Chapter 53

He forced himself to turn away and head to the living room. As he moved closer to the door, he could hear the low murmur of voices. The knob turned, but the door wouldn’t budge. He smiled and tapped on the solid wood. “Emma?”

The voices grew louder, followed by the scraping of furniture. When the door opened, Emma launched herself through it, but stopped short of throwing her arms around him when she saw the slashes across his chest.

“Oh, my God…” A wave of terror slammed into him for a split second before she threw her walls up. Emma grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside, slamming the door shut behind him. “What happened?”

Jesse pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, unmindful of the way it stung his chest. She immediately returned the embrace. At first, he couldn’t answer her. Relief clogged his throat, and he just wanted to absorb her warmth and the way her hair smelled.