Chapter 13

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The anger and frustration Glen felt when Heidi ran away, leaving him hanging with unanswered questions, disappeared at seeing her talk to the stray cat. He inhaled deeply, slowing the need to rush out and comfort her. The words she'd spoken were private and unknown to him, but he'd experienced the emotions he'd witnessed her going through.

Heidi stared at him through the glass. He unlocked the door without taking his gaze off her. He wouldn't make the mistake of letting her go again. She wouldn't get another chance to run.

Opening the door, he stepped back and waited. He wanted her to come inside on her own. To give her consent for him to help her. To take a chance to discover him.

He couldn't forget how she tasted. The way she'd eagerly and yet innocently explored his body. He could practically feel her hands still on him, shaking with need or shyness, he couldn't be sure.

Heidi held the cat higher in her arms and stepped into the house looking into his eyes. The tension in his chest tightened at the leeriness in her gaze that she'd regained away from him. Why had it returned? Why was she scared of him?

He slid the door closed, flipped on the light in the dining room, and walked through to the living room expecting her to follow. Needing to see her in the light, he flipped on the lamp beside the couch and sat down.

Heidi remained standing, holding that damn cat.

"You returned for your backpack," he stated.

She cleared her throat. "Yes."

Her red-rimmed eyes stared at the coffee table. He puckered his lips, stopped, and let the spasm go through him.

"When I took you over to Wayne's yesterday, I found out that you're really not Heidi Lundin. Your I.D. is fake." He put his boots up on the coffee table. "Who are you?"

The cat squirmed and hissed to get down. Heidi struggled to hold onto her, and Glen worried that she'd get bit or scratched.

"Put her outside," he said.

Heidi hurried back to the dining room. Glen ran his hands over his face while she was gone. There was always the chance that she'd leave, but he had to believe she'd stay.

His worry about losing her put to rest when she returned and sat across from him in the chair. He wanted her beside him. Hell, he wanted to hold her.

She looked broken and vulnerable.

"Has Notus Motorcycle Club told anyone that my identification is fake?" she asked, and even her voice was tired and lacking the usual strength he was accustomed to from her.

"No."

Her gaze lifted to his. "Are you going to?"

"Who would I tell?" he said.

She raked her top teeth over her bottom lip and shook her head. Her non-answers killed him. He hoped what he was assuming wasn't true.

"Are you doing drugs?" He tapped his thumb against the arm of the couch.

She frowned. "No. No. Not at all. I've never done drugs."

"Did you know a woman who was staying in your apartment died from a heroin overdose?" he asked, hoping to shock her into telling the truth.

She nodded. "Yes."

Yes? That's all? No reaction? She answered as easily as if he'd asked her if she ate breakfast that morning.

His lip twitched. "Friend of yours?"

"May I get my backpack?" Heidi stood.

"Why?"

"Because I need to leave and everything I own is in the pack." She swallowed, and he watched her neck muscles tighten.

"You're going to run like you did on the way home yesterday?" He sat forward and braced his elbows on his knees. "Come on, Blue. I'm done playing fifty questions. What the fuck is going on and who are you?"

"Why should I tell you?" she said, clamping her mouth shut. "God, you make me..."

"What?" He stood, unable to let her get any further away from him. "What do I do?"

"Everything." She lifted her hands and let them fall, smacking the tops of her thighs. "Why can't you stop?"

He stepped closer. "Stop what?"

"Being nice to me," she screamed.

Realizing what she'd done, she clamped a hand over her mouth and stared at him with wide eyes. The flash of fear and regret swiftly pierced him before she lowered her gaze and hand to stand in front of him unnoticed.

Her eyes remained fixated on the floor. Her arms hung lax. Her back remained straight. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing. She'd tucked her chin to her chest and remained that way.

She wouldn't look at him.

"Hey," he said softly, taking another step, failing to get her attention. "No, Blue, you can't do that with me. Other people might let you disappear on them, but I'm not going to."

He hooked his thumb under her chin and raised her face. There was no struggle, only quiet acceptance.

The fact that she was letting him touch her, move her, and willing to stand in front of him and take whatever he said to her spoke more than any explanation she could give him. Someone had abused her. When vulnerable and cornered, she shut down.

He wrapped his arms around her and gently brought her head to his chest while moving backward and sitting on the couch with her on his lap. She gave him no fight, no struggle, no words to stop him from holding her.

So, he held her tighter. He'd take a good fight over what she was doing.

Used to rescuing missing persons, he was comfortable handling distraught people who were thankful for being saved. Even belligerent people who took their anger out on Notus Motorcycle Club for ruining their plan to disappear from the world were easier to handle.

Heidi's stomach growled, getting no reaction out of her. He questioned when she last had any food. Suspecting it was when she was at his house yesterday morning, it was no wonder she was skinny.

He smoothed his hand over her cheek. "How about we get some food in you?"

She remained motionless in his arms. He tilted her back and found her eyes closed. Caught up in trying to breach her barrier, he hadn't been aware of her falling asleep. He kissed her forehead, leaving his lips on her skin and inhaling deeply.

He couldn't let her go. The same vulnerability and shyness that had appealed to him now made him sick. He wanted to kill the person who'd stripped her of her strength and stole her fight.

Standing up with Heidi in his arms, he carried her to the spare bedroom. Not jostling her, he placed her on the made bed. She curled to her side. He grabbed the edge of the comforter and flipped the blanket over her.

He kissed her head. "Sleep, Blue. You're safe with me."

"Glen..." She stirred without opening her eyes.

He hovered over her and waited. She slipped back into sleep. He'd never seen her that exhausted and wondered what she'd gone through the last twenty-four hours to break her spirit.

"I won't leave you," he whispered, sinking down to his knees on the floor.

From the light in the hallway shining on Heidi's face, she looked like an angel. As if nothing in the hard world had touched her. He palmed the top of her head and thrummed his thumb along the width of her forehead. There was little he knew about her. Nothing that would make him feverously protective of her.

But, he was.