“You wanna run that by me again, Aaron?” Aaron pulled out his phone, showed Sawyer the text, and waited while he read it aloud. “You can’t hide away forever, deserter. You left me to die, and now I will watch as you lose everyone that you love. You can’t play with fire and not get burned, Aaron.”
Sawyer cleared his throat and handed him back his phone. “So, you know who this is just from the text?” Sawyer asked.
Aaron nodded, remembering what a prick Travis was. “My former Captain, Travis Reid. He used to say that to us all the time. ‘You can’t play with fire and not get burned.’ The guys—” Aaron froze, realizing that he was talking about the guys as if they weren’t all gone, felt wrong, but he needed Sawyer’s help. “The guys and I used to make fun of him behind his back. He was always so cocky, so arrogant. None of us could stand him,” Aaron admitted.
Sawyer nodded. “But you said he’s dead. I’m assuming it was during the big fire you all had here.” “Yeah,” Aaron breathed. “He didn’t make it back, or at least I thought he didn’t. If he did make it back down that mountain, why wouldn’t he contact any of us, at least let us know he was alive?” Aaron shook his head,“It just seems fucked up that he let us all believe he was dead. What about his wife and kids? They have lived without him all this time, and where was he?” Sawyer started writing down a few notes on a pad of paper.
“You said he has a wife and kids? Where are they now?” Sawyer asked.
Aaron shrugged, “I don’t know, man. They left town to go live with her parents, I think. I can’t remember.” Sawyer stood, and Aaron followed him into the main lobby of the station.
“I’ll run the partial print for a match with Travis. In the meantime, I’ll start tracking down his family. If he is alive, it’s possible that he contacted his wife. I couldn’t imagine letting Lorna believe that I was dead like that. I’m betting that his wife knows where he is, or at least if he made it down that mountain.” Sawyer shook Aaron’s hand, and he was about to leave when the police scanner went off, and the fire alarm rang.
“I guess I’m getting back to work,” Aaron smiled, and he ran towards the station. The captain gave him a head nod and told him to suit up. He wasn’t on duty, but the idea of getting his hands a little dirty made him happy. He loved his job, and he was damn good at it. Suiting up to go out on a call sounded like just what he needed after being cooped up with Sunny and the baby for the last couple of weeks. Sawyer’s SUV gave them a police escort to the fire, and Aaron’s blood ran cold when they pulled up in front of his condo. Sawyer found him in the crowd of people that gathered to watch the smoke coming out of the parking garage.
“I’m calling in backup, Aaron. This isn’t a coincidence.” Aaron nodded, knowing that Sawyer’s instincts were usually right.
“Get Tag or Torren over to the bakery to stay with Sunny until we are done here. I don’t want her and the baby there alone. This could be a diversion.” Sawyer agreed and startedmaking calls. This was a first-class cluster fuck, and Aaron needed to get to the bottom of it before his old friend Travis could make good on his promises. There was no way that fucker was getting anywhere near his family—he would make sure of it.
Sunny heard the fire alarm before she saw the truck speed by the bakery’s front window. She felt an instant pang of panic, but then she remembered that Aaron was good at his job. Still, if something happened to him because she insisted that they both spend some time at work today, she would never forgive herself. Sunny tried to stay busy helping Justice. She caught up with some of her regulars and showed off the baby. Sadie slept while she did some paperwork and put in her order for next week’s supplies.
About thirty minutes after the alarm sounded, Torren came strolling into the bakery, giving her one of his easy smiles. She always did have a soft spot for Torren Harrison. He was nothing like his twin brother, Tag. He and Sunny even dated for a while, if that is what you would call it. What they did was just hook up a few times—well, until Torren asked her to take part in a foursome. She wasn’t really into sharing, so she told him that they couldn’t keep sleeping together. Torren was a love-them-and-leave-them kind of guy. He “dated” most of the women in town, and she was afraid that her friend would never settle down and find the right girl.
“Hey, gorgeous,” she teased. “You come in for some of my world-famous donuts or to see me?”
Torren smiled and picked her up to squeeze her. The man had no personal space boundaries, and he was as big as a mountain—towering over her. He put her back down and bentto kiss her cheek. “Well, you know how word spreads in this small-ass town. I heard that you and a certain peanut were visiting, and I thought I’d come to take a look.” He nodded down to where Sadie slept in her little bassinet and smiled. “Can I hold her?” he asked.
“Um, sure.” Sunny went over to where her daughter was sleeping and lifted her out of her bed. Sadie squirmed and stretched as Sunny handed her to Torren. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, so she relaxed a little.
“She is so tiny and cute. Thank God she looks like you and not her father,” Torren laughed, and Sadie’s blue eyes popped open. “Well, hello, beautiful,” Torren cooed.
“Wow, Tor, you are pretty good with babies.” Sunny sat back on her desk and watched as her daughter, like most of the women in town, fell in love with Torren Harrison. She shook her head and laughed at how Sadie was putty in his hands. “So, did you hear what’s going on at the fire station?” She knew she was fishing, but Torren usually knew pretty much everything that happened in Harvest Ridge. She could tell by the way he paused sweet-talking her daughter that he knew what was up. “Tor—tell me what is going on.” Torren crossed the office to lay Sadie back in her bed.
“Don’t kill me, Sunny, but Sawyer and Aaron sent me over to keep an eye on you and the baby.” Torren held up his hands as if in surrender. Sunny stood up from her desk and crossed the room to find her cell phone.
“Aaron asked you to—” She didn’t even get to finish asking her question. Torren followed her to take her phone away. She tried to get it back, but he held it above her head out of her reach.
“Aaron is fine. There was a small fire, and he went out on the call. They don’t want you left alone until they figure out what’s going on.” Sunny stopped trying to reach for her phone. Torren wasn’t telling her something.
“What am I missing here, Tor. You are here because Aaron went on a call and didn’t want to leave me alone? Something isn’t fitting—you’re leaving a part out.” Sunny squinted and watched as Torren squirmed and stammered, trying to cover his tracks.
“Fuck, Sunny. Can’t you just leave well enough alone for once?” She took a step towards Torren, and the giant coward took two steps back.
“First, I’m going to ask you not to cuss in front of my daughter. Then, I’m going to make you tell me what the fuck is going on. You know I know all your weaknesses, Tor. I’m not afraid to bring a giant man to his knees to find out what I want to know.” Sunny watched Torren like a lioness stalking her prey, and the funny thing was—he looked a little afraid of her.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. And, for the record—you just cussed in front of your daughter, too.” Sunny took another step in his direction, and he started to spill his guts. Something about a fire at her condo, and she needed to sit down. The puzzle was all making sense now—he was sent to watch her and Sadie because the fire was at Aaron’s condo. Was it the same guy who slashed his truck tire or got into her hospital room? God, what if he found a way to get to Aaron? She needed to get to the condo and find Aaron before anything else happened. They should have never left this morning; her whole idea was a big mistake.
“I need you to take Sadie and me to Aaron,” she pleaded. She was gathering up her stuff when Torren shut her office door.
“Sorry, sweetheart, but you and that adorable kid of yours aren’t going anywhere. Aaron and Sawyer will both kick my ass if I let you anywhere near that place. We stay here and wait.” Sunny stomped her foot, but that only caused the big oaf to bark out a laugh. Yeah, she was going to have to come up with something better if she had any hope of getting to Aaron. But first, she needed a distraction.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Aaron found the source of the fire, and his blood ran cold. Someone set a dumpster on fire in the parking garage. There was also a message for him in bright red spray paint on the side of the container.This was just a warning—next time you burn!It was written across his parking spot. If Travis was trying to get his attention, he had it. There was no way that he would be bringing Sunny and the baby back to the condo. He helped his unit put the fire out and clean up the mess. When he got back into town, he decided that his best course of action was to get everyone involved. He called an impromptu meeting at the bakery because keeping Sunny in the dark was going to be nearly impossible. Torren was already with Sunny, and judging from Tor’s texts, it seemed his girl was giving him a pretty hard time. He laughed when he read the one from Torren telling him to hurry the fuck up because Sunny whipped out her tit and was feeding the kid. Yeah, she was pulling out all the stops to distract Torren. She was not going to be happy that he sent a babysitter over to her bakery.
Sawyer was going to finish up at the station, then he and Tag were going to meet Aaron at the bakery. First, he neededto clean up. He smelled like smoke, and he wanted to wrap his arms around Sunny and the baby as soon as he walked through the door. He showered and changed and then ran into Sawyer on his way out to the truck. He looked like he was on a mission, and Aaron hoped that he had some good news for him.
“We cleared your building, but if you want my opinion, you and Sunny need to find someplace else to stay.” Well, that wasn’t quite the news that Aaron was hoping for, but there was no way he was going to take his girl or his baby back to the condo. He needed to get them as far away from this shit show as possible.
