“Becausetheyknew where you were. Lee specifically mentioned this place. That’s how I knew where to come. They must have searched for you after you left.”
Those words hung in the air for a moment as he processed them. They knew? For how long? Why hadn’t they come to find him yet?
“Right,” he murmured. He had no idea what to say to that. Whether she knew it or not, she was admitting that he was in danger—that both of them were. This wasn’t a safe place for him anymore. The thought of Warrior Peak being compromised, of bringing more danger to the door of the people who had offered him sanctuary when he had needed it most made him feel sick.
“I’m going to stay here as long it takes me to get back on my feet,” she told him, stretching her arms above her head and wincing. Her shirt rode up, revealing the bruising on her sides, and he clenched his fists when he thought about who must have done that to her. All of them ganging up on this woman? Four big men against one small woman. It was totally disgusting. Shewas lucky to have made it out alive, though he was sure he didn’t need to remind her of that.
“And then I’m going back, and I’m going to bring them to justice,” she added, narrowing her eyes. “Just because you could ignore it for six years, doesn’t mean I can.”
The jab stung. He had only left that place without doing more to stop them because he had known how much danger it would put her in, but he didn’t know if she was ready to hear it. Or if she would even believe him if he told her. He wished he could just get her to trust him somehow, but he had broken that trust before and he wasn’t sure what it would take for them to put the pieces back together again.
She rose to her feet, or at least tried to. She needed to lean heavily on the porch railing to get herself back upright, and he stood up and offered her a hand.
“You need some help?” he asked her, and she fired him a look and snorted.
“You really think I need help from you?” she demanded, raising her eyebrows. “All you’ve ever done is cause me trouble.”
“All I’ve ever done?” he echoed.
Something in her face shifted as she looked away. “Not…not all you’ve ever done,” she admitted, lowering her gaze to the ground. “When we were working together, Aaron, that was the happiest I’d ever been. I know I was young, but I…the connection we had, it was real. And then for you to turn and do that to me, without any warning, without giving me any chance to stand up for myself…” She trailed off, her eyes shining with tears for a moment. “I just didn’t get it.”
She shrugged, her eyes becoming guarded again. He wanted to reach out and take her hand, tell her that he had felt the same way about her, but he’d had to make a hard choice to try to protect her. And that he would have done anything he could to not hurt her, but the situation was so complicated.
“I looked up to you so much,” she admitted. “And I wanted you to notice me as more than just a rookie, you know?”
Aaron knew exactly what she meant, and he wished he could tell her that he did—he had seen her as so much more than just her job. He had gotten to know her deeply, and the bond they had shared—beyond just a professional connection—was something he had never found since. She paused for a moment before she kept talking, her mind clearly racing.
“I would have believed you, you know,” she told him, shaking her head. “I would have believed you if you’d come to me and told me what was going on in the department. I don’t know what you were trying to protect me from, but you didn’t need to do all of that to look out for me.”
A million words were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t find a way to get any of them out that would actually make a difference. He knew she was mad at him. She probably would be for the rest of her life. They had worked so closely together, and now she was being faced with the reality of what had driven them apart. She didn’t know every detail yet, but he was sure she would insist on getting to the bottom of it.
She hobbled toward the door and went inside. Aaron thought about going after her, but he knew it wouldn’t have led to anything good. She still wasn’t in a place where she could talk to him, but it looked as though she was going to be sticking around for a while as she got back on her feet. Maybe they would get a chance to talk while she was recovering.
Even though he was tired, he sank back down on to the porch seat and stared out into the forest beyond. The news she had given him, that they knew where he was, changed everything. He was going to have to find some way to protect himself, and this place.
Soon enough, he’d have to tell Xavier and Lawson about it, even though he wished he could find any way out of that damnconversation. He knew they were going to all but put this place on lockdown, and the thought of bringing that kind of stress to their door just didn’t sit right with him.
But he didn’t have a choice. Even if it would change this place that had been his safe haven. It had been so long, he had gotten comfortable—stopped looking over his shoulder and started to actually feel like he belonged here. He never expected his past to put the lodge—and the people who lived here—in danger. And he definitely never expected to see Bailey again after what had happened.
When he thought of what Bailey must have been through, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He had left her to that, whether he had meant to or not. He should have known that she would work her way back on to the streets again—she was too good to sit behind a desk. One negative report from him wasn’t going to be enough to get the people around her to ignore the work she did. She had never been the kind of person to leave something unfinished, so he should have known she’d want to go back to Kings Mountain. He’d completely left her unprepared for what she’d face if she did.
But back then, he had hardly been able to think past getting her out of there. Thinking about her at all had been too painful for him, so imagining what would have come next for her was something he couldn’t even let himself do. He had hoped she was safe, that she was happy, that she didn’t hate him. But since she had walked back into his life, it was clear that none of that applied.
She’d admitted that she had feelings for him when they were first working together, and his head was still spinning as he tried to wrap his mind around it. He had never imagined she would have looked at him that way. Would he have acted on it then, if he’d known? He wanted to believe he was better than that, but his attraction to her had been intense.
It still was, if he was honest with himself. Even when she was as beaten down as she was, she was still fiercely captivating. She was still the woman he remembered from all those years ago, but this time, more sure of herself, with more life experience behind her.
And, when she was faced with danger, she still came looking for him. After all this time, she still sought him out. Obviously, even if she didn’t seem willing to admit it right now, some part of her still felt safe with him.
He hoped he could do that part of her proud.
He had made peace with the fact that she was going to hate him after he wrote that report. But now that she was back in his life, he didn’t know if he could live with it. He didn’t want her walking around here, loathing him for his betrayal, when it was so much more complicated than that. Look at the state she was in now—it would have been even worse if they had launched this attack on her when she had been a rookie, without him there to cover for her.
The moon was high in the sky, bathing everything around Aaron in a bright glow. It was peaceful out here for now, but that was all going to change soon enough. Now that they knew where he was, his days of peace and quiet were over.
And he had to be ready for whatever came next.
Chapter Seven
