Page 17 of June 7

Bane grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving too fast. The shock of seeing her place earlier had left her lightheaded.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "I need to clean up the mess."

Without her asking, he moved over, picked up the broken television, and carried it out the front door to sit by the trash can. It was too big to put inside, so he propped it against the front of the duplex. He'd remember to take it out to the curb on garbage day.

He went inside.

"Are you sure this has nothing to do with that biker?" said Liz.

Bane stilled, out of sight from the women.

"Yes, I'm sure. He's the one who had Jagger contact me, and then he made sure I was brought home so I didn't have to drive." Daisy groaned. "I just...I don't know who would do this to me. I don't have any enemies. I try and be nice—"

"Stop that. It's not your fault."

Bane cleared his throat and reentered the room. The two women stopped talking. Together, all three of them had half of the duplex put back in order. The only remaining thing was a slight red stain from the ketchup on the white tabletop.

Daisy ran her finger along the trail. "It almost looks like a Y."

Bane cocked his head, trying to see what she was seeing in the stain. "It's been a long day."

"I haven't seen anyone sketchy hanging around." She looked at Bane. "Have you?"

He sniffed, looking between the two women. They both knew what had happened last weekend. They should know what he'd seen before taking Daisy to bed.

"On Saturday, when I moved in." He caught Daisy flinch. "There was a man with you. He ran off when I walked out on the patio."

"A man?" Daisy frowned, shaking her head. "I was alone."

"I didn't get a good look at him." He held up his hand. "About this tall, slim."

Daisy hugged her middle. "No, I was alone."

He shrugged. "I scared him off."

She covered her mouth. Liz stepped closer to her.

"Do you...do you think it was someone who was going to hurt her?" Liz gathered Daisy closer to her. "The police need to know."

"No." Daisy stood taller. "I'm not going to tell them about that night."

"Daisy..." Liz whispered, "You need—"

"No." Daisy's mouth firmed. "It was probably nothing. Besides, they didn't take anything. All they did was break my tv. I'll buy a new one. I just want to forget this ever happened."

She was trying to find a reason for the crime when there probably wasn't one. There were a lot of visitors to the coastal area. Nothing was taken. Ketchup was squirted. To him, it sounded like teenagers broke into the place and decided to mess around.

He'd done the same thing as a kid, looking for a good time when bored.

While it was inconvenient and unfortunate that Daisy was made to feel unsafe in an otherwise safe place, he felt whatever trouble had visited was long gone.

"Do you want me to spend the night with you?" Liz hooked her hair behind her ears. "All I need to do is run home and grab a few things. It won't take me more than a half hour."

"No, don't be silly." Daisy reached over and stroked Liz's arm. "The police assured me the front door wasn't damaged. I must've forgotten to lock it in my hurry to get to work and give Bane the cook..." She blew her breath out. "Anyway, I'll be fine."

She'd made him cookies that morning before she had to go to work. Her mind was on him, trying to smooth over her drunken night, and she'd forgotten to lock the door.

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