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Dragan gripped June’s hand as they walked down the street, still not believing how good everything was going, and how quickly.
But how long would it last this time? The knot in his stomach tightened.
June pointed and smiled at the last of the blooming magnolia trees lining in front of the church that separated her side of town, the business side, from the residential, where Dragan was leading her. Their fragrance was heavy as they walked past, the pink-white blooms falling open. Dragan reached out to touch one, velvet on his finger tips. He loved how she took in everything around them. Before, when she would share them with him, it felt like a courtesy, like she was trying to include him. But now he was so solidly a part of her, and her excitement was his excitement.
He’d have to remember to bring her a bunch of them when he saw her next.
Opening the door to his apartment, he asked her what she wanted for dinner. They’d left Missy and Walter to close up the store and Dragan wanted to spend every second he could with her, alone. But as he closed the door behind them, he saw her standing stock-still in the center of the room, the apartment tossed about.
Fear gripped him, and he grabbed June by her shoulders as alarm bells rang in his head, blood pumping through his body. His head rushed while he tried to account for everything, but most of, June’s safety.
“Shh, stay here,” he growled, pushing her against the wall, never letting her out of his periphery, checking each room until he could call the coast clear.
He had so little that could be taken, and almost all of it was.
His computer monitors, his TV. Some of his books. But the important things, the ones he knew needed to be hidden for him and his family, were still under the loose floorboards under the tipped over couch. It was the first thing he did when he moved in.
June’s fear turned to sadness as she walked around, mouth agape at a broken dining chair and his knifed mattress.
“Don’t touch anything, J.” He pulled out his phone to call the cops.
“Who would do this, D?”
Her voice cracked and his heart broke.
He had an idea of who did this, and he’d dragged her into the middle of it.
If Dragan was right, that meant someone had told the one person he couldn’t afford to have knowing. But the only people who knew were those he trusted, those he helped. He pulled June to him and held her tight against his body, needing her comfort as much as she needed his, waiting for the cops to show up.
When they did, his buddy Caleb was on duty. A sour grapes as he normally was, Dragan detected a hint of sympathy from his self-absorbed, pessimistic friend. He took their statements, and pulled Dragan into the office, where they were alone. Caleb surveyed the mess of ripped cables.
“It’s him, isn’t it.” His voice was gruff, almost a harsh whisper, and he didn’t look at Archer.
“I think so.”
“He’s never come after you before. Not like this.” He stared at Dragan, his hazel eyes hard. “Why would he come to your apartment?”
Dragan rubbed his forehead. Even if his dad had found out about the app sale, he couldn’t possible think Dragan would have shit lying around that he could steal.
But then again, his dad was an addict.
Everything was worth stealing.
He would definitely put his dad in the category of too stupid to know better, especially if he was in the middle of using. He’d seen him in between hits, in between drinks, and he’d do anything for the next score. Even if it didn’t make sense.
“Dragan, I don’t know what I can do to help. If there are no prints to run, we can’t get him.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m asking as your friend. Is there anything I can do?”
Dragan shook his head, trying to figure out how to keep his home safe when his dad was on the run.
How to keep June safe when she was with him.
He’d already asserted his physical power over his dad in front of her, and she turned white as a sheet, disgusted. But what if they’d walked in on his dad tearing up the place? What if they’d been home?
What if it wasn’t just his dad?
