Deep Burn (Burned Duet 2)

“Asher—”

“Are we

done now?” I asked, walking past him. I had no intention of staying here any longer than I needed to. If I only had three months until I had to be in court and sign this plea deal, then I was going to live every single second of that time. I was going to soak in each minute that passed by.

“If you change your mind…”

“I won’t.” I pulled the door open, walked through it, and left Mr. Bennet standing in the middle of his office. He didn’t understand the need to protect the person who meant the most to you. He didn’t understand how putting her on that stand could break her all over again. She was only now just putting the pieces back together again, and I wouldn’t destroy the progress she’d made.

I was doing it for her. It was all for her.

Chapter Thirteen

ELODIE

I wasn’t sure how long I stood under the spray of the water coming out of the showerhead, but my fingers had started to wrinkle at some stage, indicating I’d been under the water for too long. My muscles ached in places I’d forgotten they could ache, but it was a good kind of feeling—one that told me I’d danced my ass off.

I was slowly getting back into my routine, or at least, my new routine. I’d been back at school for a couple of weeks, and with each day that passed, the whispers and echoes in the hallways faded to silence. My classes whizzed by every day with Leo always waiting to escort me to my next class and to eat lunch with. He never failed to be there for me during the day, and although I didn’t need him to stick to me like glue, it added a safety net I hadn’t realized I’d needed.

But when I was in the dance studio, I was truly alone. It was then that I could let it all out. I unlocked my heart, freed every emotion I pushed down each day, and exposed it for the walls of the studio to see. And today wasn’t any different. I’d danced harder than I had in months, years even, and it had been worth it, both physically and mentally.

My weekends were a combination of dancing, homework, and spending time with Lola. She’d taken to coming over on a Saturday afternoon after my dance session. Sometimes Brody came with her, sometimes Belle, but most of the time she came on her own. It hadn’t been planned, just something that kind of evolved over time. I was able to be open with Lola. I could tell her when I was having a bad day. I could tell her when I’d been plagued with nightmares the previous night. I could confide in her the same way I could with Asher.

And Asher.

Asher was still sleeping on the sofa. Time and time again I’d sat in the middle of his bed, trying to work myself up to walk down the stairs to tell him to come and get into bed with me…but I just couldn’t. I could never get my feet to work. I could never get my body to listen to what I thought I should have done. On the outside I may have looked okay—like I had all of my control back—but both Asher and I knew it wasn’t the truth. It was a facade I’d learned to put in place, but around him, I never had to have my guard up. And he was okay with it. At least, I thought he was.

I stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my body, then headed into the bedroom. I didn’t have plans to go out today, so I brushed my hair and decided to let it air dry, then pulled on a pair of leggings and one of Asher’s T-shirts. They provided security but were also the comfiest things I’d ever worn.

I was just hanging the towel over the towel warmer in the bathroom when several knocks rang out. My heart raced for a second before I realized it was Lola. It was always my first reaction to panic, but I was starting to get better about it. I’d only wanted to hide for a split second instead of a couple of hours.

“Coming!” I shouted, then darted down the stairs. I leaned down and pushed the deadbolt on the bottom of the door aside, then the one at the top, and finally the two locks in the middle of the door. Asher had added extra security to his house, and although I knew it was to make me feel safer, neither he nor I mentioned it. It was simply something he did without us outwardly acknowledging it.

I pulled the door open with a smile on my face, but it soon dropped when I saw the two people standing in front of me. It wasn’t Lola, but it was a face I recognized. A face I would never forget from the night that haunted me.

“Hi, Elodie,” she greeted. “I don’t know if you remember me—”

“Jenette,” I croaked out. “You’re Jenette.”

“I am.” She held her hand out. “Also known as Officer Dellwater.” I glanced down at her hand, but my body was frozen in place. I hadn’t expected her to be on the other side of the door, and I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react. Was I meant to ask her inside? Did I ask her why she was here? How did I do this? “This is a colleague of mine, Detective Oslo.” She waved her hand toward the plain-clothed detective. “Could we come in and talk?”

“I…” My gaze slide between the two of them. I trusted Jenette, but I had no idea who Detective Oslo was. And I hated to admit it but having a man I’d never met before in a confined space with me had my nerves on edge. He may have worked for the good guys, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t being irrational about things.

“We just want to update you on the case,” Detective Oslo said, his voice soft. “You can call someone to come and be with you if you’d prefer?” His kind brown eyes reminded me of Asher. “We can wait in the car until they turn up—”

“No.” I shook my head and pushed my shoulders back. I couldn’t shy away from this. I had to be able to be inside the house with someone without feeling like I was cornered. “It’s fine.” I stepped back. “Come in.” They both walked inside, and I closed the door behind me, hesitating to lock it like I normally did. If I needed to make a quick escape, I wouldn’t be able to, so for the sake of feeling like I could get out if I needed to, I only turned the middle two locks and not the top and bottom. “It’s just through there,” I told them both, pointing toward the door to the living room.

They moved through the doorway, and I halted for a second, needing to prepare myself for what they were going to say. I’d been given bits and pieces of information from Brody and the contacts he still had, but since making my statement, I hadn’t had any direct contact with the police.

I glanced at the front door one final time, closed my eyes briefly, then followed into the living room. They both stood in front of the sofa and I stepped behind the armchair, needing something between them and me. “Would you like a drink?”

“We’re good, thank you,” Detective Oslo said. “Can we sit?” I nodded, not sure I could get any more words out until they told me what they’d come to say. “We wanted to explain to you the process from here on out.”

“Brody said there’d be a trial?” I blurted out, thinking back to what he’d told me. The rape kit they’d taken at the hospital was the main portion of evidence, as well as the pictures and my statement. He also said the nurse who conducted it would most likely give a statement as well as the officers who had turned up that night. Would that include Jenette? Was she here because she’d been the one to take me to the hospital in the first place?

“Brody?” Detective Oslo asked, frowning at me and then Jenette.

“Brody Easton,” Jenette supplied for him. She smiled at me, then turned to face Detective Oslo. “Former head of the DEA office here.”