Page 70 of To Bring You Back
Harper. Despite the words, the fact she was sending texts ruled out the worst possibilities.
He sent a reply.People are concerned. You need to let them know where you are.
I’m letting you know.
Because he’d shut her down earlier, she was turning up the dramatics. If he bit by continuing the conversation, she’d think he was coming around. He abandoned the phone and powered up the equipment he’d need to make the recordings for Adeline.
His cell lit up again.
I’m coming to Lakeshore. I need to see you. I don’t know what else to do.
That, he couldn’t let slide.You can’t come here, Harper.
Something special had happened tonight when he sang for Adeline, but their relationship remained fragile. He finished his set up, chose a guitar, and pulled the strap onto his shoulder before glancing at the phone again.
I’m two hours away. Please. I wouldn’t ask if this weren’t an emergency.
She was that close? She must’ve gotten on a plane not long after their last conversation.
This windowless room, with its closed door and soundproofing, gave the impression of privacy. An illusion. Word about Harper’s visit might already be spreading. If he allowed her on the property, the speculations would have teeth.
Adeline said she cared more about reality, but she’d care about those rumors.
You’re not welcome here.Strong wording, but he had to guard what he had with Adeline. He dropped the phone onto the desk and drew a breath to clear his head.
The screen lit up again.
He glared at it, but she’d said this was an emergency. What if it was?
He picked up the phone.
There’s nowhere else I can go.
With the text, she’d included a selfie, one of her pretty blue eyes staring at the camera, the other swollen by a bruise that extended halfway down her cheek. A ragged line of broken skin ran along her temple.
How was that possible? She’d claimed the last injuries were from falling, and he’d seen the footage. No one had entered the apartment. But here she was, injured again, looking for a place to go. Was it abuse after all? If so, how had the guy avoided the security camera the first time?
Gannon hit the call button, but she didn’t answer.
Another text hit his phone.Please.
19
Apiece of equipment malfunctioned with a crash in the middle of Awestruck’s concert. Screeching beeps pierced the music with such ferocity that Adeline could no longer make out the words Gannon sang. Then a dog started barking, and someone jostled her arm.
Adeline opened her eyes to find Bruce next to her bed, forcing his head under her arm as the high-pitched beeps from her dream continued. The fire alarm? Was the battery dying? She struggled to interpret the noise through the haze of sleep.
Bruce trotted from the bed to the closed bedroom door, barking again. Her phone still played, audible between the alarm’s shrieks. She grabbed it and paused Awestruck’s music. The smoke alarm didn’t beep like this over a low battery. Either it was malfunctioning, or there was a fire.
She went to the door. A snatch of fire safety training from elementary school resurfaced, and she touched the back of her hand to the doorknob to test for heat.
Normal temperature. She turned the knob.
The window in the living room, straight down the hall from her bedroom, burned orange with flames, both outside and on the curtains inside. Bruce, still barking, made a break for it, but she caught his collar.
Tegan’s door opened between Adeline and the living room, and her roommate rushed toward the flames.
“Tegan!”
