Page 38 of Cannon

Code Chandler, Jesse, go in the bathroom and lock the door.

Thank goodness, help was coming. Jesse glanced at the message, then slowly started backing up to the bathroom off her office. Cannon was glad someone had directed her to go because until she moved, she was behind the man. There was nothing to stop him from grabbing her and using her as a hostage, though he hadn’t seen a weapon yet. The click and lock of Jesse’s bathroom door had the man turning to look that way.

Remington and Beth ran by him with Remington tackling the man to the floor. Before he could throw her off, Beth had grabbed his wrist and handcuffed it to his other.

“What the hell!”

“Are you Grant Moore?”

The man tried to get up and knock his shoulder into Remi, but her knee was in his back.

“Grant Moore, you failed to appear for your court appointed hearing. We’ll be taking you in,” Remington said.

“I know you know where my wife is.”

“Sir, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but right now, you need to worry about yourself. You have a warrant out for your arrest.”

Remi and Beth helped him to his feet and then got him out the door. Cannon breathed a sigh of relief.

“Jesse, it’s safe to come out.”

She opened the door and ran to him. He dropped the crowbar and opened his arm for her. She leaned as close to him as she could, slipping her arm around his neck. Clara came up behind her and wrapped her arms around both of them.

“Oh my. I’m so glad you’re both okay.”

For a couple minutes, he just held Jess against him. He kept repeating to himselfJesse is safe. The babies are safe.Over and over again. He pulled away when Locks and Sarah ran in.

“Are you okay?” Locks asked.

Jesse went into his arms and nodded.

Sarah held her hand up to Jesse’s face. “Your face and neck are really flushed. Is it from the excitement or was it like that before?”

Cannon looked closer. Jesse was still flushed like he’d noticed earlier.

“I don’t know. I’m not going to stay here anyway. Everything can wait and there’s no way I can concentrate,” Jesse said.

Cannon reached for her hand. He needed to remind himself she was okay. “Let’s head for the house. You can ride with Clara and me. Let’s give it half an hour of relaxing back at the house. If you still look or feel off, I think we need to have Stella come by or go there.”

Jesse nodded. “Okay.”

Jesse was kicked back in the recliner with a glass of iced tea. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She’d cut her caffeine, but she needed a cold drink that she enjoyed. It wasn’t even sweetened since she’d also cut back on some of her sugar intake.

She thought about how she’d felt when Cannon had rolled into her office brandishing a crowbar. All of a sudden, she wasn’t alone. She’d been so mad at herself because she’d completely spaced sending a code for help. Pregnancy brain was real, and she was mired in the middle of it. She reached for the book she’d grabbed. It had been days since she read it. She and Cannon had been busy in the evenings watching movies or someone was dropping by. And after the lights went out, she didn’t read by her booklight because that’s when Cannon opened up to her.

Each thing he shared with her made her want to hunt down his dad and end him. Last night, when he’d shared why he was scared of spiders and snakes, she couldn’t keep from crying. What type of parent deliberately put their child in a place with spiders everywhere and left them alone? When Cannon had described not being able to get away from them, she’d vacillated between anger and heartbreak. Hearing Cannon’s voice choke when he said he’d never watch the show Fear Factor because he’d lived it growing up. Cannon had said he hadn’t seen his dad in years and didn’t know if he was alive or dead.

Jesse debated if she was going to have Sarah do a little digging. Cannon talking about the excruciating pain he’d had in his ear until his dad took him to the emergency room had her wanting to get up last night and scream. How did a parent live with themselves when they saw their child in pain and told them to be quiet when the doctor removed a spider that had burrowed into Cannon’s ear canal? The fact he still had his hearing in that ear was a miracle.

She needed to get her mind on something else. She opened her book, and a purple note was on the page she was on.

She sniffed and then couldn’t stop the sobs. This man and his capacity for love. She’d thought he was a cold-hearted bastard, but he’d been this sweet, soft man inside just waiting to open up to someone. Once she started, she couldn’t stop crying. She felt a hand patting her shoulder and smelled Cannon’s scent, which used to make her mad. After sleeping beside him and coming to know him better, it now said home to her.

“Hey, it’s okay. What’s wrong? Does something hurt?”

She looked up at his petrified voice, asking her questions. She shook her head and turned the opened book toward him. Shedidn’t say anything because she didn’t know what to say. She’d been so mad, but now she was seeing a different side of him. And she felt guilty for not telling him about the pregnancy earlier, but she wanted the love story. She wanted it all and she wanted it with Cannon.

“My note made you cry? I’m so sorry. I wanted you to know how I feel and make up for everything I’ve done.”