Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
WREN
I jolted upright at the sound of banging.
Without a second thought, I rolled off the couch and went for the gun.
Shit, I must have fallen asleep in front of the TV. The show I was half-watching had finished, replaced by some kind of action movie.
I held the gun in shaking fingers and told myself it was only an explosion on the screen that woke me.
I jumped when the banging came again. Someone was hammering on the door.
"Wren? You okay?" a male voice called out through the door. "I'm gonna break this fucking thing down in a minute." Bang. Bang.
"Tiger?" I called back tentatively.
He said what sounded like, "Thank fuck," followed by, "Yeah, you gonna open the door?"
I stepped over and unlocked it before opening it just enough to look through.
Tiger stood on my doorstep, Lex right behind him.
"What the hell?" Tiger eyed the gun I'd forgotten I was carrying.
"Wren, you're white as a sheet." Lex frowned at me, clearly worried.
"I'm a redhead, it comes with the territory." I lowered the gun and stepped back to let them in. "I don't have white sheets though."
"It's just an expression." Lex placed a hand on my forehead. "We were worried about you."
"Seems like we had good reason." Tiger took the gun from my hand and set it aside on the kitchen counter.
I shook my head at them. "I'm fine. I fell asleep watching TV."
"Was that all?" Lex took my hand and led me over to the couch. "We've been trying to call you for an hour or two."
I sat down carefully between them. "My phone must be flat."
I reached over for it and tapped the screen. It was fifty percent charged, but the screen showed notifications for six missed calls and twice as many missed texts.
"I must have slept deeper than I thought."
Since when did I sleep through anything as loud as my phone ringtone?
"You didn't accidentally switch it to silent?" Lex asked. "I've done that a time or two myself."
"That must be it." I turned my phone and glanced at the small switch on the side. It wasn't on silent.
"Can one of you try to call me?" I asked. That would be the easiest way to figure out what setting needed to be fixed.
Tiger pulled out his phone and pressed on the screen.
The device in my hand started to vibrate and play Teddy Swims’ song “Broke” so loud I jumped for the third time in as many minutes. The screen lit up with Tiger's name.
He tapped his screen again and the call ended.
My phone fell silent.
"You must have some really good sleeping skills to sleep through that." Lex still looked worried. "And when you wake up, you go for a gun? What's going on, Wren?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. Not that I know of anyway.” I sucked in a couple of ragged breaths.
“I had the feeling someone was watching me at the shop and following me home. I didn't see anyone. I kept the gun near me just in case. I was down here watching TV because I couldn't sleep."
It was after midnight now. "What are you doing here?"
"We both called you to see if you wanted some company, but you didn't answer," Lex said. "Tiger and I got worried. One of us should let Bray know you're okay. He needed to see the PT after training, then something about dinner with his mother."
"Yeah, they get together once a month," I said vaguely.
Usually, I’d make some comment about him being a mother's boy. I couldn't bring myself to insult him right now. Even if he was here, I didn't think I'd bother. I was too busy trying to get my head around sleeping so heavily.
Was that in any way connected to my feeling of being watched?
"Wren, I'm going to ask you something and it's only because I care," Lex said gently. "Have you taken anything?"
I responded with a double blink, followed by a wide stare. "As in drugs? Fuck no. I had friends who ruined their whole lives with them. I wouldn't touch the stuff."
I admit it would explain a few things. Paranoia and passing out, specifically.
"You don't think someone slipped me something?" I asked.
"Have you taken anything from someone you don't know?" Tiger looked ready to rip off arms. "A cup of coffee or—" He threw out his hands to either side, gesturing that he didn't know what else someone could slip something into, apart from a drink.
"I bought a chocolate chip muffin from the café near work," I said slowly. "But I've been going there for years."
I looked down at myself, my mind jumping to all sorts of conclusions. As far as I could tell, no one tampered with my clothes. I didn't feel sticky or sore. Nothing to suggest anything happened while I was out cold.
"Any new staff?" Tiger asked.
I brought my face up to look back at him and frowned in thought. "A couple, but there always is. They have new staff there every few months. Only Leah and Nigel have been there since forever, and they own the place."
"So it's possible they have someone working for them who also works for Nicholas Fiorelli," Tiger concluded.
He pushed himself up to his feet and started to pace between the coffee table and the TV. "They could have been waiting for Wren to buy something and slipped in fuck knows what."
"Why would they do that?" My gaze followed him across the room and back.
"I can think of a few reasons right off the top of my head." Tiger pointed at his forehead. "To fuck with you. To kill you. Maybe they planned to send someone over to collect you when you were out."
My blood ran cold.
Someone could have broken into my house, thrown me over their shoulder and taken me to who knows where. I could have woken up somewhere far worse than a dirty motel room.
"This is a warning," Lex said softly. "They know we're after Nicholas. They want to let us know they can get to us. To get to Wren."
"Pack a bag," Tiger said to me, his tone allowing no room for argument. "You're not staying here."
"This is my home," I argued anyway. "They may not do anything else now. They've made their point. I shouldn't eat chocolate chip muffins anyway. I'll stay away from them, unless they're made by Finley."
Elenna's boyfriend was an exceptionally good cook. He could bake rings around everyone I knew, with his hands tied behind his back.
The guys exchanged looks.
"Tiger is right," Lex said finally. "They know where you live. This could be a one-time thing, to get us to back off, or it could be the beginning of something. I'm not going to leave you here to find out."
"If they come after me and you stay here with me, they'll get you too," I said, before anyone could suggest that. I didn't want to be forced out of my own home, but I knew when I had no further argument to make. I didn't want to be here alone if someone was going to try something.
"Okay," I said. "But only for a little while. Just until all of this blows over."
Being the mature men they were, they both tried to hold back smiles at the word ‘blows.’
I rolled my eyes. "It's true what they say. Men never grow up."
"You wouldn't want us any other way," Lex said.
"I'll neither confirm nor deny that suggestion," I said. "Fine, I'll pack a bag." I eyed the gun in the kitchen, but left it there and headed upstairs.
I stepped into my bedroom and flicked on the light. "What the fuck?"
Both guys roared up the steps, taking them two at a time. They skidded to a stop beside me approximately half a minute after I spoke.
"What is it?" Lex asked.
"Someone's been in here," I said. "It wasn't like this when I was up here last."
The covers were all strewn across the floor beside the bed. One of the pillows was still in place, but the other lay right in the centre. Something wet shone on the cotton pillowcase.
I took a step closer. "Is that—"
My face twisted and my stomach turned. While I was asleep, someone came in and jacked off on my pillow. Who the fuck would do something like that?
Okay, up until a couple of days ago I would have suggested Bray might do something like that, but now…
"Was anything else touched?" Lex asked.
I hadn't thought to check. Carefully, with rising anxiety, I glanced around.
"Not as far as I can tell," I said slowly.
My room was always messy, so it would be easy for someone to rearrange things and look like it was done by me.
I stepped over to the bathroom and looked inside. "The shower is wet."
Whoever jacked off on my pillow, also took a shower before they left. How long were they here?
Long enough, apparently.
"This is twisted as fuck," Tiger said. "But it's lucky for this asshole that he came here and not inside you."
I swallowed hard. "Lucky for me too." Whatever game he was playing, this was sick. Was it Nicholas himself, or someone who worked for him? Either way, I didn't want to stay here any longer than I had to.
I stepped over to my wardrobe and pulled out my suitcase before throwing in whatever I could get my hands on.
Later, I'd probably find out I packed seventeen pairs of socks and no panties. Right now, I didn't give a shit. I needed to be anywhere but here.
If the endgame was to freak me out, they succeeded. I was well and truly freaked the fuck out.
"We can buy whatever you don't pack," Lex said. "In the morning, I'll tell Aidan what happened here. He'll send someone over to take a look and clean the place up. I'll make sure they do a good job. By the time they’re done, there’ll be no trace left of any of this."
I gave him a half smile of thanks and closed my suitcase to zip it up. I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to come back here. Not after this.
I felt… I felt violated.
They would have walked past me as I slept, did what they did and then walked past me again to leave. How did they get in, in the first place? I couldn't remember seeing signs of a break-in. If there were any, the guys would have mentioned it.
Unless…
No, I couldn't let myself think they had anything to do with this. Neither of them. Not Bray either. This was the work of someone who was fucked up.
More fucked up than anyone I knew. Whoever did this, they needed help. I suspected if the guys got their hands on him, he wouldn't have a chance to get any. They'd feed him his balls before they killed him.
If they ever found out who it was. What if they never did? What if the person who entered my townhouse and violated my privacy, walked around Dusk Bay for the next fifty or sixty years?
I could pass him on the street every day and never know. How was I supposed to live my life like that?
"Let's go." Tiger grabbed my suitcase.
Lex put an arm around me and led me back down stairs and out the door.