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Tessa swallowed hard, noting the fact Kirk gripped her so tightly her hands were going numb against his chest. "Kirk, let go and go home."
Calm. She tried to stay calm because screaming and yelling would only escalate the problem, right? She didn't want to make any more of a scene than they already had.
"Call back and undo what you did. Fix it!"
Spittle landed on her cheek from his words, and she flinched back about the same moment Bruce took a step closer, gun drawn.
"Let her go."
Kirk's curses echoed off the building, so loud the surf behind them couldn't drown them out. He shoved her sideways, releasing her so fast she stumbled and fell hard onto the asphalt.
Bruce yelled for Kirk to stop, but Kirk stumbled away, breaking into a run as he disappeared into an alley nearby.
"Tessie?Tessie?"
"I'm fine."
"Stay here."
"No!" She stared up at Bruce, panic shooting through her. "Don't go after him. Please. Stay with me. Don't leave me."
Bruce looked torn between his desire to give chase and heed her words. A second passed, and he pulled his phone from his pocket, hitting a number. Someone answered immediately, and Bruce gave a description of Kirk and the direction he'd headed. "Assault," she heard him say. "I'll add more later."
Tessa sank onto the asphalt, tears rolling down her cheeks. How stupid could she be? How dumb?
"Tessa?"
She shook her head, throat too swollen with tears to speak.
Bruce squatted down next to her and placed a gentle hand on her trembling shoulder.
"It'll be all right, Tessie. I won't let anything happen to you."
The first sob emerged before she could stop it.
"Can you stand? Do you need EMS?"
"No." The word emerged raw and unfiltered. Horrified at the thought of even more people seeing her like this and asking questions she didn't want to answer. "Please. Please, just take me home. I want to go home."
"You should probably get checked out."
She shook her head and forced herself to her feet, ignoring her weak legs and the fact she wanted to vomit. "I want to go home. Take me home o-or I'll take myself."
"There's my girl," Bruce murmured. "Come on then. Let's go."
Neither said a word on the drive home. Tessa stared out the window and fought back tears, desperate to get inside behind closed doors before letting the dam burst.
Foolish. She’d been so very foolish. How could she ever face everyone?
Ten minutes later, Bruce pulled to a stop in her driveway, and even though she tried to escape his presence without another word, he got out when she did and walked her to the door.
“Are you sure you’re all right? I have buddies at the fire station. I could get one of the EMTs to come over and take a look.”
“I’m fine.” Mortified, humiliated, but fine.
“Tessie—”
“Don’t. Please. Just…I know, okay? I know everything you’re about to say and I’ve already said it to myself, so just please, let’s not.”
“You don’t have a clue what I’m about to say,” Bruce said, voice thick with emotion. “If you did—”
He broke off and she forced her gaze up, found his gaze locked on her, ever watchful. Caring? She blinked, sure she misread it. “If I did?”
His barrel chest lifted and lowered several times as he breathed and a war was fought on his face. Anger, frustration, desire?
“Then you’d know I never stopped loving you,” he said finally. “After all of these years I-I… Good night, Tessie.”
Before she could utter a single word, Bruce turned on his heel and left the porch, striding away so fast she never would’ve guessed him to be a man in his sixties over one much younger.
He got in the still-running car and backed out of the driveway, headlights swinging over her as he turned. She couldn’t see him now. Didn’t know if he watched her the way she watched him. But she lifted her hand anyway and waved a silent goodbye.
