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Allie sat on the edge of her desk, watching me expectantly.
I took a sip first to steady myself. “I need you to make sure that you’re never alone with Kevin.”
She quirked her head, waiting for me to continue.
“I saw him this weekend at my night job, and after, when he broke into my apartment.”
“What?!” Allie squawked.
“Before you say anything, I don’t want to go to the police. Being an omega is the only thing I would have on my side in a situation like this. I doubt the police or a court would look kindly upon me if I tried to pursue something against him. I want the girls here to be safe.”
“Loons, did he hurt you? I’ll string him up by his intestines.” Allie abandoned her coffee and pulled me into a hug.
“Not in… that way. Someone overheard and interrupted before anything could get that far.”
She dragged me over to her desk chair and forced me to sit. Her brown eyes were wide with concern, her palms cupping my cheeks. “What can I do? I’m going to keep hawk eyes on him when he’s in the office, but what can I do for you?”
I hesitated, struggling to push myself and say the words out loud. “I don’t feel safe staying at my apartment right now.”
Thankfully, with a friend like Allie, it was all I had to say.
“Stay with us,” she immediately offered. “As long as you need. Sidney’s off today. I can text him to get the guest room and bathroom ready.”
It felt weird to have known she would help me even while expecting she wouldn’t. I loved Allie, and I knew offering to help was what a good friend would do. Why was it so fucking hard to trust it would happen? I felt guilty for not trusting her, for not feeling like I could ask outright instead of skirting around the issue to give her the chance to say no without pressure.
“Do you want me to go with you to get stuff from your place?”
I didn’t know how I would feel staying in her home with Sidney there, but she was the only one who could take me. I couldn’t exactly stay with Luca at the Marinos’, Ria only had her college dorm, and while I loved my nieces, I didn’t think I could take the chaos of staying at Stella’s.
“I already have some things packed. I’ve been staying at a hotel.”
“I know you’re only going to be staying because shitty things happened, but I’m so excited to get to hang out with you more.”
“Yeah, I think it’ll be nice. I’ll try to get out of your hair soon, though. I just need a break from my place. Oh, and I won’t be over tonight, but I’ll cancel the rest of my hotel stay in the morning.”
“Totally. Whatever works for you. I’ll set you up with your own door code and text it to you so you can come and go as you please.”
She walked me to my desk, and thankfully Kevin didn’t seem to be there today. I hoped the bastard was suffering from the hits Luca had delivered. If I was lucky, he’d be out all week.
I buried myself in work, grinding through my day until I was able to bolt from the building and head over to Stella’s.
“Watch yourself.” Luca cupped my head, swerving me out of the way of some construction debris I hadn’t been paying attention to.
We were starting with removing a lot of the old and ill-maintained fixtures, insulation, and whatnot in her basement. I’d tried to listen patiently when she’d explained the process to me when I’d arrived, but my mind was a million miles away. All I remembered at this point was that Luca’s contractor cousin had left some instructions for us to do our own demolition to speed things along. Once we’d done everything we could without a professional, he would come back and get us rolling on the next phase.
Did I have time to be assisting my sister with basement renovations? No. I’d half hoped it would keep my mind off the looming apocalypse of my professional life, but alas.
“Maybe you should go upstairs and hang with Beans,” Luca suggested.
“No, I can help.”
Stella wandered past, two garbage bags filled with questionable insulation in her hands. “Luna, can you grab the doors for me?”
“Sure.” I followed her upstairs.
“What’s going on?” Stella asked when we were in the front yard. “You’ve got a very weird vibe and I don’t like it.”
“It’s nothing. A thing with work is stressing me out.”
