Havoc Page 18

  “I love you, too.” Her voice is strong and soft at the same time, it’s everything I need to push us both to the end.

  She screams, I moan, and we wrap our arms around each other, holding tightly to one another.

  “I’ve loved you for a long time,” she whispers. “I just didn’t know if you wanted to hear it or not.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have listened,” I pant, pulling her against me. “I’m listening now.”

  Minutes of silence pass before I hear her whisper.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  I’m surprised when her voice cuts through the dark, I thought she’d gone to sleep. “Yeah, you can ask me anything you want.”

  “Why hasn’t anyone snapped you up by now? Seriously Holden, you’re a great guy.”

  I situate her beside me, running my fingers through her hair as I pull her closer. “I didn’t want it,” I admit, blowing a breath out that moves her hair. “When I was in the military, I had a girlfriend who wrote me a Dear John letter while I was over there.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “No.” I shake my head, entwining our fingers, pressing our palms together. “It’s a common occurrence, believe it or not. It’s hard to deal with, on both sides, and I guess now, being older, I understand more than I did then. I get why she couldn’t live with the unknown. But it broke my heart, and I never wanted to open myself up to that again.” I twist so that we’re face-to-face.

  “You never wanted a relationship?”

  “Not at first. I came back, did what it took to get back into civilian life, watched my parents retire and move to Gulf Shores, and by that time the job with the MTF came up. I just never had the time, ya know? Never made it a priority. I was good with having a few one night stands here and there, but then I walked into a bar in Birmingham one night, and my mind was blown by the kiss I got unexpectedly.”

  She laughs, putting her arms around my neck and pulling us deeper together, hooking one leg at my side. “Best dare I ever took.”

  “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you took that dare.”

  We’re quiet for a long time this time, but there’s still an adrenaline rush coursing through my body. “Can I ask you something this time?”

  She nods, her sleepy voice answering. “Of course, you can ask me anything.”

  “Promise me you’ll keep your cell with you in the house at all times, and you’ll keep the alarm armed at all times. Please don’t ask me to tell you why – just trust me. I’m asking for your trust.”

  She stills in the moonlight. “You’ve got it, and I promise.”

  She makes a noise in her throat, kisses my chin, and we fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. It’s where we both belong.

  And from here on out, every time we’re in the house, the alarm is set.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Leighton

  “Thank God it’s calmed down,” I sigh as I sit down in a booth, hoping to catch my breath for a few minutes. I’m a little sore after the way Holden woke me up last night, and I hadn’t been fully prepared for the way we’ve had to work this morning. “That breakfast rush was insanity. It hasn’t been that busy in a while.”

  Ernie has a seat across from me, sighing with relief as he puts his own feet up. “I heard from someone during one of the heavier rushes that a transformer blew out on Mill Creek, and most of these folks were without power.”

  Now that I can understand. “No wonder we sold so much coffee.” I lean my head back against the plate glass window.

  Violet is holding a cold Coke in her hand and sinks into a chair facing us, putting her feet up in one she’s drug over. “Can we lock the door for twenty minutes?”

  I laugh, because I thought the same thing. I don’t want to worry about moving for the next hour, if my opinion counts. “The only way we’ll open it is if my husband is knocking on the door.” I wink. “Or Whitney with cute, little Stella.”

  They nod in agreement. I take a moment to close my eyes, thinking about what all I need to do when I get home. There’s a paper due next week, and I’m supposed to have a girl’s night out on Friday. Which means I’m already freaking out about what I’m wearing. I’ve come a long way from where I started, as a young girl not knowing her way around relationships, but I still have a long way to go. I’m not sure if the anxiety will ever fully go away, but I’m willing to give it all a shot. Anything that will make it appear as if I grew up as a regular little girl, with a mom who cared to teach her all this shit.

  I hear the bell ring that hangs over the door and groan. I’m gonna have to open my eyes and see if there’s a customer to wait on. As soon as I pry them open, I see a man running toward Violet, who has her head down on her arms. Ernie’s also struggling to be alert.

  “Look out!” I yell as I see him ball his hand into a fist and cold-cock her across the face. Her head whips around and she falls immediately to the floor.

  “You dumb bitch!” he yells as Violet screams when he reaches down and grabs her by the hair, yanking her up. “Thinking you can go behind my back, take those classes you’re always harping about. You think you’re so much goddamn smarter than I am.”

  I flinch, closing my eyes as I hear him continue to hit her, the sound of flesh on flesh is sickening as I hear a bone crack. Ernie is still sitting there shocked. I fumble with my phone, dialing nine-one-one.

  “What’s your emergency.”

  “I’m Holden Thompson’s wife, and we’ve got an assault happening at The Café. The other waitress’ husband is beating the holy hell out of her.”

  “Ma’am, do not try to step in the middle of this,” she tells me, as I’m already starting to scoot down the booth.

  “I can’t help to not get involved. Please send help.”

  I disconnect the call and spring into action, looking around for something I can use. Not seeing anything, I take a napkin holder, throwing it as his head, followed by salt and pepper shakers. Anything to dislodge the hold he has on her. Blood is pouring from her face, and the sound is a wheeze as she tries to breathe through her nose. I’m scared she’s dead, because of how limp she is. I continue throwing anything and everything I can find, and when he’s finally done with her, he turns on me.

  “My husband will murder you.”

  “Or I will before you even get a chance to get to her.” I hear Ace’s voice, and I want to weep with joy. The police have finally arrived.

  Havoc

  “What the fuck is happening on that radio?” I question as I enter the squad room, listening to the radio I have in my hand.

  “Something at The Café,” Renegade says from where he sits. “It was called in a minute or two ago.”

  “Anybody responding?”

  Leighton is over there and hearing she may be in danger has my blood pressure immediately rising. “Ace is on his way, but he’s riding by himself today,” Renegade says as he puts on his vest. “Tank’s on his way, but I’m thinking we won’t be able to wait on him. He got stopped at the tracks by a train.”

  “C’mon,” I tag him on the chest, “we’ll ride together, something about this doesn’t feel good to me.”

  “Me neither.” He’s tapping the button on the radio, letting everyone else know we’re responding and informing Tank on where to meet us at.

  My heart pounds as we approach The Café. Not much is being said over the radio, and what I’m hearing, I don’t like.

  “Be advised, there’s a Strait Edge Lawn Care truck out in front of the business. Witnesses say our alleged attacker was in that truck,” Ace radios and immediately my stomach drops.

  “Son of a bitch. I told Leighton to let me have a talk with that fuck face.” I beat the heel of my hand against the steering wheel.

  “What fuck face?”

  “The other waitress there has a dick for a husband, and some things weren’t adding up. I wanted to have a talk with him, but got busy, and then Leighton never mentioned it again. She’s really good
at that shit. Motherfucker,” I growl as we make our way through downtown.

  It takes us minutes, but we make it to The Café, noticing Ace’s squad car, parked adjacent to the front door of the building. He’s not at the car, so we know he’s inside. “Ace, Leigh,” I yell as I enter the building, gun at the ready.

  Renegade’s at my point, and I take in the scene in front of me. Ace is in hand-to-hand with this guy, and the guy has apparently had the upper hand, because blood is running down Ace’s forehead and his lip is split. I cringe as I hear skin slapping against skin, the thud telling me Ace may now have a broken nose.

  “C’mon pussy, come at me,” the other guy is taunting Ace.

  Looking at him, I can tell he’s on some kind of narcotics. He’s got superhuman strength, because I know Ace. He’s one of the guys I’d want by my side in a fight. Coming up behind the attacker, I grab him around the throat in a chokehold and start to bring him down before he starts throwing his elbows. “You’re under arrest, down on your knees,” I shout at him. He doesn’t hear me, he’s fighting and it takes all three of us to get him down. None of us are small guys, and once he’s handcuffed (still kicking and yelling I might add), we all take a minute to catch our breath. I pant out my question. “Why were you called here?”

  Ace indicates where Leighton sits in a booth, holding Violet in her lap. The other woman has had the absolute shit beat out of her; she appears to be unconscious, and I wonder briefly if she’s not dead.

  “Leigh called, because he was beating the shit out of her.”

  There are a ton of questions on my lips, but we’re interrupted by both Blaze and Tank. “Sorry I missed it.” Tank takes a look around the place. I can imagine what he sees. It looks like a tornado came through here.

  “It’s okay, wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty face of yours,” I tease as I wipe the blood off my nose where Violet’s husband’s elbow got me.

  I watch as they get Violet out of the seat and onto a gurney. Ace follows closely behind, answering the questions Blaze asks. When things calm for a moment, my eyes meet Leighton’s and I see tears in hers. She turns in the booth, putting her arms on the table and burying her face in them. When I see the shake of her shoulders, I know it’s affected her on a deep level. I hand over the scene to another officer with a rank comparable to mine and stick my gun back in its holster, walking slowly over to my wife.

  Taking a seat beside her, I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her trembling body against mine. “You okay?” I whisper, trying not to spook her. What she’s seen here today has scared her.

  “No,” she cries, her bottom lip sticking out as she wrinkles her nose up to stop the flow of tears. “Not at all. He just kept beating her, Holden. Even after I called nine-one-one and told him y’all were on the way, he said he didn’t care. She had to be taught a lesson.”

  “A real man would never hit a woman,” I remind her. I have a feeling some of this is going back to her childhood and the years she spent as an adult before she moved in and married me.

  “I know that in my head, like without a doubt,” she wipes the tears out from under her eyes. “I know that, my head knows it and my heart knows it, but there’s a part of me that’s still in the mindset that it’s expected. I don’t wanna be that way, she didn’t deserve what happened to her here today.”

  I nod my head. I agree with her, but neither one of us have a psych degree and we don’t know for sure what was going through his head. “Was he on drugs?” I question her. “He was superhuman strong. I mean we’re three big guys, and it took all of us to pull him down. It wasn’t easy.”

  “He had the look of someone who was high. His eyes were glassy and he just wouldn’t listen to her, he just kept screaming.” She runs her hands through her hair, before she turns her eyes up to me.

  My superior comes over with a notebook, giving my hand a shake. “I understand Leighton was here today.”

  “Yeah,” she answers as she eyes the notebook. Chances are, she’s seen those notebooks lots in her life, especially when people came to her dad’s house. The notebook is the cops most trusted weapon besides our guns.

  “If you wouldn’t mind, I want you to take me back through everything that happened here. I want to make sure this piece of dirt gets everything he deserves, and I can’t do that unless I know what he did. I want justice for your friend.”

  And if there’s one thing she wants, it is justice. It’s the only thing any of us want. She takes a deep breath, and I tighten my arm around her. “I’ll be right here until you’re done, babe. Just tell him what happened. Start at the beginning and tell the whole story. I love you,” I whisper as I lean in and kiss her on the forehead.

  That seems to give her the courage she needs. “Okay.” She nods, before she starts and I hope she never has to do this ever again.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Leighton

  “Your phone has been buzzing since you got up to go to the bathroom,” I tell my husband as he comes back, having a seat across from me.

  “Must be something big, everybody knows I’m off tonight and it’s date night.” He flips the phone over and I raise my eyebrows at the five missed calls.

  “Told you it went crazy while you were gone.” I was so hoping we’d have a nice night tonight. Violet’s not back at work yet; she’s recovering while Caleb and I have been picking up the slack. But Ernie closed early tonight to give us some time off. I had grand plans on taking my husband back to our house and showing him how much I love what he’s wearing.

  His jaw tightens as he situates himself in his chair, pressing a button on the phone. “I got a bad feeling about this.” He presses his fingers against the bridge of his nose, pinching it in a way that tells me this may be a long night.

  Something in the way he says the words puts me on edge as well. Our food hasn’t gotten to us yet, and I’ve already lost my appetite. Listening as the person on the other end of the phone answers, I try to make sense of what Holden is saying.

  “I know you wouldn’t call unless something big is going on. Tell me.”

  My heart beats faster and may palms get sweaty as I see his face pale.

  “How many, and where? Have you called the ambulance yet?”

  Now I’m really paying attention, trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and who it’s happening to. “Don’t,” he slaps his hand against the table. “I’ll be there ASAP.”

  I watch with wide eyes as he slams the phone on the table with barely leashed restraint. His jaw is ticking double-time and I don’t recognize the man sitting across from me. For the most part, Holden is completely in control of his emotions, his anger rarely gets the best of him when I’m around, but I have a feeling right now I’m about to learn what the nickname Havoc means. He pulls his wallet out, throwing down a couple of bills across the table as he stands up. “Let’s go.”

  He drags me out of the building, on high alert, watching the scenery as we make our way to the truck. I imagine this is what he looks like doing his day job, how he makes sure he and his guys come home safe and sound every night. It never occurs to me to ask where we’re going, what we’re doing. His eyes are wide and wild; they’re haunted by something I haven’t been a part of. As we run to the truck, and I get in, he flips on lights I’ve never seen him use. “Buckle up and hold on,” he instructs before he puts it in gear, and we take off like a damn rocket.

  I’m hanging on as tightly as I can as we take turns at speeds that can’t be safe. I’m scared, no denying it, but if he’s this upset and worried, there’s a reason. “What are we going to?” I finally ask when the curiosity gets the best of me.

  He doesn’t answer for what feels like the longest time. Sparing a glance in his direction, I see the firm set of his jaw, the way his teeth are clenching and the panting breaths he’s taking, evidenced by the flaring of his nostrils. “When we get there, I want you to stay beside me,” he growls as someone doesn’t get far enough out of his way. “C�
�mon!” he beats the steering wheel with the heel of his hand, frustration making his body tighten into a string that I’m scared is going to break.

  “Where is there?”

  “There’s a barn party out in the county,” his words are clipped, terse, like he’s trying desperately to keep his emotions out of this.

  “That’s not unusual, right? I remember kids doing it back when I was in high school. What’s different about this one, babe?” I ask, putting my hand on his knee, trying to offer him some sort of comfort.

  “This one includes Caleb. Menace is the one who called me. It’s bad, Leighton.”

  I don’t know why, but the tone of his voice sends shivers up and down my arms. I’m worried, but I’m not completely sure what I’m worried about. The quietness in the truck lets me know we both are.

  A half-mile from the scene, I can see the lights against the canopy of the trees. There are a ton of vehicles there, ranging from fire, to ambulance, to cops. As we come to a screeching halt, Holden bails out of the truck. For a few minutes I sit there, taking everything in. I see three stretchers with paramedics attending to what look like teenagers laying on them. One of the stretchers has a tarp covering one of the bodies, and I know without a doubt that person is dead. There’s another three or four being surrounded by law enforcement, they’re all bent over at the waist. As I slowly unbuckle my seatbelt and open the door, one thing sticks out to me. There’s blood everywhere.

  I see Blaze, who’s standing behind one of the ambulances, with her rubber-gloved hand covered in blood braced against the metal, her head hanging low on her shoulders. Carefully I walk over to her. “Are you okay?” I whisper as I approach.

  She turns quickly, not able to wipe the tears from her eyes, as her hands are still covered in blood. Slowly she takes the gloves off and throws them on the ground. “No, and Trevor can’t be over here right now because he’s working.”