Changing Everything
Page 26

I frowned as I crossed my arms over my chest. “I know she was falling hard for him, but she didn’t know him long enough to know who he really was.”
“I agree, and I think she’s just come to that realization. How does the truck look?”
“Like nothing ever happened. We got all the glass vacuumed out and replaced, I’m just glad he didn’t hit the frame.” Looking down the hall, I took a step closer to Jason. “Do you think we shouldn’t bring it up around her? I gave one of the detectives who showed up my number; told him to call me if he had any more questions about Brett. I don’t want them calling Paisley about him, I don’t want her to be brought into this anymore—especially if she’s already not handling it well.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. And if it ends up it was him? That’s going to be too hard for her. Do you know if they’ll tell you if they find out who did it?”
“Once they get the video from the cameras on the lights and outside the bar, if they see the person doing it on there, they’ll call me in to see if I can ID him.” When Jason nodded, I took a step in the direction of the bedroom. “Thank you for bringing—”
“Don’t thank me. I knew she needed to get out of there, and we would do anything for her.”
Clapping his back, I sent him a grateful look. “Appreciate it, man. I’m gonna take her back to my place.”
“You guys can stay in the guest room if you want,” he offered. “I doubt it will take O’Malley’s long to get the video over to the police, so if they do call you, they’d probably be doing it soon. You can stay here; that way if you need to leave she can be with us.”
I hesitated for a few seconds as I thought about what to do. All I wanted was to take Paisley to my apartment and keep her safe, but I didn’t know if Brett knew where I lived, and Jason had a point. “If you’re sure?”
His expression fell. “You’re both our best friends, you think I’m not going to try to help you out right now? Yes, I’m sure. Besides, Kristen already put new sheets on the bed in there just in case.”
I nodded my appreciation. “Thank you.”
Turning, I walked down the hall and into their bedroom. Paisley was lying on her side with her knees curled up to her chest and her head in Kristen’s lap as Kristen ran her fingers through Paisley’s long, dark hair. Kristen looked up at us and smiled, but Paisley didn’t move until I ran my hand down her arm.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Her head turned slowly; her dark eyes were wide. Her jaw was locked so tight it looked like she would break if she tried to speak.
“Let’s get some sleep, all right?”
She nodded subtly, and I grabbed her up in my arms before turning to leave the room. Paisley never said anything about the fact that I wasn’t taking her outside, or that I set her on her feet in Kristen and Jason’s guest room . . . she just stood there staring at me with those wide eyes. Like she couldn’t believe what had happened, and didn’t know what to say now.
After shutting the bedroom door, I moved back to Paisley and slowly pulled her shirt off her body before unclasping her bra and letting it fall to the floor as well. Grabbing the back of my shirt, I lifted it over my head and off my arms, only to slide it over Paisley’s head. When she was drowning in my shirt, I took off my jeans then grabbed for the button on her shorts. Letting them fall down her legs, I left her to step out of them while I went to arrange the pillows on the bed the way she liked them.
When they were all propped up, I slid under the covers and held my arm out for her. She came easily and curled up against my side as I wrapped my arm tight around her body, but she stayed rigid for long minutes until I pressed my lips to her forehead.
“Sleep, Pay,” I crooned deeply.
The tension slowly left her body and her fingers curled against my stomach as her head rested more comfortably on my shoulder. Her breathing deepened, and she was asleep within a few minutes.
“I’ve got you, and I love you.”
MY EYES FLEW open the next morning when someone opened the bedroom door, but my body instantly relaxed when Jason walked in.
“Sorry,” he whispered, and walked over to me with my phone. “Paisley left this in our room. Detective,” he mouthed the last word.
Trying to clear my throat without waking up Paisley, I looked down at where she slept soundly on my chest, and turned my head away from her. “This is Eli Jenkins.”
“Yes, this is Detective Hooper, we spoke last night in the parking lot of O’Malley’s. Good news, the three vehicles were in sight of one of the cameras, and we have someone on video doing the vandalism. I was wondering if you’d be able to come down to look at what we have, see if you can ID the person.”
“Of course, when do you need me?”
“As soon as you can get here.”
“I’m on my way.” After ending the call, I dropped my phone on the bed and looked back over to where Paisley’s head rested on my chest, and pressed my lips gently to hers before sliding out from under her.
“Where you going?” she mumbled as I pulled my jeans on.
I wanted to keep all this from her, but I didn’t want to lie to her. I took in a deep breath as I thought of what to say to her, then decided to go with the truth. “I need to go to the police station to see if I can ID the person from the cameras at O’Malley’s. I’ll be back with breakfast soon.”
“So they’ll know if . . .” She trailed off. Her eyes, heavy from sleep, still told me everything she was feeling. Confusion, confliction, worry . . . but they were so distanced I doubt she saw me nod.
Walking over to the bed, I leaned over her and kissed her more firmly this time. “I love you, Pay.”
Paisley wrapped a hand around the back of my neck to keep me there a few seconds after the kiss ended. She looked like she wanted to say something, but eventually released her hold on me, and said, “I love you too.”
Just as I got to the door to leave the room, she called out my name to stop me. When I turned to look at her, she was sitting up and shaking her head. “I don’t want to know if it was . . . I just don’t want to know.”
With a nod, I left the room and walked down the hall, and found Jason pouring coffee in the kitchen. “Do you have a shirt I could borrow?”
“Yep. There are travel mugs in the cupboard, get one.”
I switched places with him when he left for his room, filled a mug with coffee, and finally located the matching lid by the time he came back out with a shirt.
“It’s big on me, should fit you,” he guessed as he tossed it toward me.
Shrugging into it, I grabbed the mug and turned toward him. What I was about to say must’ve been clear on my face because he leveled a glare at me.
“She’ll be fine. Just go take care of whatever you have to do.”
“Thank you.”
“Stop thanking me.”
I smirked as I walked past him. “Only if you let my girl get hurt.”
“I still value my balls and my life.”
Turning to look at him, I shrugged. “Then I’ll keep thanking you.”
I WASN’T AT the department long. It had still been light enough out when he took a bat to the windows, and thank God O’Malley’s didn’t have piece-of-shit security cameras, because there was no questioning who the guy was in the video.