Page 53 of Always My Love

“Now I’m tired,” she admitted after a few minutes of hitting the bag.

“We can do more tomorrow if you want.”

She nodded and then they headed back upstairs.

“What do you know about Fred?” he asked when they were sitting at the bar drinking water.

She narrowed her eyes. “His name, Fred LeRoy. Where he worked seven years ago when he met my mother—Iron Works Construction out of Atlanta. And every detail of each of his tattoos. At least the ones he had back then.” He saw her shiver.

He took her hand in his before he pulled out the printout that Tom had given him.

The long receipt-like paper had the list of Fred LeRoys in the Atlanta area.

“Do you have a pen?” she asked, glancing up from the list.

He walked over to his junk drawer, which he had organized at the end of last year, and pulled out a pen.

He stood by while she scratched out almost half of the names.

“The rest are hard to narrow down. Any chance I can see the mug shots on these three?” she asked, showing him three circled names. “I know he was arrested for drug possession the month before we left. He spent a night in jail, and Heidi had to bail him out.” She glanced up at him. “She sold her car to do so, which made her more reliant on him after. We had to ride the bus, which to be honest, was a blessing.”

“Sure, tomorrow we can stop by the station on our way to pick up more tile. My dad has agreed to help us with the repairs. It should go faster.” When he thought he saw her eyes watering, he pulled her into his arms. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I told myself to be strong. I’m pissed. Not scared.”

He nodded. “I get that.”

He felt his shirt get wet from her tears and just held onto her while she broke.

There really wasn’t anything that he could say to comfort her. He could give her empty promises that he’d catch the guy and make him pay. But he knew that, unless the man messed up, the odds of that were slim.

If this was just a show of force and Fred wanted to scare the girls, he’d succeeded. He could be halfway back to Georgia by now.

The fact that the man went after the thing they’d spent a few days working on told him that he’d been watching them. He could be sitting outside the house now, watching, waiting. Or he could be outside of Reece’s place.

Until he made a move, they were sitting ducks.

“I’m sorry,” Harper said as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

“Don’t be.” He brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. “He wants you to be weak,” he told her, and her chin rose an inch. “Be weak when he’s not watching. Fight like hell and be freaking Wonder Woman if he comes for you or Hailey.”

She nodded several times. “Tell me you have some chocolate ice cream in that big freezer of yours, and I’ll agree never to leave here.”

The sound of that warmed his entire body, and he smiled.

“Promise?” he joked.

She laughed. “Sure, why the hell not.”

He tilted his head as he thought about his mistake earlier. He’d never gone without a condom. Never.

Part of his subconscious mind knew that he wanted to be with Harper. That he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

He didn’t think he was the type to force someone’s hand in staying with him. He doubted that was the reason he’d forgotten. Still, he had forgotten.

He’d been so caught up in being with her, his mind had just shut off.

Without saying anything more, he disappeared and got a quart of Rocky Road ice cream. He grabbed two bowls and spoons and set it all down on the bar top.