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As the clock on my cable box struck midnight twenty minutes later, I pulled Kyler into a kiss, trying like hell to show her everything I was feeling. About finally getting to make love to her, yes, but also just abouther.It didn’t matter that we were only eighteen. I knew without a doubt that I’d found my soulmate.
“Happy New Year, baby,” I whispered against her lips.
She chuckled softly. “Happy New Year. You know that’s the first time I’ve ever kissed anyone at midnight?”
Yeah, I did know that. But I didn’t want to focus on the reason why. Not tonight. We both deserved just one night where we didn’t have to give those monsters any space in our heads.
“Want to know a secret? I haven’t either. You’re my first. And if I have my way, my only.”
“Really?” she asked, pulling back to look at me.
“Really. I was never serious enough with anyone else to spend New Year’s Eve with them,” I admitted.
“This year already feels different,” she sighed. “Is that weird?”
I shook my head. “Not even a little bit. Itisdifferent already. You’ve taken your power back. And you’re not alone anymore.”
That earned me a smile, but before I could say anything else, Sergio started barking downstairs. I sighed and moved to get out of bed to let him out.
“I’ll be right back. I need to let him out before we go to sleep,” I told her.
She nodded, and I stole another kiss before throwing a shirt and some sweats on and heading downstairs.
Sergio was standing right at the backdoor, but he wasn’t acting like he had to go outside. He was barking, growling, and snarling with his teeth bared, like he was in full protection mode.
I’dneverseen him like this before. Ever. He wasn’t usually aggressive like this. He wasn’t the dog who barked at the mailman or every time a car pulled into the driveway.
Something was wrong. Really wrong. And since Max, Tucker, and Drew’s arrests had made the front page of theKansas City Starand we still didn’t know who the fourth person filming Kyler’s assault was, I wasn’t about to take any chances.
I dashed back up the stairs and went into Dad and Maya’s bedroom, heading directly for the gun safe in the closet and entering my parents’ anniversary into the keypad.
Because of the work my dad did in the district attorney’s office, especially with victims of domestic violence, he’d wanted to have protection in the house, so he’d bought this gun. He’d taken me, Izzie, and Maya to the firing range a handful of times and made sure we knew how to safely fire it if we had to. I wasn’t a great shot, but I was decent enough to protect myself and Kyler if I had to.
The safe popped open, and I grabbed the nine-millimeter handgun and a clip, popping it into the handle before unlocking the safety, pulling back the slide to load a round into the chamber, and flipping the hammer back. I really hoped that tonight wouldn’t be the night I had to use this thing. Honestly, I hoped Ineverhad to fire it, but especially not while my girlfriend and I were alone in the house.
“Ian?” I heard from the doorway. “What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath and stood up, and her eyes got as big as saucers when she saw the weapon in my hand.
“Don’t worry. I know how to use it,” I told her. “Serge is going crazy, barking and growling, and he’s never like that. I figured better safe than sorry before I opened the door. Especially not with us still not knowing who the fourth person involved in your assault was.”
She nodded slowly, still looking like a deer in headlights.
“I want you to stay up here,” I said as I walked over to her and put a hand on her arm. “Grab your phone and get ready to call 911 if you have to, okay?”
Kyler sighed. “Be safe. Please.”
“I will,” I promised, giving her a quick kiss before heading back downstairs.
Sergio wasn’t barking anymore, but he was still standing there with his teeth bared, on full alert. My heart started racing and I felt bile rise in my throat as I unlocked the door and opened it.
At first, I released a sigh of relief because no one was there. I pushed the hammer of the gun forward, grateful I wouldn’t have to fire it tonight, and as I looked down to put the safety back in place, I saw why Sergio had been so freaked out.
A dead rabbit – probably roadkill – was lying on our back porch with a piece of paper next to it.
Our backyard was completely fenced-in, so whoever had left this here had to have scaled the fence to leave this here. That had to have been what Sergio was growling and snarling at.
I knelt down to look at the note, knowing better than to get my fingerprints on it, and my heart started pounding in my ears again as I read it.
