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I WANT TO ASK HER HOW she felt about sleeping in my arms last night, but I’m too much of a chickenshit, so I don’t. Instead, I decide to let it go. If she wants to talk about last night, then we will, but if she doesn’t, I’m not going to make her. Last night was emotionally traumatic for her and I’ll be the last person to make her experience it all over again.
Although, I can’t lie. When I woke up this morning to a beautiful Mallory sleeping on my chest with her one leg wrapped around mine, her arm thrown over my stomach, and red hair spilled everywhere... I had to reign in my physical response. Last night was emotional, but not in the sense that my morning wood can understand.
Since we fell asleep last night with Mallory under the covers and me on top of them, it was relatively easy to extricate myself from her to get up. What wasn’t easy, and I’m proud of myself for accomplishing, was catching Bella mid-flight trying to jump onto Mallory. She’s a happy puppy when she wakes up.
I took Bella outside while I wrote a note to Mallory and got dressed. I needed to run to the office to meet Erick and then we had to go check out the venue for the International Gem Show that starts this weekend. Knowing Bella’s antics, I couldn’t trust that she’d let Mallory sleep, so I texted Olivia and Piper, asking them to check on Mallory, and then Bella and I left for the office.
I was gone a little over three hours. Erick was a bit pissed that I ran through the plan for the security and he claims I only glimpsed at the venue, but I have complete faith in him that he can handle the project. Plus, I had to get back here. I don’t know why, because I knew she was safe. It was just a pull from deep within me. I just had to get home.
“Why don’t you get your stuff and I’ll handle the dishes here?” I tell her.
“No. I’m fine. I don’t really have any stuff. I don’t even have my identification. It’s all at Ralph’s.”
“The store you worked at?” I watch her put the dishes in the dishwasher. She nods slowly. She’s remembering what happened there. “Well, I know someone that may be able to help get you your stuff back.” I pull out my phone and open a new text to Justin Prescott, Olivia’s brother. “He works for West Palm Beach PD. Maybe he can see if the Sheriff’s Office has processed the evidence and can get it released for us.”
She looks up at me and gives me a small smile. “That’d be great. I put my purse under the bread shelf in the back storeroom. It’s just a plain black satchel.”
I text the information to Justin and he replies instantly that he’ll see what he can do. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to get your stuff today.”
She wipes down the stove top. “Thank you.”
“Ready to go?” She nods and the three of us climb into my truck and head to my condo in downtown West Palm Beach.
~~~
“So, tell me about yourself. I spilled my guts last night. It’s your turn.” Mallory’s holding Bella’s collar as Bella hangs her head out the window, having the time of her life.
“Like what? There’s not much to know.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Who is Owen Hughes? Give me your stats.”
I look over at her as I maneuver through the downtown traffic. She looks back at me with her blue eyes and raised eyebrows. “You’re serious?” She looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Okay. Well... I’m 34, in charge of operations at my security company that I co-own with my two brothers, and I have a dog.”
“Seriously? That’s all you’re gonna give me? I’m trusting my life with you and that’s all you can come up with?”
“That’s all there is.” I park the truck in my designated parking spot in the parking garage of my condo building. “I’m just a boring dude.”
She climbs out of the truck with Bella. “Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”
We get in the elevator and I swipe my card and it climbs to my floor. Exiting on my floor, Mallory and Bella follow me to my condo. I place my thumb on the scanner and the door opens.
“Of course you live here.” I hear her whisper to herself, but I just ignore the comment. I can’t imagine what her life has been like in the last seventy-two hours and my wealth, although I don’t flaunt it in the slightest, could be overwhelming.
“Welcome. Make yourself at home. I believe the boxes the sweep team gathered are in that room.” I point to the den on the right.
She puts Bella down and lets her run around. I watch as Mallory wanders my living room and over to the balcony doors. “Can I open them?”
“Of course.”
She pulls the doors open and walks out to see the view. From my balcony, you can see the Intra-coastal, Palm Beach Island, and the Atlantic ocean beyond. South Florida is a beautiful place to live. Especially this high up in the air. “It’s beautiful.”
“That it is.” I’m standing behind her in the doorway. Giving her the space she seems to need.
We stand there for a few minutes; Mallory looking out over the scenery. Me looking at Mallory and having thoughts I should not be having. Her red, long hair is wavy and loose down her back. The shorts she’s wearing, something Olivia must have given her, curve around her ass in just the right way. She has a tiny waist that curves in and all I can think about is how I was able to rest my hand on that curve all night last night. I’ve got to stop this train of thought. “Let’s see if we can find that key.”
She turns and looks directly at me with her bright blue eyes. “Thank you for all you’ve done for me. I really don’t know where I would be right now if it wasn’t for you.”
That’s when Bella comes running around the corner squeaking a toy as loudly as possible, and it makes us both laugh. “And Bella. I don’t know where I would be right now without you and Bella.”
“You’re welcome.” Something my mom taught me a long time ago was how to take a compliment. People rarely give them genuinely, but when they do, you thank them genuinely. “Come on. Let’s find that key and put this all to rest so you can be happy again.”
“You remember me saying that from last night?”
I take her hand and pull her into the condo and over to the den. “I rarely forget anything. Especially if it’s important. Now, pick a box to start in. You only have four boxes. Is this everything?”
She nods. “Yes. I had nothing when I left him and once I left the shelter, all my money went to rent or to mom’s care. Besides, I don’t really need much.” She picks the first box in front of her. “Let’s just start from the top.”
I don’t want to crowd her while she goes through her belongings, so I decide to leave her to it. “I’m going to go feed Bella. If you need anything, I’ll be in the other room.”
She turns to me. “You don’t have to go. I have nothing personal here. Patrick burned all of that years ago.”
“Are you sure?”
She smiles and nods. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back then. Bella still needs to eat.”
At the sound of food in her bowl, she forgets about the squeaky toy and she slides into the kitchen at full speed, fishtails her back legs, and crashes into her bowl of food that goes everywhere. She doesn’t care. She sucks up the kibble as fast as she can.
“Do you have a garbage bag I can have?” Mallory enters the kitchen. “I want to bring some of my clothes with me.”
“How about a suitcase, instead? I’ve got one you can use. Hang tight.” I run to a spare bedroom and grab the suitcase I never use and bring it back to her in the den. “How’s this?” I hold it up.
“Found the key.” Mallory’s looking at her car keys and holding one key out. She hands it to me. “Like I said, I have no idea where it goes and there are no markings on it. It really looks like a weird key, now that I really look at it. It has a bump on it.”
I take the key from her and inspect it. She’s right, it has a bump. “That’s actually a computer chip, which explains why he needs it back so bad. There’s no way to get into the box without this actual key and there’s no way to make a copy. Original key for an original lock. I’m going to need to have Matt, my brother, look at this. Maybe he can figure out where it goes.”
Mallory’s pulling some clothes out of the rest of the boxes and placing them in the suitcase I brought, which is way too big for the paltry amount of stuff she has. “Let me help you.”
“Nah. I’ve got it. I just need to find my mom’s things.” She starts going through the boxes again, frantically now. “It’s not here.” She whispers to herself, but I can hear her.
“What’s not here? What are we looking for?”
Mallory doesn’t answer me, but suddenly clothes that were in the suitcase are flying out of the suitcase, the boxes are being torn opened, and she cries. I grab her shoulders to still her. “Mallory. Tell me what we’re looking for.”
“My mom’s necklace. It’s not here. They didn’t grab it.” She grabs her forehead, “Oh, god. I didn’t tell you.”
“Didn’t tell me what?”
“Oh god. I can’t believe I forgot.”
“Forgot what, Mallory? Tell me.” I’m still holding her shoulders; she’s still holding her forehead.
“My mom’s necklace. I hid it under the carpet at my apartment. I need to go there and get it before someone finds it.”
“Absolutely not.”
She pulls out of my grasp. “You will not tell me what to do, Owen. No one is ever going to tell me what to do anymore.” She grabs as much of her clothes as she can in one arm and the box holding the ashes of her mom in the other and heads towards my front door.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I follow her and the trail of clothes she’s dropping to the door.
“I’m leaving and going to go get my mother’s necklace before it disappears.” She attempts to turn the doorknob, but her hands are too full.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No. You’re. Not.”
“Yes. I. Am.” she yells at the top of her lungs, then frustrated with her lack of mobility with her arms full of clothes and her mother’s ashes, she drops all the clothes and tries again with the door.
What she doesn’t know is that the doorknob is electronic and needs to be turned in a certain way in order to open. It’s a safety feature we’ve been testing at work. Seems to be working just fine. Noted.
“Open this damn door!” She struggles with the door and I see tear stains on her face.
I gently place my hands on her shoulders with her back to my front. “Shh. I didn’t say we wouldn’t get the necklace. What I said is that you’re not going back to your apartment. He will be there, or one of his minions, waiting for you. I’ll get the necklace. I promise.”
I immediately feel all the fight in her evaporate. We just stand at my front door when she turns around in my arms. She wraps the arm not holding the ashes around my waist and rests her head on my chest. I take the box out of her hands and place it on the table next to the door and then pull her into me even closer. It just feels right, and it must to her as well, because she willingly lets me.
We stand there for what feels like an hour; me holding her while she cries again. “It’s okay. I’ve got you, Mallory. Don’t worry.”She pulls back to look at me and I wipe away her tears with my thumbs. “I promise. I’ll get your necklace. Trust me?”
She nods. “I’m sorry I yelled at you and for crying again on your chest.” She pulls completely out of my embrace and I feel a void immediately. I want to pull her back to me, but I know I can’t.
“No need for apologies. But do you trust me?” I don’t know why, but I need to know the answer to this question.
She looks up at me with her blue eyes. “With my life.”
That’s all I needed to hear.