Page 42 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
Jesse grabbed her shoulders, grounding her with his touch. “Lauren, look at me.” His voice was firm but gentle. “You’re here. You’re safe.”
Her eyes finally shifted, meeting his. There was a storm behind them—fear, rage, grief—but she was back.
Griff’s cruiser screeched to a stop behind them, but Jesse didn’t look away. Because right now, Lauren needed him more than anything.
“I’m okay,” Lauren muttered, her voice low and shaky.
She wasn’t. Not by a long shot. But Jesse could see her pulling herself back from the edge, her breaths ragged but slowing, her eyes darting around to assess the scene. She was fighting through it—refusing to be pulled under by the weight of those memories.
Jesse stayed close, his hand still lightly on her arm, grounding her. The photos scattered across the yard fluttered in the breeze, cruel reminders of the past they thought was buried.
Across the street, Elsie Peters stood on her porch, clutching a broom like it was a weapon. “Those kids ran off!” Elsie hollered. “What did they throw all over your yard? I can’t see it from here.”
Jesse opened his mouth to respond, but before he could get a word out, movement caught his eye.
A man stepped out from the side of Elsie’s house. He was wearing a ski mask and dressed in dark clothes.
Jesse didn’t have time to shout a warning. The man lunged, knocking the broom from Elsie’s hands and grabbing her from behind. A flash of metal—a gun—pressed to the elderly woman’s temple.
Jesse’s instincts kicked in. He drew his weapon, stepping slightly in front of Lauren, his heart pounding.
“Let her go!” Jesse’s voice was steady, cutting through the tense air.
Griff was already moving, his weapon drawn, positioning himself to cover from the side while he was also using the voice command on his phone to call for more backup. But Lauren wasn’t staying put behind either of them. She drew her gun as well and stepped out into the line of fire.
Elsie’s face was twisted in fear, her hands trembling as the man’s grip tightened around her neck.
Then the man spoke. “Long time, no see, Lauren.” His voice sharp and twisted with dark amusement.
The words sliced through the air like a blade.
Jesse didn’t have to look at Lauren to feel her tense beside him, her breath hitching just slightly. But it was her voice, low and raw, that confirmed what his gut already knew.
“Reggie,” she muttered.
The sound of that name flooded Jesse with rage over the past injustice that Lauren had had to endure. This wasn’t a flashback. This wasn’t a nightmare from the past creeping in through fractured memories. This was real.
Reggie was here.
Jesse’s grip tightened on his gun. His mind raced through options, calculating distance, cover, and the shaking figure of Elsie caught in the middle.
“This ends now,” Jesse muttered, his jaw clenched.
Because Lauren’s nightmare had returned.
And Jesse was going to make damn sure it didn’t take her down this time.
Chapter Sixteen
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Lauren’s heart was racing out of control, her pulse pounding in her ears as she stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. Reggie stood there, masked, holding Elsie with a gun pressed to her temple.
The past clawed at her, threatening to drag her under—darkness, fear, the cold bite of duct tape against her skin.
Not now. Focus.
She forced herself to breathe, to see the reality in front of her instead of the nightmare behind her. This wasn’t sixteen years ago. She wasn’t helpless. She was a cop, and somehow she had to defuse this situation before Elsie got killed.
