Page 117 of Sterling Heat

“Oh, I can. Now leave the key and get out.”

Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out her key and slams it on the counter. Next, she takes off her apron and dramatically drops it on the floor. Walking over it, showing her immaturity, she brushes past me.

My entire body vibrates. I want to throttle her, but I’ve never ever hit a woman, and she won’t be my first. I just want her gone.

Rena stalks toward the back door and opens it with force. My eyes close and my head lowers as I hear a familiar voice.

“Rena Gomez, you’re under arrest for the unlawful entry of a private residence. You have the right to remain silent . . .”

The rest drifts away as Stone’s voice drones on and I reach into my pocket, removing my phone and turning off the recording app that captured Rena’s confession.

With no prior felonies or convictions, Rena will have a record now.

+ + +

While Enya’s place is under sheriff surveillance, it doesn’t prevent me from driving by again tonight. Even with Rena in custody, Stone told me she probably won’t be detained long, and that just makes the timeclock on Enya’s safety speed up.

Barnett wasn’t able to identify the customer Rena was talking to when he overheard her, and this makes me extra itchy. Someone else is still out there, watching Enya’s house.

Enya said she needed space to think, and I don’t know how to respond to that other than giving it to her. Like a coward, which I’ve never been, I’ve kept my distance. No calls. No texts. No impromptu visits.

It’s a taste of what life would be like without her and I fucking hate it.

It’s also a reminder of my life before I met her, and it’s lonely.

Tonight, the weather is warm, but the mountain air is cooling as darkness spreads slowly over the sky. I take my bike for this nightly ride. Funny how I used to avoid Route 10. Now, I’m constantly drawn to it.

As I breeze along the route, I try to wrap my head around all that I’ve learned.

Barnett. He’s just a kid and I’m giving him credit for coming forward with what he heard. His honesty reminds me so much of myself when I was younger than him, asking my brother Knox if selling drugs would help the family. I failed Barnett because I didn’t know anything about Bernadette’s condition or her struggles with her health insurance.

Rena, on the other hand, is a total conundrum to me. How did I so easily trust her? Our connection was born from our similar pasts. I thought I was doing right by giving her a second chance. Failure again, as I trusted the wrong person. Then again, it’s exactly what I did as a kid, believing in Josh Geary when he told me I’d be helping my family, making money, if I sold drugs.

Then I consider Enya, who trusted me blindly, unconditionally. I didn’t judge her decision to have Adara the way she had. I’m honored she’s told me the truth. Trusted me with it.

And even after all she’d learned about my past and her brother, she gave herself to me willingly and still wanted a little more of me.

She wants us. Because we’re good together. She wants herself and Adara to be mine, and me to be part of them.

Two flames. One candle. A family.

I didn’t want to believe in it, but it had been hard to ignore. The way I’m drawn to her. The way I feel about her little girl. From the moment Enya entered my life, she’d been impossible to forget. I was sucked in, willingly following without her even bidding me to do so. Pretending to be Adara’s dad. Giving Enya a place to stay. Falling more in love with both of them with every second spent together and missing them with every moment apart.

There is no denying my heart aches with their absence. The separation is something I knew would eventually happen when Enya learned everything about me.

What could she possibly want with a reformed addict? Rena said it best.

I had nothing to offer Enya. But I loved her. I loved Adara. I wanted to be part of their lives.

Blindly, I drive along the route, only slowing as I pass Enya’s house, noticing the sheriff’s vehicle on the shoulder just off from her driveway. I loop around, heading for the woods again, where I’ll perch myself for the night, keeping vigil over the backside of Enya’s home.

The siren whirl of a squad car goes off behind me, and red and blue lights reflect in my handlebar mirrors catches me off guard.

What the fuck?

I pull off to the shoulder as the sheriff’s car slows to park behind me. A large man exits the vehicle and I hang my head. Removing my helmet as he approaches, snide fills my question. “Is there a problem, officer?”

“I’ve been trying to find you,” Stone says, his voice hard like his name.