Page 52 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

Once we were outside, the fire truck pulled up against the curb. I grabbed Kyrie’s hand and went to the truck to meet them. When I saw Bransford, I wanted to roll my eyes. He quickly approached and asked, “Are y’all okay, Chief?”

“Yes. We got the fire contained with fire extinguishers and water, but please go check it out.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I nodded at him. When I glanced up at Kyrie, I saw him feverishly typing on his phone. While I wanted to help himthrough it, like he did with me earlier, I remained quiet. It was too soon for that. I was just grateful this didn’t happen while we were asleep. It could have been so much worse. It almost felt like whoever was doing this just wanted to scare him. If they wanted to kill him, I truly believed he would be dead by now.

They would have set the house on fire without making a sound. When they hit him, they could have rammed him a second time right in his door, possibly killing him instantly. They could have had better aim and shot him at the soup kitchen. There were too many instances that he’d survived. Had they wanted him gone, there would have been no chance of survival when they were done. I slid my hand over my face as I watched the firefighters grab the hose, preparing to go over the affected area once again.

After Kyrie slid his phone in his pocket, I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me close. I wrapped my arms around him, doing my best to console him. When he pulled away, he asked, “Is it okay for me to stay with you?”

“Of course. That goes without asking. I love being in your intimate space.”

“Thank you, baby. I can’t wait until this is all over. I’m sick of this shit.”

“I know you are. They must be getting close to figuring things out for them to restart the threats and attempts on your life. Just hold on.”

“I have no choice but to hold on. I’m ready to get to the bottom of this.”

“Me too. I can imagine you’re tired of having to look over your shoulder.”

He nodded as I noticed Detective Johnson approaching us. “We caught him.”

Our eyebrows lifted in shock. We stared at her, waiting for her to reveal what she knew. She cleared her throat and said, “Brad Coler.”

My mouth fell open. That man came all the way to Beaumont, Texas, to wreak havoc.But why?Kyrie and I both frowned. I was confused as hell, and I was sure Kyrie was just as confused. Sensing our confusion, she said, “Mister Coler is the son of Missy Coler… your dad’s mistress.”

With as dark complexioned as Kyrie was, he turned completely red. “You have to be kidding me. Why is he after me?”

“That’s what we have to find out once we get him booked. I’m pretty sure you will be coming to the police station to listen in on the interrogation if he doesn’t lawyer up.”

“Absolutely. Do you think this has anything to do with my other issue?”

“I don’t think so, but we are going to find out as soon as we can.”

I wrapped my arms around Kyrie as his mother came running toward us. She must have parked down the street. She stopped and took a huge breath in, then blew it out when she saw us. I was sure it was one of relief. I wasn’t sure how she knew anything had happened. If Kyrie had texted her, she would have known that he was okay. She crashed into him, but he didn’t seem to want to be bothered at the moment. I gently grabbed her hand and pulled her away from him.

“Kyrie! What’s going on?” she asked.

“The man you called a husband… the man you want me to forgive is the reason for this. The son of the woman he was fucking is trying to kill me. Apparently, he’s trying to exact his revenge on me since Kenneth is no longer here. But you want me to love him and forgive him. His sins nearly destroyed my house and could have killed us in there! What if we would havebeen asleep and not heard a thing? Huh? We would be severely injured or worse!”

Ms. Carolyn’s body trembled in my arms, and a tear slid down her cheek. “I’m sorry, son. I just wanted you to release the anger you felt and move on with your life. It’s not healthy. Again, despite all of this, he loved you.”

“I don’t want to hear that shit right now.”

Kyrie walked away from us, and Ms. Carolyn buried her face in my shoulder. “I just wanted him to free himself from the bondage hatred brings. His father wasn’t perfect, but he loved him perfectly. He was a good father, and I could never take that away from him. Kyrie chooses to focus on how piss poor of a husband he was instead. I need him to focus on who Kenneth Patrick was tohim,not to me.”

“I understand, Ms. Carolyn, but I can guarantee that this isn’t the right time for that. He’s probably angrier about his father’s infidelity and demise more than he has ever been right now. His father’s infidelity has come back years later and threatened his life.”

“You’re right. I just can’t understand why anyone would want Kyrie to suffer for what his father did.”

“He was an easy target. Mister Patrick is no longer here, so someone has to suffer for his sins, although I feel like he paid the ultimate price when he died in that plane crash.”

“Yeah, but unfortunately, so did his mistress. It probably seems like Kenneth was responsible for her death as well.”

I nodded as I watched Kyrie pace back and forth while Detective Johnson talked to him. My heart went out to him at this moment. Although I was in just as much danger in there as he was, the issue surrounding what happened had caused me to forget about my own issues to focus on his. He was hurting, and there was nothing more I wanted than to be consoling him instead of his mother right now.

Pulling away from her, I said, “Let me go check on him.”

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