Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
I couldn’t go home. I really wanted to go home, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t safe. Every available officer in the state of Georgia was out looking for Regan, and I was ordered to stay put. Dylan was bringing a detective to me.
I waited, sitting on a barstool while André tried and failed to get me to drink some water in between cleaning up the broken glass in the bathroom.
When Dylan told me that Regan was missing, I dropped the glass in my hand.
My phone went next, and then I blacked out.
I hadn’t told André what happened, only managing to tell him that Dylan was coming and beg him to shut the curtains.
Given the events of the morning, he was surprisingly calm.
He was pleading for me to drink again when there was a knock at the door, and he went to open it. When the detective strolled in behind my brother, André cast a glance in my direction. “David, what’s going on?”
“He hasn’t told you?” Dylan asked.
“No, all he said was that you were coming over and he asked me to pull the curtains.”
I felt like I was underwater and people were talking above the surface. I could hear them, but the words meant nothing, and I couldn’t respond.
Dylan looked at me with a sad expression, then told André that Regan had decided to add escape to his long list of charges. My vision blurred, and I choked back a sob. The strangled noise had André rushing over to me, wrapping an arm around my waist.
Dylan’s gaze flickered between us, then he shook his head to clear it. “David, this is Detective Steele. He needs to ask you some questions. I know it’s hard but—”
“It’s okay.” Andre’s arms around me gave me a strength I’d never known. I looked at the detective.
He’d been quite a fit officer once, but years behind a desk had caused him to put on a little weight around the middle.
The high and tight haircut likely determined a military background.
His grey eyes were intense, almost scary.
He was new to the case, probably since escapes were taken more seriously.
He stepped forward, getting straight to the point.
“I’m sorry to put you through this again, David, but I’ve glanced at the file so that at least prevents us from going back to the beginning. Can you tell me about what happened when you left court yesterday?”
I spoke softly, as if the walls were going to tell me.
“Um, we drove straight home from the courthouse. My…” What was I supposed to say? Boyfriend was way too soon. Partner seemed even worse. “André was waiting for me outside the apartment—he flew out as a surprise. We went to dinner, walked on the river for a while, and we’ve been here ever since.”
“You didn’t see anything out of the ordinary?”
“No.”
“No sense of being watched?”
I scoffed. “I always feel like I’m being watched.”
Detective Steele turned to André. “Did you see anything odd while you were waiting outside the apartment?”
André shook his head. “Not at all.”
“Did anyone catch your attention when you were walking on the river?”
“I got a nosebleed,” I said. “Someone with a baby stopped to ask if I was okay. There were people closing the shops and going home. Aside from that, no.”
“And nothing out of place at the restaurant? Or here?”
André and I both shook our heads.
Detective Steele nodded and reached into his pocket. “If you think of anything, or see anything strange, this is my personal cell. You can reach me anytime.”
He took down the name of the restaurant, thanked us, and left.
“Are you okay?” Dylan asked me once the door clicked shut.
“I-I don’t know.” André stood behind me, and I collapsed against his chest. “I can’t go home. That’s the first place he’ll go. It’s only a matter of time before he finds me here. Even with their security. He’ll find a way to con his way in. It’s what he does”
“We’ll figure out something David,” Dylan said. “He can’t run forever.”
André spoke next. “When do you go back to work?”
“I don’t,” I confessed. “They fired me for missing too much time with court.”
“They can do that?”
“They did, and they’ll probably talk their way out of any kind of complaint. It’s not worth the fuss anyway, I wasn’t making much there.”
André took a deep breath, and I could sense him sharing a look with my brother over the top of my head, then Dylan gave André a slight nod.
“What are you two scheming?” I asked, twisting in my seat to look at André.
“Come stay with me. Just until this all blows over.”
My heart leapt into my throat. “You don’t have to do that. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into and we’ve been a thing for like, five minutes. You’ll end up sick of me—”
André silenced me with a finger under my chin, tipping my gaze up to him.
“I have a penthouse apartment in downtown New Orleans, a city with a population of about 400,000 people, with the best security money can buy. Even if he could find you, good luck getting in, much less up to my floor without getting caught. I have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office, and a full terrace. I’m married to my job, which means that I’m hardly ever home.
If you flat out don’t want to see me, you don’t have to.
I can keep you safe, and keep this casual as we want, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t offer. ”
“You really don’t have to do that…” My throat was so tight that my voice was barely a whisper.
“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” His thumb brushed along my cheekbone, where a lone traitorous tear had slipped free. “Let me keep you safe, David.”
“I called out of work tonight,” Dylan spoke up, almost as if to remind us that he was in the room. “I can take you home to get some stuff.
I looked down at my pajamas—I couldn’t leave in those.
“Did you rip any of my clothes when you tore them off last night?” I whispered to André.
My brother groaned. “Ugh, I did not need to hear that!”
With that deep chuckle I loved, André said, “Not to the point of destruction. They’re still on the bathroom floor.”
André followed me into the bedroom, where we picked through the clothes to separate them and got dressed.
I was terrified to go back home—even just to pack.
One would think that Regan wouldn’t be foolish enough to show his face anywhere near me, but he’d done it before.
He knew how to get to me, and he knew exactly who to con to get exactly what he wanted.
It was only a matter of time before he found me again.
“Do you want me to come with you?” André asked, handing over my jacket. I took a moment to admire him. The jeans he wore seemed tailor-made, clinging in all the right places. Christ, the man even made a plain white t-shirt look luxurious.
“You don’t have to. You don’t have to do any of this,” I gestured around the room, looking everywhere but at him. “If you made the choice to leave and walk away right now, I’d understand.”
André crossed the room and wrapped his arms around me from behind. “This is the last time I’m going to tell you,” he said, voice low and commanding. “I’m going to help you in any way you’ll let me. This is the last out you’re ever going to offer me because I don’t want ‘em. Understood?”
I relaxed against his chest, letting out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding.
“Why don’t I stay here and get our flight booked. Is tonight okay with you?”
I nodded. It was never too soon to hide myself from my escaped convict ex. “I have no idea what to pack.”
Andre shrugged. “Just the essentials. Anything outside of that we can get for you.”
“I don’t want to be kept,” I reiterated.
“How many times are you going to make me tell you?” I spun in André’s arms, resting my chin on his chest. “I’m not talking about Tom Ford suits or sweeping you off to the Hamptons. If you need toothpaste, or crave fish tacos in the middle of the night—”
“I don’t like fish.”
“David…”
I zipped it.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.” He paused, then said, “Although, I doubt Regan will be able to get to a secluded beach in Jamaica.”
“No!” I rolled my eyes. “But I will take you up on those tacos.”
“Done,” he said, kissing my nose. “Go get your things, and I’ll get your non-fish tacos.”
I grabbed my phone and keys off the nightstand, then followed Dylan from the room.