Going to work Friday without Nick felt strange. I still had werebear protection, this time in the shape of Matty. Matty was far more chipper on the morning commute than anyone had a right to be, but that didn’t make my discomfort any easier. I hadn’t argued when Matty knocked on the door at six and suggested we hit the road in his truck so we could fake out the police watching my apartment. Nor had I asked why he’d come instead of Nick.
That answer was clear. During the hours I’d tossed in the unfamiliar bed and run down my phone’s battery, I hadn’t heard any familiar voices. Nick had left me alone in his Alpha’s house, with werebears who probably wanted to maul me. Last night’s shame morphed into today’s anger. How could Nick promise everything would be okay, and then leave me because I hadn’t professed my undying affection? That’s what had happened, wasn’t it?
Asshole. Furry, crazy-ass asshole. I’d shank him. Or shiv him. Or was it shank him with a shiv? Someday I’d probably end up in prison and find out. Until then, I’d let myself imagine stabbing the man I…
I…what?
I desperately wanted? Yes. That was true. Fuck, that was true.
But was it more?
Why did my gut hurt whenever I thought of that question?
“You need me to pull over?”
I glanced at Matty in the driver’s seat, finding his eyebrows pulled together in what might have been concern. He flicked his gaze at my stomach and then back up. I followed his eyes to where my hands clutched my belly.
Oh. I probably looked like I was going to hurl chunks. So his concern wasn’t for me, but rather for his auto upholstery.
“No,” I said even as my insides roiled.
Matty divided his attention between the road and me. “Not sick?”
“No.” At least not the way he meant.
He nodded.
Maybe it was a good thing my phone was dead and my charger had been stolen along with everything else. Otherwise I probably would have texted Nick with several choice expletives for abandoning me with his pack.
Matty’s radio poured out country western music that made me want to stab more than Nick. He tapped a beat onto the steering wheel of his standard issue Ford F-150. And then I realized what the lyrics said.
Love.
Was that what Nick had been hoping I’d say last night? Instead of sex like animals, had he wanted to make love? Sighing because I had no answers, I set my hands to my sides and watched the scenery pass by.
“You’re gonna have to tell me where to pull off,” Matty said, “because my GPS is going to tell me how to get all the way to your place, and I assume we don’t want to do that.”
“No, we don’t.” I pointed toward a strip mall close to the complex. “Nick usually parks there, and we walk.”
Matty craned his head toward me. “We?”
My face heated as if he’d played back all the stupid noises I’d made last night. The question was a valid one, so why was I ashamed? I needed to get control of myself.
“Yeah,” I said. “Nick worries I’ll get attacked between his car and the apartment unless he personally walks me there. And he’s the only one who can work the screen on my window so we can get inside.”
Matty chuckled under his breath. “Does he look under the bed for the boogie man, too?”
“Actually, yes. In the closet, the shower, behind my clothes—he checks it all.”
His eyebrows rose. I felt like I needed to defend Nick more, but couldn’t figure out what I should say. Anything that came out of my mouth now would make the situation worse.
Matty shrugged and pulled into the strip mall. He spotted the apartment complex through the trees and parked near the broken section of fence all on his own. We got out of the truck, starting through the misty morning without a word. Each step I took with this stranger made me miss Nick more. Maybe Nick and I needed to have a chat about what we wanted and how we could each get there. I wasn’t averse to making love…I just wasn’t sure if I was ready for the love part. If Nick could assure me he wouldn’t be buying me a ring tomorrow, we could work on the next step.
A happy medium had to exist between clinger and cheater. I wanted very much for Nick to be in that perfect zone, but all signs were pointing toward clinger. I didn’t want to make either mistake again.
“After you.” Matty held the fence aside for me to slip by.
I shimmied between and waited for him. He, of course, handled the move far easier than I did.
The complex was quiet this early, but that didn’t mean we could stride without a care. He and I jogged behind the nearest building, hugging the edges until we had a view of the parking lot in front of my place.
“Um.” Matty faced me. “Is that your building there? Because if so, we’ve got a problem.”
I leaned around him so I could see. The first thing I noticed was the yellow plastic tape stretched across my door, floating in the breeze. And then I spotted the three police cruisers parked in front of my building. The four guys standing around in various spots came into view next. Two spoke to different people—residents I’d seen on my way to check my mailbox. One cop stood on the sidewalk leading to my building. The last leaned against his car, dark head gleaming in the early morning light.
Detective Davis.
Shit.
“Goddamnit,” I said under my breath.
Matty snapped toward me. “That is your apartment?”
“Yeah.”
He breathed through his nose. “Not good.”
No, it wasn’t. Especially considering the officer who strode around the building from the back. They most likely knew I wasn’t inside. They probably knew nothing was inside. How in the hell was I going to explain this?
“One-night stand,” Matty said.
I choked, looking at him. “Huh?”
“We go back to the truck.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “I drive you in, and we tell the police you were gone because you were with me. It was a one-night stand. That’s why you didn’t realize all of your stuff was gone, why your car is still here, and why you weren’t home.”
I waved toward my door. “Wait, why is my car still here if I had a one-night stand?”
“Your friend drove you to the bar?” Matty met my gaze. “You have friends, right?”
Karen’s face appeared in my mind’s eye. “Yeah, I have friends.”
“They’d do something like that, right?”
Would Karen be my alibi if it came to that? That’s what he was asking. “Yes,” I said.
“Let’s go.” Matty started back without waiting for me.
I scurried after him. His plan was as good as any. I hadn’t had enough sleep to come up with anything better, in any case. But what would Nick think? Even though Matty’s tale was fiction, I couldn’t help but believe Nick wouldn’t be happy. If he’d been here instead of Matty, he could have come up with something else. So it was his own damn fault.
My feet bounced on Matty’s floorboards as he drove to the gate. Matty looked to me for the key code to get in. My memory splintered for a half second, and then I gave him the four-digit password. Both of my hands’ fingertips were in my mouth as we puttered through the complex.
This was bad. I was already a suspect in a cop killing case. And now the police had discovered my apartment empty and me missing. Would they believe I’d been robbed, and that I knew nothing about it? Drama club hadn’t exactly been my thing in school, so I had no idea if I could act convincingly.
“Just look blank,” Matty said. “Let me do all the talking.”
That worked for me.
Too soon we were parked, and I had no choice but to get out of the truck. Detective Davis zeroed in on me, almost reaching the truck’s door before I did. I managed a smile for him as I popped out.
“Where have you been?” Davis said, glaring at me, Matty, and his officers at regular intervals.
I let my smile wane. “Um…”
“She was with me.” Matty came around the hood, his handsome, ordinarily gregarious face darkening into a scowl. “Is there a problem?”
“Yeah.” Davis addressed him, waving an arm toward my place. “There’s a serious…issue, and we haven’t been able to contact Ms. Maxwell all night.” He swiveled toward me. “Where were you?”
“She was with me,” Matty said again. “‘Issue’? What do you mean?”
Davis remained focused on me. “You’d better look for yourself.”
Act surprised , I chanted silently as I followed Davis in his latest wrinkled business casual outfit. He opened my formerly locked apartment and spread the door wide.
I did what I thought uninformed me would do, I halted just inside and gasped. “What…what happened to my…stuff?” I swung around to look at the guys. “Was it…evidence or something?”
“No.” Davis cast his gaze to my face, and then at my empty living room. “This wasn’t your doing?”
I stared at him.
Matty snorted. “Of course it wasn’t her doing. Why would anyone do something like this?”
Davis settled onto his heels, studying me. “Maybe if they were guilty of murder.”
“Wouldn’t she have left her things and escaped to Mexico with a single bag or something?”
Davis shouldered Matty out of the way and leaned in to my ear. “What happened, Shelby?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Everything was here…”
“When was the last time you were in your apartment?”
Avoiding his face, I let my attention wander to the ceiling as if trying to remember instead of trying to think of a believable lie. “Before work yesterday.”
“Do you have any idea why all of your things would disappear without you knowing about it?”
My laugh was desperate. “No. This is crazy. I should be asking you where my stuff is.” I narrowed my eyes. “So, Detective Davis, what the hell happened to my furniture and everything else?”
He rolled onto the balls of his feet and sniffed. “We had an officer posted with you all day yesterday. This must have happened while you were at work and the officer was stationed there.”
Matty shouldered in between us. “So someone who means Shelby harm was here, but you don’t know who it is because you only had someone watching where she works?”
Davis transferred his glare to Matty. “Who are you?”
“Matthew Green. Who are you?”
Davis’ jaw firmed. “Lieutenant Davis of the Dallas police department.”
Lieutenant? That was new. I gave Matty a warning look, hoping he’d back down now that Davis was pulling rank.
Matty puffed up his chest. Davis’ fingers splayed, twitching near his belt. I hoped to God he didn’t have a gun hidden anywhere, even if Matty probably could handle a bullet wound.
“I don’t know what happened,” I said at a volume that caught their attention, “But I’d really like to know how you got into my apartment, where my things are, and how to get them back. I assume you’re doing something about all of this?”
“As soon as you give me a statement. Your theft isn’t why I’m here.” Davis braced both hands on his hips and fixed me with hard eyes over one of Matty’s shoulders. “As for how we got into your apartment—multiple plain clothes officers reported you haven’t actually been staying here despite wanting us to believe otherwise. The officer on duty last night spotted the lack of furniture and called me in. When we couldn’t get in touch with you, we got a warrant to search the place for clues and got the property manager to let us inside.”
My stomach dropped into my pants. Shit. They’d noticed I hadn’t been home. How? Had they spotted Nick and me sneaking in the window?
“I thought to myself,” Davis regarded me over his nose, “there’s no way she’d ditch her protection with her name in the newspaper as a witness and a killer on the loose.”
When put like that, I couldn’t explain why I’d done it. At least not without outing Nick and Matty as being way more powerful than any guy with a gun. And not without admitting Nick had killed at least two men to protect me.
So I lied. “I was here every night except last night.”
Davis shook his head. “Be that as it may, in light of the theft, your protection will be sticking closer. And after your shift ends, we’re moving you to a safe house for the weekend.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
Matty gave a small shake of his head.
I clammed up.
Davis darted a glance between us. “And your…friend isn’t invited.”
“Shelby, are you good with this?” Matty ignored the wrinkled glower Davis adopted.
I wasn’t good with being whisked away to some unknown house, but I couldn’t do much about it without casting suspicion on myself. Besides, nothing remained in my apartment to go back to even if they hadn’t decided to send me someplace else. Now I just had to hope this situation would be over soon and that the police would catch the killer without catching Nick, too.
Tall order for the deity or deities on high, but I’d wish for it all the same.
I adopted a wan smile and answered Matty. “Yeah, I’m good.”
And that had better be the truth.