Page 8 of The Model

“I’m not going anywhere until I get what I came for,” Ben roared.

Tommy stepped into the room hesitantly but stood tall. “Then get what you came for and get lost.”

Ben grabbed my arm and pulled me roughly to his side. I tried to pull my arm out of his grasp, but he only held on harder. Pain shot through my wrist, but I kept quiet. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction to let him know he’d hurt me. “I would, but she’s hiding it from me. Either that or she took it.”

“Let go of her,” Tommy growled and took another two steps forward.

I was impressed. He sounded like he meant business. If I’d been Ben, I would have let go of me, but he wasn’t being smart and only gripped my arm tighter.

Loud knocking came from downstairs, and I heard Raine squeak as she ran to see who it was. Poor thing, she was going to be a mess. I had a feeling today’s shoot was going to be postponed for another day.

“That would be the cops.” Tommy grinned. He was proud of himself. Hell, I was proud of all of them for coming to my rescue. Only now, I wasn’t sure what would happen. Ben pulled me in front of him as he edged toward the window. Did he not believe them? If not, he really was stupid.

“Ben, you need to let me go. Otherwise, you’re going to get in more trouble.” I wasn’t sure why I was trying to help him, except that I didn’t want the situation to escalate any more than it had. At least he didn’t have a weapon. I had a feeling if he had, Ben would have used it then.

Loud steps sounded on the stairs a moment before two police officers came into view with their guns drawn.

“LAPD,” they shouted. “Drop the weapon and let the woman go.”

Both Tommy and I gasped. I couldn’t believe what was happening. The whole situation seemed unreal. I wasn’t sure where Brad had gone, but I was glad he wasn’t in the room. He probably would have fainted.

Ben’s hold tightened on me, and I wasn’t sure what he was going to do next. I definitely wasn’t expecting it when he threw me to the side. My hands and knees hit the concrete floor hard. I fell to my side and cradled my right wrist with my left hand as blood poured from a wound. It hurt like a bitch. I must have landed on something, but I had no idea what because it seemed everything I owned covered the floor.

Ben’s eyes widened as he hovered over me for only a second before he ran and crashed through one of the windows that lined the left wall. Did he think he was Superman?

Standing up, I staggered over to the window. The two police officers were already there, on their radios. When I looked down at the ground, I expected to see Ben splattered on the grass, but he was gone.

“Holy fucking shit,” Tommy said in astonishment by my side, “that was intense.”

Intense was putting it mildly.

“Ma’am, maybe you should sit down,” one of the officers said.

“Yeah, you’re not looking too great there, Lexie,” Tommy added. He guided me over to my unmade bed and helped me sit down.

“We have an ambulance coming to check you out,” the other officer said.

“What just happened?” I choked out the words as I looked up at Tommy.

He kneeled in front of me with a shaky smile. “Your guess is as good as mine. Who was that guy?”

Taking in an unsteady breath, I looked around the room. Raine, Nova, Brad, and Annalise were all standing by the door with worried expressions on their faces. “That was my ex, Ben. He’s—”

For the next hour, I gave my statement to the police and let the EMT’s put ten stitches in the gash along the side of my hand. With everyone shaken up, we rescheduled the shoot for a few days later. Tommy was nice enough to board up my window before he left, and Raine ran out to get us lunch. I had a feeling she thought I was going to crack once I was left alone. Yes, I was shaken up, but I was fine. What puzzled me most was what Ben had been looking for in the first place and why he jumped out the window.

Had Ben hidden something of his in my things? And if so, what was it?

6

Ryder

Walkingalong the beach in Oahu, I let out a long yawn. I’d been up since three for a four o’clock photo shoot. The early hour was starting to get to me, but it was my first time in Hawaii, and I wanted to experience the beach before all the tourists took over. There were only a few surfers out in the water and scattered along the sand.

The water was beautiful with its various shades of blues starting light at the sand to a deep turquoise the further out you looked. Palm trees swayed in the breeze as my hair tickled across my forehead. The warm water lapped at my ankles. It was perfection.

I’d been walking for a good twenty minutes when I came upon another photo shoot, but what made my steps stutter to a stop was the blue-haired woman behind the camera. How many photographers had blue hair with tattoos decorating their arms? How many were as beautiful as the woman in the distance who hadn’t noticed me yet? It had to be Lexie. Even after almost five months, I still thought about her. At first, I replayed our encounter every night before I went to bed. As exhaustion took over and I passed out in my hotel room, her image only appeared in my subconscious every few days now. It wasn’t normal for me to be hung up on a woman, but I’d never meet anyone like Lexie Keene.

Now that she was in my sights, I wasn’t going to leave until I at least got to talk to her again. I moved up the beach and sat beneath the shade of a few palm trees as I watched her work. It was obvious, even if you’d never worked with her, that Lexie loved her job. Her smile was wide as she spoke to the surrounding people. She animatedly explained what she wanted with verve. Once she hung her camera around her neck as she walked out into the water. She squeaked as a wave hit her at the waist, drenching her short shorts. Immediately she ran back onto the beach and placed her camera on one of the chairs that were set up. Lexie laughed as she skipped back out to the water and maneuvered the woman onto her knees, bending her back until the tips of her hair hit the water. The shot was hot, but I wished they’d change places. I wanted to see Lexie like that. Maybe I could persuade her to do the pose and let me use her camera to get a picture since I still had my old flip phone, and it took shit pictures.

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