Holding Out for a Hero (Baytown Heroes #9)

Chapter 12

12

The hall was quiet, Belinda’s door was closed, and yellow police tape crisscrossed over the frame. The deputies had finished processing and had left to return to the station, having interviewed Bess and the two women from the bakery below, but none had seen nor heard anything.

While Bess had been on the phone with Belinda, who was staying with Aaron, Brad walked over and glanced out her front window. He noted that the two apartments were mirror images of each other, but with hers on the front, there was no fire escape. He had also taken the opportunity to contact the strip mall owner to discover there were no security cameras on any of the buildings, nor did the man plan on making that addition.

Bess had a security system in her bakery, including alarms and cameras, but there wasn’t one facing the back alley. Without the cooperation of the building owner, Brad planned on taking care of that issue himself.

She walked back into the room, her expression seeming lost. “Is she okay?” he asked.

“She’s tired. Pissed off. Worried about her apartment on top of having been shot the other day. I told her that as soon as you were finished, I’d get her place all cleaned up for her.”

“Did you tell her that her laptop was stolen?”

She nodded again and sighed. “Yeah. Like me, she was glad nothing else was taken. On the other hand, that’s a major part of her business besides her camera. She edits the photographs with the programs on her computer.”

They stood in her living room for a moment, awkwardly glancing around, and occasionally, their gazes met before looking away again. Bess's translucent skin was even paler than usual. The strong, capable woman exhibited an element of fragility that he hadn’t witnessed earlier. Finally, he said, “If you’re ready, I’ll drive you to Aaron’s place.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I can drive myself.”

“You’re overwrought. I’ll drive.”

A rude snort erupted as her gaze jumped to his. “Overwrought? What is this? The 1800s? Is my corset too tight, and the hero has to catch me when I swoon?”

He battled the urge to catch her but wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss her or throttle her. “All I meant was you’ve had an upsetting day, and your mind is on your sister, not driving. Let me do that for you.”

Her eyes narrowed on him, and her lips were so pursed she appeared to have just tasted something unpleasant. When he thought she would deny him again, she offered a curt nod.

“Fine. I want to box up the items from the bakery case that I didn’t get to sell today and take them over. It sounds like there are people there already. Might as well feed them.”

She grabbed her purse and jacket and headed for the door without giving him a chance to respond. After stopping in the bakery, where she packed several plastic containers with bakery goodies, they locked up and climbed into his SUV.

Once there, he carried the bounty to Aaron’s apartment, placing it on the counter while Bess ran to Aaron and immediately started to grill him about Belinda’s condition. The room was already filled with Aaron’s family, who were there to help and provide support. Aaron’s partner, Sam, was there with his wife, Hayley, and Brad slipped over to the other detective to talk quietly about what had been found in Belinda’s apartment. Aaron soon joined their huddle.

“Only her laptop was taken?” Aaron asked, his brow furrowed. “Did Bess look everywhere?”

“Are you shittin’ me? I couldn’t keep her from reviewing every detail of Belinda’s place. Believe me, if something else were missing, she would know,” Brad replied, unsure if he was more irritated with her or proud.

His gaze flickered toward Bess, who was now dishing out treats to the others in the room. On the surface, she looked calm as she fussed over everyone, ensuring they had coffee and something to eat. Despite her outward facade of composure, Brad noticed the signs of strain etched on her features. The tight set of her smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Dark circles had settled on her pale complexion, and her hands shook with a tremor. As he observed her discreetly, he assumed she probably hadn’t slept in the days since he’d woken her to give her the bad news and taken her to the hospital.

Just when he was debating how to assist, Aaron’s bedroom door opened. Belinda, obviously awake from her nap, had barely made it into the room before being enveloped by Bess. Brad stared at the two Crowder sisters. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen them together, but always at a distance. Now, even amid fatigue and trauma, they were both beautiful women. It was easy to see how Aaron fell for Belinda. Her hair was a slightly lighter shade of red than Bess's, but he was drawn to the darker, thicker hair now piled messily on the younger sister’s head. They both had blue eyes, but Bess's were a little lighter, giving her an impish appearance. Impish… more like impudent!

Belinda tired quickly, and soon, she and Bess were hugging goodbye. Belinda worried aloud about Bess's safety at her apartment.

“I’ve got her.” Brad spoke before thinking, but noted Belinda smiled and nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. On the other hand, Bess's expression could not have been more pained if she’d swallowed razor blades.

Once they were back in his vehicle and on the road, he said, “When we get to your place, you won’t be able to do anything with Belinda’s apartment, so go ahead and pack a bag, and then we’ll get going.”

Her head shot around, and her gaze hit him from the side. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Do I need to go to the station?”

“No, I’m talking about getting out of there.”

Her mouth dropped open, and then she snapped it closed for a few seconds before saying, “Getting out of where, Brad?”

“You can’t stay in your apartment tonight. I don’t trust that it’s safe. The whole building is a security nightmare.” He turned into the parking lot of the strip mall. “I admit, you’ve done an admirable job with your shop, having a camera pointed out the front, in the eating area, and the kitchen. But the owner of this building has done fucking nothing as far as security.”

“I realize if I’d had a camera in the back alley, we would’ve seen someone going to Belinda’s apartment by the fire escape. But since I don’t have a fire escape stairway, you don’t have to worry about anyone entering my place there.”

“That’s another thing we need to talk about. What the fuck are you supposed to do if there’s a fire?”

“Um… go out the door?”

“And if the fire is outside in the hall?”

By now, they had parked and were walking toward the outer door. She looked up toward the window in her living room. “I’d go out the window.”

“There’s no fire ladder,” he said, his ire ratcheting up as their gazes were now locked on each other.

She jerked her hand up toward the bright red awning over the shop door and front windows with the name Bess's Bakery prominently printed in bold letters. “There’s the awning over my bakery. If I needed to escape, I could go out the window and onto the awning and then just drop to the sidewalk below.”

He blinked but said nothing. He was afraid that at this point in their discussion of the asinine explanation of what she’d do during a fire, he might erupt, and after the day she’d had, he didn’t want to make it any worse. But they would return to this topic… along with a growing list of other topics that needed to be discussed. They went through the outer door and up the stairs. Once inside her apartment, she turned, but he spoke first. “Right, okay. You still need to pack a bag so we can leave.”

She sucked in a deep breath, and if he wasn’t mistaken, as her mouth moved, she was counting to ten. Reaching that number, she threw her hands up. “Brad, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Where am I going that I need to pack a bag?”

“I don’t want you to stay here. For all we know, whoever broke into her place could come back. We have no idea why, but we know that Belinda was targeted. That makes you unsafe here, and I want to make sure you’re safe.”

Her hands landed on her hips as she peered up at him, glaring darts his way. “That is not happening. I have to get up at four in the morning to start baking. And I do not intend to spend money on a hotel or call a friend to ask if I can crash at their place.”

“You can stay at my place?—”

“Hell, no!”

He sucked in a deep breath, caught between wanting to walk away from the infuriating woman who had some kind of hang-up when it came to him even after the night they’d spent together and the beautiful woman defying him with her blazing light blue eyes and her halo of red waves. At that moment, she seemed more like a dragon ready to fight than someone recently traumatized. “Fine.”

“Fine,” she agreed readily, but he could swear a specter of defeat passed through her eyes.

“Lock up behind me,” he ordered, then turned on his heel and headed back down the stairs. Once in his vehicle, he sat. Anger and frustration steamed through him, and he rested his hands on the steering wheel. “Oh, hell,” he groaned in defeat. Pushing his seat back and reclining, he peered at the almost empty parking lot and sighed. If the fucking owner won’t put in security cameras, then I will. Tomorrow. Stretching his legs out, he closed his eyes, willing sleep to come.

Bess slowly made her way down the stairs, having slept fitfully. When she did sleep, her dreams were filled with her running through a trashed room and hospital corridors and then darkness, where a man was in front of her, staying just outside her grasp until she jerked awake. Add last night’s poor sleep with the previous nights since Belinda had been shot, and Bess was barely functioning on fumes of caffeine. But owning her own business where others depended on her, she had no choice but to get to work.

Stepping outside, she locked the outer door and turned toward the door leading to her bakery. It was still pre-dawn at 4:30, but the parking lot lights shone down on an SUV parked next to her car. Sucking in a hasty breath as fear hit her, she then recognized it as the one she’d ridden in yesterday. Brad? What the fuck is he doing here so early? She could barely make him out, and he appeared to be sleeping. The realization that he stayed in his vehicle all night to ensure her safety hit her, and her shoulders slumped with the weight of guilt.

Hurrying inside the bakery, she kept the light off until she was in the back. Fixing a cup of coffee, she had no idea how he took it. Putting it in a cardboard drink tray, she dropped sugar and sweetener packets, a small container of cream, and a stirring stick. Carrying it outside, she walked to the passenger side and tapped on the window.

He startled and jerked upright, his head immediately swinging to the side and his eyes landing on her. She could see it took a few seconds for him to ascertain where he was and probably now wondering why.

He clicked the locks as he straightened his seat, and she opened it. Leaning over the passenger seat, she thrust out the coffee. “Looks like you need this.”

“Thank you,” he said amid groans as his back and shoulders cracked. “You’re right.”

“I didn’t know how you liked it, so I brought the extras, and you can fix it.”

He stared at the coffee tray for a moment before lifting his gaze back to her. “This is really nice of you.”

Embarrassed, she shrugged. “Little enough. I had the coffee going, and it was no trouble to bring it to you.” Not knowing what else to say, she mumbled, “Well, I need to get in and get started baking.” She turned and almost closed the passenger door, stopped, and turned again to face him. “You didn’t have to stay out here to keep watch, but it was a nice thing to do. Thank you.” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, forcing her gaze to never waver from his face. “And while I’m at it, I wanted to make sure I thanked you for coming to get me the night Belinda was shot. That was a nice thing to do. And yesterday… coming to make sure I was okay and taking me to Aaron’s place to check on her.” She scoffed and shook her head. “You’ve done a lot of really nice things lately. Thank you.”

“Will you join me?”

She tilted her head to the side as her gaze dropped to the coffee in his hand. “Um… I only have a few minutes before I need to get started on my baking.”

“This will only take a moment. Please.”

His tone was unrecognizable… neither demanding nor easygoing, the two tones she’d experienced. This sounded more beseeching. God, that word is as bad as overwrought.

But she couldn’t deny she felt a deep pull to acquiesce. Finally, she nodded, and he leaned over to open the door for her. She climbed into the front seat, and after only a few seconds of uncertainty, she twisted to face him, folding her hands in her lap. And waited.

Now that she was there, he seemed less sure about the situation, remaining quiet. Just when she was about to remind him that she needed to get inside the bakery, he took a sip of the coffee and closed his eyes in obvious pleasure. She tried to ignore how that look had once been directed at her when he’d first approached her in the bar.

Then his gaze landed on her, and he made an obvious pronouncement. “I’m a detective.”

She stared, then blinked, and then continued to stare as her head automatically tilted to the side. “Um… yes… I know. We talked about your job, remember?”

He ignored her question and simply continued. “I may have regularly scheduled hours to work, but I can get called in at any time for an investigation.”

Her brow furrowed as she struggled to remain calm while listening to him stating the obvious. “Okay…”

“I’m sorry if my leaving upset you. That night, I mean. The night we were together.”

This ought to be good, she thought with a slight snort. She rolled her eyes but remained silent.

“I should have said that before now, but… I… just thought I’d… well…” He scrubbed his hand over his face, his fingers lingering in his short beard.

Losing patience while wanting to understand, she managed to speak slowly. “Brad, I know you’re trying to tell me something, but I already understand your job. And I appreciate what you and all the other detectives are doing to help Belinda?—”

“This isn’t about Belinda,” he said, shaking his head. “This is about you getting so angry that I had to go to work the night we… the night we spent together last summer. I thought everything was good between us.”

A barking scoff flew from Bess's lips. “Good? Good? You thought… Jesus, typical male. Get your rocks off and expect praising poetry to fall from the woman’s mouth.”

He blinked as his head jerked back, but her hand shot up when he opened his mouth. “Oh no, Brad. Maybe you think every woman who sleeps with a man they just met is someone you have to pay for, but you need to pull your antiquated head out of your ass and drag it into this century. Hell, you could drag it into the last century and figure out what the fuck women can do. We can meet someone and sleep with them, and that’s part of life… not part of our job where you leave money on the nightstand to pay for services rendered! By the way, I didn’t even count the money. The last thing I wanted to know was how much you thought that night was worth!”

Her chest heaved, and their gazes locked, hers emitting righteous anger and his filled with disbelief.

“What the hell?” he said as his chin jerked back. “Services rendered? The money on the nightstand was me paying you back for buying the food and drinks at the bar since I’d forgotten my wallet!”