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“Good fuckin’ riddance.”
I hurried over to Dawn just as hotel security charged into the lobby.
“Holy shit! What happened?”
“He should have stayed away from the fuckin’ door is what happened.”
“Did you shoot him?” The guard pointed at the gun I’d drawn.
“Well, I didn’t play fuckin’ patty-cake with the bastard,” I muttered.
“What?” The noise from the wind was horrible. Carrying on a conversation was impossible. Instead of trying, I pointed to the slab of concrete before turning back to Dawn. Fuck the ballroom, I was taking her back to our room. We’d manage or we wouldn’t. But I wasn’t taking her where she had to be around people after this ordeal. I still didn’t know exactly what happened and I needed to make sure she was all right.
“Where are you going?” One of the security guys followed us.
“I’m taking my woman back to our room. She needs to get dry and I need to make sure she wasn’t hurt.”
“What about that dead guy?”
I stopped, turning to face him. “My advice is to go back to the command center you guys set up outside the ballroom for storm updates. Ignore everything else. The people in that shelter need you there worse than that guy.”
The guy nodded, swallowing. He was pale and didn’t look like he was up for trying to store a dead body. Hopefully, they’d all wait the storm out and let emergency services take care of it later. While I was glad I didn’t have to get Thorn involved in my mess, I was oddly dissatisfied with the way the guy had died. I’d wanted to do it myself.
When I reached her, Dawn held up her arms to me and I lifted her, carrying her down the hall. She clung to me, sobbing into my neck, which tore at my heart. I was responsible for keeping her safe. I’d promised I would and she’d almost been taken by some kind of sociopath right under my fucking nose.
It took little time to get back to our room. Once there, I set her in the bathroom. “Stay here. I’ll be right back with some pillows and blankets. OK?”
“Please hurry, Ice. I don’t want to be alone.” She was trembling and soaked to the skin. No doubt the adrenaline had worn off, leaving her feeling like shit.
I grabbed enough bedding to make us comfortable for a while, along with one of my large shirts, then joined her in the bathroom and shut the door. She’d turned on the flashlight on her phone so I could see while I set the couch cushions and pillows on the floor before spreading out a couple of sheets and blankets from the bed, so we could rest and hold each other until the storm lessened.
We settled there on the floor. I had my back to the wall while Dawn sat sideways in my lap, clinging to me like I was her lifeline. I knew she was mine.
“I could have fuckin’ lost you, honey.”
“I’m OK. I’m here and I’m fine. He’s dead.”
“Yeah. He is.” I was sure I was trembling as hard as she was. “He’s fuckin’ dead, but he died too easy. What happened? How’d he get you?”
“He followed me in after you went inside the men’s bathroom. He knew my family had money and said he needed more than what he’d already stolen from me.”
“Did he say why?”
“I know the answer to that!” The voice came faintly from the phone still clutched in Dawn’s hand. I barked out a laugh.
“You didn’t drop the phone.”
Dawn blinked up at me in confusion, then gasped. She held the phone up. “I didn’t even realize I still had it. Oh, my God!”
I took it from her and put it on speaker. “Suzie?”
“Yes. I stayed on when I realized you guys were in danger. I needed to know what happened so I could tell the guys. They’re on the way to get you, by the way.”
“Who is?”
“Thorn’s men. I’m sorry, Cliff, but I couldn’t get you to talk to me and I wasn’t leaving you there alone.”
I chuckled, knowing my sister would come through for us, no matter that I’d told her to not say anything to anyone other than Zora. “I owe you big time, Suz.”
“Just get home safely.”
“What’d you find? You said you knew why Almond needed money?”
“Yes. Apparently, he used a bunch of drugs he was supposed to sell. Now the supplier wants his money. I didn’t have time to get much but suffice it to say his life was in danger. He thought his father could buy him out of this, but apparently, his parents had reached their limit. Probably had something to do with the last rape and murder he was suspected of. They couldn’t keep it quiet because the girl’s father was a former state legislator.”
“He was a monster. I’d say he was a psychopath. He lured women to him, pretending to care, then…”
