Chapter 11
Yasmine
Hope woke her up from a dead sleep. In Yasmine’s dream, she’d been running from a horde of men, all of them waving red roses at her and shouting. She’d gotten through a door and slammed in behind her, heart racing in her chest, and they’d begun pounding on the door.
That’s when she’d heard Hope whining, but there was no dog in her dream.
For a moment, she was more than a little disoriented, as the yelling and door pounding seemed to have followed her out of the dream—and that’s when she realized it was; it was as real as Hope’s whines.
The dog was cuddled up to her on the bed, facing Yasmine’s bedroom door, and making a plaintive sound that made it difficult to make out what was being shouted.
Yasmine glanced at her clock.
It was after midnight.
What the heck…
Getting up from her bed, Yasmine went to her window, which overlooked her front yard. Hope hopped up and followed her, no longer whining now that Yasmine was moving, which meant Yasmine could hear the shouting more clearly.
“Bitch! Where the fuck is she? Is she in there?”
It was with a start of shock and fear that Yasmine realized the shouting was coming from her own front yard. Her front door was the one being pounded on. Her heart, which had barely come down from racing after her dream, picked right back up again.
“Hey!” Someone shouted from down the street. “I’m calling the cops, asshole!”
Cops. That was a good idea. Yasmine spun in place and grabbed her phone off the nightstand because the guy pounding on her door wasn’t stopping.
“I know you know where she is! Tell me where Stacy is!”
Yasmine definitely didn’t know who Stacy was, and even if she did, there was no way she was telling the asshole at her door.
Hope remained at her side, pressed against Yasmine’s thigh, as if she was trying to comfort her, until the flashing lights showed up on her street.
That was when she got her first good look at the man as he stepped away from her door, shaking his fist at the cops who showed up.
Tall, broad-shouldered, white with dark hair, and wearing a t-shirt and jeans.
His steps were slightly stumbling, indicating he was drunk.
A suspicion one of the officers confirmed after they got the man into the back of a patrol car.
“He’s drunk, so we’re going to take him down to the station to sober up. We’ll charge him with disturbing the peace, but there’s really nothing more we can do.” Officer Zucker shrugged.
“But… who is he? Why is he here? What if he’d gotten inside my house?” Yasmine wanted to scream at him because that didn’t sound like nearly enough.
“Well, he didn’t.” He said it like that was supposed to be reassuring. Sure, he hadn’t, but it didn’t sound as if there was much of a deterrent to him coming back and trying again. “Apparently, he’s looking for his wife, Stacy James.”
Definitely not someone she knew personally.
Yasmine’s jaw clenched as her mind raced through the students in her college class.
No Stacys in the past few years. It wasn’t as popular a name as it used to be.
But she didn’t know the names of every woman who had attended her classes at the shelter.
She knew that some of them did end up going back to their homes, rather than moving on.
Yasmine would not be at all surprised if the asshole was an abuser.
Why would this Stacy have given her husband Yasmine’s name?
She couldn’t have given him Yasmine’s home address.
Although Yasmine did give out cards to all the women, in case they needed financial advice at some point, those had her business address on them.
She let out a long, slow breath. It made a lot more sense that he’d found her card in his wife’s things, then looked her up and found her home address.
Right now, her brain was not firing on all cylinders, or she’d have figured that out a lot faster.
Well, fuck.
She knew there were risks when it came to working with the shelter, but this was the first time anything had followed her to her own home.
“What do I do if he comes back?” Yasmine asked with trepidation. She hugged herself with one arm, her other hand holding the robe she’d thrown on closed over her chest.
The officer shrugged again.
“Give us another call.” He eyed her door. “If you don’t have one of those video camera doorbells, maybe get one of those or something.”
Yasmine was starting to feel as furious at the officer as she was at the man who had just been arrested.
“I’m sure it’ll be very helpful if he breaks in next time and murders me, thanks.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice, strongly enough, it seemed to get through to the blockhead in front of her, and he frowned.
“We can only charge him for what he’s done, ma’am,” Officer Zucker said, actually managing to sound apologetic instead of indifferent this time. “You can call the station tomorrow morning to find out what’s going on with him. If he comes back, you can file a restraining order.”
Yes, a piece of paper would be so useful in stopping a drunken, raging asshole. Yasmine felt a headache coming on. It wasn’t his fault that the system was set up this way. She closed her eyes for a brief moment.
“Hopefully, you won’t see him again,” the officer said. “His wife will probably make her way home eventually, and he won’t bother you again.”
Yeah, Yasmine kind of hoped Stacy didn’t make her way home, and that she stayed safe wherever she was.
“Thanks,” Yasmine said, trying to make it sound as sincere as possible.
She was so tired, she just wanted to go back to sleep.
Several of her neighbors waved at her from where they’d been watching the proceedings from their front steps as she headed back up to her door.
She waved back, unsure of who else had called the cops but grateful to them.
There were far too many people in the world who wouldn’t even do that much if it wasn’t their problem.
Going back inside, she wasn’t surprised to find Hope waiting for her on the other side of the door. The dog whined, wagging her tail.
“Good girl,” Yasmine murmured, kneeling down to give her a good pet.
She’d been such a good girl, and Yasmine was glad she’d been there.
That would have been even scarier without Hope.
Not that she expected the dog to protect her if the jerk had gotten inside, but at least she hadn’t been totally alone while waiting for the cops to come and take care of him.
She really might need to look into getting a dog after Hope went home.
Also getting a video camera doorbell. Yasmine did not love adding technology to her life, but she probably would feel more secure having one.
Maybe a camera at her back door, too. Just in case.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be necessary, but Naomi would tell her, ‘better safe than sorry’.
And she would know. Tomorrow, Yasmine would have to give Naomi a heads-up about Stacy James’ husband and the fact that he was looking for her.
If the class at the women’s shelter was how Stacy James knew Yasmine, Naomi would be the most likely person to know how to get in contact with her and warn her about her husband looking for her—if she didn’t already know.
Sighing, Yasmine got to her feet. She’d noticed that she had a text message when she’d been calling 9-1-1, but she hadn’t looked at it. It must have come in after she’d fallen asleep.
Despite everything, her lips curved into a smile when she saw who it was from.
Zeus
Tiger and I are wishing you and Hope a good night.
It came with a picture of Tiger, who was on his back with his paws up in the air, looking incredibly goofy.
Yasmine
I’ve had better, but thanks. I hope you had a better night than me!
As soon as she sent it, she wondered if she should have waited. Hopefully, it didn’t wake him up. She hadn’t woken up to his text coming in. Likely, he wouldn’t get hers until tomorrow.
Except that almost as soon as she’d sent it, the three little dots that indicated he was typing appeared. Then her phone buzzed with his reply.
Zeus
Uh oh, what happened?
Yasmine
I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I wasn’t thinking.
Zeus
It’s fine, I was having trouble sleeping, anyway. What happened?
Yasmine
It’s kind of a lot to explain.
Zeus
Would it be easier to talk over the phone instead of texting it out?
Yasmine hesitated as she stared at his offer.
Keeping him awake when he was having trouble sleeping felt kind of selfish. On the other hand, he was offering, and she was feeling more awake than sleepy. Maybe telling him about it would help.
Yasmine
Are you sure?
Instead of getting a text response, after a moment her phone rang. Incoming call: Zeus.
“Hello?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure.” His deep voice rumbled with a chuckle. “Now what’s going on that messed up your night and has you up so late?”
Sighing, Yasmine made her way upstairs back to her bedroom.
As she walked, she told him the whole story, from waking up from her dream—although she didn’t tell him what the dream had been about—to the cop’s recommendations.
He listened through the whole thing, only making a few noises of approval or disapproval, never interrupting her.
It made her feel better when he snorted in disgust at the cop’s original callous statements. Validated in her own feelings.
“And now, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to fall back asleep,” she admitted. She’d made it back to her bed, but she was just lying here with the light on. “Even the idea of turning the light off makes me nervous.”
“Well, they’re definitely not going to let this guy out of the drunk tank this evening,” Zeus said reassuringly. “So, there’s no way he’ll return tonight.”
“Okay, well that makes me feel marginally better, although more nervous about tomorrow night.” She laughed with a lightness she didn’t feel; it was either laugh or cry right now, and she didn’t want to cry while on the phone with Zeus.
He was already staying up to talk to her; he didn’t need to deal with her melting down on top of that.
“You said his last name was James, right? Did you get his first name?”
“No.” Maybe she should have, but she’d been running on pure fear and adrenaline. She was starting to crash now, especially after hearing Zeus’ confidence that the man wouldn’t be back tonight. She yawned. “Just that his wife’s name is Stacy.”
“I’ll try to track him down. And I can text you some good security systems to choose from. If you want, I can help you put one in.”
“Oh… that would actually be really great.” Claudia could probably help with that, too, but chances were that she would send one of the guys from Black Fox to do the actual installation.
Zeus might even be the one she sent over.
Although maybe not. Yasmine still wasn’t sure how Claudia felt about Zeus after game night tonight.
Everything Yasmine saw told her he was a good guy.
Zeus
Relief flooded Zeus when Yas said a security system would be great.
Not just because he wanted her to get one, but because it sounded like she would let him install it.
Which would give him much more peace of mind about her safety than if someone else handled it.
This way, he could make sure she got the best, and that it was properly installed.
And if she couldn’t afford the best, then he’d just be able to quietly add whatever he thought was necessary.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t need it, but if this guy was looking for his wife and he’d fixated on Yas as someone who could tell him where his wife was… Men like that could be obsessive. And dangerous.
Zeus’ jaw clenched before he forced it to relax. Beside him, Tiger rolled over, as if he could sense Zeus tension, and placed his head on Zeus’ stomach. One hand still behind his head, Zeus used the other to scratch Tiger’s ears. The dog sighed happily.
“I’ll send the suggestions over first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.” She yawned again, sounding sleepier now.
Probably crashing, after the adrenaline rush she would have experienced.
“I’ve never had anything like this happen before.
I’ve done so many classes for women, but no one has ever blamed me for their wife leaving them.
Or, if they did, they didn’t come to my house over it. ”
“It might just have been because he was drunk,” Zeus said.
“Liquid courage and all that. Once he sobers up, he’ll hopefully realize what a close call he had and leave you alone in the future.
” And if he didn’t, Zeus would pay him a visit.
As soon as he was off the phone with Yas, he was going to find out everything about Mr. James that the internet had to offer.
“Here’s hoping.” Her voice was definitely getting softer now, as though she was falling asleep. “I’m sorry I’m keeping you up.”
“It’s fine. I want you to feel safe.”
“I do now, I think. I don’t know how I’ll feel tomorrow.”
“He’d be really stupid to return that quickly.
” Granted, Zeus had met some really stupid people in the world.
Some of them were just also privileged assholes who had never faced any real repercussions for their actions and thought they could get away with anything.
That wasn’t going to help Yas to hear, though.
“Depending on which security system you choose, I might be able to get it installed this weekend.”
“That would be good. How long do you think it’ll take me to get one of those video camera doorbells?”
“Definitely by this weekend. You can grab that at the hardware store.”
“Ah, my favorite kind of shopping.”
The dry tone of her voice made him chuckle.
“Most security systems will also include a doorbell like that and a backdoor camera.”
“Good to know.” She sighed. “I think I’m falling asleep now.”
“Good. Have a good rest of the night, Yas.”
“Thanks, Z,” she said teasingly, if sleepily. Zeus grinned. “You, too.”
Zeus hung up the phone and pulled the earbud from his ear. Tiger grumbled as he rolled to his side to grab his laptop from the nightstand. This wasn’t going to help him sleep, but he also knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep without doing a few things first.
Like grabbing some security system options for Yas.
And then looking up the police reports for this evening and finding out Mr. James’ full name, which would give Zeus the path to finding everything else he now wanted to know about the man. A little side project to ensure Yas’ safety.
Which was something he would do for anyone.
Although… maybe not at two in the morning. But he wasn’t going to examine the impulse to get it done immediately too closely.