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Nothing or no one will come between us.

Especially not some stupid bitch who is sloppy with her kills.

Chapter Fourteen

The moment I get home, I click on the news. The local station is talking about what happened tonight. If Talia wasn’t babysitting for Molly tonight, she’d be covering this story. It’s another anchor. Talia usually does the morning news and mainly covers topics like local politics. You’d think it’d be the last thing she’d do, but this is a pretty small town, and finding people willing to move here for work here is difficult. We hire whoever we can. Though she did get her communications degree.

Most people move out-of-town once they finish high school, only coming back later on in life when they’ve started a family. Or the rest who retire here. Few people in town are like Talia and I, who were born and raised in this town, and never left, nor considered leaving.

Okay, that’s a lie. After my stepfather was put away in prison and my mother committed suicide, I thought about it. I thought a lot about it. And it honestly wasn’t even just those things that had me thinking of it. It was more about what I wanted for the future, where could I see myself. And I honestly couldn’t picture leaving my life behind. Talia would have come with me if I had left. But I wouldn’t have wanted her to leave her home just because of me.

The only time I’ve ever left this small town was when I went to University for my Librarian degree. But I didn’t live in the city, nope. Commuted the hour drive, every single day, there and back. Pike hated that I did that and would make sure to have my location on so he could see that I got to and from my classes safely. He did the same with Talia. Luckily, we could carpool a few days out of the week, saving us both some gas money.

I never thought much of it. Figured it was him being worried the days Talia rode with me. I guess I had him all wrong.

I give my head a shake, clearing my thoughts for a moment, and turn my attention back to the tv screen. Another murder. This time in the movie theater bathroom. I gasp at that because it could have been Pike that was hurt. Oh my God. I mean, he is an officer of the law and can handle himself, but with all these killings, one never knows who the next target could be. He rarely handles detective stuff. He’s more of a traffic cop, but the department is spread thin, and they don’t have much of a budget. So all the guys in the department kind of just do what they can.

State Police are supposed to take over stuff like this but they’ve got one officer covering three counties and he can’t be everywhere at the same time.

Some blame all the homicides on the city. Saying that the development is pushing them closer to our town, making our crime rates increase. Which it could be, but sometimes I have this weird feeling like the deaths are too connected to me.

My thoughts drift back to the flowers and the note reminding me I need to call Talia and tell her how not funny her little joke was. I shoot off a text in case she’s still watching Tanner. He goes to bed fairly early, but it is Saturday night and it’s Talia. She’s probably allowing him to chug Mountain Dew and letting him have skittles for dinner.

Ha. Ha. Real cute with the flowers.

My message doesn’t deliver, which means she’s no longer babysitting and likely getting her freak on with her latest mystery guy.

Bored out of my mind, I go on upstairs and change into my pajamas, remembering what Pike said about finding me naked. My body warms at the thought. I don’t know if I’m that brave, though. What if by some fluke accident my house caught on fire, and I was forced into the street in my birthday suit?

I’d never live something like that down. I opt for my skimpiest shorts and thinnest tank top. It’s as close to sleeping naked as I feel comfortable.

I go through the motions of washing my makeup off and brushing the curls from my hair and styling it into a braid. As I’m brushing my teeth, I hear a noise downstairs and try to recall if I locked the door when I got home. It’s probably Scampers getting out his nightly zoomies, but still, I stop what I’m doing and stand still to see if I hear the noise again.

This time the sound is closer, like someone is creeping up my staircase. I turn off the bathroom light and tiptoe into my closet like I did when hiding from my stepfather. I don’t really remember my birth father. He died when I was too young to. All I’ve ever known was him, my rotten bastard of a stepfather, and how horrible he was. He used my mother for I don’t know what, honestly. Growing up, she wasn’t exactly a loving mother.

She often looked at me as if I was dirt beneath her shoes. At least he didn’t start hurting me until I was a little bit older. He came home from work early and saw my mother beating me with her belt and decided it was okay for him to start on me also. Almost every day after that, I would have bruises and cut skin from him.

Then finally, it went too far one day, and he found me in my hiding spot. He was drunk, more drunk than usual, and he tried to force himself on me. I managed to kick him in the crotch and run. I ran straight to Talia and Pike’s home. Their parents, seeing my face, and my clothes ripped off, with just my underwear and a tank top on, finally lost it and called the police. By that time Pike had just become an officer and it was his first crime scene. he had barely graduated from the academy.

I thought that maybe with him getting arrested and locked away, I’d be safe. Instead, my mother turned against me even more and tried lobbying for his release, saying I was a liar. When she failed, that was it. She couldn’t handle not having her husband around anymore and offed herself.

Though I think she did it as more of a punishment for me, knowing I’d be the one to find her. And that memory still gives me nightmares to this day. I’m not sad she’s gone. I’m relieved even if that makes me sound like a bad person, but I’m safe now. At least from her.

Making myself as small as possible on the floor against the furthest wall, I place my hands over my ears and shut my eyes as tight as I can.

My heart pounds against my chest so fast I’m sure whoever broke into my house can hear it. I mean, it’s beating so fast I’m sure it’s going to sprout wings and fly away.

The closet door flies open. “Dels, baby.” Pike crouches down, pulling my hands from my ears. “What are you doing in here?”

“You scared me.” My bottom lip wobbles as I fight the urge to cry at the reminder of how weak I am. Still unable to face my monsters.

“As long as I’m breathing, you’ve never gotta be afraid. No one will ever hurt you. Not on my watch.”

I nod, believing every word. He’s always been my hero. Literally. He has the uniform to prove it. He’s never said as much, but I know he became a cop to put away pieces of crap like my stepfather. I guess part of me has always thought he cared for me, but to protect myself from heartache, I’ve told myself Pike would never be with me.

But here we are.

The two of us are in my bedroom.