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Cody
“Ididn’t get a good look at him,” one of the witnesses said to me. “One second, he was in a car, then the next, he was trying to drag Taylor away like a sack of potatoes.”
“You’re absolutely sure?” I asked, my voice harsh, even though I needed to calm down. Intimidating the fuck out of people we were questioning wasn’t helping the situation whatsoever. “You can’t remember anything about how he managed to grab Taylor?”
Right in front of me, too. It had happened so fast that my head was still spinning, and my heart had hardly slowed down.
This man, lunging at her. The crowd of people between Taylor and me. The helpless feeling I’d had as I’d wrestled this fucking mad man into the streets and nearly gotten us both killed in traffic. I remembered his hair, which was dark, frizzy, and pulled back into a messy ponytail, and his harsh breath. Brown eyes, a surprisingly petite nose for a man of his age and height. That face was emblazoned in my memory. Now I just needed to find out where the fuck he’d gone, assuming anyone who’d seen it happen had more information I didn’t have.
“No.” The girl, who was tall and blonde, looked between me and the police officer who had arrived at the scene minutes after it had happened. “I’m really sorry. Is Taylor okay?”
“She’s being taken care of.” I swallowed, trying to hide my frustration. I didn’t want this woman to think that I was mad at her. It wasn’t her fault that all of that had happened so fast. I was just so furious with myself. “Thank you for your help.”
“Is it okay if I text Taylor?” the blonde asked, holding up her phone.
“I think she’d like that,” I said.
“You’re free to go, hon,” the middle-aged cop said, as she smoothed back her ponytail. Once the blonde was out of earshot, the cop sighed. “I talked to the businesses around here. None of them have cameras that were on that area of the street.”
“What about the other cameras?”
“We’re checking. If you give me your card, I’ll contact you,” she said. I handed my card over. “Thanks. We’ll keep you posted.”
I returned to the car, which was idling in an open area that was easy to watch. Seeing Taylor was almost painful. Seeing her pale, tear-streaked face in the backseat brought up that helpless feeling I’d vowed I’d never feel again. A woman I was quickly falling in love with had been in danger, and I hadn’t been able to stop it.
I’d felt the same way when my fiancé lay dead in my arms after hitting her head. Taylor had lived, of course, but the feeling of dread and pure fear was the same.
We drove Taylor home and planned to stay there for the rest of the evening. At least I knew that she was safe there.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said. “I’ll be back in a bit.”
She disappeared into her bathroom, leaving us in the living room. I sat down and raked my hands over my face, exhaustion setting into my bones. For once, Harrison was silent. Ethan was his usual quiet self. I didn’t know what to say, so the room stayed quiet.
My thoughts raced in the same circle, like the world’s worst race. I hated myself for not being close enough, for giving Taylor a tiny bit of space. I’d been reckless, just as I had been with the surfing accident. I should have taken more care.
We’d guarded people in New York City before, and I understood just how dangerous it was, but today had shown that in extremely stark terms. It wasn’t like our tiny beach town that I could have scoped out before taking Lila out to surf. This was a city with so many variables that I didn’t have the ability to control. I’d let my guard down when it should have been higher than ever.
“I can’t do this,” I finally blurted.
“What do you mean?” Harrison asked. “What is ‘this’?”
“Being with Taylor romantically. I nearly let her get hurt today. It was just like before—”
“She’s not like your former fiancé at all,” Ethan said. “That was a freak accident. This was a targeted attack against someone who has a lot of potential enemies. It’s entirely different.”
“Yeah, so it’s worse.” I let out a humorless laugh. “A lot fucking worse because I was tasked to protect her. It wasn’t just a fluke.”
“It’s part of the job, man,” Harrison said. “We can’t beat ourselves up about mistakes; we just have to react to them.”
“It’s different with her. So different.” I raked my fingers through my hair for the fiftieth time that afternoon. “I just know that I don’t think I can do both anymore.”
My partners were silent.
“Weren’t you the one who said it would help us to do a better job once we were with her?” Ethan asked.
“I was wrong. I’m not afraid to admit that.” I shrugged. “I need to get my things. I don’t live too far from here, so I can get here in the morning.”
Harrison’s mouth opened, then closed. “You’re really doing this. You’re really going to break up with her and leave.”
