Girl Next Door - The Complete Series (11 page)

Gingerly, I tucked the Browning into the back waistband of my pajama shorts and wrestled Jack’s limp body onto his stomach. Then, I quickly secured his hands behind him with the two zip ties. I noticed a length of rope attached to the back of his pants and shuddered, wondering what he had planned to use it for. Deciding I was better off not knowing, I thought of a use for it to, so I grabbed the length of rope, tied it to his right ankle, incidentally not the foot I had shot, pulled his right leg back until it formed a ninety degree angle, and then looped the rope through the zip ties on his wrists. I knotted the rope halfway between his ankle and wrists, so there was no way he could try to undo the knots and run off. Satisfied he was securely tied, I stuck my right hand in his pockets until I found the key to the cuffs and unshackled myself.

As I finished this, I heard sirens approaching. I grabbed the phone and told the dispatcher that I had secured the intruder and that I heard the sirens. She urged me to get out of the house in case Jack roused and managed to get loose, so I went out to the front porch, sat on the steps and waited for the police to arrive.

When the first squad car squealed to a stop in front of my house, lights flashing and siren cutting off suddenly, I disconnected with the dispatcher. The officer approached cautiously, but his jaw turned to stone, with a single tiny muscle twitching, when he got a good look at my face. Great, now I was going to have to explain the bruises on my face to my coworkers and friends. I decided to get some ice on my aching cheekbone as soon as possible.

I told the officer where I had left Jack and explained that I was pretty sure he was secure. He told me to stay outside until he gave me the all clear. I nodded and sank back down on the front step while he disappeared into my house. I heard another siren closing in, and realized that there would be another officer or two here in a few moments. I gingerly put my face in my hands. My body was shaking so hard, I thought I would fly apart. I knew it was just the adrenaline but it still felt awful that my body was now beyond my control.

A hand clamped on my shoulder and I jerked back with a small scream, falling onto my back on the porch. I realized the hand belonged to Aidan and he looked equally concerned and angry.

“God, Aidan, you scared the hell out of me!” I wasn’t exactly shouting, but I wasn’t being quiet either.

I heard the officer come back through the front door and turned to see him step out onto the porch with his gun up. “Keep your hands where I can see them and don’t move.”

Okay, it sounded like a line from a bad B-movie, but the gun in his hand made the command seem a lot less cheesy.

I spoke up, not wanting Aidan to get shot, even though I wasn’t happy with him for scaring me like that. “This is my neighbor and friend. He was worried about me. It’s okay, he just startled me, and I overreacted.”

The cop nodded and lowered his weapon. He spoke into the radio attached to his shoulder, then turned to me. “You can go back inside if you want, but I will need to take your statement as soon as the other officers arrive.” He looked at Aidan. “Do you want me to send him home, ma’am?”

I shook my head.

The officer gestured to the door. “Go ahead and get inside. We’ll need to take pictures of your injuries later, as well.”

Again, I only nodded and stood up. I completely ignored Aidan, heading inside. My first mission was to get ice for my face, pictures be damned. I didn’t want the bruises to get worse. Then, I was going to put a few cubes of it in a glass with a goodly amount of scotch. I needed something to take the edge off. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I felt unsteady and raw. I figured it would take a glass of scotch, or four, to soothe the wildly careening emotions I was experiencing.

I stalked to the kitchen, to my walk-in pantry. I dug around in the back of a shelf until I unearthed a bottle of scotch. I occasionally enjoyed a little scotch on the rocks, but, mostly, I kept it for emergencies. The bottle thumped on the counter and I grabbed a squat glass, a kitchen towel, and headed toward the fridge. I filled the towel with ice, dropped a couple cubes in my glass, and headed toward the counter. I ignored Aidan’s big frame leaning against the counter, arms crossed, and proceeded to pour a healthy amount of liquor in the glass. I placed the ice-filled towel to my bruised cheekbone and simultaneously took a slug of scotch.

Finally, I glanced at Aidan. His face appeared to have been hewed in stone. Arms crossed, jaw tight, he stared at me, eyes cold. Okay, this was so not good. I had an ex-boyfriend who had broken into my house and smacked me around, and my new friend with benefits appeared to be pretty pissed off.

I put the glass on the counter, none too gently, and glared right back at him.

“What?” I snapped. I was in no mood to deal with this. I was shaken up and hurting.

Aidan leaned into me. “Is this what you would call under control?”

I scowled at him. “What?” This time the question was sincere.

He uncrossed his arms and grabbed my glass off the counter. He slammed back the rest of my scotch. When my glass hit the counter, he grabbed my arm.

“I asked you about this shit with your ex, and your exact words were, ‘I’ve got it under control.’ When I came across the lawn tonight, and saw you with a bruised cheek and wild eyes, looking scared out of your mind,
that
does not appear to be having the situation under control.” His eyes were no longer cold, but burning with anger. “Why did you lie to me?”

I tore my eyes away from his, and poured myself a little more scotch. I sipped it before I responded.

“At the time, I thought I had handled it. I mean, Jack showed up earlier that night, but I figured he was just blowing off steam.”

Aidan stiffened. Oh, crap, I’d forgotten I hadn’t told him about that. Shit, shit, shit.

His voice was low and not much more than a growl. “That asshole came by here, and you never even mentioned it.” He cornered me against the counter and all I could see was his face. That’s how close we were. “Why?”

My throat suddenly felt tight. I swallowed. “Why would I tell you, Aidan?” I was whispering through my swollen throat. “We aren’t exactly,” I paused to try and find the right word, “together.”

If possible, his face got even scarier. “Not together. What the hell does that mean? We’ve spent more time together in the last week than I did with my last girlfriend in a month. If that’s not ‘together’,” he gestured with his hands as he said that, “I don’t know what is.”

I gaped at him. “But we talked about, um…you said,” I trailed off.

Aidan turned away. “Jesus Christ. I know what I said, and what you said, but what in the hell did you think we were doing the last week?”

I was beginning to get angry now, well, angrier than I had been after dealing with Jack. “Aidan, I understood what you wanted when we discussed this arrangement last week. We’re friends who have sex. Friends hang out, friends like each other and enjoy spending time together. You never told me you were expecting differently. What in the hell was I supposed to think?”

Aidan laughed and it scared me even more than when I was facing down Jack in my bedroom. “I have lots of friends, babe, and I have never spent every night of the week with them for almost seven days straight.”

Now, I was lost. “Okaaay.”

He was facing me again, and, for the life of me, I could not figure out what he was thinking. “And for that matter,” he said, “I have never spent seven days straight with any woman who wasn’t my mother.”

I just stared at him, still confused.

His face relaxed and he looked a lot less angry and scary. He actually smiled. “I can see you have no idea what I’m talking about.”

I nodded.

His eyes melted from hazel to gold, which usually meant I was about get an insanely sexy kiss. “You will.” He took a step toward me, when one of the officers came into the kitchen.

“Ma’am?” He looked me over, top to toe, and cleared his throat. Then he glanced at Aidan. “The intruder has been taken out of the house and we need to get a statement from you and get you to the hospital to get checked out.”

I was still holding the ice to my cheek. “I’m fine. I’m not going to the hospital.”

The officer started to argue. “We need pictures of your face for evidence.”

I put my free hand up. “If you need pictures, get someone to take them here at my home. I’m sore, tired, and I just want to be in my home.”

The officer looked like he wanted to convince me otherwise, but he held his tongue.

I glanced at Aidan. “I need to go take care of this. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

Aidan stopped me by gently grabbing my hand. “I’m still gonna be here when you’re done, so the call won’t be necessary.”

I pulled at my hand, but he wouldn’t let go. “Aidan, I can’t deal with whatever this shit is right now. I need to do this and then I just want to go to sleep for twenty-four hours.”

He nodded. “I understand, but I’ll be here while you do those things, then tomorrow, when we wake up, we’ll talk.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Fine.”

Before I turned back to the officer, I saw Aidan’s mouth quirk into that half-smile that always made my stomach clench. I refused to acknowledge my reaction and focused on what needed to be done.

Two hours later, I had given my statement, had pictures taken of my bruised face, and Aidan had straightened my bedroom. Surprisingly, during our wicked scuffle, Jack and I had not broken even a lamp or knick knack in my bedroom, just knocked over a few things and shoved some furniture out of place. It was after three in the morning, and all I wanted was sleep. I was so grateful that it was Sunday, and I would have a day to rest before Monday. Although, if the bruise on my face was as dark as it was then, I would not be going to work on Monday. I wouldn’t be able to deal with the questions and the pitying looks I would get from my coworkers.

After the last squad car left, Aidan led me upstairs and changed my bloody shirt out with one of his huge t-shirts. I didn’t argue or even resist, I just lifted my arms when he changed my destroyed top with the tee, and let him shove my panties to my ankles. After he helped me change into another pair of my girlie lace undies, he rolled us both into my bed, pulled my light blanket over us, and stretched out on his back with me tucked into his side.

Even though I really wanted to be annoyed with his high-handed behavior and his refusal to leave, I was also grateful. Since my adrenaline rush faded, my body shivered every so often, until I curled into Aidan’s warm, muscled body and felt his arms pull me closer. As soon as we cuddled into my bed, the tremors stopped. Sleepy, I drifted closer to dreamland and realized that, without Aidan next to me, I would never have been able to sleep.

Just before I nodded off, I cupped Aidan’s cheek and burrowed my face into his neck.

“Thank you for staying.”

I went to sleep as Aidan’s arms tightened around me.

I came awake slowly, sunlight creeping behind my closed eyelids, and in a tangle of limbs. I shifted and stretched, my cheek rubbing against a bare chest. A hot, rough hand slid into the back of my lacy panties, calloused fingers cupping my ass. I made a little noise and snuggled closer to the big body next to me. My fingers skimmed across Aidan’s bare skin. It felt beyond nice but I sensed it wasn’t going anywhere, which was fine by me. My face ached and various parts of my body felt stiff and sore.

The events of last night came screeching into the forefront of my mind and my eyes flew open entirely. Holy crap, my ex-boyfriend turned out to be a psycho who wanted to tie me up and play with me, and
not
in a fun, sexy way. Amazingly, the source of my even larger freak out was Aidan and the fact that he wasn’t a friend with benefits, but intended to be more. I peeked up at Aidan’s face from under my eyelashes and realized he was still asleep. Carefully, I slid out of the bed and headed toward the bathroom.

I stripped down and climbed in the shower. While I washed my hair, I remembered all the things Aidan had done last night to help me. A warm feeling drifted through my belly. I’d had men in my life that were good at the boyfriend stuff, and those that were bad, but none had ever been as considerate as Aidan had been last night. As a matter of fact, Aidan was very, very good at the boyfriend thing, even before I knew he considered himself my boyfriend. The entire week with Aidan had been nice, no, beyond nice. It had been wonderful.