Fuck!

I’d just started nodding off to sleep when someone knocked on my door. I lay in bed silently. Maybe if I ignored the first knock, they would go away. But then there was another, this one more frantic.

“What?” I growled as I shot up and stormed over to the door, not even bothering to look through the peephole, because whoever it was had knocked on the wrong damn door, and I was going to give them a piece of my mind. “Where’s the fucking fi—”

I yanked open the door to find Kenzie, who’d obviously been crying. She shrank back from my rage.

Shit!

“Kenz, I’m sorry. What’s wrong? Are you okay? Where’s Chris?”

My mind raced as I scanned her from head to toe. She didn’t look physically hurt, but her eyes were red and tear filled and her lips quivered, and she held herself so small as she shivered. She still wore the cute dress she’d worn earlier, but she was barefoot. Instantly I wanted to take her in my arms and protect her from whatever had happened.

But I knew better than to try to hold her again. She’d made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with me. So instead I buried my intense need to hold her, took a deep breath, and asked, “Where are your shoes?”

She looked down at her feet slowly as if she hadn’t realized she was barefoot. “They’re with my phone and my wallet.”

I didn’t understand. “Did someone steal your wallet, phone, and shoes?”

“Can I come in, please?” Her voice was a shaky whisper.

I nodded and waved her inside, checking the hallway to make sure whoever or whatever had made her this way wasn’t out there. Then I shut the door and guided her to the small seating area in my room.

“Where’s Chris?” I asked again when we were both seated on the couch.

She shook her head but didn’t say anything, instead looking at the floor. I searched her eyes for the strong Kenzie I knew, but she’d been ripped apart. My instincts to protect her were overwhelming. Every muscle in my body tensed. I would be kicking the shit out of someone, if she could just tell me what happened and who I was going to murder for making her look this broken.

I put my hands on her shoulders and made her look at me. “Listen, Kenzie. You’re scaring me. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happened.”

“Nothing,” she whimpered, then fell into my arms and began to cry.

I wrapped my arms around her. It felt so right holding her in my arms—how could this possibly be wrong? I should be the one here for her. I held her gently and let her weep. Her breath mixed with tears warmed my bare chest, and my heart fucking ached for this woman. How could anyone hurt her?

Nothing happened? Bullshit. My mind raced through the possible scenarios, all of which ended with me murdering someone in cold blood.

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

“No.” She kept her face buried in my chest.

I ran my hand gently over her soft hair, then realized I shouldn’t and pulled my hand away. Chris should be holding her like this, comforting her. If that was who she really wanted to be with. Where the hell was he?

“Is Chris okay?”

She didn’t answer right away. “I told you, nothing happened,” she said to my chest.

Maybe that was it. Maybe she had finally broken it off with Chris. God, if that were true…

But I couldn’t feel happy about that, not if breaking up with him hurt her this much. No, if that was what happened, it had destroyed her. And I could never be happy about that. Besides, I had no way of knowing what happened because she wouldn’t fucking talk.

I sighed. I couldn’t make her talk right now; she was too upset. So I held her and she cried softly in my arms for a while. When she’d finally calmed down, she pulled away and sat up.

“Sorry,” she said. She wiped at her face, trying to remove the traces of tears, and I got her a tissue.

“Thanks.” She dabbed at her eyes.

“Can I get you a water or anything?”

She nodded. “Can I borrow your phone?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed her a bottle of water from the mini fridge and my phone from the nightstand, handing them both to her.

Kenzie scrolled through my phone. “I just need to call Cade and get Alexa’s number, then I’ll get out of your hair.”

Forty

MacKenzie

Damn it. I hadn’t meant to fall apart like that in front of Ian. The plan was just to get in, use his phone, and get out. He had his big fight tomorrow, and for some reason, even after seeing him with that stupid hooker, I still wanted him to win.

But at the sight of him I completely fell apart. I couldn’t hold it in. He was so strong, and the concern that filled his eyes was so real. I was selfish; I fell into him and let his strong arms hold me. Protect me. It wasn’t just about Chris’s unwelcome advances, it was everything, the deep loneliness that came from my past, the fact that I knew for certain Ian and I were through… It was all too much to process. I sat in his arms, crying, and felt safe from the destruction around me. I knew if I was with Ian, nothing like what had happened with Chris would ever happen to me again. I’d never have to worry about someone hurting me. Because Ian would protect me. He was safe.

So I fell into his arms and weakly wept against his bare chest, allowing myself to take the comfort he offered for a few minutes, until I was able to regain my composure—or what was left of it.

He lent me his phone, and I called Cade and got Alexa’s number.