“Izzy, don’t move. I’m almost there.” Anger’s lacing Xavier’s voice. Breathing into the phone from running, I hear him say, “Holy fuck. Son of a fucking bitch. I’m right outside your back door. I’m going to call Christian. I love you, B. I’ll take care of this."
The line goes silent before I could answer him. The slamming of fists and cursing on the other side of my bedroom door suddenly stops. My ears are ringing, my hands are shaking, and my heart is beating rapidly in my chest as the quietness settles in. There is nothing but silence outside my door, so I slowly creep out of my closet. I stand up and cautiously make my way to my door.
I unlock the knob and turn it quietly just barely opening it, when a shadow crosses my door. A scream rips from my throat and slam the door shut when the shadow starts ramming my door. I sit on the floor and brace the door with my feet, trying to keep it shut against the hits. Tears streaming down my face, my fight or flight instincts have kicked in. I brace the door with everything I have, not giving up.
“MOTHER FUCKER." I hear Xavier shout from the bottom of the stairs, the rage in his voice is frightening.
The banging on my door stops and footsteps run down the stairs. I hear a grunt and someone falling hard on the floor. I rip open my bedroom door, the only thing running through my mind is the safety of Xavier.
I reach the top of the stairs and Xavier’s lying at the bottom, not moving. I run down to him as fast as my shaky legs will let me. When I reach him, he lets out a little grunt and I breathe a sigh of relief. Blue and red lights are flashing through the little foyer window as I run my hands down his face.
“X,” I whisper. Tears still streaming down my face. “X! Wake up, please,” I beg him.
I cradle his head in my lap as the cops bust down my front door, guns drawn. Christian is taking point and holsters his gun when he reaches us, the rest of his team search my house.
“Izabella, are you all right?" He asks crouching down next to us. I can’t find my voice right now and just nod my head. Xavier lets out a moan and grabs his head.
“Izzy,” Xavier whispers.
“Shh, I’m right here X.” I say, caressing his face.
Xavier opens his blue eyes and relief written all over his face. He sits up, swaying against the wall, still a little dizzy.
“Whoa.” Christian says. “Take it easy Xavier. Don’t try to get up just yet." Looking at me Christian asks. “Izabella, what happened?"
I clear my throat trying to find my voice. “I was in the bathroom. I just got out of the shower and heard a thump downstairs followed by a loud curse. It was a man’s voice. I hurried getting dressed and ran into my room. I shut the door, locked it, and hid in my closet. I called Xavier just as whoever broke in started pounding on my door. Xavier said he was going to call you and was on his way over. The pounding on my door suddenly stopped and I came out of the closet. I opened my bedroom door just a little when I saw a shadow move towards me. I slammed my door shut and braced my feet against it, when the man started ramming into it hard. I heard Xavier shout from the bottom of the stairs. The guy stopped trying to get into my room and I heard a grunt and the sound of someone hitting the floor. I opened my door and found Xavier laying at the bottom of the stairs. Then you guys came in."
I wipe the tears away with a shaky hand. Xavier finally gets his bearings and sits up against the wall.
His hands are cradling his head when one of Christian's men approach us. “Sir, can I have a word?” He asks Christian.
Christian stands up and looks at us. “Don’t move, either of you." He walks to the officer and they’re talking in hushed voices, agitation ripping through his body.
I move next to Xavier against the wall and wrap my arms around his neck. He pulls me against him, his arms around my waist, holding me close.
“I was so scared for you, B. When I heard you scream, I lost it.” he whispers. I have his head cradled against my chest, breathing rapidly.
“It’s OK now, X. I’m fine, a little shaken up, but fine." He pulls his head from my chest, his blue eyes are filled with regret as he stares into mine.
“I should have never let my guard down.” he says quietly.
“Xavier, it’s not your fault. Whoever did this, that is on him not you or anyone else." I cup his face in my hands and kiss his lips.
“I was afraid something happened to you and I would never get to kiss these perfect lips again.” he says. He leans his forehead against mine and I breath him in.
“When I saw you at the bottom of the stairs not moving.” Emotions choking my throat. “I thought you were dead." Xavier wipes the tears falling down my cheeks.
“I’m not going anywhere B. It’s going to take more than a knock to the head to keep me away from you.” His blue eyes pierce mine.
Christian walks back over to us, anger flashing in his brown eyes. “Can you stand up yet Xavier?” Christian asks gently. Xavier nods his head and slowly stands up. I can see the pain in his blue eyes and I get up to help him.
“Come sit on the couch and I’ll have someone bring you ice for your head,” Christian says. I lead him to the living room, taking in the damage done to my home. I gasp, “Mother fucking asshole.” I scream.
Rage consumes me when I look around. The living room is torn up. Magazines are everywhere on the floor, the coffee table’s turned upside down. The T.V. is on the floor, the curtains and my dad’s chair are ripped to shreds. Drawers from the end tables are dumped on the floor, the pictures lining the walls are knocked down. It looks like they were looking for something.
“How in the fuck did I not hear any of this while I was in the fucking shower?" I ask. I help Xavier sit on the couch and Christian brings in ice wrapped in a towel.
“Thanks bro.” Xavier says and puts the ice on the back of his head.
Christian stands next to us, his navy blue uniform in pristine condition. His muscles bulging through his shirt when he crosses his arms, his pants fitting tight. His black police issued shoes are shining. Christian’s gun belt strapped around his waist, his gun on the right side, the base of his walkie on the left and a pair of cuffs are next to it.
He has a pissed off look in his brown eyes, his body tense as he survey’s the damage. Christian’s eyes finally land on us and a look of compassion crosses his face. I can see why Mia’s so attracted to him. He gives off an air of authority, protecting those who need it. He nods his head and turns his walkie down.
“Ok, let’s figure out what happened. I feel like this is my fault.” Christian says as he sits down next to us on the couch. It was the only thing in the living room not tore up.
“Christian, this isn’t your fault.” I reassure him.
“Yes, it is. I can’t catch a break on your dad’s case and now your house is broken into and you were terrorized. It’s my job to protect those around me and I failed two of my friends.” He steeples his hands in front of him, pain and anger lacing his voice. Christian turns to Xavier, “Tell me what you saw."
Xavier sits up and removes the ice from his head. I take it from him and hold it on his head. He gives me a tight smile and turns his attention to Christian.
“I dropped Izzy off around five because I had some errands to run before tonight. After I got home my phone rang around eight thirty, it was Izzy. She told me someone was in her fucking house. I ran over here as fast as I could, still talking to her on the phone. When I saw the fucking back door busted open, I hung up with her and called you. After I hung up the phone with you, I heard her fucking scream and ran inside. There was no fucking way I was going to let her get attacked because you told me to stay outside. I alerted whoever it was because when I reached the bottom of the fucking stairs, he slammed into me full force. I hit my head hard on the wall and blacked out. Next thing I fucking remember is Izzy trying to wake me up. I have a fucking killer headache, we have a stalker on the loose and my girl is no longer safe. That about sums it up." Christian nods his head at Xavier’s statement. The room grows q
uiet and I process what he says.
“Wait, hold on, back it up.” I demand. Two sets of eyes land on me. “What the fuck do you mean we have a stalker?"
Christian takes a deep breath and mumbles “Fuck,” under his breath. Xavier looks at him, anger flashing in his eyes. “You didn’t fucking tell her?"
Christian shakes his head glaring at Xavier. “No, I didn’t tell her yet." My face pales as Christian gets up from the couch. I get up following him, Xavier grunts and gets up following behind me as we go into the kitchen. On the counter is a picture of Xavier and I at my first feature win. His arms are wrapped around my waist as we both smile for the camera.
“No fucking way.” I whisper when I look at the picture.
My face is scratched out and underneath the picture is ‘DIE BITCH! HE IS MINE!’ in red. One of the best memories of my racing career is ruined by some psycho.
“Tell me this isn’t happening,” I whisper, turning toward Xavier. Tears are threatening to spill out, but I hold them back, determined not to let some bitch make me weak. I clear my throat as Xavier takes me in his arms. His warmth is my safety right now and I hold on tight.
“This doesn’t make sense. It was a man in my house. I know that for a fact. No woman is that size.” I argue. Christian nods his head in agreement.
“Yes, we know this. The footprints in the dirt are a man’s. He had on heavy boots. When he snuck into your back yard, he stepped in the flower bed. That isn’t my only concern though." Christian pulls out a baggie from his back pocket and hands it to me. I take the baggie and inside is a picture of my dad’s car when it hit the wall.
“My partner found this by the back door. Whoever broke in had this on him and he must have dropped it when he kicked the door in. Look on the back,” Christian says gently.
I do as Christian said and turned the picture over. Written on the back said, ‘Take care of the daughter before I take care of you.’ in the same writing as the other picture.
I drop the picture and if Xavier didn’t have his arms around me, I would have fallen to the ground. His strong arms hold me up as I shake uncontrollably. Xavier rubs his hands up and down my arms, trying to sooth me.
Christian picks up the baggie off the floor and puts it back into his pocket. “Your dad’s accident is now a homicide investigation, Izabella. Whoever messed with his car didn’t leave any trace of who he is behind. We need to go over all the drivers, new and old to get to the bottom of this. Can you guys come down to the station?"
“Yeah, let me call Nolan and Mia, they can help. They’re at the track every weekend and know more about the drivers than I do. These last two weeks were the only times I really paid attention to who’s there in a long time. I just went through the motions of being there and racing. Until Izzy came back, I shut everyone out." Xavier confesses.
Xavier’s confession left me speechless. I look up at him and gently touch his face.
“Xavier, I had no idea. Racing is your life. You were first in your class, at the top of your game. Why did you do that?" I asked him.
Xavier swallows hard, his blue eyes hold sadness in them, “Because when you left, I lost all the passion I had. Getting drunk and blacking out, ruined our lives when we were eighteen. Racing was my life back then but the day you left, I realized it wasn’t racing that was my life, you were. The passion never came back until you did. Izzy, I have been going through the motions for years. Wondering what you were doing, how you were doing, who you were doing it with. It was driving me crazy. The only ones that stayed close to me were Mia and Nolan. They broke through the walls I put up. No one else tried, they all knew my heart was broken, my soul was ripped in half and left when you left. I was always angry, always closed off." Xavier takes a deep breath and continues. “I just went to the track every Friday night, did my race and left. I didn’t talk to anyone or acknowledge anyone. I was a dirty racer and didn’t care who got in my way. I was there to win and that was it. Being social ruined us and I wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. I’d come home, beat the hell out of my punching bag to relieve the adrenaline and worked on my car. The only time I felt peace was when I took a wrench to your car."
Tears are falling down my face now and I can’t stop them even if I tried. Xavier gently wipes them away.
“Please don’t cry. It was my own fault. I was a scared teenager back then. I didn’t know what to do or how to handle all these feelings I had. I was scared I would fuck up and lose you, the only person I ever loved. That’s exactly what I did. I fucked up, got drunk and lost you. But now I have you back and I’m not letting you go. A crazy stalker bitch and psycho asshole won’t keep me away from you." Xavier leans in close to me, forehead to forehead, his breath fanning across my lips.
“X, this is all my fault too. You’re not the only one who fucked up. I was too stubborn to talk to you, to ask you what happened. I’m so sorry." My voice cracks on the last part as tear fall down my face. “I love you, Xavier Marcus Sweeney and I’m not going anywhere ever again."
His lips crush mine, kissing me with such passion it takes my breath away. When he breaks the kiss, he rests his forehead against mine, breathing hard.
“I love you too, Izabella Iris Jones and I will kill anyone who tries to hurt you.” Xavier whispers.
Christian clears his throat behind us, making me jump. “Xavier, I’m a cop. I can’t hear this. Go call Nolan, I’ll call Mia and have them meet us at the police station."
Xavier nods his head and pulls out his phone from his front pocket. He calls Nolan and tells him what happened. When he’s done he looks at Christian with a deadly glare.
“I know you’re a cop, but anyone who fucks with Izzy, fucks with me. Either you’re in this with me or you play the safe card. You do your job and I’ll help, but I won’t always follow the rules. I’ve come to consider you a friend now and I hope my trust in you will keep her safe."
Christian stands next to Xavier and puts his hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Xavier. That means a lot to me. I don’t have many friends because of my line of work, but I consider you guys friends too. Friends to me means family and I will protect Izzy with my life. You’re right, anyone who fucks with her, fucks with me too. Laws and rules go out the window when someone messes with family. Just because I wear this uniform or carry this badge, doesn’t mean I will always follow the rules when it comes to family. We will do this by the books for now though. Let’s head down to the police station and look at all the suspects. I have a feeling it will be a long night.”
Chapter 22
Xavier
We’ve been sitting in a small, cramped interrogation room for hours, looking over every driver from the race track. I’m sitting in a cold steel chair and my ass fell asleep a long time ago. Mia is barely holding her head up and Izzy fell asleep in the corner a few hours ago. Her head leaning against the plain white wall, the concrete must be cold under her ass.
Nolan, Christian and I have gone over everything from driver’s affairs to the finances and nothing is standing out. I’ve learned more in the past hours about each driver from the track than I care to remember.
Some of these drivers I won’t be able to look at again, like Tommy Harvey, the old man who’s friends with Austin. He has a thing for younger woman, like barely above legal age, young women, but nothing that tells us he want’s Austin and Izzy dead. No one we have checked out has any reason to hurt them, but someone out there does.
“Bro, we’ve been at this for hours, there’s nothing.” Nolan says, hitting his fists on the metal table, making Mia jump.
“Let’s call it a night.” Christian says, dark circles are under his eyes. He closes his laptop and gathers all the paper he printed on each driver’s financial records.
Mia stands and stretches. “Thank fuck. I am so tired, I can’t think sideways." Christian watches her stretch, a heat of want in his brown eyes.
“C’mon, I’ll drive you home.” he tells Mia, gruffy.
I walk o
ver to Izzy and gently shake her. “Izzy, let’s go home." She opens her eyes, smiles at me, and lets out a groan.,
“Uh, my ass is asleep.” she complains. I help her up and run my hands over her ass. “X, what are you doing?" She asks raising an eyebrow at me.
“Massaging your ass since it fell asleep.” I tell her.
“We’re in a police station, you can be arrested for inappropriate grabbing or something.” she mumbles, her voice still sleepy.
I laugh and stop massaging her ass and kiss her on her neck. “Let’s get out of here. If I never seen an interrogation room again, it will be too soon."
“I agree." Nolan says, stretching.
Izzy’s green eyes gaze into mine, taking my breath away. “Have you figured anything out?" She asks.
I shake my head. “Nothing yet. Everyone at the track checks out. I don’t know where to go from here yet."
“We’ll figure it out.” she says, confidently. We make our way down the stuffy hallway. The marble floor glistening under my feet. The fluorescent lights are casting shadows on everyone’s faces. We reach a metal door and Christian runs a key card through it and the door buzzes before opening.
Nolan goes out first, followed by Izzy, myself, Mia then Christian. We walk out into the warm night air out to the parking lot. I take a deep breath, inhaling the fresh summer air into my lungs.
Mia comes up to Izzy and me, “Do you guys want to grab something to eat? I’m so hungry I can eat an elephant." Izzy’s stomach growls at the word eat and her face turns red.
“Starved. Where do you want to go?" Izzy asks. Mia thinks for a second, but I know where she wants to go, she always wants to go there, no matter what time it is.
“How about The Diner? It’ almost three a.m., that’s the only place open now.” Mia says.
Yup, I was right. “OK we’ll meet you there. Nolan, you going?"
“Yeah, bro. I’m not passing up The Diner food even if I was shot in the ass and bleeding all over the place." Nolan answers. I shake my head, something’s never change, and I love all of them for it.
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