CHAPTER 20HUGH
CHAPTER 20
HUGH
True to his word, the driver pulled up three minutes later after running two red lights. I held the phone to my ear as my other hand massaged my tight chest. The car wasn’t even parked before I was out the door and taking quick strides towards the apartment.
“I’m coming,” I said into the phone, jogging up the sidewalk.
Two police cars were parked haphazardly in the street, I started to take the stairs two at a time. A few uniformed cops tried to get my attention, but I ignored them as I came through the door and looked for her.
I needed to see her.
There were two cops in the room, and Denise was standing in the kitchen. Her eyes met mine and we met each other halfway.
She held me to her, and I wrapped my arms around her feeling the vice loosen its hold on my heart. She was okay. I didn’t know what I’d have done if she wasn’t.
“I’m here, Denny, baby,” I said into her hair. “I’ve got you.” I watched as Lucian came through the door, his eyes scanning the apartment for Cleo. I nodded towards the couch, and he headed straight for her. There was a blanket around her shoulders and a glass of water in her hand.
I examined her as she moved into my shirt and buried her nose into my chest, and her hands found my waist beneath my coat. Breathing deep, she sighed, her tense body loosening in my hold. That’s when I realized I’d been holding my breath. I let it go, squeezing her to me.
“Hi,” she said against my shirt.
“Hi,” I whispered back.
I threaded my hand into her hair and tried to focus on the fact that she was okay, not the inky black fury creeping around the edges of my vision. I'd promised to let her handle it. But this was too much. Curtis had gone too far.
“I assume this is the boyfriend you mentioned.” A voice said next to me. My gaze latched on to the cop taking notes on a pad while studying a document on Denny’s computer.
“Can I ask what you’re doing?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. They knew this bomb threat was bullshit. Why in the fuck did it look like he was investigating her?
Her hand rubbed against my back, and I realized my tone was probably not the right one for talking to a cop. I took a breath as my fingers made a circle on her back, a silent signal that I would try and dial it down. This was what she’d been afraid of when she called me. I’d spent years avoiding trouble just in case Switch came back to haunt me.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, squeezing me tight.
“Sorry, officer, I just flew in and came right here,” I said.
“I get it.” He nodded to the computer. “This could have whoever placed the false 911 call on it. We take these calls seriously, sir. I’m going to do my best to find them.”
“Thank you,” I said, appreciating the sincerity in his tone.
“We’re almost finished here. I sent most of the units off, I just need these ladies to sign their statements. The house is listed now in our system, if we get any other calls, it won’t be the same reaction.”
It took another fifteen minutes, but the cops were finally leaving. Denny clung to me the whole time, and I wouldn’t have let her go if she’d tried. As we stood together in the cold, watching the last officer walk to his car, she glanced up at me.
She fumbled over her words for a second before she got them out. “You were right,” she said.
My hand went to her cheek. “About what?”
“I did need to be worried,” she whispered.
“I promised you we would figure it out. And we will,” I brought my hand up to the nape of her hair and pulled her close to me again.