I try to pull away from Marnie to put the fucker out of his misery, but she won’t let me go. Every time I move, she presses against me tight. I know she’s freaked out, but if I’m going to truly protect her, I need to get him gone. The police can’t guarantee she’ll be safe from him, but I can. Restraining orders don’t always help. Men like him don’t care about them.
“Baby, I need to let you go. Can Icarus stay with you?”
I don’t want him to hold her, but she takes that from my control when she starts shaking her head hard and crying even harder.
“Kodiak, let’s take him out of here. Tell the police he ran out and you saw him get in his car,” Sparky offers.
“Do we even know how he got in here?” Icarus asks the million-dollar question.
Her front door was deadbolted. So he was either in here before she got home, or he came in another way.
Wing walks out of a bedroom, reaches down, and throws him over his shoulder. “I’m taking him to the cabin. Fucker has a hidey hole and comes in through her closet. Looks like he’s been doing it for a while now. He’s got pictures of her all over the other apartment.”
I hand my gun to Sparky.
“H-H-He lives-downstairs,” Marnie sobs.
“Yeah, well, he’s taken over the apartment next door and is using it as his stash pad.”
Wing exits the apartment with Sparky trailing behind. I’m in shock. Together, Marnie and I walk to her bedroom. Sure enough, there’s a panel in the back of the closet that has been removed, creating a connection from her apartment to the one next door.
Icarus hands me Oly and steps through the hole.
“Motherfucker.” When he walks back through, his jaw is locked so tight I’m shocked he hasn’t broken a tooth. “Don’t go in there, Marnie. Might also be best if you didn’t go in there, Prez. It’s bad.”
“Fuck.”
“Wasilla Police. Hands up.”
We turn to see two officers standing in the living room.
“We are unarmed,” I say, gritting my teeth. I’m not a fan of this department, and they don’t like me either.
“We got reports of a gunshot fired from this address.”
“Maybe you should investigate this. My old lady just got surprised by a peeping Tom. She fought back, and I punched him out when I arrived. He escaped through his access while I checked on her. Fucker was frogging her. Check it out.” I point to the bedroom, and one of them goes and checks it out while the other keeps an eye on us.
When the cop returns, he’s shaking his head. “We’ve gotten calls for this apartment in the past. I saw pictures in there of the woman who lived here before. Where did he go?”
We all shrug, even Marnie.
“Don’t know. Probably knew I’d kill him if I got my hands on him.”
“What was the gunshot?” The other cop looks at me, and I shake my head.
“Didn’t shoot him. Kicked in the door and punched him good after my old lady beat the shit out of him. Probably didn’t want to admit a girl beat him up and fled like a pussy.”
It takes a couple more hours to get away from the apartment, but by the time we leave, I have GB and Juneau loading up Marnie’s and Oly’s stuff into the back of my truck. I didn’t confront Marnie about the fact that all their bags were already packed. Proof she was thinking of running from me.
After the cops leave, Vortex shows up and conducts his own investigation, lifting fingerprints and checking the scene. Marnie and I pile into my truck, Oly in the back seat with Icarus next to her, and we head to my place.
I drop Icarus off at his place, where one of the prospects brought his SUV. He climbs out, saying he’ll see us in the morning. By the time we reach my house, Marnie is doing the Jell-O neck head bob from the passenger seat, adrenaline finally crashing, making her drowsy.
I carry Oly inside and tuck her into bed, then come back for Marnie and carry her to my room.
Heading back out to the truck, I grab the overnight bags and those backpacks I’ve seen Marnie keep close by. I can’t help myself. I unzip one.
I’m not surprised by what I find. It’s a go-bag. A change of clothes. A passport with a new last name. Cash. A burner phone.
