Chapter 23 #2
That was a huge part of their earlier problem.
After the death of her parents, everything had fallen on her shoulders, and she hadn’t been prepared or trained in any way to handle the trauma of Kelly and her issues.
With Jaxon deployed, instead of having somebody to turn to, she had pushed everyone away, including him, isolating herself.
With tears still in her eyes, she kissed every inch of him, smiling in joy at his soft groans of delight. Massaging, caressing every last inch of him until he couldn’t stand it anymore, she soon found herself flipped onto her back.
He growled at her. “You think you’ll just keep teasing me?”
She giggled. “No, yet it seems I had forgotten so much, and there is joy in discovering all the little nooks and crannies that you loved to have touched.”
He smiled and nodded. “Remember though that two can play that game.” Then he proceeded to go over every inch of her, until she was crying out and begging for him to stop.
When he finally shifted and slid into position, she groaned, wrapped her thighs around his hips, and plunged upward, meeting him with every ounce of her being, as he drove home.
With his last surge, she came apart in joy, feeling it spread through her heart and her soul, until she was gasping in absolute delight at everything that had just happened between them.
When he slipped off to her side and pulled her into his arms, he whispered, “Are you okay?”
She rolled her head sideways to smile at him. “I can hardly breathe, but the answer is absolutely.”
He smiled and hugged her. “Good, now get some sleep.”
She closed her eyes, tucked up against him, and, when her heart finally stilled, she drifted off into a light sleep.
When she woke a little bit later, he was holding her tight, whispering against her ear, “Don’t move. We have a visitor. I’m keeping the dogs quiet, work to keep it that way. I want to know who this asshole is, not scare him off.”
She opened her eyes and reared back. Both dogs were lying on the bed staring at the door, growling low and deep in their throats. She staring at him, but he held a finger against her lips, even as he grabbed his prosthetic and pulled it on.
She knew it couldn’t be comfortable because he didn’t add the sock first, but that wouldn’t be his issue right now. He was bound and determined to get up and to deal with whatever threat was outside.
She quickly pulled on her nightie and stepped up beside him.
Her hands on both dogs at her side. Moving forward as a team, he pulled her slowly and carefully toward the door, and then she heard the footsteps.
The squeaky stairs were an issue her mother had always gone on about with her father, but he’d just smiled at her, saying, “There’s a darn-good reason for having squeaky stairs. ”
Keisha had never really understood until she had been a teenager, and trying to sneak into her bedroom was a lost cause.
She never could pull it off because invariably her father stood there in the hallway, that frown on his face, catching her.
Maybe that happened with Kelly too, once Keisha had gone off to college.
Even now, she realized that’s exactly what those squeaky steps were for.
Somebody was in her house and approaching them while they slept, and the only reason to be doing that was if they had nefarious intentions.
She looked over at Jaxon and whispered, “I don’t have a weapon in the house.”
He just nodded, and she frowned. When she went to open her mouth again, he shook his head.
As the footsteps neared her bedroom door, he pulled her to the side of it, behind him, and just waited.
The dogs strained, but thankfully seemed to understand.
With her hand on both, she managed to keep them silent, but the ridges were high on their backs and both dogs looked ready to pounce.
The doorknob turned ever-so-slightly, making her eyes widen and her heart slam against her chest. She realized the intruder not only knew the layout of the house, but he also knew where she would be. And, with that, she realized the extent of Kelly’s involvement yet again.
Feeling the pain of the betrayal and knowing she would have to deal with that later as well, the door was pushed open silently, but she couldn’t see who it was yet. The room was dark.
When the intruder lifted his handgun, and several shots were fired into the bed, she cried out, unable to hold it back.
Neither could she keep the dogs back. All hell broke loose at the dogs lunged and Jaxon slammed the door hard against the intruder, knocking the gun to the floor, as Jaxon grabbed the intruder’s arm, flipped the man to the ground, and immediately stomped on his arm and pulled it backward.
She barely heard the bone crack as the man screamed in pain, and the dogs barked and bit at what they could reach, and Jaxon was giving no quarter as he dropped down hard, his knees landing on the man’s back. He roared to her, “Call Richard.”
She immediately raced over to where she had plugged in her phone to recharge and placed the call. As she tried to explain, she was still frantic as she stared at the intruder.
Richard had to ask her to calm down.
“We have a gunman,” she gasped. “A gunman came into my house. Just shot up my bed. Come right now … please.”
“Are you okay?”
“We’re okay. Jaxon’s got him on the floor. He had a gun,” she cried out. “He came in here with a weapon.”
“I’m on my way, and I’ve got a police unit coming.” He hesitated, then asked, “Is the intruder alive?”
“Yes, yes,” she snapped, “but he’ll need the goddamn hospital.”
A note of humor was in his tone when Richard added, “I’m not entirely against that, but I don’t want Jaxon to kill him,” he stated firmly. “You keep him calm because chances are this guy is part of this whole Chat mess.”
“I’m sure he is,” she declared bitterly, “and he knew exactly which room to go to.”
At that, Richard went silent and then added, “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, … me too.” She sighed. “Me too.”
“And again let’s not jump to conclusions,” he pointed out.
“I’m not jumping to anything,” she stated in frustration and anger. “But it’s pretty-damn obvious how he found out exactly where to find me.”
“And you’re in the master bedroom, right?”
“Yes, but how did you know?”
“That’s where it would make the most sense as to where you’d sleep.”
“No, not when I have a sister who’s in a wheelchair,” she pointed out. “It would make more sense to have her in here, since it’s larger and has the bathroom attached. The only reason I’m in the master is because it’s upstairs, and Kelly can’t get up here.”
“Got it,” he muttered. She heard a vehicle start up in the background. “The black-and-white is on its way,” Richard announced, “and I am too.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you out of bed.”
He snorted. “Story of my life.”
“Maybe, yet I just …”
“I know. I know. You want it all to go away.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” she snapped, trying to still her shaking. “I’m not sure that’ll be an option at this point.”
“Let’s just get to the bottom of this first.”
When she disconnected, she shared, “Richard’s on his way, along with a black-and-white. He said to tell you to not kill him. He added please.”
Both dogs were milling around wanting to help but not knowing how. She loved their helpfulness, not to mention adding a bit of lightness to this crazy nightmare.
The man on the ground thrashed as if a fish out of water, and Jaxon pushed him back down to the floor. “I won’t kill him,” Jaxon replied, but then stomped the man in the back again. “Stop moving, or I might change my mind.”
She looked down at the man, then her gaze went to the weapon sitting on the ground.
“Don’t touch it. Leave it exactly where it is,” Jaxon snapped.
“I need to unlock the door so they can get in, but I don’t want to leave you with him.”
He smiled at her and added, “If he moves, I’ll break his other arm.”
At that, the other man started swearing at him, cussing him out heavily, but she believed Jaxon.
“Fine, but I want him to be conscious, so I can give him a good couple kicks myself,” she snapped.
“What an ass.” She raced downstairs to unlock the front door, then bolted back upstairs again.
She feared what she might find when she flew back into her bedroom, but nothing had changed.
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.
Jaxon asked, “Now, do you want to get some clothes on?”
“I do.” And then she giggled when she looked at him and asked, “What about you?”
He looked down at his nude body. “Not really much of an option until they get here,” he shared, with a note of humor, “but I won’t be embarrassed about it.”
“Neither am I,” she stated. “It’s a hell of a view.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she whispered her grin widening.
“Do you guys mind?” the gunman snarled. “That’s the last fucking thing I want to think about dangling above my head.”
“That’s your problem,” she snapped, staring down at him, “and I sure hope he ruined your arm for life.”
With that, he started to struggle again, and Jaxon immediately pushed on his broken arm ever-so-slightly, and the gunman started screaming at the top of his lungs.
She barely heard the clambering and the commotions downstairs, but, when she did, she raced out to the top of the railing and yelled for the cops to come up.
She was still pulling the t-shirt on over her head while they came barreling up the stairs.
She had to secure the dogs in the bathroom as they went crazy barking at the new arrivals.
When they got upstairs, the gunman was still screaming and hollering like he’d been shot. She looked over at them and said, “He’s fine, except for his arm.” Then she pointed to the gun. “That’s his.”
The officers looked at her, considered the scenario, then one immediately went over and secured the weapon. He asked, “Did you guys get shot?”