“I’m sorry. Okay? I just worry about you. Domestic violence isn’t something to mess around with. These abusers get touchy about other people in their victims’ lives. I love you. I can’t bear to think of you getting hurt. It’s not because I don’t think you’re capable. I’m a protective man, Erin. It’s who I am. I want to be there to make your life easier in all ways.”

She blew a stream of air out. “I get that, Todd. But I cannot be managed or guilted. And I do not want to be wrapped in cotton and shielded. I have a life and I want to live it. I love you, but I don’t want you to take over. I won’t have it.”

He wanted to though. He wanted to step in and take care of her, keep her safe and shielded from any and all threats. She couldn’t know how much or she’d freak. Hell, he was a protective person in general; it’s why he’d become a cop to start with. But with her it was more. She was his and he protected what was his.

Still, the last thing he wanted was to annoy or agitate her any further. She was upset enough by that point. Erin was strong, more than she gave herself credit for. But abusers were batshit crazy and he had no intention of letting her get in the middle of this mess.

He took her hand. “I’m sorry. I know you’re capable. I just want to take care of you. Call Ben and tell him what’s going on; he’s worried too.”

She made that snorting sound he knew meant trouble. “Call him yourself when we get there. And tell him I don’t like tattle-tales.”

Erin said little else to him on the drive over.

“I’m coming in with you. I don’t care how mad you are,” he said as he parked. But he said it to an empty truck because she’d already gotten out and moved across the lot toward the elevators at a furious clip.

Great. He didn’t know Ella’s last name and he’d just wander around aimlessly if he lost sight of Erin. He rushed to catch up, putting an arm around her to keep Erin at his side. She’d be protected whether she liked it or not. They would always need to work on their relationship; that’s how relationships thrived and grew. This was something he hadn’t understood when he was married. But he got it now.

Erin was his to protect and he would. He’d find a way to do it so she knew he respected her and her independence, but she had to understand it would happen.

He made a snorting sound of his own.

Two hours later, Erin’s hands shook as she got back into Todd’s truck. As much as she hated to admit it, she was glad he was there. If he hadn’t been, she’d have needed to sit in her car a good half an hour before she could have driven anywhere.

Ella had been a mess. Barely conscious from the stew of opiates keeping the pain at bay. Her face purpled and swollen from the beating she’d endured. Her feet and legs wrapped up from the burns.

Ella’s mother had filled them in on all the details. The ex was in police custody. There’d be a bail hearing on Monday. The cops would be able to show the guy had violated the protection order three times in the past sixty days, and hopefully he wouldn’t get bail as he awaited trial.

Ella would recover. She’d walk again and hopefully find love with a man who didn’t think killing her was the only way to keep her. Erin sighed heavily. What the f**k was wrong with people?

“You okay?” Todd asked softly.

She nodded. She’d been there in that hospital. In worse shape than Ella. And she’d survived and found love and happiness she’d never imagined holding in her life ever again. But the smell of the room, of the tape holding the bandages on, of the tubing, of the antiseptic—it brought things back and for a few minutes there, the walls felt very close.

But Todd had kept his arm around her and she’d felt better bit by bit. It still hung around her like shitty weather, but it would clear. Because it wasn’t her life anymore.

Still, it was her friend’s life, and she knew what that dark pit felt like.

“I just . . . Thank you for being there with me.”

He looked startled and then he smiled. “Honey, I wouldn’t have been anywhere else. I’m glad my being with you helped. I’m going to take you home, okay? Ben will get your car and bring it to your place. Are you up to seeing him? Or me, for that matter?”

She nodded again and he touched her neck but said nothing else.

25

“She’s stable now. The burns are worst on her left leg and foot, but they said she’ll be fine, although they’re watching for infection.”

Todd listened to her speak with Brody on the phone as he made tea for her. He needed to do something with his hands because he was torn between wanting to punch something and wanting to f**k her until she thought of nothing else.

“They didn’t need grafts apparently . . . Yeah, I thought so too . . . Not much, she wasn’t really conscious. They had her on a pretty major opiate cocktail,” Erin continued.

Todd buzzed Ben up, relieved he’d arrived. He hadn’t had much time to think about what had happened the night before other than to know he’d enjoyed it. Something had shifted; there was an easy sort of acceptance that Ben was part of whatever he and Erin had. He knew Ben cared about Erin and hoped between the two of them, they could keep her calm and stop her from thinking overmuch about what had happened to her friend.

He’d called a contact at the Seattle PD and spoken to him about the case. The guy had several assault priors and had repeatedly violated the protection order. He also had two other ex-girlfriends in his past who’d filed for protection orders, and the bastard, not surprisingly, had a history of stalking. Todd hoped it was enough to keep him in jail.