Page 45 of Sawyer
Footsteps thundered once again. This time, only one person. This time, coming for her. And she knew escaping wasn’t going to be an option. But if she could get to a room, she could lock the door. She needed time to think.
Alone.
A voice echoed in the back of her head. Not her stepbrother’s voice. A different voice. A warmer voice that told her… something she couldn’t quite make out. It was too fuzzy.
She made it to the bathroom, slammed and locked the door. With her back to the door, she slid to the floor and wept.
CHAPTER 15
Sawyer wasn’t prepared for the way Lele looked at him. He felt it like a punch to the chest, knocking the breath right out of him. It was like he’d promised her there were places in the world that were safe, and then snatched the promise away. That was exactly what he’d done.
It gutted him. Nearly dropped him to his knees. But he’d fix it. He’d spend the rest of his life fixing it. Hell, he’d spend the rest of his life just making sure she never wore that expression again. The irony was, that was what he’d been trying to do.
He’d beenthis close. One more meeting. Just one, to bring his brothers up to speed. Then he could have gone to her without the guilt staining him. He could’ve gone to her clean.
It had taken him a week to pull his head out of his ass and admit what his gut had been screaming since day one. Lele hadn’t set up Jaxon.
A week ago, he’d been chasing after proof of her guilt. Now? He was hell-bent on proving her innocence. First to his brothers. Then to every other person in the world who dared to doubt her.She hadn’t been driving that damn car. He knew it down to the marrow of his bones. Down in the dark, secret corners of his soul.
After today’s meeting, he’d planned on explaining everything to her. Gently, without the sharp edges he knew were going to slice her when she found out.
Now she had locked herself in the bathroom. Away from him. Because of him. Her sobs echoed on the other side of the locked door. And the sound…God…the sound was driving nails through his ribs, straight into his heart.
“Lele? Half-Pint, open the door. I can make this better, but I need you in my arms while I do. I need to see you. I need to know you to understand.”
“G-g-go away! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“Please, babygirl. Open the door so we can talk.”
Reid’s voice came from right behind him. “Give her some space, brother. Let her breathe and work it through. She’ll come around. She and Georgia hit it off. Maybe she should stay with Hutch for a day or two. The girls can all go over and work their magic. You know they have that.”
Sawyer shook his head. That might be the right play for women who hadn’t been betrayed by everyone they’d ever trusted. But not Lele. Not his Half-Pint. And Hector. Fuck. Hector had betrayed her, too.
Sawyer knew it. He just didn’t have the proof. Yet. He knew part of him didn’t want to find it because it was going to gut her. It would be just one more hole in her heart.
That’s why he needed to get to her. He needed to be there for her when those blows fell. But she couldn’t see that right now because she didn’t know.
He knew her headspace right now. She was a wounded Little girl who thought she’d been betrayed by her Daddy. That was the last thing he’d do. He’d gone about it all wrong by keeping things from her. At first, he was doing his best forJaxson, but once he got to know her, he wanted to protect her, too. The problem was, things had gotten out of his control.
Two weeks together wasn’t much time, but he’d spent nearly every second with her, either with her in person or watching her on the cameras. He couldn’t get enough of her. The way she mumbled to herself when she thought no one was listening. The way she sang ridiculous songs in the kitchen at the top of her lungs. She had to bake one and a half batches of cookies for everyone she looked after because she ate half the first batch herself.
And those curves—soft, lush, dangerous. Thirty years he’d been waiting, and now here she was. The new center of his life. His Little girl. His one. His only. No one else would ever fit him like Lele Cortez did.
He slapped the door with the flat of his hand. “Lele, open up. Not knowing if you’re okay is killing me. I need to know you’re okay.”
Nothing. Just her muffled breathing.
He leaned his head against the door and let it thud, once, twice. “I just fuckin’ need you.”
Finally, she gave him her words. Not the ones he wanted to hear, but it was better than silence. “No. I told you to go away. I want to go back to Elk Jaw.”
“I’ll take you. I promise. Just open the door.”
Anger filled her reply, but he’d take that, too. Anger was a hell of a lot better than despair. “No. I don’t wantyouto take me. I don’t want you anywhere near me. I want someone else. And I want to go now.”
No. They were not ending this before they ever got to begin. Life owed her better. A hell of a lot better. And life would be giving her that through him. He’d take any scrap she gave him, but he wasn’t letting go.
“I can’t do that, babygirl. You don’t have to open the door. But I need you to do something for me.”
