Page 38 of Strip for Me

“You do realise the amount of baby things Wendy will knit you?” Andre says as he pulls his car into our driveway. Todd stayed behind at the café to help Wendy with an Ikea flatpack cabinet she needs help putting together. Holy ducks, it was really sweet when all the guys offered to help her when she asked. It’s clear they all look after her.

“I’ll have to get her something as a thank you,” I say, and he smiles.

“I love you,” he says, shocking me into complete silence. I don’t know what to say for a second, completely shocked.

The sound of sirens makes me look away from Andre’s intense stare. I watch as two police cars pull into the driveway in front of us, and Andre frowns as he gets out of the car quickly.

“We’re looking for Dominic Gayne,” a police officer says walking up to us, with another two behind him. Dominic’s car pulls up behind ours, and I watch as he and Kaiden get out of the car.

“Dominic Gayne?” the officer that spoke to us asks Dominic, who nods at him.

“We need to take you down to the station for questioning. I would rather not arrest you if you will come willingly,” the officer says, his eyes going to my bump and back to Dominic.

“What has he done?” I ask the police officers.

“The charges are for the assault of Drew Hershman,” the officer says, making my eyes widen. I look over and catch Dominic’s eyes. I can’t believe he would do this. Well, actually I can, but he must know there is no proof. Wasn’t sleeping with my best friend enough for him?

“It will be okay, Ellie,” he says and walks to the police car as I feel Andre’s hands on my arms. We all just stand and watch as the police take Dominic away, and it suddenly hits me.

“I have a restraining order against Drew. If you tell the police that he turned up here, and Dominic was defending me, it should be okay,” I say quickly, feeling my heart pounding.

“Ellie, go into the house and relax. We’ll go to the station and call our lawyer to meet us there. Dominic won’t get in trouble for this, this is just Drew playing games,” Kaiden says coming over to us.

“I should come, I could–” I start out, feeling tears coming to my eyes. I brought all this trouble to them, and it’s my fault.

“There’s nothing that you can do, and I can speak for all of us when we say we don’t want our girl in a place like that,” Kaiden says, and Andre walks around me and pulls me to his chest.

“You sure?” I ask, my voice a little muffled in Andre’s chest. I hear them both say yes, and I pull away.

“We should get going, man,” Kaiden says, pulling out his phone.

“Go inside and relax. Maybe order pizza or something for when we get back with Dominic,” he says with a smile.

“Why don’t you call Todd, and let him know what’s happened?” Kaiden says, as he types something quickly into his phone.

“I will and I could cook, I fancy making something nice for when you bring him home,” I say, and he smiles at me. I know he’s just trying to keep me busy, so I don’t spend the day panicking over Dominic.

“He would love that, we all would.” Andre says and gently kisses me before getting in his car. Kaiden waves goodbye as he’s on his phone as he gets in Andre’s passenger seat. I’m sure that’sa call to their lawyer. I feel so bad, this is all my fault. Drew seems determined to mess with my life, and he’s doing a good job.

Apparently divorcing him, getting a restraining order, and avoiding him doesn’t seem to be working. He’s just finding other ways to mess with me. I wait until Andre’s car is gone before turning and letting myself into the house.

The house is quiet, but I’ve gotten used to that. Even with all of us living here, it’s such a big house that it’s silent most the time. I smile when I feel the baby kick for the first time, I chuckle out loud and move my hands to my stomach. I pull my phone out and call Todd.

“You’re far bigger than the last time I saw you.”

My smile dies as I look towards the sound of Drew’s voice, he is standing in the kitchen doorway, and I drop the phone on the floor in shock. Drew is dressed in a suit, his hair styled neatly, and yet I can’t see why I ever found him attractive.

“What are you doing in here, Drew?” I say sharply, taking a step back.

“Don’t you miss me? I miss you, Ellie,” he says with a cold smile. It’s calculated, and I know he doesn’t really want an answer.

“Get out,” I say and point a shaky finger at the door.

“No chance, see, I want to talk, and you are going to listen,” he says and puts his hands on his hips, shoving his jacket away from his hips.

I can see the shiny black gun he has strapped onto his belt.

“We are going to talk Ellie, or things are going to get nasty,” he says with a big smile.

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