Fire In The Water Chapter Eight

Bella

I didn't want to read too much into it, but Ward was standing in my apartment. The most skittish man I knew was within reach. In my home. With my cat and his dog.

After I changed faster than I’d ever done in my life, we gave Heidi a bath in my tub, which was an ancient claw foot with a resurfaced porcelain white finish. Next to Charlie and the bookstore, it was my most prized possession. The bathroom wasn't that big, so Ward and I kept bumping into each other. Sometimes, I even did it on purpose.

I’m deviant like that.

The cut on his forehead didn't look as bad as I expected it to, but his knuckles were still awful. As he rubbed a towel briskly over Heidi’s fur, I dug out the fingerless gloves I used in the winter when my skin decided it hated me and a heavy-duty ointment.

“Here.” Holding them toward him, I explained, “Your hands are constantly wet, and they’ll never heal without help. Slather this on at bedtime and cover them with the gloves, so it doesn't all rub off.”

Straightening to his full height, he stared down at me. Me, not the shit I offered him. Suddenly feeling the temperature in the bathroom rise, I cleared my throat and gazed back at the startling green of his eyes as his body dwarfed the remaining space. 

“Thanks.” Without releasing my trapped gaze, he covered my hands with his, the stark difference in our sizes making me feel petite. “I’ve been using the stuff Ro gave me, but it’s had minimal effect.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The way he focused so intently on my face made my skin tingle. “Hopefully, since the gloves are fingerless, you can make them fit.” Because his hands were so much larger than my own. 

All the better to touch me everywhere.

Heidi bumped our legs, forcing us closer. Thanks for the assist, sweet girl. Our hands still caught between us, our chests touching, our mouths inches apart . . .

Ward sucked in a deep breath. “Bella.”

Dear God, his voice was full-bodied, rich as the most flavorful cup of coffee I’d ever tasted. Better than that hit of caffeine I craved. “Hm?”

“This, all of this.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “It scares me.”

“Me too, honestly.”

His brows went up. “Really?”

My heart beat loudly in my ears as I felt his fingers brush over the back of my hand. “Yeah, because you sound as if you’re dying to run away every time we’re together.”

Looking down at our joined hands, he said, “Let me put this stuff somewhere. I’d like to talk to you.”

The spell wasn't broken; it was merely paused. At least, that’s what I told myself.

My living room wasn't huge, but it was decently spacious. Charlie sprawled across a dining chair, his tail twitching as he monitored every move Heidi made. She was mostly dry and paced over to the couch before sitting delicately on the floor in front of it. 

"How long have you lived up here?" Ward asked, setting his things on my kitchen table. 

"I moved out of Riley's house five years ago, shortly after I turned twenty-one. She helped me get the bookstore off the ground, using the bit of money my parents left behind."

Sitting on the couch, I patted the spot beside me in invitation. Heidi shifted, resting her head on my knee. 

"You can ignore her pitiful gaze if you don't want her up there."

Without hesitation, I said, "I wouldn't mind her sitting on the couch, but I would rather you sit here instead."

Bashful, reticent, wary of the barest level of intimacy; that's how I'd describe Ward. 

But he sat down on my purple two-seater sofa, his closest knee touching mine as he angled to face me. "You started a small business, and I worked for a drug dealer."

I really didn't think he'd tell me something that personal so soon. "You sold drugs?" I whispered, my brows crinkled together. 

Closing his eyes, he said, "No, but it would be disingenuous to pretend that makes me the good guy."

"What did you do for them, then?" My throat felt as dry as the desert. He'd tried to tell me he wasn't innocent, but I'd only half believed him. 

"Ran whatever they gave me from point A to point B. Envelopes of cash, probably, maybe new product for testing." His eyes were full of remorse when he opened them. "Without question, I delivered their packages in exchange for money."

Blowing out a breath, I tried to take in the information. "Is that why you were in prison?"

His gaze narrowed. 

"You dropped the name Storm Cove the other day, and I looked it up."

His leg bounced, and Heidi left me to focus on him. Whining, she nudged her nose into his fist until he relaxed enough to pet her. "That isn't why."

"You weren't caught running drugs?" I frowned. Why the fuck else would they have locked him up? What had he done that was worse than that? What could I accept from the man who was mostly a stranger? In my home, alone with me and two animals, one of which would take his side in any instance. My heart thumped louder in my ears than Heidi’s tail on my wooden floors.

Scrubbing his hands over the dog's back, Ward took a minute before responding. "I was in a filthy back alley one night, same as usual. That was my territory; the rougher, the better. People didn't exist in places like that. They're there, of course, but they've been overlooked for so long."

"Easy targets." I could picture it, even coming from a small town with a relatively low crime rate. 

He nodded. "I had just delivered, so I was empty-handed. For the best, honestly, or it would have added to my charges."

I watched him rub his palms over his jeans. He didn't go on, and I didn't want to rush him. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Um, water, please."

Heidi followed me into the kitchen, and Charlie rushed into the bedroom to hide. Bringing two bottles of water back to the couch, I sat and handed one over. Ward drank deeply, the way his throat worked mesmerizing me. Everything about the way he looked made me want to reach out and touch. He'd shaved recently, but a five o'clock shadow peeked through. His hair grew over his ears, short sideburns accentuating good cheekbones. Could it be true that he was the villain in my story?

"You're staring, Bella."

Quickly dropping my gaze, I laughed breathlessly. "Can't help it."

"It figures I would find the most beautiful woman in the world on the other side of the country." Setting his water on the coffee table, he added, "While I'm trying to keep my head down and stay alive."

"If you weren't caught with anything that could incriminate who you worked for, why are they after you?"

"To answer that, I have to go back to why I was arrested." It seemed he lost himself in the memories as he gazed over my shoulder. His sentences came out choppy as he confessed his sins. "There was a man and a woman. Leaning up against the bricks. I walked on by. But he . . . she started screaming, and I couldn't . . ."

Fuck. Resting my hand on his leg, I gave him silent comfort. 

"I stopped him. It wasn't just instinct, it was deeper than that. I'd seen enough nasty shit in my lifetime, watched my sister suffer and eventually overcome. I couldn't walk away."

Tears formed in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly. A savior and a villain, both sides of the same coin. Yin and yang. Black and white, and a multitude of grays in between.

"The problem was that I didn't stop. I could have pulled him off and told her to run, but I simply saw red. In my mind, I equated a random fucker with my sister's attacker. Street patrol heard the screaming; heard the woman trying to stop me." He snorted. "She was more concerned about the beating I gave the asshole instead of thanking me for saving her."

I'd begun circling my fingers over the top of his thigh as the story unfolded. "What happened to him?"

"I put him in a coma. They said he died twice on the way to the hospital."

Holy shit. "Is it his family that’s after you?"

“No.” His leg began bouncing again, and I moved my hand to my lap. “The years I spent in prison were absolute hell. I know it’s the point, essentially, to show you it’s better on the outside. Going in, I was a cocky motherfucker.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Charlie peek around my bedroom door. His long green eyes blinked slowly, surveying the scene. Heidi’s tail rapped softly on the rug, and I thought to myself it could always be like this.

Except I was beginning to see why it couldn't.

“All the years I spent being an errand boy for the Volturi brothers should have brought me some respect, but they couldn't have cared less. I was the fool who got popped doing something completely stupid, so they turned their backs on me. I went in thinking I’d have protection and job security when my time was up.” The sound he made personified derision. 

“It wasn't like that, was it?”

“Not even close.” His eyes slipped closed again, hiding from his words. “The people I thought were my friends, who I claimed as family, dropped my ass. Those on the inside pretended they didn't know me. Turned a blind eye as the lifers treated me like their new little fish.”

My tongue wanted to stick to the roof of my mouth. Uncapping my water, I wet my lips and swished some around to unlock the dryness. Just because I’d spent my life in one small town didn’t mean I was naïve. I’d gone to college here, only venturing further for vacation once in a blue moon. I wasn’t the only unpaired woman in my age range, but I was the only one of my friends who hadn't found a partner yet. Without my parents around, I’d had a difficult childhood, but Riley had stepped up triplefold. Once she’d met Jason, he’d become a sort of de facto father figure for me. I’d had a high school boyfriend, and then we’d gone our separate ways, friends but no longer lovers. My life wasn't hard, despite all I’d overcome. I wanted to picture a man who chose the life Ward had led, who intentionally did those things when he apparently had other choices. If he’d seen his sister grapple her way out of torment, then interrupting the scene he’d witnessed would have been second nature.

I tried wrapping my head around all of it, but I didn't have a clue what it must have been like for him.

“You don't have to tell me everything,” I whispered finally.

“At this point, I need to get it out.” Those startling eyes focused on me, nearly as vibrant and intense as Charlie’s. “The point is, I lost every ounce of ego I used to carry around. As the low man on the ladder, they all stepped over me to get to what they wanted. I spent every second of every day for four fucking years watching my back. There’s no sleep when you know your cell mate will fucking stab you in the eye to watch you bleed for his entertainment. When men will punch you in the face to stave off boredom, you learn to observe your surroundings very carefully.”

A shudder ran through my body. “Can I—” Breaking off, I stared at his hunched shoulders. Without finishing my question, I scooted over and rested my head against him.

“When I was sentenced, the DA tried to get me to turn on my brothers, to be a snitch, and I refused. I knew the rules; if I kept my mouth shut, they’d protect me. But where’s the truth in a promise made by a criminal? I didn't take the deal, and the offer was rescinded.”

Inhaling the scent of the ocean on his t-shirt, I clung to his side as he spilled the rest of his soul into my lap.

“When they came back around asking for information, I was as desperate as a man can get. My sister had struggled through the first few years of college after what happened to her, but she’d become an excellent lawyer with a great husband. I’d refused her help the first time, but once she passed the bar, she insisted on being my lawyer. She was the only one who visited me in hell. Our parents disowned me.”

“She helped you get out?”

“Early release in exchange for ratting out the Volturi brothers.”

It clicked in my brain. “And they’re the ones looking for you?”

“They’re in prison, thanks to me. Maximum security. But their men, the ones who are loyal to a fault, they vowed all kinds of heinous things if they ever find me.”

“When you said you’ve had Heidi for six years . . .”

“She’s been with my sister, Beth, the majority of those years.”

“That’s a lot to deal with.”

His answer was to move his arm from the back of the couch to rest over my shoulder.

“And you came here with nothing, expecting to die at any time?”

“Pretty much.”

He was a criminal, regardless of the motives behind the beating. He’d worked for drug dealers, and would probably be considered a major player in their organization. Caged in by past mistakes, trying to form a new life under the blade of the guillotine. 

“One thing prison takes away from a person is simple trust. I used to drive a fancy car, live in a fancy loft, and dine in fine restaurants. Bourbon was my drink of choice, and I enjoyed it often. One minute, I called the shots in my life, and the next I wasn't worth the dirt under someone’s shoe.”

My head began to throb. “Can you formally hide? Like, go into witness protection or something?”

“You sound like Beth.”

The touch of his fingertips on my bare arm was enough to make me lose track of what we were discussing. Almost.

“I didn't see the point. I have no one, and no one has me.”

That’s not true, my mind screamed. “You have a sister, a brother-in-law, and a beautiful dog.” Tilting my head to see his profile, I murmured, “You have me.”

Beth