Page 21 of Callahan's Haven

“Fair enough,” Declan said, yawning. “But from now on, let’s keep the midnight shenanigans to a minimum. Okay?” With that, he headed over to his car at a slow run.

Cal went over to his vehicle and opened the door as carefully as possible and got in, sitting back and breathing a sigh of relief after shutting it.

“I’m awake, you know.” Haven stretched and turned in her seat.

He glanced at the dash clock. It was going on two o’clock. “It’s a good thing you don’t have early class in the morning,” he said, turning to take in her mussed hair and slightly puffy eyes smudged with mascara.

God, she’s beautiful.

“Thank you for letting me handle the police.

She gave him a slight grin. “I told you I would. Are you going to tell me what all was said?” She grinned even bigger. “I saw Brayden get taken away.”

“Tomorrow.” He was surprised she didn’t push. “Yeah,” he said, grinning back, “and I don’t think he saw it coming. I think he believedIwas going to be the one going off in cuffs forattackinghim.”

“About that,” she said, looking down and picking at her jeans. “I never told you thank you for saving my life.” She looked up at him. “So, thank you.”

“I was just…” He almost said he was just doing his job, but that wasn’t quite the truth. “I’m just glad I was here.”

She nodded, her brow furrowing. “But can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

She sat up straighter, her gaze searching his face. “Why did you yellminebefore you tackled Brayden?”

“I did?”

“Mmmhmm.”

He should lie to her, but God help him he couldn’t.

“It’s because you are.”

7

Duncan lefthis bedroom and walked down the hall to his study with his secured cell clutched in his hand. He was still having trouble trying to wrap his head around his early morning conversation with Cal—if three o’clock could be considered morning. He sat down at his desk and spread his still trembling hands flat over the smooth surface, his short burst of laughter not a humorous one. Of all the things he’d expected to hear after putting a detail on Haven, her being attacked and almost killed by another student from her college wasn’t one of them.

God, he could have lost his daughter.

He scrubbed his hands over his face, then clenched his fists and brought them both down hard in front of him, rattling his desk lamp and nearly toppling family photos and those of just Haven and Patsy.

“Damn it to hell!”

Duncan had God knew who threatening Haven and she’d ended up the target of some spoiled frat boy jock who’d decided he could do whatever the hell he wanted and get away with it.

If not for Cal.

Haven’s okay.

It was the first thing Cal had blurted out before Duncan had fully gotten the phone to his ear—the litany Duncan had repeated over and over in his mind throughout Cal’s report of the night’s events.

Haven was okay, but Duncan wasn’t positivehewas okay yet.

Come to think of it, Cal hadn’t sounded like he was quite okay either. His anger had escalated while relaying the information. His voice had gone hard when talking about her attacker but gentled when he said anything about Haven.

He’d also been apologetic for not telling Duncan about the incident at the frat party, thinking perhaps they should have been prepared for some kind of retaliation. Duncan had told him it wasn’t anything he should worry about. Sure, he would have liked to have known, but Haven had handled herself. And if it was something she had felt he should be concerned about, she would have told him herself.

Maybe.

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