Page 132 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Dom drew her in with both arms and pressed another kiss to her forehead. “Shhh. It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong.”

He hadn’t realized that the blonde Australian woman had disappeared upstairs until theclomp-clompof her boots coming down pulled his attention. She let out a big, weary sigh. “He trashed upstairs too. Place is totally destroyed.”

Anger, but also a heavy dose of pain filled Hawke’s bourbon gaze. He shook his head and if Dom didn’t know any better, he’d say the big lug looked on the verge of tears. The flicker of red and blue lights behind Hawke indicated the cops had arrived. Probably one of Dom’s brother’s doing as well.

A second later, Officer Everett Jacobs appeared in the doorway, looking exhausted, but also like he knew what to expect showing up. He zeroed in on Joey and shook his head. “You’re really breaking your grandfather’s heart here, Joey.”

Joey struggled against the two Scottish guys holding him. “Don’t fucking care.”

“Where’ve you been staying, Joey?” Officer Jacobs asked.

“Not saying anything without my lawyer.”

Everett shrugged, and brought out his handcuffs. “And that is your right. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to wait until the storm dies down for a lawyer to catch the ferry over here. So you’ll be spending quite a bit of time in our little cell.”

The Scottish guys spun Joey around and Everett cuffed him. He bounced his gaze over to Chloe. “You okay?”

She nodded. “He didn’t touch me. I locked myself in the bathroom before he could.”

Hawke appeared to sag in relief a little, his eyes still sad as they studied Chloe.

On instinct, Dom tucked her into his arms even more.

“There’s a fair bit of damage though,” the Aussie woman said. “Upstairs too.”

Everett had Joey, but the Scottish guys were still hanging onto him too. Joey looked like he was coming down off some kind of high, the way his pupils were blown and his whole body twitched. The guy was unpredictable.

The cop faced Hawke. “Take pictures ofeverythingfor insurance purposes. I mean everything. Every smashed dish, you name it. Do you have security cameras?”

Hawke nodded, running his hand over his damp hair.

Everett’s head bobbed. “Good. We’ll want to see them, and so will the insurance adjustor.” His expression turned grim. “Might be a while until one can get over here though. What with the storm and all. They’ll probably be swamped with claims.”

Hawke nodded again, despair taking over the features of his face. “Yeah, I figured.”

Everett jerked his chin at the two Scottish guys. “Can you guys help me get him into the car?”

They both nodded and assisted the cop, who began reading Joey his Miranda Rights.

Hawke took three long strides to get to Chloe, pulling her out of Dom’s arms and into his for a big hug. He damn near swallowed her in his frame. “Chloe, I’m so sorry,” he muffled into her shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she said, against his chest. “It’s not your fault.”

Jealousy simmered through Dom’s veins, but he refused to give it any attention. Chloe was his. She was having his baby. They were together, and Hawke would just have to stow his attraction to her and look for love elsewhere.

Chloe and Hawke parted and she immediately went back to Dom. He wrapped an arm around her. The two Scottish guys returned and closed the door behind them. The taller one turned to Chloe. “I’m so sorry, Chloe. If we hadn’t left … if we hadn’t had your car …” He shook his head and dropped his gaze to his feet.

“It’s not your fault, Kit.” She made eye contact with the Aussie woman and the shorter Scottish guy, as well as Hawke. “It’s not any of your fault. And I managed to get to the bathroom, lock myself in there, and be safe. I heard what he was doing out here and it made me sick to my stomach, but I wasn’t sure what he was going to do to me if I came out. So I just stayed in the bathroom.” She lifted her eyes to Dom. “Did you hang up our call?”

Dom’s eyes went wide. He‘d shoved his phone into his coat pocket when he reached the hostel, and brought it back out. The call had disconnected some time ago. “Fuck. I must have hung up on you while I was running. I’m sorry. I thought I kept the call on and that you could hear me coming to you.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. I did call you again, but there was no answer.”

“Ah, shit. I turned the ringer off because we were going into the meeting.”

“You’re safe and that’s the main thing,” the Aussie woman said, her golden-brown eyes turning sympathetic. “You must have been so scared?”

All Chloe could do was nod. She quivered under Dom’s arm. Shock was settling in. I need to get you home,” he said, pressing a kiss to the side of her head.

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