room, a gym, a fully stocked kitchen, butler and housekeeper service, and a variety of clothing in various sizes. You know, in the event someone came without their own things.
Baz knew they fell into that category, so he wouldn’t bitch too much about it now.
“Let’s get you into bed,” Baz told JJ, holding her hand and leading the way through the open floor plan and down the hall to what was one of four enormous suites.
“Shower first, please.”
“Of course.”
They’d made it to his father’s house without incident, and while Baz hadn’t had quite the night JJ had, he was feeling some of the exhaustion from the waning adrenaline. He wanted nothing more than to shower and fall into bed for a few hours himself, but he knew that wasn’t an option. He needed to contact Brantley, explain his actions since he’d spent the past hour and a half avoiding all incoming calls, including one from Brantley, one from Reese, and two from Charlie.
“Come on,” he urged, knowing the adrenaline would fade completely once JJ realized she was safe, and she’d be hard-pressed to do much of anything at that point. “You can get cleaned up then into bed.”
She peered up at him and nodded. It was pretty much the same response he’d gotten since they’d left her house.
Once in the bathroom, Baz turned on the water, then left her alone so he could grab her a robe for when she was finished. When he returned, she was still standing in the middle of the space, arms wrapped around her middle as though she was holding herself together.
“JJ?”
She turned to face him.
“We’ll figure this out,” he assured her.
What he wanted to say was that everything would be all right, but since he had no way of knowing that, he figured empty promises wouldn’t make either of them feel any better.
The next thing he knew, she was in his arms, her face buried in his chest as she sobbed.
As much as he hated that she was crying, Baz held on to her for dear life. She was alive, and that was all that mattered to him at the moment. The thought of anything happening to her… He didn’t want to think along those lines because he might find himself breaking down into tears.
When she pulled herself together, Baz dropped his arms, stood still while she stepped back.
“There’re clothes in the closet. On the racks and in the drawers. All new and probably a few things in your size. When you’re done, we’ll get you settled in bed. But please, take your time. There’s no rush.”
He left her to clean up, stepping out of the bathroom to give her privacy, but he left the door partially opened so he could hear her if she called for him. He remained outside the door until he heard her moving around, the shower door open, close.
Content she could handle that task, he went into the kitchen, started a pot of coffee, and grabbed the iPad his father kept for guests to use. He would’ve preferred a computer, but until he could have one brought over from the main house, this would have to do.
Before he could create a guest account to log in, his cell phone rang. This time it was Trey, so he answered, knowing he would have to face the music eventually.
“Have you heard?” the man asked as soon as Baz said hello.
Baz walked over to the coffeepot. “Heard what?”
“JJ’s house,” Trey said, his voice low. “It blew up.”
He nearly dropped his cell phone. “What do you mean it blew up?”
“I’m not sure how else to explain it to you. It just kinda went boom.”
“Jesus Christ, Trey. Is anyone hurt?”
“No. God, I wouldn’t be jokin’ if they were. Brantley, Reese, and I were outside talkin’ to Travis—”
“Why was Travis there?”
“Someone texted him, pretendin’ to be JJ. Asked him to come by.”
Holy shit. That…
“Everyone’s wonderin’ the same thing,” Trey went on, as though he had read Baz’s mind. “Is it just a coincidence? Or did Juliet have a hand in all of this?”
“What do you think?”
“I think it’s all fucked up, that’s what I think.” Trey sighed. “But I’m takin’ my cues from Brantley. He wants to look at the evidence, not jump to conclusions.”
“You mean the evidence that was blown up in the explosion?”
Trey chuckled. “Yes.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Well, the good news is, Sheriff Endsley’s on the scene. Brantley’s leadin’ the charge here. He wanted me to call, check in.”
“He said that?”
“Not in so