Page 20 of Trick or Trouble
“I need to talk to you, and you aren’t answering my calls,” he blustered, trying to push his way in.
Darcy stood her ground, holding the door and refusing to back up.“You don’t need to come in.I’m not answering your calls because I said it all last night.I’ll be by sometime this week to pick up my stuff.”
“Darcy...sweetheart...you can’t be serious about breaking up with me.I love you,” he whined.
Darcy snorted.“You don’t love me; you just love what I do for you.I’m done with always doing for you, only to have you not be bothered when I need something.You finally showed your true colors last night, Doug, when you left me stranded in a bad area of town.I can’t depend on you—I never could,” she snapped bitterly.
“If you would let go of that crappy job that takes you into seedy neighborhoods, it wouldn’t have happened,” he raged.“I’ve told you over and over to find something else to do, but you don’t listen.Believe me, once we’re married, it won’t be an issue,” he threatened.
Logan had heard enough.Whoever Doug was, he was a manipulative, delusional idiot.Of course, maybe they had talked about marriage, but he rather doubted it.It was probably Doug who had marriage in his mind all along and had started treating Darcy like his wife before he’d even asked her.Her following words verified his theory.
“Married?”she exclaimed.“I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on the planet.Now leave before I call the police and...”
Her words were cut off when Doug finally managed to put his shoulder and body weight into the door and rammed with enough force to shove Darcy off balance.Her head snapped back on her slim neck, and she staggered blindly, her arms flailing uselessly as she tried to keep herself from falling on her bottom.
Logan caught her before she fell.“I’ve got you,” he said grimly, helping her to regain her balance.As he turned her around, he saw the elongated streak running down her right temple where the door had caught her when it was slammed open.There was blood seeping from a few spots along that red, swelling line, and fury rose in his throat.He peered closely at her eyes, checking for a concussion.“Are you all right?”
She stared dazedly at him, not seeming to focus entirely as tears started in the corners of her eyes.“Crap,” she moaned and put a shaking hand to her forehead.
Logan folded her protectively in his long arms and shot a furious look at the stocky young man who was standing there staring at him with a mixture of anger and shock on his red face.
“Who the hell are you?”he demanded loudly.His eyes darted around as if looking for anyone else in the room that Logan might be attached to besides Darcy.Jealously and possessiveness flared in his brown eyes when they flashed back to Logan.
Logan studied him and had his measure within seconds.Doug could be an attractive man when he smiled, but right now, the fury on his face thinned his lips into a sneer.He had brown hair with a side part, stood just under six feet tall, and was likely between 25 and 30 years of age, according to his estimate.Overall, the fairly nondescript jeans and gray sweatshirt, worn over a slight paunch, indicated his lack of an active lifestyle.A computer likely dominated most of his day, given the lack of defined muscles in his hands and arms.Not an active man, but still strong enough to hurt a woman.Most men could, unless the woman was trained to protect herself.
“I believe Darcy asked you to leave,” Logan said evenly, although he was seething beneath his calm exterior.Darcy was clinging fiercely to him, and he wouldn’t pry her fingers away from his sweater unless he had to.He wanted to put her behind him and face Doug directly, but she refused to move when he tried.
“I’ll leave when I’m good and ready,” Doug snapped, coming forward and reaching for Darcy.“I'll take her; she’s, my fiancé.”
Logan turned sideways and put his hand out to keep Doug from touching Darcy.“I don’t think so.She won’t be going anywhere with you ever again.Now get out,” he ordered.
When a uniformed figure stepped through the doorway, followed by a second one, Logan was relieved.He could have taken Doug, but he didn’t want to have to resort to violence if he didn’t have to.
“What’s going on here?”the first officer asked, his hand resting on his pistol while his eyes were busy assessing the situation.
“This man is accosting my fiancé,” Doug blustered, pointing at Logan with malice.
The second officer, probably twenty years older than the first officer, narrowed his eyes at Doug.“Doesn’t look like that to me.She’s got a death grip on him from what I can see.The phone call we received was for a disturbance reporting people yelling and arguing.”
Logan spoke up then.“This man is...was...Darcy’s boyfriend,” he explained.“He made a ruckus until Darcy answered the door for him.She asked him to leave, and he responded by assaulting her with the door.”Gently, he turned Darcy around to show the officers the blood on her temple.“I need to get her to a hospital; she may have a concussion.”
“I’ll take care of that right now,” the younger officer said as he walked into the hallway and used his radio to request an ambulance to the scene.
The older man, with a name badge reading Benedictine on his chest, spoke gently to Darcy.“Is that true, Miss?”
Darcy finally seemed to come back from wherever she had been.She was trembling violently, and Logan suspected she was in a state of shock.She may have even slipped into a mental place she had found she could hide in.He suspected the previous therapist she had dated had done that to her, and it made him furious.
Darcy took a deep breath and nodded.“Yes...that is correct.I...I told him last night I was done with him.Then he came here this morning and refused to accept it.I told him to leave, and he knocked me down with the door,” she stated, her voice growing firmer.
“Do you want to press charges?”Officer Benedictine asked.
Logan badly wanted to speak for her, but he knew he wouldn’t.Darcy had been pushed around enough; he wouldn’t add to her stress.
“All I want is my stuff from his apartment,” she finally replied.
“Do you still have a key?”
She nodded.“Yes, I do have a key.”
