Chapter 10 #2
But waiting was the right thing to do. Because he knew better than most that charging into a volatile situation without following protocol could end up being more harmful in the long run.
That didn’t mean he had to like it.
There was still no sound on the other end of the phone he held to his ear by the time the other two deputies arrived. They’d cut their sirens a few blocks away, so as not to give whoever might be inside his house a head’s up that his days of breaking and entering were over.
“You have a key, Boss?” Bo asked.
Simon reached into his pocket and pulled out his key ring. He only had two keys on it, his car and house keys. He handed it over and watched as Bo brought the other two officers up to speed.
He needed to hang up, but couldn’t make himself break the connection.
“You ready?” Bo asked, looking pointedly at Simon’s cell phone still plastered to his ear.
Taking a deep breath, Simon lowered his phone, forced himself to click the red button to end the call, and shoved it into his back pocket.
He pulled his weapon from its holster and gripped it firmly, nodding at Bo.
His deputy returned the nod, then walked toward the front door, Simon’s key ring in his hand and Miguel and Chad at his back. Simon brought up the rear. Forcing himself to breathe in and out, slow and methodical, he followed his deputies into his house.
They made their way inside on silent feet, and Simon noticed immediately that things were out of place. Nothing was trashed, per se, but someone had been in there. He didn’t need to see the plastic bag of his valuables on the ground near the kitchen to know that.
His officers cleared the laundry room, the living area, and the kitchen quickly and without fuss.
Looking into the kitchen, Simon’s blood ran cold when he saw Atlee’s cell phone lying on the tiles on front of the sink.
Looking closer, he thought he saw blood, but didn’t have time to investigate—because a sound had all four men turning their attention to the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
It was a muffled screech. A terrifying sound. One that had every muscle in Simon’s body clenching.
He took a few quick steps toward the hallway before Miguel caught him by the arm. For a second, Simon fought the other man, needing to get to Atlee. Needing to stop whatever had caused her to sound so terrified.
But Miguel held on to him and shook his head firmly.
It took every ounce of strength for Simon to step back and let his trusted deputies take point and hurry down the hall in front of him.
The sounds of distress grew in volume as they got closer to his bedroom.
The door was partially open, and when Bo glanced inside, he shook his head at the others, letting them know he didn’t see anything.
That left only two places Atlee could be. The bathroom or the closet.
“Shut up, bitch!”
The sound of flesh hitting flesh sounded like a shot in the silence of the hallway.
Simon didn’t have to urge Bo to move. The three men in front of him were inside his room with their weapons drawn as soon as they heard the deep voice of whoever was inside with Atlee. They didn’t hesitate, going straight to his walk-in closet.
“Hands-up!”
“Police!”
“Get off her!”
It was Simon’s job to have his deputies’ backs. To make sure no one came at them from behind, and it took everything in him to keep his eye on the bedroom door instead of pushing past the officers to see what had prompted that last comment.
But he knew.
Of course he did.
He wasn’t an idiot.
His hands shook, and the weapon in his hand jerked with the movement, but he held his position.
There was the sound of scuffling from inside the closet, and seconds later, Chad was at his side. “Go.”
Simon didn’t hesitate. He holstered his weapon even as he headed for the closet, taking in the scene at a glance. Miguel and Bo were on top of someone, struggling to get cuffs on his wrists. But they had the perp under control. He wasn’t going anywhere, not with the two larger men subduing him.
Turning his attention to Atlee, Simon’s heart stopped for a beat.
The first thing he saw was blood. Everywhere. Dripping down her face, onto the wooden floorboards of the closet, on her ripped shirt, on her hands, in her hair.
But her eyes were open, she was alive.
He stepped around the scuffle on the floor to the woman who held his heart in her hands. Without hesitation, he leaned down, picked her up, and carried her out into the bedroom, away from the man who’d hurt her.
She groaned, and he gently put her down on the bed and hovered over her. His hand went to the gash on her forehead, putting gentle pressure on it to try to stop the bleeding. He couldn’t speak, could barely breathe.
“Simon,” she whispered, staring up at him with dilated eyes.
The one word unclogged his throat. “I’ve got you,” he told her. “You’re okay. I’m here.”
Her hands came up, one grabbing the wrist attached to the hand on her forehead, and the other gripped his shirt at his waist.
“Breathe, sweetheart. You’re safe. It’s over.”
The sounds coming from the man who’d been hurting his woman were loud in the room.
He was swearing, accusing his deputies of police brutality, claiming that he’d done nothing wrong.
He was full of shit on both counts, as the cameras his deputies were wearing would show, but Simon’s attention remained on Atlee.
“The EMTs are coming,” Chad said from the other side of the bed.
Simon nodded but didn’t take his gaze from Atlee’s. “Did he…” He couldn’t finish the question.
“No,” she whispered. “You got here in time.”
Simon closed his eyes in relief for a moment. Then opened them immediately. He couldn’t bear to take his eyes off her. To make sure she remained awake and breathing. The blood all over his closet would haunt him for years. Of that he had no doubt.
“He was in the house when I got here. He attacked me before I could do anything. He knocked me out and when I woke up, I called you. But he dragged me in here before I could tell you what was going on.”
“Shhhh,” Simon said, soothing her.
“He wanted me the combo to your safe. I told him I didn’t know it. He was going to—”
“I know what he was going to do,” Simon interrupted. “But he didn’t. Because you didn’t let him.”
“He was overpowering me,” Atlee said brokenly. “I was fighting him…but he was winning.” She sounded defeated and upset.
“I’ll teach you how to defend yourself. How to break free of someone’s hold if they have you on your back.
How to hurt them so you can get away,” Simon told her without hesitation.
He was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was never in another situation like she’d been in today.
He was well aware that he couldn’t keep her in a cage, even if it was for her own safety.
His Atlee was meant to fly, and so he’d give her the tools she needed to keep herself safe…
until he could get to her, as he’d done today.
“Good. Simon?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?” He didn’t like the glassy look in her eyes. Or the way her one eye was almost swelled shut. Where the hell were the paramedics?
“I love you.”
The three words were enough to calm him, so he stopped berating the ambulance crew in his mind. “I love you too. When I got your call, when I realized you were in trouble… I can’t live without you, Atlee. I just found you. I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t. I’m tired, Simon. I want to sleep.”
“No!” he said, too loudly. He took a deep breath to try to relax. “Keep talking to me, hon. Can you do that?”
“I’m okay,” she reassured him. “He hurt me, but I’m okay.”
Miguel and Bo were finally taking the intruder out of the bedroom, but Simon didn’t even turn his head. All his concentration was on the love of his life. He leaned down and kissed her injured cheek with a light caress.
She pouted. “I was looking forward to whatever you had planned for tonight.”
Amazingly, Simon found himself smiling. “I’m still gonna spoil you for our eightieth anniversary, but for now, all you have to do is concentrate on staying awake.”
“Do you want me to tell you the details about what happened? I know you’ll need them.”
“Later,” Simon said without hesitation. Right now, he wasn’t a cop. Wasn’t the chief of police. He was her man. And his first priority was getting her the medical help she needed.
The asshole who’d hurt her wasn’t going anywhere. He’d find out everything that happened in good time. And he’d make sure the punk who broke into his house, and probably all the other houses in the area, would pay for what he’d done. For now, all he cared about was Atlee.
Sirens could be heard approaching the house, and Simon relaxed a fraction. He hadn’t realized just how tense he’d been. The paramedics and EMTs would check her over, get her to the hospital, make sure she was all right. That’s all that mattered.
Almost three months wasn’t nearly enough time with his soul mate. He wanted, needed, at least fifty more years. He planned on them both living to be a hundred years old, if only so he could spend as much time with her as possible.
It took a huge amount of willpower and strength to back away from Atlee when the medical team came into his room.
But he didn’t go far. Just to the end of the bed.
He kept a hand on her foot, letting her know he was there, that he wasn’t going anywhere.
She was stuck with him, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer.
Atlee Carrington was everything to him, and he’d do whatever it took to help her heal from what happened tonight, physically and mentally.