Page 78 of A Lonely Road
Several long minutes passed before I felt steady enough to say, “I don’t even know how to thank you.”
John settled his hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to thank me. I should’ve tracked that bastard down years ago. This is on me.”
I didn’t agree with that, but I wasn’t sure there were any words that could convince him otherwise. John let out a harsh breath and scrubbed a hand over his jaw.
“I should have been there for her after her mother walked away, instead of letting her gallivant all over the country, but I let my own pain get in the way. I buried my head in the sand instead of making sure she was okay.”
“Do you really think Nora would let you stop her from gallivanting?” I asked.
A startled laugh burst from his lips. “No, I guess not. I saw your face in there, Jake. If there had been any doubt in my mind that you love her—and believe me, there wasn’t—that would've been enough to convince me.”
“She’s everything to me.” The quiet admission hung in the air between us.
“You’ve done more for her in the short time she’s known you than I did in thirty years. You just promise me you’ll keep on loving her, and the rest will work itself out.”
Though my heart squeezed painfully, I nodded. “Yes, sir, that I can promise.”
We fell silent again until Roberts came up behind us and cleared his throat. “We’re all finished here. You two can go on back inside.”
John stood and shook Roberts’ hand. They exchanged a look, then spoke in an undertone so low I couldn’t make out any of the conversation before Roberts clapped him on the back and started down the steps.
When Nora appeared in the doorway, John hugged her close and kissed her forehead. “I’m going to head home, let you two settle in. Call me if you need anything, all right?”
Nora tightened her arms around him before she took a step back, her glance flitting over the holstered taser at his hip. “Is that thing even legal?” she asked.
He winked at her but didn’t answer, simply nodded to me and strode back toward the apartment. I waited until he was out of view before I slipped my hand into hers, twining our fingers together. She curled into my side, leaning her head against my shoulder.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hold onto you for the next seventy-two hours or so,” I said quietly.
“I don’t mind at all. In fact, I can’t think of anything I’d like better.”
Hand in hand, we entered the house, locking the door securely behind us.Nora paused once we were inside. Slowly, her gaze traveled along the hallway, through the kitchen, out onto the deck.
There was no visible trace of the pain and terror we’d experienced, but the echoes still reverberated around inside my ribcage, making it difficult not to grab her and run away from it all.
For her, I forced myself to keep still, to let her lead the way.
With my hand wrapped securely around hers, she stayed just inside the doorway for a long moment, seeming to draw comfort from my steady presence at her side. She glanced at my face and I lifted a questioning brow, so she tugged me toward thestairs.
Without a word, we went up to the bedroom and pulled off our bloodstained clothing. The impulse to chuck it all into an incinerator struck me hard, but first things first. As my worried gaze lingered on Nora’s face, she simply nodded toward the bed and crawled under the covers. I followed, wrapping her in my arms.
It was a long time before either of us spoke. With her head resting on my chest, I let the soft warmth of her fill me with a sense of overwhelming peace. I stroked my fingers lightly over her hair, pausing every so often to press my lips against the top of her head.
“I’ve never been so scared in my entire life,” she whispered eventually, just as twilight began to fall outside the bedroom window. The words trembled from her lips and my heart clenched hard in my chest. “Not even when we thought my mother might be dead.”
“I’m right there with you. When he lowered the knife . . .” I broke off, rubbing my other hand over my face. “I thought that was it. I thought I was going to watch you die right in front of me and not be able to do a single goddamn thing about it. I was getting ready to throw myself at the pair of you just to try to deflect it when I saw your dad come in.”
She buried her face against my chest, her frame shuddering under my hands as the tears finally came, wetting my skin like a cleansing rainfall. I held her there, stroked her hair, kissed her forehead, wiped her cheeks with my thumbs, until she let out a shaky breath.
“He was there the night Scarpella grabbed me at The Mermaid. He saw it, all of it. He’s been watching us.”
I tipped her chin up to meet her eyes. “He’s gone now. We’re safe.”
“Yeah.” The word was barely more than a breath.
“I love you,” I whispered.
Her lips curved just a touch, those dark eyes going warm and soft. “I love you. I know you only wanted to hold me, but do you think . . . would you mind kissing me instead?”
