Even the Score

by Beth Ehemann

  “It’s chilly out here,” Andy said, as though he read my mind.

  “I know, I should’ve grabbed a sweater.” I thought for a split second about running back in, but there was no time. I hurried to my car and opened the door, tossing my purse over onto the passenger seat.

  “I’ll bring one for you when I come in,” he offered. Gently he grasped my shoulders and spun me around to face him. His blond hair was longer than normal and looked extra adorable all messed up from bed. Light stubble covered his jawline, just the way I liked it, but nothing compared to his outfit.

  “Have I ever told you how much I love these?” I hooked my finger inside the waistband of his Superman pajama pants and pulled him in close. “They do things to me, Andy. Very, very good things.”

  “Really?” His tongue ran along his bottom lip as he stared down at me, his gaze growing more intense. “Logan gave them to me for Christmas last year, but now that I know you like them so much, I’m going to buy ten more pairs.”

  I laughed out loud as he lowered his head and trailed kisses down my neck. His hands slid from my shoulders to my waist and squeezed tighter as I moaned softly, closing my eyes. His warm breath sent shivers all the way down to my toes and back up again.

  After a minute I pushed him away playfully. “You better get back in there.” My eyes fell back to his pajama pants, which now had a delicious-looking bulge in them. “Or you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

  He looked down at himself and back up at me with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, please, Logan’s been getting them for years.”

  My mouth fell open. “What?”

  “Yep, his little boners started when he was like four . . . and he’s been holding on to them for dear life ever since.” His loud laugh bounced off the garage door and echoed through the cul-de-sac.

  “And on that note, I’m heading in to work.” I giggled and gave him a quick kiss before climbing into my car. “See you in a little bit.”

  He winked at me, looked over, and waved at Gavin, who was parked in the street, and stood on the porch until I pulled out of the driveway.

  The parking garage was quiet and still pretty dark at six thirty in the morning, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Ellie’s car already in her spot. As I pulled in, I leaned forward to see if she was actually still in her car, but it was empty. Reaching over to get my purse, I frowned as I noticed a folded-up piece of paper in my cup holder that I didn’t remember putting there.

  Hm . . . that’s weird.

  I opened it slowly.

  Every day, I find myself wanting to reach out and pull you in under my wing, but I know that you’ll bolt.

  Just know that I’m fighting it . . . hard. Hopefully one day you’ll go ahead and tuck yourself in.

  My heart soared as I stared down at Andy’s handwriting. I had no idea how long the note had been there or what made him decide to write it, but I was sure glad he did. I’d never wanted to be taken care of in the past, but with him . . . I liked it. Craved it, even. I wanted to be under his wing, tucked in nice and close. That was my home.

  I grabbed my phone and sent him a quick text.

  I just found your note. I like it under your wing. Go ahead, pull me in.

  Without waiting for him to answer, I smiled to myself and dropped my phone back in my purse as I gathered up the rest of my things. I flung the door open just as Gavin pulled up behind me and rolled his window down.

  “Want me to wait today since Mr. Shaw isn’t with you?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I called out as I slammed my car door. “Go ahead.”

  “All right, I’ll be back before the end of the day.” He waved and drove off.

  I hurried to the doorway that led to the lobby, praying that once I got upstairs, I’d have a few spare minutes to set up and make some notes before my meeting.

  “Good morning, Ms. Douglas.” Jerry, the security guard, tipped his hat when he saw me.

  “Morning, Jerry,” I said cheerfully. “How are ya today?”

  “Oh, I’m doing all right,” he said casually, with a big smile on his face. “My knee’s been bothering me a lot lately. I think it’s the change in the weather comin’.”

  “Yep. Another Minnesota winter will be here before we know it.” I sighed and gave him a wink as I turned and headed toward the elevator. “Have a good day, Jerry!”

  “You too, Ms. Douglas.”

  As the elevator climbed slowly, my thoughts drifted to Andy, as they often did. The note that he left, that was tucked securely inside my pocket, gave me the warm fuzzies.

  I never got the warm fuzzies.

  I loathed the warm fuzzies.

  Warm fuzzies meant that I was losing a battle that I swore I’d never lose. In my personal life, just as it was with my business, I never got caught up. I never lost my nerve. Control was my drug, and I was an addict. But my connection with Andy was more powerful than my addiction, and I was useless against it. I was waving the white flag. The warm fuzzies had officially won, and I was totally okay with it for the first time ever.

  The elevator doors slid open quietly, and I stepped out. “Hey, Ellie!” I greeted.

  Ellie’s whole body jolted in surprise, and her eyes shot up to me. “Oh my God, Dani! You scared me half to death.”

  I giggled, shaking my head. “I swear you’re the world’s biggest scaredy-cat, El.”

  She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, exhaling loudly. “I know.”

  “What are you doing here so early anyway?”

  “I looked at the schedule last night and saw that you had an early meeting, so I figured I’d come in and set up, make coffee, all that good stuff.”

  “You’re the best.”

  “I know that, too.” She gave me a wide grin and returned her attention to her computer screen.

  My phone chirped from my purse, signaling a new text. I bit my lip to hide my smile before I even looked at the screen. To my surprise, the text wasn’t from Andy like I’d thought; it was from an unknown number.

  Danicka, this is Jerry from downstairs. Someone is messing with your car again. Get down here fast.

  “Holy shit. Uh . . . uh . . . I gotta go.” I dropped my stuff on the floor next to Ellie’s desk and hit the elevator button at least ten times, silently hoping that it would come faster the more I pushed it.

  Ellie stood quickly. “What’s going on?”

  “That was Jerry from downstairs. He’s at my car again.” The elevators doors opened, and I rushed in, frantically pressing the Lobby button over and over. “Call Andy!”

  “Hang on! Shouldn’t we call the police? Or at least wait for Andy to get here?” Ellie exclaimed.

  “There’s no time!” I hollered back as the elevator doors closed.

  My stomach rolled like I might puke, and my foot tapped nervously on the carpeted elevator floor as the I watched the numbers light up lower and lower.

  Please tell me Jerry called the police already.

  Please let Andy already be down there, catching the asshole.

  Please, please, please let this be over.

  Finally, after what felt like an hour, the doors opened and I sprinted through the quiet lobby, not at all surprised to see Jerry’s desk sitting empty. I rushed through the doors, out into the parking garage, and headed straight for my car. I was so focused I didn’t even see the man standing quietly on the other side of the concrete column, but I felt the burn of his punch as it blasted square against the right side of my jaw. My whole body went sailing in the other direction, landing against the ground with a violent thud. Blood filled my mouth as I tried to scramble to my feet, but everything was spinning, and I could barely lift my head off the ground. I turned and tried to make out the face of the figure dressed in all black, but everything was too blurry. I blinked a couple of times and was able to focus just in time to see the outline of a leg flying toward me. I covered my face with my hands and tried to turn away, crying out in pain as his shoe connected hard
with my left hand, making a loud popping sound.

  My hand went numb and pain shot through my jaw like a lightning bolt as I curled up in a ball and screamed, praying that someone—anyone—would hear me and come help. My cries stopped instantly as his foot slammed against my stomach, and suddenly I was gasping for air.

  “You should’ve quit!” he growled as he kicked me again, even harder than the first time.

  Every single nerve in my body hurt like hell, and I felt like I was drowning without being anywhere near a drop of water. I moved my hands slightly, hell-bent on getting a look at him, but just as I did, his fist crashed hard against my eye—and everything went black.

  CHAPTER 33

  Andy

  My car almost tilted on two wheels as I zipped around the corner, desperate to get to Dani. A frenzied call from Ellie a couple of minutes before saying something about a text from Jerry and a guy at Dani’s car sent my body—and my car—into overdrive. I’d blown two stoplights and almost taken out a least six squirrels, but I refused to slow down. As I turned the last corner, my adrenaline shot through the roof when I saw the two squad cars blocking the entrance to the garage.

  Oh, thank God. Hopefully they caught him.

  My tires squealed as I slammed on my brakes and jumped out of the car without even taking my key out of the ignition. I ran right past a skinny, twentysomething officer, who held his hand up for me to stop. My eyes darted around. There were tons of people, tons of officers, and an ambulance parked up the ramp a little ways.

  Why the fuck is an ambulance here?

  Ellie waved at me as I hurried toward the group of people. As I got closer, I could see that her eyes were red like she’d been crying, and she had black makeup under them.

  “What the hell is going on?” I didn’t wait for her to answer as I made my way through the group, gently pushing people aside. When I got to the front of the group, I froze. A pool of what looked like blood was on the concrete, and several EMTs and police officers were loading a stretcher into the back of the ambulance. With my eyes fixated down at the blood, I didn’t look at Ellie when I felt her walk up next to me. “Whose is that?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her shake her head without responding.

  My head shot up and I stalked toward the ambulance.

  A police officer standing near the ambulance put his hand on my chest as I walked up. “Sir, we need you to get back, please.”

  “That’s my girlfriend,” I argued.

  He nodded. “I understand, sir, but the men need to do their job right now. I need you to stay back here with me.”

  I looked him straight in the eye. “What happened to her? Can you just tell me that?” I pleaded.

  “It appears she was attacked. We’re still trying to figure everything out.”

  “Do you know who attacked her?”

  “Yeah. A security guard was inside. He heard a noise, came out here, and found that guy”—he pointed toward the back of a police car—“kicking her in the stomach. Guard fought with him and, along with a couple of other guys, held him until we got here.”

  Kicking her in the stomach? I wanted to vomit. That alone was enough to make my blood run hot, but the blood on the ground had to have been caused by something else, so I knew there was more to it.

  I swallowed. “What else did he do?”

  The cop pressed his lips together and shrugged. “I’m not really sure. She had a big gash under her eye and a lot of blood on her cheek, so I’m assuming that was it, but she was also moaning something about her jaw, too.”

  Holy shit.

  My nostrils flared, and my jaw clenched, thinking about what he’d just said as I waited. The minute he looked the other way, I lost it, sprinting straight for the guy in the police car. I ripped the door open and just started punching. Leaving a gash under his eye and a fucked-up jaw seemed like a damn good idea to me. There wasn’t much he could do since he was handcuffed, and I landed at least three solid punches before he wised up and ripped himself backward to the other side of the car, where I couldn’t reach. I climbed into the car right after him, ready to kill him with my bare fucking hands, when I felt people grabbing my pants.

  Two officers gripped each of my arms firmly and yanked me backward, out of the car.

  “Hey, hey! What the fuck are you doing?” one of them yelled in my face.

  My chest heaved up and down. I couldn’t help but hide my smile as I shook my head, not taking my eyes off the asshole scum in the back of the car. “Just trying to save a little taxpayer money.”

  The guy in the car groaned and leaned his head against the Plexiglas partition, moaning something about wanting me arrested.

  “Yeah, yeah. In your dreams,” the officer who’d been talking to me by the ambulance said as he shut the car door—and locked it. He turned back toward me. “Listen, I know you’re pissed off right now, and I would be, too, but doing shit like that isn’t gonna help your girl at all right now, got it?”

  I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.

  Another officer walked up and looked at me. “She’s stable for the moment, and they’re transporting her, but she’s asking for you. You can’t ride with, but if you want to see her for one minute before they go, now’s your chance.”

  I shook my arms free from the other officers and strode toward the ambulance with the third officer on my heels.

  “Now listen,” he said as we walked, “I need you to be calm and not excite her.”

  I nodded again.

  “And . . . I need you to prepare yourself and not freak out when you see her. She doesn’t look so good.”

  My stomach sank again. “I don’t care what she looks like as long as she’s breathing.”

  As we reached the ambulance, the other officers who were gathered around stepped back. I didn’t like the way they all half smiled at me with sympathy as I passed them. It pissed me off and scared the hell out of me at the same time.

  I stepped up into the ambulance and knelt at Dani’s side. That officer was right, she didn’t look good. She had a huge piece of gauze taped under her eye and dried blood covered the right side of her face. Her jaw was already tinted a light purple, and the lower half of her face was so swollen I couldn’t even see her cheekbones anymore. Her left hand was completely wrapped and lay on her stomach with an IV sticking out of that arm. I didn’t know if I should, but I needed to have physical contact with her desperately, so I reached out and gently squeezed her shin area. Her eyes slid open slowly, and her brows crinkled when she saw me.

  “Shhhh,” I said before she tried to talk. “Don’t say anything, okay? They’re going to take you and check you out, and I’m going to follow along in my car. I’ll be there the whole time, okay?”

  A tear dripped from the corner of her eye and ran down her bloody face.

  I wanted to wipe the tear from her face, but I was scared to death of hurting her, so I just left it. “Don’t cry, baby. It’s over now. He’s going to jail forever. It’s all over.”

  She tried to nod, but her neck brace wouldn’t allow it.

  “Don’t move.” I shook my head. “Not until they get you all checked out.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry, but we’ve gotta get going,” a young EMT said from behind the ambulance.

  “Okay.” I nodded at him before turning back to Dani. “I’ll be right behind you. Stay strong for me, okay? Now that you agreed to go under my wing, I’m not letting you out anytime soon. I love you, Dani.” I leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss at the very the top of her forehead. As I pulled back, another tear fell. I caught it with my finger and held it up. “I’m saving this one. You got this. I’ll see you soon.” I gave her another quick peck and squeezed her shin one more time on my way out of the ambulance.

  Some of the people had cleared out, and the police had taped off the area where the attack obviously happened. Ellie’s arms were wrapped around herself as she walked over to me. “You okay?”

  I looked stra
ight at her and let out an exhausted sigh. “I love you, El, but that was not a smart question.”

  “Well, I just meant—yeah, you’re right. That was dumb.” She hooked her arm in mine, and we walked toward the door in silence. Jerry was talking to a police officer, but it appeared that they were wrapping it up, so I hung back and waited for him. He walked over with a dazed look on his face.

  “How are you?” I asked him.

  He just shook his head back and forth. “I don’t really know, Mr. Shaw. I’m running on pure adrenaline right now.”

  “I bet.” I patted his shoulder. “You were the one who stopped the attack?”

  He nodded, and his eyes dropped to the ground sadly.

  “Thank you, Jerry. You saved her life.” I held my hand out to him, and he shook it weakly.

  “I just don’t get it.” He pulled his brows in tight and shook his head. “I never sent her a text. I don’t even have her number.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Ellie said that Dani told her I sent her a text about her car, but I didn’t. If something had happened with her car, I would have called the police, not her. She walked right past my desk, but I was in the bathroom. If only I would have been sitting there—”

  “Whoa, whoa. Slow down. Say all that again.”

  “He texted her, pretending to be Jerry,” someone said from behind me. I turned and Detective Larson was walking toward us. “Sorry,” he sighed, “I got the call, and I was still at home. Got here as fast as I could.”

  “What about a text?” I asked him.

  “We have Dani’s phone.” He took a notepad out of his suit jacket pocket and looked down at it. “She got a text six minutes before the call came in about the attack. It said . . . ‘Danicka, this is Jerry from downstairs. Someone is messing with your car again. Get down here fast.’” His eyes lifted back to mine. “But Jerry never sent that text.”

  “I never call her Danicka,” Jerry added. “I always call her Ms. Douglas. I don’t even have her cell phone number.”