Sophie
I’d just finished swiping on some lip gloss when there was a furious knocking on the door. I glanced at my watch. Ryder made it in fifteen minutes. Grabbing my phone, I headed downstairs. I was at the top of the stairs when another round of impatient knocking hit the front door.
Wow, this Ryder guy really wanted me to know he’d arrived. Okay then. Two could play that game.
“Give me the password or your life.” I shouted in my best fake Russian accent.
“Sophie?”
I reached the front door and stared. “Andy?”
“Yes, open up.”
I did so and Andy barged in. He stood in front of me, concern in his gaze as it swept over over me. He gripped me by the shoulders, as if bracing me.
“Honey, I’m so sorry, there’s been an accident. Deke’s been hurt.”
“What?” I whispered and went to step back but Andy’s hold kept me in place.
“We need to get to the hospital right away.” He looked around at the table in the foyer. “Where’s your purse?”
I ran into the living room and grabbed my handbag with my wallet inside. “It’s here.”
“And your phone?”
I tapped my back pocket of my jeans. “Tell me what happened.”
“He was speeding. Ran a red light.” Andy moved further into the house. “Is anyone else here?”
Speeding? Deke? “No, that couldn’t be. Deke’s not the kind of guy to run a red light.”
None of this made sense. And when did this accident happen? I mean, Deke had only been gone no more than fifteen minutes when Andy was banging on the door.
Did it happen just around the corner? Wouldn’t I have heard a crash with that kind of impact?
“I need your phone.” Andy held out his hand, palm up.
“Why?”
“Because we need to see if Deke was calling you. An eyewitness said she saw him on the phone when he ran the red light.”
“The eyewitness is lying.” I stood my ground, ignoring Andy outstretched hand. “I know for the fact Deke is anal about Bluetooth and hands free and all that when driving.”
“Sophie, you need to do as I say.” Andy’s tone held a note of warning, and not the big brotherly kind. One I wasn’t familiar with, at least not… “You need to do as I say. I’m the one you should listen to. Not him. You belong to me.”
Andy. My brother’s best friend.
This was the creep stalking me?
I tried to keep my expression blank. No matter what, I knew I couldn’t hand over my phone. The minute I did that, I had no way to get word out. “Okay, well maybe you can see on my tablet. I get better reception on there.” I went to move around Andy, but he stepped in front of me.
“No, Sophie.” His gaze, previously concerned, was now narrowed, accusing. “Give me your phone.” That flat voice. Different without the electronic camouflage but still sounding completely blank of emotion.
An icy coldness crept into my veins.
Andy was my stalker.
“Go to hell.” I turned, aiming for the open front door, but I got one step away before he grabbed my top and yanked me backwards.
Twisting my hair in a brutal grip, he dragged me into the living room. “You disappoint me, Sophie. I’ve been keeping you at a distance for so many years, waiting for you to grow up before I could take you as mine.”
“There’s no way I could be with you.” I tried to stand up straight, but Andy’s grip on my hair forced me to stand with my neck bent toward him. “It’s always been Deke for me.”
“Forget Deke.” Andy shouted, spittle coming out of his mouth as he swung his free arm wide. “Deke isn’t worthy of you, of this house.” He sobbed. “Sophie, when you slept with him, that defiled you. Do you know how you broke my heart that night, knowing you’d lain with that white trash?”
Oh, no you don’t!
Andy was looking to the ceiling, venting his spleen and distracted.
I took my one chance.
With my head bent at that awkward angle, I rocked on my feet, swaying away from Andy before lunging back in his direction. We toppled over, me falling over him, kicking, scratching and biting as I tried to get to his sidearm.
“Freeze your ass, you sorry sack of shit, before I put a bullet in it for my buddy Deke,” a cold, hard voice thundered above us.
My hair was falling all around me, obscuring my vision. I threw my head back and stared, mouth open, at the sight of a huge blond haired man standing not four feet away from me with his weapon trained on Andy. Wearing jeans, motorcycle boots and a navy Henley shirt that fit his body like a glove, he had the crystal clear blue eyes of a top movie star.
He flicked his gaze my way and smiled. I caught my breath. I know it was wrong but under that kind of combined package a girl could only be cool for so long.
“Hollywood,” I whispered to myself, finally getting the significance.
The smile stayed in place as he held out a hand and helped me up. “Ryder, at your service, ma’am.”
“Sophie!”
I spun toward the sound of Deke’s voice.
He charged through the doorway and gathered me in his arms, my feet now a good foot off the ground, I was sure.
Looking into his face and seeing the fear there, the tears fell of their own volition. “I’m okay. Really.” I sniffed, totally making a lie of my words. “I’m just emotional.”
Deke crushed me to him, pushing my face into his neck. “I’m gonna kill him.”
No, we weren’t going down that path. I reared back and held his face between my hands. “You’re going to do one better and have the best life you can, living it every day, knowing you have me and our son, and we love each other. He has nobody.” I knew that sounded mean, but the bastard was a creepy ass stalker. “And he’ll know that for the rest of his sorry life.”
“The bastard organized for someone to impersonate a buyer and lure me to the office and away from the house. Shana managed to come back early and started asking the man questions, got suspicious. The guy thought it was a joke. Andy paid him fifty dollars. By the time Shana rang me, I was halfway there.”
“Come on asshole.” Ryder jerked a handcuffed Andy to his feet, pushing the man ahead of him before Andy could think to try to speak to them.
Deke swept his gaze over me, lingering on my eyes and softening as he saw the tears still falling down my cheeks.
“What did I do to deserve you, Soph?”
“You’re my hero, Deke. When a girl finds the guy for her, she sticks with him.”
“Even when she’s only a little girl of eight?”
“Didn’t you know, little girls always have the best luck in finding their Prince Charming.”