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“Hello. Is this Ms. Alayna Morgan?” A male voice asks.
“It is,” I sit on the edge of the bed, looking at Riggs with confusion. “Who is this?”
“My name is Donald Hempshire and I’m with the fire department. I’m calling to inform you that your facility Garrison’s caught on fire this evening. The damage is significant and it looks like possible arson. We were informed you are out of town—”
The man keeps talking but there’s nothing but the roaring of blood in my ears. The phone drops from my hand as the words fire, significant damage, and arson circle like vultures in my head. Someone set my bar on fire and destroyed one of the last good things left in my life. I’m aware of new voices in the room and someone trying to get my attention, yet I can’t get out of my own head long enough to answer.
This can’t be happening. Please, let this be another nightmare.
Chapter Sixteen
Rhys
From the moment Riggs yelled for Adam and I, my heart hasn’t stopped racing. The anger coursing through me is looking for an outlet, but since we don’t know what son of a bitch set fire to Lay’s bar, there’s not a face for me to smash in. Judging by the looks on the other two’s faces, I’m not alone in how I feel either. Riggs has damn near worn a hole in the carpet from his angry pacing and Adam has been cracking his knuckles consistently for the last five minutes. My boys and I are ready to fuck whoever did this up.
The only thing keeping us in this room and not already driving eight hours to find the fucker ourselves is the black haired beauty sitting on the bed. Alayna has been staring at the wall for so long that I’m afraid we may need to call an ambulance soon. After she got out what the phone call was about to Riggs, she hasn’t moved or even fucking blinked since then.
“What do we do?” Adam finally breaks, his sudden loud voice causing Alayna to jump ever so slightly. A sigh of relief escapes all of us at that small movement. “Lay, baby, what do you need us to do?”
Alayna turns her head to look at him, her face so pale and her eyes bloodshot. She blinks slowly, still not saying a word.
“Grab the fuzzy, weighted blanket from the end of my bed,” I instruct him, taking charge. I can’t wait anymore for Lay to come out of this on her own. She’s definitely in shock at this point and needs warmth and comfort. Adam nods with determination, his military background keeping him calm now that he has a mission to accomplish.
“I’m going to go grab her some water,” Riggs announces, walking out of the room as quickly as he can.
Kneeling in front of Alayna, I take her small, clammy hands into my own, rubbing gentle circles on the back. She looks down at me, her grey eyes like a storm cloud of pain, confusion, and shock. This poor woman has been through so much already in her life, yet the punches keep on coming. She is by far one of the strongest people I have ever met to go through what she has and come out this beautiful, funny, kind, and badass woman.
“Lay,” I whisper her name, my hands continuing their gentle strokes as I do. “Lay, I need you to come back to me. You’re not alone. You have all three of us, we’ll help you get through this. Whoever did this to your bar will pay.”
Her mouth opens like she’s going to speak, but instead a sob breaks through. Lay’s shoulders bunch forward, shaking with the force of her cries. Adam comes in at the moment, draping the blanket over her shoulders immediately, before settling beside her. Riggs joins us, taking her other side, and the three of us give her our support as she processes her pain.
The crying sounds harsh in the quiet nighttime, but the sound is a huge respite for me. It means her shock is breaking down and she’s coming back to us. Feeling something, even grief or anguish, is better than feeling nothing at all. It reminds us that we’re human and we’re alive.
My knees and calves start to go numb, but I don’t dare move at all. We’re standing on a delicate tight rope with Lay right now and any movement could send her falling away from us. The sobs subside after a while, her quiet hiccups the only sound left in the room other than our breathing. We all silently agree to let her start talking first, whether that’s now or after she’s had some rest. The only thing putting pressure on her will do is probably make her start crying again.
“Why?” Lay mutters, shaking her head back and forth. “Why would someone do this? That bar—” she pauses, covering her mouth to keep in another sob. “That bar was given to me by the woman that saved my life. Melinda taught me how to become my own person again. She put up with my fits, my attitude, all of it. She helped me find a way to release my emotions in a good way and got me the help I needed. When I lost her to cancer four years ago, it was like losing my parents all over again. Now that her bar, her legacy, is gone, it’s like fucking losing her all over again.”
“I don’t know, Lay. I really don’t know why people do shit like this,” I answer honestly, squeezing her hands with my own. “What I do know is that we will not let them get away with it. We can’t control what other people do nor can we always find an answer to the why of it all. We can control whatwedo and how we react. Melinda’s legacy wasn’t only in the bar, it’s with you too.”
“Don’t let the bastard win,” Adam adds, bumping her shoulder with his own. “Whoever targeted your bar, targeted you and we won’t fucking let that go. The three of us will hunt them the fuck down and make them wish they were never born.”
Alayna looks up at Adam with a furrowed brow, her lip twitching just the slightest. “Calm down there, Rambo.”
“There’s my girl,” he teases with a wink, making Riggs and I share an eye roll. The fucker thinks he can joke and tease anyone out of any mood.
“I’m not your girl,” she shoots back with a raised eyebrow. “Thank you. I appreciate everything you guys have done, but I really just want to close my eyes and go to sleep. I need time on my own to work through what’s happened.”
“Of course,” Riggs answers first, leaning in to kiss her temple. “Let us know if you need anything. We’ll probably all be up for a little while. Adam and I need to head to work soon anyways.”
Alayna nods, her eyes already starting to close as she lays down across the dark blue duvet, my weighted blanket still wrapped around her. My hand twitches on the door, an ache forming in my chest. It’s taking everything for me to close the door and walk away from her right now. That’s what she needs, but the part of me that already cares so much for her, is screaming at me to make this right and protect her.
Making our way into the kitchen, we all move to stand around the island like we always used to do when one of us was having a rough night. Glancing to the spot between the stove and the fridge, I can almost see Declan standing there, forever pushing his messy hair out of his eyes. His ghost still lives here with us, whether we want it to or not.
“This is so fucked,” Adam says ever so eloquently. “Do you think it’s whatever stalker has been leaving her gifts?”
“It’s possible,” I respond, moving my head side to side and stretching out the tense muscles. “It’s a bit of a leap though at this point. To go from possibly following Declan and leaving fairly innocent gifts for Lay to burning down a building eight hours away? It feels like we’re missing something.”
“Innocent gifts? They left a replica of a necklace from her past. I don’t think any fucking gifts from a stalker are exactly innocent.” Riggs clenches the counter behind him, his urge to protect Alayna making his anger flare up hotter than I’ve ever seen.
