Page 8 of Promise of Destruction (Destruction & Vengeance Duet #1)

eight

Soren

“Thank you for coming.” I tell Tony, sighing a mixture of relief that he’s there and frustration that I had to resort to this. “Really, you didn’t have to. I’m fine.”

Tony scowls, looking past me. “You’re not fine, Princess.” His eyes sweep the inside of my house, looking for anything that may be amiss. “Somebody violated your safety in your own home.” He looks like the taste of those words alone is enough to make him want to spit. “That’s not okay.”

I purse my lips together.

I didn’t tell him the whole story. If he only knew that I wasn’t just sitting here enjoying the bath when I caught someone skulking around outside.

He’s mad for me now. Not only do I not want to admit that I haven’t slept with anyone since my fiancé died and I’m pent up and sexually frustrated, I don’t want to even bring that subject up with the only family I have left.

Tony has been a big part of my life since Vin came into the picture. We’d only known each other for a few months when his mom died. Nothing tests a young friendship like seeing each other through grief in the early stages.

I’d seen both men nearly destroyed by their grief, and though I’d only met her once, I couldn’t blame them.

Valyria was a pleasant woman. She doted on her son—perhaps a little too much—and would have made an excellent grandmother to our children.

Unfortunately, she died long before we ever got engaged, and now there will be no children to speak of anyway.

“I just… I thought maybe it was one of the guys just trying to scare me? Has Rob already left to drop my car off?” I rub my neck in an absent attempt to ease some of the tension that’s been there since I ran into Declan Evers at the lounge.

My bath was supposed to ease the tension, help me relax. Instead, I’m wound tighter than I was before I slipped into the tub.

“You think it was Rob lurking around outside?” Tony’s voice is sharp, angry at the thought that one of his men could have something to do with this.

“I don’t know. I was going to go outside and look, but…” I hesitate.

I’ve done a great job of burying my fear over the last year.

Honestly, there isn’t much left that I need to concern myself with.

I’ve already lived through the worst kinds of loss, and I haven’t got much left to lose.

Fear has lost its hold on me because I relive the most horrific day of my life every night.

But that doesn’t mean I want to show any weakness and admit that I’m afraid.

“But you have a brain in that pretty head. It’s not just for show.” Tony winks. “I’m glad you called. I’ll go check outside.”

I don’t know what he expects to find. Only a fool would hang around, skulking in the bushes while another man pulled into my driveway.

I clutch the robe tighter over myself. As soon as I stepped out of the tub, I threw clothes on, but somehow the flimsy shorts set doesn’t feel like enough. Too much skin was exposed, so I add another layer.

I grab my jacket off the hook by the door and shrug into that, following Tony into the still night.

Tony’s black Cadillac is the only car in the driveway, which means Rob hasn’t brought my car back yet. The chances that he was the one to skulk around outside my window are now less likely, and it simultaneously makes me feel better and worse.

I’m grateful that I don’t have to avoid him anymore than I already do but also don’t appreciate the knowledge that I have no clue who could have been out there.

Was it random? Was someone just looking in the windows, casing the place, and happened upon me like that? Or was it intentional spying?

Tony looks at me disapprovingly but seems to realize that I’m not going to go hide inside. If there’s someone waiting for us outside, I want to know what I’m up against. I’d rather face it head on than hide inside, biding my time to see if someone comes for me.

I follow the path that Tony cuts around the side of the house.

The flood lights come to life as we walk through the path of the sensors, and they cast us in an eerie yellow glow. It feels like walking into the beam of a UFO—nerve-wracking and strange, almost like I’m not in my body.

Nothing moves before us as we creep quietly to the backyard, our eyes sweeping our surroundings for any indication that something is amiss. But as we turn onto the back patio, we find nothing.

How long has it been since I’ve been back here?

I’m thankful for Paul, the man who maintains my yard, because otherwise I’d surely be standing in a jungle right now.

I most definitely would have gotten complaints from the homeowner’s association by now.

But this yard, where I grilled out with Vin and our friends, feels like it belongs to someone else.

Suddenly I feel like the creep, like I’m intruding on someone else’s life.

As we approach the bathroom window, Tony tips his head toward it. “This the one?”

“Yes.” I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. “I had the blinds open to let the light in and I just… I usually don’t worry about closing them because I don’t expect anybody to peek in my windows.”

As I say the words, I realize maybe it was negligent of me not to.

When we first bought the home, I remember asking Vin who would ever put a bathtub like that in front of a giant window.

Vin had raised an eyebrow and simply asked “ who wouldn’t ?

”. He proceeded to open the blinds all the way, letting the afternoon sun fill the bathroom with golden light.

I looked out into the yard at the neatly planted row of flowers and decided in that moment he was right, and I’d never shut them since.

I also rarely bathe in the tub anymore, favoring the shower for obvious reasons, so I’m not in the habit of messing with the window.

“You ought to be more careful, Soren.” Tony chides, turning to look at me with a serious scowl. “You’re a young woman who lives alone. It’s not safe. You know—”

“I know.” I cut him off, pursing my lips before letting go of a frustrated sigh. “I know you don’t like me living here alone, but I can’t leave. I have some good memories in this house.”

“Some awful ones too. Your husband died here. The same person hurt you, too.”

I swallow, appreciating the euphemism he doesn’t even realize he used. He doesn’t know the extent of what happened that night— I don’t even know—but he knows it was bad.

Tony shakes his head but decides to let it go. His eyes narrow on something, and it takes him only a matter of seconds to flip the flashlight app of his phone on.

“What is that?” I mutter.

Whatever is on the ground under the beam, it shines up at us.

For one terrifying moment, I think it’s blood… a thick little puddle of it glinting in the moonlight.

But the realization that it’s not blood is more terrifying than the thought that it may have been.

Because it’s not blood dripping down the outer wall of my home and pooling on the immaculate grass under my window.

It’s cum.