Page 4 of Heart in Waiting
“What are you doing in here?” She evaded his question with one of her own. “I would have thought a regular patrol officer would have handled the little details of this case. It isn’t big enough for a detective to look into.”
Dane frowned. Why was she acting like she wanted a fissure to open in the floor and swallow him whole? They might be barely acquaintances, but she’d always been cordial toward him. Now, she could barely meet his gaze, and her voice had taken on a chilly air that froze him where he stood. He didn’t like this new Reese. He wanted the warm and caring woman he’d always known to come back.
“I’m familiar with all the parties involved and wanted to check in on them personally.” Halie’s mother—Paige—had lived next door to him when he was a kid. They had helped each other out more times than he could count. There were plenty of times it had been the two of them while their mothers’ both worked two or three jobs. Paige was the closest person he could call a friend besides his partner on the force—Carter.
“Is that so?” she lifted a brow. “How well do you know them?”
“I don’t know what you’re asking me here. Perhaps you should come out and say what’s on your mind.”
“Are you her father?” she gestured toward the girl on the bed—her voice was almost emotionless as she spoke.
Dane stared at Halie and frowned. She did have his coloring, but he wasn’t her father. She looked a lot like his father though—where Dane had gotten his dark hair and equally dark blue eyes. Come to think of it, he didn’t know who Halie’s father actually was. Did it bother Reese that he could be Halie’s dad? She seemed to be unsettled by something. Her hand shook when she entered the room. She’d tried to hide it, but he’d noticed it all the same. He might not have if it was any one else but her...
“No,” he said calmly. “Halie isn’t my daughter. Her mother is a good friend of mine.”
Reese ignored him and went over to the bed. She began to look over the little girl, but didn’t actually touch her. “How good a friend?” She still didn’t meet his gaze. Dane didn’t like the tone of her voice either—it was borderline accusatory.
“I hear a question in a question again. We can play this game all night doctor, but I can’t answer what you’re thinking without knowing what it is.” He folded his arms over his chest. “I’ve known Paige since we were in middle school—before my father paid to send me to hell. She’s a good person.”
“Some people would have been grateful for the education they’d receive at Shelton Academy.”
He didn’t like the insinuation behind that statement. She’d dated Nolan and had inside knowledge of how rotten he’d treated him. “Only those that don’t know what stuck up assholes they all are.”
“I didn’t have any problems with them—maybe it was you.”
“Yeah,” he said sarcastically. “You’re absolutely correct. It was all me, and I deserved to be their verbal punching bag every day for four years.” Had he seen her wrong all these years? Why would she suddenly be defending them and picking a fight with him? What had he missed? Had Nolan warped her mind while they’d been together? He shook his head, wiping the questions from his mind. It didn’t really matter. She would never see him as her equal, and he’d accepted that fact a long time ago. “Why do you keep staring at me as if I’m about to hurt you or someone?”
“Are you?”
“I’d never...” He swallowed hard. She actually thought him capable of harming someone. “I’m going to assume you have a reason for asking me that. Why don’t you tell me?”
“Because this little girl has some bruises that resemble a large fist—probably a male.” She lifted her chin up. “So, tell me again how well you know Halie’s mother.”
Fuck. She thought he’d abuse a little girl. She didn’t know him at all if she believed that. Hell, who was he kidding? Reese hadn’t ever bothered to figure out who he was deep down. She’d always looked at him as a charity case. At least she no longer had pity reflecting in her hazel eyes. He didn’t manage to answer her though. He’d been saved by the bell, or another open door as it were.
“There you are,” his partner, Carter, said as he entered. His gaze locked on Reese. Then he glanced at Dane and sighed. “You too—I’ve been looking for you both.”
“What is it?” Reese asked. “I’m working, so it better be important.”
“I have bad news...”
Apparently, it was a day filled with that variety. “Spill it,” Dane said. “Might as well rip off the bandage and get it over with.”
Carter didn’t hold back and said without preamble, “Nolan escaped.”
Double fuck.“How?”
“A bus transporting him to prison overturned a week ago. They just thought to notify us he was missing.”
All the color drained from Reese’s face. She swayed on her feet, losing consciousness, and would have hit the floor if he hadn’t stepped forward to catch her. Even if she didn’t trust him—he’d always be there for her. It was so innate inside of him that he didn’t know any other way to be. He lifted her into his arms and cradled her against him. “I’ve got her. Have you spoken to Claire yet?”
He shook his head. “She’s not answering her phone either. I was already here, so I thought I would find you two first. I have to warn her...” Carter covered his mouth with his hand and then rubbed it through his blond hair. “How am I going to protect the two of them? They're my sisters...”
“I have Reese. Go to Claire.”
He nodded and exited the room. Dane carried Reese over to the other vacant bed in the room and laid her on top of it. She’d come out of it soon enough, and he’d make sure he was there to protect her—whether she liked it or not...
