Chapter 15

I called Will and told him we were on our way and to get the steaks on the grill we were hungry and reminded him to add an extra one for Beast.

"I'm putting on a couple of extra ones. We have guests so get back here pronto."

He hung up before I could ask who the extra guests were and my mind started to wander, was it the new guy Bruce? Oh no he was not welcome to just step in and have dinner with us she was dreaming of kissing this guy and no I'd have to figure out a way to get him out of my house she was mine not his and I wasn't about to let her go.

"Houston hey where are you?"

I turned to CJ, "sorry were you talking to me?"

"Yes, I asked you what he said and you were far away, is someone waiting for you back at home one of your rolodex girls?"

We were at a stop sign and I slammed my palm against the steering wheel.

"I wish you wouldn't do that. I don't have a rolodex. It was a lie that the rags came up with and no one is waiting for me. Will said we have guests so it might be the guy you were dreaming about when I kissed you awake, if he makes you happy CJ then I'm happy for you. You deserve happiness in your life now more than ever."

As much as it pained me to say it I had to step back and if this is what she wanted then all I could do is let her go even though it would kill me slowly watching another man make her happy.

She looked at her hands, "I'm sorry about the rolodex comment and I only met Bruce yesterday Houston. Carol shouldn't have said what she did and he was never in the house or in your bedroom and I shouldn't have slept there either. I have my own room and I don't know it just made me feel safe and hugging your pillow helps. I didn't want to have any nightmares and when I spend the night there I usually don't. So I apologize."

I tried to contain my smile. I wanted to whoop it up, he hadn't come in my house or my room and she felt safe with me and wanted to sleep in my room to chase her nightmares away. Things were looking up. I took her hand, "you can sleep in my bed anytime CJ whether I'm there or not I want for you to feel safe again and you will."

She smiled and rubbed her thumb across my knuckles. I squeezed it. We got to the beach house, got out of the car and walked hand in hand. She groaned, "I'm not really up for visitors if it's him I'm going to tell him I'm really tired and I'm going to bed once he's gone can you come and get me?"

I smiled this night couldn't get any better. She didn't want to spend time with the new guy. "Sure not a problem and if he gets out of hand, I'll handle him okay."

She cupped the side of my cheek, "thanks Houston" and kissed my lips. I held her and kissed her and she didn't pull back and I deepened the kiss and she reciprocated. We pulled apart and were out of breath.

She let go of my hand and started to walk faster to the house. I caught up to her and she whispered sorry.

When we were at the door, "I stopped her and kissed her one more time and whispered into her ear, "I'm not."

I opened the door and found our surprised guests were Uncle Roy, Chris, Maureen and Too Mean. No Bruce. Yup this night couldn't get any better.

"Well now it's a party. Come on CJ, our family is here, let's get some grub and tell them about our little guy."

We walked up and I looked around Carol was helping Will outside with the steaks, Maureen was talking to Uncle Roy and even Star had stuck around. She was helping them make a salad and the Mongrel was begging for cucumbers. Too mean came up to us and didn't look happy.

"I told you Houston you should have hired me to keep an eye out on CJ she wouldn't have been in this mess but you decided not to follow through."

CJ looked at me, "CJ you said you could handle it and trust me I came really close of having Too Mean stake out the house but Uncle Roy talked me out of it that I had to learn to let go and trust that you would make the right choices, so that's why I didn't ask him to keep an eye on you."

She came close, kissed my cheek and whispered, "Thanks for trusting me and not getting me a babysitter."

Too Mean cleared his throat, "Okay enough of this I need you to give me a play by play of what happened and how Beast became a hero overnight. I saw the news and I want all details on the new man in your life."

Maureen waved at CJ to get her attention, "Not so fast Too Mean. Hey sis come over here right now I'm not too happy with my two sisters right now I could have been here yesterday no one told me we were having a sleepover at the beach house and to find out you and Beast are heroes. I want details pronto so sit your booty over here and spill the beans. Oh and Carol told me about the guy that got you these beautiful flowers so come sit a spell and tell me all the details."

She went to give Maureen, Uncle Roy and Star a hug and sat down and asked if they needed help they said no that it was handled.

Too Mean handed me a beer.

"Houston, CJ's security system is almost done and I wanted to start in the office next. Have you talked to her and Roy about the addition you wanted to add? I think we can do the same at CJ's house if she's willing to lose some space in that spare room next to the master."

I thought about it, "No I haven't. I was going to talk to Uncle Roy while we were fishing and CJ when we got back, I think it's a good idea if she agrees with it but not sure about her losing space, especially if it's going to be a closet."

Too Mean laughed as we walked out to the balcony to check on the progress of the steaks.

Carol looked up "Hey Cowboy how is our little guy doing?"

I smiled, "He's doing fine, and he had to get some blood drawn and an ultrasound. He was giving the nurses a hard time before we got there but we had a little talk with him. I don't think there will be any more problems. Nurses are calling him a little stinker for only wanting to show off when we are there. He did calm down with us, drank two bottles and let us give him a swaddle bath. Carol, he loved the stuffed horse. I didn't know it played music. We left it playing for him. I really appreciate that and so does CJ."

"Not a problem it's all payment from me for letting me hang at your beach house. I actually miss being by the beach and might think of getting a place around here. Star helped me make the cake only needs to be frosted and Maureen brought ice cream. She's a wonderful girl and if I know you we will be helping her as well right cowboy?"

"You betcha."

Star came out, she was dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She looked good after she cleaned up and came next to me.

"Hey boss man, you said we could talk once you got back and I wanted to give you a report on what I found out."

Too mean came close as did Will.

"Star, did you meet Too Mean? Too Mean, this is the new addition to Houston Investigation she is our new freelance investigator she's helping us get information on Jake's momma."

"So now she's taking my place? Come on Houston I thought we had an agreement I'd help you out when you had too many cases on your plate, I can help out on this too it looks like everyone is out to take food off my table."

Star crossed her arms, "I don't think you can get the same kind of information I can get, and you would scare half of the people that hang around the boardwalk and pier. You look a little intimidating dude. I blend in since everyone knows me. Houston, if you want me to stop, just say the word I'll be happy to step back. I don't want to take anyone's livelihood away."

They faced each other and I was just too tired to deal with this.

"Too Mean I am going to be needing your help as is Uncle Roy, with Jake in the hospital me and CJ won't be able to help out as much as usual so I'm going to need you in the office. Star is helping on this case because she can get access to places and people that wouldn't normally volunteer any information to the police or us. So everyone gets a slice of the Houston pie okay? So Star, what did you find out?"

She looked at Too Mean and he at her she outstretched her hand and he took it and pulled her in for a hug.

"We will be partners okay Star, I just like giving this guy a hard time."

She laughed, "Okay well I found out a couple of things. Yesterday was Friday and the boardwalk hosts a Farmer's Market from 7:00 to 2:00 pm vendors come and sell everything from fruit, vegetables, honey, teas and even have live music and food. Well they were featuring it on the local news live and also the newspapers where covering it. I found out it was channel 5 that was doing the live remote if we could get the tape of what they recorded maybe we will find out if there were any pregnant women around the boardwalk either to shop or even someone homeless. I found out they come down to do some shopping or work for some food, I've done this a couple of times I know the vendors they bring me stuff and sometimes t-shirts. I remember there were two that were pregnant one was Nancy and the other was Sabrina I don't know why I didn't put two and two together."

I smiled at her. She had gotten more information than I thought she would.

"That's great work Star, okay we need to contact channel 5 if I remember the head of the morning news department is Steve Mitchell. I did an interview with one of his anchors not too long ago but if I ask him for this he's going to want something in return. Too Mean do you think you can request a copy of the footage do you know anyone in the editing room we need to move on this fast before they erase the tapes we might be too late now."

Too Mean asked to use the phone and went to call his contacts.

Will flip the steaks.

"Matt, I think I know the editor of the paper. Star you said it was the local paper was it the Beach Gazette if so I know Kendall Reed she can help us out and I already gave her permission for the exclusive with Beast. I'll go give her a call. Can you watch the Steaks?"

He handed me the fork and Too Mean called me from inside and I handed the care of the steaks over to Carol and Star.

"What's up Too Mean?"

"Steve wants to talk to you and says he knows why you are calling, sorry Houston I tried, guess he had warned everyone in the film room that if anyone called regarding any beach footage or the farmers market he was to be contacted immediately. He wants an exclusive with CJ about the rescue of the baby."

CJ came over and I explained what Star had found out and what we were trying to do and I told her I didn't want to give Steve any promises and we'd find another way to get the footage.

"If he wants an interview fine but he has to give us access to every shred of tape he has of yesterday here at the farmers market I know that morning news starts at 4:00 am and they probably made a whole day of it so there should be lots of footage, oh and I set the questions and who will be interviewing me, it will not be a live interview and you have to be there Houston those are my terms."

I took her hand and Too Mean handed me the phone. I spoke to Steve and gave him our terms. He was more than happy to agree to everything and said he would have the footage delivered to the office tomorrow morning and if the interview could be done at the same time I asked him to hold on and relayed all the information to CJ. She closed her eyes and nodded and said she wanted Charlie Reynolds to do the interview. He agreed and we set a time of 11:00 to go into the office to receive the footage and do the interview.

CJ let go of my hand and walked to the door. "I need some air."

Beast followed her with his leash as did I.

"You want some company" and she shrugged and kept walking out the door.

I caught up to her and we walked towards the bike path and I asked, "want to talk about it?"

"What's there to talk about? We need the footage to find Jake's mom and I get to pick the questions. I just hate being the center of attention. I've never liked that part of our work, I don't mind you taking the limelight Houston I'd rather be in the background you know this isn't my cup of tea. I don't want to dredge up what happened to me. I just want to move on. But everyone wants all the juicy details, if they only knew I don't remember what happened to me, only bits and pieces of images that still make no sense to me, its frustrating Houston not to be able to recall what was done to me."

Beast stopped and turned towards CJ. She was crying and I pulled her into my arms and rubbed her back.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to CJ, I don't want you to do something that will make you feel uncomfortable. We'll find another way okay."

She held me tight, "I know but we need to help Jake and I'm only going to have to do this one time and maybe the piranhas will go away. Thanks Houston for being here for me. I know it wasn't easy for you either but I never got to ask you how you dealt with it. I heard some from Uncle Roy, Vince and Hoyt but I never asked you."

Now I was in the hot seat and I really didn't want to bring up those bad memories. A lot had happened while she was gone and I didn't want to remember any of that time just like her. I just wanted to focus on helping her get through it. And find Jake's Momma.

"It was tough CJ and I'm still trying to deal with it. I just want you to know that you don't have to worry about me. Finding you was the priority and we did that. Getting you to feel safe is next on the agenda and then I'll deal with my demons. So let's get back and have some dinner and cake. Then we will get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow."

"Not yet. Houston when you start to deal with your demons remember I'm here, you think I'm fragile but I'm not I want to help you like you've helped me. Okay, I have your word you will let me help you right?"

If she only knew I thought she was the strongest person I'd ever known that her offering me her help was the salve my wounded heart needed. I knew we'd get through this together.

I was still holding her when someone behind us cleared their throat.

We turned to see Star, "Sorry but everyone asked me to come get you guys the natives were getting restless and hungry and said they were going to start without you and not get to upset with them since they are starving so come on boss man, CJ let's go eat cause I don't know if that cake will be there when we get back. I'm going to take Beast back. I cut up his steak and have it in his bowl he's going to feast tonight."

Beast got up and CJ handed the leash to Star and we said we'd catch up.

We walked back holding hands and not saying anything, just enjoying the night and each other.

Once back at the house the laughter could be heard over the music and we smiled at each other. We grabbed our plates and sat at the long table that had been set up in the living room. They had left two seats together for us and we dug in. I talked to Will and Uncle Roy and they promised to be at the office by 10:00 to get BABY started and to order food and have the coffee ready when we got there from the hospital. Once everyone was done Maureen and Chris started to pick up the plates and Star and Carol went to get everyone dessert.

Once everyone was done CJ and I offered to wash the dishes but everyone said no that we needed to get up early and we needed to get some sleep. Too Mean was ready to leave and said he'd be at the office tomorrow also and Chris was leaving with him since he had brought her.

"Hey cowboy, can Maureen spend the night? She can share that king size bed with me in the guest room."

"Sure that's fine but Star you're going to have to spend the night, you too Uncle Roy and Will we are going to need everyone's help with the footage."

"Why boss man I was about to leave. You all have been very nice but I need to go."

I came to her, "Star, I need you to come to the office with us tomorrow. You need to help us identify the two pregnant women and since you've met both it will make it easier for us while we are going through the tapes. So no arguments from you, you're spending the night and going into the office with Uncle Roy and Will."

"Fine but just for tonight okay?"

"So what are the sleeping arrangements cowboy? Star you can sleep with Maureen and I, that bed can sleep six"

Will looked at me and smiled, "So are you asking for more bedmates Carol, what about CJ or me?"

"Ewww I'd rather sleep with Beast then you Will," Star said.

Carol laughed as did Maureen and they started to tease Will.

CJ looked at me and I wanted to kill Will. I was going to suggest to her that she sleep in my room since she was still struggling with doing the interview tomorrow and could trigger her nightmares.

"Mattlock why don't you and CJ sleep in your room since you will be leaving early to get to Jake and you won't wake anyone else up. Will we can sleep in CJ's room so how does that sound?"

CJ stood up and kissed Uncle Roy and said that was a great ideal since she didn't want to disturb anyone. She bid everyone goodnight and Carol, Maureen and Star followed her up.

"Mattlock, how is CJ? I know this interview is bothering her, is she afraid they are going to ask other questions, we won't let that happen we will protect her I want you to tell her this we are all behind her and if she doesn't want to do it then will find another way to get that footage no one is going to harm her ever again." He looked me straight in the eye, "No one including you."

Will looked surprised and looked at both of us, "is there something I should know about? Dad? Cuz?"

"You don't have to worry about anything Uncle Roy. We've had this discussion earlier and nothing's changed. You know I'd never hurt her and I'm letting her know how I feel but I'm going slow and taking your advice I don't want to be that bull in the china shop. I want her to feel safe with me and she told me she does. You don't know how happy that makes me feel. That's why she was sleeping in my room when we went fishing. She said it made her feel safe. That's all I ever wanted is for her to feel safe again and I think in time she will and then I'll move on to phase two."

Uncle Roy nodded, "Still have my eye on you boy and no Will nothing you should be worrying about but I do have a question for you. You've been spending a lot of time with Carol and she is mighty pretty any luck in me getting a new daughter in law."

Will turned red and said he was getting ready for bed also and ran up the stairs while yelling back at them goodnight.

I looked at Uncle Roy, "Will and Carol huh I would have never thought but now that you said it they have been spending time and laughing and whispering hmmm that would be good for both of them and I'd wouldn't have to worry about CJ when she's with Carol if they do decide to date. That's really not such a bad Idea."

Uncle Roy rolled his eyes and said he would see us at the office tomorrow. I checked the house to make sure everything was locked and set the alarm. Beast followed me and once I was done went to his bed and laid down with the blanket Jake had been wrapped in.

"Night buddy, will see you in the morning. I'll let you out before we leave. Sleep tight and if you're looking for CJ for any reason she's going to be sleeping in my room and Star in the third room there safe so get some shut eye okay."

Beast tilted his head and I could have sworn he understood everything I had just said to him, I must have been tired. I turned off the lights and went to my room. CJ was already in bed when I went to change into my pajamas and came to the bed and laid down.

"Night Houston I set the alarm for 4:30 so we can be there by 6:00. Carol is taking some clothes for me for the interview and I'll just change at the office."

Her back was to me, "Night CJ if you get scared just scoot over and wake me okay."

"Can I scoot over now?"

I came behind her and pulled her into my arms. She sighed and whispered good night and we both fell asleep wondering what the upcoming day would hold for us.