Page 34 of Hollywood Fairytale

“I don’t see any need to question him.” The officer answered as he took a step back.

“Hey,” Leo said quietly as he helped us all stand in one big group. “How about I take Mason into his room and we watch a movie or something? Can I do that?” Leo asked, eyes on me.

“Do you want to go with Leo for a little while?” I asked unsure what to do.

Mason hugged me tighter. “Will you stay with mama?” he asked Luke, his big blue eyes filled with concern.

“I won’t leave her side.” Luke vowed as he hugged Mason closer.

“We were really scared,” Mason whispered, his chin trembled.

“I know you were, but you’re safe now, and I promise I won’t let anything hurt you. Do you want to go with Leo? You can stay with your mom if you want. We’re going to go downstairs and talk to the police and tell them everything we know.” Luke explained to Mason in a calm voice, but I knew he wasn’t calm. The hand that held my hip continued to shake as he spoke.

“Can someone make me breakfast and then we watch a movie?”

We all let out a chuckle at Mason’s ease of getting over the situation. I had a feeling it would be a long while before the rest of us felt as at ease as he did in that moment.

Leo stepped forward, taking Mason from my arms. “How about you and I make you and your mom some breakfast? We can have it ready for her to eat once she’s done talking to the police.”

Mason nodded, still looking worried. Luke noticed and tried to reassure him. “If you get scared or worried at any time, you can come sit with us.”

Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, Luke kept me close as we went down to the living room and sat waiting for an officer to question us. Unable to avoid looking at the window Ashlyn had broken, I gasped at the evidence of her insanity. The entire floor was littered with little pieces of glass.

A tall man with salt and pepper hair, in a brown suit that did nothing for him, sat across from us introducing himself as Detective Simmons.

“I understand this is a difficult time for you, but it’s best to do this while it’s still fresh. If you can walk me through the events that would be most helpful.”

I proceeded to tell him what had happened from the time I woke to the alarm going off, up to the point where I saw Ashlyn Jade flee. Luke took it from there explaining that she’d been posting pictures of Luke and myself or him by himself in the background of her pictures, proclaiming that Luke was cheating on me, to seeing her in Mexico, and her taking a picture of Luke and Mason in our hometown and posting it.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t do anything until it came to this, but with your statement and the video footage shewillbe arrested. I suggest you both get restraining orders both here in California and Missouri. That way if she posts any pictures, or comes into contact with you, you can call the police and she’ll be arrested. If you think of anything else, you have my card, and can call me anytime.”

Standing up in a daze, the morning’s events caught up to me, I shook Detective Simmons hand and told him I’d let him know if I thought of anything else. I had no idea what I’d told him. The entire conversation was a complete blur as I watched Luke walk over to where the other officers were taking pictures of the evidence downstairs. They had already finished with the upstairs.

Now that I wasn’t scared out of my mind all I wanted to do was have Luke and Mason in my arms and sleep. I knew being tired was a result of my adrenaline crashing and hoped that a cup or two of coffee would wake me up. I wasn’t sure what the plan was now after everything that had happened. Luke needed to be at work and we couldn’t possibly stay at his house.

Walking into the kitchen, I found Mason and Leo eating pancakes at the table smiling and laughing. I loved that Leo was so sweet to Mason and had taken to him as much as his brother had. Somehow, he was making Mason smile and laugh after the morning we’d had.

“We made pancakes!” Mason exclaimed, waving his syrupy fork in the air.

“Yay,” I answered back with a yawn. “Is there coffee?”

“From earlier.” Leo stood and poured me a cup.

“Can you bring the creamer? I need an unhealthy amount to tolerate the taste of coffee.” Leo chuckled and brought the creamer along with my coffee. “I’m surprised there were ingredients to make pancakes, let alone chocolate chip pancakes.”

Sitting back down to finishing eating, Leo smiled over at me. “There wasn’t until two days ago. We went grocery shopping and Luke bought everything he thought you two would want to eat.”

“Really?” My eyes welled up with tears and I closed them with a smile on my face. My heart swelled once more at another thing that Luke had done to make our stay more comfortable. He’d turned the house that he bought back in December into a home for all of us.

Arms wrapped around me from behind, the smell of ocean and sandalwood calming me and making me melt into his strong arms. “You okay?”

“Never better,” I answered, turning to see him over my shoulder.

Slipping into the chair beside me, Luke kept one arm around me. “I find that hard to believe. You were…” His eyes squeezed shut and his throat bobbed with emotion. “Terrorized this morning.” It physically pained him to say those words.

Turning toward him with my legs between his, I took both his hands in mine. “This morning was scary. I’m not going to lie, but what you’ve done to make this a home for us…” Bringing his hands to my mouth, I kissed the back of each one. “It takes away the scary and the crazy of the morning. I’m looking on the positive side of things. I can’t explain what it means to me. How much I appreciate all that you’ve done. Your fridge has done a transformation from the barely here and I only eat crazy healthy to well, I guess the best term for it is kid friendly.”

“It was a little too healthy, bro.”

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