23. Lochlan
CHAPTER 23
Lochlan
Watching Dario cry like this is the worst feeling ever. Worse than standing on one of Orson’s Legos.
Thank god I checked the security camera app.
I like to keep half an eye on Queenie when Dario’s in the office to put his mind at ease. He does the same when I leave Rocky at the station when we go on a call. But I know both of us are aware of respecting each other’s privacy, so I never linger for too long. Nine times out of ten, I just find myself watching Queenie plodding over to her water bowl and back.
But not today.
When I first got a notification, I just assumed Dario had changed his mind and come home to walk Queenie after all and would be turning the cameras off momentarily. Perhaps his day had turned out to be less busy than he’d thought? But the second time I looked, I knew something was really wrong.
The other guy wasn’t armed or anything, so I didn’t think Dario was being robbed. But his body language was totally off, and within moments, it was crystal clear what was going on.
I still don’t know how, but Shane found Dario.
There was no way in hell I was going to let him face that alone.
I never even meant to invite anyone else along to the ‘Fuck Off Back To Where You Came From’ party. I just dropped a message in our group chat saying that it looked like Dario’s violent ex was in his house and, unless anyone was gonna stop me, I was off to do something about it.
It turns out nobody was interested in stopping me. They all dropped whatever they were doing and were across town in minutes. Captain Valentine didn’t just call the new police captain. He also contacted the current One-Thirteen watch to see if they wanted to lend a hand if they weren’t on a call.
He might come across as all mature and boss-like. But that petty bitch loves some good dramatics as much as the rest of us, if not more.
I was almost the first to arrive on the scene. Rico just beat me to it. So while Rocky ran inside to defend his other daddy, my lieutenant held me up for a few seconds, warning me to be careful and suggesting we wait for the police. We didn’t know if Shane was still concealing a weapon, after all.
But wild hogs couldn’t have kept me from running to my boyfriend’s side, and I got in there as soon as I convinced Rico that I wouldn’t do anything dumb. We both knew the chances of my actually keeping that promise were low. However, he probably sensed that unless he was going to physically restrain me, I wasn’t gonna wait outside a second longer.
My natural instinct is probably always gonna be to protect the people I love, especially Dario. Not because he can’t take care of himself, but because he has the biggest, most precious piece of my heart.
However, as soon as I stumbled into that kitchen, I could tell that Dario was holding his own. I hadn’t been able to watch the feed as much as I would have liked when I was driving, so I wasn’t sure what state I’d find them in.
I was terrified I might not find them there at all.
I never push Dario to talk about his time with Shane any more than he feels able to. But it’s clear to me that if he hadn’t escaped when he did, Shane would have done everything in his power to lock him away so he could live forever under his thumb. I don’t think it was unreasonable to panic that Shane would be capable of kidnapping.
Hearing him accuse me of the very same thing made my blood boil. I understood why Dario got upset over that. But I knew that when Shane tried to walk out that door, he was going to be met by some of my best friends who were going to be just as unhappy to see him as me.
I didn’t expect the whole damn squadron and then the cavalry to boot.
Neither did Dario, I’m sure. I hold him tightly as he clings to me, sobbing against my chest. He was so brave and strong, facing down his abuser when he thought he was all alone. But I don’t blame him for letting it all out now.
“It’s okay, baby,” I murmur and kiss his hair. “I’ve got you.” After a few more minutes, he starts to calm.
The One-Thirteen on duty obviously get a real call and has to hightail it, but not before they turf Sawyer out of the rig despite his requests to pull the horn again.
This is why he’s not allowed to ride up front. Ever.
But with the men and women in uniform gone and Shane in custody on his way to the station, the atmosphere on the sidewalk becomes more relaxed. Some of Dario’s neighbors have come out and are asking what happened. Luckily, I can tell that Rico and Del are answering their questions diplomatically to respect Dario’s privacy as much as we can after such a public scene.
Dario takes a deep breath, wipes his face, and I pull a tissue from my pocket to blow his nose. I always have stuff on me like that now because of Rocky. My sister taught me the value of good ‘Mary Poppins’ pockets after she had Orson.
Thinking of Rocky reminds me of our other loyal pup. “Where’s Queenie?” I ask once Dario seems a little more composed.
“I put her out back so she’d be safe,” he says. “I was worried Shane might try and kick her.” His face crumples again. “He tried to kick Rocky. Lochlan, I’m so sorry?—”
“Hey, hey, Rocky’s fine,” I assure him, pulling him back into a hug before he can spiral again. “I’ll double check him later, but he’s right here, wagging his tail.”
“He bit Shane’s jeans,” Dario mumbles into my T-shirt.
I give a good belly laugh. “That’s my boy,” I say fondly.
Captain Valentine is approaching, and we share a nod as he reaches us. “Hey, Cap,” I say so Dario knows we’re not by ourselves anymore.
Indeed, he peeks his head up and sniffs. “Captain Valentine,” he says in awe. “Thank you so much. You don’t know what it meant to walk out here and realize you’d all come to help. I wish you didn’t have to, but?—”
“Ahh, we’re all family here, son,” Cap says, shaking his head. “Helping each other is what we do. Give it a couple of weeks, I’m sure someone will turn around and ask for a hand moving a couch.”
“I’m not sure about that,” Dario says with a cute little frown. “But if anyone needs their antivirus software updated, give me a shout.”
Cap laughs and I hug Dario even closer to me.
“Our new police captain has asked you to come down to the station and give a statement, if that’s all right?” Cap raises his eyebrows at Dario, who looks at me.
“Can Lochlan come with us?”
Cap grins. “Of course. I might have to draw the line at Rocky, though.”
“He can stay here with Queenie,” I suggest. “Shall we go rescue her from the yard and lock up?”
Dario nods. “I’ll need to tell work where I am,” he says glumly. “I hope I’m not in trouble.”
Captain narrows his eyes. “If there’s any trouble, you tell them to come talk to me.”
As it turns out, Dario’s manager is rightly horrified when he explains he’s had a home invasion. I don’t blame Dario for skipping over the part where it was his psycho ex who broke in. Knowing Dario, he won’t want his colleagues to walk around on eggshells for him or treat him with kiddie gloves.
Luckily, his manager recognizes that going to the police is more important than getting back to the office. He promises to push some important meeting back, and tells Dario he can work from home the rest of the week.
While he’s on the phone, I let Queenie inside. She’d been sitting at the back door whimpering, clearly keen to come in and check that Dario was okay. I’d heard her howling when I first gotten out of my truck, but she quietened down once I got inside and added my voice to the altercation. I guess she knows that I will never, ever let anything bad happen to her daddy.
As Dario closes the call, he stills for a second, looking at the phone in his hands. “So I guess you heard that my name’s really Miguel.”
That isn’t what I’d been expecting him to say. “Oh, I knew that after I met your family,” I said lightly. “A few of them had too many margaritas to keep it straight. But I figured you wanted to be called whatever you like most. Do you want to go back to Miguel if Shane’s no longer a threat?”
He scoffs. “Unless he gets some serious help, he’ll probably always be a threat to someone, sadly. I don’t know if he’ll get charged with anything but…I think you guys might have scared the crap out of him enough that he won’t come back and bother me.”
I step closer and wrap my arms around him, loving how he melts into my embrace. “That was the intention,” I admit. “I wanted to show him that you don’t just have one family looking after you now. You have three.”
“Three?” he yelps, looking up at me in confusion. But it’s obvious to me.
“Well, yeah. You already have your awesome family, and now you’ve got both of mine, too.” I wink at him. “My mom and sister might disown me if I don’t bring you over to meet them soon.”
He swallows and searches my face for a moment. “This feels like a dream.”
I lean down to kiss him. “If it’s a dream, then I never want to wake up, baby. Now, come on. The sooner we go give your statement, the sooner we can get you back home and crash.”
He nods and lets me lead him out of the house again, securing the dogs behind the door as we go. “We’ll be back soon!” Dario calls through the wood to them.
I can see Gene and his horde have left, which is understandable. I can barely manage with one dog, yet he and his wife have five small human beings to contend with. But it looks like everyone else has stayed, and they all turn to look at us as we walk down the path, heading for my truck. No way I’m letting Dario drive right now. He needs to rest.
“Are you all right?” Del asks as we approach.
“That asshole got what was coming to him,” Lili adds with savage satisfaction.
Rico nods. “He had no idea who he came to mess with. If you ever hear a peep from him again, you know we’ve got your back.”
Dario looks around them all with wide, glassy eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you all. You don’t even know me.”
“Psh,” Yara says, skipping over to him. “Sure we do. You’re Beast’s boyfriend. Here, take a couple of these. You need the sugar.”
“Why do they call you that?” Dario asks as he helps himself to two of Yara’s chocolate and banana frosted cupcakes, handing me one.
“What, Beast?” I ask and he nods. “Because my name Bell with an ‘e’ on the end means ‘beautiful’ in French, so it’s like the fairytale, Beauty and the Beast.” I feel super proud to know a smart thing like that, even when Lili launches herself against my side and gives me a noogie.
“Plus, it would be ridiculous to call this big, dumb lug a pretty name like ‘Bell,’ huh?”
Dario turns to look at me with such a soft expression. “I think he’s the smartest person I’ve ever met.”
I know he doesn’t really mean that. But hearing him say it still makes me all fuzzy inside anyway. I tune out as Lili, Teddy and Sawyer continue to rip on me. I don’t mind it. “Bye, guys!” I call out, letting them know that they can keep joking among themselves if they like. All that matters to me now is how Dario’s hand slips against mine, and we walk the rest of the way down the sidewalk to my truck.
Waiting beside it and looking like the Queen of England is Mrs. Bloom with Miss Margot Fonteyn. “So here’s the young man you’ve been hiding away from me?” she says instead of something normal like ‘hello.’ I roll my eyes, but I’m still smiling.
“Dario, this is the One-Thirteen’s neighbor, Mrs. Bloom and her dog, Margot. Mrs. Bloom, I’d like to introduce you to Dario Garcia-Perez—my boyfriend.”
Maybe she was trying to pretend like she was annoyed with me, but she can’t stop the big smile that breaks free as she eagerly waves Dario over to her for a hug. “Sylvia, please. Aren’t you handsome? No wonder that horrid young man was trying to get you back. But I daresay you’ve gotten yourself a considerable upgrade with Mr. Bell, here.”
I try not to blush. “Aww, thanks, Mrs. B.”
She shoos me off, but she’s still smiling. “Mr. Garcia-Perez, I insist that you come join me and Margot Fonteyn for dinner sometime next week. Perhaps when this one is off fetching cats out of trees? We can have a good old gossip.”
Dario looks a bit taken aback, but he still beams. “I’d love that. Thank you, Mrs. Bloom.”
“Sylvia,” she corrects.
He lets out a little chuckle. “Sylvia,” he agrees.
Eventually, we make it into my truck, and I start driving us to the police station. I keep my music low so it’s not too quiet, but I also don’t bug Dario with silly chit-chat, either. I’m guessing he might need some time to just sit with his thoughts.
It’s not a long drive. Nowhere in this town really is. But a minute or so before we reach our destination, he speaks.
“Dario.” I glance over at him and he nods. “Miguel isn’t who I am anymore. I want to be Dario.”
I thread our hands together. “You already are Dario,” I assure him. “My boyfriend, the badass.”
He laughs, but I mean it.
He’s the bravest man I’ve ever met, and I’m proud to call him mine.