Page 166 of Home Game

If something happens to her, I won’t survive.

Please, God. Please keep her safe.

I turned the corner and narrowly missed getting hit by a cop car that was pulling up from the other direction.

I haphazardly parked.

“She’s alone in there,” I yelled, sprinting to the door.

I hit every button on the door panel until someone in the building let me in. Not caring if the cops followed, I took the stairs, three at a time.

I pounded on the door. An out of breath cop came up behind me and yelled into the door. “Police. Open up.”

The door swung open and there she stood, holding a squirming fluff of a kitten.

She was alive.

Fuck. Thank fuck. She was alive.

There was no blood. No broken bones. She looked disheveled butvery much alive. Tears streaked her face, but she also had a fierce, angry look to her.

“Zoey Petrik?” The cop asked.

“Yes,” she sniffed.

“We had a report that there was an intruder in your apartment.”

“That was fast. I only called a moment ago.”

“I called them, Zoey,” I spoke.

She looked at me as if she was seeing me for the first time. “Ryan.”

The cop cleared his throat. “Would it be okay if I came in?”

She held open the door wide. I stepped in, unable to take my eyes off her. She was so crushingly beautiful, I thought I would die just looking at her.

“Did the intruder exit the building? Do you remember what he was wearing?”

“He’s in my bedroom."

The cop blinked. “The intruder is in your bedroom?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you mind if I go see?”

She shrugged. “Go ahead.”

We watched as he unclipped his gun and then pushed open the bedroom door. “Holy shit.”

He glanced back at Zoey as he spoke into his radio. “I have a 10-78. Suspect is down and in need of an ambulance.”

The sound of feet pounded on the stairs.

I stepped closer to Zoey. Her entire body shook, but her eyes were clear. She watched the cop with a steady gaze.

“Are you okay?” I asked in a low voice.

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