Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 353(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
A loud banging on the front door announced their arrival.
Sawyer hurried down the hall toward the stairs and I took a moment to focus on Lucy. “You’re okay?”
She nodded, swiping at her eyes. “I’m so sorry about all of this.”
“This is not your fault.” I reached out, closing my hand on one side of her waist. “Everything is going to be okay.”
She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest protectively.
Damn.
She was shaking.
I reached out and pulled her against me, wrapping my arms around her tightly. “Don’t worry. Sawyer and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
She was stiff at first but then practically melted against my chest.
I gently stroked her back, wishing I could say or do something to make her feel better. Safer. I wanted to offer to stay here, to help keep an eye on things, but I knew Sawyer wouldn’t go for that.
We stood there for a minute or so and I closed my eyes. I liked the way she felt in my arms. Soft and sweet and feminine. So goddamn feminine. And she smelled good. Like cinnamon and apples.
Like something I wanted to lick.
Shit.
What the fuck was I thinking?
Luckily, she chose that moment to pull away, slowly running her hands down her face.
“I, um, thank you.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “I think I’m okay now. It was just jarring. The alarm and…everything.”
“I know.” Our eyes locked and the jolt of lightning between us made my body tingle with need.
Then it was gone, almost as if I’d imagined it.
“We should, uh, probably go talk to the police.” She nodded toward the voices now coming from downstairs.
“Maybe you need restraining order?”
“Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe.” She walked toward the staircase and I followed.
Talking to the police was my least favorite thing under any circumstances, but I had to remind myself this wasn’t Russia and I hadn’t done anything wrong. Sawyer seemed to have everything under control, talking animatedly to two officers as Lucy and I walked into the room. They turned, immediately firing questions in her direction.
She seemed exhausted, and once again the need to protect her was overwhelming. I stood behind her, one hand at the small of her back, hoping to let her know I was there for her.
“Holy shit.” The younger of the two policemen stared at me intently, his eyes suddenly widening. “You’re Konstantin Volkov. And Sawyer Cain!” He smacked himself in the forehead. “It took me a minute to figure out why you looked familiar. I’m a huge Mavericks fan!” His face lit up with a smile, as if forgetting all about why he was here.
“Yes. Thank you.” I spoke quietly, giving him a pointed look that I hoped would remind him of the situation at hand.
A slight flush crept up his neck and he cleared his throat. “Anyway, it looks like someone tried to open the window of a back room.” He pointed toward what Sawyer and Annie called the den. “The security people told the dispatcher where the alarm was tripped. It was one of the rear windows and we found damage to the windowsill and broken shrubbery there.”
“We can call a forensics unit to get fingerprints,” the other policeman said, looking from Sawyer to Lucy. They eyed me with interest, but I didn’t say or do anything, and they made notes as Lucy told them about Nate.
“Have you thought about a restraining order?” the younger cop asked.
“You think a restraining order is going to keep him from trying again?” Sawyer demanded, hands on his hips.
“We don’t know for sure it was Nate,” Lucy whispered.
“Bullshit.” Sawyer looked pissed. And the most lucid he’d been in months.
I didn’t know if this was good or bad.
“We can assign a few officers to patrol the street,” the older cop said. “But I don’t know for how long.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. Anything is better than nothing.” Sawyer started talking about updating his security system, something I didn’t know much about, so I kept my hand at Lucy’s back.
The only thing I could do short term was offer her my support.
Long term, I needed to find her dickweed of an ex and kick his ass.
It was a long night and I hated leaving but the police had left a patrolman out front for the rest of the night. I planned to stop by after practice today, just to make sure Lucy was okay, but my gut told me her ex wouldn’t try again right away. No, he would watch and wait for the right time to make another move. That’s what I would have done had I been in his shoes, and I didn’t like this situation at all.
“Hey.” Wes stopped me the moment I got to the arena. “I heard there was an incident at Sawyer’s last night, but he’s not answering my texts. You know anything about it?”