I nod again, wishing he could just stay with me, but I’m abundantly thankful that he knows what to do in this situation because I’m so lost.
Nodding—God, I feel like all I’m doing is nodding—I step back, letting my arms hang lifelessly as he presses a kiss to my forehead and walks out the door.
I somehow find my way back to my bedroom, where I proceed to crumble, crying every tear I’ve fought against the last decade and finally falling asleep somewhere along the way.
Chapter 24
Arlo
Never in my life have I been more scared than getting a call from Rina in the middle of the night, sobbing so much I could barely understand her.
Thank God for all the years in the Marines. My work brain kicked in, and I immediately went to her. The fact that my wife was basically traumatized needed to be put on the back burner as much as I fucking hated it. At least I got a second alone with her to make sure she was okay. I know I’ll be checking on her throughout the night because you couldn’t bind me tight enough to stay away.
When I return to the workshop, Ledger’s looking at me like he’s trying to solve a crossword puzzle.
“What—”
“Not now, Ledge, please,” I all but beg. Telling a guy who used to be like a brother to me, whom I cut out of my life along with everyone else, that I not only married his sister in secret but picked things back up fifteen years later is absolutely not something I want to get into right now. My concern is Rina and the fucker who did this. Everything else can wait.
He holds his hands up, but I don’t miss the flash of anger. It’s something I’ll have to deal with eventually, but not right now.
I walk gingerly around the space, careful not to touch anything yet and look for anything obvious: a shirt, candy wrapper, anything that the asshole could have left.
“Holy shit.” Oakley’s voice startles me enough. I have to steady myself on the wall to my side.
“It’s bad,” I confirm.
“She slept through all of this?” He looks around, cringing every time he sees a pile of basically scrap wood now.
His concern is something I immediately thought of and already have a plan for. I won’t let her work out here without protection again.
“Apparently. I don’t know when exactly she woke up, but when she came in, whoever did this was already gone.” My head flashes to the fact Rina was dressed in a tank top and boy shorts when she came running in here, completely unprotected and exposed. My fists clench so hard my knuckles crack before I give my head a small shake to focus on the task at hand.
“Hey, man, thanks for calling me in. I think Arlo and I have it if you want to head home. We’ll keep you updated on anything we find out.” Oakley turns to Ledger, and I’m more than happy he took the lead on that one because if I would have had to do it, I have a feeling a lot of information about Rina and me would come bubbling to the surface.
“I’d rather stay and help.” Ledger doesn’t concede.
“Seriously, we need to take pictures, look at the scene, all the police work, you know? It’s going to take all night too, so no reason for us all to be here and get no sleep.” Oakley says it casually, but my skin is itching.
Ledger looks between the two of us, but I look toward the ground. I can’t be positive that my face doesn’t give me completely away with how I feel about his sister, and although we aren’t hiding things anymore, thisis not the time to get into it with her big brother and my teenage best friend.
“Okay, I guess.” He still looks confused, but maybe the cop card worked. “Arlo, thanks for texting me on the way. I think Ainsley and I have a pretty mellow day tomorrow, so call me if anything else happens. I mean it.” His serious tone leaves me feeling like an awkward teen again, afraid to upset my friend. But he breezes out just as fast as he came.
A throat clears, and I turn my attention to Oakley, who has a shit-eating grin on his face.
“He know about you and Rina yet?”
“I’m guessing no because I don’t have a black eye. Thanks for sending him home.”
“You’re so fucked.” He chuckles. “Okay, what do we know so far?” He moves on, and I choose not to address his words. I’m more fucked than he knows considering the woman of the hour is still technically my wife.
“Not a lot so far. There’s a note on the desk over there, but I haven’t found anything else.” The note I briefly got to read as I was pulling Rina out of the workshop turns my veins into fire. A new level of anger hits me hard, and all I want to do is strangle whomever this asshole is. I watch Oakley walk over to the desk, read the note, and jolt back as he does.
“Jesus. A stalker?” He looks at me with his eyebrows raised so high they’re almost in his hairline.
“My best guess.” I grind my teeth. “She hasn’t told me anything about a stalker, so I’m not sure if this is the first time or if he’s escalated.”
“If this is his first contact, we need to figure this out ASAP because I don’t want to know what his escalation looks like.”
