Rebecca reached for Wes’s hand, needing something to anchor her. He took it and gave hers a squeeze, a simple reassurance that made her feel less alone. She didn’t know where she and Wes stood at this point relationship-wise, but in that moment he was exactly what she needed—a friend.
She gave her dad one last look, and she and Wes walked toward the back of the station, escaping it all.
For now.
But she knew it was only temporary. She couldn’t run far and fast enough. The past had dogged her all her life, breathing down her neck, nipping at her heels. She’d worked hard to stay one step ahead.
Now, she’d finally stumbled.
The monster had finally caught up, and it was out for blood.
chapter
TWENTY-EIGHT
Wes pulled into Rebecca’s driveway, the rock music station on low and
Rebecca’s quiet breathing playing soundtrack. When they’d gotten into the car, she’d looked shell-shocked. Her skin was waxen, her eyes bloodshot, and her expression blank. She’d started to explain or apologize or something about the way her father had acted, but Wes had told her to rest. They could talk about everything later.
She’d given him a grateful look and laid her head back against the seat, closing her eyes. Two stoplights later, she was sleeping.
Wes turned off the engine and climbed out of the truck. When he opened her side, he gave her shoulder a gentle shake, but she didn’t open her eyes. She’d fallen into that deep sleep a body demanded when it’d been kept up for too long under intense stress. He didn’t want to jolt her out of sleep, so he took her keys from her purse and headed up to the house to unlock the door and thanked the universe that she hadn’t set her alarm. He let Knight out into the backyard so the dog could relieve himself and not disturb Rebecca with a happy welcome. Then, once Wes got back to the truck, he slipped his arms beneath her and carried her inside.
She stirred a little at the movement and nestled her cheek into his shoulder, taking a deeper breath and releasing a small contented sigh as if she liked that spot against his body, as if it settled her. He knew she was sleeping and her reaction was an unconscious thing, but it kicked up a dust storm of yearning in him. He wanted her there against him. He didn’t want to give that up. He wished he could rewind time and go back to yesterday and have a do-over.
Wes carried her to her bedroom, set her on the unmade bed, and slipped off her shoes. When he was pulling the sheet over her, her eyes fluttered open. “Wes?”
“Yeah, lawyer girl,” he said quietly. “It’s me. I’m just getting you to bed. You need some rest.”
“You’re always trying to get me in bed,” she said sleepily.
He smiled, that little glimmer of the Rebecca he knew giving him some comfort that the last twenty-four hours hadn’t completely crushed her. “This time it’s only for rest.”
She mumbled something else, but he couldn’t understand it. Within seconds, she was fast asleep again. Knight wandered in and, after giving Wes a sniff, jumped up on the bed with Rebecca like he’d always slept there. He curled up next to her and put his chin on her hip.
“You gonna keep an eye on her, big guy?”
Knight licked his chops and gave Wes a look that seemed to say, As if I’d do anything else. She’s my person. This is my new gig.
Wes gave the dog a head scratch and gave Rebecca one last long look. Then he left the bedroom, closing the door a little behind him but leaving a crack in case Knight wanted to go back in his kennel. Wes knew the proper thing to do would be to leave, to lock the house and tuck her key under the mat or something, but then he imagined Rebecca waking up and all the shit she’d had to deal with in the last twenty-four hours descending upon her like a hurricane.
He would rather be here in case she needed anything. Plus, he’d been up for over twenty-four hours and probably was not safe to drive. If she wanted him to leave, she could tell him that when she woke up. For now, he trudged over to her couch, grabbed a blanket off the back of it, and stretched out to grab some sleep.
When his eyes opened, Wes thought he’d just been out for a few minutes, but the room was dark and the scent of vanilla was filling his nose. He blinked a few times to clear his head and then rolled over, finding Rebecca sitting in the nearby armchair, her hair damp and her body wrapped in a robe, a mug clasped in her hands. The whole room smelled like her freshly showered scent.
He pushed himself up to a sit, trying to clear the cobwebs. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I must’ve crashed hard. What time is it?”
“Just past nine,” she said, her voice quiet. She set the mug of whatever she’d been drinking on the side table. “I’m sorry. I had to let Knight out. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Just wanted to stare at me while I slept like a creepy kid in a horror movie?”
Her lips twitched at the corner. “Yeah. I’m weird like that.”
He ran a hand over his hair, trying to tame his bedhead. “I hope you don’t mind that I crashed here. I was worried I was too tired to drive.”