Page 95 of Caught Up

I took the stairs up to my place, careful to avoid those that creaked. I even kept my keys cradled in my hand so they wouldn’t jiggle as I slid the one to my door into the lock. A heartbeat late, I was turning the knob, slowly pushing the door open, stepping inside, and—

Searing pain stabbed into my lower back. I spun on instinct, knocking the weapon away, grabbing my assailant by the throat and slamming them against the wall beside the door. My fist was two inches from Lauren’s face before I realized it was her, and I barely swung wide in time to keep from knocking her out. Instead, I punched through the drywall half an inch away, my knuckles screaming in pain.

“Fuck!” I roared, pulling free and releasing my hold on her.

She sank to the ground, gasping, hands clutching her throat.

I kicked the door shut and dropped to my knees. “Lauren, shit, are you okay?”

I reached for her, but she lashed out at me and half fell trying to get away.

“What are you doing?” I said, following after her. “Let me see your neck. You could be hurt.” Goddamn it, I’d grabbed her sohard.

“Don’t,” she wheezed, scrambling backward, one hand holding her throat. “I’ll scream.”

I went still. “What? It was an accident, Lo. I didn’t know it was you who’d...” I trailed off, belatedly realizing that she’dattacked me.

My gaze dropped to the discarded taser on my floor. That she’d just shoved into my back.

What the fuck?

I lifted my eyes to see her sandwiched in the corner as far away from me as she could get. “Listen, I know this is still new and we haven’t really dug into all our shared fantasies, but I feel like I should tell you, getting jolted with electricity? Not one of myturn-ons.”

“Are you cracking jokes right now?” she rasped, eyes flashing.

“No?” I said, growing increasingly confused about what was going on here.

“My dad,” she said, and it felt like she’d dumped a bucket of ice over my head.

Oh, she’d attacked mefor real.

I schooled my face, wondering how much she knew. “What about him?”

“He goes missing, and suddenly you show back up?”

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” I said, which was the truth. Or at least part of it.

“So it’s just a coincidence then?” she demanded. “You had nothing to do with his disappearance?”

No more lies,she’d said, and I’d stupidly agreed. Fuck.

“Lauren...”

“I knew it,” she said, drawing her knees to her chest like she was trying to protect herself from me. Like she was scared. I shuffled forward, and she put her hands up to ward me off. “Don’t come any closer.”

Her voice was coming back, gaining volume, and despite the fear on her face, I was relieved. Maybe I hadn’t hurt her too badly after all. I wasn’t about to take any chances, though.

I whipped my phone out. “I’m calling Aly to come look at you.”

She lunged forward and slapped it out of my hand.

“I’m trying to help you, Lauren.”

“Bullshit. You were going to call your father for backup, weren’t you?”

I opened my mouth to tell her that wasn’t something I wouldeverdo, but she tried to scramble past me toward the taser, and nope, not getting jolted again, thank you very much. I reached out and grabbed her, pulling heroff-balance, and with a twist, I had her seated on my lap. She flailed, trying to get away, but I wrapped my arms around her and held on tight, letting her tire herself out. As soon as she calmed down and we got this Tommy discussion out of the way, we were going to talk about how easy it was to restrain her. Aly tookself-defenseclasses somewhere downtown. Maybe I could ask her about bringing Lauren along to teach her the basics.

Better yet, I’d just never let Lauren out of my sight again, would follow her around the city like her own private security detail.

---