She placed her footsteps carefully, watching for a floorboard that she’d learned squeaked loudly. If she could get a peek at the kitchen and verify the main door was still safely closed and locked, she could end this. She got close to the entrance of the kitchen and took a deep breath. Steeling herself, she shifted to peek around the corner into the kitchen.
She almost didn’t register what she saw, the image so preposterous for a woman who regularly checked that everything was locked up tight.
The back door was wide open.
Panic flooded her, electric fear zapping through her muscles like lightning, and a scream ripped out of her. She took off running in the other direction, shouting “Help!” the whole way. Her bare feet slapped against the floor, and she couldn’t get a sense of whether anyone was behind her or not as she bolted toward the front door. Her fingers fumbled the dead bolt, and she started to cry, but finally the lock turned, and she flew out the front door like the house was on fire.
She had no idea if anyone was outside, and she didn’t have her car keys, so she did the only thing she could think of. She rushed to Hill’s door and banged on it with the sides of her fists, shouting for him to open it. Her throat hurt, her body was trembling all over, and her heart was going to pound out of her chest. Please God, please. Come on, come on, come on. “Hill!”
When she was about to give up and run to another neighbor, the door swung open. Hill took in the sight of her, confusion on his face, and she launched herself at him. He made an oof sound as she barreled into him and she slammed the door behind her. “Lock it!”
He put an arm around her, steadying them both. “The hell. What’s wrong?”
“Someone’s in my house,” she panted, tears she hadn’t known she’d been crying now streaming down her face. “Call the police.”
His body stiffened against her. “Shit.”
He let her go and shifted into action. Before she could process what was happening, he’d locked the door behind her, grabbed his cell, and called 911 to put in a report. He handed her the phone. “Stay on the line with them.”
“What?” she asked, voice shaking. “Where are you going?”
The 911 operator was chattering in her ear for Andi to stay on the line, but she couldn’t respond.
Hill left her for a moment, disappeared into a hallway, and then came out with his trusty baseball bat. “I’m going to check things out.”
He moved to walk past her, but she reached out and snagged his T-shirt. “No!”
He frowned. “Andi…”
She couldn’t let him out of her sight. Every survival instinct she possessed screamed at her to keep him right there with her. “What if they come over here while you’re there? What if they have a gun? What if there’s more than one person?” The questions rushed out of her without pause. “Please don’t leave. Please, Hill. Stay until the police come. I can’t—”
His determined expression softened at her frantic words. He set the bat down, then reached out, took the phone from her, and put his arm around her shoulders, giving her a little squeeze. “Shh. Okay. Take a breath. You’re going to be okay. You’re safe here. I won’t leave you if you don’t want me to.” He put the phone to his ear to talk to the operator. “We’ll be here waiting for the police. I have the neighbor here on my side of the duplex, safe. Please advise them that the problem is in Unit A. We are hunkered down in Unit B. I’ll leave you on speakerphone, but I need to talk to her and help her calm down.”
Hill set the phone on the arm of the couch. Andi was shaking all over, but the steady warmth of his arm around her helped a little. “I can’t catch my breath.”
“You’re having a panic attack,” he said, voice calm and soothing. “Here, come sit on the couch with me while we wait. My guess is whoever was in your place is long gone after all that screaming.”
He kept his arm around her as they sat down, and she kept the pepper spray clutched tight in her hand, half expecting her intruder to bust through this door, too. “You heard me? Why didn’t you come?”
He squeezed her arm. “Andi, I’m so sorry. I heard the screaming, but I thought it was one of your movies again.”
“Jesus,” she said, every part of her trembling now.
A distant police siren wailed, and Hill rubbed his palm up and down her chilled arm. “Try to take a few deep breaths. You’re okay now. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I’m okay?” she repeated almost to herself, unsure.
“You’re okay,” he said. “I’ve got you.”
The sound of his reassuring voice undid her, the reality of what she’d seen sinking in for real. Someone had been in her house. With her, while she sat there under headphones, oblivious. So many bad things could’ve happened. She leaned into Hill, pressing her face into his shoulder, letting the tears overtake her. The terror she’d felt when she’d seen that door wide open had been a sensation she’d experienced in her worst nightmares.
Hill made quiet, soothing sounds, letting her make a mess of his white T-shirt, and murmured gentle words to her, obviously used to being the calming presence in chaotic situations. “You’re all right.”
The man was a stranger. One she couldn’t get a good read on, but in that moment, he felt like safety and comfort, like exactly the thing she needed right now. She let her pepper spray drop and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Chapter Six
Hill tensed when Andi looped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder, her choking sobs putting little cracks in the armor he usually maintained when victims were upset. It did no one any good in a bad situation if the person there to help got emotionally swept up as well. But Andi’s entire body was trembling against him, and he wanted to scoop her up, hold her, and assure her that he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, that she was safe with him.
But he had a feeling that when her panic eased, she was going to quickly remember who she was clinging to. He wasn’t going to make this even weirder for her by giving in to that urge to hold her. He put a hand on her back and tried to calm her as best he could.
He could hear the sirens blaring out front, and he informed the 911 operator that the cops were here and ended the call. The siren turned off, blue and red lights flashing through the front window. Hill listened as the officers walked up the porch steps, the wood creaking, and then as they called out to anyone who was inside Andi’s half. He could hear them as they inspected the other side of the duplex, knowing they wouldn’t find anyone. If someone had broken in, they were long gone by now unless they were the dumbest criminal who ever lived. When the knock on his door finally came, Andi startled and lifted her head, her cheeks tear-streaked and eyes puffy.