Page 58 of The Desperate Warrior

Dinner passed in a blur. Jules picked at her food, hardly tasting a thing.

When Brock went to the restroom, she took that opportunity to slip out onto the front porch to get some fresh air. Brock was determined to stay right by her side, but she needed some solitude so that she could clear away the frantic clutter in her brain.

It was a nice evening—not too hot and not too cool. She sat on the porch swing and turned her face towards the gentle breeze, welcoming the kiss of the wind on her cheeks. The sky had deepened into a vivid violet, with the last thin strands of orange slowly getting swallowed up by the impending dusk.

Lightning bugs had come out for the nightly show, popping out delicate flashes of golden light intermittently as if the bugs were performing to the beat of a song made for their ears only. She sat with her hands folded tightly in her lap, trying to quiet the storm raging inside her.

Steve Randall was coming for her … again.

She was lucky to be alive after the car accident.

But would her luck hold out the next time around?

An invisible net tightened around her. For one awful second, she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Tears blurred her vision. What happened to Lisa Randall was a tragedy. Why couldn’t Steve Randall understand that getting revenge on those whose job it was to help people wasn’t going to bring his wife back? The crazy part was that Lisa’s death wasn’t even caused by anything that the medical staff had done. Steve Randall was unhinged. Plain and simple.

The front door opened, and Brock stepped out on the porch. Hastily, she wiped her eyes with the heels of her palms. He strode over and sat down on the swing beside her. “I step away for one minute to go to the restroom, and you try to escape,” he said with a droll grin. Then he saw her face and blinked.

Before she realized what was happening, he scooted close and slid his arm around her. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said with surprising gentleness.

She sucked in a shaky breath and then nodded.

“Keeping people safe is what I do.”

More tears sprang to her eyes. “When Zoe was going through the thing with Nico Ventura, I thought I understood what she was going through.” She barked out a short laugh. “I had no idea. It’s brutal.”

Lightly, he rubbed circles over her arm. His touch was both comforting and tantalizing.

“I’m sorry,” she said miserably, “you must think I’m a big baby.”

“Not at all. It’s normal to be afraid. That’s why you have me.”

She angled towards him. “Thank you for being here. It means a lot,” she finished softly, grateful that the iceberg that had been between them was now completely dissolved. She didn’t know if she could handle any more of the frosty treatment.

“There’s no place I’d rather be,” he said solemnly, his eyes brimming with such emotion that it melted through her like warm butter.

They sat in silence, the swing creaking comfortably beneath them.

She cleared her throat, wanting to get something off her chest. “There’s something I need to say.”

He stopped swinging, wariness trickling over her features as he turned to face her.

“After that video call with Adrian last week … well, I think I finally understand a little of what you’ve been going through.”

“It’s been rough.”

“I can tell, and I’m sorry.” There, she’d said it.

“Trevor’s my world. I just want to do right by him.”

“I know. You’re a good dad.”

His voice went low and ponderous as he stared into the distance. “When Adrian and I first met, she was beautiful and charming. I thought I’d found the perfect person for me.”

Jules winced, berating herself for being envious of the woman he’d once married. Of course he’d been taken with Adrian, or he wouldn’t have married her. It was dumb and pointless to be jealous of anything that had happened in Brock’s past. The problem was that he’d loved someone else, and she’d only loved him. He was the only guy who’d ever rocked her world … and then he shattered it.

He continued, “Even on the honeymoon, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. The minute we got back, I went straight to Luke, bawling like a baby.”

“That’s awful,” she murmured, hating herself for feeling strangely relieved that Adrian wasn’t all that he’d thought she was. “Why did you stay?”

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