“Already sent.”
A second later, my phone beeped, and it was a message dropping me his current location.
“I swear I’m going to beat his ass for causing me to have my first case of blue balls since junior high.”
Jodi laughed like something was funny. “You have to go?”
My heart squeezed inside my chest. “It’s a complicated case Manny’s been working on,” I explained by way of apology. This wasn’t the first, nor would it be the last time I received an urgent call that I needed to rush to tend to. Thiswasthe first time that it killed me to have to go.
“I’ll call you if it’s not too late by the time we get done.”
Jodi reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my lips. “Go. I’ll be here.”
There was a blooming in my chest at that promise. Another first. I looked forward to a woman being there, waiting for me once I wrapped shit up. I gave her another kiss before turning and making my way back up the hall to the door.
“Lock up behind me.”
“I always do.”
That was the same exchange we had every time I left her alone. I decided whether or not to leave Hound with her for the night, but I needed him with me. This DeSouza case was a mess from start to finish, and Hound might come in handy if we needed to track his ass down.
“Drive safe.”
I stopped outside of the door and pulled Jodi to me, kissing her again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” My entire body felt as if it were revolting against my leaving her there alone. With one final look, I reminded myself the sooner I left, the quicker I could return.
“Let’s go, boy,” I called Hound as I headed to my truck. Little did I know I would regret my decision to leave her there by herself.
Chapter Seventeen
Micah?His name was the first thought on my mind when my eyes popped open from a deep sleep as I laid in bed. Soon, though, I shook my head, realizing that the creaking floorboard I’d heard, the one that woke me up, couldn’t have been Micah’s doing. He’d left. Hours ago.
Glancing over at the clock on the nightstand, I saw that it was after one in the morning.
I gasped but quickly clamped my mouth shut, after hearing another creaking of the floorboards.
Someone’s in here.
My mind raced with this newly acquired information. I wasn’t alone in my home. I kept my body completely rigid, not wanting to make any noise, so I could hear how close they were. There was no doubt in my mind, whoever was in my damn house was moving directly to the bedroom. They were looking for me.
The footsteps were light, but I could hear them clearly, thanks to the wooden floors. Reaching my hand toward the nightstand, I disconnected my phone from the charger, trying to grab the cord before it fell to the ground to keep it from making any noise. I missed and inhaled deeply when the drop to the ground sounded.
The perp must’ve heard it also, because within a few heartbeats, my bedroom door was pushed open. A tall, dark figure filled the space of my doorway.
A tremble moved through my body, and my heart began beating so loudly it sounded like thunder in my ears.
“Don’t fucking move,” the male in my doorway demanded as he approached.
Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.
Lowering my gaze, I found that his right fist was clenched around something. It appeared to be shiny, but I couldn’t tell if it was a gun or a knife. I decided to take my chances.
As soon as he started for the bed, I sprang up and aimed my cell phone directly at his head.
Crack!
A tiny bit of excitement rolled through me at the awareness that I’d successfully hit my target.
“Fuck,” he grunted, but that didn’t stop him from moving forward.
