She was better off without me. All I’d do was bring her pain, and I wasn’t willing to let that happen. I’d given her some bullshit excuse about it being because she was my boss’s daughter, but in reality, I didn’t give a fuck about that. I was doing it for her. I was denying what I wanted to protect her. Because I’d always protect Belle, at any cost.
Her bedroom door swung open, and her face appeared, covered in the largest sunglasses I’d ever seen. “Let’s go,” she croaked out as she pushed past me. I stared at her as she walked down the hallway and toward the front door but didn’t move as she halted next to it. Even in her hungover state, she knew not to go outside without me checking first. I expected her to give me a snarky comment when I hadn’t moved, but all she did was stare at me. I couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses, and I hated it. I hated that I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her I didn’t mean what I’d said yesterday. That I despised seeing Curtis next to her with his arm behind her on the back of the sofa. But I didn’t. Instead, I walked toward her, pulled the door open, checked it was okay, and then gave her the nod for her to follow me.
My stomach churned the closer we got to my car, knowing we’d have to be in an enclosed space, and I wondered if she felt the same. Belle was never one to hold back on what she thought. She always made sure people around her knew exactly what she was thinking. But right then, I had no idea what was going on inside her head. Maybe that was a good thing, though. I needed to distance myself as much as I could because the closer we got, the harder it would be when I’d have to leave.
Because that was what would happen. It was inevitable that at some stage, I wouldn’t be here anymore and would be undercover on another case. I’d be gone for months at a time, and that was no way for her to live. I refused to let her settle for something like that. She deserved a guy who doted on her, and more importantly, was around when she needed him, and not in the middle of nowhere trying to take down drug dealers and gangs.
And with those thoughts in mind, I knew I was doing the right thing. This was for her. I was making sure she was the happiest she could be.
The silence stretched between us as we got into the car and made our way to the shelter, and by the time we got there, she’d pulled her sunglasses off. But she didn’t look at me. She just walked into the shelter and got on with her shift while I tried to fade into the background. I watched her feed all the animals and do some admin work, but it was when she opened Lottie’s kennel that I nearly cracked.
She pushed her face into the fur of Lottie’s neck and held on to her tightly. I knew I should have stayed toward the back of the kennels where I’d been standing for the last two hours, but I couldn’t help moving closer. My feet carried me before I even realized, and by then, it was too late because Lottie had seen me.
Belle whipped her head around, her blue eyes staring up at me. “Hey,” she croaked out. “My shift finishes in fifteen.” She paused, her hand still stroking Lottie’s back. “Is it okay if we take Lottie for a walk after my shift?”
“Yeah,” I said, my voice cracking.
She nodded. “Would you get her harness and leash? It’s in the office.”
I spun on my heels and headed to the office without a word, needing to get away. The Belle I’d known as she grew up never held things inside, but the one around me now only seemed to do that. It was almost as if she was too scared to say what she really thought, and I didn’t like that one bit. I wanted her to speak her mind, to tell me how she was feeling, but I didn’t know how to get her to do that.
I grabbed the harness and leash, which had Lottie’s name on, and then made my way back to them. Lottie was waiting patiently, her side pressed against Belle’s thigh, and I knew the black jeans she had on would be covered in dog hair in no time.
“Thanks,” Belle said as she took the leash and harness from me. It only took seconds for her to get it on Lottie, and then she locked the kennel behind her. “I’m going to tell Jamie that I’m leaving.” She handed me the leash, and Lottie sat next to me, her gaze fixated on Belle as she walked away. I moved my palm between Lottie’s ears and didn’t move from the spot I was in until Belle reappeared.
It was awkward between us as we exited the shelter, but I didn’t know what to say to break the tension. There wasn’t anything I could say, not unless I was going to tell her the truth, but I wasn’t sure I even wanted to admit that to myself, never mind saying it out loud. My head was a mash of thoughts, but I knew one thing—when Belle looked at me, I never wanted her to turn away.
I was here to do a job, but that didn’t mean spending time with her almost twenty-four hours a day didn’t enlighten me on the woman she’d become. Everyone always saw her as a little girl, someone who needed to be protected from everything. And I wasn’t saying she didn’t need protecting, but there was so much more to her, and I was only now seeing that.
Her caring nature, and the way she was with the animals in the shelter, spoke volumes. Not many people volunteered their time to causes like these, but she didn’t even think about it like that. She loved each and every animal in this shelter, maybe a little too much. But that was the beauty of Belle. She cared more than most people.
I was witnessing a side to her I never even knew was there, and that was part of the problem. The more time I spent with her, the more time I wanted. It was a vicious circle, one I needed to get out of as soon as I could because I was afraid that if I didn’t, I’d be stuck here forever.
And I didn’t hate the idea.
BELLE
I wasn’t sure what had my eyes springing open and my ears perking up, but something had woken me up. There was no sunlight streaming through my room, just darkness surrounding me, so I knew it was the middle of the night.
My body was still as I tried to hear what had woken me up, but after several seconds of nothing, I rolled over and closed my eyes. I’d been on high alert since Ford had moved in with me, so it wasn’t unusual for me to wake up thinking I’d heard something when, in reality, it was just my brain working on overdrive.
I sighed as I thought about the last few days. It had been five days since Ford had kissed me. Four since he told me it was a mistake, and things hadn’t been the same between us since. He was distant, but so was I. I wasn’t willing to expose myself, not when he’d shut me down so epically. I told myself over and over again that I was living in a fantasy world. I’d made the entire thing up in my head. I’d imagined the way he looked at me, and the way he touched me.
It was the only way I could get past what he’d said.
I inhaled a deep breath and told myself to stop thinking about it, but as soon as I was starting to fall back asleep, I heard the noise again. I stilled. I hadn’t imagined it that time. I knew I hadn’t. A scraping sound, but I couldn’t place where it was from. It sounded close, but also far away, but maybe that was because my blood was pumping through my body so fast that I could hear it in my ears.
A small thud echoed and then scraping again, and I realized it was coming from my bedroom window. I lifted my head a little, trying to see what it was, and a small light flashed. I gasped and then slammed my hand over my mouth. How the hell had someone gotten that high up? And how did they know this was my window?
My heart beat wildly in my chest, and even though I knew they couldn’t get in through the new safety windows Ford had installed, I was panicking. I had to get out of my room.
I slowly slid to the other side of my bed and kept my gaze latched on to the window. My blind was three-quarters of the way down, so I could only see a sliver, but I could tell someone was out there because of the shadows.
My body slipped off the side of my bed, and I crawled toward my door, then slowly reached up. The door handle squeaked, and I winced, wondering if whoever was out there could hear me. But when the scraping rang out again, I knew they hadn’t.
I opened the door, just enough for me to squeeze through, and once I
was out in the hallway, I stood. For a second, I stood there, wondering for the thousandth time if I’d imagined it, but metal banging against metal had my feet sprinting down the hallway and to Ford in the living room.
A small lamp near the kitchen was on, giving just enough light to illuminate his sleeping face. His hand was behind his head, his blanket covering half of his bare chest, but I didn’t have time to take in the tattoos that I’d only ever seen part of. I didn’t have the chance to see if they continued down his back. Not when a click rang out in the apartment.
My head swung to the door, and my heart pounded. Would they try and get in that way too?
“Ford,” I whispered, and when he didn’t answer me, I crouched down and pressed my palm against his bicep, pushing on it. “Ford.” His eyes opened, and his hand whipped out, grabbing my wrist in a vise-tight grip. “Ford,” I repeated again, and at the sound of my voice, the pressure on my wrist lowered, but he didn’t let go. “Someone is trying to get into my bedroom window.”
I thought it’d take a second for what I’d said to sink in, but it didn’t. He sprang up off the sofa, revealing his bare chest and abs, and reached for something underneath the pillow his head had been resting on. I spotted the blink of metal and knew it was a gun.
He hadn’t let go of my wrist, and he continued to hold it as he pulled me down the hallway and toward my bedroom. “Stay here,” he whispered, and I stared at his back as he flung open my bedroom door and slammed the lights on. He lunged over my bed and yanked on my blind string, causing it to fly up my window, and then he was face to face with someone dressed entirely in black. All I could see were two dark eyes, and then he was gone.
Ford leaped through my bedroom and grabbed ahold of me again as he rushed into the living room and grabbed his cell. “Open my laptop,” he demanded, and I reached for it on the coffee table and did as I was told. He pressed his cell against his ear. “Agent Easton.” He looked over at me, his swirling eyes meeting mine. “Password BB-seven-two-nine.” I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or the person on the line, but when he pointed at me and then the laptop, I realized it was possible he was telling us both.
I typed in the password, and the computer came to life. I didn’t take in what was on his home screen as I turned it around. He crouched down in front of me, still talking on his cell and clicked the keys. My hands started to shake, my body going into shock. Someone had tried to break into my apartment. And it was then I realized just how real the threat was.
What would they have done if they would have gotten inside? Would they have taken me? Would they have killed me? Was I really that important?
“Belle.” Ford’s voice sounded far away, but his hands gripping my face pulled me into the here and now. “Belle.” I swallowed and blinked, causing a lone tear to slip from the corner of my eye. “Sweetheart,” he croaked out. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
“Why?” I asked, my voice sounding nothing like my own. “Why am I so important that they want to break in?”
Ford moved closer and gripped my face harder. “Because he knows that the way to get to me is through the people I care about most. He’s been running searches on all of us. Your dad called yesterday to tell me. You’re the only way he can get to us—get to me.”
“I…” I pulled in a stuttering breath. “I’m scared, Ford.”
“I know, sweetheart.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “But I won’t let him get you. I promise. I’d die before he got his hands on you.” The way he said it had no doubt in my mind that Ford would do everything in his power to keep me safe, but that didn’t mean I was safe. They’d tried to get into my bedroom window, and the alarm that Ford had installed hadn’t even gone off. If I hadn’t woken up…
I couldn’t even think about what would have happened.
Loud banging on the door had me jumping in my seat, and I grabbed Ford’s arm, my eyes wide. “It’s okay,” Ford said, turning the laptop to face me. “It’s just backup.”
I stared down at the screen and saw four frames. Each was black and white, but one looked out from the front door and toward two guys, waiting on the other side of it. “What…what’s that?”
“Surveillance,” Ford grunted. He lifted my hand off his arm as they knocked on the door again. “Take my laptop to keep watch and go into Stella’s room. Don’t come out until I get you.”
I couldn’t stop looking at his laptop as I tried to make sense of it. There were three other cameras, all pointing on the outside of the building, and then in the corner, there was a little box with four more frames, and when I looked closer, I saw it was inside the apartment. How did I not even know he had cameras in here?
“Belle.”
I blinked and shook my head. “Yeah?”
“Did you hear me? Go into Stella’s room and don’t come out until I come and get you.”
I swallowed and nodded, then stood on shaky legs. My body was taking a minute to realize what was going on. I halted in front of Stella’s door and knocked on it twice, then opened it up. She’d said Justin was staying at his place tonight, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be with him or not.
The darkness of her room had my heart racing, so I switched on the light and jumped out of my skin when Stella shot up in bed, her hair a matted mess around her face.
“What the fuck?” Stella rubbed at her eyes, but it took her a few seconds to open them, and in that time, I closed the door behind me and then started to hear voices coming from the living room. Half of me wanted to be out there with Ford, but the other half wanted to hide in a closet until Ford told me the monsters were all gone.
“I…I need to stay in here.”
“Huh?” Stella finally looked at me, her brows furrowed. “What’s going on?”
I clutched Ford’s laptop to my chest and tried to find the right words. I didn’t want to scare her, but I needed her to know that Ford being here was for something very real and not just in case something would happen. “Someone tried to break in through my bedroom window.”
“What the…” Stella slipped out of her bed and lunged at me. Her arms wrapped around me, but I just stood there, as still as a statue. “What happened?” She pulled back but kept her hands planted on my shoulders.
“I…I don’t know. I woke up and…” I huffed out a breath, and my body sagged against her. “Someone was trying to get in, so I got Ford, and now there’s police here and—” I tried to swallow back the lump building in my throat. “Ford told me to come in here until he comes and gets me.”
“Okay.” Stella maneuvered me toward her bed. “Come sit.”
I did as she said, then placed the laptop on my legs. The warmth of it hit my thighs, and it was then I realized all I was wearing was a tank top and my boy shorts.
“What’s that?” Stella asked, and I turned to look at her, but all her attention was on the screen.
“It’s the cameras Ford has set up.” I spotted him standing in the doorway of the apartment. I wondered why he wasn’t checking the outside, leaving it to the backup that had turned up really quickly, but I had a feeling it was because he didn’t want to leave the apartment with me inside.
“Jesus, Belle. This is some serious shit. I didn’t think anything would actually happen, but fuck.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I didn’t either.” And I didn’t. I’d lived my entire life knowing that there were threats out there because of what my dad did, but they’d never touched me. I’d never been close to anything like this, and now I was firmly in the middle, and all I wanted to do was escape.
Stella and I sat on the edge of her bed for twenty-seven minutes until I heard the front door close and then the beeping of the alarm. I watched on the screen as Ford came toward Stella’s room, and I stood, opening the door before he could lift his hand to knock.
His swirling hazel eyes met mine, but then they focused on Stella. “The alarm wasn’t on.”
Stella gasped, and I turned to see her eyes wide and hand covering her
mouth. “Justin left just after midnight, and I forgot to turn it on.”
Ford made a noise in the back of his throat. “If the alarm would have been on, as soon as someone tried to get in, it would have gone off and sent a signal straight to the local station and to Belle’s dad. It’s important that it gets put on.”
“I…I didn’t realize.”
I expected Ford to say more than that, but when I turned to face him again, he just nodded and then took hold of my wrist. “Get some sleep,” he told Stella, pulling me out of the room. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
I followed Ford back into the living room, still holding on to his laptop. I didn’t know why I expected him to stop, but he didn’t. He led me back to my bedroom and then took the laptop off me. “You too, Baby Belle.” I wrapped my arms around myself as he stared down at me. “Get some sleep.”
“I…” I pulled in a breath and tried to be strong. I couldn’t show him any weakness, not when he was used to strong people around him at all times. I felt like a whiny girl next to everyone else he knew, so instead of telling him I was scared, I pushed my shoulders back and stepped into my room.
His face was a carefully placed mask as he closed the door, leaving me standing there in my room, terrified of turning around and looking at the window. Having his laptop with me had been the security I’d needed not to think about what had just happened, but now I was alone, back in my room, scared to death to be in here.
I turned around slowly, my gaze hitting everything but my window. My palms became clammy, my stomach bottomed out, and every bone in my body screamed at me to get out of this room.
“Belle?”
I squealed, my heart racing even more than it already was. Ford’s voice was close, almost as if he hadn’t moved since he closed the door. “You okay?”
“I…yeah, I’m fine,” I croaked out.
I heard a huff, and then the squeak of my door handle, and I felt him step into my room. “No, you’re not.” His voice had my heart rate slowing, and I hated how much I needed him at that moment, but I wouldn’t lie to myself.
Bonded Duet: Ford & Belle: Torn Bond & Tied Bond (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 3) Page 11