20
WAR
My truck parkedin the garage, I paused in the driveway as dusk settled over the area. I’d bought this property for privacy, yet somehow the bastard had gotten inside. It had probably been during the kitchen renovation. With workers coming and going, and the gate open, he could have easily slipped in.
The house was a shell while I worked on it, so I didn’t have anything of value yet…except for Charli. If anything happened to her… It wasn’t something I could ever recover from.
My cell rang. I removed it from my pocket. At Max’s name, I answered.
“You locked the gate? Is that your way of telling us to take a hike?” my friend drawled.
Hell, I’d forgotten they were coming this evening after everything that had happened. But at hearing Max’s familiar, bantering voice, my tension unraveled a little. I opened the gate.
Moments later, Max’s Merc SUV came down the driveway to park behind my truck.
He rolled down the window. “Don’t lock up. Jack’s behind—ah, they’re here.”
Jack’s titanium-gray Porsche cruised to a halt next to Max’s SUV.
The girls jumped out of the vehicles. “Hey,” Ila grinned, coming around and hugging me in greeting. Ray followed with another hug. The guys fist-bumped me, then shot me questioning looks at my bruised knuckles.
“Where’s Charli?” the girls chorused as one.
“In the shower. Wait,” I said before they hightailed it out, flexing and clenching my fingers. “We need to talk. I prefer to do this away from Charli.”
Ila and Ray instantly narrowed their eyes like mother hens, waiting to hear what disaster I’d caused now. Doubtless, if they thought I’d hurt their best friend in any way, they’d pound me into the ground.
“Something happened…” I told them everything from lunch with my foster father, my fallout with Justin, to the unexpected attack on Charli.
“Is she all right?” Ila burst out.
Inhaling a massive breath, I nodded and leaned against my truck. “Physically, yeah. Emotionally, she’s still shaken up.”
“Where’s the bastard?” Max demanded.
“In jail. I handled it—hell, I wanted to fucking kill him,” I muttered, rage bleeding through me again. Images of Charli lying so still on the ground seared my mind. I doubted they would ever leave me. “The fucker will think twice about making a quick buck at my expense.”
Ila and Ray pivoted for the mudroom door.
I met my two friends’ gazes. “I should never have brought her into my fucked-up life.Iput her in danger.”
“You couldn’t have foreseen this,” Jack murmured, ice-gray eyes pinning mine.
“Why not? Justin hated me from the moment his father fostered me.” Hollow laughter broke free, and I shook my head. “He wanted me knocked around to teach me a lesson.”
“Because Caleb cares about you,” Max said quietly.
“Where’s that dumb shit of a foster brother?” Jack demanded, looking like he wanted to take care of him personally. With fists.
“Caleb’s probably at the station now, trying to do what’s right.” I led my friends indoors, my worry over my foster father growing.
CHARLI
Uh, crap. I winced. Despite the pain meds, and though the splintering pain in my skull had subsided to a throb, now my hips and shoulders were starting to protest any movements, probably from the impact of my fall.
I washed my face with a damp cloth, careful not to get water on the dressing on my brow, and gingerly felt for the bump at the back of my head again, flinching when I found it.
Exhaling, I soaped myself, then lowered the jet spray and let the water beat against my back, easing the tightness in my shoulders.
