Page 9 of The Vigilante's Heart

I wait outside Peyton’s for another hour before I head to the house I’ll be staying in from now on. The house that’s only five minutes from my girl.

Chapter Five

Peyton

I startle awake. My eyes are wide open, but my room is pitch black; it’s the middle of the night. Did something wake me? Or was it just a dream? Harry isn’t staying tonight; he’s out with friends in the city and is staying with one of them — more like hooking up — so I know it wouldn’t be him that woke me. I reach for the little bundle of fur who always sleeps next to me but find the spot empty.

“D’Artagnan,” I hiss into the room. Nothing. I slide out of bed, my feet silent on the cold wood floor as I make my way out of my bedroom, grabbing my phone off the nightstand before I leave. Something feels off, the hairs at the nape of my neck are standing on end. I flick on my hall light and blink rapidly at the blinding light. There was no wayI was continuing to walk through the place in the dark, that’s how horror films get made.

I continue to make my way down my hallway towards my kitchen.

“D’Artagnan, where are you?” This is very unlike him, he’s a vocal cat and he always comes when I call him. Something’s not right.

I walk into the kitchen and turn the light on straight away. My eyes scan the room looking for my fluffy boy. “D’Artagnan, baby, where are you?” And then I hear it, what sounds like the most pitiful whimper coming from the other side of my breakfast bar. I run round it to find my cat curled into a ball in the corner, pressed up against my cabinets. His fur is puffed up and his little body is shaking. I scoop him straight into my arms and he buries his face into my chest, his little body still trembling in my hold.What the fuck has him so spooked? I look around my kitchen trying to see what could have scared him this badly. I’ve got to be honest he’s scaring me right now.

I need to check the apartment. I won’t be able to relax until I know everything is okay. Deeming the kitchen as safe, I make my way back into the hallway and realize why something had felt off. It’s cold, there’s a draft coming down the corridor.

I slowly turn towards my front door and freeze when I see the door ajar. Ice fills my veins and I’m paralyzed in fear.

I know I didn’t leave it open, it’s not something I’ve ever done, but after the note I’ve been anal retentive about locking up, and I distinctly remember locking both locks on my front door.

Someone is in my house.

D’Artagnan mewls in my arms, and it breaks me out of my frozen state. I bolt back into the kitchen and slam the door closed behind me. I shove a chair under the handle and fumble with my phone, calling the first person that comes to mind. It rings twice before he answers.

“Peyton, what’s wrong?” his voice is rushed, panicked.

“Someone’s here,” I whisper, my voice wobbling with fear.

“Where are you?” I can hear movement down the other end of the phone, something crashes to the ground, and his muffled curse follows.

“The kitchen.”

“Listen to me, Peyton, I need you to stay right there and keep me on the phone. Can you lock the door?”

“No.” My body is trembling. “I-I-I put a chair under the handle,” I stammer out.

“Good girl. Stay right there, sweetheart, I won’t be long.” I hear his car starting through the phone and it dawns on me that he’s in the city; he’s going to be at least thirty minutes.

“Oh God, Bennett, you’ll take too long.”

“Minutes, Peyton, I am minutes away.” I don’t think to question him, because it’s as those words meet my ears that the handle on my kitchen door starts to move.

“Oh God, he’s in the house,” I gasp and run to the door, dropping the phone and my cat in my rush. I hold the chair in place, hoping it will hold and keep whoever is on the other side out. I can hear Bennett shouting my name through the phone where I dropped it. The door handle rattles and a thud sounds from the other side, as if whoever’s here is ramming their body into it.

“Go away,” I scream, “the cops are on their way.” The handle rattles again, I’m quite sure I scream again, in fact, I’m not sure I ever stopped. A shuffling noise comes through the door and then silence.

I’m not sure how long I stand there like that, but eventually, over the pounding of my heartbeat I can hear the rumble of an engine getting closer.

“PEYTON!” he roars as I hear him charging down my hallway. My body, which is still pressed against the door, slumps in relief and a sob leaves my chest.

“Peyton!” he shouts through the door, and I find the energy to move away from it.

“I’m here,” my voice is weak and I’m not sure he can hear me. I drag the chair away and open the door; I’m immediately scooped up and pulled into the arms of a giant.

“Thank fuck,” he mumbles into my hair, “Christ, Peyton, you had me so scared.” It’s only now that I realize his body is shaking as he holds me.

In his arms, where my body knows it’s safe, I finally crumple as huge racking sobs leave me. He holds me through it all, whispering to me that I’m safe now, that he’s got me, that he’s never letting me go.