Chapter 12
Twelve
Harmony’s hands shook as she spoke to the police officers. Every inch of her shook. She couldn’t believe someone broke into her apartment. The day after someone else followed her there. What the hell was going on?
“Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?” the officer asked.
“I don’t fucking know!” Harmony threw her hands up, feeling like she just answered the same question. Maybe because she had.
The cop stilled, as if he wanted to say something to her.
“Sorry. It’s just… It’s been a really weird few weeks.”
“I understand,” the cop said, not sounding at all like he did.
He’d been giving her attitude since he showed up, like she was an inconvenience instead of a victim.
It was as if he thought she was making the whole thing up.
Her apartment was trashed. The door was wide open when she arrived home, her things thrown all around her apartment.
Clothes were tossed out of the drawers, her mattress flipped, sheets hanging off the edge and dangling on the floor.
Her record collection, the pieces of her parents she could never replace, was smashed into pieces and destroyed.
Every item she owned appeared to have been touched by whatever stranger felt they had a right to go into her apartment.
And the cop questioning her was acting like she deserved this bullshit.
“Can I have a word?” Captain Patrick asked the officer.
He straightened up really fucking quickly with his boss right there. “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
Captain Patrick nodded toward Harmony. “I meant with Ms. Gibbs.”
The cop slid her a look of disgust, then pasted on a fake smile. “Of course.” He moved away, sidling up to another officer who both glared at her.
“Ignore them,” Captain Patrick said softly.
She snorted. “Yeah, because that’s easy.”
“I know we don’t know each other well, but trust me when I say I believe you. Everything you’ve been through in the last few weeks is too much. And I have a hard time thinking it’s not all connected.”
“Me, too, but no one seems to believe that. The break-in, the dead woman, now this? What is going on?”
Captain Patrick shook his head. “I don’t know. But we need to figure it out. I’d like to put you in protective custody.”
“What does that mean?” Harmony asked.
“It means I don’t think you should be alone. I’d like you to live at Shelter in the Storm until we figure all this out.”
“I don’t like taking up a room from someone else.”
“Ms. Gibbs—”
“I think after all this you can call me Harmony.”
He smiled. “Please call me Marcus, Harmony. And the shelter is intended to be there for people who need somewhere safe to go. Right now, that seems like you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’m only here a few hours at night anyway.”
Marcus winced. “Yeah, about that. I don’t think you should be going anywhere. I think you need to be under protection around the clock.”
“What? No. I can’t do that. I’m so close to finishing my research and defending my Ph.D. I can’t walk away from it. That’ll mean it’s another year before I can finish. That’s not… I… There has to be another option.”
“Are you okay?” Damien asked from a few feet away.
Harmony hadn’t noticed him moving closer to her again. When he first arrived, he wrapped her in his arms and didn’t let go until the cops said they needed to question her alone. She did not want to step away from him, but the cops insisted, and he disappeared.
Hearing his rough, deep voice made her tremble again, but for an entirely different reason.
“I want Harmony to move into the shelter,” Marcus said.
“And not leave until this is all over,” Harmony added.
“You aren’t open to that?” Damien asked.
Harmony scoffed. “No. I have a job. I’m finishing school. I can’t just stop doing that. I need to go in. I need to be able to be in the lab, finishing my research. I’ve worked too long and too hard to walk away from it all when I’m so damn close.”
“What if you stay with me?” Damien offered.
The other man who arrived with Damien snorted.
Damien cut him a look.
“Uh… I… That’s not fair to you,” Harmony said.
“It’s literally what I do for a living. Protecting people,” Damien said.
“I don’t know.”
“If Damien is willing to do this, I would feel a lot better, Harmony. I know you trust him, and I do, too. This is a good option.” Marcus raised his eyebrows at Harmony, giving his approval of the idea.
“This is my partner, Jude Lyons.” Damien pointed to the other man, who waved.
“He can stay with us at all times if you want. Between the two of us, you’ll be under constant protection and never alone.
Our boss can call your boss and get permission for us to be in the building with you.
We’ll stay out of the way when you’re doing research or teaching or whatever you’re doing.
My place is secure and has a state-of-the-art security system.
Or we can go to a safe house if you would feel more comfortable there. ”
“No. I…” Harmony looked between the three men who wanted to keep her safe.
She bristled at it. At being told what to do.
But she was out of her element. They weren’t trying to take over her life because they were overbearing assholes who thought she couldn’t handle herself.
They were trying to protect her because shit was getting real.
Two people had been in her building, clearly targeting her, in less than twenty-four hours.
Countless people had shown up at her work. She was followed on a date with Damien.
She was in danger. And it was time she started accepting that truth, and the help that was being offered to her.
“I’ll stay with you. Thank you. Your partner doesn’t have to stay with us. I trust you.”
Damien smiled brightly. He rolled his lower lip in and pinched it between his teeth.
She had to look away. She wanted that lip between her teeth.
Those hands on her. All of him. It had been a long time since desire washed through her the way it did when she was around Damien.
He made her feel desired. Like she was more than a researcher.
She was a woman. A woman he wanted to strip naked and tease every last drop of pleasure from.
Harmony squeezed her thighs together, feeling the rush of moisture between them. “Can I get some things from my apartment to take with me?” Like a vibrator or two.
Marcus nodded and called the detective over. “This is Detective Foster. He’s going to be handling your case. He’ll escort you inside and make sure you’re safe.”
“I’m going, too,” Damien said.
Detective Foster glanced at Marcus before nodding.
Harmony followed the detective into her building with Damien right behind her, hoping she could get her vibrator without either of them seeing.
While also hoping she wouldn’t need it.
Damien showed Harmony to his guest room and excused himself to give her a little bit of privacy to settle in.
He absolutely was not going to think about the vibrator he saw her slip into her bag when she was packing up her stuff and thought he wasn’t looking.
He’d just been hard as a rock since, but it was fine.
No big deal. A woman had a right to an orgasm whenever the hell she wanted one, and he was not going to judge her for it.
He couldn’t promise he wouldn’t think about it the first moment he had alone to do the same, though.
Before that, he needed to figure out dinner for the two of them. He was sure Harmony was starving. He definitely was. The cops took their sweet ass time going through her apartment, only sped up when Marcus got on them about the whole thing.
Damien noticed the way the cops first on the scene rolled their eyes and made comments he couldn’t hear. Damien had no doubt they believed she was either pretending or judging her for the reward she got from Grant Pickens. Either way, they weren’t doing their fucking jobs, and it pissed Damien off.
A noise behind Damien had him turning from the pantry to look at a red-faced Harmony. He closed the pantry and was by her side in five steps, pulling her into his arms. “Hey, you’re safe now. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
How hard she clutched his shirt told him she was more scared than she’d let on.
She didn’t reply, burying her face in his chest and shaking through every breath she took.
Damien ran his hand up and down her spine, wishing he could promise her more than her safety.
Wishing he could figure out what the hell was going on and take down whoever was scaring her like this.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, pulling back from him and wiping her eyes. “I messed up your shirt. I shouldn’t be—”
“Yes, you should be. My shirt is fine. And you should be whatever you need to be. Crying, screaming, pissed off, terrified, wanting revenge, all of it. You should be whatever you are because there’s no rulebook for this kind of thing.”
She drew a shuddering breath. “Thanks. I feel like… I don’t even know.”
“I know.”
“You don’t seem like anything bothers you.”
“It’s my training. I’ve been dealing with things like this for years, so it’s different for me. Plus, they’re not in my personal space.”
She shivered and looked around. “They might be after this. With me here, they might come here.”
“And they’ll regret it if they do.” Damien didn’t offer any room for misinterpretation. If someone came after her when he was around, they wouldn’t be around long enough to tell their side of the story.
“Thank you for letting me stay here.”
“You can stay here as long as you want, Harmony.”
“Thanks.”
Damien smiled at her, then remembered he was going to fix dinner. “Are you hungry?”
“Always.”
He chuckled. “Same. I was looking at what I can make. What sounds good to you?”
She snorted. “I don’t know. I’m not very good at planning out dinner. I usually grab something quick and easy.”