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Burned (Cunningham Security Book 5)

Page 25

by A. K. Evans


  So, I knew I had to go.

  But I didn’t want to.

  Because Zara needed me.

  As tough as she was, and despite her encouragement that I should leave, I didn’t like the fact that I had to walk out and leave her there to deal with the situation with her mom alone. I had been half tempted to ask her mother to leave until I was finished, but I didn’t.

  Zara seemed confident that she’d be able to handle everything. I couldn’t know for sure if she was just trying to be strong or if she truly believed what she was telling me. Either way, I had to trust her to make her own choices. And if I returned later to find her destroyed, I’d take care of her and find a way to put her back together.

  Sadly, I had a feeling that’s what I’d be doing.

  Because when I walked into the kitchen before Zara or her mother realized I was there, I found that her mom wasted no time in trying to tear Zara down. She relied heavily on the guilt tactic, and I found her to be very demeaning to her daughter. What was worse was that Zara seemed to immediately take on the responsibility. She was practically defeated before she even had the chance to get a few words out.

  When I was only two minutes away from The Rusty Spur, I took the time to say a silent prayer that Zara would find her voice and stand up for herself. If nothing else, she needed to be able to express her feelings about what happened, and she needed to not be crucified for feeling the way that she did. I truly believed her feelings were justified. In fact, as much as she struggled with her inability to forgive, I thought she was doing a hell of a job trying to repair the relationship with her mother. If I had been in that same situation, I’m not sure I would have been nearly as willing to try.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t focus on the difficult situation Zara was dealing with at the moment because I pulled into the tavern’s lot and found Holden hadn’t waited for Trent or me to arrive.

  It seemed as though Trent had pulled in only seconds before me because he was just getting out of his truck. Holden was already in a tussle with Joe. Physically speaking, Joe was no match for Holden. Where Joe was older, slower, and not nearly in decent shape, Holden was far younger, much quicker, and considerably leaner. He was also trained and knew how to properly apprehend a suspect.

  Of course, it seemed as though he’d already apprehended Joe, but still felt the need to show him just how angry he was. This case had clearly gotten personal for him.

  Throwing my truck into park, I jumped out and raced over to them.

  “Locke,” I yelled as I grabbed Holden from behind and pulled him off Joe.

  Trent moved Joe and stayed with him while I moved Holden and myself a few feet away.

  “It’s over, man,” I reasoned. “Just relax.”

  “Motherfucker!” Holden hissed.

  “Focus,” I ordered. “Breathe and tell me what happened.”

  Holden took in several deep breaths to calm himself down. Then, he focused and stated, “It’s him. I sat here watching as he smoked his cigar. He doesn’t have any remorse. I could see it all over his smug face.”

  “What did you see?” I asked.

  “Satisfaction,” Holden answered. “He was leaning up against his car, puffing on his cigar, and staring at the building with a smirk on his face. I’m certain he was laughing on the inside thinking he was going to take out another business. One with a lot of people inside, too.”

  “Did he actually attempt to do anything or is this just a hunch you acted on?”

  Holden shook his head in disgust. “That motherfucker watched innocent people walk into the tavern and didn’t bat an eyelash. The more people that went in, the more delighted he became. He was approaching the end of the cigar, so he walked to the trunk of his car, pulled something out, and held the lit end of the cigar up to it.”

  “A Molotov?” I wondered.

  Nodding his head, Holden confirmed, “Yeah. I took him down, stopped him, and cuffed him before he could light it.”

  I pulled my phone out of my pocket and held it to my ear.

  “Yeah?” Detective Baines’ voice came through the line.

  “Baines, it’s Reynolds. We’ve got your arsonist restrained outside the Rusty Spur.”

  “Units are on the way,” he returned. “I’ll see you shortly.”

  Disconnecting the call, I slid my phone back into my pocket.

  I glanced over at Joe. When I turned my attention back to Holden, I noted, “It looks like you did a bit more than just prevent him from starting another fire.”

  Holden didn’t respond. He also didn’t deny it.

  “How deep is this for you?” I wondered.

  Holden blinked his eyes at me. “Pardon?”

  “You know who I’m talking about and you know why I’m asking,” I countered. “You’ve never gotten this emotionally involved in a case before. And you were good on this one up until a cute blonde had her yoga studio go up in flames.”

  Holden narrowed his eyes and added, “She was inside it when that happened.”

  “I know,” I began. “I saw the aftermath just like you. Trent saw it, too. The only difference is that neither of us took a few extra unnecessary swings at a guy who stood no chance.”

  “I wouldn’t call them unnecessary,” Holden reasoned.

  I grinned. “If it were Zara, I’d probably be saying the same thing, which is why I’m asking how deep this is for you.”

  After a few beats of silence, Holden declared, “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

  Before I had the chance to respond, we heard the sirens. Seconds later, Detective Baines arrived with several other units. Fire Chief Flint also showed up.

  For the next couple hours, Holden, Trent, and I brought Detective Baines up to speed. We explained how we made the connection, and I mentioned the cigar we found outside Leni’s studio that helped us put it together. Holden went into the details of what had happened leading up to Joe being put into cuffs. He may have mentioned tripping once or twice on the gravel in the lot, which is why Joe ended up slightly bloodied and bruised. Detective Baines shook his head and rolled his eyes at that before he went on to assess the evidence.

  Sure enough, the exact same brand cigar that had been bagged as evidence outside Leni’s studio was the same brand found today. The Molotov only added to the damning proof.

  Joe knew it and didn’t try to deny it.

  “This town took everything from me,” he grumbled. “I worked hard, paid my dues, and had my business stolen right out from under me.”

  It was hard not to feel even the slightest bit sympathetic toward the guy. At least, I did. I did not, for one second, condone anything he’d done or the lives he’d taken. All of it was unforgivable. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t understand his motive.

  Ultimately, it wasn’t for me to decide what happened to him moving forward. My team and I worked together and did our job. Now it was someone else’s turn to decide what happened to Joe and if his actions could be forgiven in any way.

  On the bright side, I could now get in my truck and drive back to my woman. And when I got there, I wouldn’t need to worry that a call would come through about another fire being set. My focus could be on helping Zara work through whatever she needed to work through.

  Ten minutes later, I arrived at her place and shot up the stairs on the side of the building that led to the loft. Seconds after I knocked on the door, it opened.

  Blaze came barreling forward to greet me. I stepped inside, closed the door, and bent down to pet him on the head, but I didn’t take my eyes off the sight in front of me.

  Zara stood there in a pair of sweats and a tank top. Her hair was pulled back away from her face. She was wearing her glasses, which I’d normally find adorable. Sadly, her eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

  “Baby,” I comforted, wrapping my arms around her.

  The second her body was pressed against mine, she broke down sobbing. I held her tight, touching my lips to the top of her head where I whispered, “I
t’s okay, beautiful.”

  “It was awful,” she mumbled.

  “I’m sorry,” I returned, stroking my hands up and down her back.

  Zara stood there in my arms for a long time before she settled down and looked up at me. Seeing her tear-stained cheeks broke my heart.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

  She nodded and suggested, “We should probably go sit down.”

  I followed her over to the couch, where I sat and brought her close to me. She put her head in my lap and sighed, “I have such a headache.”

  Immediately, I moved my hands to her head and began massaging her scalp. Zara’s eyes drifted shut, and she moaned, “Oh, that feels amazing.”

  I couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “I’m glad.”

  “Did you catch your guy?” she wondered.

  “Yeah. We got him. And considering all the damning evidence at the scene, we wouldn’t have needed the confession he gave. It feels good to know we’ve finally put this case to bed.”

  “Can you tell me what happened?” she asked, as I continued to massage. “Or is that still confidential information?”

  “Detective Baines said the police chief is going to have to make an official statement to the press anyway, so you’ll eventually hear all the details. Basically, it was the owner of a cigar shop in town. His business, which had been handed down to him by his father, was essentially ripped out from under him.”

  “How?”

  “The property his business was built on butted up to the Windsor School District property. They sought to take the property under eminent domain. Even though he hired an attorney and tried to fight them, he lost.”

  Zara’s eyes shot open, and she stared up at me flabbergasted. “That poor man!” she cried. “What is he supposed to do about work now?”

  I offered a sympathetic smile, stopped massaging, and explained, “Well, he was given more than fair compensation from the district, but he still wasn’t happy. I don’t believe this was about the money for him. Obviously, he supported his family with it, but it was more about the fact that this was a family legacy. His father opened the business, passed it to him, and he wanted to pass it on to his son.”

  Zara frowned. “That’s awful. But I don’t understand why he decided to start burning businesses down all over town.”

  “Remember when I said people do wrong things for all the right reasons?” I reminded her.

  She took a moment to process what I said and sighed, “Now it makes sense. I can’t help but feel sorry for him, but he sought revenge in the worst way possible. I mean, Leni’s studio is gone and she could have died. I remember there was a mother and a baby who died above that restaurant because of what he did. As horrible as his situation was, it’s not justification for meting out revenge on innocent people.”

  “Luckily, we aren’t the ones who have to decide what happens next,” I began as I removed the tie from her hair so I could run my fingers through it. “All we can do is try to help those who were affected by what he did and try our best to move on.”

  For the first time since I arrived, Zara smiled. “That’s a great idea. I’d like to try and figure out a way to help Leni rebuild her studio. I know someone else will handle the construction efforts, but once that’s all squared away, I want to help her get back up and running. In the meantime, I’m going to try to go to as many of her classes wherever she’s going to be teaching. And I’m going to tell all of my customers about it, too.”

  “You’ve got such an amazing heart, Zara.”

  And just as fast as I’d seen her smile, it vanished. “I wish you weren’t the only one that felt that way.”

  “Tell me what happened,” I urged, giving her hip a gentle squeeze. I still had one hand running through her locks, hoping it offered her relief from her headache as well as a bit of encouragement.

  “It’s never going to be what it used to be, Pierce,” she murmured. “You know how things started here with her. After you left, tension was still pretty high. And I lost it a little when she tried to say something about you.”

  “What?”

  Zara gave me a disbelieving look and shared, “She said you seemed controlling.”

  My eyes widened.

  Zara continued, “I told her you were off limits. I mean, I know she saw you as controlling because you stood up to her and told her that you weren’t going to tolerate me being upset. I don’t think she expected that. But it blew my mind that she had something negative to say about you when you were only doing what you felt was necessary to protect me. Michelle actually did bad things that my mother knows about and aside from just acknowledging that Michelle did those things and admitting they were wrong, my mom hasn’t said one ill word about her. I’m sorry, but that’s not okay.”

  I grinned at her.

  “What’s so funny?” she wondered.

  “You defended me, baby. It feels good to know you love me that much,” I stated.

  Zara returned a small smile and teased, “As if you didn’t already know.”

  “Hey, you can never be too sure,” I joked.

  She shook her head, sadness washing over her. “I can. You love me, Pierce. And you fiercely protect me. I’d be a fool not to cherish that, especially when I know how hard it is to find someone who will genuinely always be there for you.”

  While I loved that she felt so strongly for me, I hated that she had gone through such heartache.

  “How bad did it get here?” I questioned, concerned that things may have gotten out of control.

  “It started heated and we went back and forth a bit, but it eventually mellowed out. I took her downstairs and showed her my shop. I only did it because she asked to see it. Honestly, I’m not sure if she actually really cared about seeing it or if she just thought it was what I wanted. She ended up leaving about twenty minutes before you got here. We weren’t yelling or fighting with one another, but I can feel the awkward strain between us.”

  This didn’t make sense to me. She was shredded when I walked in the door. “I don’t understand, Zara. Why were you in tears when I got back?”

  Her eyes welled with tears before she admitted, “Because it finally hit me today just like it did when you flew back to Pennsylvania with me for Nicola’s funeral. I think I just realized after she left that this is it. It’s never going to be what it was. She’s my mom. I love her and I always will. I’ll never completely cut her off, but we’ll never have again what we used to have between us. My feelings of resentment run too deep and I’m not sure she’s in a place where she truly wants to understand them and help heal the hurt. It would take the both of us trying for it to work, and her unwillingness to actually talk about it makes it impossible for us to fix it.”

  I hated this for her. While I’d admitted that I believed I’d be unable to forgive easily if I were put in a similar situation, I couldn’t actually imagine what it felt like to be in her shoes. The thought of my family doing to me what Zara’s had done to her was something I couldn’t fathom. Knowing how close I was with my family, especially my sister, the idea of not having them in my life hurt.

  “I’m sorry, beautiful,” I lamented. “What can I do for you?”

  She gave me another small smile and assured me, “You’re already doing it.”

  I bent forward and pressed a kiss to her soft lips. When I pulled back to look at her, she noted, “You owe me dinner and a movie.”

  Laughing, I promised, “I’ll make it up to you.”

  A few moments of silence passed before I asked, “So, where’s your mom now?”

  “She booked a hotel before she came out here. She’s heading back home late tomorrow evening. I told her I’d call her in the morning and we could meet up for brunch. Is that alright with you?”

  I dipped my chin. “Yeah, whatever you need.”

  “Since our plans got a little screwed up tonight, would you and Blaze like to spend the night tonight?”

  Grinning, I nodd
ed.

  “How about I make us some food before you take me to bed?” she suggested.

  “How about you rest on the couch here while I make us some food since you’ve got a headache?”

  Zara curled her body into mine. “You’re so good to me, Pierce.”

  “I love you, Zara.”

  She tipped her head back to look at me. “I love you, too.”

  With that, I scooted out from underneath Zara and let her relax while I made us some food. After we ate, I took Blaze out for a quick walk. When I came back, I got him settled. Callie had already made herself comfortable and Zara was curled up on the couch waiting for me. I slid my arms under her body and carried her to bed.

  Four months later

  Pierce’s palm was pressed against my chest, between my breasts, as I worked my hips over him. We were in his bed, it was just after breakfast, and we’d come back upstairs to continue the celebration.

  Today was my birthday.

  Pierce’s was tomorrow.

  The two of us learned that our birthdays were so close a few months ago. When we did, we decided that we’d take the days off from work and celebrate. It worked out great since mid-January wasn’t exactly a busy time for me. We were fortunate that Pierce didn’t have a particularly unpredictable case he was working that could possibly pull him away.

  So, we made the plan and were in full celebration mode.

  Pierce’s hand moved from the center of my chest to the side, where he cupped one breast. His thumb swiped over my nipple, sending a shot of pleasure right between my legs.

  “Pierce,” I breathed.

  In that instant, his hand slid to the side of my body while his other tightened on my hip. Then, he lifted and flipped me to my back. His body came over mine, and he drove in deep. My thighs were pressed tight to his side, my hands frantically running over his heated skin as my mouth found and captured his.

  I loved this with him.

  From the very first time we were together until now, I always loved the way our bodies felt together. Even though I wasn’t comfortable with myself in the beginning, I still knew how good I felt sharing my body with him. It was phenomenal the first time and had only gotten better since.

 

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