Page 27 of Montana Freedom

Shock rolled through me. I wasn’t angry—desperation made people do things—but I was surprised. From everything she’d told me so far, Emma seemed fairly straitlaced.

“I broke a window, and I didn’t see the piece of metal sticking out of the frame until it was cutting me. I took what I needed, and I’m planning to pay it all back when I can.”

I felt Charlie’s shock too.

“Well,” Charlie said with a soft laugh. “That solves that mystery. The store had insurance, but—”

“I’ll cover it, Charlie,” I interrupted him. “Whatever the damages were, I’ll cover it in the interim.”

As far as I was concerned, she never had to pay me back, but I already knew she wasn’t the kind of woman to let that stand.

He nodded. “Good. I’ll let the owners of Arrowhead know what happened and the unique circumstances. They’re pretty reasonable, so hopefully they won’t want to press charges. I’ll do my best to handle it without using your name publicly.”

Emma wilted in relief. “Thank you.”

That was the source of her fear. She was terrified Simon was going to find her because she’d spoken to Charlie. Given the way she’s said he’d found her before, it wasn’t an unreasonable fear.

“Need anything else, Charlie?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. If I have any questions, I’ll pass them on to you.”

“Great.”

He stood, and I followed him outside with a backward glance at Emma. She’d melted into the chair, seemingly exhausted, clutching the cup of coffee to her chest.

I shut the door behind us. “Thank you for coming out.”

“No problem.” His face was more tense than he’d been inside. “I don’t think she’s telling the whole story.”

“I don’t either, but I’m not exactly shocked. Hopefully she’ll take me up on my offer to go see Rayne.”

Hands on his hips, Charlie looked at the ground. “Yeah. Can’t argue with that logic. Keep an eye on her for me.”

I smiled. “Will do.” As if I could force myself to do anything else. Even now, I wanted to go back inside to make sure she was okay. Talk to her. Feel the way she looked at me and revel in the feeling of someone’s trust, misplaced as it possibly was.

Charlie retreated to his cruiser, and I watched him until he disappeared down the drive, past the trees. I stayed outside for a few minutes longer, trying to wrap my head around my thoughts. And reconcile the fact that Emma was cracking the shell I’d carefully built around myself, and I wasn’t as determined as I should to keep it solid.

I was insomuch trouble.

Chapter9

Daniel

The cage doorslammedclosed on Emma, and I lunged for her, trying to break her free. But the sound of the slamming didn’t stop. Over and over and over, the sound knocked through my skull while I watched her disappear into nothing.

Still, the sound kept going, and I sat up in my bed, my body finally understanding whatever the hell the sound was, it wasn’t coming from within my own mind.

“Fuck,” I muttered the word, scrubbing the last of the sleep from my eyes. The dream had been frantic—even more so than normal. Like my subconscious mind was racing to save Emma from something, even though she was safe here.

The banging sounded again, harsh and insistent. Someone was at the door, and they weren’t being kind about it. I glanced at my phone. I’d overslept, and there were half a dozen missed calls.

What the hell?

I didn’t even bother putting on a shirt as I went to the door, pushing it open to find Liam standing there. “What the hell is going on?”

“You didn’t answer your phone, so Lucas sent me to get you. He’s keeping the FBI at the lodge so they don’t come get you themselves.”

“What did you just say?”

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