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Besides, I’d like to be able to tell Lexy that she wouldn’t ever have to worry, that it was handled.
Hell, I was excited just to have an excuse to contact her again.
Christ, what was up with me?
I’d never been so immediately into a woman before.
Though, I had to admit to myself as I collected up a bunch of empty bottles and cans, taking them to the kitchen to rinse them out, then bringing them out to the recycling, that it was likely because I’d never met a woman who I felt like I could relate with like Lexy.
The girls at the club were all pretty as fuck like she was, sure. But they were more extroverted and crazy.
Lexy was a homebody. She was kind of prickly.
She suited my personality better.
And the more I got to know about her, the more I felt like we had in common, the more I felt we could understand each other.
Hell, even just the conversation in my room about the meds and depression had been something new for me. Because anyone who’d discussed it with me so far had been… very worried, very serious. To hear her talk so casually, but bluntly, about her own mental health issues had been refreshing, had helped me feel like there was less of a stigma about it.
I was just taking some pizza bites out of the oven—in an attempt to help soak up some of the booze of the partyers—when my phone started to ring in my pocket.
I dropped the pan on the stove, checking the time as I turned it off.
Almost two in the morning.
Who the fuck was calling so late?
I reached immediately for my phone, worried it might be my mom or father, or maybe even my sister, that something was wrong with the family. Because who the hell else would call so late? Text? Sure. But call?
It wasn’t my parents’ or sister’s numbers on my screen, though.
Oh, no.
It was a number I’d recently added and completely forgotten about.
Perish.
Perish.
It couldn’t be anything good coming from him so late at night.
My heart tripped into overdrive as I swiped to answer the call.
“What’s going on?” I asked, hearing the panic in my voice as I moved out of the kitchen, through the living area where the voices were too raised to hear anything, and out front.
“Someone broke into Lexy’s place,” he said, voice reassuringly calm. If Lexy was hurt, or worse, he wouldn’t be so cool.
“What?” I demanded, raking a hand through my hair.
“Heard a scream a few minutes ago, so I rushed over. Must’ve scared him off. He’s gone.”
“Is she okay?”
“Shaken up,” he said, voice low.
“I’m on my way over,” I said, patting my pocket, glad to find my keys there. “Ten minutes,” I said, then ended the call before swiping through my contacts, trying to gauge who was best to call so late.
I decided on Malc and dialed.
He picked up on the third ring, voice thick with sleep.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Lexy’s place was broken into. I need to go. But Brooks is partying. So there needs to be someone sober at the club to keep their eyes on shit.”
Malc grunted.
“I’m on my way,” he said. “Go on. They can’t get into too much trouble before I get there.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, ending the call, tucking my phone away, then tossing on my helmet before peeling off.
Who the fuck would break into her house?
If Junior was right about the carjacking crew working the area, then it made this happenstance, not personal.
Right?
I mean, what were the chances that this was random, though?
Most people weren’t the victims of a single crime, let alone two in such a short period of time.
It felt too coincidental.
I cursed the cops hiding out on the sides of the highway, doing their little speed traps they were so famous for in the area, making it impossible for me to get there any faster than the speed limit would allow.
It felt like for-fucking-ever before I was pulling down the street where we’d been attacked, and I felt my gut twist, having a flashback to getting blocked in.
But there was no one around.
Just an empty road that I knew would lead to Lexy.
I reminded myself as some idiot pulled out in front of me and crawled that she was safe. She was with Perish. A fucking wall of a human being, one who’d gone away to prison on more than one assault charge, on top of some other shit. On top of that, he was someone who wanted in the club. He would see this as a chance to prove himself.
She was safe.
But I didn’t feel like the hand around my throat loosened until I was pulling up in front of the duplex, until I knew I was just seconds away from seeing her.
I left my helmet on the bike, and was making my way up the front walk when I saw them.
