Page 4 of Firefighter Billionaire
Kaiden gently strokes my hair. I rest my head against his chest and look down at my fingers. His leg is so thick. So strong. I bet he can lift a lot of weights.
“For so long,” I continue, “I pretended like nothing was wrong. He’d come home with a little blood on his shirt. I’d clean it off. If I didn’t ask questions, I could carry on like everything was fine. But then I came home early from lunch with some friends. One of them has kids. There was an emergency at school. She had to leave early, so we all said we’d catch up another time. I get home, and I see his car in the drive and I think it’s pretty weird because usually, he spends the whole day at work. Sometimes even later. I put my key in the door like nothing is wrong, but as soon as I open the door, I know there’s something strange going on. I can hear a man crying. Screaming. I hear my boyfriend threatening him. Telling him he’s going to kill him. Cut him up into tiny pieces and feed him to the pigs. Then one of his goons comes around the corner and I turn around and run.” I let out a deep breath I didn’t even know I was holding in. “And I’ve been running ever since.”
“So, how do you know he’s looking for you?” Kaiden asks.
“I spoke to some of my friends. Apparently, he’s been harassing them. Demanding that they tell him where I am. He even beat one of them up. She’s in the hospital with a broken jaw.”
Kaiden's whole body turns rigid. His hands ball into huge fists. Boulders made from bone at the ends of long, thick arms. He's like a bear who's just found another bear trespassing in his territory.
“I know I don’t have the right to ask you this, Kaiden.” I take his face in both my hands and look him straight in the eyes. Our lips are so close we’re almost kissing. “You’ve already saved my life once today. But, please, I don’t have anyone else to turn to. I need you to save me again.”
3
Kaiden
My phone buzzes angrily.It’s on my bed. There’s no point answering. It’s only going to be my boss or one of the other firefighters and they’re probably going to shout at me and ask me whether I’ve lost my mind.
Maybe I have.
It sure felt that way when I was driving at a hundred and fifty miles an hour away from the fire zone with Willa hiding in the trunk of my truck with a blanket pulled over her.
I shake my head.
This sure has been a crazy day. If what Willa told me about her ex-boyfriend, there’s a strong chance it’s about to get a hell of a lot more crazy, too.
I stuff clothes and money and whatever else I can think of into a gym bag.
We need to get as far away from here as possible as fast as possible. Willa's life might depend on it. There's no way I'm going to let her get hurt.
“Kaiden?”
Willa’s standing in the doorway. I turn around and look at her. She has a picture in her hand. She’s biting her lip and her eyebrows are all furrowed and cute looking. I was hoping she wouldn’t have to find out about my past until later.
“You okay?” I ask.
She holds the picture up. It’s me and my ex-fiancé. We’re standing on a beach in the Maldives. The sky behind us is a perfect, clear blue and the water is transparent. We’re both smiling like we’re the happiest people in the whole damn world. Maybe we were.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” she says. “This photo. Hell, this apartment.” She looks at my bed. Her eyes widen as she sees a hundred thousand dollars laying next to a gun. “Oh, God.”
She starts to back away from me. It’s like she’s seen a ghost.
“Wait! Willa!” I rush towards her and take her in my arms. “It’s not what you think.”
She shakes her head from side to side. “Then what is it, Kaiden? Who the heck are you? You sure didn’t buy this apartment on a firefighter's salary. And God knows where all that money came from. I already got involved with the wrong guy. I can't make the same mistake twice.”
I take the photo from her hands and look at the former me. It’s been so many years. I barely even recognize the person staring back.
“She was my fiancé.” I guide Willa to the bed. We sit down next to each other. Even though our legs are almost touching, it’s like we're miles apart. There’s nothing for me to do, but come clean. I don’t know what this thing is between us, but it’s not going to work if I can’t be honest with her. “Five years ago she died in a car crash. She was completely decapitated. Her head torn straight from her body.” I take a deep breath. My pulse races beneath my skin. It’s been years since I said these words out loud. Even though I think about it almost every day, I keep it bottled up inside me. “I was driving.”
“Oh, Kaiden!” Willa wraps her arms around me. I sink my face against her shoulder and this time I don’t fight the tears that flood from my eyes.
“It wasn’t my fault,” I tell her. “It was a drunk driver. He swerved into our lane. I didn’t have any time to get out the way.”
“You poor baby.” She strokes the side of my face and looks into my eyes. My chest is shaking.
“I still blame myself, though,” I say. “If it wasn’t for me, she never would have been in the car in the first place. She wanted to stay at home. She wanted a quiet night in. It was me who wanted to go to the award show. I wanted to show her off. We were so damn happy. I just wanted to show her off like a Goddamn trophy.”
She hugs me again. This time, she squeezes me tight. Her breasts press against my chest. After a while, I stop thinking about my dead fiancé and I start thinking about how good it feels to have Willa’s arms wrapped around me.
