too much already. Without his intense scrutiny on my face, I was able to quell the sobs and wrest them under control. His hand fell back to his side as I carefully wiped the tears off of my face.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered. “I didn't mean to drop this on you. I just . . . I didn't want you to think I'd forgotten and I didn't want to be in that hotel room alone right then.”
“Are you . . . do you . . .”
The words stuttered in his throat, as if he didn't know what to say, but wanted to say something. Time to save him, then.
“I'm okay.” I gave a watery smile. “I promise. I feel better. Ava was . . . amazing. She helped me feel better just being with her. And thank you for listening. It helps. I'm going to go back to the hotel now.”
And die in a puddle of mortification, thanks, I finished silently.
I stood up too quickly and swayed. With one arm braced on my side, the other reached for the counter. He clamped a hand on my arm immediately.
“I'm good now,” I whispered once it passed.
But his frustrated expression hadn't lessened, and he clearly wasn't fooled. “Let me drive you back to the hotel. Is it the cabins down the road, by the river?”
The thought of climbing into that monstrous SUV sent another whirl of pain through me. No way. Besides, I needed to grab things at the store and that was practically next door. I'd gone through the grocery store with the single-minded focus to get them food and had forgotten a new toothbrush. Packing my stuff had been haphazard while Jayson waited for me and the other officer took Talmage away.
Amber had conveniently disappeared before they even showed up, the skunk.
“No, it's the hotel at the bar.”
“That place?” he cried. “That's so sketchy.”
“It's just until I find a place to rent.”
“Do you feel safe there?”
“Of course,” I snapped.
He didn't like it, obviously. But as his gaze darted to Ava, his weird spot became blatantly apparent. No doubt he needed to get her home and in bed. And who was I to him anyway?
“Thanks.” I forced a more confident, certain tone. The same he'd tried to teach me to take. I should just be grateful he didn't ask for an accounting of my self-defense moves. Which hadn't, at the moment, deterred much of Talmage’s wrath, as Benjamin had mentioned. Not until I got ruthless and hammer punched Talmage's injured shoulder.
Straightening my shoulders sent another twinge through me but I ignored it. “I've got this and appreciate the distraction. See you later?”
“Wait, Sera—”
But I sent another wave, called goodbye to Ava, and disappeared out the door as fast as my legs would carry me. Which, admittedly wasn't fast enough to avoid the silence that remained in my wake.
6
Benjamin
My hand hovered above the hotel door, ready to knock.
Behind me, a dim street light cast shadows on the balcony where I stood. They'd given Serafina a room on the second floor, which kept her above, but not away from, the bar patrons below. Drunken shouts already drifted out on the night air, which was still cool as the sun set.
I ran a hand through my hair, then forced myself to just knock already.
Seconds later, my knuckles wrapped on the door. Too late, it occurred to me that she might be sleeping. Maybe she had just gotten the pain under control and slept and I'd just woken her—
A chain jangled, then the door opened no more than an inch. Bleary eyes looked out at me from a tear-stained face.
“Sera?”
A moment of confusion registered next before she shut the door, slid the chain free, and opened it again.
“Benjamin?”
Below, a shout surfaced from a bar patron that stumbled into the parking lot at my back. Sera reached out, grabbed my arm, and pulled me inside. When she shut the door, she immediately flipped the lock on it. I stepped back to give her some space, and she beckoned me farther inside.
The hotel room wasn't as dingy as I'd expected. All the lights were turned on, and a television ran a black-and-white show in the background so quietly I couldn't hear much of it. Her phone lay on top of the only bed's duvet. Numbers ticked across it, and a woman's voice called out.
“Serafina, honey? You still okay?”
“Yeah, Mom.” Serafina slid past me and grabbed the phone, which was clearly on speakerphone. She carefully sat on the bed.