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“They’re working on it, relax.”
“Relax? Stacey’s in there with a bomb and you’re telling me to relax?”
“Jake, cool it,” Miles warned.
“You’d be just as bad if it were Emma in there. Go comfort your wife and let me worry about Cee.”
“She’ll be fine; she’s got to be,” Miles added under his breath as he pulled Emma into his arms.
“This is crazy Miles.”
“I know it is honey, but we’ve got to think positive. Jake’s about to blow a gasket and I don’t know what to do other than to sit back and watch him.”
“Why would anyone do something like this?”
“They’re sick bastards, that’s why,” he stated rubbing her back.
“What the hell is taking so long?” Jake asked again.
“Do you really want them to rush?” Bryant returned. “Whatever’s going on with you and Stacey right now doesn’t matter, she’s in there and she’s probably freaked out but trying to stay calm. I don’t know anyone else who could have lasted four hours with a knife to their throat, but she did.”
“And when I find those bastards, I’m going to kill them,” Jake warned as the door opened again. He saw the red from her shirt and took off across the lot towards her ignoring the long line of police officers and firefighters who tried to stop him.
“Cee,” he shouted in relief as he lifted her into a hug wrapping his arms around her covering the back of her head with a hand as she lowered her head to his shoulder while her arms snaked around his neck. “Baby, fuck, I thought I’d lost you again.”
Stacey shook her head fighting against the feelings coursing through her that demanded she tell him she loved him. She couldn’t do it though. Today was the perfect reason why. She couldn’t risk him getting hurt because of her; she couldn’t risk her heart breaking when he left her for any reason. She had to end this now, but her body refused to listen to her brain. It shook with the fear that she’d felt but hadn’t been able to release. It sang with the joy that she was alive and that no one had gotten hurt. It came alive as it rested against him, and she couldn’t stop any of it.
“Shh, I’ve got you and I’m never letting go again,” he soothed holding in his own worry. He saw the crowd watching them and didn’t care. She was his and that meant everything to him. He’d do whatever it took to keep her and make sure she was safe.
“Damn, looks like we were wrong,” Dan said nudging Beau.
“Maybe he was saving himself for the right woman,” he offered shaking his head.
“Maybe he was simply trying to find her and win her back,” Gary suggested as Miles and Emma reached Jake’s side.
“What?” Beau said.
“I found something very interesting in the archives of the Littleton Georgia Gazette,” he stated showing them the article.
“Shit, so she left him?” Dan asked.
“Nope he left her waiting at the church and then she left town,” he answered.
“You’re saying that all this time, the reason that those girls never got anywhere was because of her?” Beau said looking at them again.
“If that’s the truth, then yeah, but want to know the hilarious part of it? Miles tried for the last two years to get Jake to meet Emma’s friend Stacey,” Gary said.
“But he wouldn’t because the name was hers,” Dan questioned.
“Yup, Emma filled me in on part of it. He got out here the morning of the wedding and right before they met to walk up the aisle, they saw each other for the first time in eight years and pretended not to know each other. Stacey didn’t tell them much about living in Georgia and never dated anyone who was into or watched sports, especially football.”
“Man, bet after this they’re likely to drop the pretense of not being together now,” Beau stated.
“It’ll certainly be interesting for this auction,” Gary agreed watching Jake turn Stacey away from the view of the cameras that had arrived from the TV station.
“Let’s get her out of here,” Jake suggested and Miles said something to Bryant who quickly had an SUV pulled around letting them get in the back to be blocked by the dark windows.
They reached her house and waited while the second crew gave them the “all clear” before carrying her inside and locking the rest of the world out. He took her upstairs and sat down on the bed with her across his lap running his hands down her arms and back. “Cee, baby,” he said lifting her face to his. “I thought I’d lost you again.”
