“I won’t.” Her heart squeezed around the thought, along with the idea that Clay wanted to be there for her. To keep her safe.
Maybe even more.
She’d already fallen for him and the knowledge that she cared about him so much was a tender ache in her chest.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Or Mia.” His words were a promise she trusted.
“I know that.” She wanted to tell him that it was because of him she was able to be so brave today—to banish the old ghosts for good. Her throat burned with the need to share that and more, but she knew it wasn’t the time when the intruders were tearing Zach’s place apart and Sam was risking his life to save her. “I don’t want to think about what’s happening outside the door, though. Talk to me more. About Mia. What happens with her now?”
“I’ll ask Mia what she thinks would be best for her—where she wants to live—after my father passes.” Clay sounded more certain about his course of action with Mia than he’d been in the past. More at peace.
She wanted to ask about his father, but just then a pounding sounded on the safe room door.
“Open up! Police!” A voice Gabriella didn’t recognize shouted through the heavy barrier.
Swallowing a hiccough of fear, she hugged her knees tighter.
“Are you almost here, Clay?” She needed to see his face and hold him. Needed to be held, too.
“I’m pulling into the driveway now. But you’re okay. The cavalry has arrived, Gabriella. Three cop cars plus Sam’s truck.”
“Be careful.” Closing her eyes, she imagined him outside the house. Entering the front door. Finding her.
She had been waiting for someone to protect her for a long time, she realized. Too long, in fact. Now that she understood how deeply her mother’s abandonment had hurt her, she could see how she’d let her brother play protector for so long. Sam Reyes, too. But they had their own lives now. More recently she’d expected Clayton to swoop in and save the day for her and for Mia, too.
But as much as she cared about Clay, that wasn’t realistic. He told her he had built a life for himself in Memphis. Now it was time for her to get to work on building a life of her own. The time had come to stand on her own two feet.
A part of her heart was still in this town and she wouldn’t run from it after the trial was over. She had friends here and a support network that she had forgotten about. Nina and her grandmother, Daisy Spencer, for instance. Amy Finley. Her brother and his soon-to-be bride. Sam.
She was ready to put down roots, and the best place for that was right here in Heartache. If only Clayton felt the same way.
Clay had hiddenin closets as a kid to avoid his father’s drunken rages. He’d left home more than once, spending nights in the woods in the hope Pete would sleep off a bender. But he’d honestly never been so scared in his life as he had been for the last half hour, afraid something would happen to Gabriella.
Now, standing outside Zach’s safe room, he knocked on the door. He still had her on the phone. He wasn’t hanging up until he had his arms around her. Behind him Sam and another cop waited to make sure Gabriella was released safely. Every now and then the radio chirped on the uniformed officer’s hip.
Four teens had been taken into custody for breaking and entering as well as robbery. Two of them were still in the living room being read their rights.
“Gabby?” He cleared his throat, emotions threatening to swallow him whole.
The hits kept coming today. His father. Mia. Gabriella. Clay hadn’t been there for a single one of them when they’d needed him.
“Clay?” Her voice sounded more clearly through the phone than the door.
He leaned closer to the door to hear her. “Are you okay?”
“You’re here.” Her words hitched on a sob.
He told himself it was adrenaline let down, but her distress tore him up inside.
“I’m right outside the door, sweetheart.” He didn’t care who heard him. He pressed his palm to the steel barrier. “Do you know the code to get back out?”
“I’m entering it now.” She sniffled and then gave a sharpbark of laughter. “It took me three tries to get it right the first time. I’m lucky they didn’t find me before I got inside.”
Nausea rose at the vision of her struggling to stay hidden from the intruders. He knew she’d suffered nightmares for years after her attack, and she’d returned to Heartache to put the past behind her. He hated to think this night might have stolen that from her.
“Take your time. No rush.” He remembered holding her just a few hours ago, peeling off her clothes and making love to her.
Because he loved her, he realized.
