Page 23 of Grave Kisses (Graveyard of Hearts Collection #1)

Bellamy

Kendra is finally asleep. She spent a lot of time restless before Marcus and I got her settled.

She seems to love how we care for her but will often make comments that she feels like a child for needing so much comfort and reassurance.

How I look at it is that she had her entire childhood stolen from her.

Alan did great giving her the peace she needed, but she is still healing from that trauma.

It is a long road, and we, as her partners, need to respect that she needs comforting more times than others.

It’s not even that big of a deal, honestly.

Why would I be bothered about getting to cuddle her to sleep?

She is so damn adorable when she snuggles up to us.

She does this cute little butt wiggle when she gets into a really comfortable position.

It’s like her happy dance for when she has reached peak comfort.

God, and the way she smiles so brightly when her worries melt away and she is both safe and content…

I’d do anything to keep giving her those moments of peace.

“She asleep?” I ask Marcus.

“Yeah,” he says, still stroking her hair. “I feel so goddamn bad…”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “It’s like we just walked her into a trap, but I don’t know what the trap is for.”

“Yeah. Something is off. When she suddenly froze and he touched her… I could have fucking broken his neck for how overjoyed he seemed that she was obviously scared,” he says.

“We need to make sure he isn’t alone with her.

I don’t think she would be able to speak up if he tried something.

I’m not saying he’d rape her, but I don’t think he can see that she isn’t feeling what he is.

Until she got back, I thought there was something there, but he escalated things, and she pulled back, a lot. ”

“It’s like…” I start to say. “It’s manipulative. He’s manipulating us and her. I don’t know why, though. It only recently started happening, and I never even noticed it until tonight. I would have cut it off, but I didn’t want to rush to assume she was actually uncomfortable. Ya know?”

“Yeah. I am so proud of her for voicing all of that to us. I didn’t think she would,” Marcus says. “Not in a deceptive way, but she doesn’t like to disappoint people. She puts everyone else's feelings before her own, but she didn’t do that with this. Even when frozen, she set boundaries.”

“Well… Let’s talk to Chrissy and see,” I say.

I grab my phone off the side table and find my sister’s number.

Chrissy is a firecracker of a woman. She is only twenty-five, but she is a kick-ass private investigator.

She works for a man named Decan Charles.

He more or less poached her from the police academy and is helping her get licensed.

She won’t admit that she is in love with him, but I’m not stupid.

“Hello?” Chrissy mutters.

“Hey. Sorry, did I wake you?” I ask as Marcus and I move to sit on the couch across the room so we don’t wake Kendra. I place the call on speakerphone but turn it down.

“Yeah, but you are okay. What’s up?” she asks.

I explain everything from the start, not leaving anything out.

Chrissy hates when people are vague, so it’s easier to be specific now to save her from having to ask later.

She listens quietly while I go through everything.

When I explain what happened tonight, all she says is “Uh oh,” but continues to listen.

“So… We don’t trust that something sketchy isn’t going on. I don’t want to overstep or make them think we aren’t cooperative, but I can’t risk someone hurting her. She has been through far too much.”

“I agree,” Chrissy says. “If she flipped that fast, she is probably sensing something she doesn’t understand.”

“Exactly,” Marcus says. “It might just be a response from him losing his wife though.”

“I doubt it,” a man says.

“Ah. I see,” I laugh.

“Don’t start,” Chrissy warns, not wanting me to point out that wherever she is, she was asleep with Decan.

“What would you suggest, Decan?” I ask.

“Well… My initial thought is that Jeff is either leaving something out or he is lying about something. Was he showing any sign of being attracted to her outside of just looks?”

“No, not really,” I say. “She grew comfortable with him when she was basically planning her suicide. Maybe we just mistook all of that for feelings. Everything was so hectic for a while because we were so focused on just making sure she survived.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you, man,” Decan says. “It sounds like he’s playing y’all. I’ve never met him, but I’d like to. If you are all serious about this, we can come to town and just make up a story to keep us close. We will be able to observe that way.”

“Well…” Marcus laughs. “The part we have skipped is that Kendra is pregnant… with twins. You can just say you are moving closer to be here for the babies. You can stay with us and just say you are in the process of buying a house or some shit.”

“Oh my God! I’m so excited!” Chrissy squeals. “Ah. I love babies. I need to meet this woman. If she can put up with you two dorks, she must be incredible.”

“She is incredible,” I say.

“We can do that,” Decan says. “I am licensed as a private investigator, so if he looks me up, he will know. Does that concern you?”

“No,” I say. “I don’t really know if he is a threat, but we will just play it low-key for now.”

“I agree. We finished up a case last night, so we have plenty of time to help,” Chrissy says.

“We will pay you whatever we need to cover the cost of you…” I start to say.

“No,” Decan says. “You are important to Chrissy, so you are important to me too. I don’t charge family. Plus, we are going to be staying with you, so if anything, it evens out.”

“We can stay in the basement apartment,” Chrissy says. “We were talking about moving the office to Huston anyhow.”

“This may be a good opportunity to do that,” Decan says. “We get so many case requests out there that it would be more lucrative.”

“Good. Then it’s settled,” I say. “I think what we might do is invite Hannah and Tim to come stay with us also and just go home.”

“That’s a good idea, actually,” Decan says. “Why not ask them now and leave before morning?”

“Hold on. I’ll call Tim,” Marcus says before standing and retrieving his phone. He places his call on speaker, and Tim answers almost immediately.

“Is everything okay?” Tim answers.

“Hey, so long story short, we need to get Kendra home and away from the detective. Things took a very weird turn, and it’s looking like he is hiding something,” Marcus says. “What did he do?” Hannah asks. Marcus explains the events of the evening, and right away they are both on edge.

“I don’t like that one bit,” Hannah says. “That is so different from how he was when Tim and her were gone.”

“I’m glad you have someone else looking into things. What can we do?” Tim asks.

“Chrissy and Decan are going to stay with us. If you can make it work, I think it would be good for Kendra if you two came and stayed also. She needs as much support as she can get, and I think this is going to get far worse before it gets better,” I say.

“We were actually just discussing moving to Huston to be closer,” Hannah says. “We’ve missed her entire life, so being three hours away doesn't feel right. We have replacements, as we were in the process of retiring anyhow, so we will just speed that up. When do you want to leave?”

“Right now,” Marcus says. “She is asleep, but I also might have drugged her water with sleeping medicine.”

“Did you really?” I laugh.

“Oh yeah. She will be out like a light for a while. She needs rest. I texted the doctor's wife from the ER. He gave me his wife’s number, since she is the OB he recommended. I asked her what it was she said it was safe for Kendra to take. Although, she doesn’t know that I drugged her with it.”

“It’s for the best,” Hannah says. “Give us twenty minutes, and we can be there. We only live a few minutes from the motel.”

“Are we doing this in the dead of night to leave without the detective knowing?” Tim asks.

“Yes,” Marcus says.

“He is staying at the motel too. I’ll call the owner and have them keep an eye out so we can get her away without him noticing,” Tim explains.

“Alright. We will get everything ready and in the truck. As soon as y’all get here, we will move her to the truck and get out of here,” I say.

“See you soon,” Hannah says before the call ends, and Marcus gets up to start packing while I talk to Chrissy and Decan.

“We need to be prepared for him being a dirty cop,” Decan says.

“I will get a feel for things, and if I can find someone ranking high enough that I know will be a safe person to go to, he needs to be reported so someone will investigate. There is no reason he shouldn’t have been able to find her parents.

Even with records I am finding right now that are public records, he would have been able to figure it out. Hell, anyone would have been able to.”

“If there are that many bodies being found… Why is it not all over the news?” I ask.

“Good question. None of it has hit the news since the explosion, and he was only named as a person of interest. They don’t even have a BOLO released for him,” Chrissy says. “He does have warrants, but that’s it.”

“Yeah. Something is off. We are missing something,” I say. “We just need to keep him away from her. I’ll text and update the others. Jesse would fucking jump at the chance to knock a man down a notch, so we could very well have all correspondence go through her.”

“Leave that decision up to Kendra, but yeah. It will be guaranteed to let Jeff know very fast that she isn’t interested if this doesn’t,” Chrissy says.

“Now… cut the shit. Are you two together?” I ask.

“Bell,” Chrissy sighs.

“Come on. Spill the beans, Chrissy. I know you,” I push.

“We are just friends,” she says hesitantly.

“Why are you hiding shit? I’m not our parents, Chrissy. Don’t shut me out.”

“I know, but it’s a long story. I’ll explain when things calm down,” she sighs. “Well, y’all get ready. When you get closer, text me, and we will be there.”

“Just go on over. You have the gate code and the alarm code. Just go in and go to bed. It will be ridiculously early in the morning when we get there.”

“Alright,” she says. “Come down and tell us when you get home, please. And be careful.”

“We will. Love you, Chrissy,” I say.

“Fuck you, Chrissy,” Marcus call’s out with a chuckle. “I mean, love you.”

“Fuck you too, Marcus,” she laughs. “Love you, guys. See you soon.”

I help Marcus get everything into the truck.

We take our time, and when we are done, we sit and relax for a while.

Hannah and Tim show up soon after, so I scoop Kendra into my arms. She only stirs a little bit when I get us settled in the truck she relaxes again.

For the entire trip back, I keep my hand on her to make sure she’s okay.

I doze in and out but try to stay awake as much as possible.

When we get home, Marcus comes around and gets Kendra inside while Tim and I get all of the bags inside.

I set them up in the guest room downstairs and go upstairs to lie down with Kendra and Marcus.

With the gate locked, alarm set, and Kendra fast asleep between us, I can breathe a little easier knowing she is safe. For now.