Shielded In The Shadows

She hoped so, too.

* * *

He needed the women safe: both Emma and Suzie. If Bill was their man, Jayden would do whatever he could to get the man back in prison as fast as possible. He could have Bill’s parole revoked, which would send him back while he awaited trial on all of the new charges.

Jayden’s problem wasn’t in being wrong... He wasn’t real thrilled that Emma seemingly didn’t pick up on his feelings. But then, when a guy didn’t give anything of himself to anyone, how could he expect them to magically know him? Know what he’d do? Or how he’d feel?

He’d figured his solitary life would preclude such considerations. But now...

Everything was confused. Confusing him.

“I went to see Emory’s mom today.”

Emma had been instrumental in the visit. It seemed okay to fill her in.

“And?”

He told her about the woman’s surprising pleasure in seeing him. And then about Emory’s father’s self-imposed exile. All afternoon Jayden had been kind of seeing himself in that story—wondering if maybe he was wasting a life, and dishonoring Emory by doing so, hurting loved ones who still needed him, as Tom Smith was doing.

Or if he was falling hard for the prosecutor and was grasping at straws as a way to justify breaking his word to himself.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Emma said when he’d been half holding his breath to see if she also saw similarities between him and Mr. Smith. “Maybe the real challenge is not in being perfect, but in learning to forgive yourself when you aren’t.”

She was looking out the window, not at him. Speaking for herself? For him? Just speaking? Throwing out a platitude? Or wondering on her own behalf? Didn’t seem to matter. He felt like she’d just slapped another defining moment on him. Another possible perspective change for his brain to process.

And wasn’t sure he was ready for that.

Maybe he was a lot more like his father than he’d thought.

Or maybe he was just afraid to give himself a real second chance.

* * *

Emma couldn’t believe she was finally going to get the second chance to help Suzie Heber. To free her from the fiend who’d married a sweet young woman and made her life a living hell. Heading up the walk to Suzie’s front door, she stepped slightly in front of Jayden. Leading the way.

Suzie knew her.

She was feeling proprietary. She was trying not to focus on the fact that he’d pretty well given her a warning back there in the car. Telling her about Emory’s father, who couldn’t live any kind of full life, couldn’t engage in an intimate relationship, or be a part of a family. Not even when the daughter and grandkids involved were his own.

It seemed obvious to her that Jayden had found a man who was in the same place he was. Who’d been damaged in the same way. He was telling her there was no hope for the two of them.

She didn’t want to accept any of it.

Knocking on the front door even before Jayden was fully beside her, she pasted a smile on her face in case Suzie glanced through the peephole before pulling open the door.

She was the bearer of good news, not there to badger or pressure a victim into coming forward.

The smile was completely earnest when she heard the door start to open, and then Emma could feel it fade when she saw Suzie standing there. The woman kind of blinked, oddly, but when Emma asked if they could come in, she only paused for a second before nodding and then quickly stepped back.

“He’s in the bath—” Suzie was whispering. Emma thought she’d heard the words right, but couldn’t be sure. She glanced back at Jayden, to see his reaction, and saw him reaching for his gun.

“Drop it now or she dies.”

Emma’s gaze swung back around to see a man she’d never seen before, pointing a gun directly at her head. She heard Jayden’s gun drop to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Suzie said tremulously. It was unclear who she was talking to, Emma or the man holding the gun. The woman was holding her arm in front of her, with her hand. Emma realized, too late, that it had an odd twist to it. Had to be broken.

“Just calm down here.” Jayden stepped in front of Emma, holding his arms out wide and angling himself to cover Suzie, too. “You don’t want to do this,” he said. “Lower the gun and let’s talk. See if we can take care of this right here. Right now. No one gets hurt. It just ends.”