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Still, as I climb out of the car and make my way up the path, I can’t shake the dark thoughts that drop like a bomb on my chest.
It isn’t until I stop on the porch, staring at the door that I know why my brain’s been screaming at me to leave.
The door is slightly open, the sliver of black making my blood ice as fear rips through me and without thinking, I turn and run and lock myself in the car.
Fingers shaking, I pull out my phone and call the station, not knowing what else to do.
And then I sit in the car, fingers digging into my thighs, memories like living nightmares coming at me until, finally the authorities come, and with them, Travis.
“Hey, babe.” Travis slides his arm around my waist and pulls me in against him so I can take the strength he quietly offers. “You okay?”
I nod, even though I can’t stop the shaking. “So they found nothing?”
Travis sighs as we stand alone, the other police car already gone. “Just unlocked and open. Nothing taken, moved, or anything like that.”
“Maybe it was me. Maybe I forgot to shut it all the way when I stopped to grab clothes yesterday or something,” I say, as though it’s something I do all the time when I’ve never done it before in my life. And especially not after Maya’s attack. I grew up on the streets. Living with a door I could lock is a privilege that I don’t take for granted.
Travis pulls back a little but doesn’t let me go. His strong arms feel like all that keeps me upright, his calm, rich voice keeping me whole. “Brandi, I don’t think that’s something you’d do. Am I right?” But he doesn’t give me time to respond. “We can go through everything tomorrow, pack up some shit.”
My fingers curl into the front of his uniform as I look up at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you’re coming home with me. Tomorrow we’ll come back and we’ll check everything carefully. But, baby, I don’t want you staying here alone. I have the space. Why not do something crazy and move in with me after dating for a month?”
Absolutely fucking crazy.
But I do it.
8
TRAVIS
It feels rightto have Brandi move in with me. She’s come a long way, the nightmares she has finally stopped one night and I don’t want them to start again.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
Her living with me has nothing at all to do with how good it is to fuck her, to sleep with her in my arms every night. Or the smile that lights her face when she sees me. Nope, none of that.
The front door situation bothers me more than I’ll ever tell her. She doesn’t strike me as the type to just leave her door open. Especially not after what has happened at her place.
After what happened with Maya.
No.
She’s not going to be put in danger, not while there’s a single breath left in my body.
So yeah, it’s exactly the way it should be, with her at my side and her shit in my closet, where it belongs. Where I can keep her safe.
“Hey, if you don’t pay attention,” Brian says, drawing me from my thoughts as I lean on my pool cue in the dimly lit bar, “I’m gonna start placing bets on this game and rob you of the fortune you try to keep hidden.”
I laugh. “You wish. You couldn’t beat me in your dreams.”
I line up the shot and hit the ball, raising a brow at my friend as it hits the one I want, kicking it into the pocket with a satisfying clink. With no decent shot after that, I make sure to leave him with nothing good to hit.
“Luck,” Brian grumbles and moves around the table as I pick up my beer and take a long swallow. “Watch the master.”
His shot lands the white in the pocket and my friend swears up a good-natured storm.
“Yeah, yeah.” He waves as I raise a hand in the air in victory. “I bow down to your expertise.”
