Chapter Seventeen

Atlas

I hated her night shifts.

Not because of any fears or shit like that. But because of pure selfishness.

I just wanted her in the bed with me at night, her long hair tickling over my chest, her breath warm on my skin, her leg cocked over my waist.

I wondered if, one day, I could ask her if she could give up the night shifts.

But it didn't seem like that was an option yet.

So I busied myself with tasks around the house when she was gone.

I'd been buying a lot of shit lately. And the boxes were piling up in the living room. Most of them required at least a little bit of building.

So after AJ left for her shift, I opened up a lamp, put it together, found the box with warm bulbs, stuck it in, then placed it where I heard AJ say it would look nice.

Once that was done, I opened several boxes of Christmas ornaments and lights, stacking them up in the corner next to the naked tree I'd opened and assembled earlier that day.

We were going to decorate the next day. Followed by some cookie baking. Then maybe some riding around and looking at Christmas lights.

We had a tentative date to do the outside decorations the next day. With AJ going up on the ladder, and me on the ground, making sure she didn't fall. She was anxious about it. But when I'd asked if she wanted me to have one of my brothers over to do the ladder work, she'd been firm about wanting to try it herself.

And, hey, I had to respect that.

Besides, she had nothing to worry about if I was standing under her.

I'd sent AJ the picture of the moose I'd put together, then set down my phone to go and put on a pot of coffee, knowing that I likely wasn't going to sleep when she wasn't home.

It wasn't until I came back with my cup of coffee, sitting down on the couch, that I reached for my phone again.

And there were two missed texts from AJ.

I figured they were just gushing about the moose.

When I saw the words that made my fucking heart stop.

HELP

911

I was on my feet and running before I could even fully wrap my head around the text.

I dropped the keys in my rush to get out of the door, cursing myself as I stooped to grab them, then running as fast as the blasted boot would allow me along the front path, and toward the driveway.

I didn't dare call AJ for clarification. If she was hiding, it would give away her location.

I still reached for my phone as I jumped in the car and turned over the engine, cursing the frost on the windows as I listened to the ring of my phone that I set to speaker as I put the heat on full blast.

"Hey, man, what's—" Kingston started.

"AJ's in trouble," I cut him off.

"What ar—"

"I can't explain. But she's at the daycare for her overnight shift, and she sent me a Help and 911 texts. I'm trying to pull out now," I said, wondering if the small semicircle of clear glass would be enough to see.

Fuck it.

It would have to do.

I threw it into reverse and peeled out of my driveway.

"She's got an ex. He wants to hurt her," I added.

"I'm on my way," Kingston said. "I'm hanging up, so I can call Rush and Nixon," he added.

The line went dead, and I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat, my fingers curling around the steering wheel until they went white as I cursed the fog, cursed the traffic lights, cursed the fact that I didn't see the messages the second they came in.

The doggy daycare wasn't far from home, just maybe twelve minutes without traffic.

It felt like a goddamn lifetime.

So many terrible things could happen in mere seconds, let alone moments.

Especially when trapped with an abusive ex and stalker.

I mean, no, she didn't tell me it was Joss. But considering the phone call she'd gotten recently, it seemed likely that he'd been closing in somehow.

I'd been too distracted falling in love with the woman to really track down leads and figure out how the fuck he'd gotten that number.

If something happened to her, I was never going to forgive…

No.

No, damnit.

I couldn't let myself think that way.

AJ was smart.

She'd gotten away from this guy six times before.

I couldn't seem to stop the thought that, once, she'd just barely gotten away. And only because of some Good Samaritans.

She wasn't alone this time either, I reminded myself as I took a turn so fast that I was shocked I didn't go up on two wheels.

I needed to calm down, to drive safe. I wasn't going to help her if I wrapped myself around a fucking tree.

The doggy daycare was just up ahead, dark because it was technically closed, and I decided that when this was done, I needed to have a talk with the owner about lighting up the exterior of a building where women would be locked up, alone, for any predator to sneak up on.

Even when I flew into the lot, there was no fucking floodlight to illuminate the space.

I cursed the owner as I threw open my door, hearing the distant sound of a dog snarling, then reminding myself that it was probably a dog inside of the building freaking out because someone was inside who didn't belong there.

I wasn't even really thinking clearly as I ran to the front door, yanking it open, and striding inside.

"AJ!" I yelled, rushing past the abandoned front desk, noting that nothing seemed knocked askew, that there were no signs of a struggle.

I made my way toward the hallway, ready to rush into each room to check for her.

But then… there she was.

Down on the ground in the hallway, cradling her wrist to her chest, her mouth bloody, her face bruised.

A sob escaped her at the sound of my voice, and I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around her, noting the side door that was slightly ajar.

Maybe Joss had taken off in that direction when he heard a car? I didn't know. All I did know was that AJ was hurt and terrified, and clinging to me with her good arm like her life depended on it.

I couldn't untangle myself from her to go secure the building.

I just had to hold her close, assure her that nothing else was going to happen to her.

Not long after, I heard footsteps rushing inside.

"Atlas?" Kingston called, voice rough, likely just as worried about me as I was about AJ.

"Right here," I called, watching as he flew into the doorway, seeing me on the floor with AJ, the blood splattered on her, and me, and the floor. "Secure the building," I demanded, holding AJ tighter as she cried out all of the fear and pain she was dealing with.

"On it," Kingston said, and I caught sight of a gun in his hand as he turned away to walk through the building.

It was less than a minute later that Rush came in, taking in the scene, then jumping into action as well, going to the door to close and lock it, then check out the rooms nearby.

They both came back quickly, shaking their heads as AJ started to sniffle, pulling it back together.

It was then that the door opened, and Nixon's voice called inside.

"Ah, guys, you need to see this," he called, making King and Rush look at each other, then me, before walking out of sight for a moment, their voices muffled.

"You okay, baby? Where are you hurt?"

"My wrist, mostly," she said, still holding it tightly to her chest. Then she raised her hand, touching near her mouth. "This is not as bad as it looks," she said. "I think my teeth cut the inside of my lip."

"That's not your blood?" I asked, gesturing toward a puddle that had my stomach knotting.

"No," she said, following my gaze. "I… I stabbed him in the arm," she said. "Scissors…" she added, gesturing toward a room down the hall.

"Good for you," I said, giving her a squeeze.

"Um, so… there's this development," Kingston said, coming into the hallway with Samson on a slip lead.

Except, it wasn't just the normal Samson.

He had bright red blood staining his coat, mostly consolidated in the area around and under this mouth.

It suddenly struck me that the snarling I'd heard when I'd climbed out of my car hadn't been coming from inside the building, but somewhere outside. Where Samson was chasing down his mom's attacker.

"Good boy, Samson," I called as AJ let out a little sob and opened her arms to her dog.

Kingston released the leash, and Samson lunged forward, but then slowed and carefully climbed into AJ's lap, like he knew he needed to be gentle.

"He was gone," King said. "Rush ran around to see. There was no sign of anyone."

I nodded at that, watching how AJ clutched Samson like her life depended on it.

Maybe it had.

"The alarm," AJ said, making my brows scrunch.

"What?"

"Why isn't the alarm going off?" she asked, looking between all of us.

Kingston took a step back, glancing at the system on the front door, shaking his head.

"It wasn't on," I told her. "The door was unlocked when I came in."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "No. I locked it. When the last dog was picked up. I locked it. I know I did. And I set the alarm. I saw it blinking."

My mind flashed back on the conversation we'd had about her ex. I remember her saying that she'd learned his age from some STEM trophies he had around.

"Sweetheart, what does Joss do for a living?" I asked.

Her gaze was blank for a second.

Then it hit her.

"He's an information security analyst," she said.

He'd somehow fucked with the security system to get in.

That made me wonder if he'd been watching her, been working on the system for a while.

"What move do you want to make here?" Kingston asked, making AJ frown at him, then me.

"I don't understand."

"He means he wants to know if you want us to call the police or not," I said, knowing I had to follow her lead, even if I knew what I wanted.

I wanted that fucker to run, to think he got away with this. Then I wanted to track him down and make him feel powerless for a change.

I wasn't violent by nature. Sure, I'd done things that scared other people, but I didn't hurt them. I tried hard not to hurt anyone, actually.

But Joss?

Joss, I wanted to skin alive, slowly, inch by inch, then carve the still-beating heart right out of his chest.

"I have to, don't I?" she asked, brows scrunched.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to do, honey," Kingston said, coming closer, then squatting down at her level. "If you don't want the cops involved, we clean this up. That's your choice."

"You can… do that?"

"Since the alarm didn't go off? Yeah. But I have to ask, did you hit your head?"

"My head? Why?"

"Because if you hit your head, you might want to get checked for a concussion. In which case, the hospital staff are mandatory reporters, and would tell the cops. So, we don't want to start to cover this up if that is the case."

"No. I.. he hit me. Here and here," she said, touching her face. It's been much worse than this," she admitted, gaze sliding away, like she had any fucking thing to be embarrassed about. "I'm okay. It's my wrist. I think it's broken."

King's gaze slid over her face, then down to her hand.

"I think you could swing a trip and fall. Maybe off of a step," he said, thinking it through. "Tried to break it with your hands, but your wrist cracked, and you fell on your face."

He glanced around, getting nods from all of us, thinking that would work.

"So, it's up to you," Kingston said.

"I… I don't want to have to talk to the police," she admitted, voice sounding small and sad.

"Then you don't have to," Kingston said. "How about you take her somewhere to… wash her hands and decompress?" King said, glancing at her hand where she must have gotten some of Joss's blood on her. "We will take care of the rest."

With that, I helped AJ off of the floor as Nixon moved in to take Samson's leash.

"I just need to bathe him," Nixon explained when AJ hesitated.

"Oh, okay," she said, releasing the leash, then waving toward the room behind her.

I took AJ into the kitchen, washing her hands for her, making sure all the blood was off, then bringing her over to the table, and pressing her into a chair.

"How're you holding up?" I asked.

"What about the cameras?" she asked, glancing up at me.

"What cameras?"

"The ones all around," she said, waving toward the main area of the building.

"Kingston has that covered, I'm sure. This is the kind of shit he does," I reminded her.

"Right," she agreed. "Okay."

She was shutting down a little. Normally, I would let her have that, knowing she would come back to me. But if I was going to shuffle her to the emergency room in the near future, I needed her not to seem traumatized.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital were seasoned professionals, they would be suspicious if she seemed shut down or in shock.

"You texted me," I said, watching her vision clear, seeing her pull back out of her own swirling thoughts.

"Yeah."

"You could've texted the police. You didn't. You texted me."

"I knew you'd come," she said. "And that you'd know what was going on without me having to spell it out. Though, I also wasn't sure the police could trace a burner," she added, lips trying to turn up until the cut made her wince.

"They would have come," I told her. "Just for future reference. And you can text them an address. You don't have to call anymore if the situation is dangerous. But I'm glad you called me. Can I get you some a acetaminophen for your wrist?" I asked.

"I have some in my purse," she said. "Under the desk."

"Okay. I'll be right back," I said, getting up, then pressing a kiss to her head before moving out, glad to have a second to talk to my brother without her overhearing.

"How is she?"

"She's… okay. This isn't the first time he's found her."

"This is her ex?" Rush asked.

"Yeah. He's been stalking her since she left him. She's moved a lot. But he finds her each time. She usually figures out how, and then makes sure she doesn't make that ‘mistake' again."

"Fucker," Rush growled.

"Yeah. This is why I wanted the security system at home. I thought she was safe here."

"So, what now?" Nixon asked, coming out with a wet Samson following behind, shaking hard, and sending water flying, landing on all of us. "That room has a lot of blood on the walls."

"It's Joss's," I said. "She stabbed his arm."

"Tossed the scissors in the sink," Nixon said, nodding.

"Now, we clean shit up. Get all the blood inside and out. At least until the tree line," King said. "We don't want anyone finding that and asking questions. I will check the security feed in the office. If Joss didn't disable it, I will erase it and create a loop for each feed, so it will look seamless.

"Once we're done with that, we can have AJ call her boss, tell her that she fell in the parking lot, trying to get something out of her car and she had to go to the hospital.

"We will all leave. She will lock up. And then someone else will likely show up to take over her shift. That's it."

I found AJ's purse, then made my way back to the break room to hand it to her while I made her a cup of coffee.

Rush and Nixon walked past, taking Samson with them again. A moment later, I heard the purr of the dog hair dryer.

AJ took her meds then waited with me until Kingston came to tell us we were all clear.

I was impressed at how well AJ pulled it together to fake a frantic call to her boss, talking about the fall, about the break, about needing to leave.

On the other end of the line, I could hear her boss begging her to take care of herself, not to worry about the dogs, that she would come over within the hour to take over.

With that, I walked AJ outside as the guys did one last tour of the building, checking all their work, then following us out.

Kingston, who was most familiar with him, took Samson, promising to drop him off at our place and hang with him for a bit.

Then I took AJ in my car to the hospital.

She rallied again, appearing both upset, in pain, and a little embarrassed about her mishap, claiming I'd even warned her that the steps were slippery as she was heading out the door, and she still fell anyway.

Silly me, right?was the vibe she gave off. And the nurse and the doctor smiled and nodded, sharing their own stories of being klutzes on occasion.

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" she joked, waving at my boot, as the doctor slipped a brace onto AJ's wrist, begging her to take it easy, so she didn't move the bone out of place and require a cast.

"You guys need to be bubble-wrapped," she agreed, shaking her head.

She was given instructions to take over-the-counter pain meds, as needed, to elevate and ice, and to follow up with an orthopedic doctor, then she signed her papers, and around sunrise, we were heading back to the house, both of us quiet, lost in our own thoughts.

As we pulled in, Kingston quietly made his way out of the front door, giving me a nod, and disappearing into his car, understanding that we weren't up for company.

We were barely inside the door before AJ dropped to her knees.

My heart sank for a second, thinking she was breaking down, until I saw Samson rushing toward her, butt wiggling.

She wrapped him up in a big hug, holding on tight until, eventually, Samson wriggled away to go back to his bed, turn in a circle, and close his eyes, beat from the night's events.

"What do you need, sweetheart?" I asked, reaching down to help her back onto her feet. "Food? Better medicine? Sleep?"

"Let's go to bed," she said, reaching for my hand, and leading me down the hall.

We climbed into the bed fully dressed.

More quickly than I expected, she drifted off to sleep, her braced hand on my chest.

As for me, I lay awake.

And I plotted.

Because there was no way for us to move forward.

Until Joss was fully in her past.

And that could only mean one thing…