Page 36 of The Game

I let her sit me on a bench and listened while she acted the adult, asking the operator for the police. Then my brain finally woke properly, and I put a hand out for the phone.

She passed it over. “Don’t be scared. Dad has this.”

“You saved me.”

I put the phone to my ear to summon the police, and Maisie smiled.

“Anytime.”

* * *

An hour on, and two uniformed officers wrapped up my interview, a statement drafted, and the gym’s CCTV footage given as evidence. Malachi had taken down my attacker who’d screamed about how he was set upon and the victim.

All until Maisie informed him the cameras captured every moment of how he’d attempted to kidnap me and how she’d then floored a man five times her size. After that, he shut up and let them take him away without another peep.

Maisie’s mum and stepdad showed up, Petra and their baby in tow. Petra hugged everyone multiple times, exclaiming over the bandage on my knee—my only visible injury—then the little family went home with an extra-quiet word between Malachi and his slugger daughter.

I’d barely even gotten a good look at Malachi’s ex, and it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except what I needed to say to him.

After the last people left us, I held his hands and tried to find my words.

He put a finger to my lips. “Not yet.”

“But—”

“When we get home. Please, angel. If we’re about to fall apart, I want it to be where I can take you to bed immediately after.”

He drove quickly, the black night speeding by.

At his thatched cottage, he collected me from my seat and carried me inside. In his bathroom, he set the shower going and stripped us both.

Then under the water, my huge, beautiful fighter shook. “I’m so fucking sorry. I knew something was wrong. Maisie needed me, and I didn’t check my phone. If I had?—”

My turn to put my finger to his lips. “Don’t you dare apologise for someone else’s crime.”

“He could’ve hurt you. More than he already did. It’s my job to take care of you?—”

I cut him off with a kiss. Instantly, he responded, driving his fingers into my wet hair and taking all he needed from my lips.

“I can’t bear the thought of anyone scaring you. If Maisie hadn’t called the cops, I would’ve killed him.”

“And that only makes me love you more.”

He stared at me, water droplets on his eyelashes and something so vulnerable in his gaze. “Say that again.”

“I love you. Truly. I need to tell you something.”

“No. Let me. Please?” At my slight nod, he continued. “I’ve been obsessed with you since before the game. It isn’t fair for you to say anything more without knowing that.”

Malachi picked me up and pushed my back to the warm shower wall. His hard dick lodged between my legs, not going inside, though he surged against me as if his words could make this the last time.

“From the first second I saw you, I knew you’d be mine. I took down your licence plate outside the warehouse and got your name and address. Then I went to your house. I told off that neighbour as he parked in your spot. I fixed your car.”

I stared, my mind working overtime. “I thought I’d imagined that.”

“Nope, it was me. I even went to your job and threw money around to get one of the doctors to retire. All this because I wanted to be yours. I put myself in your life without permission, and that was over the line.”

My heart was beating so fast, it was going to burst.

---