Chapter Fourteen Rey
I immediately regret pulling away from Abra.
His warmth and strength were calming me.
However, I can’t stop myself from pacing.
It isn’t just the dead cop downstairs and the fucked up mess that used to be my sanctuary.
No, it’s the sinking feeling I have that Max is right about Dontel being responsible.
The destruction of my things and those words painted on my walls sound like him.
He was furious when I broke things off with him.
This is exactly something he’d do to get back at me.
He knew how much I loved my apartment. He knew how carefully I chose every item in there.
The only thing I can’t wrap my head around is whether he could have killed the cop.
Unfortunately, I can’t dismiss the possibility.
He could have been waiting around the apartment for my return.
If he saw a man getting out of my car, he could have attacked him without realizing he was attacking a cop.
“Do you think they’ll find evidence of who did this?” Abra asks Max, although he keeps his eyes focused on me.
When Max doesn’t immediately answer, both Abra and I turn our attention to him. He looks like he’s going to be sick. No, he seems like he wants to rip the head off someone and then throw up down his throat. Is that a thing?
“What aren’t you telling us?” I ask him.
“We have plenty of evidence. Once it is processed, we’ll likely know who did it.”
I glance at Abra to see if he understands what Max is saying. When Abra’s expression goes from complexed to livid, I realize that I’m the only one missing something in this conversation. “What? What am I missing?”
Abra and Max share a silent conversation before turning their attention to me. “I don’t want to tell you,” Max finally admits.
“She’s going to figure it out,” Abra says. “She’s brilliant. Would you rather she know now or let it hit her later on when maybe we’re not around?”
Max runs his hand through his hair in frustration. “He left biological evidence.”
I stare at him as I process his words. When the reality hits me, I scrunch my nose as I fight the nausea churning in my stomach. “Oh god, what did he do? Pee? Poop? Oh fuck, he jizzed, didn’t he? That son-of-a-bitch! Where? Not on my bed!”
Max slowly nods. “Yeah. He shredded your underwear and dumped it all on your bed, then he got himself off. There’s semen, but that’s not all. I think he pissed on your clothes. Your closet smells like a urinal. I’m so sorry, Rey.”
I clasp my hand over my mouth to keep my lunch from coming back up.
Abra steps to me and wraps his arms around me, drawing me to him.
He says nothing as I weep against his muscular chest. I don’t stop crying until I realize he’s rocking me like a child needing comfort.
The image of the burly biker swaying in front of my brother clears away some of the sorrow.
I lean back some, to wipe at his damp shirt.
“I’m sorry, I blubbered all over you,” I say.
“That’s what I’m here for,” Abra says, using his thumbs to wipe the tears from my cheeks. “What do you want to do? Want me to take you shopping? We can replace everything. Start fresh. I know it won’t fix everything, but maybe it will help you feel a little better.”
“I need my hair supplies,” I tell Max. “No sense buying new.”
Max and Abra share a look.
“What?” I ask.
“Why don’t we just buy new stuff?” Abra says. “Fresh start.”
“That’s ridiculous. That stuff is expensive; there’s no sense letting it go to waste. Unless he did something to my toiletries, too? Did he dump them out? That would be just like the bastard. He always complained about how much money I spent on myself.”
“He didn’t dump them out in as much as I think he added something to them,” Max chokes out.
“Oh my god! He’s sick. He’s a sick bastard. You need to find him and… and…. I don’t know, something. Tie his dick into a pretzel! That’s what you should do!”
Abra chuckles while Max manages a wan smile. “That’s not a bad idea, baby girl,” Max says, brushing his hand over my hair. “Let my people process the scene so we can verify it's him. If it is, then I’ll find him and lock him up. It will be a start. Do you have any idea where he might go?”
I consider his question for several minutes before offering some suggestions.
“His best friends are Charlie Dawson and Kirk Montclair. He would sometimes crash at one of their places if he were too drunk to come here, or if we got into a fight. I think he moved into Charlie’s place after I kicked him out. ”
“Does he have a job now that he can’t mooch off you?” Max asks.
I let out a sigh at the question because it wasn’t the first time Max and I had discussed Dontel’s lack of prospects. Only, instead of being defensive as I had been in the past, now I was just tired. “Charlie and Kirk work at an auto shop in the East. I think the owner pays Dontel to do odd jobs.”
Max jots down the information in his notebook before looking back at me. “Anything else?”
I shrug. “Not that I can think of. We haven’t spoken in over two weeks, not since the incident. He tried calling, but I didn’t answer. He apologized a few times, but…”
“But what?” Max asks.
“The last few calls have been less apologetic and more confrontational. He’s blaming me for what he did, which isn’t surprising.”
“What incident?” Abra asks.
When I don’t immediately respond, Max frowns at me. “If you don’t tell him, I will.”
I give Max a disgusted look before lifting my head to lock eyes with Abra.
“He hit me. Just the once, but it was enough for me to send him packing. He was drunk, and I was yelling at him for coming back here, so pissed that he could barely stand. He told me to shut up and stop nagging him. That’s when he backhanded me. ”
Abra swore before glaring at my brother. “Why the fuck is he out walking around?”
“She didn’t call me,” Max says, holding his hands up in surrender. “I would have gladly busted his ass and tossed him in jail if she had.”
“Why didn’t you call your brother?” Abra asks me.
“Because I handled it. After I picked myself up off the floor, I grabbed a frying pan and smacked him upside the head. He dropped like a stone. So, I rolled him out the door and into the elevator. Once we were downstairs, I rolled him outside and locked the door.”
Abra stares at me for several long minutes with expressionless eyes.
Then he pulls me in tight for a hug, his body shaking as he chuckles.
After a few minutes, he lowers his forehead to mine.
“I’m all for women handling their problems, but damn, woman, you should have called the police and pressed charges. ”
I shrug without explaining the real reason why I didn’t call Max to arrest the bastard.
I knew if he went to jail because of me, he’d find a way to kill me once he got out again.
Even though I knew Dontel had a vicious temper, he’d never turned it on me until that night.
Once he crossed that line, I was sure he wouldn’t hesitate to do worse in the future.
“I hoped that by just breaking up with him instead of calling the cops, it would make it easier for him to move on. I was afraid that if I got him arrested, he’d come back and do worse. ”
“Worse than what he did here?” Abra asks.
I nod. “I was afraid he’d kill me. Once he hit me, I knew it could get much worse. I think his killing the cop driving my car proves that.”
“If he’s the one who killed my officer,” Max says.
“He should have been wearing a camera, but I don’t know if he had it on since he was doing me a favor.
I hope to learn more after checking the security feed for the apartment and any nearby cameras.
I have two crime scenes to process and possibly two separate crimes to investigate.
But my biggest concern is still you, Rey.
I’d prefer it if you stayed at my place. ”
Abra tenses, but he maintains his calm. “Does Dontel know where you live?”
Max frowns at the question, but nods. “He’s been there.”
“Don’t you think that will be the first place he looks?
Look, I’m not saying you can’t protect her, but you can’t protect her if you’re not there.
Like you said, you have crimes to investigate.
That’s where your focus needs to stay. Rey will be safe with me.
The clubhouse is full of men willing to die to protect her. ”
Max scoffs. “They’d die to protect a stranger?”
“They’d die for her because I asked them. I get that you don’t trust me yet. I plan on proving to you that my men and I can be trusted. More importantly, all I want is for Rey to stay safe. I can and will protect her.”
Max stares long and hard at Abra before his eyes lower to his kutte and fixate on the small diamond under his road name. “How can I trust someone who proudly displays they’re a criminal?”