Relentless (Colorado Crimes Book 5)

Chapter 8

Noah pulled his car out of the parking lot and onto the street. Natalie did not look happy. "Is something wrong?"

"You and Lillian seem to be pretty close friends." She said tersely.

"It's not like that-"

"Are you sure?" Natalie asked. "Cause first you kept grabbing my arm this morning, then you're flirting with her. I don't know if this whole relationship thing is really going to work out if things like this keep going on."

"No Natalie please." Noah's grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Trust me. Lillian's like a sister to me. We've been friends for ages."

"Didn't you just retire from pro football though?" Natalie countered.

"No, she's a family friend. She asked if I would cook at the station because my parents told hers that I was back in town. She's been my friend since we were kids. And I told you I was sorry about what happened earlier. It won't happen again, I was just trying to help."

Natalie looked torn. Conflicting emotions crossed her freckled face. He would give anything to know what she was thinking. Finally, she spoke. "Fine. We can work it out."

"Thank you Natalie."

Natalie wrapped one of her curls around her finger. "What did they say about your house?"

"Joshua, one of the other firemen, said that the damage was minimal and they stopped it before anything bad happened. Just the one side of my house is burned and my shed is gone. Thankfully, I have insurance and they'll replace the paneling on the house as well as my shed. No damage on the inside was done." He answered.

"That's good."

"Yes, it is. He said it'll look a little bit ugly for a month or so."

"Ugly is better than gone, though."

"Very true. The weird thing is that he said it was an arson fire. Who would have it out for me?"

Natalie didn't respond for a while. "That is weird. Any ideas?"

"Not that I can think of. I have literally no enemies unless a football player is jealous of me for some dumb reason like I beat them in their last game. I don't make enemies."

"Then that is really weird."

Noah nodded, but kept his gaze on the road. "It's kind of random, don't you think?"

Natalie was about to reply, then her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of the pocket of her jean shorts and answered it with a confused look on her face. "Hello Ms. Mitchells, can I help you?"

Noah couldn't hear the voice on the other end, no matter how hard he tried.

"Yes, Raelyn just got back from her honeymoon a few days ago. Do you want me to send her a message?" Natalie listened some more and then her face went white. "I'll ask her, but I make no promises. Yes, you have a good day too. Goodbye." She hung up and put the phone down. "Oh boy."

Noah glanced at her. "What?"

"Raelyn's mom wants to come visit her and Damon."

Noah was confused. "Why is that so bad? Why did she ask you and not Raelyn?"

Natalie bit her lip, "I shouldn't tell you."

"But you're going to."

"Yeah." She halfheartedly laughed. "Raelyn was abused as a kid. That's why we're so close. She escaped to my house more often than not. Her mother is trying to mend things, but it clearly isn't working."