Crash Point-epub by Mari Carr

assume the threat of impending weather had kept most people away.
    He led her to a private spot then gestured at the grass. “Wanna sit down for a while?”
    She nodded and plopped down on the soft ground. He joined her and they looked out over the lake.
    Crash point , Blake thought once more. It was time. “You asked me why I left. I didn’t have a chance to answer.”
    Chloe turned her head, looking back the way they’d come. He’d become very good at reading body language during his years on the force. Every fiber of Chloe wanted to run, to escape. But—in typical fashion—his brave woman resisted the urge. She faced him once more.
    “So tell me.”
    “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, Chloe.”
    She rolled her eyes, clearly thinking he intended to charm his way out of answering.
    “I mean it. When you grow up the way I did, well, let’s just say, I wasn’t all that familiar with women who smiled and laughed and were so genuinely honest.”
    A crease formed in Chloe’s brow. “You never told me about your childhood. You just said you lived with your dad.”
    He nodded. “Do you know why I volunteered to pose for this calendar?”
    She gave him an impish grin. “Because you drew the short straw?”
    “I spent one Christmas in the Blessing House. A social worker found me and my dad living on the street. It was one of those rare, cold-ass winters in New Orleans. She told us about the house, said we could go there for the holiday. My dad told the woman to mind her own business. Actually, I think his exact words were ‘Fuck off, bitch’ but she didn’t listen to him. She just handed me a flyer with the address to the house. Promised me I’d be warm and there’d even be presents.”
    “How old were you?”
    Now that he’d opened the vault to his past, Blake found too many memories coming at him too fast. Maybe that was good. He could keep the emotions at bay because there wasn’t time to process them. “Eleven. After she left, my dad fell into a bottle of whiskey and passed out. It was cold as shit that night. So, I covered my old man up with my blanket and walked nearly two miles in the dark until I found the address of the Blessing House. I’d been lied to by nearly every adult I’d ever met, so when I knocked on the door, I was more than ready to run in case it was a trap.”
    “A trap?”
    He shrugged. “My dad wasn’t the most law-abiding citizen. He’d taught me at a young age to always be on the lookout for the law.”
    “He told you the police were the bad guys?”
    Blake nodded.
    “And yet you joined the force.”
    He grinned sadly. “It seemed like the best way to stick it to my old man. The guy was a fucking asshole in case you haven’t figured that out yet.”
    Chloe didn’t reply. His words had come out too bitter, too strong. Most folks would have accepted that at face value. She didn’t. “He was still your dad.”
    “I know. I spent one night in the Blessing House, watching all the other kids—some with folks, some without—and in the morning, there was a present for me and I got a holiday meal.”
    “Sounds nicer than the street.”
    Blake lifted one shoulder. “I guess. I didn’t stick around. I left the toy I’d gotten—some plastic fire truck—stole a bunch of food from the kitchen and a couple of blankets and took off.”
    “You went to find your dad.”
    Blake picked up a blade of grass, pressing it between his thumb and forefinger. “Yeah. I got worried about him being hungry.”
    Blake looked out over the lake. He hated trudging up all this old shit. It didn’t change anything. His jaw tensed as he fought to beat back the anger. After several deep breaths, he was able to center himself again.
    Chloe didn’t seek to fill the silence with questions. She let him find his way through the story at his own pace. He appreciated that she didn’t push him for more.
    “I always took care of him. He was an alcoholic. He couldn’t hold down a job