Page 12 of Break Away (Riot MC Next Generation #2)

I shook my head. “No. We found it open when we got back from dinner.”

The officer entered the unit, leaving the door wide open behind him. I saw him wander into the kitchen, and then back to the living room and down the hall toward the bedrooms.

A sinking feeling filled my gut. Something was wrong. I fired off a quick text to Cal, Blood, and Volt, since a group chat with them was at the top of my text threads. I also put my phone on silent so it wouldn’t interrupt anything.

The officer stood outside one of the bedrooms, and spoke into his shoulder walkie-talkie. He eyed me and Alexandra and that sinking feeling turned outright sour. I’d left my prospect cut in the truck, but it still felt like the cop was judging us.

I leaned toward Alexandra and lowered my voice. “Be careful when he asks questions; we might need a lawyer.”

Concern shot through her eyes, then realization quickly replaced it.

She grabbed my hand. “Should have DoorDashed after all.”

I heaved a silent chuckle. “Don’t make me laugh right now, Robertson.”

“Can’t help it, Rolland,” she said, nudging my bicep with her shoulder.

I’d missed this… missed her.

Officer Hatcher came to the front door. “Do you live here?” he asked me.

Alexandra moved forward half a step. “No, I do.”

“May I see your I.D.?”

She pulled out her driver’s license. The officer took a hard look at it and nodded. “You haven’t been inside at all?”

Alexandra shook her head. “No.”

The officer nodded. “Come see if anything has been taken. Is your roommate on her way here?”

Alexandra’s lips twisted to the side. “She’s in a hospital in Georgia. We were in a car accident Sunday morning, she’s in ICU.”

The officer nodded, and the flash of red and blue lights hitting the windows caught my attention. Through the blinds, I noticed another patrol car in the parking lot.

Alexandra hurried to her bedroom. I heard her rummaging through her drawers while Officer Hatcher spoke into his walkie-talkie again.

A moment later another officer came up holding a small kit. “Am I good to dust the door?”

Officer Hatcher nodded. “Yes, Officer Ramierez.”

Alexandra wandered back into the room. “None of my jewelry is gone - do you want me to check the master bedroom, too?”

“Would you know if something is missing there?” Officer Hatcher asked.

Alexandra thought about it. “Not really.”

“If she finds property was stolen, call me to report it,” he said, handing her a business card. “You’re a student?”

Alexandra nodded. “Dental program.”

Officer Hatcher made a note of that. “This appears to be random—”

“Her ex-boyfriend was here earlier and wouldn’t leave when she repeatedly asked him to. For that matter, her roommate’s boyfriend was here this morning. She didn’t know he had a key. He wouldn’t give up the key, and we changed the locks because of that.”

Officer Hatcher aimed a skeptical look at me. “Why do you suspect they would have done this?”

“I don’t know, other than Porter being pissed that she wants nothing to do with him.”

Officer Ramierez straightened from the front door. “Can you pull up your doorbell camera footage?”

Alexandra grabbed her phone and opened up the app. The screen was black. She rewound to after we left. Then fast-forwarded until someone’s hand came up and the screen went dark. Officer Hatcher approached the doorbell and removed a lengthy piece of black electrical tape.

“Was anyone threatening you or Ms. Tallow?”

Alexandra shook her head. “Not that I know of. I can call her mom… I would assume Ines would tell her that sort of thing.”

Officer Ramierez sidled up to Officer Hatcher. “Appears the door was wiped clean.”

He nodded and looked at us. “I’ll contact the two men who were here earlier today. Have your building management change your locks again. Don’t hesitate to call if you find anything missing.”

After the officers left, Alexandra muttered, “This sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“Should we hit Home Depot? They don’t close for another hour.”

I shook my head. “I’ll do that in the morning.”

She twisted her lips to the side. “Does this have something to do with the odds and ends you put away earlier?”

“No, I just want us to stay put for right now.”

“Okay,” she drawled. “Do you mind if I go through Ines’s room? I may not know if something’s missing, but I hate the idea of leaving it all ransacked. I’d ask you to help, but that feels wrong.”

“That’s cool. I’ll pick up the papers and straighten your bedroom unless that’s a problem.”

She grinned. “That would be a big help. Thanks.”

Fifteen minutes later, my phone dinged with a text from Cal asking for an update. I hated sending long texts, so I called him instead and quickly ran down what happened with Officer Hatcher.

“You really don’t think it’s random?” Cal asked.

“No. I mentioned that Alexandra’s ex-boyfriend showed up and scared the shit out of her just before we went to dinner.

Hatcher is going to question Porter and Brantley…

not that I expect that to go well. Those two connived behind Ines and Lex’s back before the concert.

If either of them did this shit, I’m sure they got their shit together. ”

“That Porter asshole scared her?” Cal asked.

I grimaced for a beat. “Yeah. I got here just in time, and really let him know to leave her the fuck alone.”

“I don’t like the sound of this shit,” Cal muttered.

“Yeah, but I’m not leaving her alone until tomorrow afternoon when I’m supposed to be—”

“No, you stay there until I tell you otherwise. I’ll let Volt and Blood know what’s going on. This isn’t Riot business, but with two assholes messing with her, I want to know someone’s watching out for her.”

“Understood. I’ll keep you posted.”

After I’d straightened her room, I settled on the couch and turned on the television. Two minutes later, Alexandra came out to the living room. “I don’t think Ines is missing anything from her room. Even her spare cash is there.”

I nodded once. “Was it out in the open?”

She shook her head. “No, but that’s beside the point. Both of our laptops are here… they’re very portable, you’d think they’d take one of those at least.”

I leaned forward. “That’s why I pegged Brantley for this. He was here earlier. We probably interrupted—” I stopped myself. “Hey, can you pull the footage of when Brantley got here earlier? It would be great to know how long he was alone in here.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, grabbing her phone.

She found the spot where we arrived this morning. Then she went back another ten minutes, letting it play. After a minute of watching nothing happen, she shot me a questioning glance.

“Be patient, Lex.”

Finally, Brantley appeared on the screen. He turned his head left and right, rang the bell, waited, and then pulled a set of picks from the pocket of his cargo shorts.

“Sonuvabitch,” I whispered.

“What?” Alexandra asked.

“He doesn’t have a key. Those are picks.”

“How did I miss that? No wonder he wouldn’t give up the key - he didn’t have one!”

I tapped the screen to pause the footage. “Can you download that and send it to Officer Hatcher?”

She nodded.

My lips quirked in a half-grin. “Cool. Let it play some more.”

We watched for almost two minutes before we saw ourselves arrive at the door.

“You don’t have that set to play back at a faster speed, right?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No.”

“He picked the lock this morning, it stands to reason he could have done it this evening.”

Her head tilted to the side. “You’re right, but why wouldn’t he have covered the camera the first time?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “That early in the morning, he probably didn’t think he would get caught and or he didn’t intend to fuck things up. Hell, it might have been a test run.”

She nodded. “I guess I can see that, but do we really expect the cops to do—”

“He broke in, Lex. At a minimum you should press charges for that.”

Her eyes widened. “I know, but won’t we be able to do more without the cops involved?”

“We?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“By ‘we’ do you actually mean the Riot?”

“Well…”

“You haven’t wanted—”

“Rafferty, he was in my home and I don’t get retribution?”

I put my hands on my hips. “He’s not worth losing your place at school - and he’s already got a grudge against you.”

She shook her head. “What’s he gonna do, Raff? I didn’t cause that accident. The only way I lose my standing in the dental program is if I get arrested - and I’m the victim here.”

“You’re right, but he could still try to turn this around on you. I want to protect you from that, because he seems slippery as fuck.”

“This is a lousy time for you to make sense. I want revenge.”

I grinned. “And you think you aren’t scary?”

She crossed her arms under her tits. “Vengeful isn’t scary.”

I laughed. “Not to a man like me. To those other losers you dated, you’re scary as fuck.”

She dropped her arms and took her phone to the charger. “Guess there’s no point in changing the locks if he’s just going to pick them.”

I nodded. “I’m still gonna change them in the morning. You wanna veg on the sofa? I picked up mochi for dessert.”

Her eyes lit up. “You did?”

“Yep. And you got a choice of champagne or ice wine.”

“Ice wine - are you serious? That stuff’s expensive.”

I shrugged. “Feels like a special occasion. It’s not every day we both get our heads out of our ass.”

“You did not just say that.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Where’s the lie, woman?”

Her eyes narrowed a touch. “You better take the mochi out. I like it a little soft so it doesn’t hurt my teeth.”