Page 32 of Starting Our Chance

17 Duke

I could see the lightfrom the blaze a few streets away, even before I saw the actual conflagration. It took a little longer to feel the heat of the inferno, but when I finally turned the corner, the full impact of the tragedy hit me. As I stood watching from across the street, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Too tipsy to drive, I was still lucid enough to take in the scope of the scene. Frustration and despair permeated my chest. I was grateful there had been no casualties. Was I angry? Probably, and I was directing all of that emotion toward Ty. I blamed him. His enemies must have followed him to town, an avenging spirit on their side.

As I approached the scene with staggered steps, I saw her. Loretta was in the driver’s seat of her sporty little vehicle. Even from here, I could see her body visibly shaking. Shit. I took off at a dead run. Ripping open the door of the black Audi, I grabbed her and enveloped her in a hug.

She’s safe. Yet, just as I thought those words, her fist snuck out of my hold and clocked me good. Rocking backwards, I took a good look at her and saw that her eyes were as wide as saucers. The whites overwhelmed all color, and it was instantly apparent that she was freaked the fuck out.

“Gorgeous, it’s just a fire.” But my words did no good. It was then that I realized that she wasn’t seeing me. I slowly approached her a second time, keeping my voice low and soothing.

Finally, she asked in a hoarse voice, “Duke? Is that you?”

“Yeah, Gorgeous, I’m here.”

“Duke!” Lore launched herself at me, and in the next moment she was in my arms. Her body was still shaking like a leaf in a storm. I just stood there, holding her. My mind was turning, wondering what had her so freaked out. It was obvious that she suspected something, and if I was right—which I prayed I wasn’t—it had a lot to do with what Felicity and I had been discussing before she went to bed. Marcus had stayed up with me to plan what we would do to fix things. During that time, we’d finished my decanter of bourbon and his backup bottle.

“Are you okay?” It was a dumb question, and I immediately gave myself a mental slap for saying it, following up with a quick, “I mean, are you physically okay?”

No response, just more shaking. I lifted my eyes and looked around the scene. Something had set her off. This girl was as tough as nails. A little old fire, no matter how dramatic, wouldn’t have affected her this way. There was my office building—or what was left of it, the flames reaching to the high heavens. As much as I loathed calling Nikki while she was spending time with Tyler—doing whatever the hell they were doing: fighting or fucking—I needed to get ahold of her. I knew she backed everything up onto a remote server and cloud bank, so I was pretty sure our data was fine. And it wasn’t like the property itself was a huge investment. Plus, there was insurance. So, I could safely bet this wasn’t actually that big of a deal.

Maybe Lore blames herself, since she would have locked up this afternoon after Nikki skipped out?

My hand was absently rubbing up and down Loretta’s spine, and my other senses were beginning to light up with awareness. Having her delicious body pushed against mine was setting off every nerve ending. Already, I felt my cock thickening in response, and I just wanted to lead her away and take all her pain upon myself. That wasn’t what she needed from me right now, though—and not for our first time together.

But she, on the other hand, wasn’t calming down. I frowned and took a second look at the catastrophe. Keeping a tight grip of Loretta, I stepped away from her car to look at the whole scene. That was when I saw what her car had been blocking from view.

I saw that big white bedsheet with the horrid writing plastered on it in red.

Holy shit. This was all about her. Instantly, Loretta’s freaked out state made sense. She was being hunted and was no longer safely off the radar in her hometown. Felicity had filled me in with the generalizations, but I had been wondering how to broach the subject with Lore.

My mind suddenly clicked that whoever had done this could have easily gone to the Forman’s house tonight.

Holy fuck.

These people had sent a very pointed message. And one we could all hear loud and clear. Loretta’s old boss was coming for her. She had been framed for a theft, and now she was going to pay, regardless of where the money actually was.

However, what didn’t make sense was why she had come back home. I was damned glad she came back and this gave me a chance to prove myself to her—to be the white knight who finally saved his princess. But it was such a stupid move on her part. She would have looked less suspicious remaining in New York City.

Although, whatever her reason, it didn’t matter now. And at this moment, I just needed to focus on taking care of her. I felt completely sober, but I knew the damned alcohol was still in my blood, and there was no way I could drive us back to the farm.

I leaned down so that my lips were pressing against her ear. “Loretta. Hey, Gorgeous, listen up. I know about Brando, your old boss. Lore, listen to me. He isn’t going to hurt you. I won’t let him.”

She turned ever so slightly so that our faces were mere inches apart. I could feel her warm breath tickling my face. Those soft lips of hers were right there, and part of me wanted to sample them, but my lady was in distress and that was not a gentlemanly thing to do right at this minute.

“You know?”

The words cut at my heart. “Yes.”

“And you won’t throw me away after knowing what happened? You care about me?”

“Yeah. I care a great deal.” How could she think I didn’t? I wanted to give her a shake. But when my rational side kicked in, I realized that I hadn’t given her much of a chance to depend on me. That stops right now. She was going to learn that I was here for her, that I was going to give her an arm to lean on, and if it came to a fight, that I would also go into battle for her. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I murmured, “Let’s get you home.”

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