"Yes, I’m going to take you home."
"That’s not necessary," she said, her mouth a tight line, and started to walk off.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Carter called after her.
"I'm not doing anything. Your family hates me. And you…"
"What?" he asked, easily closing the distance between them.
She scowled, and he wrapped his arms around her.
"Why don’t you try to make it work with one of the girls at the fundraiser? They seem more your type," she said, looking away from him.
"I don’t want any of them," Carter said, cupping her face and searching her eyes for some clue of what was really wrong. "Can I please come back to your place?"
"No." She shook him off.
"Why won't you let me into your life?"
She ignored him and hurried away. He walked back to the car and wrenched the door open. He should have known better. Maybe his family was right after all and Allie was no good for him.
Be better.Snarling to himself, he asked the driver to turn around and follow Allie.
After driving down several blocks, he watched her enter a run-down-looking building. A few minutes later, another resident exited the building, and he bounded up, grabbed the door handle, and slipped inside.
He quickly walked up the stairs, listening for Allie's voice, trying to decipher which unit was hers. As he neared the top of the building, he thought her heard her. He paused on the landing. Yes, that was definitely her voice. She was yelling at someone, and her voice was punctuated by Margot's barking.
"Stop it, Arnold! Don't touch me," he heard Allie's muffled yell through the door.
Carter didn't hesitate. He threw himself at the door. It was made of cheap material, and the hinges gave way, and the wooden door splintered then crashed on the floor.
"What the hell!" Carter yelled as he barged into the room. There was a flabby, pasty man wearing nothing but a dirty robe. A porn flick blared on an old TV.
"Who is this?" the man yelled.
"Carter, what are you doing here?" Allie screeched.
"Step away from Allie," he growled and advanced on the doughy man—Arnold, he supposed. "Why are you living in a place like this?" he demanded.
"Get out of my apartment," Arnold slurred, stumbling into Allie.
That set Carter off, and he launched himself at Arnold and punched the older man in the face. Arnold stumbled back and crashed onto the floor.
Allie screamed at Carter, "Stop! You’ll kill him!"
Through the papered-over window, he heard sirens and then heavy boot steps coming up the stairs. Two police officers poked their heads around the doorway.
"What seems to be the problem here?" one of them asked, his voice echoing around the tiny apartment.
"This pervert was attacking my girlfriend," Carter said.
The officer grunted and mumbled a code into the radio on his shoulder.
The other officer checked Arnold's pulse.
"He’s very drunk," Allie said.
"How do you know this man?" the officer asked, taking out a small notepad.
