“What are you guys going to do with those two dead guys?”
Gunner just smiled. It was one of those smiles that said to me, I didn’t want to know the answer to that question.
“I’m going to get back. You alright?”
“Yes, I’ll be alright. Thank you.”
Gunner let himself out of the house and I got up to look at him out the window. He was much more my type of guy than Chris was. His age and appearance fit more with the type of guy I found attractive. But that was because Chris was beyond the type of guy I thought I could ever date. I never, in a million years, would have thought a guy like Chris would be with a girl like me.
Now I was sitting and shaking while I worried about him. I had no idea where he was taken or which hospital. I didn’t even know his last name! It was going to be really hard to get any sort of update on his health.
Hopefully Gunner would come back and give me the news as soon as they figured out what was going on. I also desperately hoped that Gunner was right and the bullet went through Chris’ shoulder without having any permanent damage.
Chapter 32
I fell asleep out of exhaustion and didn’t wake up until the middle of the night. I had a nightmare and was sweating when I sat up straight. I looked around the room and could feel my heart beating out of my chest. Beads of sweat filled my brow and I needed to check to make sure all the doors were locked.
I got up and went to the front door which had been left unlocked from when Gunner had left earlier in the day. My anxiety got instantly worse. Slowly I walked from room to room, flipping the lights on and then searching the room before moving onto the next. My body could not relax until I had searched every corner of the house and was assured that there were no intruders.
I’m not sure what I expected to do if I had found an intruder, but surely I would have thought of something. When I sat back down on the couch a flood of emotions filled me. I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to find out where Chris was so I could go see him. It was too late to go back over to Chris’ house and I’m not sure I wanted to be back over there at all. Knowing that two dead bodies had been on the floor in the living room was enough to make me never want to go to Chris’ house ever.
The television offered a little distraction, but I just couldn’t seem to get my mind around everything that was going on. I use to be a lonely woman hiding away in my family’s home and grieving the loss of my one true love. Now I sat staring at the television and trying to get over seeing three men shot, one of whom I was starting to have feelings for.
I wanted to reach out to Rebecca and tell her everything that was going on, but I didn’t know if Chris would like that. His job seemed pretty secretive and I didn’t want to put him at risk by telling people what I thought he did. In fact, I didn’t really know at all what he did for work, so I should probably wait until I talked to him about it anyway.
Suddenly my heart started to race as I heard a noise coming from behind my house. It dawned on me that those men who had come to Chris’ house had been there to murder or hurt him. Now here I was sitting there without any protection at all. What if they had come back to finish Chris off? What if they knew I was involved now?
My body shook again with fear.
I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs just couldn’t fill up. I closed my eyes, and I tried again to get a full breath, but it would not come. I heard a knock at the back door and almost screamed. Surely no one would be coming over to my house at this hour of the night; it was almost four o’clock in the morning.
I didn’t want to go to the back door. I didn’t want to see who it was because then they would be able to see who I was. I breathed in as deep of a breath as I could gather and I slowly walked toward the kitchen.
I peeked around the corner and I could see a male figure standing on my back porch. Because I had all the lights on in the house, it was difficult to see who was standing there. But since he wasn’t trying to break in or anything like that, I decided to move closer.
“Chris!” I screamed as I realized it was him.
I moved quickly to unlock the door and was about to fling my arms around him when I realized he had his arm in a sling.
“Hey, babe,” he said with a wink.
“Don’t hey babe me! I have been going crazy. Where were you? Are you alright? Who were those men? Why were they after you?”
Chris held his finger up to his mouth in a clue for me to be quiet. Then he took a step into my kitchen and shut the door behind him. His ocean blue eyes looked down at me and his lips moved to touch mine. All my worry and concern was vanishing and I felt his passion as our tongues moved in time with each other. My lip quivered and he calmed it with his touch.
I worried about where to put my hands, as I didn’t want to hurt him or his shoulder, so I wrapped them around his waist. It felt so good to be next to Chris and feeling him on my body. It felt so good to know that he was safe and there was nothing that could take him away from me, at least nothing there in that moment.
My body finally relaxed from the fear of the day and melted into the comfort of Chris. His tall frame kept me safe as his muscular body would surely keep the bad guys away from me. This was the perfect ending to a horrible day. Now I just had to sit him down and get him to tell me about what was going on.
My safety and the safety of my friends in town was very important and I didn’t want this group of bad guys getting in anyone’s way. I didn’t want them coming back to town to hurt me or the people I love.
Chapter 33
“Come and sit down,” I said as I grabbed Chris by the hand and took him over to the couch.
I wanted to freak out and start screaming about everything that had happened the other day, but I didn’t think Chris would respond well to that. Instead, I just sat on the other end of the couch and stayed quiet. He would have to be willing to tell me his story without me chasing after it.
The awkward silence seemed to last for a very long time, but I was resigned not to be the first one to talk.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Chris said as he finally broke the silence.
“Yeah, that was intense. I’m glad to see you doing well. I thought you had been killed. It freaked me out a lot.”
My attempt at being strong had quickly failed and I felt tears well up in my eyes. I tried not to look at him as my whole body started to shake again, remembering how the day had gone so wrong. Chris moved close to me on the couch and put his good arm around me. He pulled me up against him and we sat in silence again. This time he didn’t break the silence and I didn’t either.
The feeling of his tough, muscular arm wrapped around me felt so right. It felt like that was the exact place I was supposed to be at that exact moment. I was exhausted and having Chris next to me gave me just the right amount of comfort that I drifted off to sleep. Chris also fell asleep, having had a much worse day than I did.
We were both able to sleep another five hours before the warmth of the sun and light from the windows started to wake us. I looked up at Chris and kissed him. The delicate sun kept us warm and it felt like the start of a new day. Not only because it was morning, but because we could start with something fresh and new between us as well.