“Great. First off, let me just say that I’m sorry this happened to you,” he replies, pulling a notepad out of his suit jacket and I nod.
“Thank you.”
“Now, what time did you leave this morning?”
I sigh and start answering all his questions. He asks about my daily routine, seeing anything weird lately, and if I can think of anyone that would do this but all my answers sound the same because I have no clue why this happened. Still, as I stand in my home, I have no idea why anyone would break in.
“All right, Miss James, I’ll need you to walk through the house and see if anything is missing.”
I nod, crossing my arms over my chest as a chill rushes through me. “Sure.”
I start walking through my house, room-by-room, looking for anything that’s out of place. It’s hard to focus, and it’s like I’ve never really looked at my house before because I can’t, for the life of me, remember where things were. When I walk into the bedroom, I gasp, and Logan is at my side in an instant. My panty drawer is wide open, and my bed is messed up.
“The dresser drawer wasn’t open when I left this morning, and my bed was made,” I say and look over as Detective Rodriguez nods and scribbles something in his notepad. “What does that mean?”
He sighs and looks up at me. “It’s hard to say. Could be nothing, just some random guy who gets his rocks off by breaking in and doing shit like this.”
“Or?”
“Let’s just wait and see what else we find.”
“Storm,” one of the guys from the living room says, poking his head in the door, “need to speak with you.”
Logan looks to me, and I nod before turning back to my room, my stomach rolling in disgust. Detective Rodriguez leads me to the kitchen, and I start looking through everything, trying to take my mind off what I witnessed in my bedroom.
When we get back to the living room, I sigh. “I don’t think anything is missing.”
“Are you sure?” Detective Rodriguez asks.
“I think so. I don’t know. I can’t seem to remember what my house looked like.”
He nods, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “That’s normal. Just take my card and call me if over the next few days, there are some things that you notice are missing.”
He hands me a card, and I nod before shoving it in my pocket as he leaves. I look around my living room, feeling like the walls have eyes and they’re closing in on me. My phone buzzes, and I take one last look around before pulling it out.
Carly:
Hey, taking Chance to bring your car back.
Call if you need anything.
Sighing, I slip the phone back into my pocket without replying and go out to the front porch where all the guys were talking to find Logan.
“Hey, Darlin’. I know we didn’t get a proper introduction earlier. I’m Blaze,” one of them says as he rocks back and forth in my rocking chair. I smile, recognizing his name
“It’s nice to meet you, Blaze. Where’s Logan?” I ask, scanning the empty porch. All but one of the bikes are gone, too. He shoves off the arms of the chair and stands.
“He left.”
My face falls, and I feel like crying all over again. He just left me here without a word? “Oh.”
“Don’t give up on him.”
I peek up at him; his kind brown eyes a stark contrast from his dark hair and menacing stature. “Why’s that?”
“He’s been through a heap of shit that most people couldn’t even imagine but the way he was with you today…it’s been a long fucking time since I’ve seen him like that.”
I nod. In some ways, I already knew that Logan had been through things in his life, that he harbored more than a lifetime’s worth of pain. “I can take the heap of shit but he needs to decide if he wants this or not.”
Blaze laughs and shakes his head. “Oh, Darlin’. He wants it but he’s as stubborn as they come so it might take a little bit of time.”
Sighing, I let my gaze drift over to Logan’s house.
“You okay? I could hang around for a bit if you’re not ready to be alone,” Blaze offers, and I look back into my house, wondering if I’ll really be okay alone, before turning back to him.
“Thank you for the offer but I’ll be okay.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” I nod, and he hands me a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.
“That’s my number. Call if you need absolutely anything, ya hear?”
I thank him, and he offers me an easy smile before he walks down to his bike, scanning the street in front of him, and I turn back to my house, taking a deep breath as I step over the threshold.
* * * *
“Ali,” Izzy calls into the house as the front door opens but I don’t say a word, curled up on the couch in the back living room, staring at the wall. I didn’t go to work today, and I figured that they would be over at some point. It’s a good thing they both have a key because I haven’t unlocked a single door since everyone left yesterday.
“There you are,” Izzy says, walking into the kitchen and setting her stuff down on the counter. I flick my gaze over in her direction before focusing back on the wall.
“In here, Carly,” she calls over her shoulder as the front door opens again.
“Hey, Hon. How are you doing?”
I sigh and climb off the couch, walking to the kitchen where Carly is setting bags of food down on the counter. My stomach rumbles, and I realize I haven’t eaten all day.
“Did you sleep on the couch, Ali?” Izzy asks, and I nod.
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
I look over at my bedroom door and sigh again as I motion for them to follow me. When I reach the door, I grab the handle and stop, taking a deep breath before pushing it open. Standing back, I let them walk in, and they look around in confusion.
“What are we supposed to be seeing here, Ali?” Izzy asks, and I point to the dresser and my bed.
“When I left yesterday morning, the drawer was closed and my bed was made.”
“Oh,” Carly breathes.
Izzy looks at me with worry in her eyes. “What did the police say?”
“Not much. I’m not even sure if anything is missing but I just couldn’t sleep in here last night. It felt like someone was watching me.” That’s the understatement of the year. Even out in the living room, it felt like someone’s gaze was on me, creeping over my skin like a thousand tiny bugs, and I was on the verge of tears as the night stretched on.
“Why don’t you come stay with me?” Carly suggests, and I shake my head.
“No, I don’t want to leave.”
Izzy and Carly share a look before focusing back on me. “What about Storm? Could he stay with you?”
“Logan.”
“Huh?” Izzy asks, scrunching her nose up in confusion.
“His name is Logan. Storm is just a nickname.”
She nods, flicking a look at Carly again before her eyes meet mine. “Could he come stay with you?”
“I’m gonna go with no since he left without even saying good-bye to me yesterday, and I haven’t heard from him since.”