Chapter 19
Quinn couldn’t stop smiling as she walked up the steps of her townhouse with Knox by her side the next morning. His hand rested on the small of her back as he waited for her to unlock the door.
“I hate to end this date, but I have practice. We have one more home game before we’re on the road,” Knox told her.
“Well, hopefully with your friends’ help, my job is no longer on the line. If all goes well on Sunday, my old team will go back to New York and I’ll sit at home and cheer you on for your next game.”
Knox kissed her as he pulled her to him for a hug. “The game is in Cincinnati. I can get you tickets if you want to come.”
“Are you telling me you’ll miss me and you want me at the game?” Quinn asked with a happy smirk on her face.
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
Quinn let out an exaggerated sigh. “I’d be giving up my day crashing on the couch and doing my laundry. If I do give all that up, I’m wearing jeans and your hoodie. And you owe me a stadium hot dog and a beer.” She grinned up at him.
“Deal.” Knox smiled down at her just as she was smiling up at him. Quinn had thought she’d been happy before, but this was something different. It was happiness, laughter, and love all wrapped up into one.
Knox leaned down and gave her one more kiss. “I’ll pick you up at six for girls’ night. Let me know if I should pick you up here or at work.”
Quinn promised to text him later and hurried inside. She hated to leave Knox, but he was going to be late for practice and she was going to be late for work. Quinn flew up the stairs, stripping as she went, and jumped into the shower the moment it turned on.
The cold water had her cursing and she shampooed her hair.
The water finally turned hot, but she was cursing again.
She’d left her computer in Knox’s SUV. She had just shimmied into clean clothes and poured her coffee when she heard the front door handle turn.
The door didn’t open and then there was a knock.
Thank goodness. Knox must have found her computer.
However, before she could call out to him, the lock slid open and the door was shoved forward.
Quinn stumbled back into the kitchen. She slid down the wall and placed her hand over her mouth to stop the scream.
Someone was breaking into her house. It certainly wasn’t Knox who walked inside and closed the door behind him.
It was a man wearing jeans and a black hoodie.
The hood was pulled up, covering his head.
Underneath it the man had on one of those masks dark romance readers loved.
Quinn should know, she’d read more than a few.
But this wasn’t sexy at all. Had Knox seen the books and decided to role play?
No, it wasn’t Knox. The idea immediately left her mind.
Knox would always ask for consent. Plus, this person wasn’t built like Knox.
He was shorter and not nearly as muscled.
Then the final piece of the puzzle slid into place in her frantic thoughts, Knox didn’t have a key and she doubted he knew how to pick a lock.
Quinn ducked her head back into the kitchen as she heard the man run upstairs into her office and then her bedroom.
Furniture crashed and things broke. Quinn’s phone was in the living room, but she’d have to leave the safety of the kitchen and be exposed for a brief moment before he could reach the living room.
Quinn heard the man begin to walk down the stairs.
It was now or never. Quinn tried to sprint from the kitchen in a crouch, but in her adrenaline-fueled body, her sock-clad foot slipped on the hardwood floor.
Quinn’s side slammed into the wall and she fell to the ground.
The man was on her before she could get her footing under her.
He had a hold of her ankle as his other hand grabbed her knee. He flipped her so that she was looking up at him. “My wallet is in my purse, right here,” she said, pointing to the bag sitting on the side table.
Quinn surged back, breaking his hold on her when he glanced away.
Not that it did much good. He didn’t talk, just continued toward her as Quinn crab walked backward, her heart racing, trying to keep some distance between them.
“What do you want?” Quinn asked. Yes, she was retreating.
But she was also getting closer to the living room where her cell phone was.
Again, he didn’t respond. He just cocked his head at her.
Then he moved faster than she thought he would.
Quinn kicked out, hitting him in his knee.
He grunted, but kept coming at her. Quinn rolled over and began to crawl on her hands and knees as fast as she could over the hardwood floor, but it wasn’t fast enough.
He grabbed her by the hair, yanking her head back, and using her hair as a way to direct her movements. She found herself on her knees, facing him. Quinn did the only thing she could think of. She punched him in the balls as hard as she could.
He grunted and stumbled back. Quinn rolled over and jumped to her feet racing for the back door.
She heard his footsteps pounding behind her.
She ran around the couch in her living room and fumbled with the lock on the door.
She could see him in the reflection of the glass closing in on her.
The lock turned and she yanked open the door at the same time she screamed for help at the top of her lungs.
Then she ran down the length of the multi-townhouse units, hitting each back door with her hand and screaming for help, over and over until a door opened and she was pulled inside.
“I got you,” an older woman said. She was in her fifties and dressed in a subtle suit and blouse.
Quinn was frantic. She was looking all around her and outside the windows, but she didn’t see him. It was hard to breathe, but she roughly dragged in air. “Someone broke into my house and attacked me. Please call the police.”
“My name is Jessica. Take a seat. I already called the cops when I heard you start to scream.” Jessica made sure to look out the door and double check the locks.
Quinn was still breathing heavily, her whole body reacting to the fear she’d just experienced. But her mind was clear. She wanted Knox. “Can I borrow your phone?”
Jessica handed over her cell phone. “Of course. Let me get you some water too.”
Quinn’s hands shook. She didn’t know Knox’s number, but she knew her office number. Juniper answered and Quinn almost started crying. “Juniper, I need your help.”
“Oh my god, Quinn. What happened? I was so worried when you weren’t here yet. You normally are.”
“Don’t say anything to the team from New York when they come in, but I need you to do two things for me. Call Nico and tell him to lock everything down, hard. Then call Bette and tell her to get a hold of Knox for me. I was just attacked in my townhouse.”
“I’m on my way! I’ll bring chocolate from the emergency stash and I’ll get Knox to you even if I have to go to the stadium, sneak into the locker room showers, and search every single one of them until I find him.”
Quinn started to laugh, which turned into full-blown sobbing. “Thank you, Juniper. I’m five houses down. I’m sure the cops will be here when you arrive,” Quinn managed to say between sobs.
Jessica was there holding a glass of water and gently rubbing her back. The cops arrived moments later and Quinn was thrown into reliving the situation over and over again.
Knox was on the field running some new plays when Bette came running out of the tunnel.
Will Ashton was on the field and so if there was a crisis, she’d be running for him.
Knox threw the ball, watching it sail through the air and land in Deon’s hands.
It was the perfect pass. He glanced back and Bette wasn’t running to Will.
She was running out onto the field shouting his name.
“What is it?” Knox asked, even as the coaching staff started to come toward them to see why practice was being interrupted.
“Juniper just called me!” Bette called, still running across the field to him.
“Juniper?” Then reality came crashing down. “What happened to Quinn? Is she okay?”
“Someone broke into her townhouse and assaulted her. She got away and is at the neighbor’s house four doors down.” Bette had to yell it because Knox was already running off the field, with his father, Will, Bette, and half the team in hot pursuit.
Knox was the pied piper for all of the employees of the Lexington Thoroughbreds in a high-speed caravan to Quinn’s house. Along the very short way, Knox called Ryan and told him what had happened.
“Local police can handle it,” Ryan told him, trying to calm him down.
“Ry, she works for SACC1. Someone is messing with her online betting platform. She fixed it, someone tries to hack it, and when they can’t, she’s attacked.
This isn’t random.” Knox knew it had to be her ex.
It just had to be. The timing was too coincidental for him.
“Please, I don’t want this just written off as a random break-in. ”
“Okay, I’ll send one of my agents down. But just to observe. They won’t take over unless there’s a glaring reason to do so, which there might be once you tell him everything about this gambling thing.” Sometimes it was a big help to have the head of the local FBI as a friend.
“Thank you! I’m here.” Knox flung his door open, drawing attention from the two cops who were standing at the front door.
“Whoa! It’s Knox Everett. Is this your place?” one of the cops asked.
“My girlfriend’s. Where is she?”
“She’s right down there. The house with the Thoroughbreds wreath on the door.”
Knox called out a thanks as he ran, now with the people exiting the long line of cars, filing in behind him. Knox knocked on the door and an attractive uniformed officer opened the door. She was around Knox’s age and he heard Jaylen start to sputter behind him.