15. Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Lucy
I’d spent the past few days trying to keep myself busy.
I cleaned my apartment for the first time since Tara left, which didn’t take long considering how small the place was.
I had a video chat with my parents from their hotel room in Paris, both bubbling with excitement when they showed me the view from their balcony.
I texted back and forth with Tara a few times, she was getting ready to leave for her retreat.
I spent a few hours sitting at my desk, putting together my work for the interview next week.
By the time Thursday rolled around, I had done everything I could think of to distract myself from what happened between me and Dax.
I hadn’t heard from him since Sunday night, and tomorrow I had my next shift at Bellissima.
I was anxious to see him again. Had he learned anything new?
What about that sketchy nightclub? Frankly, I’d expected to be a little more hands-on in our mission.
Truthfully, I was grateful I hadn’t needed to be.
Despite the strong front I’d put on, I was scared deep down.
The more we found out about these guys, the more dangerous they seemed.
Even though things were awkward between us now, I trusted Dax.
I didn’t really know why, considering how shady he responded when I asked about his past. It was just a gut feeling that I knew he was on my side.
And gut feelings were all I really had at the moment.
Then again, gut feelings were also what had me with my legs wrapped around his waist, our mouths ravaged against one another as his hot hands scaled down my back.
I needed to stop thinking about him.
I was standing above my bed in my underwear and a T-shirt, folding laundry into neat stacks on my bed while sneaking bites of salted caramel ice cream straight from the pint. I was alone, in the comfort of my own space, when a sudden chill crept up my spine.
I was being watched.
I knew it, deep in my subconscious. I shakily set the ice cream down on my nightstand and walked my way over to the window. I peered out at the street, trying to figure out why I was so sure of this feeling in my gut.
Then I saw him. A dark figure in a hoodie standing on the other side of the street, his face disguised by shadows. In his hand was a camera, pointed directly at my window.
My heart dropped as I jerked back from the window, closing the curtains as I stumbled backward.
I snatched my phone from where it sat on my bed. I needed to call the police.
Instead, my fingers moved against the screen and dialed a number that wasn’t 911. Dax picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?” His deep tremble stilled me in place.
“Dax? Something happened. I need your help,” I whispered like the man with the camera could hear me from my studio.
“Where are you?” His voice was sharp and precise. I heard the roar of an engine in the background.
“I’m at home,” I breathed out. “Somebody has been following me. Taking pictures. He’s here right now, outside my apartment building.” I couldn’t help the shake in my voice as I held back tears.
“I’ll be there soon. Start packing a bag of whatever you might need, you’re not staying there. Keep the door locked. Do you have anything there that could be used as a weapon? Pepper spray or anything?”
The urgency in Dax’s voice had me glancing around the small space in unease.
My eyes locked on the small knife block sitting on the counter in the kitchenette.
I made my way to it and slid the handle of the largest knife into my palm.
I felt like I was stepping into a role in a horror movie. A nightmare.
“I have a knife?” I hoped that would be enough as I threw my backpack on my bed and stuffed my laptop into it along with whatever was sitting on top of the clean stack of clothing I had been folding when Tara called.
“Okay, Luce, that’s okay. Just keep that next to you.
Stay on the phone with me, I’m almost there.
” His voice was deep and calming over the line.
I wanted to say something else to him, but I was too busy frantically shoving whatever I could into my bag.
I ran to the window and peeked out of it again, yet now there was nobody in sight.
Dax’s quiet breathing and the growl of his car’s engine was all I heard from the phone.
I flew across the room, grabbing my sketchbook from the desk and setting it next to the backpack on my bed.
My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to burst out of my chest.
What was going to happen? The minutes seemed to slow and speed up at the same time. How much longer until Dax was here? What would happen once he was?
I looked through the peephole of the front door but didn’t see anyone in the dim hallway outside.
Jittery nerves possessed my body, and I sat on the floor in front of my bed.
This was the same spot I sat with Tara nearly two weeks ago.
After she had been attacked and left for dead. Now the same thing could happen to me.
Was tonight going to be the night they got me too? The night they took everything I had and destroyed my very soul?
A rapid knock sounded at the door. My ears were flooded by the sound of my shuddering pulse.
I tried to breathe through my nose and out through my mouth.
Nothing was slowing the rapid beat of my heart, and stars burst into my vision as I stood up abruptly, the knife clutched in my hand.
I didn’t know if I should move toward the door or try to jump from the window.
The beat against the door started again.
“Lucy, it’s me,” Dax’s deep voice came through the small cracks in the door frame and from the speaker of my phone at the same time.
A thin cloak of relief settled over me, but my hands were still shaking as I moved toward the door.
I looked out of the peephole before I unlocked it, just to make sure.
The door swung open, and Dax’s broad figure filled the frame.
His steel blue eyes glanced down at the knife, and a flicker of amusement crossed his expression.
“You told me to keep it near me.” My huff of annoyance sparked a tiny smirk on his lips, which disappeared instantly.
His hands reached out to graze my bare arms, their warmth searing against my freezing skin. “I know. Everything will be okay. I’m getting you out of here.” Urgency coated his voice.
“Where am I supposed to go? This is where I live, Dax. That creep was right outside. I’m terrified and—” A sob started to build in my throat. “I don’t know what to do.” I was starting to break, the panic rising through me once more.
“You are going to stay with me.” The tone of his voice sounded like this was supposed to be obvious. “I have plenty of rooms, and you’ll be safe at my house.”
What? I couldn’t possibly expect him to take me in, to watch over me like some kind of chaperone. This was a mistake. I should have just called the fucking police like I told Tara she should after she was attacked. Goddamnit.
“I would never ask that of you—” I started.
“You didn’t ask. I’d say I’m offering, but you honestly don’t have a choice. I knew it was a mistake letting you stay here alone every night. You’re staying with me until we take these assholes down and I know you’re safe. No discussion.”
A tendril of heat seized my insides and I stepped backward.
His hands dropped to his sides, but he followed me into the small studio and locked the door behind him.
He reached between us and slid the knife out of my grip while I stammered, “You can’t just…
ugh. Why are you doing this?” I managed to spit out.
“Doing what?” he asked as he took in the small space around us, his eyes lingering on the string of polaroids before they shifted to the backpack sitting on my bed.
I had to think about that for a moment. “Helping me, I guess? With this, with everything else. You don’t owe me anything.” Tears pricked the backs of my eyes, and I cleared my throat, trying to keep them at bay.
“I promised I would keep you safe. You called, and I don’t break promises.” His eyes were lit with a silver flame. Then he shrugged off his leather jacket and started to peel off the gray sweatshirt underneath.
“What are you doing?” I gasped, unsure of what the fuck was happening right now. Dax pulled the hoodie over his head, and his crisp white T-shirt lifted slightly with it to expose a sliver of bronzed washboard abs. I peeled my eyes away. “What the f—”
“You need to put this on.” He held it out to me.
“Pull your hair back and keep the hood over your head. We need to try our best to get you out of here unseen, that way they think you’re still here.
Do you have any sunglasses?” He had already begun to put the leather jacket back on, and I couldn’t decide if he was hotter with it on or off.
Okay, now was not the time for that runaway thought.
“Yes.” I turned around before he could see the blush on my cheeks and pulled the sweatshirt over my own head.
It was warm and smelled of his enticing scent; smoky sandalwood, eucalyptus that made my endorphins jump to life.
I went to shuffle through a drawer in my nightstand.
“I found them.” I turned around and waved the sunglasses in my fingers.
His eyes trailed down my body with the gaze of a panther ready to pounce any moment on unsuspecting prey.
“You should probably put on some pants.” I felt the heat of his stare as it climbed up my legs.
I’d been so frantic, I’d completely forgotten the fact I was only in my underwear.
A deep flush stole across my cheeks. “Something baggy if you have it.” His eyes darted away and he turned around and faced the door.
I found a pair of cutoff shorts and an old baggy pair of purple sweatpants folded on my bed and slipped them both over my legs in layers.
I hastily tied my shoes and sprang back to my feet.
“Okay, I’m ready.” I wasn’t. Could anybody truly be ready to leave their home in the middle of the night because dangerous people were threatening them? I didn’t think so.
Dax turned around and didn’t say anything, but I knew I looked ridiculous.
The baggy violet sweatpants were swallowed by his sweatshirt, which came nearly to my knees.
The cheap gas station sunglasses I wore were oversized, the hood covering my face like I was a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi at an airport.
He picked up my backpack and swung it over his shoulder.
He nodded toward the notebook. “Do you need that?”
At the moment it seemed so trivial. I was fleeing my apartment because someone was stalking me and my life was at risk. My designs, the internship, everything felt so far away and unimportant. Yet, the thought of leaving it behind made my stomach clench.
“Yes,” I answered, tucking the book under my arm.
“Okay, I want you to stand right behind me. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to run, then I want you to run like your life depends on it. We don’t know how close they might be.
” Then he reached behind and pulled something that shined against the light from the back of his waistband. The flash caught my eye and—
“Is that a fucking gun?” My shout pierced through the space between us. “Dax, where did you get that?” I backed away from him instinctively.
Dax rolled his eyes. “I have a lot of fucking guns, okay, Lucy? I need you to try to stay as calm as you can and just do what I say. Can you please just do what I’m asking?”
Not sure of what else to do, I gave him a shaky nod and stood behind him just like he told me to.
“My car is parked right down the street. I don’t want to bring any kind of attention to us, so just try to act casual but stay as close as you can to me.”
“How are we supposed to act casual getting into a fucking space shuttle?” I couldn’t help my scoff. Dax ignored my remark and unlocked the door and made his way through the exit, scoping out each side of the hallway with the gun tucked right underneath the opened front of his jacket.
We started making our way down the rickety wooden staircase. As we turned the first corner, I was relieved to see there was nobody on the stairs beside us. I followed a few inches behind him, rounding each level on the narrow steps at a cautious speed.
We were nearly on the last flight of stairs when I saw the shadow of another figure appear at the bottom.
I felt Dax stiffen and I paused mid-step with my foot in the air.
Dax took another beat forward, and I waited a moment before I went after him.
I wanted to poke my head around his broad shoulder to see who or what was in front of him, but I didn’t want to raise any attention.
I kept my head down and only saw a pair of heels attached to the long legs of a woman step up the stairs to my left.
Once she passed us, we were almost to the ground floor of the lobby.
Dax’s head turned to each side, making sure the coast was clear before he headed toward the double doors at the entrance.
I looked up to see a familiar-looking man with a large build standing by the doors.
I’d seen him before. Across the street from the café, the day I applied for the internship.
Ice sluiced through my veins. Was he the one who was taking those photos of me?
“Dax,” I whispered, trying to get his attention. He didn’t seem to hear me though, and I watched him exchange nods with the man, who then started on his way toward the staircase we had just descended from. What the hell? Did he know that guy?
I kept close behind him as we exited onto the sidewalk. The chill of the nighttime air seeped through the thick hoodie and sweatpants I wore, but I could tell we were close because Dax started to speed up.
His car was parked on the curb a few yards away.
When we finally reached it, he swung the passenger door open in front of me, and I slid into its warmth.
He shut the door and got in through the driver’s side and started the engine.
The moment the car took off, an instant wave of relief crashed over me.
I was still pumping with adrenaline, but we were getting away from the apartment.
A couple of black cars pulled out from the road and followed behind us, but Dax said nothing.
He obviously saw them, but he didn’t look worried about it, like they were supposed to be there.