31. Emma
31
EMMA
T he shadowy figure moves toward the bed and my heart freezes in my chest.
Am I still asleep?
Am I dreaming this?
The figure gets closer and closer as Finn bolts awake from my scream and pushes himself upward.
“Emma? Honey, what is it?”
The figure startles as if surprised to see someone else in my bed, but before I can tell Finn what I see, he flies out of the bed with a yell and tackles the shadow to the floor.
No, not a shadow. A real person and Finn sees them too.
Holy shit.
Clutching at the covers, I draw them over my naked body while Finn wrestles with the stranger on the floor. Grunts of pain rise and a muffled yell follows. I scramble at my bedside table in search of the light, knocking aside my phone and the glass of water. My trembling fingers finally locate the light switch and I turn it on, filling the entire room with golden light.
Half a second later, Finn is on his feet with the stranger and they wrestle until the stranger, clad entirely in black, breaks apart and punches Finn square in the face. Finn flies backward into my bedside table, crashing into the light and once again plunging the entire room into darkness.
“Finn!”
The stranger slams through my bedroom door, but as Finn chases after him, his leg appears to give out, and he falls to the ground with a frustrated yell. The front door slams open, echoing through the house. Finn is back on his feet, chasing after the intruder.
I can’t move.
I’m so fucking scared. My heart races like a blur in my chest and my muscles have turned to stone.
I need to help Finn.
I need to get any kind of help!
Peering through the dark, it takes me a painfully long time to locate my phone in the mess of my now-destroyed bedside table. Luck is thankfully on my side and I turn my phone on. Just as I hit emergency, a hand closes over my wrist and a scream of terror wrenches from my throat.
“It’s me!” Finn says as I jerk away from him, then clutch at him.
“Finn!”
“It’s me, it’s okay.”
“Where is he? Did you catch him? Are you okay?”
Finn wipes at his face in the dark, and while I can’t see the features on his face, I can make out that he is shaking his head.
“No. I’m so sorry, Emma.”
“Fuck, it’s okay. I’m—I’m calling the police.”
“You chased the intruder?” Once again, Detective Anderson stands in my lounge with Detective Mosse just behind him while two other officers conduct a search of my bedroom.
“Yes.” Finn sits beside me, his hand firmly locked in mine. We’re dressed now, and two lukewarm cups of tea sit on the table in front of us. I can’t stop shaking, no matter how hard I will myself to get it under control. Even Finn’s touch isn’t enough to calm my frayed nerves.
“How far?”
“I fell”—Finn’s hand tightens around mine—“in the bedroom. An old war wound. By the time I reached the front door, he was gone. I checked up and down the street but there was no one in sight.”
“And you’re sure it was a man?” Detective Anderson scribbles quickly into his notebook.
“Well, I wasn’t groping around for a pair of tits,” Finn snaps. “But yeah, I’ve wrestled enough men in my time to recognize a male build.”
“Your doors were locked, yes?” Detective Mosse asks, pacing around my lounge as if looking for something.
“Yes. I’m certain of it. Because of the sleepwalking, I’ve been double-checking that my door is locked before I go to bed.” I know it’s the truth and yet something about the way Detective Anderson looks at me makes me feel like I’m on the spot. As if my truth is a lie.
“Is there any chance you could have opened them while you were sleepwalking?” Anderson asks.
My lips part, but the words catch on my hesitation. Given what happened at the cabin, I can’t answer that for sure, so instead I noiselessly shake my head.
“Whether she did or didn’t doesn’t matter,” Finn snaps, and his thumb traces over my knuckles. “There was someone here regardless. She didn’t dream him up. I wasn’t fighting a ghost.”
Finn’s right eye is blooming with a bruise and his lower lip swells with split skin. He really did fight for me. He chased that man out of my apartment with no thought of his nakedness or his own safety.
“I understand that sir,” Anderson says stiffly. “I’m just making sure to get all of the facts while they’re still fresh.”
Finn shifts as if he’s about to say more so I tighten my grip on his hand to try and keep him calm. The last thing I need is this asshole cop deciding to cart Finn away for arguing or something.
“Given that your car was broken into but not stolen, we’re working with the theory that the thief may have been watching your apartment in the hopes of getting a bigger score,” Detective Mosse says, finally stopping her walk around the lounge.
“You think it’s the same person?” I ask quietly, leaning a little further into Finn.
“It’s possible.” Anderson closes his notebook. “It’s pretty common in these types of situations, especially when the car thief notices something about their target that suggests a larger score inside. Since they stole your laptop, they may have been waiting for you to secure a replacement. Wait a few more weeks for you to lower your guard and then if you opened the door for them, they walked right in.”
Finn stiffens like a board but, thankfully, doesn’t say anything.
The police don’t stay for much longer after the discussion. The two policemen in my bedroom end up making a mess but they take enough pictures and evidence that when they leave, they tell me to sleep well. Something that’s surely impossible.
Detective Mosse asks us to come down to the station tomorrow to provide official statements, and then they leave too, just as the sun stretches its long golden fingers over the horizon.
Silence falls in the apartment, and Finn slides one arm across my shoulders. He pulls me close against him and presses his lips to my forehead. His lips are hot and inflamed from his injury, and the split rests like a firm line against my skin.
Tears brim but don’t fall. Over and over, my mind replays the shadow coming toward me and my chest aches.
“I’m so sorry,” Finn says, his words writing into my skin. “I’m sorry.”
“None of this is your fault,” I reply, clutching at his T-shirt. “You protected me. I just…this whole thing is just one big scary fucking mess.”
“I know, sweetie. I know.”
Music fills the air and Finn turns to his phone. His hand slides from my shoulders to my back, and he begins to stroke in circles when he answers.
“Hello? Hey Caspian. No, we’re fine. Yeah it was…some fucker was here. I had him and then my fucking leg just…” Finn sighs tightly and my heart goes out to him. He did his very best to help me but the weakness in his leg got in the way.
I don’t blame him in the slightest.
“Yeah, she’s with me. No, we’re okay. Cops just left.” His hand continues to move as he listens to whatever Caspian is saying on the other end, then he chuckles humorlessly. “Honestly, I would have chased the fucker all over the city if I’d seen which way he went. No, I’m not hurt. Not really.”
His head tilts down and then he offers me the phone. “Caspian, if you want to talk to him?”
I nod and take it, pressing the skin-warmed screen to my cheek. “Hello?”
“Hey.” Caspian’s warm tones fill my head. “Are you okay? Finn says you are but I kind of need to hear you say it for my own sanity.”
“I’m okay.” A weak smile pulls at my lips. “I can’t stop shaking and my stomach is in knots but I’m okay. He didn’t touch me. Finn didn’t let him get close.”
“Good. I’m so sorry. If you need anything, you call me, okay? Or Asher. We’re here for you, okay?”
“Thank you.” Handing the phone back to Finn, I rest against his shoulder and close my eyes.
This is fucking insane. And yet, underneath the turmoil, a bubble of relief remains in my chest.
I’m not crazy. The shadow in my home? That’s real.
Someone is targeting me. Maybe it is just some thief trying to make a quick buck off of my life. Maybe it’s something more serious.
Whatever the reason, I know I’m not crazy.
“Will do, thanks.” Finn ends the calls, slides the phone back into his pocket and then he stands.
“Do you have a suitcase nearby?”
Wiping a few tired tears away from my eyes, I sit up and nod. “What? Yeah, I do. Why?”
“Where is it?”
“Why?” I track Finn and he strides to the door.
“Because I’m not letting you stay here for another minute. We’ll pack, and then you’re coming to stay with me.”