She’d actually forgotten about him in her rush to get to Grant, and her concern about his injury had occupied her thoughts since then. But now that it was quiet and Grant was okay, her fear of Ben started creeping back in. Her skin tingled with it, but she focused on keeping her muscles relaxed and her breathing calm so she didn’t wake Grant.
So he knew she worked at the salon. And he probably hadn’t bought the fake name and accent, and the lie would make him angry. But she had no reason to believe he knew anything else about her current life and Boston was a very big city. If she left the job at the salon, he’d have nothing to go on.
When she felt herself tensing up again, she blew out a breath and tried to focus on the movie again. Tomorrow, she thought. She’d worry about Ben tomorrow.
For now, Grant was okay and she was at his side, and that was all that mattered.
* * *
Grant woke up with a throbbing head, a dry mouth and an armful of Wren. He didn’t care about the headache or the thirst. But he liked waking up with her in his bed.
“You’re awake,” she whispered.
“Barely.”
“I didn’t want to wake you, but I can’t lie. I’ve been awake for a while and I really, really have to pee.”
He managed a smile, and then he pulled his arm off her and rolled onto his back so she could get up.
She wasn’t gone long and he felt the dip of the bed when she returned. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and blinked at the morning sun. He needed better curtains.
“Your head still hurts.” It wasn’t a question, but he nodded anyway. Gently. “I’ll go get your pills.”
“Not the prescription ones,” he said. “Just a couple from the medicine cabinet. And some water, please.”
“Are you sure those are strong enough? I can bring the crackers, too. I think you’re allowed to get crumbs in the bed in cases like this.”
“I think it’s partly stiffness. I’ll try the regular ones and if it’s not better in a few hours, I’ll take the prescription ones.”
He usually didn’t like having to depend on people for help, but he didn’t mind Wren fussing over him. She even held the straw for him so he could drink his water.
A glance at the clock told him it was almost nine. “Do you have to work today?”
“Not at the salon.” Her brows furrowed for a few seconds, but then her expression cleared. “I’m supposed to work at the market this afternoon, but I can call them. They’re pretty easygoing and they’d understand if I tell them you got hurt.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be okay by myself for a bit.”
She laughed and set the water glass on the bedside table. “By this afternoon, you’ll be sick of me hovering and be glad to have some alone time.”
“Not a chance.” He didn’t think he’d ever get tired of her. He wanted Wren with him all the time and, if he was being honest with himself, nothing would make him happier than her moving in with him.
But he didn’t tell her that because he’d lied to her and the guilt kept him from saying the words. Maybe it wasn’t an outright lie, but he’d deliberately avoided telling her the truth of what had happened in the storage room yesterday and that was close enough.
He was going to tell her. He just wanted to wait until he was strong enough to support her through the emotional fallout. Right now, he wasn’t sure he was strong enough to take a piss alone.
After giving the pills a few minutes to kick in, he made his way to the bathroom. Wren hovered as he walked across the bedroom, but he was able to make it on his own. He actually felt a little better as he moved around, though he wasn’t going to overdo it. Especially after the walk to the couch kicked his ass.
“You should call your mom,” Wren said when she set a plate of scrambled eggs and toast on his lap.
“She’d love you for saying that. I’ll call her later, after you leave for work.” It would have to be a video chat so his mom could see for herself that he was okay, and it wouldn’t be a short call. He didn’t want to use up the time he had with Wren talking to his parents.
Once they’d eaten, she cleaned up and joined him on the couch. He channel surfed for a while before landing on an old black-and-white western. He heard her groan when he set the remote control on the arm of the couch and chuckled.
“This is classic stuff,” he said.
She didn’t complain, probably because he was hurt, and he must have nodded off because his phone vibrating jerked him awake. He looked at the screen and saw a text message from Gavin.
Cobb wants a meeting this afternoon if you’re up to it. Both of us, so I’ll drive.
That wasn’t normal, and alarm bells went off in his head. If Cobb was calling them both in, something was going on and if he had to bet, he’d put money on it being related to the imaginary pipe upside his head.
He typed in a response one-handed, because he didn’t want to let go of Wren’s hand with the other.
Yeah. Text me when you’re on your way.
Will do.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Cobb wants me to come in for a meeting.” She looked concerned, so he gave her a wry smile. “Probably paperwork. They love to make us do paperwork.”
“You can’t drive, can you?”
“The doctor said I could drive when I was up to it.”
“You don’t look up to it.” She sat up, looking concerned. “I can be a little late to work.”
“Gavin has to go, anyway. He can swing by and get me.” He laced his fingers through hers. “You must be sick of taking care of me by now.”
“Nope. Besides, you can make it up to me when you’re feeling better.”
On any other day, the suggestive look she gave him would have resulted in both of them being naked as quickly as possible. But not today. And probably not tomorrow, either. “I’ll take my time about it, too.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, but she pulled back before it could get too heated. “I should probably leave soon. Since I’ll be driving, I need to leave time to find a parking space. In that neighborhood, it can take a while and I need to stop at home first.”
“Thank you for staying with me, even though it’s a pain in the ass for you.”
She looked at him for a long moment and all the playfulness faded from her expression. “I don’t want to make this a big thing because I have to go and you’re recuperating, but I never stopped loving you, Grant.”
His pulse quickened at her words and he squeezed her hand.
“I know we’re getting to know each other again and taking it slow,” she continued, “but I loved you before and I loved you while I was gone and I still love you now. So, no, it’s not a pain in the ass for me to be here with you.”
When she started to get up, he refused to let go of her hand, keeping her there. While the weight of his omission was pressing hard on him, she loved him and he wasn’t going to let her say the words and then run away.
“If you think telling me you still love me isn’t a big thing, whether I got hit in the head or not, you’re crazy. It’s the biggest thing.” He tugged her closer. “I’ve never stopped loving you, either.”
He kissed her, long and slow. But when he pulled her closer and slipped his hand under her shirt so he could slide it up her back, she gently pushed him away.
“You are definitely not up to that. And I really should go.”
“Are you going to come back?”
She hesitated. “I’ll have to go home first. I’ll probably shower and grab some clean clothes for tomorrow, and then I’ll be back.”
“You’ll be tired, though,” he said. “And you probably didn’t sleep well last night because you were too busy staring at me, so I get it if you just want to go home and crash.”
She laughed. “I did not stare at you all night. I might have checked on you
a few times, but I did sleep. I’ll text you when I get home and see if you need me to pick up anything on the way over.”
For a moment he was tempted to change his mind—yes, he wanted her to call the market and tell them she needed the afternoon and evening off—but he had a meeting looming over him. And he might not like what they had to say, so it was probably best to have all the facts before he told Wren the truth about what had happened at Kincaid’s. She wasn’t going to be happy with him.
But he shoved that aside to worry about later and kissed her goodbye. “Be careful tonight, okay?”
She gave him a strange look. “I’m always careful. Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He had nothing, he reminded himself. Ben Mitchell was in Virginia, and whoever had hit him with the pipe could have been some punk who’d started the fire. There was no sense in scaring her. “I’ll see you later tonight.”
After giving him a bright smile and another kiss, Wren left and Grant sighed, hating the emptiness in his apartment when she wasn’t in it. But he didn’t have a lot of time before Gavin showed up, so he grabbed a glass of water and got comfortable to FaceTime his mom.
Chapter Twenty-One
Grant was ready to go by the time Gavin showed up. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush from hearing Wren saying she still loved him, but he felt pretty good. The headache was mostly gone and, though he wasn’t going to run any marathons today, he knew he’d gotten off lucky.
“You look a hell of a lot better than you did yesterday,” Gavin said when he’d let himself in to the apartment.
“The stiffness in my neck and shoulder eased up and the headache is mostly gone, though it comes and goes. The knot on my head still hurts like hell if I touch it, though.”
“Then don’t touch it.”
Grant snorted. “Living with an EMT’s really rubbing off on you.”
After grabbing his wallet and keys, Grant reluctantly got in the shotgun seat of Gavin’s truck—he always preferred to be the one driving—and they headed for the station. Traffic was a little dense and he hoped Wren hadn’t had any trouble getting to work on time. She’d told him a few times that the couple she worked for were really sweet, but he knew it was important to her not to take advantage of their kindness.
“It’s weird that they called us both in,” Gavin said. “I mean, I didn’t see it happen or see anything out of the ordinary so I’m not sure what they think I can add to the conversation.”
“Maybe they think I’ll need you for moral support.”
He drummed his fingers on the wheel while they waited out a red light. “Did you tell Wren what happened?”
Grant looked out his window. “I told her I got hit in the head. Which I did.”
“I’m guessing she then asked what hit you in the head.”
“Yeah, she did, and I changed the subject.”
“That’s going to bite you in the ass in a big way.”
“I know.” He did know. Since the moment he’d made the decision not to tell Wren the truth of what had happened—as much as they knew, anyway—it had been a lead ball in the pit of his stomach.
When they finally walked into Cobb’s office, only three minutes late, Grant’s gaze went straight to Walsh and Gullotti, sitting on the battered leather love seat and looking grim. Having both LTs in the meeting didn’t bode well.
“Have a seat,” Cobb said, nodding toward the two metal chairs. “How you feeling today?”
“Better, sir. I got lucky.”
“Good.” He shuffled some papers around, which they all knew was his way of buying time to gather his thoughts, and then pushed them to the side and folded his hands. “They determined the fire at Kincaid’s Pub was arson.”
“Okay.” There was more. And he could tell by the body language, it was going to be bad.
“Based on the method, accelerant and location, it looks like whoever set the fire wanted a response, but wasn’t looking to hurt anybody or cause substantial damage to the property. If Tommy’s heart hadn’t gone on the fritz, the fire probably wouldn’t have been a big deal.”
The pieces started falling into place. “It was just a way to get the fire department there.”
“To get us there,” Danny said. “Specifically. This was our call to answer, in our own backyard. It was our family and there’s no doubt we’d be the first on scene.”
The chief nodded. “And when you factor in the situation with Wren and that several of the other guys had already walked through the storage room without incident, it’s not unreasonable to think this was a deliberate attack on you, Cutter.”
Grant sat back in the chair, trying to sort through his thoughts before he voiced any of them. These guys were like family and had his back, but they were also his superiors. He was not going to lose his shit in this room.
“After talking to Walsh, I took the liberty of making some phone calls,” Cobb continued, “and the local PD can’t put eyes on Ben Mitchell. He missed his meeting with his parole officer, too.”
The anger came first. The guy had attacked him. He’d risked lives and property to hurt Grant. He’d come for Wren and he was going to pay for it.
There was fear because the asshole hadn’t given up and moved on. And he was willing to hurt people to get to Wren.
And then there was a rush of something Grant couldn’t really name. Ben Mitchell was here. He’d come for Grant, which meant he was in Boston and he’d shown his hand. Grant knew he was here and he’d be watching.
He could end this and Wren would be safe.
“Nope.” Danny shook his head slowly without breaking eye contact with Grant. “The shit going through your head right now? That’s not gonna happen.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
“You don’t need to. It’s written all over your face, and I’m telling you, it’s not going to happen. You’ll let the people whose job it is to handle this shit handle it.”
“You’re out on medical leave, effectively immediately,” Cobb said. “It’ll be on the news tonight and tomorrow morning that there was a fire at a beloved local bar and a firefighter who was injured will be out on medical leave until he recovers. In a break from the usual department protocol, you’ll be named, but I’ll need you to okay that.”
“I’m okay with that.” If it kept the bastard from starting another fire to get to him, he’d go along with it. He had no reason to put citizens and firefighters at risk if he couldn’t get to Grant that way. “I understand.”
“You won’t be using your unexpected vacation time to play vigilante.” Cobb gave him a hard look. “Like Walsh said, you’re going to let law enforcement handle this so you don’t make it any worse. What you’re going to do is lie low and keep yourself and Wren safe.”
When he didn’t say anything, Danny spoke. “You might want to consider taking her and going home to New Hampshire for a few days.”
“Law enforcement’s looking for this guy and they’re looking hard because he fucked with us,” Cobb assured him. “Hopefully it won’t take long to find him and then he’s going away again. You wouldn’t have to be gone more than a few days, if all goes well.”
They were probably right. Taking Wren and getting out of the city would get her out of harm’s way.
Maybe.
He thought of what Mitchell had done to Wren’s brother. He’d gone to prison for it, and yet here he was. He’d set a fire to get to Grant, and then he’d dealt him a blow that might have killed him if not for his equipment.
Mitchell had found her in Boston. He knew about Grant. He knew about Kincaid’s Pub. He knew a hell of a lot more than he should about Wren’s life. And Grant’s. He’d been watching.
Grant thought about his parents. His mom. He knew what they’d say. They’d tell him to get his ass home and bring Wren with him, and his dad would dust off the old shotgun from hi
s duck hunting days.
He couldn’t do it. As much as he loved Wren, he couldn’t risk bringing Mitchell to his mother’s doorstep.
Exhaling slowly, he closed his eyes. If he thought his presence threatened his mom, he wouldn’t hesitate to leave. To go anywhere else, as long as it kept her safe. And if being with Grant endangered Wren, he’d run if that’s what it took to keep anybody from hurting her.
Because sometimes, no matter how hard you fought, you didn’t win.
Wren. She’d told him she’d run to keep him safe, but it hadn’t made any sense to him because he hadn’t experienced her fear. He didn’t get it. But now he knew what the man was capable of and the reality of Grant’s presence endangering his mother while his absence kept her safe, and the knowledge he was going to make that decision for her because she’d care more about him than herself gave him an inkling of what Wren had been feeling the day she told him they were done.
He opened his eyes. He wasn’t going to hide, either, because God only knew who Mitchell might go after next to flush out him and Wren.
“You,” Cobb said, pointing a finger at Gavin. “Keep him on a short leash.”
“I’ll try, Chief. He doesn’t always listen worth a damn, as you know.”
Cobb didn’t smile. “That’s it for now. Stay out of trouble. I can’t stress that enough, Cutter. Right now you’ve got the high ground, legally speaking. Don’t jeopardize that trying to be a hero.”
“I’m sorry about all of this, Chief.”
“This doesn’t reflect on you, son. The only person responsible for any of this is Ben Mitchell, and I’m already looking forward to being present to offer testimony at his arraignment.”
Once they were back in Gavin’s truck, Grant rested his head against the seat and closed his eyes. “I can’t put my parents in this.”
“I didn’t think you would. You should call them, though. Tell them everything just so they know, especially since you’ve brought her there. I don’t know how the hell he’s getting information, but he’s smart, I guess. Smarter than we gave him credit for.”
Flare Up Page 20
