Katrin had stuck with Wade, at first, because she loved him and believed he could change. But over time, he’d become a bad habit. He was a throwback to happy high school days. She cared about him in the way she cared for anything that was a cherished part of her past. That made it hard to leave him.
When she’d finally threatened to break up with him after his fourth college arrest for drunk and disorderly behavior, he’d surprised her by cleaning up his act. He’d cut back on drinking, applied himself to his senior year studies and graduated with his class, even securing a coaching job at the local high school. When he’d asked her to marry him the day after graduation, Katrin had believed his drinking days were over and she’d accepted his proposal.
But she’d been wrong to believe drinking was an addiction Wade could overcome without professional help. So very, very wrong. In fact, he hadn’t quit drinking. He’d just become skilled at hiding it.
“So he’s been like this for a long time,” said Erik carefully, pulling out one of her kitchen chairs and sitting down as she leaned back against the counter.
She nodded, looking into his cool blue eyes.
“I should pack,” she said half-heartedly.
“We have a few minutes. Tell me how he went from a college drunk to a menace.”
“This can’t be interesting for you.” And I don’t want you to think of me as Wade’s victimized girlfriend.
He shrugged. “I’m in law enforcement, so actually, it is.”
She didn’t know if he was just being nice to her or genuinely interested, but the way his eyes stayed focused on her had the duel effect of hypnotizing her and discomfiting her. She heard her voice start speaking. She told him how several weeks ago she’d gone for lunch with a girlfriend at the Elk Land Grille on their lunch break from the hospital, only to have Wade show up and slide into the booth across from them.
She’d gotten up and confronted him, putting her hands on his table until he looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. She’d felt brave that day, confronting him in a public place, surrounded by people.
“You following me, Wade?”
“I can eat lunch wherever I want, Kitty Kat. It’s a free country.”
“Why aren’t you eating lunch at school in the faculty lunch room?”
“You didn’t hear? I’m taking a break from that shit job. I’m going to get me a better job.”
“You lost your job,” she’d whispered, feelings of annoyance being replaced by a stab of pity.
“Screw that. I quit.”
Sure you did. His bravado made her eyes narrow with renewed anger. “We both know you followed me here. You’ve been following me around a lot lately. You gotta quit it, Wade. You gotta move on.”
“MOVE ON?” He’d thundered, making her see, for the first time, how truly unhinged he’d become. Other diners stopped talking as Wade pounded the table with his fists several times before speaking in a low hiss. “You’re mine, Kat. You’ll always be mine.”
“Creepy,” said Erik lightly as she finished the story, but Katrin saw his jawbone clench twice and those ice shards were back in his eyes. “What else?”
Katrin turned to the sink and dumped the rest of her water down the drain, feeling small and pathetic as Erik Lindstrom patiently listened to the breakdown of her relationship with Wade. “He’s been showing up here for about a week or so now. He drinks too much and shows up on my doorstep yelling.” She turned back to Erik and crossed her arms over her chest. “But he never said he wanted to, um, k-kill me until Friday.”
Wade had been getting meaner and colder, more unstable and violent. His language was more foul and threatening, and coupled with smashing bottles, breaking her window and threatening to kill her? How soon before he acted on those threats?
She looked up at Erik and he nodded slowly, picking up his water and taking a long sip as his searing eyes held hers. Thoughts of Wade slipped from her mind and her fingers twitched, remembering how it felt for her hand to be clasped within the warm strength of his. How would it feel to have him clasping more than her hand—her breasts, her hips, her waist, as he lowered his mouth to hers and—
She pressed cool hands to her hot cheeks, looking away from him quickly. He looked so solid and safe dominating the small space of her kitchen. She wanted that. She wanted to feel safe again. This is no good, Kat. Inconvenient. Messy. Potentially heartbreaking. Remember Ingrid’s warning.
“It wasn’t your fault, you know.” He worked his jaw before giving her a tight smile. “It doesn’t reflect on you. It wasn’t about you.”
Inside her chest, her heart swelled with some undefined emotion that felt warm and wonderful and entirely inconvenient.
She wanted to cross the kitchen and crawl onto his lap, feel his strong arms embrace her and his lips graze her forehead. She bit the inside of her cheek. She needed to get away from Erik Lindstrom before her ridiculous fantasies got her in trouble. Swallowing back her thoughts, she forced a bright smile.
“Thanks for saying that. Anyway, none of it matters now. Thanks to Ing. And you. I’m going to go pack.”
She hurried through the kitchen to her bedroom, hoping desperately that Erik Lindstrom couldn’t read her thoughts as well as he seemed to empathize with them.
***
Erik didn’t watch her go.
He forced himself to stare at the counter where she’d been leaning until she’d left the room. His fury over Wade Doyle was so white-hot and intense he hadn’t trusted himself to speak. He barely trusted himself to leave Choteau without storming the police station and beating Doyle within an inch of
