Watch Me (The Donovan Family Book 2)

by Margaret Watson

  He didn't turn on the light – he didn't want her to see him checking on her. Spying on her. He tugged his curtain to the side and caught a glimpse of Tessa, her auburn hair curling over her shoulders, staring at someone in the room with her. Someone he couldn't see.

  Then a male hand grabbed her wrist and yanked. She stumbled forward, grabbing the edge of her dresser to steady herself.

  His heart began to pound and he felt behind him for his gun. Without taking his eyes off Tessa, he strapped his holster into place beneath his arm and crouched to get a better look into the room.

  He still couldn't see the intruder, but the new angle let him see the knife in the guy's other hand. He didn't wait to see more. Grabbing his phone, he ran out of his apartment.

  Chapter 22

  By the time Quinn hit the first landing of his building, he was talking to the 911 operator. After giving her Tessa's address, he added, "I'm a police officer. I'll be on the scene with my gun. Make sure the officers who are dispatched know that."

  "I will. You need to stay on the line, Officer, while I call this in."

  "Sorry. Can't do that." Quinn turned off his phone and shoved it into his pocket. No way would he take a chance on the phone ringing as he stepped into Tessa's apartment.

  Wrenching open the door to his building, he sprinted the short distance to Tessa's building. It took a moment to fumble his keys out of his pocket, another moment to insert the correct one into the security door. His heart raced as he eased inside and started up the stairs.

  He ran up to Tessa's floor, then stopped before he reached her door to draw his Glock. Taking a deep breath, he stepped to her door. He buried his fear for Tessa and focused on letting his training take over.

  Her door was locked. Of course it was. Tessa wouldn't walk into her place without locking the door behind her. Once again, Quinn dug out his keys and unlocked the door. He moved excruciatingly slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible so he didn't alert her intruder. The last thing he wanted was a hostage situation.

  He had to banish any thoughts about what the guy might be doing to Tessa. If he let those loose, he'd burst through the door. And that could be dangerous to Tessa. The woman he loved.

  As he opened the door, he heard Tessa talking and relief washed through him. She was alive. But he heard the quaver in her voice. She was scared, although she was probably trying to hide it.

  Holding his gun in front of him, he slid along the wall to her bedroom door. All Quinn could see was the intruder's back. And his hand holding the knife.

  "Take off the bra, Porter," the guy said. His voice was breathless. A little high-pitched. Quinn could hear the dirt bag's excitement, and he clenched his teeth.

  "You don't want me to do that," Tessa answered, her voice small, as Quinn crept closer. "Right now, it's just breaking and entering. If you...if you rape me, it will be a lot worse. You'll go to prison for a long time."

  "That assumes that someone will be able to catch me," the guy said. "Which they won't."

  "Don't underestimate them," Tessa said.

  "I don't give a fuck about the police. Take off the bra. Now."

  Quinn took five more steps and put the gun to the man's head. "Police! Drop the knife and put your hands in the air. Do it now!"

  The guy froze. His knuckles whitened on the knife, as if he was preparing to use it, and Quinn growled, "Please. Try to stab me. I'm begging you. Give me an excuse to blow your brains onto the wall."

  The intruder stood frozen, his back to Quinn, the knife still in his hand.

  "Tessa, get away. On the other side of the bed. As far away as you can."

  "Quinn. Thank God!"

  "Get away from this guy," he barked. "Right now."

  He heard the quilt on her bed rustling as she crawled across it. "I'm as far away as I can get."

  "Good." He pressed the gun harder into the skin above the perp's temple. "I'm not going to tell you again to drop the knife. You don't do it, I'm pulling the trigger."

  Quinn heard the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs. The cavalry was here. Apparently the perp heard it, too, because the knife dropped to the floor and he slowly raised his hands.

  Holding the gun steady in one hand, Quinn slapped one cuff onto the guy's left wrist, then holstered his gun, grabbed both of the guy's arms and pulled them behind him. He patted him down, then shoved him onto the floor. "Don't move. Not a muscle."

  Tessa's door crashed open and two police officers rushed in, guns drawn. The woman was Julia Weldon and the guy was Chuck Swan.

  "Hey, guys," he said, exhaling.

  "Donovan," Julia said. "What are you doing here?"

  "I called it in." He nodded toward the window. "I live there. Right across from Ms. Porter. I saw the guy with the knife, grabbed my gun and phone and took off."

  He turned to Tessa, who was on the bed in her bra and panties. "Go ahead and put some clothes on, Tessa."

  She scrambled off the bed, grabbed her light blue silk robe and stepped around the cuffed guy on the floor. "Quinn," she said with a sob.

  He pulled her into his arms. "God, Tessa. Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" He eased her away from him and looked for signs of blood or injury. "What did he do to you?"

  "Nothing, thanks to you." She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. "Quinn," she whispered, her tears hot on his shirt.

  "We okay here?" he asked the two officers.

  "Yeah." Julia re-holstered her weapon and hauled the cuffed man to his feet. She spoke into the radio, calling for a car to drive him to lockup. She frisked him again, then pulled his wallet out of the rear pocket of the guy's jeans. "Name's James Dietrich."

  "He's an intern at the hospital where I work," Tessa said, shivering. Quinn tightened his hold on her and brushed his mouth over her head.

  More footsteps in the hall, and two more officers appeared in the open door. Both of them holstered their guns when they saw Dietrich cuffed, then one of the men nodded at Quinn. "Donovan."

  "Want us to take him in?" the other man asked.

  "Thanks," Julia said. "We'll take care of things at this end."

  "His knife is on the floor in the bedroom," Quinn said when the second pair of police officers disappeared with Dietrich in tow.

  Julia nodded and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "We'll get it. And anything else he might have left behind."

  "We'll be in the kitchen when you need to talk to Tessa," Quinn said.

  "Thanks, Donovan." She nodded at him, then turned toward the bedroom where her partner had already donned latex gloves.

  Quinn tugged Tessa toward the kitchen. He wanted her to be away from the bedroom, away from the sight of the officers doing their job.

  Away from the reminders of what had happened.

  She clung to him and pressed her face into his chest, her breathing ragged. Shivers wracked her body, and Quinn tried to wrap his arms more tightly around her, tried to warm her.

  "God, Tessa," he finally said, closing his eyes. "I've never been so scared in my life. When I saw the knife in his hand, I..." He closed his eyes. "I wanted to kill him. Wanted to make him pay for what he was doing to you."

  "Thank God you came, Quinn. You came." She clutched at his shirt, her fingers digging into his back. "How did you know I needed you?"

  "I heard voices in your apartment. A male voice." He swallowed. "I was hurt. Shocked for a minute, but then I realized you wouldn't cheat on me. If you wanted...if you wanted to break it off with me, you'd tell me to my face. You wouldn't just go hook up with another guy."

  "Quinn, I..."

  He put one finger against her lips. "I don't want you to think I was spying on you."

  "Quinn, no! I..."

  He covered her mouth with his, lingered for a moment. "I was worried about you, Tessa," he said against her lips. "I'm almost always with you when you come home at night. And I was afraid that maybe someone knew I wouldn't be there tonight. So I looked. I saw him grab you. And I saw the
knife."

  "Thank you." Her arms tightened around him. "Thank you for caring enough to check on me."

  "I love you, Tessa. Of course I'd check on you. I want you to be safe. Happy. No matter what."

  She buried her face in his neck and held on. The hot splash of her tears hit his throat, rolled down to his shirt. He closed his eyes, sending up a prayer of thanks that she was safe. And that the man who'd been intent on hurting her would be safely locked away.

  Tessa tucked her head into Quinn's neck and inhaled his scent. She was safe. Quinn had been looking out for her, and she was safe. She lifted her head and touched his cheek. "Quinn, I need to say something to you."

  "Okay," he said cautiously.

  She swallowed once, wiped her arm across her face to erase the tracks of her tears. But before she could speak, Julia Weldon stuck her head into the kitchen. "Okay to ask you some questions?"

  Tessa swallowed and glanced at Quinn. No! She needed to talk to him. To explain and make things right. But she couldn't do that in here, in front of these police officers. So she said, "Yeah. Sure. Is it...would it be okay if I got some clothes out of my room?"

  "Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you."

  Thank God. Even though it was summer, she was so cold. Holding onto Quinn had helped, but she was still shivering. "There's a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts on the floor of the closet," she told the police officer.

  A few minutes later, she sat huddled on the couch next to Quinn. Officer Weldon was seated in the chair beside the couch. Tessa wanted to burrow into Quinn, to feel the safety of his arms around her, but she held herself back. She'd been so unfair to him. She didn't deserve to lean on him now.

  "Can you tell me what happened tonight?" Julia began.

  "I'd been gone most of the day," she began. "I got home late and I was really tired. And maybe I'd gotten a little lazy, because Quinn always picked me up from work and checked my apartment." She felt him stiffen beside her, and realized it was because she'd used the past tense when she talked about him picking her up.

  She swallowed once and reached blindly for his hand. After a long moment, he folded his fingers into hers. "The light in my bedroom was on, but I didn't think much about it. I guess I thought I'd left it on when I went out this afternoon."

  She'd slept too late, because she'd tossed and turned most of the night. She wanted Quinn beside her with an ache that was wrenching. And not just because she missed the sex. She missed him. Sleeping with him. Waking up in his arms in the morning. The lazy kisses they shared as they drank coffee together.

  "Anyway, I walked in and locked the door behind me. I started for the bedroom and heard a noise in there. I ran back to the door, but James was on me before I could unlock it. He had a knife." The terror swept over her again, and she gripped Quinn's hand. "He said we were going to have sex. Then he told me to take my clothes off."

  She shoved her hand through her hair. "He's one of the interns at the hospital. The other nurses think he's creepy, and I guess he is, but I thought he was just shy. He stared at me sometimes, but I saw him watching other people, too."

  She slid closer to Quinn. She needed to feel him against her side. "I had a...a fight with an x-ray technician last week. He got angry when I refused to go out with him. James stepped in and defended me, told Kyle to back off. I was grateful, and I thanked him. Tonight, he said that meant I was his girlfriend. And girlfriends are supposed to have sex with their boyfriends."

  Quinn let her hand go, then wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Then he took her hand again.

  "Did he threaten you with the knife?" Julia asked.

  Tessa gave a short nod. "I told him I wasn't his girlfriend and I wouldn't have sex with him. He stabbed at me, but I twisted away from him. I ran to the door and tried to get it open again. I wasn't fast enough and he put the knife to my throat. He told me to go into the bedroom. He blocked the door and told me to take my clothes off.

  "I took them off as slowly as I could. I..I begged him not to do it. But he just kept staring at me and telling me to take off my clothes. Then Quinn was there."

  Quinn swept her into his arms again and pulled her against his chest. "Julia, is it okay if we finish this tomorrow? She'll come into the station and you can ask her all the questions you need to ask. She'll sign the paperwork, too."

  Tessa raised her head and stared at the police officer. "That's really about it," she said. "It didn't take long to tell it, but it felt as if it went on for hours."

  "Time slows down," Julia said sympathetically. "And we have enough here to hold Dr. Dietrich, so tomorrow's fine for the rest of it."

  "Thanks, Julia," Quinn said. Tessa was pressed against his chest, and the deep rumble of his voice steadied her.

  "You probably want to leave," the police officer said. "Want me to get you anything from your bedroom?"

  "Uh, I don't think so." She couldn't wrap her mind around something as mundane as what she needed for the night.

  "How about a pair of shoes?" Quinn's voice was quiet. Steady. As if he didn't want to alarm her.

  Shoes. Yes. She'd need shoes, no matter where she went. 'No shoes, no service'. She would go to a motel. Somewhere to get away from the memories in her apartment.

  "I'll find something."

  Julia's partner was still in the room, now on his hands and knees, a plastic bag in one hand. Moments later, she emerged holding a pair of Reef sandals.

  "Grabbed the first pair I saw."

  "These are good. Thank you."

  "Let's go, Tessa," Quinn murmured. "Let's get out of this apartment."

  Chapter 23

  As soon as they were in the hall, Quinn backed her against the wall and kissed her. His arms were like steel bands around her, and he tasted of desperation and fear. The terror lingering inside her burned up in a blaze of need and love.

  "Tessa," he groaned, his forehead against hers, holding her so tightly she could hardly breathe. "I thought I'd lost you. I saw that knife and I wanted to leap across the space between our apartment buildings and take that bastard down." He buried his face in her hair, and his hands trembled against her back. "Thank God you gave me your key."

  "Quinn." She pressed her face into his neck, breathing in his scent, letting it fill her. Soothe her. She dug her fingers into his shoulders to hold him close. She would never let him go again. "I thought I was going to die," she whispered against his skin. "I was going to die without ever seeing you again. Without ever telling you that I love you. I love you, too."

  He tensed against her, as if he was unsure he'd heard her correctly. After a moment, he threaded his fingers through her hair. "Tessa. Shhh. It's okay. I've got you. You're okay. Dietrich can't hurt you."

  He thought she'd only said it because she was upset. Afraid and relieved he'd gotten to her in time. "No, Quinn. You're wrong."

  "I'm not. Dietrich will be in jail for a long time. We'll make sure he doesn't get out on bond. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

  "That's not what I meant." Was he being deliberately obtuse?

  She closed her eyes and burrowed closer. No. She'd hurt him when she ran away. Kept her distance. He was protecting himself. "Not what I meant at all, Quinn."

  "What, then?" His voice was cautious. Careful. She'd done that to him.

  "I meant that I love you, too. I do. So much."

  He lifted his head. Stared down at her with painful hope in his eyes. "Tess..."

  Julia stuck her head out of Tessa's door. "Good," she said briskly. "You're still here. I have a few more questions."

  Tessa looked at the police officer, willing her to go away. To let her have this moment with Quinn.

  But he stepped away from her. She wanted to snatch him back, convince him she meant it. Before she could move, Quinn had taken her hand and was tugging her toward Julia. "What do you need, Julia?"

  The woman looked at Tessa. "Did you give Dietrich a key to your apartment?"

  "Of course not!"


  "Have to ask. There's no sign that he broke in."

  "I changed the lock after the first time he got into my place. And I haven't given anyone but Quinn...Detective Donovan...a key. Not even the building office."

  "What kind of relationship do you have with Dietrich?"

  Tessa frowned, anger stirring. "You think this is my fault? That I led him on? Encouraged him? Maybe even gave him a key?"

  "I have to ask."

  Tessa spun around to look at Quinn. "Tell her."

  He squeezed her hand. "You have to tell her yourself," he said quietly. "These are questions she has to ask. Just answer them."

  "He's one of the interns at the hospital," Tessa said, her stomach churning. "I interact with him when he's caring for one of my patients. That's all."

  "You ever flirt with him? Go out with him?"

  "No! And even if I had, it doesn't give him the right to do this."

  The officer's face softened. "No. It doesn't. But his defense attorney will ask these questions if there's a trial. So I have to ask them, too."

  "You couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

  "When people are shaken up, upset and jittery, they tend to be more honest. The truth comes out when they're not thinking clearly." She smiled. "Sorry. It stinks. But it's my job."

  Tessa closed her eyes. "Yeah, I know. It's just...he made me uncomfortable," she confessed. "I tried to be nice to him, but I kept my distance. And to have you ask if I encouraged him – it sounded like blaming the victim."

  "Because that's what his defense will try to do." Julia held up a plastic bag holding a pair of blue latex gloves. "Are these yours?"

  "No. But they look like the ones we use at the hospital."

  "You haven't brought any home?"

  "Not recently."

  "Okay. Thank you, Ms. Porter. That should do it for tonight. I'll see you at the station tomorrow?"

  "I'll be there," Tessa answered.

  "We both will be," Quinn added.

  "Good. We'll talk then."

  As Officer Weldon turned and re-entered her apartment, the door across the hall opened and Mrs. Kowalski stuck her head out. "Tessa? Is everything okay?"