CHAPTER 12
Jessie felt like she was being watched. More times than not, she saw exactly who was watching her, but it wasn’t always so innocent and well intentioned. The week had passed much like any other. Blake’s presence hadn’t wavered. He was everywhere she was, but that wasn’t who was watching her. Not in the sense that made her feel uncomfortable, anyway. That was an entirely different sensation altogether.
There was a change in the air from time to time. A cold chill would course through her, and her nerves would quake in warning. That wasn’t Blake’s doing. He left her with an entirely different kind of flutter and thrill.
Nothing else had transpired since she found the fire in her backyard, though, so she tried to convince herself that it was just paranoia. Paranoia was a given after going through something like she had, but this wasn’t paranoia. She knew trouble was in town. Waiting for her.
Fire season was upon them – warm summer days meant dry forests, which was always a risky mix during high season for tourists. Though McKenzie Ridge had year-round tourism, summer was as busy as the winter snow months, and that meant busy first responders, fire specifically. Trainees are sent to McKenzie, during high season, to extend their skill set but also offer additional resources to the dangerous wildfire season. This season was already proving to be one of the worst to date.
The forests were quiet, but the tourists weren’t. Truth be told, Fire responded to more non-fire emergencies than actual fires. Fire and Rescue is typically first on scene for anything from choking to an overconfident tourist who misjudged a cliff. This week was proving to be anything but typical because it seemed McKenzie was a little more fire prone than usual.
There were more fire calls in the previous week than they were used to having in a month. What spooked Jessie more than anything was that they were small, unexplainable fires. A trashcan in the park or a small field fire behind the school when there hadn’t been anything, including lightning, to explain it.
There was even an abandoned campfire at a campground at the edge of town, despite the burn ban that went into effect every year around that time. Even tourists were aware of the burn ban and its hefty fines because there was signage everywhere you went or looked with big red warnings that may as well be flashing neon signs. It wasn’t lost on anyone
that it was wildfire season, and Oregon forests were off limits.
Despite the Forest Rangers’ close watch from strategically placed towers that were manned twenty-four hours a day, keeping an eye out for signs of smoke and fire in the expansive sea of green for miles, combined with diligent, routine campground rounds…a campfire was built and left to burn.
Each fire call could be reasonably excused as fireworks – though banned, tourists brought them from their own towns – and the abandoned campfire was deemed a doused fire that wasn’t completely out and reignited. It all kept coming back to city folk
tourists
that weren’t all that great at roughing
it.
Jessie didn’t buy any of it. She could explain each and every one of those fires. She knew they were messages, warnings rather, maybe even promises. Promises to make good on his last plea – he’d find her, and he’d make her pay…vengeance would be his
. With each fire call, that became more and more apparent. They grew in size and risk as did her fear driven anxiety.
She became a firefighter to overcome the fear he’d instilled – she faced it head on, every time she ran into a burning structure or stood in the middle of an engulfed inferno of burning trees. Every time she put a fire out, she conquered her fear and defeated her monster.
Now, the problem was that he was here. Somewhere. Watching. Playing with her like a wild animal does its prey. He was in her
town, her sanctuary, where she reinvented herself and overcame her tragedy. He was threatening her and everyone and everything she loved.
Her sanity came in the form of a six-plus-foot mound of chiseled physique and a sultry stare that made panties melt, including her own. Blake. Blake was everywhere she was. When the panic festered, one look his way, and it was pushed back down, replaced with a different feeling of fluster altogether. One that made her sweat a little and cross her legs a little tighter each time.
It didn’t help that she tossed and turned most nights, knowing he was parked right outside her house in his SUV, watching over her. Protecting her. It seemed the more present he was, the more she desired him, and that pissed her off. It was Blake. He was a friend – nothing more – and a royal pain in her ass. With his sexy smug stares and dominant alpha bullshit, he was the last thing she should be craving. Proof she was feeling the stress of her heavy burden that had been lurking and taunting her.
Jessie was pulled from her thoughts by the sound of Blake’s SUV starting. She turned to look over her shoulder and through the window from the couch where she had been sitting, just in time to see his red and blue lights go on. Something was going down, something big if he was actually leaving her alone. Blake was on his phone when she made her way to his vehicle, and the look on his face said something was wrong, very
wrong. If it weren’t already obvious, the way he looked at her
confirmed it. Trouble.
Tossing his phone on the seat next to him after hanging up, he unlocked his glove box and quickly pulled something out. A gun.
“I know you can shoot this one; we’ve used it at the range,” he said. “Go inside, lock your doors, and don’t answer for anyone but me. Got it?”
“What’s going on? What happened, Blake?” she asked, her voice full of tension.
“There’s been a fire at the House. I need to go check it out. Get inside; I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“No. I’m going with you.”
“Jessie, stay here. I don’t know all of the details. It may not be safe. Just stay here, and I’ll…call you when I know more,” he said.
She put the gun in the back of her waistband and ran toward the house, hollering over her shoulder, “I’ll be right back. I need to put on my shoes!”
Before he had a chance to protest, she was inside, door left wide open. Close the door, Jessie
. Close the door,
he thought, unable to pull away, leaving her so vulnerable.
“Damn it,” he said, hitting his steering wheel. “Doesn’t know how to fucking listen.”
In an impromptu decision, he pulled away from Jessie’s house before she could return. He wanted her as far away from whatever was going on down at the House as he could keep her. Though details were sketchy, he had an idea of who was behind it. When Jessie returned to the door and saw that he was gone, she would close it and lock it like he told her to. Granted, she’d be hotter than hell that he left her, but she was safer there, on alert, with a gun.
He wouldn’t be able to keep close watch over her and do what he needed to do down at the House. Details were sketchy, but he understood that whatever had happened, it was big. Blake had no choice but to leave her behind and hope that she would do as he said. Hope, however, went about as far as a nickel in a dime store because when he looked in his rearview mirror, he saw her flipping him off from her front porch just before she jumped into her own car and followed him.
Jessie couldn’t believe that Blake left her like that. What the hell was he thinking? Was this his way of protecting her from whatever they were about to see? Protecting her like he had been all week – weeks
, really?
“What an asshole
,” she said to herself, angrily, before dropping her voice to a mocking tone. “Oh, here’s a gun, little lady. Now, get your fragile, womanly behind inside, and lock the doors. Let the men folk handle this one, darlin’.
Such a chauvinistic jerk!”
The gun. Another curious move on his part. Just handing her a gun like that had to be illegal. What if she were to fire it and hurt someone, not that she would, but that’s a pretty significant risk on his part. Straight laced, by the book Blake was willing to break the laws he was appointed to uphold in order to protect her? Was he that worried about her? Over an outdoor fire she didn’t light nearly a week ago?
A chill coursed through her – what did
Blake Cooper know that had him so uptight and testosterone driven that he would take things this far, she wondered. He knew something, and she had an odd suspicion that whatever they were chasing, at this very moment, was going to sting. That curiosity was nudging at the back of her mind again – what if he knew
? There would be only one way for Blake to know her story and what she was hiding from, and she didn’t want to believe he would go so far as to abuse his authority and credentials. Although…he did
just hand her a random gun.
If he did know, his over the top protective behavior made sense and was warranted because her demons were that big. It was also in Blake’s nature to be overbearing and protective just because he liked to be in charge and dominate everything around him. The gun, though – that was pretty steep, even for him.
Sharing her past was something Jessie didn’t do – she feared pity as much as judgment. Until now, it was easier to hide her past. Bury it deep within her own psyche, which was now proving to be a mistake. By not facing it or being honest about it – she found herself reliving it – her offender in control once more.
The thought of Blake possibly knowing something left her to question what he
would think of her
. Would he think she deserved it – that she had it coming
? Would Blake blame her like her father did? What about what was happening in their small, otherwise safe, town – and whatever was happening at the House right at that very moment? Certainly, that would be her fault too; after all, it was her
he was after.
Though the bulk of the phone call he took was private, she did hear part of his side. Words like fire, explosion,
and injuries
were used. She brought this here. Deep down, she knew that to be true because there was no such thing as coincidence; everything had purpose and its own timing, and this was his
. He
was sending her another not too subtle message…she was certain of it.
Jessie didn’t let her mind wrestle with that idea any longer because she had enough to worry about. If Blake knew anything about her or her violent past, he would have said something and likely locked her up somewhere to keep her safe because that’s what he did. He fought everyone’s battles for
them, whether they asked him to or not. It was the Blake Cooper way.
Finally pulling up to the parking lot, preceding the building that housed the large family of friends and co-workers, she realized she wasn’t prepared for the scene taking place in front of her. It was utter chaos with dark smoke billowing from every side of the building, people still running out while first responders ran in, a parking lot triage, already assessing the bodies lying on the ground. It was like a war zone.
Without realizing it, she had come to a complete stop in the middle of the parking lot and was paralyzed by the rising fear that had finally claimed her completely. She opened her car door and got sick in front of everyone watching. Probably even him
.