Chapter Twenty-Four

Davis went to the kitchen to fix Willow some warm milk. He had no intentions of getting in her way, but he also had no intentions of letting her out of his sight. He poured the milk into the mug and spooned in some honey before he put the dishtowel over the tray. While he waited for the milk to cool, he walked over to his kitchen table and flopped down at his computer. Within a few taps of the keyboard he was into the FBI case files. His hands flew over the keys as he searched for Greer and anything about the cases, he was involved in.

“I found him at one of the scenes. Or maybe he found me.”

Willow’s voice sounded so hollow that at first, he wasn’t even sure it was her. He looked up at her leaning in the doorway. Her hair in wet ringlets around her shoulders, her outfit from earlier replaced with a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt with the word Quantico emblazoned across the top. Willow’s bare pink toes made her look even more vulnerable as she wiped at the red smear of her mouth with the cuff. He stood up and went to the tray.

“I was just coming to knock on your door.” He held the mug out to her. “It was still too hot so...” He sat it on the table across from him then sat back down. “Look, I know you’re angry at me. If you want, I can still take you to a hotel. I’m only gonna pull up a chair and sit outside your door with my gun in my lap.” He looked around for his keys then back at her. “But I’ll do it. Say the words.”

She looked so lost standing in the doorway. He was about to repeat himself when she took in a breath that looked like it hurt.

“He made it seem like he was a reporter. I mean, he had it down pat. Right down to the microphone with the grey foam rubber spit guard. I knew something was off, but I couldn’t prove it. “She walked past him as if he weren’t even there and took the chair across from him.

“By the time anyone listened to me an entire apartment building was in ashes. Ten families were gone. He’d barricaded the front door with a special kind of nail that all but disappears into the wood.”

“I attended every funeral. I felt like someone needed to be held accountable. I was the logical choice. One mourner spat in my face while another slapped me so hard my nose bled.”

Willow’s eyes drifted across the table surface. She wasn’t crying and yet Davis could see that her thoughts were jagged and painful. She wiped at her face as if to remove the saliva or the blood before she played with her sleeve. At last she looked up at him. Tears shimmered in her eyes as one stole down her cheek.

“I’m sorry I hit you.”

“Willow.” He came to her and stooped down. She tried to put her legs down and push herself up to the table, but he rested his hand over her bare feet. He winced at how cold they were.

“Harlem used to say hitting people was a lazy form of expression. I’m sorry I hurt you, Davis. I never should have put my hands on you.”

“Don’t.”

“You’ve done nothing but try and take care of me and it was a hurtful hateful thing to do and I’m sorry.”

“Willow, don’t. I brought you to that. I was scared for you. I figured if I got you mad enough at least I’d know if you were hurt or not. It was a stupid move on my part. You’re not hurtful or hateful that’s not in even in you. It never was.” Davis grabbed the mug and sat it near her hand.

“How would you know? I could have been a vicious bitch before tonight.”

“Met plenty of those. None of them had cold baby toes with pink nail polish on them.”

Willow laughed softly and tried to pull her foot away. He caught her by the ankle. “I mean, look at that, you have little dwarf feet. I could hang them on a Christmas tree like an ornament.”

“Stop.”

Davis tried to rub some warmth back into her foot as his smile faded.

“I wasn’t straight with you. Should have told you I was a federal agent the moment I brought you back here. Wasn’t even sure I was staying until the property for the club went up for auction.”

Willow ran a finger along the rim of the mug and smiled.

“It really is a nice club Davis.”

“Thanks, Willow. But listen you’re not safe. I know you’re a grown woman and a damn fine agent, but if this monster can reach out after all these years from a jail cell and make your life miserable what else can he do? I asked to be let on to this case because my own wrapped up. My expertise is in terrorism. I put people like him down like the rabid animals they are. When I saw the first fire weeks ago, I knew it was only going to get worse. I’m supposed to be enjoying my first night off in a long time, but when I got the call, when I heard the terror in Agent Hilditch’s voice... Hell, when I saw you jump down from the truck with Matisse…” He shrugged softly as he gently placed her foot back on the edge of the chair. “Agent Hilditch doesn’t trust me any further than she can throw me, but she put all of that aside and called me. Whether we just met or not.” He cleared his throat.

“I know I have no right,” he started again. It was so close. He couldn’t even look up at her sitting there hurting and not bring her into his arms.

Davis couldn’t tell her. Not now. Not like this. He could deal with her anger. He knew that now. But her hatred? He took in a breath and started again.

“I asked you to let me take care of you. You said that I could or that you’d let me.”

“And you have.”

Davis shook his head as he slipped to his knees. “Hardly, not the way I’d like to. Certainly not the way you deserve.”

“But... you don’t know me. You have no obligation to me.”

He shook his head and stood. “I know enough. I know that in these last few hours a connection sparked between us. How or why it’s as deep as it is... Willow, anything I’ve done over the last few hours is a small thing. When you woke up this morning screaming, I wanted to kill whatever was making you make those sounds. You were in so much pain and all I wanted to do was take you in my arms and draw all of it inside me. You look like you haven’t felt safe in a long time and I can’t explain it, but I wanted to give you that and keep giving to you.” He winced and walked out into the living room. “I wanted you to know you weren’t alone anymore.”