I caught her arms before she could get too close.
“Don’t hug me. I’m covered in soot,” I said. “I need a shower.”
She pouted but did as I asked.
“What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly.
She swallowed hard.
“I had another dead animal on my porch,” she muttered.
My brows lifted sky-high.
The only reason I’d left her alone after that dog thing was due to the little asshole Romeo being incarcerated for the weekend.
The thought that she had another dead animal on her porch meant that someone else—someone that likely had to also be involved—was out there continuing the kid’s handiwork.
I stiffened.
“What was it?” I asked. “Did your Ring doorbell catch anything?”
Calloway frowned. “It was a bird.”
My brows rose. “How do you know that it was…”
It was left by the little sadistic shits that did the same with the other two animals?
“That it was left specifically for me?” Calloway moved. That was when I saw the bird pinned to the side of her house with a butcher knife. “That’s how.”
I winced.
“You’re not staying here anymore,” I said. “I’ll send your dad or mine over here to deal with that. See if they can find anything else. In the meantime, we’ll be going to my place.” I looked over at the man. “That okay with you?”
The man nodded once. “Seems you got a bit of trouble here. That’s all right with me. Ol’ Clock and I don’t care where we go. As long as it’s not somewhere that has high-pitched sounds.”
I thought about that for a second, then shook my head. “I don’t think there are any high-pitched sounds at my place. I think the loudest we get is a kid laughing, but he’s all the way at the opposite end of the block from where I live.”
The man held out his hand. “Laric. Nice to meet you.”
I didn’t bother to tell him that my hands were dirty. He didn’t seem the type to give a shit.
“Louis,” I introduced myself. “Nice to meet you.”
***
An hour later, I was showered, dressed, and we had pizza on the way.
Laric and Calloway had conducted their interview on my couch while the dog, Clock, laid at Laric’s feet the entire time.
I walked in to him answering a question of Calloway’s that I didn’t quite hear.
“These dogs are the worst of the worst,” Laric said. “They’re rough around the edges. They’re the types of dogs that people are scared of. But they fought for this country, and just like we don’t give up on our veterans, we don’t give up on the dogs that helped our vets stay alive over there. Without some of these dogs, things would’ve been a whole lot different over there.”
I could see Calloway’s heart in her eyes as she took the dog at Laric’s side in.
The dog looked rough as fuck, and it was definitely the type of dog that I would not, under any circumstances, go up and pet. Not ever.
The German Shepherd was missing one ear, three-quarters of his tail, and had a gnarly looking scar that went from the corner of his left eye winding down his body all the way down to his hindquarters.
He also watched me like I was a threat.
Which, maybe I was.
I moved slowly so as not to alarm him, taking a seat on the arm of the couch that Calloway was occupying.
I felt my heart speed up a notch in my chest as I tensed in readiness.
Yeah, this dog was the worst of the worst.
I could see why Laric didn’t want him around kids, that was for sure.
“Clock.”
One word from Laric had Clock looking away, no less tense, but at least not looking like he was about to murder me.
“She was crying earlier, and he gets protective of crying women,” Laric explained.
I nodded once, running my hand along the length of Calloway’s back. “I can see that. She makes me all murdery when she cries, too.”
Laric chuckled.
“How many years was Clock in service to our country?” she asked curiously.
I leaned into the back of the couch and lazed against the edge as I listened to her conduct the interview.
It was interesting as hell, learning all of the intricacies of military working dogs.
It was even more interesting to see Calloway work her magic.
By the time that Laric left, Clock had eventually warmed up to me. And I say that loosely. He’d warmed up to me enough not to growl as I stood up or walked past him.
Grinning down at Calloway as Laric pulled away later that night, I raised my brows at her. “When did you get so confident and sexy?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed under her breath at me.
“When did you get so overprotective?” she teased.
I grimaced. “Your dad called while you were finishing up the interview. Whoever did the bird knew about the doorbell. They didn’t catch anything.”
She grimaced. “I was afraid of that.”
“And I didn’t think to put any cameras up since Romeo was still in jail.” I shook my head. “Stupid of me.”
“Not stupid,” she said. “Honestly, who would’ve thought that there was more than one sick fuck putting dead animals on my porch?”
I grimaced.
She was right. Who would’ve known that there was more than one? Especially since the kid was so forthcoming about what he’d done and why.
I sure wouldn’t have.
“You’ll be staying at my place from now on,” I murmured, wrapping my arm around her tight and guiding her back inside.
She looked up at me with a smile. “Oh really?”
Just as the door closed, I did what I’d been dying to do since the moment that I saw her a few hours ago.
Pulling her to a stop before she could get too far away, I wrapped one arm around her waist, the other moving up to cup her face, and my mouth dropped down into a hard kiss right on her lips.
She gasped at the suddenness of the movement, as her hands came up to grip onto my waist.
I kissed her for all that I was worth, pouring every single second of missing her today into the one kiss before pulling away.
She was panting, her eyes fever hot, and her body was giving off little shivers of excitement.
“What was that?” she asked after a few quick breaths.
“That was me missing you,” I said. “I wanted to give that to you earlier, but didn’t think you’d be anywhere near as receptive with Laric here.”
She rolled her eyes, which only made me want to kiss her again.
So I did.
When I pulled back this time, it was to see her swaying on her feet.
I scooped her up and walked with her to the couch.
We landed with a hard thud, and she laughed. “What are you doing?”
I kicked my feet up onto the coffee table in front of the couch, shimmied down further into the couch, then practically hauled her all the way on top of me before reaching for the remote.
“We’re gonna watch a television show,” I said. “Specifically, we’re going to catch up on all of the shows I’ve missed lately.”
And since I knew that Calloway watched the same shows, I knew she wouldn’t be against it.
Instead, she snuggled down deep into my embrace, dragged down the afghan that my mother had bought me and I’d never used, and covered herself up with it.
Sadly, we were only halfway through the first episode when my phone went off, indicating a SWAT call.
I groaned and let my head fall back on the couch.
When Calloway pulled away, I literally wanted to cry.
I was so goddamn comfortable, and I had my woman in my arms. There wasn’t a single other place that I wanted to be right then but where I was at.
So, of course, the stupid people would come out to play.
She wrapped the afghan around her shoulders and got up, finding my phone for me and bringing it over.
I grimaced when I looked at the screen.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“What is it?” she asked, plopping back down onto the couch.
I got up and reluctantly slipped my feet into my boots—thankfully I was mostly dressed—and shoved my phone into my jean’s pocket.
“Hostage situation at the jail.”
She looked worried then.
“Oh, no,” she said. “That’s not good.”
No, it wasn’t.
And I had a feeling that it was going to get even worse before the night was through.
“Give me a kiss,” I said as I leaned over her.
She tilted her head as far back as she could, then puckered her lips.
I grabbed her face for a quick, hard kiss and let her go.
“Love you, Callie.”
Without waiting for her to reply, I hauled ass out the door.
Honestly, I was almost scared at this point that she wouldn’t say it back. That was why I wasn’t waiting for her to reciprocate.
What if she didn’t feel the same intense feelings for me that were practically coursing through my veins?
What if, instead of saying ‘I love you’ she said ‘thank you’ or ‘that’s sweet’ or something equally as horrible?
Because if she didn’t love me back, I didn’t stand a chance convincing her to marry me.
Something which I desperately wanted—more than my next breath.
Chapter 13
Alexa, go to my SWAT call for me.
-Louis’ secret thoughts
Louis
I crossed my arms over my chest and listened to Bennett explain what was going on at the jail.
“An officer thought that Romeo was dead. That he’d hung himself in his cell,” Bennett was saying. “When the officer went to render aid, Romeo came to life and was able to overpower the female officer enough to get her weapon. The female officer and Romeo are in the judge’s chambers. Romeo’s barricaded himself in, and he’s hiding behind the judge’s desk with the female officer held at gunpoint.”
“Fuck,” I grumbled.
There were only two ways into the courtroom. Through the front door and through the door directly behind the judge’s bench. And if he’d barricaded one and was waiting in front of the other, that meant that there wouldn’t be an easy way to get in without him seeing.
“What about the ceiling vents?” Malachi asked. “I know that there’s a rather large one in the middle of the room. It was leaking last month and had to be repaired. They canceled all of the court hearings for that day.”
Bennett flipped through his plans.
“That’s a no-go. It would’ve been a yes had they not replaced the entire vent system that day. It’s all flex-duct.” Bennett sighed.
“There’s a window,” I said. “It opens out. The blinds wouldn’t be disturbed.”
Bennett nodded. “We’re working on it. It’s an old fucking window, though. So being quiet won’t be in the cards for it.”
I grimaced. He was right.
Likely those windows hadn’t been opened in a long while.
“Anybody talking to him?” Saint asked.
Bennett’s eyes turned to Saint. “No. You want to try?”
Saint tipped his chin up in affirmation. “It’s worth a shot. I can do that while you work to figure out how to get in.”
Bennett nodded once.
“Louis, go with him,” Bennett ordered. “You might be able to offer some insight seeing as you’ve spent the most time with the kid.”
I didn’t want to be there at all, but I didn’t see any reason to argue.
Instead of voicing that comment aloud, however, I pulled on my big boy underwear and nodded briskly before walking carefully to where Saint was sitting.
He was to the side of the door, his head down, as he spoke loud enough to be heard through the closed door.
“You mind if I crack the door open so I can hear you better?” Saint asked from his position.
A muffled ‘go ahead’ came from the door, and seconds later Saint had the door cracked just enough that I could see inside.
I couldn’t see anything more than a sliver of the room, but it was enough. A start.
I moved, positioning myself at the edge of the doorway and low, so if Romeo decided to do any shooting, at least the wall would protect me.
“Who else is there?” Romeo asked.
He must’ve heard me move.
“Another SWAT officer. You may know him. His name is Louis,” Saint explained.
“Louis, as in the same man that was with Ms. Alvarez, Louis?” Romeo asked.
Saint’s eyes met mine, and I shrugged.
I didn’t know if it would matter if he knew exactly who I was or not.
“Yes,” Saint said, keeping his eyes on me.
Saint’s eyes were like deep, fathomless pits of nothing.
If there was one person on this team that I knew nothing about, it was Saint.
Which was funny, because one would think it would be Malachi with his brooding personality. Malachi who was held prisoner for years. Malachi who was so anti-social that it was borderline laughable.
Saint, though?
Saint was always there… just not there.
He came to the events but never participated.
I knew his name. His birthday. His preference in ammo and firearms, as well as which piece of gym equipment that he would choose when working out, but I didn’t know anything personal about him.
I didn’t know where he was from. Where he lived. If he dated anyone—though, I assumed he wasn’t since when Caro, Michael the original ‘Saint’ of the SWAT team’s child, came around, Saint seemed to actually look like he had some life in him.
Right then, with him staring into my eyes, I almost felt as if I knew him.
But then some sort of shield came down over his eyes, and the cool, aloof Saint was back.
The door suddenly swung open, and both Saint and I were staring in shock at the door.
“Go.”
The stunned looking female officer came running out, looking pissed as hell.
Then, there was nothing but the kid.
“Can I talk to you alone?” Romeo asked.
He didn’t have the gun aimed at me, which instantly had me breathing a sigh of relief.
My eyes caught Saint’s, and he got up and left, leaving me with the time to talk, but not leaving completely.
Meaning, he was ready with his gun in hand just out of earshot, ready and willing to take the kid out if he so much as picked up his gun and aimed it in my direction.
“What’s wrong, kid?” I asked softly. “Why this whole show?”
“I didn’t know what else to do.” Romeo’s voice cracked. “How else do I get her home?”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I stayed silent. That seemed to be working for me so far.
“She pays for the house, comes home during the day when we’re not there. Then leaves again. I just… Julian is sick,” he croaked. “Julian needs… help.”
Julian.
Was Julian his brother?
A sick feeling started to roll through me.
“He needs… he needs her.” Romeo grimaced, swiping away the tears with the hand that he had the gun with. “He’s sick.”
“Tell me what’s happening,” I ordered. “Why do you think he’s sick?”
Romeo’s tortured eyes came to me.
“Julian is schizophrenic and delusional. They can be controlled with medication, but I think that he’s off of them.” His hands shook. “He… when he first started showing signs of not taking the meds, I called my mom. But she didn’t believe me. Or, if she did, she doesn’t care anymore. I don’t know. But I thought if I could just talk to her face to face, that she would hav
e to believe me then. Only, no matter how hard I tried to get her here, she never showed.”
Meaning, he tried to play sick to get his mother to pay attention to him, and it never happened.
Hence the reason he’d gone to Calloway’s office every single day for weeks on end.
“And then I thought… Ms. Alvarez is really smart. She’s a nurse. I’ll just somehow get the two of them together. Maybe if she pointed it out to him…” He shook his head. “It backfired. He became obsessed with her. He’d put on such a good show that she didn’t even notice his problems.”
Oh, she’d noticed. She’d just thought he was weird and had ended the date with a finality that bordered on abrupt.
“Except, he started to get worse. More obsessed with Ms. Alvarez by the minute. He… he wanted me to leave presents for her, but I wouldn’t. I… you have to believe me. I didn’t do that stuff,” he croaked.
I looked down at the tattoo, and he noticed.
“Julian and I have the same one,” he said. “Got it on the same day. I didn’t correct you when you brought me in because I thought for sure my mother would show… except she hasn’t.”
My gut clenched.
“So you haven’t been the one to leave all the dead animals on her porch?” I asked.
He shook his head, looking sick to his stomach. “No, sir.”
I hated that he’d done it this way. Had he just been honest from the beginning, things would’ve been different.
Now? He was going to jail for assault on a police officer and I was sure many other things. Even if he hadn’t hurt her.
“Is your brother at your home?” I asked.
Romeo put the gun on the ground and slid it my way.
I caught it before it could slide past me, handed it backward to Saint who I knew had my back still, and waited.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “He’s… he’s different now. Ever since meeting Ms. Alvarez, I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing. He doesn’t answer my calls anymore. I haven’t seen him in a week.”
I cursed and stood up, walking slowly over to Romeo.
Offering him my hand, I waited for him to take it.
When he did and I brought him to his feet, I placed both of my hands on the kid’s shoulders and said, “I’ll find him. And I’ll get your mom here.”
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