Safe With Him (33 page)

After about an hour later she had done all she could do until the flowers dried out in the silica gel. Bree walked down the hall to Draco’s office. She got to the open door and she could see him sitting behind his desk, his head bent studying some papers, his face set in sheer determination. God, he was a beautiful man. She knew without a doubt that she loved him, would do anything for him, even if that meant walking away and giving him what he wanted…his house back. She already knew it was going to hurt.
Ha, hurt
, she thought.
Oh yeah, if you call the excruciating pain of having your heart ripped from your body piece by agonizing piece hurt, then yes, it was going to hurt.
In order to save herself, she had to start stepping back now because if she fell any harder for him she would never survive it. So she took a breath, tried to steady herself, and instead of going to him, she knocked on the door frame and watched Draco raise his head from the papers on his desk. “Hey.” When he just sat there looking at her, she added, “I’m going to take a bath.”

“Okay.” That was it. Just an ‘okay’ before he bowed his head back to the papers on his desk.

“Dra?” she called, but what could she say? Or plea?
I’m sorry for screwing up your life, or please don’t hate me
.
I love you.
Would any of that make a difference? No, it would only make it harder on him. He was one of the good guys and all she would end up doing was causing him stress, or worse, regret, that he had helped her in the first place. That, she would not be able to bare, him regretting her. Shaking her head, she turned to go.

“Breezie.” She heard him call and when she turned back around to answer, he was right there, grabbing her up, pulling her tight to him. She couldn’t stop herself, she buried her head in his chest as his rested on the top of hers. “It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered into her hair. “I promise you, il mio cuore.”

Draco woke slowly, the feel of Bree in his arms, her back pressed tight to his chest, the smell of peaches, of her, his Breezie surrounding him. He spent too much time in his office last night. He meant to only give her a little time to take her bath, then he wanted to talk to her. Something was…off, she was pulling away from him again, and he didn’t know why. Was it because of her past? Fuck, she spent a damn year and a half basically alone. Sixteen, seventeen years old, when most girls that age were going out, hanging with a bunch of other girls that age, driving boys crazy. She should have had her first date, her first kiss, her first…
Oh hell no, that first was mine.
She gave that to him. He breathed her in as he squeezed her lightly, felt her stir before she settled back against him.
Had she ever even had a date
? Well, he could fix that. He would take her out tonight anywhere she wanted to go. But first he had to find out what was going on inside that gorgeous head of hers. Yeah, he had spent way too much time in his office. He just wanted, no, he
needed
, her to be safe. To give her freedom back to her, a safe freedom to come and go as she pleased, that is as long as she always came back to him. But by the time he had left his office and came upstairs, she was already in bed and asleep.

Draco continued to lie there with his Breezie in his arms. He was in no hurry to move. Hell, he had no place he had to be and no other place he’d rather be. He had everything he ever wanted right here in his arms. And if he lost his job…
fuck it!
He’d find another one. He would be making some changes anyway. After all, Bree worked nights, would always work nights even after she opened her own bar. It would still be a bar and that required working some very late nights. He, as of now—that is if he didn’t lose his job—worked mostly days. Most days he would be getting up going to work just a few hours after Bree would come home from work. Then in the evenings when he would be coming home, she would be getting ready to leave. They would share the same house, the same bed, but not together. And he could never ask Bree to give up her dream. For what? So he could continue his job? He liked being a cop, helping people, even catching the ‘bad guys,’ but it was never a dream. Never something that he worked his ass off for or saved for years to accomplish. Not like he knew Bree had been doing for…how many years? No, he would never ask that of her. What he could do, what he would do, was help her. Help her with the opening of her own place and work as a bouncer or security. He chuckled at that thought.
Bree would be my boss
.
Yeah, like she don’t already have you wrapped around that cute little finger of hers
. But for now, until Marcus was caught, he would do everything to distract her from the feeling of being locked away, starting with…he kissed the side of her temple, down her cheek, across her jaw, as he made his way to her neck. When he felt her move, turn into him, he took her mouth before she even opened her eyes. Then he took the rest of her.

Bree sat at the kitchen table sometime later. They had eventually made it out of bed, only to end up in the shower together, then into the kitchen where once again Draco fixed an amazing meal, and dang if she wasn’t going to miss that too. They ate, she helped clean up, and they chit-chatted about this and that, but nothing of any consequence, before he disappeared once again into his office. Maybe she was a fool for giving into Draco this morning, okay not morning-morning, considering it was afternoon before she had even woken up. Shaking her head, “That’s not the point, and you know it.” She scolded herself. “No, the point is there was no way I could have resisted Draco when I was still half asleep.”
Yeah, because if you had been fully awake you could have so easily pushed him away. I mean, you did such a good job of it in the shower
. Blowing out a big breath, she tried to shake that thought from her head. She returned her attention back to her laptop. She had actually gotten some work done in her classes. It hadn’t been the easiest thing but at least she didn’t have Draco in the kitchen being…distracting, though she sure wouldn’t have minded if he had been.

“Just a few more weeks.” She reminded herself with a smile. In just a few more weeks all the years of hard work, staying up late, or getting up early to study, was about to pay off. In just a few more weeks she would earn her Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Finally her dreams would soon become a reality. Her smile widened until another thought hit her. She didn’t work last night, wouldn’t be working tonight, or who knew when. Friday and Saturday were her two best days of the week, at least tip wise, and if she couldn’t work, how would she be able to pay her bills and still continue to save? She was chewing on her bottom lip, contemplating that thought, when Draco walked into the room.

He stopped mid-step and stared at her for a half a beat. “What’s wrong?”

“When can I go back to work?” At least work would give her some feeling of normalcy.

“When you’re safe,” he answered simply as he made his way to her and sat down in the chair next to hers.

“And when will I be safe?”

“When Marcus is locked up.”

“And when will that be?”

“As soon as he’s caught.”

“Dra!”

Draco reached out and pulled her from her seat into his lap. “Baby, I can’t tell you what you wanna hear, cuz right now I don’t know.” Wrapping his arms around her, he gave her a light squeeze. “Doin’ everythin’ I can, got men stakin’ out Warwick’s known places, but so far there has been no sightin’ of him.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I really don’t like this.” She felt Draco give her another quick squeeze. “I don’t mean being here with you. I like that. But I don’t like not being able go to work. Heck, I can’t even go anywhere by myself.” She laid her head back against his shoulder. “It’s too similar to back then, when I had to be locked away and hidden from the world.”

He turned his head, placed his lips to her temple and whispered to her softly, “I know, baby.” Unable to resist, he kissed her lightly. “How ‘bout we get outta here for a while?”

She sat up quickly and turned to face him. “Really?” she screeched hopefully.

“Yeah.” He barely got that out before she threw her arms around him tightly and kissed him hard before she gave a thought to what she was doing. The very thought of not being shut in was making her forget everything that was going on, but his next words brought it all back. “Anywhere you want to go. You name it and I’ll take you.”

I’ll take you.
The words echoed in her brain followed by the silent,
because you can’t go by yourself.
No! She wouldn’t let that get her down. Not today. Today she would give herself time to spend with Draco. For today she would live the fantasy of Draco and Bree. Give herself something she could remember for the rest of her life. Draco started her fairytale by waking her up with kisses, then moving on to so much more. So yes, just for one day, her past, her future, or her heartache to come, would not be a part of today. “Anywhere I want to go?” she asked, and couldn’t have stopped the smile on her face if she tried.

He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, then rubbed the backs of his fingers across her cheek. His eyes roamed her face before they met hers. “For a smile like that, yeah, baby, anywhere.”

She thought for a minute and as much as she would love to go out on a ‘date’ with Draco, to some little romantic place that would just be the two of them, she didn’t think her heart would be able to take it. She knew he would be sweet and caring and it would hurt way too much, so instead she blurted out her first thought. “How about the mud run?”

“The mud run?”

“Well, yeah. Ellie said it would be fun and there wouldn’t be a lot of people.”
But there would be enough people so that it wouldn’t be just us two
, she thought to herself.

“Have you ever been to a mud run?”

“If it’s the same thing as a mud bog, then yes.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty much like that.”

“Then can we go?”

“Yeah, if that’s what you want.”

“It is.”

He eyed her from feet to head before he told her, “You might wanna change into somethin’ you don’t care if it gets stained. Virginia red clay’s a bitch to wash out.”

“Okay.” She kissed him hard but quick as she jumped up and ran across the living room. “Give me five minutes to change,” she yelled back to him as she raced up the steps.

“Old shoes,” he yelled back, and she heard him chuckle as she hit the top of the steps. That was when she stopped dead in her tracks and started slowly coming back down. She didn’t have any ‘old’ anything, not here. She hadn’t even thought to pack anything like that. Before she could take the last few steps, he was there. Like a knight in freakin’ shining armor, wrapping his arms around her.

“Whatever put that sad on your face, baby, I can fix it.”

Can you just love me?
She wanted to ask, but instead she said, “I don’t have anything old. I didn’t think to pack anything like that.”

“Let me go up and change, then we’ll swing by the apartment so you can change.”

“Thata work,” she answered cheerfully with a smile she didn’t quite feel.

He tilted her chin up, until her eyes met his. He stared into her eyes for a beat before he finally asked, “You okay?”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be? I mean, I’m getting to go out, be around people, do something fun. What could be wrong?”
Other than my heart is breaking when you look at me like that.
Stop, if you want your fantasy day, then you’ve got to at least pretend everything is freakin’ great!

He shook his head. “One day, baby. It’s only been one day of you not goin’ anywhere. How the hell did you ever manage a year and a half?” Before she could answer, he leaned into her, kissing her lightly. “It won’t take that long, I promise. In no time all this’ll just be a memory.”

She smiled at him, nodded her head, and walked away. As she heard him going up the steps, she whispered to the empty room, “That’s what I’m afraid of…it will all be just a memory.”

Bree sat next to Draco on the way to Kade and Krista’s and they had to be getting close because Mt. Eve wasn’t that big, and they had left the town limits about twenty minutes ago. After Draco had changed, they drove around the block to her apartment. Although she thought that was really unnecessary since they could have walked there faster than it took to drive all the way around. But when she said something to Draco about it he said that then they would have to walk all the way back.
All the way back
, like that would take so much longer than walking there, but whatever. She let it drop. That is until they got to the parking lot and Draco drove around the entire lot before he parked and on the short walk to her door he was constantly looking around. It had started to make her nervous, but again when she said something, Draco blew it off with a simple, “just lookin’ out for you.” Once they got inside, he made her stand at the door as he ‘checked things out.’ He finally gave her the ‘all clear,’ and she changed as quickly as she could so she could get out of there. As soon as they were on their way again, Draco seemed to relax, even teased her a little, and that had made her relax. But dang, they had to be getting close, right?

“Do Kade and Kris live in Mt. Eve?”

“Yeah, just out more. We’re almost there.” He turned off the main road and onto a graveled road.

“And who is going to be there?” She was starting to get a little nervous; not about meeting new people, heck, she did that just about every day. But these weren’t just people. They were Draco’s friends, his family.

“Marco and Ellie, which you already know. Lee and Minga. You remember Lee?”

“He’s your partner and was the other cop that was at Storm’s the day I met you?”

“Yeah. Kade and Kris, of course, and there might be a few others from the force, but that’s about it. I think.”

“A few others from the force? You mean cops?”

He looked at her for a second, then back to the road. “Yeah, Bree, I mean cops,” he answered a little harshly, then gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze. “They’re good cops, I promise you. I won’t let anythin’ happen to you.”

“I know.”

He looked back at her for a beat, gave her leg another squeeze. “I don’t think many of them will be there tonight. Most of ‘em workin’ your case.”

“My case?”

“Lookin’ for Warwick.”

“Why?”

He jerked his head at her with a confused expression. “Why what?”

“They don’t even know me. Why would any of them do that for me?”

“They’re cops, just like me. It’s what they do. It’s what all cops are supposed to do.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound—”

“You don’t have to apologize. I get it. But, baby, I swear to you, these are all good cops and good people.”

“And nice?” She thought she might be okay around a lot of cops—
imagine that
—but,
what if they don’t like me, or don’t like me with Draco?

“Yeah, baby, they’re nice, but you can find out for yourself. We’re here.”

She had been looking at him and not paying much attention to where they were, but when she looked out she could see that there were trees all around. “In the middle of the woods?” Before he could answer she saw a clearing come in to view. “Oh.”

Bree walked hand in hand with Draco toward a big bonfire, where she only saw a few people standing around, but couldn’t yet make out who they were. When they got a little closer she heard someone call their names and realized it was Ellie.

“Hey! You made it,” Ellie shouted before they even got close.

“Yeah, turned out Bree didn’t have to work,” Draco answered for both of them.

Was forced not to work
, she thought, but she didn’t voice that out loud. Instead, she just smiled brightly.

“Baby, this is Kade,” Draco started, drawing her attention away from Ellie. Standing in front of her was a big man, like Draco, but where Draco’s hair was dark, Kade’s hair was black, and
oh my word
, he had the prettiest green eyes she’d ever seen, almost…sparkly.

“Oh…uh…sorry. Hi,” she stammered.

“Kinda takes your breath away, huh?” the brown haired woman standing beside Kade said.

“Huh? What?” Bree wasn’t quite sure what the woman was saying, mesmerized by the sparkly green eyes trained on her face.

“His eyes. They’re breathtaking,” the woman repeated, dripping humor.

“Oh well…yes, they’re…sparkly,” Bree agreed.

“See, Irish, I told you,” the woman said to Kade, then turned back to Bree. “Hi, I’m Krista, Kade’s wife, but most people just call me Kris.” She held her hand out to Bree.

“Hi, I’m Bree…” What else could she say? She was Draco’s…what? Friend? Or just a sister to a friend of Draco’s?

Thankfully Krista started talking again, so she didn’t have to finish that thought. “Oh, I know. Irish already told me about you.”

“Irish?” Bree asked, but then realized what she had said. “Told you about me?”

“Irish, it’s just what I call Kade, but yes, Draco told Lee, and Lee told Kade, then he told me.” Krista smiled, and Bree wasn’t sure how she felt about all these people talking about her, but the way Krista smiled so sweetly, she couldn’t help but like her maybe just a little.

“Don’t worry. It just takes a little getting used to. Trust me, I know. When I first met Irish they were all talking about me too. Especially Minga, seeing as she was the only ‘wife’ in the whole lot of them at the time.”

“Minga? That’s Lee’s wife, right?” Bree was trying to keep the names straight in her head.

“Yes,” Ellie answered, joining into the conversation and pointed across the clearing. “They’re over there.”

“Have you met Minga?” Krista asked her.

“No, I just know that she’s Lee’s wife and that Lee is Draco’s partner.”

“So you’ve met Lee?” Krista continued with her inquiries.

“Not really, no. I only saw him once, the day I met Draco.” Bree tried to explain as simply as possible since she didn’t know these people, but they seemed to know her. Then she noticed that Draco wasn’t standing beside her any longer. He and Kade had taken just enough steps away that whatever they were talking about couldn’t be overheard. As soon as she looked in Draco’s direction, he met her eyes, said something else to Kade and immediately started walking back to her.

“You doin’ okay?” Draco whispered in her ear. When she nodded he kissed her on the cheek, then turned them both to greet the approaching Lee and who she could only guess was Minga.

“Hey, Draco.” The exotic dark haired woman spoke to Draco and then turned toward Bree. “You’ve got to be Bree,” and reached out her hand, “I’m Minga,” she finished with a brilliant smile.

“Hey…ummm…yes, I’m Bree.” She shook hands with Minga, then slid her eyes in the direction of Lee, who stood close, very close, to Minga’s side, but had his eyes glued to Draco, like they were communicating without words.
Did he think I was going to kidnap her or something?
He’s Draco’s partner. Even if Draco never ran a background check, it doesn’t mean that Lee didn’t. So he probably knows all about my mother.
Bree was so into her thoughts she didn’t realize Minga was talking to her until she felt a tiny tug on the hand that Minga still held.

“I’m sorry, what?” Bree asked as she looked back at her.

Minga turned to Lee. “Stop it!”

“Babe, what?” Lee asked, looking at Minga with just a hint of a smirk.

Then Lee turned toward Bree. “Hey. We were never really introduced.”

“No, I suppose not. I’m Bree, but I guess you already know that.” Bree looked at Draco before she turned back to Lee.

Lee surprised her when he reached out and grabbed her by the hand so he could pull her away from everyone. Not far, but just far enough that when he bent down to speak he wouldn’t be overheard. “Look, I know about you. When Draco told me about you, I ran a background check on you—”

“That doesn’t mean you know me.” She knew it. Lee didn’t think she belonged with these people because of where she came from. And if Lee knew, then Minga and probably everyone else did as well.

“I didn’t say I know you, I said I know about you. I also checked more into you, and talked to Draco about you—”

“Checked more into me?”
What did that even mean?

“Yeah, found out where you worked, seen you at work, and talked to some of them too—”

“Because you’re a cop, you think that gives you the right to
check into me
?” That was it, she was getting pissed! She had no control over where she came from, but she knew she was just as good a person as anyone else.

“Because I’m Draco’s friend. Being a cop doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it.” He grinned a cocky grin before he added, “But it sure makes it a helluva lot easier.”

“You always go to that much trouble every time Draco meets a girl?”

“No, but I do when any of my friends puts their life and their job on the line for someone they care about. And honey, Draco cares a helluva lot about you.”

“He’s only helping me because I’m Storm’s sister.”

“You don’t think he cares?”

“Well, yes, I mean, I know he cares about me but it started because of Storm.” She leaned into him and lowered her voice even though she was pretty sure no one could hear them. “I think Storm asked Draco to take care of me, although neither one has said it.” She straightened back up. “And of course being all macho men, they didn’t think to tell me anything.” She placed her hands on her hips. “They both have a bad habit of that crap.”

“Some things don’t need to be discussed.”

“Oh great.” Bree flung her arms out. “I guess you’re another one.” She waved a hand in Lee’s direction. “Let me tell you, just because we are of the female gender that does
not
mean we are stupid, weak, or incapable of being strong and independent women! I have been taking care of myself for a lot of years.” She placed her hands back on her hips. “And I was doing just fine until some nasty-haired-ugly-clothes-wearing-jerkface-lunatic decided that he needed me so he could teach some of y’all cops a lesson. What lesson? I don’t know, and I don’t really care, but I do know that I’m a good person, just like the rest of y’all. I have dreams and I’ve been working my butt off in order to fulfill those dreams. And for the most part I’ve always done that legally, or at least legally since I’ve been of age. I’ve not once broken the law, or hell, even as much as bent it. So if you don’t like me, then that’s your problem and y’all will be the ones missing out, because, just so you know, I’m a pretty great person, and I can be an awesome friend given the chance. So you can just take your background check and shove it.” She turned to walk away, but Lee grabbed her by the arm as a means of stopping her.

“Hell, woman, Draco said you had some sass, but damn!” He turned her back to face him. “I think you got the wrong idea, or I went about it explaining myself wrong. Either way, I’m going to start again, and I would appreciate it if you let me speak without interruptions. Deal?”

They’re good cops, good people.
Draco’s words echoed in her head. She trusted Draco. Lee? Well, she wasn’t so sure of, but for Draco she would at least give Lee a chance to explain himself and his rudeness. “Fine,” she agreed half-heartedly. For now.

“I’m sorry if my running a check on you upset you, but I can’t apologize for doing it, because when it comes to looking out for my partner, my friend, I’ll do whatever I can. Do you get that?”

“Yes,” she answered honestly. She couldn’t fault the man for looking out for his friend.

“Okay. And, just so we are clear, I don’t think you’re
not
a good person. In fact, after reading the report and talking to some of the people you work with, I think you’re a pretty amazing person. I’m guessing here, but given what I seen in your report and your mother’s, a lot of shit was left out?” She didn’t answer but gave him a slight nod. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Lee mumbled through gritted teeth, looking over her head. When he looked back at her his face had a softness to it. “Honey, none of that’s on you. That shit, that’s on the ones who should’ve been looking out for you. You know that, right?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess so.”

“No, don’t guess. You gotta know that to be true. But that’s not why I pulled you over here. I just wanted you to know, and I realize you being of the female gender and all,” he grinned and she couldn’t help but do the same, “I figure you got yourself some ‘go to girlfriends,’ and I know you got Storm, but he’s your brother and you and Draco are pretty tight, but I don’t know how much of your past he knows about.” He shook his head when she had opened her mouth to ask how much Draco had told him. “Draco hasn’t said anything to me, don’t think he will, seeing as that’s between the two of you. But my point I was trying to make was, I have seen yours and your mother’s reports. I know what kind of person you are so if you need anything, someone to talk to, or whatever the case may be, want you to know, you got me in your corner. And I pulled you over here away from everyone else because no one knows about what I know. You want to tell Draco, got no problem with that, you don’t, well, that’s your choice too. I did what I did because of Draco. He’s had enough people screwing with his life, didn’t know if you’d be another one or not. Now I know, and again, I’ll apologize if doing so upset you, but not for my reasons for doing it, and honest to God I’d do it again.”