Page 36 of Fall With Me (Wait For You #5)

But it was Reece who caught and held my attention. He was as still as a statue as he continued to stare down at me. “Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

My shoulders suddenly sagged as a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. “We were talking about ... other stuff at that moment and I didn’t ...” I trailed off, shaking my head.

I knew the exact moment he realized the meaning of that.

Blood pinked the hollow of his cheeks. That flush of anger was actually kind of scary, and if I hadn’t known deep down that it wasn’t directed at me, I would’ve been a wee bit frightened of him.

A myriad of raw-looking emotions flickered across his face.

“I was here and ...” He didn’t finish that line of thought.

He turned toward the other officer. “I got this call, Hank.”

“But—”

“I got this call,” he reiterated, voice hard enough to send a shiver across my skin.

Hank stared at him a moment and then rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” Hitting a button on his shoulder radio, he said “I’m ten–eight. Unit Three-oh-one is handling the possible break-in.”

There was a static-filled response I barely heard, and then Hank showed himself out. Nick remained standing by the recliner. He raised a hand, rubbing his jaw. “You’re okay?”

I wasn’t sure I wanted Nick to leave, because that meant it would just be me and Reece, but I knew Nick had to, as exhausted as I was. I nodded. “Thank you for coming up. I owe you.”

Reece cast his gaze to the window, his jaw working.

“You don’t owe me anything.” Nick glanced at Reece. His eyes narrowed. “You sure you’re good here now?”

“Yeah,” I murmured, my thoughts in a thousand different places.

Nick stopped at the door. The grin on his face warned trouble. “By the way, loved the bows on your panties. ”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

Reece’s jaw became so hard I thought it would snap off as he watched Nick saunter out the door. Then it was just us. He stood with his back to me for several seconds and then wheeled around. Walking over to the couch, he sat on the edge of the coffee table, directly in front of me. “Are you okay?”

Yes. No. Maybe? I had no idea. I was feeling way too much.

Scared wasn’t even the right word for how I felt.

Someone had been in here—repeatedly. I felt .

.. I felt violated, like all my walls had been stripped away from my home, and I felt stupid that I’d chalked up all the weird happenings as something supernatural.

Then again, why would anyone jump to the conclusion that someone was breaking into the house just to mess with things inside of it?

I shuddered as it really hit home. Someone had been in my apartment.

Someone had been in here many times, even while I was here.

The residual fear peaked once more. How in the hell would I feel safe in this house again?

Having that taken from me angered me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

“I don’t know what to feel,” I said finally, leaning back against the cushion.

He rested his arms on his bent knees as he let out a weary-sounding sigh. My gaze flicked up, collided with his and held. In a second, the shields dropped, and I sucked in an unsteady breath. He looked conflicted—torn. As if he was experiencing the same wild range of emotions that I was.

“Why didn’t you tell me this stuff was happening?” he asked.

I ducked my chin, shrugging. “I honestly thought my place was haunted. I mean, why would I think someone was breaking in just to move stuff around and do weird things like that? And some of the stuff I could’ve been responsible for without realizing or forgetting about it, like the dishwasher, the remote—stuff like that. ”

“Did you stick your own panties in the dishwasher?”

“No.” I made a face.

“Then you knew it couldn’t be you, babe.” He straightened, looking around the house. “When was the last time before you found them in there that you were using the dishwasher?”

I knew what he was thinking. “I hadn’t checked the dishwasher Monday.”

“But you were home all day, right?”

Nodding, I pulled my legs up and wrapped my arms around my knees.

He didn’t need to say it out loud. I knew what he was thinking.

Tonight wasn’t the first time the person had gotten into my apartment while I slept.

It was the only plausible explanation. Closing my eyes, I rested my forehead against my knees.

My voice sounded incredibly small when I spoke. “Why would someone do this?”

“To mess with your head, Roxy. These kinds of things, what was being done around here, were minor enough that it wigged you out and you questioned it, but most importantly, you questioned yourself. Which meant you didn’t tell anyone.

You kept it to yourself.” There was a pause.

“Fuck, Roxy, I wish I knew. There was no reason for you to deal with this alone.”

“You believe me?” I asked. My voice was muffled by my legs.

“Why in the hell wouldn’t I believe you?”

I gave a lopsided shrug. “Hank was giving me a WTF look. I don’t blame him. It all sounds highly suspect. ”

“Fuck Hank. He’s an idiot. And when I get my hands on whoever is messing with you, I’m seriously going to fucking kill him. But that’s something we’ll talk about later.”

My head shot up and I gaped at him. His reaction shocked me, all things considered.

Reece stood. “I don’t want you staying here.”

The idea of staying here, especially right now, was something I also did not want to do.

“I’m also going to need to take your phone in to see if we can get prints off it that aren’t mine, yours, or Hank’s. Nick hasn’t touched it, right?”

I shook my head. Tonight had been a blur. “I don’t think so.”

“Do you have an extra phone you can switch service to in the meanwhile?”

“Yeah. I have an older one.”

“Good. Why don’t you pack up some stuff,” he said, stepping around the couch. “I’ll take you to my place. I still got a couple of hours left on my shift, but at least you’ll be able to get some sleep.”

I was back to thinking I was hallucinating things.

When I didn’t move, Reece continued. “That works out perfectly. I need you to talk to Colton. He can come by my place. He’s been investigating what’s been happening around here. That’s why I had to go let out his dog Tuesday morning.”

It struck me then, the conversation between Brock and Jax. “The girl who works at Brock’s training place?”

Reece eyes narrowed on me. “You heard?”

“Yeah, Brock was in the bar. He said ...” I shivered. “He said she was really messed up. Was she ... ?” I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.

Cop Face appeared. All emotion gone. “I can’t go into details. Not because I don’t trust that you’d keep it quiet, but it’s out of respect for the vic. But we’re pretty sure all the attacks recently are linked. The violence has been escalating.”

“To what?” I whispered.

His gaze held mine. “It’s been physical—worse than you can imagine.”

A shudder of revulsion rolled through me. “Oh my God, those poor girls. I ...” My eyes widened. “You don’t think this has anything to do with what happened to them?”

He knelt down, placing a hand on my knee. “I don’t know, but nothing—I swear it—nothing like that is going to happen to you. Now, come on, let’s get going.”

I watched him straighten and turn. “Wait. I can’t go to your place.”

Facing me, he cocked his head to the side. “Why not?”

“Why not? Um, I think you pretty much made it clear that you ... that I lied and you can’t deal with that. So I can’t stay with you.” There was no way I could put myself through that. “I can go to my parents.”

His face softened by a degree. “You and I still need to talk. Now just isn’t the right time for that. You’re coming home with me.”

My eyes narrowed. “I really don’t think you have the right to be so bossy.”

“Do you really want to wake up your parents? You see what time it is, and scare them like that?”

I gaped at him. “Dammit, you’re right, but that’s low.”

“It’s not low. It’s just the truth,” he replied. “Come on, let’s get your stuff and get you the hell out of here.”

Honestly, I could sit there and argue with him. I could go to Katie’s or wait until it was a more decent hour, but I could see the determination etched into his features. This wasn’t a battle I’d win easily and frankly, I was exhausted and I didn’t want to be there any longer than I had to.

Dragging myself up, I headed back to my bedroom with him in tow. While I grabbed some clothes, he checked out the other room. Being in my room gave me the creeps, and I didn’t know if that was going to ever change.

I exhaled roughly, fighting the urge to cry.

Reece came out of my second bedroom, his face a shade or two paler. I stilled, my hand hovering over the strap on my overnight bag. “Did you find something?”

Reece blinked as he shook his head. “No. You almost ready?”

Slipping a long, thick sweater on that reached my knees, I grabbed my bag and slipped my feet into my flats. Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded.

Reece was silent as he led me out of the house and locked up. As I stepped off the porch, both upstairs apartments had lights on, and I told myself I needed to bake them cookies or something.

I got to sit in the passenger seat of a police cruiser—which, surprisingly, smelled pleasant, like fresh apples—and any other time, I’d have been excited about all the buttons and potential noise-making power, but I stared out the window, into the darkness as dawn steadily crept into the horizon.

“You hanging in there?” Reece asked.

Glancing over at him, I was struck with the urge to reach out and smooth my fingers along his jaw. To touch him. For him to touch me. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

He sent me a sideways look that was a cross between amused and worried. “It’s all right not to be okay in a situation like this.”

I lowered my gaze to my hands, keeping my mouth shut.

We didn’t speak again as we drove to his place. He lived in a condo near Jax, a rather large apartment on the third floor. He let me in, and the crisp scent of laundry greeted me as I stepped inside.

Reece eased around me, flipping on the lights. I blinked against the brightness, wondering how exactly my night had ended up with me staying at Reece’s.

He had a wide foyer that led into a large galley kitchen and dining room. The living room was neat with an exception of a basket of laundry sitting on the coffee table.

Reece frowned as he saw it.

Walking over to the basket, he picked it up. “You know where the bed is, and if I remember correctly, you thought it was really comfortable, so make yourself at home.”

Surprise fluttered through me at the lack of rancor in his tone as he mentioned that night.

I hadn’t moved very far, only placing my bag near the couch, by the time he reappeared in the living room.

Amused, I watched him swipe up a bag of chips that was on the end table and take them to the trash in the kitchen.

“I’ve got to head to the office, get your phone to Evidence to see if we can do prints,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

The movement caused his biceps to strain against the hem of his uniform.

“I got a landline in several rooms. The number to the office is on the fridge. Call that or my cell if you need to. I should be back a little after eight or so.”

I nodded .

He stopped in front of me, and I drew in a deep breath. Pulling the sides of my sweater tight, I lifted my chin. His eyes searched mine.

“I’m not really okay with what happened,” I admitted in a small voice. “Any of it.”

Somehow, I think he got that I wasn’t just talking about what happened in my apartment. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to say anything. That he’d just turn around and walk out of his apartment.

But then he moved forward and slowly—oh so slowly—wrapped one arm around my shoulders and then tugged me close.

I hesitated for a second and then I went, pressing my cheek against his chest. The cool edge of his badge was sharp against my cheek but I didn’t care.

The warmth of his body, of his embrace, was worth it.

His other hand cupped the back of my neck and he lowered his chin to the top of my bowed head. He drew in a deep breath I could feel, and I closed my eyes. “I know,” he replied in a rough voice. “I know, Roxy.”

Reece held me for a few seconds more and then he stepped back. The hand around my neck slipped to my cheek. His eyes met mine. “Get some rest. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I didn’t move until I heard the door close and lock and I still didn’t move for several minutes. Reece said to take his bed, but there was no way I could sleep back there. Not with how things were left between us. Yes, he was helping me out now, but he was a good guy. That’s what good guys do.

Moving two of the throw pillows to one side of his overstuffed beige couch, I dragged the quilt off the back of the couch and then stretched out.

The cushions sucked me in immediately, and when I closed my eyes, I knew it wouldn’t take me long to sleep.

As crazy as it sounded, I felt safe here and I didn’t fight the sleep that tugged at me.

I slipped into a dreamless sleep for I don’t know how long. Minutes? Hours, maybe? But it was the deep kind of sleep that when I woke from it, I couldn’t figure out my surroundings right off.

I was at Reece’s place. Right. I remembered that, falling asleep almost immediately on his really comfy couch. He had really good taste in furniture. I started to stretch, but stilled when I realized the couch was oddly hard ... and warm.

Confused, I moved my right hand and it slipped over something as smooth as silk stretched over marble—something also warm and very hard. And rippled. My fingers dipped. Was that a navel?

My eyes flew open.

Holy moley, I was so not where I’d fallen asleep. This was not the couch I was plastered against or currently feeling up.

It was Reece—a sleeping, shirtless Reece. I was curled up close against him, and I was in his bed.