Chapter 14
Tim yawned so hard his jaw cracked and he moved it back and forth. Damn, he hated late night call outs. He pulled onto his street and parked the cruiser behind his truck. Haven Springs wasn’t big enough and didn’t have enough crime for them to have a full mid-shift, but it did mean they rotated being on call for two weeks at a time, which meant he got to drive the company car for the week. Who said this job didn’t have its perks? Thankfully, he’d be able to go in a few hours late tomorrow since he’d responded to the call.
He glanced over at Zoe’s house and saw her car in the driveway. She’d still been gone when he’d left to respond to the fender bender. Now, close to midnight, her car was there but the dome light was on. Either she didn’t close her door all the way or she’d forgotten to turn it off when she went inside.
Did she have one of those cars that would die if the dome light was on? Oh, hell. He’d make sure her door was closed all the way at least. If it was and the car was locked, he’d check that she had a way to jump her car in the morning. If nothing else, he’d make sure his battery charger was good to go and accessible for her tomorrow.
Her car door wasn’t closed all the way, so he shut it firmly. On the way back to his house, he passed the front door, stopped, and backed up.
What the hell?
He pulled his pistol from his belt and quietly approached her front door. It was ajar—with the keys still dangling from the lock.
Stopping right on the threshold, he leaned forward and cocked his ear toward the opening, listening for any noise from inside. Met with only silence, he used his left hand to slowly push the door open. The small foyer was empty and he walked into the living room.
“Fuck.”
He swept the room and knelt down next to Zoe’s body, face down on the floor of her living room. There was no obvious bleeding. He found her carotid and continued to scan the room while he checked her pulse. It beat strong and steady under his fingers. She shifted and pulled her arms into her body, tucking them close into her chest with a sigh.
“Zoe?” He shook her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“Sleep,” she mumbled.
He dropped to a knee and cradled his head in his free hand. “For fuck’s sake.”
Holstering his gun, he shook Zoe harder. “Zoe, wake up.”
She swatted in his direction. “Leave me alone.”
He sniffed hard but didn’t smell any alcohol. Had she really fallen asleep on the floor? With her front door wide open? Fucking hell.
“Zoe, you need to wake up.”
“Those books don’t go there.” She rolled to her side and tucked her hands under her head.
Tim scrubbed his hands through his hair.
“Come on, Sleeping Beauty, upstairs.” He slid his arms under her shoulders and knees and stood. She tucked her head into the crook of his neck. Anger and worry warred with exasperation. What the fuck was she thinking? Yes, it was a safe neighborhood, but she shouldn’t be leaving her doors open.
Flipping the light on at the bottom of the stairs, he carried her upstairs into her bedroom and laid her on the bed.
“No pants.” Standing up, she unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down her hips. She lost her balance and leaned over the bed while supporting herself with a hand. Alternating legs, she pulled them out of the legs of her pants. She grabbed the hem of her t-shirt and lifted it to her ribs.
“Okay, no.” Tim grasped her hands and put them back at her sides. The glimpse of her high-cut, lace-trimmed underwear was enough. “In bed.”
“‘Kay.” She crawled onto the bed without pulling down the covers.
She didn’t have a lot of extra pillows or blankets on her bed, so he reached over and pulled the comforter over the top of her. She yanked the edge of the blanket over her shoulder and adjusted her pillow.
Tim stared down at her in the dim light from the hall. Who the hell slept that hard? He pivoted sharply and strode out of her room and down the stairs. He pulled her keys from the lock and set them on the table next to the door. Thumbing the lock, he left the house and pulled the door behind him. He stopped just before it latched.
“Damn it.” He pushed the door open, grabbed her keys from the table, and then pulled the door closed behind him.
What if she had been drinking? He hadn’t smelled alcohol, but she was pretty short—a couple of drinks could have put her over the limit without her smelling like booze. What if she drove home intoxicated? So many things could have happened. She could have killed herself or someone else. Because really, who slept that hard without taking something?
He stopped, turned, and looked back at her house. What the fuck was he doing? Visions of Bree covered in blood flashed through his mind. He knew exactly what he was doing—preventing another woman from being attacked. It was irresponsible, never mind unsafe, for her to have done that. There was no excuse for it.
He turned to his house, took a step, stopped and turned back to Zoe’s house, then spun again to his house. He was making himself dizzy. It wasn’t any of his business. He needed to stay out of it. He needed to stay away from women who needed to be saved. She might not be like Monica had been, but he was fighting an overwhelming urge to protect her, which history told him was a bad thing. It wasn’t his job.
