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Just as I settled into bed, my cell phone rang. I couldn’t help but smile. I knew Joshua had been counting the days too.
I snatched it up, not bothering to look at the screen, and pressed the device to my ear. “Did you call to talk dirty to me?” I giggled.
There was a long pause before the sound of a man clearing his throat wiped the smile from my face. Bolting upright in bed, my heart pounded in my chest. Please don’t let this be a client.
“No, ma’am, I didn’t.” I could tell the man was trying not to laugh, but his next words were delivered in a slow, somber tone. “This is Detective Pruett with the Phoenix Police Department. Am I speaking to Melinda Carson?”
“Yes,” I replied in a small, worried voice.
“Ma’am, I’m at your house—”
“My house? Why?”
“I’m sorry to inform you that you’ve been a victim of some rather extensive vandalism.”
“Vandalism? What’s happened? How?” I screeched. My heart thundered in my ears as I tried to wrap my head around the news.
“Someone spray painted the words, uh, ‘slut’ and ‘whore’ on your garage doors. The big picture window on the front of your house has been smashed. It’s strange, maybe the perp got scared away, but from what we can tell, there’s no sign of entry. They cut your alarm system and umm…”
“Um what?” I cried. “You mean there’s more?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The officer paused. “Someone hung a dead rabbit at your front door.”
“A dead rabbit?”
The air left my lungs in a whoosh. My blood turned to ice as Davis Walker’s words echoed in my brain. ‘It’s been a long time, bunny. A phone call would have been nice, bunny. Don’t think I’m going to let you shut me out, bunny.’ Shades of ‘Fatal Attraction’ rolled through my brain. At least the son of a bitch didn’t put the poor rabbit in a pot on my stove and burn the damn house down.
My entire body trembled as I blinked back the black splotches swimming behind my eyes. Sucking in a ragged breath, I exhaled in an attempt to calm myself. How did Davis find out where I lived? Why in the world would he fly all the way to Phoenix to fuck with my house? Was he trying to punish me for not giving him a second chance? Yes, Davis Walker had changed all right, changed into a raving madman.
“Do you have any idea who might be responsible for this? Because I have to tell you, I’ve seen enough of these things. This was personal, ma’am.
“That fucking bastard,” I railed. “Yes, I know exactly who did it.”
“Good. I need to get a statement from you. How quickly can you get here?”
Releasing a humorless chuckle, I closed my eyes. “About sixteen hours, give or take a few. I’m in the United Kingdom at the moment.”
“Oh,” he replied, sounding both surprised and disgruntled. “Hell.”
I convinced the detective to take my statement over the phone. I supplied him with as much information as I had on Davis Walker, but I kept his association to Genesis to myself. I needed to talk to Mika before spouting out details of his club to the police. Pruett asked when I’d last seen Davis. I fibbed a little and said that I’d run into him while visiting friends in Chicago. After reciting the contents of Davis’ text messages, Pruett promised to contact the Chicago PD. That was about the time my neighbor Chad showed up to see what the commotion was about. Using Pruett’s phone, Chad offered to clean up the mess and get my security system back up and running. I thanked him profusely, vowing to pay him back as soon as I got home, but Chad seemed far more concerned about the safety of his family and me than the money.
Strung out, I paced, packed, and tried to find other ways to deplete my nervous energy, but nothing worked. Trying to force sleep didn’t either. Staring at the clock, the minutes dragged into hours. Finally, I sat up and reached for the phone. Joshua would be pissed that I’d kept him in the dark, but I wanted to hear his calm, reassuring voice. My need for his comfort outweighed the lecture I was sure to receive.
“Mellie? It’s three in the morning there. What’s wrong?”
The man didn’t even say hello. His first instinct was to find out why I was awake at the ass crack of dawn. Joshua’s unwavering concern was the perfect balm for my turmoil.
“Please don’t be mad. I wasn’t trying to keep things from you. It’s just that I didn’t want to waste what time we had. I mean, hearing your voice was more important than…I swear, never in a million did I think—”
“Stop,” he commanded. Hearing the tenor of his potent Dom voice, I snapped my mouth shut, closed my eyes, and winced. “Take a deep breath and relax. Tell me what you’ve been keeping from me, little one.”
I followed his instructions and took several calming breaths. “Davis,” I stated flatly.
“What about him? He hasn’t been back to the club since I told him to leave you alone. He said he didn’t know what I was talking about, but I didn’t believe him. He’s still bothering you?”
“Yes. But it’s escalated. He’s gone from bullying, to threatening, and now he’s vandalized my house.” I exhaled a heavy breath as panic bubbled inside me again. “Joshua, he killed a bunny and hung him on my porch.”
Cringing, I pulled the phone from my ear as Joshua erupted with a string of curses, damning Davis Walker like a well-seasoned sailor.
