WE DON’T END PERIOD!
“The texts kept coming. One after another, after another. I didn’t even want to look at them.”
Just thinking about those texts had her hands shaking so badly that she had to stuff them under her legs to keep them still.
“Why don’t you call the police?” her friend had asked her. “This is harassment.”
“Jackson is a cop. What if I call them and they don’t do anything?”
“You’re right. All he’d probably get is a slap on the wrist, and you’ll be left dealing with the fallout.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“You can stay with me as long as you need.”
“I stayed with a friend for a few days, got a new number, and she helped me go through my socials, block him so that I didn’t have to see anything from him.” And, according to her, there’d been a lot.
Downing the remainder of the scotch in her glass for courage, she prepared to relive the worst night of her life.
“There wasn’t much I could do about the opera house. I let security know, and my friend had her husband go with me, so I had someone to walk me in and out.”
She’d been so worried about Jackson showing up outside the Met to confront her, she’d forgotten that the roses had been left in her dressing room.
“He was waiting for me when I got done with the VIP meet and greet after the show.”
Tired from the long night, Chloe was dragging her feet as she walked into her dressing room. She was barely through the door when someone grabbed her arm in a brutal grip, and she only managed to get out the smallest scream before a hard hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her as the door clapped shut. Jackson loomed over her, his eyes filled with so much heated rage that she began to tremble.
“I saw you come herewith him! I saw you! Who the fuck is he? Are you fucking him?”
Eyes wide with fear, she shook her head and tried to pry his hand away. He was so much stronger than her, his restraining grip a punishing hold she couldn’t free herself from, no matter how she struggled.
His fingers squeezed painfully. “Don’t fucking lie to me! Do you know what I did for you? For us?! Do you even realize the lengths I’ve gone to?! You don’t get to throw this away!”
Tears streamed from her eyes. She was so scared he was going to kill her, her heart was racing, and she could barely breathe; his hand over her mouth felt like it was going to suffocate her.
Maybe it was the tears, or maybe he’d simply exhausted his rage, but his face suddenly softened, and he pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you, Chloe, and you love me. I know you do. We can go home now, and it’ll all be better. You’ll see. What we have is forever.”
He dropped his hand, and Chloe let out an ear-splitting scream. Jackson threw her away from him, that mask of rage dropping back over his features as he bellowed, “You fucking bitch!” But security had arrived, forcefully bursting through the door.
“I could have had him arrested, pressed charges, maybe they would have stuck, but instead of facing my fears, I ran. First, to my friend’s house, then all the way here, and now look at me. Runningsolved nothing.”
Chloe’s lips twisted in a grimace. “You know, my father managed to do some digging; he talked to someone on the force after I told him what happened. It turns out the police never assigned a protective detail to me. Jackson showed up on my doorstep, and I took him at his word. I let the wolf in.”
Erik’s eyes met hers, his gaze penetrating. “Jackson Savoy is no wolf. He’s a rat that this wolf is going to exterminate.”
Chapter Ten
Chloe fell asleep notlong after she finished her account. The combination of the events of the day, paired with alcohol on an empty stomach, had taken its toll. Erik stood, and Jayla did as well. Quietly enough not to wake Chloe, Jayla said, “I’m going to head up to my apartment, grab my stuff. Now that she knows what’s going on, at least one of us should stay with her until this is resolved.”
Erik agreed. “We’ll both stay, sleep in shifts.” Jackson Savoy sounded like he was prone to rages. It was highly likely he would make a grab for Chloe if he got the opportunity and would possibly manufacture a situation to make that happen. He might pull the fire alarm in the building and try to take her during the evacuation, or even force her car off the road if she tried to go somewhere.
He jerked his head toward the door. “Go ahead, get your things. I’ll move her to the bedroom.”
“Do you need to get anything from your place?”
“It can wait.” Erik had weapons stashed in his vehicle that was parked outside, and a duffel with a spare set of clothes and sometoiletries. That was all he needed right now. He could get his art supplies and the remainder of his gear later.
With a nod of acceptance, Jayla moved off, and Erik bent to scoop Chloe up from the couch. She immediately turned slightly in his arms, snuggling against him, and it was such a foreign feeling for a man who had so little physical contact in his life that for a moment, he stalled out. It felt… good.
