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Adrian Potter had no place in my life. He never had. That meant Zac Potter had no place in Lola’s—no matter how much that would break her little heart. I had to make good choices now, and that was one of them.
Remove the Potters from my life.
Quickly.
Lights flashed through the window, and a car pulled into my driveway. I knew it was Adrian, almost as if my thoughts had summoned him here. I didn’t move, though. The front door was open because I didn’t care enough to lock it when I’d come in. I’d been numb. Still was.
Knock, knock. The quiet hits of his knuckles against the door echoed through the silence of downstairs.
The TV flashed, but there was no sound.
More knocks.
A toilet paper commercial danced across the screen, and I stayed, staring at the ceiling.
The click of the door opening made me sigh.
“Perrie? Why isn’t your door locked? Fucking hell.”
Another sigh, and I lifted my heavy head and looked out the door, down the hall. “Come in,” I said dryly. “It’s so nice of you to wait until you’re invited.”
He closed the door and locked it. “That open door is an invitation to more people than just me. I’m the safest person who could have walked through that.”
“Really.” My voice was flat.
He groaned and ran his hand through his hair. He was wearing a light gray t-shirt and ripped jeans just as light blue, so he’d been home before he’d come here. “Sam told me he told you everything.”
“Yup.” I smacked my lips together and took a sip of my wine.
“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Perrie.” He sighed. “You were never in—”
“Don’t.” I held up my hand and, swinging my legs off the sofa, set my glass on a coaster. “Don’t feed that line. I’ve already heard it, and I don’t care what you’re gonna say. You might say I wasn’t, but when he had his arms on me, I sure as hell felt like I was in danger. Goddamn it, Adrian, I had him off me before you guys even knew what going on. So don’t you dare sit in front of me and tell me I wasn’t in danger.”
He sank into the cushions of the opposite sofa. “We couldn’t tell you. He shouldn’t have even told you that. The operation that has been chasing him for months has been classified. Me and Sam were the only officers in our whole team that knew who and what he was.”
“You were sending me into the path of a sex trafficker. You could have given me a heads up.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, well that’s all fine, then.” I snorted and stood up. Barefoot, I padded into the kitchen. I definitely should have gone straight for the vodka.
“Per—”
“I was right, and you’re sorry, so let’s all move on with a happy bubble of happiness.” I slammed a glass on the side and poured a healthy dose of vodka. I topped it up with lemonade and sipped.
It burned as it went down.
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Not nearly enough to deal with you tonight.” I had my back to him, and that was the way I wanted to keep it. “The best thing you can do right now is leave me alone. Please.”
“I saw red when he touched you.”
“Adrian. Leave.”
“Sam had take the cuffs off me because if I did it, I would have broken his wrists.”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“We never thought he’d touch you. We thought he was going to keep up the pretense of not knowing who you were. We only got the attempted kidnapping charge because the wire told us he was trying to take you against your will. We might not even be able to make that one stick.” He paused. “Meanwhile, the entire department is talking about the badass blond with a hand of steel.”
I snorted, almost spitting my drink out through my nose. “Sam said his nose was broken.”
“In two places. That’s a better shot than some of our male officers can give.”
“Yeah, well.” I folded my arms and turned, leaning against the side of the counter. “When you grow up a Fox and your father has some dodgy business deals, you’re at constant risk. My mother had me in self-defense glasses for a year with refreshers every six months. I thought it was dumb because I was of no value to Benedict, but I’ve needed it a few times.”
I made the mistake of looking up and into his eyes. Genuine regret swirled in them.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said to him. “I’m angry with you. I’m angry you lied and I’m angry I had to defend myself against him. I’ve been risking my life just to survive for almost Lola’s entire life. When I’m working with the police identifying prostitutes, I should not be in danger or ever feel like that. I’ve been in so many tough situations it hurts to remember them. I’m so angry you put me in one day.”
