Page 38 of Making Home with You (The Rockport Beach #3)

He shakes his head. “You know we need to process this. Dust for prints and make sure we get everything.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to say to Sarah?” I ask, even though I know it’s a stupid question and of course they have to process everything. My house is a fucking crime scene.

Detective Greenwood shrugs. “I’m gonna call in a couple more guys,” he says, pulling his phone from his back pocket.

“See if we can’t get this done a little quicker,” he adds.

“In the meantime,” he pauses, looks up at me from his phone.

“Is there anything else you can tell me. Anything you’ve left out, forgotten, noticed isn’t right? Anything, Finn?”

I shove a hard hand through my hair, gripping the back of it as I stare back at him, knowing that as much as I don’t want to do this, I have to.

This has all gone too far now and while it’s one thing to stalk me, to accost Sarah or take pictures of us when we weren’t aware of it, it’s something else to break into my house.

To violate a space that is private and meant for no one else but me and Sarah.

Exhaling hard, I step toward him, pulling my own phone from my pocket. “I need your word that this stays private,” I tell him. “That it’s only shown to the absolute minimum number of people.”

“Okay,” he says slowly, lowering his phone as he registers my seriousness.

“I mean it, Greenwood,” I tell him. “Because what I’m about to show you is personal and private and it doesn’t just involve me.”

“You have my word, Finn,” he says.

Swallowing, I open up the text and show him the video I never wanted anyone to see.

Twenty minutes later, I’m on my way to the pub in desperate need of a drink.

Detective Greenwood now has a copy of the video Carla sent me, and as much as the thought of that video being in anyone else’s hands makes me feel sick, he’s given me his word that aside from him and his tech guy, no one else will see it.

He’s also told me that after he’s finished at my house, he’s going to pay Carla a little visit. I’m not sure in what capacity, especially given so far, we have no proof that she’s the one who broke into my house.

Of course I know it was her, who the fuck else would have done all of those things, taken all those pictures and obviously had a grudge against Sarah?

Part of me wants to march over to Carla’s house myself.

Finally have it out with her about all of the things she’s doing to ruin my life.

But I know that would be just about the dumbest thing I could do and as much as I need this whole thing to be over with, the last thing I want to do is jeopardize it.

Because when Detective Greenwood finally proves it is Carla who’s doing this, I really want him to be able to nail her for it.

I walk into the pub, surprised to find both Beck and Ryan in there, sitting at the end of the bar nursing a couple of beers. Neither Kelsey or Erin are around, so I walk over and join them, silently signaling to the bartender for a drink also.

“Jesus, you look like shit, you alright?” my brother asks as I take a seat beside them.

I shake my head, emptying half the beer Jose hands me. “Something stronger?” I ask before finishing off the rest of it.

“What’s wrong?” Ryan asks, glancing at Beck before looking back at me.

I take a deep breath as I try to calm down. Jose walks back over to us, a bottle of Jameson’s and three shot glasses in his hands. Without saying a word, he puts them in front of us and walks away.

I reach over and pour myself a shot, not bothering with one for them.

“Finn,” my brother says, a hand on my shoulder. “What’s going on?”

I pour myself another shot but don’t drink it, instead looking at my brother, then Ryan, before turning back to Beck again. “Carla,” I say, the word like acid in my throat. “She broke into my house,” I tell them. “Trashed my room and destroyed Sarah’s things.”

“What!?” Ryan shouts.

I nod. “Yep. Hundreds of pictures too, of us. All over the bedroom, all with Sarah’s face scratched out.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Ryan says, half standing. “This has got to stop.”

“They’re processing the scene now,” I say, a hand on his arm because he looks like he’s about to march over there. “I just needed to get out of there.”

“Any evidence it’s her?” Beck asks.

I shake my head. “No, not really. I mean aside from the obvious grudge against Sarah. Greenwood’s gonna go talk to her though, after he’s done.”

“Who’s that?” Ryan asks and for a second I forget that he doesn’t know everything that’s been going on between Carla and me.

I glance at Beck who subtly shakes his head as if to say he hasn’t said anything to Ryan. I knew he wouldn’t, not just because he’s my brother and he knows I would hate anything about this situation to get out, but also because he of all people knows what it’s like to be the talk of the town.

And while Ryan is both a friend and a business partner, the brother of my girlfriend, for god’s sake, it doesn’t mean I need him to know about the amateur porn movie starring Sarah and me that’s floating around

But at the same time, he’s an ex-cop and a part of my life now and as much as I hate the idea of people knowing about this, especially when I haven’t even told Sarah about it, I know I can trust him.

“I need your word this stays between us?” say, staring at Ryan.

“Of course,” he says immediately, nodding.

Taking a deep breath, I fill Ryan in on everything that’s happened. The story about Carla and me back in high school, the following, the accosting Sarah at my house, the video and now the break-in.

At the end of it, I feel mentally and physically exhausted.

“Jesus Christ, Finn,” he breathes out. “Fuck man, I am so sorry you’re going through this,” he adds.

I nod. “I can handle the shit she’s doing to me,” I tell him. “But Sarah is off limits. She crossed a line when she brought her into all of this.”

Ryan nods, his jaw tight. “What can we do to help?”

I shake my head, lifting the shot to my mouth and swallowing it. “There’s nothing any of us can do,” I say, my voice flat. “We just have to wait until she fucks up and gives us something to nail her with.”

“Where’s Sarah now?” Beck asks.

I glance at my watch, see it’s late, past the time Sarah has been getting in at. “Fuck,” I half-shout, as I push my stool back.

“Finn?”

I shake my head as I turn and run for the door. “I need to get home.”