It’s like in the movies, those scary thrillers Amber likes to watch. I’m hunting around for Allie’s shoes, when the sound of a key turning in the lock freezes us both in place.
The door swings open, and a guy is standing there, staring at us, his brows drawing together. He’s tall, probably taller than Ocean, and his shoulders narrower. His face is scruffy, his mouth pressed in a flat, angry line, and he has a pack of smokes in his hand.
Meet the sadistic boyfriend in the flesh.
I push Allie behind me. “I’m taking Allie out for coffee,” I say, keeping my voice steady.
His eyes narrow to slits. “The hell you are. Who the fuck are you anyway? What are you doing in my apartment?”
It’s not his, it’s hers, but I want to get Allie out, not pick a fight with a bully twice my height. “I’m Allie’s sister. I drove over to see her. I thought we could go for coffee.”
“You’re lying.” He strides inside, grabs my arm and shakes me. “Who are you? Answer me. Did she call someone?” He drags me around to face my sister and shakes me again. “Who the fuck did you call, Allie?”
I groan, my arm almost coming out of its socket. “Let go. Let me go.”
“Let her go!” Allie yells, and he reaches for her and clamps his hand around her wrist, hauling her to him. “Stop it. Brad, stop it!”
I kick at him, and he smacks me into the wall. My ears ring.
Oh God, this is going to end badly, I think, bracing for more pain, even as I prepare to kick at the douchebag again.
Then he curses and releases me to slump in a heap on the floor. Allie whimpers, and her brute of a boyfriend turns away from us.
He stumbles backward with a grunt, and I scoot to my left, finding Allie and pulling her away.
There’s another guy at the door. He draws back his fist and punches Brad again. And again.
“If you touch even a hair on her head again…” He growls, and his hair shines a deep blue as he swings, throwing Brad backward and to the floor. Ocean goes to one knee, his face twisting in pain, one arm coming around his ribcage. “Are we fucking clear? Touch Kay again, and I’m not responsible for my actions. You’ve been warned, motherfucker.”
My legs are wobbly, but I make it to my feet, and I pull Allie up, too. Ocean is struggling to get up as well, one hand braced on the wall.
Brad is moaning, cupping his bleeding nose. “Son of a bitch.”
Ocean’s face is a sickly white. Oh crap, his ribs. I let go of Allie to check on him, and the moment I come close, he puts a hand to my cheek.
“You okay, Kay? He didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m fine.” I take his hand, turn it and kiss the palm. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was worried.” He runs his thumb over my lips. “I know scumbags like him. And we should go before he gets up.”
So that’s what we do, the three of us filing out of the apartment.
“I’m glad I was here,” he says.
“I’d have fought him off.” I hug my sister.
“I bet you would have. But I’m fucking glad I was here all the same.”
I’m glad, too, and one thought keeps bouncing around in my head as we make out way to my car: this guy who says he caused a child to die just put his own safety in danger to save us. He hurt himself doing so, because I can see the way he’s cradling his ribs.
He shouldn’t have risked it. Any other person wouldn’t have. He was worried about me.
Always taking care of others, that little girl, Avery, had said.
This is it. I’ve made up my mind about him. And me. Now I only need to get the truth out of him and tell him mine.
Chapter Eighteen