Twenty-three

Blaze

Three Weeks Later

To say I’d experienced a battery of emotions over the last three weeks would have been an understatement.

I felt as though I was constantly wavering between two extreme feelings—fear and love.

Despite my best efforts to try to focus on the positive, to allow myself to feel gratitude for the life I’d been living ever since Harlow had entered it, it was proving to be difficult to do. The reality was that I had been doing everything I could to narrow this case down to a viable list of potential suspects, and it was frequently on my mind.

Even in the instances when I was alone with Harlow, I wasn’t always able to put it aside. I’d have these wonderful moments with her—eating dinner, going on a date, or making love to her—where all my focus was on her. But then we’d curl up on the couch to watch some television, or she’d fall asleep beside me in bed.

That’s when it would happen.

I’d stare down at her while she was being entertained by whatever we were watching or I’d feel the softness of her body pressed close while she slept, and I’d feel those massive, deep-seated feelings of love for her before the worry crept in.

What if my job wound up being the reason something happened to her? What if I couldn’t solve this case and make sure she stayed safe?

There was an overwhelming sense of doom and gloom I couldn’t seem to shake.

It was one thing to take on the responsibility of being the man who looked after her and protected her day in and day out, and it was something else entirely to know there was an active threat against her.

The only silver lining in all of it—if it could even be called that—was knowing I wasn’t alone in what I was feeling. With the exception of the guys who were still single, the rest of the men on the Harper Security Ops team all felt the same. Until this case was solved, the woman we each loved was at risk. And considering we had received a warning through Ellery a few weeks ago without any new attacks since, it was safe to say tensions were running high. We were all just a bit on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Whenever I found the stress of the whole situation got to be too much, I’d force myself to take a step back and think about Harlow. Thoughts of her, of something she said or did that made me laugh, usually eased a bit of the pressure I felt.

That was precisely what happened just ten minutes before I was about to leave work. With the uncertainty surrounding this whole situation, I’d been spending every night with Harlow. Whether we were at her place or mine, it didn’t matter as long as we were together.

I had intended to head home to my place, where Harlow would likely arrive at the same time, grab a shower with her, and start preparing dinner for the both of us when it happened.

There was a commotion outside of my office. I quickly got up and moved in that direction, stepping out into a flurry of raised voice and panic-stricken faces. Damon was standing there with his arm wrapped around Avalon. Jax and Banks had their phones to their ears, and Royce was pulling his phone out of his pocket. Huck and Greyson stood there looking utterly helpless, and Forrest had his head down, looking at something he was holding in his hands.

“What’s going on?” I asked as I approached.

“I just checked the mail and found that,” Avalon said, pointing to Forrest.

I shifted my attention to him, saw he was holding a piece of paper in his hands, and pressed, “What is it?”

Forrest lifted his pale gaze to mine. He held the piece of paper out to me as he pulled out his phone and ordered, “Check on Harlow. I’ve got to call Daisy.”

Shit.

Shit!

What this was, it wasn’t good. As Forrest stalked off and lifted his phone to his ear, I glanced down at the piece of paper and immediately felt my stomach sink.

One will be gone before the day is done.

My head snapped up. As I glanced around the space, I saw Royce, Jax, and Banks speaking into their phones. They must have already called Tarryn, Sophie, and Lamise and gotten through to them. When my eyes slid to Forrest, I saw he was no longer looking so stressed. Daisy must have answered.

There were still so many other women connected to Harper Security Ops men, and for some reason, I just knew they were all going to be fine. I had this horrible suspicion that it was going to be Harlow who suffered this fate.

I ran back to my office, snatched my phone off my desk, and called her.

No answer.

Despite recognizing the fact there had been other instances where she’d been unable to answer my calls when she was working, I knew that wasn’t the case now.

Ever since I’d called her three weeks ago following the situation where Ellery had been approached and I worried to the point I showed up at the salon, Harlow had promised to take my calls whenever I reached out. If I merely wanted to touch base with her, I simply sent a text and let her know to call me when she had a minute.

This was different.

She knew I wouldn’t be calling unless it was important.

Refusing to believe the worst, even though there was something gnawing away at me, telling me I already knew it was bad, I called her again. Maybe she had the hairdryer on and didn’t hear the call come through.

Once again, I knew I was lying to myself. She’d been in the middle of drying hair before over the last three weeks, and she’d taken my calls.

God, I felt sick.

I walked out of my office and found several sets of eyes pointed at me. When Harlow’s voicemail answered, I pulled my phone from my ear and said, “She’s not answering.”

Nothing else needed to be said as Forrest stepped forward and said, “I’m going with you.”

Huck and Greyson did the same.

Without another word exchanged between us, we took off toward the exit.

I did it while feeling nothing but despair.

Harlow

The last two months had been the best of my life.

I didn’t think there was anything that could top the feeling I had whenever I gave myself permission to consider just how much my life had changed since that horrible first date at the pub with a guy whose name I couldn’t even remember now.

As quickly as I could snap my fingers, Blaze swooped in and became the man I didn’t know I needed my whole life.

And the best part about it all was that there wasn’t a single sign that things were going to change in a negative way, even after all this time.

Granted, I guess this was technically still a new relationship, but it felt like I’d known Blaze for a lifetime. Heck, I couldn’t remember what life was like before I’d met him.

The man just made everything better; he made it fun and exciting. While there was a part of me that had expected it would be that way at the start, there was another part of me that wondered if we were just in the honeymoon phase of our relationship and that it could change at any moment.

It hadn’t.

And I was finally beginning to believe and accept that it likely never would.

Blaze was still as attentive and loving as ever. He still went out of his way to do thing to make me happy. Even though I knew he was that kind of guy, I did my best not to take advantage of it. Not only did I not want him to resent me, but I appreciated the way he loved me more than anything else. I never wanted to do anything to jeopardize that.

Over the course of the last three weeks, I was even willing to say things between us had gotten even better. Not only did we have time to explore the physical part of our relationship, which had been a whole lot of fun, but we had also had our double date with Olive and Ben, gone on a couple of dates to check a few more items off my list of things I’d never experienced, and had several quiet nights in.

No matter what we did, it was always spectacular. And if I had my way, I’d be with him forever.

I could only hope Blaze was feeling similarly.

As it turned out, he told me he’d finally reached out to his parents, told them about me, and expressed his interest in having the whole family together to meet me. From what Blaze shared with me, they were thrilled with the news and more than prepare to host dinner at their place.

So, Blaze and I had this weekend to ourselves, but next weekend, I’d finally be meeting his parents for the first time and getting to know his sisters better, too. I was beyond excited about it.

But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a bit nervous about it. While I didn’t think Blaze would ever put me in a situation that would be awkward or uncomfortable for me, there was still that worry about how it would go lingering in the back of my mind. I hoped his family would like me just as much as my family liked him.

For now, I intended to do my best to ignore those worries and push them to the back of my mind, so I could simply enjoy the next week with Blaze. Luckily, I’d be able to get that started in less than thirty minutes, because I’d just finished up with my last client of the day.

We’d gotten her scheduled for her next two appointments, and once she’d paid, she was out the door. My day was done, and I was looking forward to spending the evening with my guy.

So, I started going about my normal routine of cleaning up and getting things put away, so I wouldn’t feel frazzled when I came in tomorrow morning for another busy day. I’d gotten through nearly all of that when the door to the salon opened and a woman walked in.

I didn’t recognize the woman and said, “Hi. How can I help you?”

She smiled and replied, “I was curious if you were accepting new clients.”

Not wanting to seem unappreciative, considering the prospect of gaining a new client did make me happy, I ignored the part of my brain that was wondering why this woman had to wait until the very definition of last-minute to come in to talk to me. Pretending I didn’t have the desire to leave the salon that I did, I smiled back at her. “I am,” I confirmed. “What are you looking to have done? Is this for a special occasion?”

“Oh, I’m just looking for a new place to switch to altogether,” she explained. “The salon I’ve been going to seems to just keep raising their prices every time I go in, so I’ve decided to see what other options I’ve got available.”

I nodded my understanding. “Sure. Well, I mean, we can certainly get you scheduled for something, if you’d like. What would you need to have done?”

“Probably some color and a cut,” she answered.

“Perfect. Yeah, I can definitely get that taken care of for you. Did you have a time frame in mind?” I questioned her.

She hesitated a moment, considering her answer to that question. “Uh, well, what do you have as your next available?”

After giving her hair another look and deciding how much time I’d need to do what she wanted, I glanced down at my calendar to search for an open spot. “I’ve got an opening on Friday, two weeks from now. Could you come in at two o’clock that afternoon?”

“I think that should work. Let me double-check my calendar,” she answered as she reached into her purse. She pulled out her phone, tapped on the screen a few times, and inspected it. “Yep, that looks like it’s perfect. You said that was for two o’clock, right?”

I nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. I just need some information to get you in my schedule here. Can I have your name?”

“It’s Laura.”

“And your last name?”

Silence filled the air, forcing me to glance up. As I did, I noticed Laura had her eyes narrowed on her phone. “Oh, you know what? I don’t think that Friday is going to work for me.”

“That’s not a problem at all. I can look at what’s available the following week,” I assured her, flipping my calendar to look at the spots I had open the following week. I scanned the open spots and shared, “I’ve got that Monday at either ten in the morning or three-thirty in the afternoon. I can also do Tuesday at eleven. And I have Thursday at one. If you’d need a Saturday appointment, I wouldn’t have anything open until the Saturday one week after that.”

“That’ll definitely be too far away,” she replied.

I offered a slight nod in return. “I completely understand. I just wanted to toss that option out there for you. Would that Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday would for you?”

She sighed. “I wish they would. Unfortunately, I think they’re all going to be a problem.”

“Oh no,” I said, feeling bummed that it just didn’t seem to be working out for this potential client. “The only other option I could offer you would be to take your information down and reach out to you if someone needs to cancel and reschedule their appointment.”

Laura dropped her phone back into her purse and said, “That’s really kind of you. Unfortunately, even if you could get me in tomorrow, I get the feeling it’ll be too late.”

My brows pulled together. If that was the case, why would she have initially said the first appointment I offered would have worked for her? “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you have a trip you’re leaving for?”

She shook her head. “No. No, I guess I should clarify. I think the reason that nothing is really going to work for me doesn’t really have anything to do with me. It’s more about you.”

I straightened up from where I’d been bent over my desk. “Me? I don’t understand.”

As she nodded, a sinister look washed over her face. Following a beat of awkward, tense, and very uncomfortable silence, Laura revealed, “No other day will work, because you’ll be dead.”

The second the words were out of her mouth, my phone rang. But I couldn’t bring myself to look down at it, because my body was frozen to the spot as my blood ran cold.

I was in serious trouble.