Page 23 of I Choose You
Claire’s name lit up my cell. I debated about letting it go to voicemail just so I wouldn’t have to listen to these idiots if I answered her, but I couldn’t make myself do it.
“Hey, what’s up?” I answered.
“I didn’t… I didn’t know… who else to call.” Claire’s voice was strained and quiet. It sounded like she was close to tears. My stomach dropped, and my heart stopped. What could have possibly happened to her in the past hour since she left?
“What happened? What’s wrong?” Panic crawled up my throat.
Her breathing was stuttered on the other end of the line, and she was sniffling.
“Talk to me, Claire. What happened? Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. I went to the bar at the hotel when I got back. There was an altercation.” She stopped to sniffle again, trying to collect herself.
My brain was trying to put pieces together that didn’t make any sense. I was jumping to conclusions, expecting her to say something ridiculous, like that she had been staying at the Cove’s End this whole time.
“The guy was waving a gun around. The bartender had to tackle him to the ground and knock him out. The police are here now, and it’s total chaos. I don’t know what to do.”
Before I knew what I was doing, I was on my feet. “Claire. Where are you?”
There was no way. Absolutely no way that Claire DeLuca—senator’s daughter, prim and put-together Claire DeLuca—was staying at that abomination.
“Cove’s End Motel, down on Mulberry Street.”
“Fuck. Claire, I’m on my way.”
“You don’t have to come down here,” she said. “I just needed to call someone. I was kind of shaken up, and I just needed… someone.”
“I’m on my way,” I told her again.
I turned to Wyatt and Wes. They were both watching me,listening to the conversation.
“Let’s go,” Wes said, out of his chair in an instant.
“We need to get her the fuck out of there,” Wyatt chimed in.
“You guys stay here. I’ve got her.”
I raced to the door without a backward glance. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I just felt like I needed to get there.
The streets were mostly empty, people either making their way home or to Harpoon’s or Courtside, the two bars in town, after the tree lighting ended. The one stoplight in town was red as I made my way up to it. I was seriously debating if I should just blow through it, but it changed to green before I had to make that call. Thank fuck.
Red and blue flashed up ahead in a dizzying array of lights. I pulled up to the curb as close as I could and jumped out of my truck. Police cruisers, ambulances, and fire trucks were lined up in the parking lot, creating a blockade between the street and the motel’s bar and restaurant. As I came around the vehicles that were barricading the entrance, I was faced with a sea of people. Police, patrons, spectators from the motel—they’d all come out to watch.
Rusty Burgess was in cuffs, sitting on the ground, with a couple of officers keeping him company. Rusty’s trouble with alcohol was well-known around town. He may have been a “fun” drunk twenty years ago, but he’d turned into the town drunk over the years.
James Clayton was talking animatedly with two other police officers. As the bartender here, he’d probably had the best vantage point for whatever went down. His hands waved wildly as he reenacted the events. I saw him make the universal hand sign for a gun and gesture it around in the air.
I continued to scan the faces in the crowd.
In the back, huddled up against the side of the building, was Claire. I pushed through the throng of people to make my way to her. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and immediately, her chin started quivering. I wrapped my arms around her and brought her into my chest, holding her close for a long while. A couple of minutes? More? I honestly couldn’t say. My heart cracked every time she tried to catch her breath and couldn’t get enough air. Claire was sunshine personified. So much so that I resented her for it during the first few weeks of our acquaintance. But I would give anything to get that sunshine spark back for her. This distress was doing things to my heart that I didn’t know what to do with.
She didn’t have a coat on, and I could feel her shivering against me. I rubbed my hands up and down her arms, trying to warm her up. She hadn’t spoken or moved since I showed up, only staring and shivering. I sandwiched her arms between my chest and hers, pressing her to me as tightly as I could. My hand held the back of her head as I breathed her in.
Safe.
She was safe.
I pulled back and held her face in my hands, studying her. “Come on, Claire. Let’s get you out of here.”
