful, and if you could leave the guest bedroom and bathroom untouched, at least until we’ve done our investigation.”

  She nodded and shakily moved away from me. I missed her warmth almost immediately. “You want me to come with you?”

  Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she shook her head. “I’ll be just a sec, and then we can leave.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right here.”

  As soon as Natalie was out of earshot, Peter turned to me with a suspicious look. “I don’t know, brother. It seems somewhat odd to me. Why would someone break in and damage everything instead of just taking it? It’s messed up that whoever did this left her room untouched. Heck, I don’t even know what to make of that rose lying across that black piece of lace.”

  I nodded, not knowing what to make of the situation either, and just like that, the thought came to me. I huffed out, rubbing my head, frustrated.

  “What?” Peter asked.

  “Come to think of it, there was this black SUV.” He looked at me with wide eyes. “Yesterday. It followed me going way too slow. I chalked it up to them being lost.” I rubbed circles on my temples in frustration. “Shit, Pete. Natalie and I passed the same car tonight. What if . . .”

  Peter placed his hand on my shoulder. “Hey, we’ll keep an eye out. Thanks for letting me know. At this point, it could be anybody. Let me get CSI in here and get the place dusted. We’ll go from there. If you see the SUV again, try to get a license plate.”

  THE INCESSANT SOUND of Natalie’s phone ringing brought me out of a restless sleep. I listened as her groggy voice answered the phone, “He-llo. Morning, Uncle Blair.” She was silent for a minute, listening to whatever it was her uncle was telling her. “No, I’m okay . . . Yes, I’ll call him.” She nodded and sighed. “I know he worries.”

  I got up and pointed to the bathroom, letting her know I was going for a shower. Fifteen minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom in a pair of gym shorts, and Natalie was off the phone.

  When she saw me, she opened her arms. “Come here, babe. Please?”

  How could I deny her? When she shifted over to one side of the bed and held the covers up, I didn’t hesitate to slide back in next to her and pull her against my chest.

  “My uncle just gave me the day off. He told me to stay home and take it easy for a few days.”

  “That’s probably a great idea.” I snuggled her closer.

  “I know, it’s just that— ” Her eyes closed and her lips pulled down at the corners. “What if it was Trent, then what?” My chest tightened again, but I remained silent. I didn’t have the words to make that scenario okay. “I just thought he would’ve given up by now. I mean it’s been two years, Cy.”

  “We’ll figure it out. Let’s just see if Pete finds anything out, okay?”


  She nodded in my arms and lay there so silent I almost thought she had fallen back asleep.

  “Cy?” My name rolled off her lips like a breathy question.

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “What was going on with you and that deputy last night? I felt like there was a lot of animosity between the two of you.”

  I had hoped she hadn’t noticed that. “He’s a prick from high school. One of the many assholes that messed with me.”

  She lifted her head and looked at me skeptically. “You sure?”

  I nodded again, thinking about what to say. Should I break down every wall I had ever created? Should I let her see every piece of me and trust her with everything? I wanted her for the rest of my life. She was it. She was the one. There was no reason to hide anything from her.

  I must have kept silent for too long because she persisted. “The tension felt like it was more than just a ten-year grudge.”

  I swallowed hard and focused on her beautiful eyes.

  I loved her. I wanted to share everything with her.

  “Chester ‘The Jester’ Aimes was one of the popular kids. Not surprising, right?” I scoffed at having to talk about this asshole. “He picked on me and all-out tormented me. Almost everything a bully could do, he did to me.” I touched her face, needing to feel her. “It was the same shit with him just on different days.

  Here went nothing. “That night of the break in . . . the way I reacted to Aimes. There’s a reason I hate him with every fiber of my being.” Natalie slipped her hand into mine and gave it a soft squeeze. Exhaling a deep breath, I hoped she understood the pain that has plagued me for the past ten years.

  “Something happened. After Levi turned Trish down . . . Remember that incident I told you about?” She nodded and scooted a little closer to me. “Well, there was another instance . . . Fuck, this is embarrassing.”

  After everything, I couldn’t believe how patient she was being with me. Lying there holding my hand and comforting me.

  “Do you need a minute? Take your time, it’s okay,” she whispered.

  I stared up at the ceiling, contemplating how to put this into words.

  “I caught Trish and Aimes together.” She squeezed my hand tighter this time. “They made a mockery of me.”

  “Trish was so pissed that Levi turned her down, they went and took things a little too far. She and Aimes had teamed up and slandered the fuck out of my name . . . not to mention Levi got caught in the crossfire on that one.”

  She sat up and had a confused look on her face. “Are you sure you want to tell me all of this? I know this must be painful for you.”

  I shook my head. If there was any chance for us, this needed to be said. “I need to let this go already.” I gave her a sad smile and glanced down at her lips. I was dying to taste her lips. Forget all the bullshit that was our lives up until now. Instead, I concentrated on having her in my arms, I would feed off her for strength. “Anyway, somehow they got video footage of me and Levi in the locker room showers—separate of course. Shit that sounds bad.

  “Whatever. Somehow, they merged the video clips together to make it look like Levi and I had a thing. They sent it to almost the entire school, making sure everyone thought I was gay and in love with Levi, and that was why I was so pissed when I caught Trish and Levi making out—because I wanted him all to myself.”

  She gasped. “Oh my god, babe. But how could they— ”

  “Well, we don’t have proof that it was them, the clip was sent from some random phone, but who else would do something so fucking cruel— ”

  “Cy, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anymore.”

  I gently placed my finger to her lips. “Shh, please, I need to do this.”

  She nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

  “Levi caught him off guard, talking smack behind the bleachers. He beat the shit out of him one day after practice. His pride was bleeding out from the side of his mouth and his nose had shifted forty-five degrees, but that never stopped him from gloating about how cool technology was and the things you could do with an elective in media arts.

  “What made the rumor worse was that I never defended myself against them. I couldn’t. I’d kill him if I did. You know how many times I sat in my room, pounding ACDC on my stereo, staring out of the scope of my twenty-two, picturing that scum’s face as my target. I knew if I laid a finger on him, I would have torn him to shreds and ended up in prison. That’s how much rage I had going through me, but I couldn’t do that to my family.” I shrugged as my insides shuttered at the thought. “So I just let him win.” A sense of relief washed over me. I ran my hand along the length of her back, caressing her soft skin, needing comfort. “So you don’t think I’m some kind of monster—for wanting to hurt him the way I did?”

  “How could I? That is a cruel and horrible thing to do to someone. And besides,”— she tilted her head back to look at me— “you demonstrated the strongest will I’ve ever heard of . . . to walk away from something like that. I’m not sure who could have done that.” Natalie laid her cheek on my chest. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, that’s just awful. It must have been hard for you to trust him to do his job. Thank you for being able to put that aside and be there for me last night.”

  A beat of silence passed, and she spoke again. “Wanna talk about what Candace said about the Sheriff’s department yesterday?”

  I grunted at the thought. “Not really.” I hated to see disappointment in her eyes. After some silence and a deep sigh, I confessed. “So, a couple of years after I graduated, my brother-in-law Peter suggested I join the department.” She peeked up at me and smiled. That right there gave me the motivation to continue. “I went through the academy and passed all the tests with flying colors, even got offered a position.” I stopped talking. I hated to have to admit the rest, but could I honestly put the blame on him? I had the job. I chose not to take it because of that prick.

  “Why didn’t you take it?” Worry etched on her face.

  “I turned it down because I found out soon after that Aimes had passed, too. We would be working closely with each other. And there was no way in hell I would stand day in and day out still being that guy from high school. I needed something new and different, away from the old reputation.” I felt like such a failure.

  I removed my arm from under her and shifted to sit on the edge of the bed. The sound of her voice as she said my name stabbed straight to my heart. “Sorry, I just need a minute.”

  “Okay,” she whispered with her palm touching my back. “Take your time.”

  There, it was said. I confessed the worst, and thank God she didn’t think I was a coward.

  CY WAS HESITANT to go into work, but I told him I’d lay low and hang around the house so he didn’t have to worry. It was nice, me and Boones—my temporary replacement protector—just hung out, and he didn’t stray too far from me all day. Everywhere I went, he followed. I had to draw the line at him following me into the bathroom, and I could have sworn he huffed when I told him he needed to stay in the hallway.

  I was tucked against one corner of the couch with my Kindle in hand, when my phone rang. It was Grace. “Hey, what’s going on?” I answered in the calmest voice I could muster. I was pretty sure my Uncle Blair filled her in on last night’s events.

  “Oh my goodness, Nat. Are you all right? What happened?” She sounded winded.

  “I’m okay. Someone broke into my house and trashed the place.”

  “Oh, sweetie. I’m so sorry. You’re okay though?” Her voice turned into that concerned mother tone. “You weren’t hurt or anything, right?”

  “No. No one was home. We were just stopping by after dinner from Cy’s parents’ house so I could grab a few things, and that’s when I walked into the mess.”

  She sighed. “What a shitty thing to have to go through. Is there anything you need, anything I can get you? Are you staying with Cy?” No wonder she sounded winded; she was rambling everything int
o one breath.

  “Yes, I’m at Cy’s. We decided it would be best if I stayed here for a while until I could get things sorted out. I don’t know what I would’ve done if he weren’t there with me, Grace. I just can’t— ” I couldn’t even finish my sentence past the lump in my throat.

  “Hey, it’ll be okay. If you need anything, please call.”

  “I will, Grace. Thank you. I just need to have faith that it’ll all work out.”

  I didn’t even believe my own words. I had learned blind faith was one of the hardest things to have—especially where Trent was involved.

  “That you do, Nat.”

  “I will th-thanks.” I stuttered out after hearing the click of the front door. Boones got up to greet whoever was here. I stared, frozen for a beat as fear overrode my motor functions. I didn’t even breathe until I saw Cy walk through the front door. “Umm, Grace. Can I call you later?”

  “Sure, I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.” I was pretty sure she heard the change in the tone of my voice and could figure out why I was getting off the phone so fast.

  “Bye,” I said, even though she had already hung up. Sitting a little straighter, I ignored the multiple beeps alerting me to new text messages and licked my lips before pulling my bottom lip between my teeth.

  Oh my Lord, he just might give me a heart attack. His red cap was turned backward and his Oakley sunglasses were on the top of his head. At some point, he had lost his shirt, and he was currently glistening with sweat and giving me a full view of his rock-hard abs and the V of muscle that dipped below the waist of his work jeans.

  Lust rolled in strong and hard. I felt every ounce of blood plummet south, making me want Cy more than I had ever wanted him before. There was just something about a hardworking man that was swoon worthy.

  Cy chuckled and tossed his hat and sunglasses onto the coffee table.

  “Blue, why are you looking at me like I’m lunch and you haven’t eaten in a week?” He held out a brown paper bag for me. “Thought you’d be hungry, Mom made sandwiches.”