Page 29 of Tempting Fire

Chapter Eight

It was time to come clean with his Lieutenant at Station 58. He’d tacked on an additional two days off when he’d gone to Jasper Creek, which hadn’t been a problem. Hell, he had enough time off saved up to take a two-month cruise, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that the situation with Chloe was unusual, and he might need to take some unexpected time off in the future and he needed to give Nate Boone a heads-up.

Luke saw him waiting outside their lieutenant’s office, and sidled up to him.

“What did she think of the daffodils?”

“Uhhhm…”

“She busted your chops?” Luke guessed.

“Something like that,” Zarek admitted.

“So, when am I going to meet her?”

“I don’t know.” Zarek thought about the woman he’d spent the last four days with at his house. She had been like a ghost. He should never have given her the password to his Wi-Fi. All she seemed to do was play solitaire. Her social interaction seemed limited to his dog. Luckily, he had gotten her to eat a little bit. But the woman he had seen signs of, on the trip back from Jasper Creek, had disappeared. Something needed to give.

“What’s going on?”

“For a while she seemed to be coming out of her shell. She was responding to things and talking. Hell, she even smiled. But then she just crawled under a rock for the last four days. I guess I should be happy she likes the food I cook. As long as it has cheese in it.”

“What shook her up before?”

“Arguments with her sisters.”

“Zarek, you’ve talked about Chloe for years. I’ve kind of got my own opinions of what makes this girl tick, what she’s like. I have a question for you. The Chloe that you know, would she go into mental hiding after being beaten and traumatized, or would she come out fighting?”

Zarek looked at Luke. He didn’t just blow off his friend’s question. Luke had been through the fire so to speak. He was someone who freely admitted to nightmares and struggles with PTSD because of the survivor’s guilt he carried. He understood people’s psyche better than a lot of psychologists.

“I would have said that Chloe would have had a ‘big ole fuck you’ to everyone after she got her sea legs under her and moved on. Her childhood was fucking hell Luke but she rose above that and was making something of herself.”

“So this is more than the trauma of just the beating.”

“This wasn’t just a fucking beating, she was tortured and hospitalized.” Zarek hissed out.

“Easy.” Luke placed his hand on Zarek’s shoulder. “I’m not trying to make light of this. Not at all. But I’m saying your girl could have gotten over a physical assault. Something has got her mentally and emotionally twisted up. You know her. Hell, you’ve been talking to me about her for years. She’s had you mentally and emotionally twisted up forever. But that’s a conversation for another day. So back to Chloe, what really has her fucked up?”

“Luke, Zarek, are you here to see me?”

The men turned to see Nate Boone striding towards them on the way to his office.

“I’m just taking off. It was Zarek who wanted to talk to you,” Luke said.

***

Zarek thought about Luke’s words all the way home. He’d requested two more days off, then he was going back to regular rotation. With those two days off he intended to talk turkey with his girl. Of course, if you intended to blindside someone, you needed to come bearing gifts. He looked at the bakery box that was in the passenger seat of his car. He had called his Jax’s wife Skye for some of her specially made cupcakes. She sometimes brought some to the station, and they were fantastic. When he admitted he had an old childhood friend from Tennessee staying with him, Skye had immediately been onboard.

“What kind of cupcakes does she like?” Skye asked on the phone.

“Chloe loves chocolate, but I recently found out she likes pecan log rolls. So I’m not sure, I suppose a variety would be fine.”

“I’m meeting Jax for dinner tonight, I’ll drop by a dozen.”

“That would be great, if you’re sure it’s not a problem.”

“Consider it done.” He could hear the smile in Skye’s voice. It would be great if he could invite Skye and Jax over some time. First, he needed to get Chloe talking. Hence the cupcakes.

“Thanks Skye, I’ll see you later.”