She’d spent the last two months of her pregnancy spoiling the kids, setting up the nursery, and falling asleep in her office at Shadow House when she over did it. Grey had put her in charge of therapeutic activities at Shadow House and he’d honestly never seen Sloane happier. She was an amazing mom, so damn kind and patient with the kids, and she was so much more than he could have ever hoped for.
“How’s training going?” the woman that had him wrapped around her little finger asked, pausing by his side so that she could lean up and kiss his jaw.
“Good,” Chase murmured absently as he watched her check on Lucas, who was still sound asleep, snoring softly as his tiny hand wrapped around his teddy bear’s leg while Chase’s gaze slowly took in his wife’s incredible body and he was forced to remind himself that they still had a few more weeks before he could show her just how much he loved her.
“There’s someone here to see you,” Sloane said as she leaned down and kissed Lucas’s cheek.
“Oh, yeah?” he murmured, shifting his attention to the woman who looked vaguely familiar as she placed the toddler in her arms on the ground.
“Can I help you?” Chase asked with a smile for the little boy who was staring at the scar on the side of his face.
“You don’t remember us, do you?” the woman asked, drawing his attention back to find her watching him.
“I’m sorry. I’m afraid that I don’t,” Chase said even as he tried to figure out why she looked so familiar.
Nodding, she said, “My name is Sarah and this little guy is my son, Aidan,” gesturing to the little boy watching him shyly. “And this is Chase,” she said with a warm smile as she looked down at the toddler holding her hand. “He’s named after the firefighter that saved us,” Sarah said, making him frown as he looked back at her face, trying to figure out where he knew her from and…
Felt the air leave him in a rush.
“We wanted to come thank you sooner, but we were told that you were having a hard time and that it might be better to wait,” Sarah said, only to pause as she considered her next words while Sloane reached over and took his trembling hand in hers. “I wanted to thank you for trying to save my little boys. You didn’t have to go back in that fire, but…” she began only to have her voice break as the first tear rolled down her face.
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said, shaking her head as she struggled to hold it together. Before the next tear escaped, Chase was reaching for her and did the one thing that he’d wanted to do since he woke up from that coma.
He pulled her into his arms and held her.
A Sneak Peek from Destroyed: An Anger Management Novel
Prologue
There was so much blood, Grey thought, feeling numb as he stood there, staring down at the floor as he felt the gun pulled from his hand.
This never should have happened, he thought as the words, “You are under arrest,” had him closing his eyes and slowly exhaling.
Chapter 1
Emerald, Florida
6 Months Earlier…
“Someone’s been a very bad boy,” Nikki mumbled with a sad shake of her head as she paused the video playing on her phone so that she could make another note.
Once she was done, she unpaused the video, cringed, winced, and shook her head with a heavy sigh as she reached down and grabbed her drink, taking a sip only to mumble, “That’s just sad,” when the man that she was being paid two hundred dollars an hour to follow was forced to stop screwing his secretary over his desk so that he could catch his breath andī
“Umm, Nikki?” someone said, drawing her attention to find the rest of the support group that she’d found this morning after a quick five-minute Google search, watching her.
“Yeah?” she mumbled absently as she made another note.
“It’s your turn to share,” the therapist that was in way over her head on this one said.
“Share what?” Nikki asked, not really looking forward to going back into that office to retrieve her cameras.
Not after what she saw Mr. Marks do on that couch.
Maybe she should just write off the loss? Nikki wondered, making another note.
“The reason why you’re here,” came the heavily sighed response.
“You really don’t want to know why I’m here,” Nikki said, shooting off a quick email to Mrs. Marks to tell her that she had everything that she needed.
“That’s why we’re here, Nikki. To share and learn from each other,” Barbara or was it Cindy? she couldn’t remember, said.
“Porn addiction,” Nikki said absently, giving her phone a pointed wiggle as she mentally calculated the bill.
“I think it would be helpful if you participated,” the woman that she was really hoping would sign off on her sheet so that she could finally get out of the therapy requirements that a certain stubborn therapist added to her court-ordered community service, said.
“I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” Nikki said even as she put her phone away and focused on the group with a resigned sigh because this was why she was here after all, wasn’t it?
When the therapist, who proudly wore a large name tag with the name Cindy written in pink marker and tiny hearts, noted the move, she sent Nikki an approving smile as she said, “Why don’t you tell us about yourself?”
Instead of answering her, Nikki pointed towards the ceiling. “Are those cameras on?”
Frowning, Cindy followed the move and said, “There aren’t any cameras in here.”
“There are cameras in here?” the nervous middle-aged man sitting across from Nikki demanded with an accusing glare at the therapist that really should have signed off on her sheet when she had the chance.
“No, there aren’t any–” Cindy began to say but since that wouldn’t exactly work for Nikki, she cut her off with a solemn nod and a conspiratorial whispered, “They’re everywhere.”
“Oh, god…” the guy said, throwing panicked looks every which way as he got to his feet and stumbled back.
“Please, John, everything is–”
“Did you hear that?” Nikki asked, frowning as she shifted her focus to the woman sitting next to her.
“Hear what?” the woman asked as she hugged her purse tightly against her chest.
Frowning, Nikki slowly glanced over her shoulder to stare at the wall behind her. “I thought I heard…” she said, letting her words trail off before adding, “Never mind.”
“I think we’re getting off track here,” Cindy said with a hint of desperation making her words sound strained at the end there and letting Nikki know that it was only a matter of time before this was finally over.
Nodding, Nikki said, “You’re right. Where was I?”
“You were telling us about yourself,” Cindy said with a warm smile, looking really fucking relieved.
“My name is Nikki,” she said, pausing when the rest of the group, except for the two members currently racing toward the door, said, “Welcome, Nikki.”
“What brought you here today?” Cindy asked as Nikki glanced around the group, debating her next move only to bite back a sigh when she spotted the man discreetly pulling a small bottle of hand sanitizer from his pocket.