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“Let’s go home.”
She blinked, not expecting that. “But it’s early.”
“It’s fine. Seb’s coming back and he’ll close up shop later.”
A thoughtful look crossed her face, but she didn’t ask questions. Instead, she followed me as I led her to my car, and soon we were driving down the relatively empty road.
It was a quiet drive but not awkward. I could tell there was a lot going on in her mind, so I let her be and mulled over my thoughts, trying to figure out how I was going to approach this matter. More investigations were in order, but it was frustrating that the ones we did hadn’t resulted in anything. What if it got to the point where one of the club members was physically harmed? What about their loved ones? I wanted to keep everyone safe, but that was impossible if I was grasping at straws.
When we arrived in the garage of my apartment building, I locked my worries away, setting them aside for later. A glance at Sophie had me staying in my seat instead of urging her out of the car. The garage’s dim lighting illuminated her blue-green eyes, which always drew me in no matter how I tried to resist.
“I’m sorry you had to be the first one to witness that, but I promise you that we’ll do our best not to let it happen again. Jansen’s a good cop. He won’t rest until he finds evidence of who put that there and brings that person to justice.”
She didn’t say a word, but the hand resting on her knee trembled. Before I could think about it, I reached out and enveloped that hand in mine then squeezed it—an instinctive need to soothe. Awareness bloomed that her hand was smooth and soft, and I was partially touching her knee, too. My knuckles clenched. My whole body clenched, reacting to the physical contact. But when I tried to remove my hand, she held it tighter and squeezed it back.
“Sophie, if you’re still worried—”
“It’s not the rats,” she blurted out. “I mean, it’s the rats, but it’s not the rats.”
Confusion hit me at her words, but I patiently waited her out. Sophie was silent again, gathering her thoughts before she took a deep breath and looked down. Her voice was hushed when she spoke.
“I’m not afraid of rats. There are plenty of rodents and other bad stuff in the city, and I’ve learned that if I’m afraid of every little thing, I’m not going to survive. But seeing so many dead ones piled up like that…” She took another deep breath, then let it go. “I have a lot of pent-up emotions related to losing my job and… my ex. I’ve been trying to hold those emotions in and be strong, especially considering how lucky I still am. I’m staying in a nice place and starting a new job tomorrow. I’m still surviving even when I thought I wouldn’t. But seeing those rats…”
“They shook you up,” I deduced. “Triggered your emotions.”
She bit her lip and nodded. Her hand shook again, then her entire body as if she couldn’t control it. I wanted to gather her close and soothe her in my arms, but I held steady, respecting the vulnerability she shared with me.
The subject of the ex-boyfriend coming up repeatedly roused my curiosity. It didn’t give me the right to pry, but it must have been really bad if she had to run away from him. Did he dump her? Hurt her?
Did the bastard hit her?
Anger curled, but I was careful with my tone.
“Listen, I don’t know what happened that would push you to seek shelter with me—”
“Brett cheated on me with my boss. My direct boss, the one I was an assistant for.”
Well, fuck.
“We were together for over a year and had been very busy with work lately, so I decided to surprise him at the office one night—the night I showed up on your doorstep. He was doing overtime for a project and I wanted to fix the distance between us.”
I could already see where this was going and didn’t want her to replay it in her mind. So, I squeezed her hand again.
“You don’t have to talk about it.”
“I want to talk about it,” she said firmly, her voice picking up intensity. “I found them in her office. He was fucking her on her desk and they were groaning each other’s names. It was such an intimate scene and something I wasn’t supposed to witness between two people, but yeah, one of them wasmyguy, who was only supposed to be fuckingme.”
“I’m sorry, Sophie.”
Tears fell down her cheeks. She wiped them away impatiently, then kept going. “Looking back, the distance was a telltale sign, but I was too blind to see it. There were other clues, like him always working overtime at the same time my boss, Sam, didn’t need me to do overtime or just sent me home early. Or he would have work trips out of town while she was on vacation leave. That was happening for months and I suspect they’ve been fucking for months. I don’t know how long, but I couldn’t face them again. I just couldn’t. So, I quit, packed my bags, and left.”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“I don’t think so. I should have picked up the wine bottle I dropped when I saw them and smashed it on his balls. Better yet, I should have burned the apartment down.”
“It was the right thing to do,” I repeated, not wanting her to go on a downward spiral even if I wanted to do those things. Yes, including smashing the dumb fuck’s balls. But she needed a voice of reason, not someone to egg her on. “The other options would have landed you in trouble, which would have made things more complicated for you.”
“You’re right,” she muttered, blinking back the tears. They kept coming.
