by Harlow Layne
“The police. I was asking Leo, he’s on the phone with dispatch.” He answered back distractedly. “They should be there. Sit tight and don’t come out until you see me on the other side of the door. The code is 0525.”
“My birthday is the code,” I stated. A sob catching in my throat.
Now that Ashlyn was gone my adrenaline crashed, making me a shaky, crying mess. Mason held my trembling hand with his eyes aimed at the monitor now that I wasn’t keeping him from looking. I hated that I was breaking down in front of him, but I had no control over my emotions any longer.
“Mama, I see police outside.”
“That’s good. They’re supposed to be here.” Squeezing his little hand, I brought it up to my cheek and held it there. Oh God, he was never going to want to come to California again. My heart broke a little at the thought, helping to calm me down some from my spiraling emotions.
Taking us over to the chair, we sat watching the monitors waiting for Luke. Police were all over the yard and in the house, but I didn’t want to leave the room and have to talk to them. I only wanted to be in Luke’s arms.
My breath caught as I saw Luke’s car pull into the driveway and he jumped out of the car. He took off running toward the house but got caught by one of the police officers. It looked like he was pulling at his hair. After a few moments, he was let go and running into the house and straight upstairs.
I stood with Mason in my arms as we waited to see Luke’s face on the monitor, but he was stopped by the locked bedroom door. How was he going to get in? He took in the damage created by the bat and then rammed the door with his shoulder trying to get in. I didn’t know what to do. Should we stay in the panic room or should we let Luke in the bedroom?
“What do we do?” I asked Mason. “I don’t want him to get hurt.”
There was a good possibility he might, unless he had the police knock it down. After all this I wasn’t sure what we should do, but I didn’t want Luke to injure himself or for anymore damage.
“Let’s go let him in.” Putting Mason on my hip, I keyed in the code and waited for the door to hiss open. Once it was open I ran to the bedroom door.
“Luke,” I cried out as we reached the door and heard a loud thud.
“Alex?” he yelled, frantic.
My hand shook as I tried to unlock the door. It took a couple of tries before I swung open the door and Mason and I were both enveloped in Luke’s strong arms. He sank to the floor with us. All of us were hugging and crying.
“We’re okay. We’re okay.” I kept repeating trying to reassure myself, but also Luke and Mason.
A few feet away an officer stepped forward, causing me to tense. “Mr. Sandström, we need to talk to your girlfriend for a few minutes. Can you please come down stairs?”
I felt Luke nod his head as he tried to stand with us in his arms.
“Does Mason need to be there for the questioning?” Leo asked from down the hall.
“I don’t see any need to question him.” The officer answered as he took a step back.
“Hey,” Leo said quietly as he helped us all stand in one big group. “How about I take Mason into his room and we watch a movie or something? Can I do that?” Leo asked, eyes on me.
“Do you want to go with Leo for a little while?” I asked unsure what to do.
Mason hugged me tighter. “Will you stay with mama?” he asked Luke, his big blue eyes filled with concern.
“I won’t leave her side.” Luke vowed as he hugged Mason closer.
“We were really scared,” Mason whispered, his chin trembled.
“I know you were, but you’re safe now, and I promise I won’t let anything hurt you. Do you want to go with Leo? You can stay with your mom if you want. We’re going to go downstairs and talk to the police and tell them everything we know.” Luke explained to Mason in a calm voice, but I knew he wasn’t calm. The hand that held my hip continued to shake as he spoke.
“Can someone make me breakfast and then we watch a movie?”
We all let out a chuckle at Mason’s ease of getting over the situation. I had a feeling it would be a long while before the rest of us felt as at ease as he did in that moment.
Leo stepped forward, taking Mason from my arms. “How about you and I make you and your mom some breakfast? We can have it ready for her to eat once she’s done talking to the police.”
Mason nodded, still looking worried. Luke noticed and tried to reassure him. “If you get scared or worried at any time, you can come sit with us.”
Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, Luke kept me close as we went down to the living room and sat waiting for an officer to question us. Unable to avoid looking at the window Ashlyn had broken, I gasped at the evidence of her insanity. The entire floor was littered with little pieces of glass.
A tall man with salt and pepper hair, in a brown suit that did nothing for him, sat across from us introducing himself as Detective Simmons.
“I understand this is a difficult time for you, but it’s best to do this while it’s still fresh. If you can walk me through the events that would be most helpful.”
I proceeded to tell him what had happened from the time I woke to the alarm going off, up to the point where I saw Ashlyn Jade flee. Luke took it from there explaining that she’d been posting pictures of Luke and myself or him by himself in the background of her pictures, proclaiming that Luke was cheating on me, to seeing her in Mexico, and her taking a picture of Luke and Mason in our hometown and posting it.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t do anything until it came to this, but with your statement and the video footage she will be arrested. I suggest you both get restraining orders both here in California and Missouri. That way if she posts any pictures, or comes into contact with you, you can call the police and she’ll be arrested. If you think of anything else, you have my card, and can call me anytime.”
Standing up in a daze, the morning’s events caught up to me, I shook Detective Simmons hand and told him I’d let him know if I thought of anything else. I had no idea what I’d told him. The entire conversation was a complete blur as I watched Luke walk over to where the other officers were taking pictures of the evidence downstairs. They had already finished with the upstairs.
Now that I wasn’t scared out of my mind all I wanted to do was have Luke and Mason in my arms and sleep. I knew being tired was a result of my adrenaline crashing and hoped that a cup or two of coffee would wake me up. I wasn’t sure what the plan was now after everything that had happened. Luke needed to be at work and we couldn’t possibly stay at his house.
Walking into the kitchen, I found Mason and Leo eating pancakes at the table smiling and laughing. I loved that Leo was so sweet to Mason and had taken to him as much as his brother had. Somehow, he was making Mason smile and laugh after the morning we’d had.
“We made pancakes!” Mason exclaimed, waving his syrupy fork in the air.
“Yay,” I answered back with a yawn. “Is there coffee?”
“From earlier.” Leo stood and poured me a cup.
“Can you bring the creamer? I need an unhealthy amount to tolerate the taste of coffee.” Leo chuckled and brought the creamer along with my coffee. “I’m surprised there were ingredients to make pancakes, let alone chocolate chip pancakes.”
Sitting back down to finishing eating, Leo smiled over at me. “There wasn’t until two days ago. We went grocery shopping and Luke bought everything he thought you two would want to eat.”
“Really?” My eyes welled up with tears and I closed them with a smile on my face. My heart swelled once more at another thing that Luke had done to make our stay more comfortable. He’d turned the house that he bought back in December into a home for all of us.
Arms wrapped around me from behind, the smell of ocean and sandalwood calming me and making me melt into his strong arms. “You okay?”
“Never better,” I answered, turning to see him over my shoulder.
Slipping into the chair beside m
e, Luke kept one arm around me. “I find that hard to believe. You were…” His eyes squeezed shut and his throat bobbed with emotion. “Terrorized this morning.” It physically pained him to say those words.
Turning toward him with my legs between his, I took both his hands in mine. “This morning was scary. I’m not going to lie, but what you’ve done to make this a home for us…” Bringing his hands to my mouth, I kissed the back of each one. “It takes away the scary and the crazy of the morning. I’m looking on the positive side of things. I can’t explain what it means to me. How much I appreciate all that you’ve done. Your fridge has done a transformation from the barely here and I only eat crazy healthy to well, I guess the best term for it is kid friendly.”
“It was a little too healthy, bro.”
Luke side-eyed his brother. “I wish it was that simple, but I have to eat healthy and workout. You don’t think I want to eat whatever I want when I want?”
“Hey,” I called to get his attention back to me. He was still feeling Ashlyn’s break in. “I wish I was as dedicated as you are, and I thought it was sweet that you bought the ingredients to make Mason’s pancakes along with everything else you’ve done for us. Thank you, Luke.” Leaning forward, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips wishing that I could linger longer, but we had company and I knew how easy it was to get lost in him.
“Dude, I’m just giving you shit. You know that.”
“I was a little worried about what we’d eat,” I admitted to both of them. “While I admire your dedication, I’m not sure if I can eat that way one hundred percent of the time.” Wrapping my hands around my warm coffee cup, I stood and looked to Luke. “Can you help me with something upstairs?”
“Of course.” His answer was immediate as he took my hand and walked with me to the stairs. “What do you need help with?”
“Let’s go to the bedroom or your office. I want to talk to you.”
Tilting his head, his eyes scanned over me once before nodding.
Letting me lead, I brought us to the bedroom and sat on the side of the bed, bringing Luke down with me. He looked worried and I didn’t want him to think anything was wrong. I was sure his train of thought had gone to a bad place since I asked him up here. To help ease his mind, I crawled onto his lap, wrapped my arms around him, and rested my head on his shoulder.
Hugging me back, he kissed the side of my head and murmured. “Talk to me.”
“What are we going to do? We can’t stay here with the broken window and Ashlyn on the loose. It’s not safe.”
“I’ve got an idea. Pack up.”
16
Staring out the window, I watched for the first sign of water. I was beyond excited that Luke was taking us to a friend’s house in Malibu so that we could enjoy the beach and get away until the window was fixed, and the security system upgraded. They were out of town and offered the use of their house and private beach so that the paparazzi were less likely to find us.
The thought of seeing the ocean kept my mind off Ashlyn breaking in and what she might do if she wasn’t found. What had happened to make her so delusional? So obsessed? Shaking my head to rid my thoughts of her, I focused on the side of the road and my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean in almost twenty years.
Reaching across the center console, Luke picked up my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each fingertip. Speaking low enough that only I could hear him, he asked. “Are you okay over there?”
“Yeah, focusing on seeing the water. Finding the good in the crazy.”
“It shouldn’t be much longer. At least traffic isn’t as bad as it could be, otherwise it might take hours to get there.”
“Today, I don’t think I could handle being in the car for hours.” In all truth, I was starting to lose my battle with not thinking about earlier.
“I know, Alex, but I promise we’ll be there soon.”
A sudden thought came to me and I turned in my seat looking at Luke’s tense form. “You’re supposed to be shooting today. Don’t you need to go back?”
He shook his head then looked over at me with a slight smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “They gave me a couple of days off to handle everything and then I arranged for all of you to come to set with me for the rest of the week. My trailer’s nothing glamorous, but it does its job.”
I let my gaze travel over his rigid jaw that ticked every few minutes along with his death grip on the steering wheel. His eyes laser focused on the road. I had no idea how to get him to relax or if it was even possible after this morning.
“Would it be better for us to go home early? I don’t want to cause any problems for you.”
Furious eyes landed on me causing me to shrink back against the window as he yelled. “Are you fucking shitting me, right now?”
“Luke, calm down.” Leo scolded from the backseat where Mason stared wide eyed. It wasn’t that he’d never heard any swear words or yelling. He had. Plenty of times from me and his father, but what was startling was Luke had never once raised his voice in the amount of time I knew him. I understood that he was upset, and it was a normal reaction, but I didn’t want Mason to think Luke was anything like his father.
“I’m sorry.” He turned and locked eyes with Mason and gave him a sad smile. “I’m sorry, buddy. Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to scare you or yell.”
“It’s okay. I’m kind of used to it.” Mason answered back softly, eyes still wide.
“Well, you shouldn’t be. Neither of you should, and I’m so happy that you got away from that and chose to have me in your lives.” Lifting my hand, he placed a soft kiss against my knuckles and held it to his chest as he drove. “Again, I’m sorry and you are not causing me any problems. None whatsoever. If you feel unsafe here then I won’t stop you from going home, but I don’t want you to leave.” His voice desperately pleaded with me as his sad eyes shifted back and forth from the road to me and back again.
Leaning over, I kissed his cheek and hugged him as best as I could in the car and spoke quietly only for him. “We’ll stay. I don’t want to leave you and I’m sorry, too.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, beautiful. I know you were just trying to help.”
“Look! Water!” Mason yelled excitedly from the back seat. All thoughts of Ashlyn, and Luke’s reaction, evaporated as we all turned to see the ocean.
Standing at the floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the beach, I listened to the waves as they crashed against the shore. Luke had taken our bags to our room and showed Mason and Leo where they would be staying as well.
“Hey, you want to head outside to enjoy the beach?” Luke murmured as he wrapped his hands around my waist pulling me back against him.
“That sounds nice.” My eyes closed as I leaned back against him. “Thank you for planning this even if it didn’t go according to design, and make sure to thank your friend for letting us crash at their place for a couple of days.”
“I’m upgrading both houses with the best security systems. What happened today will never happen again. Fuck, Alex.” He sighed against the back of my neck causing me to twirl around in his arms. His eyes were closed, and his face etched in pain. “If anything would have happened to either one of you, I don’t know what I would have done.” He shook his head and squeezed his eyes together tightly. “Hearing how scared you were on the phone, and poor Mason’s little face when I got there.”
Burrowing my head in his chest, I inhaled Luke’s scent of ocean and sandalwood letting it calm me. “I won’t lie. It was fucking scary, and as soon as they find her I’ll feel a hell of a lot better, but I’m not going to let that crazy bitch ruin our time together. That’s what she’s wanted from the beginning.”
“We won’t let her win and with the LAPD out searching for her it won’t be long before she’s behind bars. How about we all get our swimsuits on and head down to the beach?”
It didn’t take much to convince Mason out onto the beach. He was mesmerized by the ocean a
nd hurried me to put his sunscreen on as fast as I could. The moment we stepped outside the doors of the house, Leo grabbed Mason up and promptly ran into the ocean with him. There was a huge lounger that was the size of a small bed out on the deck, Luke and I stretched out on it as we watched Leo and Mason play in the waves.
Curling up to Luke, I rested my head on his chest. “I hope Leo doesn’t think that he’s here to be a babysitter?”
“No, he’s enjoying hanging out with Mason. Trust me, he would say something, but I also think he’s trying to give us time together. He’s a good little brother.”
“He is. It’s obvious how much he loves and misses you.”
Wrapping his arms around me tighter, Luke spoke into the top of my head. “Yeah, I missed him too. All of them, really. I was hoping me, you, and Mason could all go visit them for Christmas. My parents are dying to meet you, and it would be nice for it to be before the wedding.”
Turning my head to look up at him, I arched a brow. “Wedding? Mr. Sandström, you do remember that you have to ask me to marry you first, don’t you?”
Smiling down at me, he ran his hand up my thigh. “I very much remember, and I promise you it will happen. After today it’s taking everything in me not to ask you, but I want it to be special, not brought on by circumstance.”
“Really?” I knew that my face was glowing, and I couldn’t wait for our special moment. He nodded, leaning down with his own bright smile. His warm lips met mine in a reverent dance.
“Keep it PG up there,” Leo yelled from the water’s edge.
“Later,” he sighed against my mouth. Giving him one last kiss, I pulled away, and looked out to see Leo burying Mason in the sand. We were so lucky that everything worked out for us and Luke had the foresight to set up the panic room. Mason seemed unaffected as he played in the sand and ocean, his entire face lit up by his smile.
My eyes burned with tears as I crawled on top of Luke, hugging and straddling him, wanting to be as close to him as I possibly could.
Holding tight, Luke kissed the side of my head. “Hey, what’s going on here? Are you okay?”