I told him.

Almost everything.

I left out the part about it happening while he was in the house. I figured that could wait for later (read: never).

As I told him, he showed no reaction. He kept me close, his thumb stroking my jaw, his eyes never leaving mine.

When I was done talking, he kept looking at me without saying a word.

“See,” I said. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” Luke responded in a matter-of-fact voice that said he was indeed, going to kill Noah.

It was my turn to go rock solid. “Luke!”

“He’s dead.”

I grabbed fistfuls of Luke’s tee at his sides. “Please don’t. Please, Luke. It happened to me, not you. I don’t want you to do anything gonzo.”

His thumb quit stroking and his fingers tightened at my neck. “Yeah, Ava. It happened to you and you’re handlin’ it great, babe. You’re doin’ great,” he said softly, bent down and brushed his mouth against mine. I closed my eyes and relaxed into him.

Then his head came up and I opened my eyes again. “But that’s right now, beautiful. Later tonight, tomorrow, a week from now, it’s gonna hit you, it’s gonna haunt you and I won’t be able to stop it. It’s done. And you’re mine. You’re mine to watch over, you’re mine to take care of, you’re mine to protect. I didn’t protect you. I gotta live with that and it’ll make it a whole f**kuva lot easier to live with knowin’ he paid a price. Someone hurt you, someone touched you,” he said this between his teeth, losing hold on his control for a moment then I watched him gain it back again before he went on. “And that someone is not gonna get the chance to hurt you, or any woman, again.”

“I’m asking you Luke, please leave it alone.”

“I’m telling you, beautiful, I can’t. It just isn’t in me.”

I burrowed deeper into him and shared what was really on my mind. “What if you get hurt? He said he had a gun.”

“Only one’s gonna hurt is Dexter,” I opened my mouth to interrupt but he kept talking. “Ava, beautiful, I won’t get hurt. You’ve got nothin’ to worry about.” His mouth came to mine. “Nothin’ to worry about,” he repeated.

My arms went around him and he kissed me. It was light, gentle and only hurt a little bit. When his mouth disengaged, his forehead came to rest on mine again, our noses side-by-side.

“You wanna sleep here tonight or at the loft?” he asked.

“The loft,” I answered.

“Then let’s get you home.”

He moved away from me but put his arm around my shoulders and started moving to the door. I halted and looked up at him.

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” I asked.

“No police. This is gonna be off the radar.”

A chill went up my spine.

Then I remembered something. “But, Hank and Eddie are police.”

“And?”

“Aren’t they going to have an issue with this being ‘off the radar’?”

“Lotsa shit is off the radar that Hank and Eddie know about. They don’t like it but I suspect they don’t lose any sleep over it.”

All of a sudden I was tired and I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I wanted to sleep and yes, I was happy to admit, I wanted to sleep pressed up tight against Luke’s strong, warm, hard body and I would have put that in writing if he’d asked me (luckily he didn’t).

“Let me get my purse,” I said.

His arm dropped and I got my purse. When I was close enough again, his arm came back around my shoulders and we walked into the front yard where everyone was standing.

“We’re going to the loft,” Luke told Lee.

Lee nodded.

Luke looked at Tex. “You’ll lock down the house?”

Tex nodded.

Luke dug in his pocket and tossed Tex my keys. Then his eyes went back to Lee.

“Meeting first thing,” Luke said.

Lee nodded again.

I glanced at Eddie who was looking to the heavens.

Then I glanced at Hank who was looking at me. “Roxie will be over tomorrow,” Hank told me.

“Thank you,” I said and looked at Roxie. “Thank you,” I repeated.

She smiled at me, came up and kissed my cheek. “Sleep well, honey. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispered.

Then Luke pointed me to the Porsche but I pulled away and walked to Lee.

I didn’t say thank you to Lee. I just wrapped my arms around him, got up on my toes and kissed his cheek. I looked him in the eye a beat, hoping he understood without me having to say it (and I was pretty certain he did) then broke free and did the same to Tex. I didn’t break free from Tex as easily, mainly because he engulfed me in a bear hug before letting me go.

“Thanks everyone,” I said quietly to the crowd, feeling like a big dork but knowing at least a gesture should be made (I mean, it was late) before Luke’s arm came back around my shoulders. He took me to the Porsche and we were gone.

* * * * *

Luke was right, it hit me and it hit me a lot sooner than I would have expected.

It hit me the minute he flipped the light switch in his loft.

Light filled the space and I felt panic seize me. I ran to the switch and turned it off. Then I flattened myself against the wall, protecting the switch with my body.

“Babe,” Luke was close, his voice gentle.

“He’s watching,” I whispered, terrified.

I’d forgotten to tell Luke one little, but important, thing.

Shit.

Luke’s fingers slid under my hair to curl around the back of my neck. “Ava, come away from the wall. Let’s get you changed and in bed.”

“We have to go to a hotel.”

“Ava.”

“He’s watching.”

“He’s not watching,” Luke said softly, his hand dropped away from my neck and came around my waist and he gently tried to pull me away from the wall. I resisted, he felt it and instantly stopped trying.

“I forgot to tell you something,” I said.

I put my forehead against the wall and Luke’s body came close to my back, his arm went tight to hold me against him and his face came to the side of mine.

“Tell me,” he said softly.

“He followed us last night,” I whispered. “He broke in somewhere, across the street, next door, I don’t know. You don’t have any curtains, no blinds. We left the lights on when we did it. He watched us have sex, I know because he knew we did it against the wall. He –”