Page 20 of Shattered Dreams

“No. Stop fighting this. Just stop it. I need you.I need you.”

I can’t do anything but wrap my arms around his neck and sob into his shoulder. I’m safe. Gage saved me. I called and he came, but how long can I expect him to do that? How many times will he come to my rescue before he grows tired of it? How much can I take until he gets tired of giving?

The questions drain me, but then I hear Zane shout, “Zarah. Jesus Christ,” and I know I won’t find any peace for a while.

Tenderly, Gage sets me to my feet, caresses my cheek, and turns his attention to Zane and the police officers.

The cops have that scumbag’s hands secured behind his back, but Baby hasn’t stopped growling, her teeth glinting.

Wearing a coat and his pajamas, Zane picks up where Gage left off, yanking me against his chest. Stella hurries after him, weaving around the policemen who are pushing Ash’s thug toward the elevator.

“What happened? Why are you down here? What were you doing?” Zane rattles questions at me, and I try and fail to untangle myself from his embrace. Finally, he pushes me away, grasping my shoulders and shaking me. “Why aren’t you in the penthouse?”

“I came down to use your computer.”

“There’s a laptop in the kitchen, on Lucille’s desk,” he says, pulling me to him again. “You didn’t need to come down.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I am. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

His words bring tears to my eyes. I can’t be left alone. I’m like a child, always needing a keeper or I’ll find trouble wherever I go. I’m a burden to everyone and I hate it.

Gage stands off to the side watching, his eyes guarded. The jerk’s gone and Baby stopped growling, but she stands stiffly, waiting for something else to happen. Everyone’s attention is on me, and embarrassed, I kneel on the floor and wrap my arms around her neck. She pushes her wet nose into my cheek and licks my chin.

“I should get going,” Gage says, shifting on his feet.

Zane strides to him and shakes his hand. “Thank you for what you did. I’ll never be able to repay you. Zarah’s safety is priceless.”

Stella sinks to her knees next to me. She washed her face and her breath smells like toothpaste. “You should ask him to stay. He wants to.” Her voice is low, and her lips graze the shell of my ear.

I want him to, too. I want to ask if he’ll stay, but we’re broken up. He told me to stop texting him, told me he’d find a woman who wanted sex his way. I know he and Sierra were out tonight. My call probably interrupted his date.

Pushing my face into Baby’s neck, I say, “I can’t. He doesn’t want me anymore.”

“You should let him tell you that, not assume things that might not be true.”

“He won’t want me after what happened.”

“Zarah.”

Turning my head, I look at her with one eye, and she frowns.

A cop raises his voice and says, “Before anybody goes anywhere, I need all your statements, unless you’d like to give them down at the station?”

Zane sounds tired and resigned. “No, we’ll do it here. Let’s go upstairs. We need coffee. Tomorrow I’ll have someone assess the damage he did.”

Gage watches me stand to my feet, keeping my hand on Baby’s head. It’s pretty pathetic I relate to the dog better than the people who love me.

In the penthouse, everyone settles in the living room and Stella goes into the kitchen to make coffee. I sit on the sofa, and Gage sits next to me, being careful not to touch me. That’s always been our problem. He doesn’t want to smother me, and I interpret his distance as a reluctance to get close to me. It’s my own self-esteem issues that complicate things, nothing he’s done.

I go through my evening, changing and getting ready for bed, explaining that I wasn’t tired enough to go to sleep and my ideato do some looking around online and needing a computer. I leave out what I found looking into Quiet Meadows. That’s a conversation for another time and for different people. I repeat what that sleazebag said to me, and the cop raises his eyebrows at the mention of Ash’s name.

Zane hisses a breath. “The son of a bitch.”

There’s no question that even though Ash is in prison, he still has power.

Gage stiffens and tentatively wraps his hand around mine. I don’t pull away. I can’t. His touch is like an anchor, his rough callouses keeping me from drifting away in a current I can’t fight against. The guy Ash sent to hurt me is lucky Gage kept his hands to himself. He’d be dead now, if Gage had been given the chance to pay him back for hurting me.

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