11. Walk Away

Jason

My phone rings for the third time since I’ve been sparring in the ring with Parker. I have a feeling I already know who it is. I promised my old CO that I would have a decision on whether I will be rejoining my old team or not by the end of today. But I just can’t bring myself to make the call.

Or to answer his.

I do miss it. The action. Fighting to defend our country. The brotherhood. But I’m not entirely sure I want to leave the Emergency Response Team yet. Or Katherine.

When my phone rings for the fourth time, Parker stops and throws his hands up.

“For the love of god, just answer your damn phone, man.”

“I haven’t made a decision yet. If I answer it, he’s going to want an answer right away.”

“Just tell him to give you another twenty-four hours. He’s waited this long. Another day won’t kill him.” Parker throws his gloves on the bench before grabbing his water bottle.

When I reach for my phone, it’s not the CO’s number I see on the call display.

“Is this Jason Miller?” an older tiny female voice asks.

“It is.”

“I’m Kat’s neighbor. She gave me this number when she first moved in and told me that if I ever noticed anything suspicious to give you a call.”

“All right, is there something I can help you with, Mrs....?”

“Watts. I got home a couple minutes ago and there were sounds coming from her apartment.”

Kat had told me about her. She said she was a sweet elderly woman but barely left her apartment or got any visitors. Kat said it seemed as if she was the only one who bothered to pay any attention to the woman, and Kat was fairly certain that if she never brought her groceries she wouldn’t be eating either.

“What kind of sounds?”

“Screams,” she whispers.

My back straightens with her explanation.

“I’ll be there soon. Don’t open the door for anyone,” I say into the receiver before hanging up.

“What was that about?” Parker asks from the bench.

“Kat’s neighbor says she heard screams coming from Kat’s apartment.” I throw over my shoulder while stuffing my boxing gloves back into my gym bag.

“I’ll call the teams in.”

“No, we don’t know what we’re dealing with yet. I’d rather not call in all three teams if we don’t need the manpower. Just call in Mike, Cole, and Mark. Tell them to meet us outside of the apartment building.”

He nods already dialing.

 

***

 

Parker, acting as my second, gives me the signal and I waste no time in kicking down the door to Kat’s apartment.

When we arrived, there was no mistaking the sounds her neighbor was hearing. They were Kat’s ear piercing screams and I would have bet anything that I knew who was the cause of those screams.

The scene that greets me when we storm into the apartment is one I’ll never forget. David is laying on top of a naked Kat on the floor in her living room, with a knife to her throat and is in the process of getting his pants undone.

“You sonofabitch!”

His head snaps up at the snarl in my voice, as if the door being kicked down wasn’t loud enough for him to hear.

“Ah, Jason. Just in time to watch the show.”

I go to take a step forward but Kat screams and David shakes his head.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. One more step and I’ll slit her throat.”

David hasn’t caught Cole and Mike slowly making their way closer to him yet, waiting for me to give them the signal to take him out.

I hold my hands up. “What was your plan here, David? To rape and kill her, and what? Pray that I didn’t find out and hunt your sorry-excuse-for-a-man ass down? That I wouldn’t kill you as soon as you make that slice? That I won’t kill you right now?”

David chuckles. “For once, you don’t have the upper hand here, Jason. I think I’ll enjoy the fact that I’ll force you to watch while I take what’s supposed to be mine, while I slide my cock inside her sweet, warm pussy, while I fuck her better than you ever could. And then when I slide my blade along this delicate flesh of hers.”

What happens next goes by in a blur. I don’t remember if I did give Cole and Mike the signal but when I blink again David is passed out on the floor and Katherine is in my arms. Shaking, but in my arms.

“Put him in my truck and I’ll meet you at the warehouse.”

Kat’s grip on the back of my shirt tightens when I try to move away from her. Parker, Mike, Cole, and Mark nod their understanding and quietly slip from the apartment with David in hand.

“Don’t leave me alone again,” she sobs into my chest.

I’m trying my best to comfort her but I need to know. “Kat, was David…was he able to…”

Her face lifts as new tears pool in her eyes but she shakes her head. “No, you got here just in time.”

“Thank Christ.” I kiss the top of her head and tighten my arms around her, savoring the way she fits against me. She’s safe and that’s all I care about but when I’m done here, that fucker’s going to pay.

While Kat is having a bath and changing into more comfortable clothes, I make a quick phone call, hopeful when they assure me they’ll be here as soon as they can. It seems that Parker may have already beat me to calling them. My next phone call is to have her door repaired.

She’s almost fully asleep in my arms when her front door quietly opens again. She jumps when she hears footsteps.

“It’s okay. It’s just Dani and Alice,” I soothe her, placing a soft kiss on her head.

“You said you weren’t going to leave me again,” her voice is small, panicked.

“I know, and I’ll come right back. But there’s something I need to take care of real quick. If anything happens just stick Alice on them. She’ll scare anyone away.”

“Hey!” Alice pretends to pout and then laughs which earns a small grin from Kat.

“You’ll come straight back?”

I nod. “I promise.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll take care of her,” Dani chimes in while I untangle myself from Kat.

The funny thing is, out of these girls, Alice is the one who I know would be able to handle anyone who comes through this door. I’m not saying that Dani and Kat wouldn’t, but Alice is tough, she’s fearless, and she could make a grown man piss his pants.

 

***

 

“Damnit, Jay. You didn’t kill him, did you?” Parker asks when I open the truck bed and David’s still form comes into view. Whoever knocked him out must’ve knocked him out pretty good. The guy hasn’t moved since Kat’s apartment.

Cole leans over pressing two fingers to the inside of David’s neck. “He’s alive.”

“Fucking hell, Jay,” Parker sighs. “You’re not going to kill him.”

“Relax,” I say, throwing his limp body over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold. “I won’t fully kill him. Maybe just beat him within an inch of his life.”

When Parker realizes that I’m not budging on the issue he drops his head and walks ahead to unlock the door. “We’ll fuck with his head a bit but that’s it, Jay.”

Mike snorts behind me while the other two chuckle.

Yeah, laugh it up, boys.

The truth is, these three men know me too well. If someone has the audacity to fuck with someone I care about, I’m not going to sit idly by and watch it happen. Just like when Adam fucked with Danielle and Parker went ape shit about hunting him down and killing him. Parker put a single bullet right between his eyes. I’m not saying I’m going to kill this asshole but by the time I’m done, he’s going to know to not take any threat I utter lightly.

He sexually assaulted her, not once, but three times. If it were up to me I would’ve done this after the first time. But I had strict orders from our Inspector to make sure David lived. Now, I’m not following orders and it’ll probably get me kicked from the teams but I don’t give a fuck. The son-of-a-bitch almost raped Kat twice and came pretty closer to killing her this last time. That doesn’t fly with me. He isn’t a man, he is scum. By the time I’m done with him, sitting on a beach will be the last thing on his mind.

Mark drags a chair to the middle of the room and I flop David onto it, binding his hands behind the back of the chair.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Parker exclaims when I slip my fingers through the brass knuckles I pulled from my pants pocket.

I turn my cold eyes on Parker. “I backed you when you went after Adam after what he did to Danielle. It’s now your turn to have my back. So are you with me on this or not?”

Mike sighs, “he’s got a point, man.”

Parker takes the water bottle Cole hands him. “Let’s just get this over with. Danielle’s ovulating and I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago.”

Cole laughs, “That’s why he’s in such a pissy mood. He’s supposed to be getting some love from his woman.”

Parker glares at Cole. “Just wait until you get married, asshole. You won’t be laughing then.”

I swear Cole and Mike are about to bust a gut with the way they’re laughing but I’m over the back and forth banter now. I’m ready to wake this fucker up and teach him a lesson.

“Ready?” I look to Parker who’s unscrewing the cap on the water bottle.

“Rise and shine princess,” he says dumping the entire bottle in David’s face.