Page 19 of Forever my Love

“Thanks, I’m heading there now,” he said, grabbing his keys.

The cabin was typically ten minutes away from his place. He made it there in under eight.

Seeing the police car and Tom’s Jeep in the driveway, he parked and jumped out of his truck.

“Hailey?” Reece called out,

“Here.” Hailey rushed into his arms, and he held onto her for a moment.

Then Hailey awkwardly pulled away from him, as if she was embarrassed to hug him in front of her sister.

“Are you okay?” Reece asked, looking towards the cabin. When he spotted Tom and Nick, he nodded a greeting in their direction.

“Yes, the place was empty when I got home,” Hailey said, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked tired and scared, and he wanted to hold onto her a little more, but he knew she wasn’t comfortable being so close to him at the moment.

Instead, he walked over and shook Nick’s and Tom’s hands. “Anything disturbed?” he asked, his eyes still on the cabin.

“Just the shower we worked hard to rebuild today,” Hailey groaned beside him. “Looks like we’ll need to buy more tile.” She rolled her eyes.

“Grab your things,” Harper told Hailey. “Nick has offered to put us up at his place. Until we know who did this, we’re staying there.”

“No, I can’t.” Hailey shook her head. “I won’t run and hide. Besides, I refuse to be a third wheel in whatever this is.” She motioned towards her sister and Nick.

“You could stay at my place,” Reece jumped in, not sure why. He only knew that he wanted to keep her safe.

Hailey’s eyebrows shot up as she looked at him. “Thanks, but no. I’m staying put.”

“If she stays, so do I,” Harper said.

“Then I’ll camp out here,” Reece said quickly. There was no way he was going to leave the sisters alone and afraid. He could see it in both of their eyes.

“Ditto,” Nick added.

Both of the sisters sighed and then looked at one another.

“It may only be for a few nights,” Tom jumped in. “You’re welcome to come stay with Kate and I, but you’d have to sleep in a single bed,” he added.

After an awkward moment of silence, Hailey threw up her hands. “Fine.” She turned to him. “I’ll stay with you. I am not going to spend a night listening to them. Seeing them kiss once was enough for me.” She rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her lips.

Reece couldn’t help but smile at Hailey’s humor at a time of unease.

“I’ll help you get your things,” he said and then followed Hailey inside the cabin.

He had never been in the cabin before. The place was in better condition than he’d thought it would be, knowing it had sat abandoned for years until the sisters had moved in.

He looked around briefly as he followed Hailey back to a bedroom.

She tossed a large black bag on her bed. To his surprise, the thing was already full of clothes.

“It’s my bug-out bag,” she said with a sigh. “Harper makes me keep it ready just in case.”

He wanted to ask her why, but he just stood there as she dumped more clothes into the massive thing. Then she disappeared and came back with a smaller bag and tossed it in as well. He assumed it was her toiletry items from the bathroom he’d seen at the end of the hallway. He’d seen the destruction even from here. The room looked like it had exploded. Pieces of tile were everywhere.

Her room was painted a dark sky blue. The room was pretty empty except for a mattress that sat on an old bed frame. An old end table that she was using as a nightstand sat next to it.

There were banners or posters on the wall of pretty scenery and a horse running in a field.

“Do you like horses?” he asked, motioning towards the poster.