by Beth Ehemann
He pulled his eyebrows in tight as he looked down at my desk for just a second and then back up at me, something definitely on his mind. “And as for what happened before we found your car Friday night, I don’t regret that. Not one bit. I understand what you’re saying about your career, so I won’t push this, but I will never forget how it felt when you kissed me on that bench. It was fierce. Definitely not something that started that night, and it sure as hell didn’t end there, no matter what you say.”
He stood and quietly walked out of my office, and I struggled to swallow that same lump again, only this time it was a damn boulder.
CHAPTER 23
Andy
It had been two weeks since Danicka’s birthday.
Two weeks since we’d first kissed and left the bar together.
Two weeks since her car was vandalized and she closed up.
Two weeks since she decided to strong-arm me and keep me away.
In those same two weeks, she’d done a lot of pulling back . . . from everyone. Not only had she been spending most of her time in her office with the door shut, she also started packing a lunch at home and eating by herself behind that same closed door. Even when she would attend clients’ practices or scout out a college athlete, she didn’t talk much to anyone. I knew because I’d hired someone to follow her and make sure she was safe when she wasn’t in the office. I’d also hired someone to tail that asshole Cole Woods and keep me abreast of all of his activity, no matter how insignificant it seemed.
Unfortunately the surveillance tape from the parking garage hadn’t turned up anything but a video of a guy dressed in all black, wearing a black baseball cap, pounding the hell out of her car. Detective Larson also took the messages and analyzed them, but the faxes were sent from untraceable places and the messages that came via FedEx were paid for with cash. The psychopath was covering his tracks good, but I was praying for a slipup. Just one slipup. One chance to nail his sick ass to the wall for turning Dani’s life, and my entire office, upside down. Poor Ellie hadn’t cracked a genuine smile in days, since Dani had started giving her the cold shoulder, too.
The main reason I’d hired Dani in the first place was to scoop some of the responsibility and client load onto her plate, but I was so worried about her that I was spending more time at the office than I had been before. The stress of it all was getting to me. Every time I stepped foot inside my office, it felt like the walls were closing in and my collar was getting tighter.
The Cubs had finished a three-game series with the Twins last night and were off today, so when I woke up that morning, I had a text from Justin asking if me, Brody, and Viper wanted to meet for a late breakfast before his plane took off. I couldn’t get out of that office fast enough.
“I’ll be back, El. I’m taking an early lunch today,” I said as I walked past her desk toward the elevator.
“Okay,” she acknowledged, not looking up from her computer.
As I crossed through the building doors and out onto the sidewalk, I took a deep breath of the warm summer air that would soon be switching over to fall and decided to walk instead of drive to the restaurant. It was only a couple of blocks away, and considering it had been weeks since I’d seen the inside of a gym, it was definitely a good idea.
When I got to Wildberry Café, the three of them were already sitting in a booth in the far back corner. I smiled at the hostess as I passed her, making my way down the aisle full of navy-blue-and-brown booths. It wasn’t the most awesomely decorated place, but it was a staple in the neighborhood, and everyone knew they had the best food, especially at two o’clock in the morning when you needed to sober up.
As I got closer to the table, I couldn’t hear them, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that the guys were talking about something serious.
“Good morning, ladies,” I greeted as I walked up to the table.
“What’s up, Shaw!” Viper announced loudly.
“Morning,” Brody and Justin said in unison.
Brody scooted in so that I could sit down, but then they were silent.
My eyes moved slowly from Viper to Justin to Brody, but none of them made eye contact with me. “Don’t let me kill the conversation. Keep going with whatever you were talking about.”
Brody shrugged. “We were just filling Justin in on all the bullshit you’ve been dealing with lately.”
“Ugh. Can we talk about anything but that for a while, please?” I let out a heavy sigh.
“Sure. We can talk about the fact that Brody ‘Supersperm’ Murphy just knocked his poor wife up again,” Viper exclaimed.
“What?” My head whipped toward Brody, shocked that he’d told Viper before he told me.
“What?” Brody echoed, his head flinching back as he frowned at Viper.
“I’m just kidding.” Viper grinned with wild eyes. “But it’s bound to happen again eventually, right? I just figured I’d start practicing now.”
Justin howled and banged his fist on the table so hard that the upside-down coffee cups rattled around on their saucers.
“Holy shit!” I turned to Brody. “I thought he was serious!”
“For a second, so did I!” Brody said incredulously, rubbing his forehead. “I was trying to figure out how the hell he knew before me.”
“He is right, though,” Justin added. “We all know it’s going to happen again eventually. You guys are like two babies away from being the Duggars of the Midwest and getting your own reality show.”
“Shut up, dick.” Brody picked up a sugar packet and threw it at him as Viper, and I roared loudly.
We spent the next hour laughing and catching up on the latest bullshit in our lives. Viper told us about their vacation to New Orleans and Brody asked Justin fifty questions about the Cubs and the amazing season they were having. The guys did exactly what I wanted and left the subject of Dani and her stalker alone. It felt good to have one meal where I didn’t think about it or talk about it.
After we finished eating, Brody grabbed the check before any of us could and hustled up front to pay. We said good-bye and went our separate ways. The walk back to the office wasn’t near as pleasant as the walk there, thanks to my pancake-filled stomach. Since it was so nice out, I took an extra lap around the block, hoping it would get rid of some of my fullness.
The elevator doors opened, and Ellie’s desk was empty. Thinking nothing of it, I turned to my right and headed toward my office, but a loud thud from behind me caught my attention. Ellie was standing in Dani’s doorway, and I couldn’t see much past her, but I heard a lot of banging.
“Everything okay?” I called out.
Ellie turned toward me. Her eyebrows were pinched together, and she was chewing on her nails as she shook her head.
My stomach flipped as I turned and strode to Dani’s office. “What happened? Another message?”
Dani was picking up a couple of frames that had either fallen or been thrown off of her desk.
“What the hell is going on?” I repeated sternly.
“I gotta go!” Dani answered without looking up as she threw her cell phone in her purse. “I’m meeting June at the vet. It’s Roxy.”
“What happened?” I pushed, feeling like someone wasn’t telling me something.
“Not sure,” Ellie finally answered. “She got a call a few minutes ago from June. She went over to walk Roxy, and she wouldn’t wake up, so she called Dani. Then she noticed a weird bowl on the floor next to her regular bowls.”
My head snapped to Dani. “A weird bowl?”
She bit her lip and nodded. “She sent me a picture of it. I’d never seen it before.”
My chest tightened and my mouth went bone-dry. “Holy shit, he was in your house?”
Nodding again, she added, “There was a note, too, but I can’t even deal with that now. I gotta go meet June. I’ll call you later.”
“Screw that. I’m going with you,” I insisted, thankful that she didn’t waste time arguing back about it. “Ellie, cancel my whol
e afternoon.”
Ellie nodded quickly and rushed back to her desk.
“You got everything?” I asked Dani as she turned the light off and raced past me.
“I think so. Let’s go.” She jogged to the elevator and pushed the button half a dozen times.
“Please keep me posted,” Ellie called out as the doors opened. Dani ran in and pressed the Lobby button over and over.
“I’ll call you,” I hollered back, barely making it in as the doors closed.
The elevator hummed to a start, lowering us slowly. Dani chewed on her bottom lip nervously, staring at the descending floor numbers as her eyes filled with tears. I knew she didn’t want to talk, but I couldn’t not touch her when she looked like that, so I took a step forward and pulled her hand in mine. She squeezed it hard as a tear dripped down her cheek.
The elevator doors opened, and we both rushed to the parking lot.
“I’m driving,” I ordered, not leaving an option for her to argue.
We ran through the parking lot and hopped into my car. I started my car and backed out of the parking space before Dani even had her seat belt on.
“Tell me where to go,” I said as I pulled up to the gate at the exit of the parking garage.
“Go left,” she answered softly.
I stole a glance at her as I turned the car. Her hands were in her lap, nervously pulling at a tissue, and her face was paler than I’d ever seen.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I inquired slowly. Pushing her and causing a meltdown was the last thing I wanted, but I was still pretty clueless as to what had actually happened.
She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the tissue. “I was just sitting at my desk and my cell phone rang. It was June. She said that she went in the house to walk Roxy like she does every day, but right inside the door was a pile of throw up. Not totally weird, but not typical for Roxy, either. So she went into the kitchen and there were two more piles. That’s when she got nervous.”
Her voice was quiet and shaky, the exact opposite of the strong-willed, smart-mouthed Danicka Douglas I’d worked side by side with over the last couple of months.
“She said she called her name but she didn’t come running like she normally did, so she started looking around. Roxy was laying curled up under the kitchen table, breathing but not responding. She scooped her up in a blanket and tried to wake her again . . .” Her voice cracked and she paused for a second to collect herself.
Driving was next to impossible when Dani was acting like that. All I wanted to do was park the car and pull her into a hug.
“As she was sitting in the chair with her, she said she noticed a different bowl next to her normal ones. That’s when she called me. I told her I hadn’t left another bowl out, and she sent me a picture of it. I had never seen it before”—she took a shuddering breath—“so she stood up and headed toward the front door, and that’s when she noticed the note on the island.”
I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for Dani to tell me this story, but I wanted to know everything. “And . . . what did the note say?”
She took a deep breath, exhaling loudly through her nose. “It said, ‘You’re next, bitch!’”
My blood ran ice-cold.
Sending Dani all those messages was one thing, vandalizing her car crossed a major line, but breaking into her house, doing God knew what to her dog, and leaving notes in her kitchen? Fucking horrendous. I would give an entire year’s salary for five minutes alone with that asshole.
“Then what happened?” I asked through clenched teeth, trying as hard as I could to sound normal.
“I freaked!” she answered honestly. “Between the bowl and the note, I was terrified he might still be in my house, so I told her to get the hell out and head straight to the vet, then I called Detective Larson immediately. He said he’s heading over to my house now and to keep him posted on how she’s doing.”
My mind started racing a hundred miles an hour. How did he get in her house? Had he made a key? Would he be back? I didn’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I did know one thing for damn sure. No way was Dani going home to that house tonight . . . or anytime soon.
Understandably, all Dani was worried about at the moment was Roxy, but all I was worried about was her.
CHAPTER 24
Danicka
As we drove, I stared out the window at all the people living their normal lives . . . kids riding bikes while their parents walked happily behind, an elderly couple sitting on a bench with ice cream cones, a woman jogging as she pushed a stroller.
I missed that. All of that. Going on about your life and not worrying if someone was watching you or taking pictures of you. Even though my days had been full of torment and paranoia, nighttime was different. My house was my safe place where no one could touch me, and now that had been taken away, too.
I had no idea what Cole Woods was trying to prove, but if he was trying to drive me crazy, it was working. I couldn’t live like this much longer. I wouldn’t.
I’ll take Roxy and disappear.
That’s it. I’ll quit and leave town. He wins.
“Oh, turn right here,” I blurted out, hanging on to the door handle as Andy turned at the last second. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He squinted through the sun. “Is that it up there?”
I nodded.
“I’ve heard of this place but never been here. The kids have been asking for a dog forever, but I haven’t given in yet.” He let out an awkward laugh, clearly trying to make small talk so that I would feel better, but it wasn’t happening.
He pulled into a parking space, and I jumped out before he cut the engine off. A little bell on top of the door jingled as I whipped it open. June stood up and rushed over, wrapping her arms around me.
“Oh, Dani. I’m so sorry.” She squeezed me so tight.
“Where is she? What’s happening?” I asked, panicked by her words.
“I don’t know.” She let go and took a step back, lifting her glasses to wipe her eyes with a tissue. “They took her back as soon as I got here, and they haven’t come out since. That’s a good sign, right? If something were really wrong, they would’ve come out, right?”
“I’m not sure.” Shaking my head, I strode over to the receptionist’s desk. “Hi, I’m Danicka Douglas. My dog, Roxy, was brought in by my neighbor. Can you tell me anything?”
The dark-haired receptionist typed something into her computer, then smiled up at me as she stood. “Let me just see what I can find out for you, okay? I’ll be right back.” She disappeared through a door behind the desk, and it took all of my willpower not to barge through that door after her.
I wrapped my arms around myself and paced the room, thinking back a couple of months to the time Sadie called me in total hysterics. Skyler was six weeks old and had spiked a 102-degree fever. They were on their way to the doctor, but she was scared and sad and felt incredibly helpless, exactly how I was feeling.
“Danicka?”
My head snapped up at the sound of my name.
Dr. Sells was standing near the receptionist’s desk, wiping her hands on a paper towel. She tossed it in the trash and gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Hi, let me fill you in on what’s going on so far.”
I nervously pinched at the skin on my neck and took a deep breath. Andy appeared next to me, resting his hand on the small of my back.
“As you already know, Roxy was brought in because she was unresponsive and vomiting. She threw up again once she arrived here, which was helpful to us because not only can I test that and see what’s going on, but that also means she’s trying to get rid of whatever is in there on her own.”
I’d never been so happy for dog barf in my whole life.
“We took some blood and did a urinalysis, and we should have those back shortly, but based on what June said about the unknown bowl and Roxy’s vomiting and lethargy, I’ve already given her some activated charcoal to block the absorption of what I think w
as probably antifreeze.”
“Holy shit,” Andy mumbled as June gasped.
“That son of a bitch gave my dog antifreeze?” I roared.
Dr. Sells’s eyes pinched shut for a brief second, but she continued, “I know that’s hard to hear, but thankfully June caught this early. Had she not found Roxy for another hour or two, we’d be having a much more difficult conversation.”
Without turning my attention away from Dr. Sells, I reached down and fished around for June’s hand, squeezing it gently.
“Roxy is stable for now, and once I get the test results back, I’ll have a better idea how to treat her, but plan on her staying in the ICU tonight for sure.”
Roxy wasn’t out of the woods, but it definitely sounded like Dr. Sells had a handle on whatever was going on, and the fact that she was out here talking to me instead of in the back working on Roxy was good enough news for me. “Can I see her?”
She pressed her lips together and tilted her head to the side. “She’s pretty exhausted and medicated, so only for a quick minute, okay?”
I nodded, desperate for any time she was willing to give me.
“Come on back.” She waved.
Dr. Sells pushed the door open, holding it for me to follow her. A couple of nurses in brightly colored scrubs with various animals on them smiled as I passed through the room. They were pity smiles. The smiles you give someone when you know they’re about to see something that they don’t want to see and you feel bad. I hated pity smiles. I returned their smiles politely as we walked to a room off by itself to the right. On a huge metal table in the middle of the room lay my tiny best friend. Her eyes were mostly closed, and her tongue hung out of her mouth.
I frowned when I noticed the white bandage wrapped around her back leg.
“That’s from her blood draw,” Dr. Sells said before I even had a chance to ask what it was.
I nodded, trying to take in everything I was seeing. When she’d said that Roxy had been poisoned, part of me expected her to be hooked up to all kinds of machines and tubes, but that wasn’t the case at all. Other than her new bandage, she just looked like she was sleeping.
