Chapter Ten
Hone started in his chair, the strident demand of his phone wrenching, dragging, yanking him from sexy dreams of the curvy Cassie.
“Hell.” He swiped his hand across his brow, adjusted his track pants before lowering the chair footrest. He snagged his phone off the wooden coffee table.
“Yeah.”
“Something’s up at the motel. Cassie’s unit,” Manu said without preamble. “My security system beeped. Bad enough to call the cops.”
Fully awake now, Hone grabbed his keys, fiercely glad he’d fallen asleep fully dressed. Saved time.
A fast trip later, after superb driving—even if he did say so himself—he screeched into the motel parking lot. A cop car had parked outside Cassie’s unit. Cassie stood at the door with the police.
A growl rumbled through him, his taniwha exerting displeasure. Hone straightened, slapped his beast down, because he needed to speak with the cops. Cassie.
Calm down. We need Cassie.
His taniwha growled, fell silent.
Hone approached the cops—one male and the other female. “Cassie, you okay?”
“Who are you?” the female cop asked before Cassie could reply. The male cop circled the motel wall and disappeared from sight.
“I’m her boyfriend,” Hone said.
Luckily, Cassie scarcely blinked.
“Where were you half an hour ago?”
“Asleep at home in my chair. My auntie owns the motel. She heard about the trouble and asked me to come and check,” Hone said.
The suspicion didn’t lessen on the cop’s face. She turned to Cassie. “He really your boyfriend?”
“Yes. I haven’t known him long, but he works with my best friend. Besides, the man I saw wore full clown makeup.”
“A clown?” Hone grimaced. No wonder she looked freaked. Was this a copycat of the clown craze sweeping the world or was it connected to Cassie’s earlier accident?
Hone weighed the information, factored in coincidence, kept coming back to instinct. Someone wanted her frightened. Someone wanted her pain. Someone was stalking her.
Unobtrusively, he sniffed the air, sorting through the layers of smells. Petrol. Perfume. Aftershave. Grass. Nothing out of place in the parking lot.
The male cop reappeared. He wagged his head, an imperceptible shake, and the female cop turned back to Cassie. “We have your statement. If you have any other problems call us.”
“You okay, Cass?”
Relief flickered over her face as she flew at him to burrow against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, and she shuddered, her breathing harsh. Not far from breaking point. He didn’t feel much better, his heart racing, but the weight of her body against his calmed his angst. She was safe.
A long moment later, she pulled back, tear-stained gaze behind her smeared glasses. “I can’t stay here tonight. I can’t.”
“Would you like to come home with me?”
“Yes, please,” she said in a small voice.
“Okay, let’s get your things.” He propelled her into the motel unit. “I’ll ring Manu while you pack. I’ll be right here, okay? You don’t have to worry.”
“Why are you ringing Manu?”
“He told me the police were at the motel. I said I’d check on you. He’ll want to know what happened.”
