Page 49 of Room One Hundred & Twenty-One: Kiss of Fire

“I’m okay. Just scared.” I swipe at my tears, not wanting him to see how shook up I am. I know if he did, he’d march right over there and kill Stan with his bare hands.

“The police are on their way. You’re safe now.” He pulls me into his arms and gently rocks me while I cry.

“He said it was my fault and?—”

“Shhh. Don’t worry about that now. We’ll get this sorted once the police get here.”

Emotions overwhelm me and I can’t hold back my sobs. “I’m sorry, Noah. I didn’t mean?—”

“Hey. I don’t wanna hear that. You have nothing to be sorry for.” He holds me close and kisses the side of my head. “We never should’ve left you tonight.”

“How did you get here so fast?”

“We actually weren’t that far. We were at Salvatore’s. It’s only about twenty minutes away from here,” Brody answers from across the small room.

“We were hoping if given a little time, you might change your mind and come home with us. So we decided to have a drink while we waited you out, beautiful.” For once, Chance’s smile is bashful and it might be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Noah lifts my chin and gazes into my eyes. “If anything ever happened to you…”

“I think it’s safe to say nothing like this will ever happen again.”

“Just to be sure, I’m not letting you out of our sight.”

I nod my head slowly while considering his words. “I’d be okay with that.” I give him a watery smile, and he holds me until the police arrive.

17

BRODY

“Here.” I hand Selena a cup of chamomile tea while she sits on the sofa next to Chance. He gently rubs her back in small circles as he nestles her into his side.

“Thank you,” she replies with a sad smile.

Anger burns me up from the inside out when I think about Stan and how he hurt our girl. I don’t know what I would’ve done if we hadn’t gotten here sooner and he’d done something far worse than what he already did. As it is now, her usually radiant skin looks ashen and her cheek is swollen and red. If he hadn’t been taken away into police custody, I’d probably be strangling him right now.

An officer leans forward with his elbows on his knees and turns to her. “Can you tell me what happened?”

She inhales a shuddering breath before answering. “I was getting ready for bed when I heard knocking at the door. The guys had just left and I wasn’t expecting anyone, so I tried to ignore it and hoped it would go away.” Her hands shake around her floral mug.

“Take your time. Just tell me what you can remember.”

“The knocking became louder, and it was… ominous, maybe? Like he was trying to scare me or something. I had no intention of seeing who it was, but I did want to check the locks. So I tried to quietly get to the front door. But I must’ve forgotten to secure it—it’s been a while since I’ve stayed here—and before I could do anything, he burst inside.” Tears spill down her cheeks as she addresses Chance. “I’m sorry. I was careless and this is all my fault,” she cries.

He shushes her and strokes her hair before kissing the top of her head. “This is not your fault, beautiful. He shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

“He just kept rambling about all this debt, and his father, and being cut off from his trust fund. I don’t know what he was saying but he blamed me for everything. Said I cost him a lot of money today.”

“You did nothing of the sort,” I assure her. “Stan made his own mess and has no one to blame for that but himself. He found a struggling company and took advantage of them, hoping to earn a quick buck. When it backfired, you just happened to be the closest target for his wrath.” I shake my head with guilt. “We never should’ve put you in that position.”

“You didn’t.”

I hate seeing her like this and can’t take it anymore. “She’s already told this to the other officers. Can we wrap this up?”

The officer senses my concerns and shuts his small notepad. “I think we have what we need.”

I give him my card and he promises to be in touch soon.

Chance holds Selena tighter and wipes away her tears. “What do you want to do, beautiful?”

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