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“Yeah,” I agreed. And more. Because, clearly, no one broke into your house in the middle of the night to have tea. He had plans for me. And I’d very narrowly avoided them.
“Might make him easier to track down, too,” Perish said. “Broken nose is gonna give him some good black eyes.”
I made a non-committal noise. I guess I was a bit of a pessimist, because I didn’t have a lot of faith that anyone was going to find this guy. And even if they did, what?
I heard the rumble of the bike a few minutes later, and was embarrassed at the way my heart swelled in my chest knowing he’d rushed right over.
And the look of concern on his face when he made his way inside only intensified that feeling.
“Hey,” he said, moving forward, and dropping down at my feet. “You okay?” he asked, reaching toward my face, grabbing my chin, and gently turning my face from side to side, inspecting me.
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“Her feet,” Perish supplied.
“Feet?” Finn asked, already scooting back to grab me by the ankle, and lift my leg up, so he could inspect my soles.
“He broke the glass in the kitchen,” I supplied. “I ran right over it before I realized it was there.”
“Fucker,” Finn hissed.
“I think I got them all out,” I said as Finn pulled his phone out of his pocket, flicked on the flashlight, and started to look a little closer. One foot after the other.
“Yeah, I think so too,” he agreed. “But we gotta get something on these,” he said, putting his phone down, then reaching for the gauze pads and triple antibiotic. “Hm,” he said a moment later. “No vet tape? Elastic bandages? Gauze rolls?”
“Ah, no. No. I’m not usually accident-prone. I don’t need a big kit.”
“This wasn’t an accident,” Finn reminded me with a little squeeze to my ankle.
“I got some shit,” Perish said. “Be right back.”
With that, he lumbered out of the front door, leaving us alone.
The silence felt full and painful before Finn broke it.
“How are you really?” he asked, voice soft.
“Pissed off,” I admitted. “Once the fear drained, just got angry he broke in here.”
“Did you get a good look at him?”
“None of the lights were on,” I admitted. “I got, like, a glimpse of him, but not enough to get a sketch done. White. Kind of big nose. Dark hair. That’s all I got. I think I only noticed his nose because I was aiming for his face when I threw shit.”
“I saw the blood,” Finn said, giving me a small smile. “You hit your mark.”
“Perish thinks I might have broken his nose.”
“Good. Then I’ll know him when I see him,” Finn said. I must have had a look on my face, because Finn’s brows drew together. “What?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Nope. You’re not getting away with that.”
“I just don’t think anyone is going to find this guy,” I said, shrugging. “Did you hear there was another carjacking? I saw it on the news before bed.”
“I just heard about that, actually. I’m supposed to be meeting up with Junior in the morning to see what he has. Look at me,” he demanded, voice brooking no argument. Which shouldn’t have been as sexy as it was, because I was not a woman who liked being bossed around. “I’m finding this fuck. This one in particular.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, shrugging. “I just need to get better security around here, I guess,” I admitted.
I knew all about the ways I could have been protecting myself all along. Cameras, flood lights, window alarms, a dog, even a gun.
It was just… this was a safe area, technically.
Sure, there was crime. There was crime everywhere. But the rates of violent crimes were relatively low. I didn’t feel like I needed to spend money on all those things just to be safe in my own home.
That, apparently, had been naive of me.
It was never you. Until it was.
Suddenly, I wanted to make sure Lottie had all those things at her place, too. Sure, she didn’t live alone. But it was all girls.
“You’re coming home with me,” Finn declared as Perish walked back in the room with a fucking rolling emergency kit. It looked big enough to handle something on the scale of a train wreck.
“Should have what she needs in here,” he said, moving it next to Finn, then unzipping it, and pulling out a roll of gauze.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, sure I’d misheard or misunderstood his meaning.
“You’re not staying here anymore. It’s not safe. Not saying you wouldn’t do everything you can to protect her,” Finn said to Perish as he held the gauze to my foot, and started rolling it up my foot and around my ankle once before reaching for the tape Perish was holding. “It’s just that you can’t be here with her. I want you at my place,” Finn said, gaze flicking up to mine, and, fuck, I didn’t understand the way my heart fluttered, but it was a good feeling. “Okay?”
