Page 22 of Landlord Daddy's Girl

“Sierra—”

I don’t give Stu time to finish his thought as I grab hold of him and deliver two quick punches to his face. His head snaps back, and blood spatters the wall behind him, a pained groan bursting from his mouth. He’s not a small guy and starts to come at me, but I’m younger and faster, and I hit him with a quick flurry of punches that rock him. Stu grimaces, his expression darkening and his eyes filling with anger. He launches himself at me, his momentum carrying me into the wall behind me. Sierra cries out and looks at me, her face etched with fear and horror.

Keeping me pinned to the wall, Stu delivers a flurry of blows to my stomach. There isn't much behind his punches, so I’m able to break his hold pretty easily, and when I do, I drop my hand to the back of his head and push it down hard. At the same time, I raise my knee with some real force behind it and connect with his nose again. I hear a sharp crack that’s satisfying, but the agonized wail he lets out is even more so.

I give him a solid punch to the side of the head that drops him to the floor. He curls into the fetal position and absorbs the burst of kicks I deliver to his body. When I’m confident he’s going to stay down for a minute, I look up.

“Sierra, are you all right?” I ask.

She’s sobbing but nods.

“Good. Go call the cops.”

“But—”

“Call the cops. Now.”

The knife hits the floor with a sharp clatter, and she rushes from the room. When Stu moves, almost as if he’s going to attempt to rise, I deliver another brutal kick to his midsection, driving the air from his lungs. As I stand over him, watching him carefully, I hear Sierra’s trembling, terror-filled voice in the other room as she talks to the cops.

“You fucked up, Stu,” I say.

“I only wanted to talk to her. I just wanted to make her see that she should be with me.”

Gritting my teeth, I kick him in the gut once more. He curls into a tight ball, holding his stomach as he gasps and wheezes, trying to catch the breath I’d driven out of him. I feel like I should have seen that his fascination with her had morphed into obsession. I didn’t. I failed her in that regard. And if not for a stupid stroke of luck that brought me here at the right time, who knows what might have happened?

“The police are on their way,” Sierra says from the hallway.

I turn and see that she’s hiding around the corner, too terrified to come back into the room. I offer her a small smile I hope is reassuring.

“Good,” I reply, then turn back to Stu. “Like I said, man, you fucked up.”

12

SIERRA

“Are you all right?” he asks.

“I’m fine. Thanks to you,” I tell him.

It was nearly midnight by the time the cops finished getting our statements and hauled Stu away. I told them everything that had happened over the past few weeks—from the strange phone calls I was getting to the feeling like I was being followed. I could tell Slater wasn’t really happy to hear all of this for the first time, obviously upset that I hadn’t shared any with him, but I didn’t want him to worry. Besides, I figured I was being silly and paranoid and didn’t want to worry him for nothing. Obviously, I was wrong.

“Thank you for protecting me,” I say.

“Always,” he replies in a tone that makes me think he means it.

“I appreciate you letting Monty and me stay here tonight.”

“Of course,” he says. “I’ll fix Derek’s door tomorrow.”

“Can you not tell him what happened?”

“I can’t make that promise,” he replies. “I’m sorry, but I think he needs to know. Besides, I think he’s going to find out anyway when Stu’s case goes to court.”

I frown and take a sip of the wine Slater poured for me. He’s probably right. Derek is bound to find out about Stu one way or another, so it’s probably best to bite the bullet and just tell him myself. It’ll go over better than having him find out some other way. Slater reaches over, plucks the wine glass out of my hand, and sets it down on the coffee table. He gets to his feet, then takes my hand and pulls me to him.

“Come on,” he says softly. “Let’s go get some sleep. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“Yeah. I actually am. I’m just wrung out.”

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