Her warm body is draped over mine. I can see the sun peeking through the blinds and know we’d better get up soon before Abby makes her way into my room. I couldn’t let my little girl catch me with a naked woman in my bed, even if she absolutely loved the naked woman in question. That was a conversation I hoped to avoid having with my daughter until she was at least thirty and got her first boyfriend.

“Sleepyhead,” I whispered, moving her hair away from her face with my hand. “It’s time to get up.”

She moaned. “What?”

“Abby will be up soon.”

She sat bolt upright in bed. “Dammit! I fell asleep in here again.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her.

I sat up and pulled on my discarded underwear before pulling on a pair of sweats. Jenna was already up, dressing haphazardly.

“Check and make sure she’s still in bed,” Jenna whispered, waving at the door with her hand.

I grinned and pulled open the door. Abby’s door was still closed. “The coast is clear.”

She rushed out, dashing into the bathroom off the hallway. I headed to the kitchen to make coffee. I had just put the pot on when I heard what had to be a window shattering. I immediately assumed it was my living room window and raced to see what happened. It was fine. I yanked open the front door in time to see one of the guys from the diner running down the road and jumping into his friend’s waiting truck. I walked outside to see what had been broken.

I could see dark glass behind my truck and walked to inspect the damage.

“Fuck!” I shouted, looking at my shattered back window. “Mother fuckers!”

I headed back into the house and went straight for the lockbox tucked away in my top dresser drawer.

Jenna came into the room. “What happened?” she asked, fear on her face.

“Your little buddies decided to smash my damn window!” I snarled.

“My little buddies?” she asked, shock on her face. “Who?”

“Aaron, Darren, Barron, whatever the fuck their names are!” I shouted, unlocking the box with my thumbprint and grabbing my nine-millimeter.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock and fear.

“I’m going to end this!”

“With a gun! Don’t you think you are overreacting a bit?”

I grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it on, glaring at her the whole time. “No, I don’t. I didn’t move here to deal with more shit. I came here to escape exactly this kind of drama. I should have known getting involved with you was a mistake.”

She flinched as if I had slapped her. “Getting involved with me?” she said, her index finger pointing at her heart. “I’m sorry, I’m the one who can’t go home because you dragged me into your twisted world.”

I shook my head. “You’re right. We should have never hooked up. It will be a mistake I’m sure I’ll be regretting for quite a while.”

She spun around, stomping into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. I heard the shower come on. I sighed, the gun still in my hand. I put it back in the box. She was right. I couldn’t go shooting a couple of jerks for smashing my window. That would land me in prison and leave Abby all alone.

I ran a hand over my face and headed into the kitchen to find Abby and Kevin in there. Kevin was getting Abby a bowl of cereal.

“That was a hell of a way to wake up. In the future, a slight knock on the door should do it,” he said, his voice full of sarcasm.

“Are you mad at Jenna, Daddy?” Abby asked, her little face crestfallen at the idea.

I shook my head. “No, sweetie. It was just a little argument. No big deal.”

I heard a snort from Kevin and turned to see him shaking his head. “You fucked up,” he mouthed so Abby wouldn’t hear.

I groaned. “I know. I’ll talk to her after she’s had some time to cool down.”

Moving to the coffeepot, I poured a cup and leaned against the kitchen counter while I drank the first few sips.

“I take it your window was smashed?” Kevin asked, after giving Abby her cereal.

I nodded. “A few guys were harassing Jenna in the diner a bit ago. I intervened. They’ve been giving me a hard time since.”

“Is it an ex-boyfriend of hers?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. She went to high school with them. One of them, his dad owns the diner she worked at. She got fired last week for standing up to him after he grabbed her ass.”

“Isn’t that sexual harassment or something?”

I nodded. “I guess the dad is some bigwig in town and she doesn’t want the hassle. I’m paying her to watch Abby for now.”

He let out a low whistle. “You really stepped in it.”

“Stepping in it is what I do best apparently.”

Kevin grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal before going to sit at the table with Abby. I took my coffee and joined them, waiting for Jenna to emerge from the bathroom. I felt guilty for yelling at her. I was frustrated and took it out on her. I hoped she would give me a chance to explain myself and apologize.

Kevin and Abby finished their cereal while I finished a second cup of coffee. There was still no sign of Jenna.

“That’s a long shower. I’m guessing the hot water’s gone.”

I nodded. “We can shower later. Abby, can you go get dressed please?”

“I have to go potty.”

“Use the bathroom in my room.”

Once she was out of the room I turned to Kevin.

“How are we going to handle Frank?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’d be smart to watch them and see how many guys we’re dealing with.”

“Once she’s out of the shower we can go. I’m going to get dressed. I’ll be using your bathroom as well,” he muttered.

I walked down the hall, pausing at the bathroom door. I could still hear the shower running. I gently knocked on the door. “Jenna?”

She didn’t answer. I hadn’t really expected her to. I walked away, feeling like a giant turd for the way I had treated her. After getting dressed and brushing my teeth, I went back to the bathroom door. The shower was still running.

Kevin emerged from the spare room across the hall. “Seriously?” he said his brows raised in question.

“It’s been like forty-five minutes,” I commented.

He nodded his head. “Are you sure she’s okay in there?”

I knocked on the door again. I didn’t know her all that well. I hoped she wasn’t the kind of woman who would hurt herself over something like this.

“Jenna! Jenna, I’m coming in!”

Of course, the door was locked. A couple of hard knocks with my shoulder and the cheap door gave way. I was immediately hit with a blast of warm air, but it wasn’t from the hot shower. The bathroom window was open, and the screen gone. I yanked the shower curtain back, already knowing what I was going to find.

“Dammit!” I shouted, reaching in to shut off the water.

“She’s gone?” Kevin asked with surprise.

“Yes! Son of a bitch. She can’t be running around town on her own. If—”

I stopped talking when Abby appeared beside Kevin.

“Stay here and watch her, please. I’m going to find her,” I muttered racing out to grab my wallet and keys.

I saw that her car was gone from her driveway. I climbed into my Tahoe, checked the rearview mirror out of habit and was reminded of why she was gone in the first place. I’d have to deal with the broken window later.

Driving straight to the diner, I looked for her car on the road as I went. She wasn’t at the diner. I sat in the parking lot, trying to think of where she would go.

“Rose!” I said, slapping my hand against the steering wheel. Of course, she’d go to Rose’s apartment.

Cruising through the complex, I didn’t see Jenna’s car. She wasn’t there.

“Where the fuck are you, Jenna?” I asked aloud.

I drove around town, driving through the parking lot of the grocery stores, fast food restaurants and anywhere else I could think of. The whole time, I was calling her every five minutes, demanding she pick up the phone.

Unfortunately, I had no idea where her mother lived, which was probably where she was. That was probably safe enough, assuming Frank’s guys hadn’t been sitting out front waiting to follow her. I drove back to the diner one last time and went inside to see if Rose was working. She wasn’t.

I wasn’t going to find Jenna. I drove home, my eyes darting left and right as I searched for her car. Every time I looked in my rearview mirror I wanted to kick myself. It was a window. It was an easy replacement. I even had insurance. I shouldn’t have gotten so mad. I just hoped Jenna was okay. It was probably better she was away from me. I had no idea what Frank had planned, but I wanted as little collateral damage as possible.

When I arrived at home, it was to find Kevin in the driveway, sweeping up the broken glass.

“No luck?” he asked, when I got out of the SUV.

Shaking my head. “Nope. I have no idea where she is. Where’s Abby?”

“In the house. I didn’t want to leave the glass out here.”

I nodded my head. “We need to figure out how to take care of this. The last thing I want to do is run, but if there isn’t another option, that’s what I’ll do.”

“What about Jenna? Are you going to leave her behind?” Kevin asked, as we went back inside.

I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t think she wants to run away with me. She can’t stand to be in the same house with me at the moment.”

“You like her,” he said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

“It was sex,” I mumbled under my breath.

“You haven’t been with anyone since Cara died.”

“So.”

“So, this is a big deal. I think you need to talk to her and try to work some shit out before you cut and run.”

“What I need to work out is getting Frank off my ass. I’m never going to be able to relax with him out there looking for me. I don’t even know how the hell he found me here.”

“Maybe he had my phone bugged.”

I knew I should have been more careful. It wasn’t hard to track down Kevin and then find me. I hadn’t thought Frank would be that interested in making sure I didn’t talk. By underestimating him, I had put us all in danger. Including Jenna.

“I can’t stake out that warehouse with Abby, and I have nowhere else to take her,” I said, realizing my extremely tenuous situation.

Kevin nodded his head. “She’s safer with us than anywhere else. We have to know what we’re up against.”

I groaned, knowing he was right. “Let’s go buy some plastic for that damn window. I’ll never be able to survive if anything happens to my little girl.”

“I know. We’re not going to let anything happen. We’ll buy some binoculars and watch from a distance. They’ll never know we’re there,” he promised.

I wasn’t quite as confident but knew sitting around and doing nothing wasn’t going to help me or Jenna. Action was required, and that meant taking some risks.