“Nope,” Colt said, because he had two younger sisters, and he wouldn’t want them to be left alone to drive themselves home after the ordeal he’d just witnessed.
“Let me drop Sariah off,” he said. “She only lives a couple blocks from here, and then I’ll get you home and you can call Conrad or Austin or your momma.” He looked at Elaine in the rearview mirror, relieved when she nodded.
She pressed her lips together and looked away. Colt took that as his cue to put the truck in reverse and see this night through to the end. No one spoke on the drive to Sariah’s, and it really did only take about four minutes.
“You’ll be okay here?” he asked Elaine.
“You don’t need to walk me up, Colt,” Sariah said. “Stay with her. I’m fine.”
“You sure?” He twisted to look further at the pretty brunette he’d been dating for the past couple of months.
She nodded and gave him a tiny, timid smile. “Really.”
He nodded too, a quiet discontentment moving through him. “I’ll call you, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Call me later.” She leaned over and hugged Elaine. “You’re going to be okay, sweetie, okay?”
Elaine nodded, though tears started streaming down her face anew. She hugged Sariah back as she said, “Thank you so much. I’m so sorry to ruin your date.”
“Oh, it’s fine. Me and Colt go out all the time.” She flashed him a smile, and then turned the gesture on Elaine.
His heart burned watching the two of them. People bonded over experiences like this, and how would he ever be able to break up with Sariah and go out with Elaine now?
He gripped the steering wheel tight as Sariah got out and made her way up her front sidewalk and into the house. Only when the front door closed safely behind her did Colt pull out his phone.
Lock up tight, okay?he said.I don’t think anything bad will happen, but I have no way of knowing if he followed me here or not.
Everything’s locked, she promised him, and that gave Colt enough relief to back out of the driveway and point the truck down the road.
“You’re going to need to tell me where you live, sweetheart,” he said, trying to make his voice as nonthreatening as possible.
“Oh, right,” Elaine said, and she directed him to her house, a cute little blue bungalow in a nice neighborhood. Colt wasn’t surprised by the look of it, and he killed the engine and dropped to the ground before swiftly pulling open her door.
“I’m fine, Colt,” she said.
“No, you’re not,” he said, though he really wished she was. He took her hand, glad when she didn’t pull away, and walked her up to her door. “I’m going to come in and make sure you get settled for the night.”
Elaine nodded, sniffled, and then walked into her house without using a key.
“I want you to lock up, sweetheart,” he said. “For the next several days, okay?” He’d seen a camera out front too, and that offered some measure of comfort.
She looked at him with alarm in those pretty eyes. “You really think I need to?”
A flashback of what Colt had witnessed—Brandt pressing his whole weight against her, holding her hands while she flailed beneath him and told him to stop….
He blinked, wishing God could take that sight from him. “Yes,” he said firmly. “You’ve got cameras here. What about at your women’s center?”
He reached to twist the lock into place on the front door. “He didn’t seem super happy about whatever was going on, and he said it wasn’t over.”
“I have cameras at the women’s center too,” Elaine said. She moved into her kitchen and plucked a paper towel from the roll, then proceeded to dab at the corners of her eyes. “I broke up with him, and no, he didn’t take it well.”
Colt nodded and set her purse on a side table just inside the door, where it seemed like it would go. “He seemed drunk.”
“He was,” Elaine said.
“Does he normally drink?” Colt asked.
“No.” Elaine ran her hands up and down her arms as if cold, and Colt walked over to her and drew her into his chest.
