Page 62 of The Hardest Part

It sounded like someone banging on the front door, but who would be here at this ungodly hour? Surely, it was a loose shutter or something.The wind.She ignored it.

But it came again, loud and insistent.

“Fuck’s sake.” She threw off the covers. “Hold your damn horses. I’m comin’.”

Her mother got to the door right behind her.

Emily opened it, and the cold winter air, along with snow from the lintel, blasted her in the face. “Jesus.”

Barefoot, wearing only a camisole and panties, Arien cradled her baby brother to her chest.

“Fucking hell.” And she pushed the door all the way open. “Get in here before you both freeze to death.”

They walked her to the sofa, Kim grabbing a throw off the back of it. She wrapped it around Arien, and sitting her down, she gently took the bundled infant from her arms. “You all right, Benjie?”

He gazed up at his aunt with big blue eyes and a gummy grin, proudly displaying his two bottom teeth.

“Thank goodness,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Arien, honey, what happened?”

But she sat just there, staring straight ahead, shaking, her teeth chattering so hard she couldn’t speak.

“I’m going to call Matty, start a fire, and make some tea to get something warm in her.” Her gaze never leaving Arien, Kim tapped on her phone. “You go get her some clothes.”

“He was supposed to fly out to Denver this mornin’, remember?”

“Shit, that’s right. I’ll call the boys then,” she said and started all over again. “And Victor.”

“Victor?” Glancing up at her mother, Emily cocked her head. “Why?”

“Arien and the baby need a good looking over, that’s why.”

Oh.

“La…la…” Her eyes wide, Arien pointed a shaky finger at the door. “Lock it.”

“What on earth? She’s terrified.” Kim moved over to the door and locked it. No one ever locked their doors here. “Everything’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. You’re safe.”

“Nooo.” She shook her head. “I think he wants to kill us.”

The fuck? Who?

The sky had just lightened from charcoal to a heavy purplish-gray when Jake and his father arrived. Emily had Arien dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and leggings, a pair of warm, fuzzy socks on her ice-cold feet. She fitfully dozed on the sofa, Benjamin asleep in a makeshift cot beside her. With a fire roaring in the hearth, Kim set out coffee for them all.

“I spoke to Kellan. He and Tanner should be here any minute,” her mom said, pouring a cup for Victor. “They’re stopping at the house to grab some diapers and bottles for the baby. At least she had the wherewithal to bundle him in a blanket. He seems to be all right. It’s Arien I’m worried about.”

“Has she said anything else?” he asked, glancing at Arien.

“No.”

And after what she’d already said, they were almost too afraid to press for more.

“We thought we should let her rest until y’all got here.” Emily traced the veins on the back of Jake’s hand that rested in her palm. “Then she’ll only have to tell the story once.”

“I don’t want her traumatized even more, especially in her condition. She was shaken up pretty badly.” Kim exhaled, her teeth raking over her bottom lip. “Those boys are gonna tear this town apart lookin’ for whoever did this.”

The notion that someone in Brookside had to be the culprit seemed preposterous. “It could be an outsider, couldn’t it?”

“Doubt it.” Exchanging a glance with his father, Jake gave her hand a squeeze.

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