Page 83 of Papa's Bébé
He kept his gaze on his surroundings as he tried to herd her back inside.
Only, she dug her heels in as though she didn’t want to move.
“Maya. Inside. Now.”
She was definitely testing his patience right now.
“What sort of car was it?” she asked again. “I want to know.”
“BMW SUV. White. Late model.”
“Ryan,” she muttered as she headed down the driveway.
“What? You know who it is? Is it a neighbor? And where do you think you are going?” he demanded as he reached out and grasped hold of her arm.
“A neighbor?” she said incredulously. “Um, does this look like the sort of area where someone would be driving around a late model BMW? Although maybe the drug dealers would.”
“Are there a lot of drug dealers living here?” he asked in a strangled voice.
He couldn’t believe her family allowed her to live here. If he ever had a daughter, he would guard her like the treasure she would be. No way would she live somewhere like this. Not even if he had to work three jobs to ensure her safety.
“Um, there’s a couple,” she said. “But I never have any problems with them. And they don’t live here for long, usually they make enough money to move somewhere nicer.”
Right. Because this area wasn’t even nice enough for drug dealers. That made him feel so much better.
She started to walk again, but he didn’t let her go.
“Hey, let me go,” she argued, turning to glare up at him.
“You’re not going anywhere but into the house,” he informed her.
“Yes, I am. I’m going to go talk to Ryan. He might have seen who did this. Although I think I know who it is, I need an eyewitness.”
“You know who did this?” he asked, turning to look back at the words written on the door: Frigid Bitch.
Who the fuck had written something like that?
And where could he find them so he could fucking kill them?
“When did this happen? Who do you think did it?” he demanded.
Turning, she gave him a searching look before quickly glancing away again.
“Maya,” he said warningly. “When did this happen?”
“Sunday night,” she admitted.
“During the night?” he asked.
“Yeah. I heard something and went out. Didn’t see anything, but I was on edge so I stayed awake the rest of the night. Found that on my garage door the next morning.”
“Is that why you went to Callahan Security?” he asked. Now it made sense. Had she been wanting a security system after this happened?
“I thought maybe they could put in a security system for me,” she said. “I know it would cost a lot of money and that I wouldn’t see that back on a house in this neighborhood. But I need to protect my babies.”
God.
She cared about those animals so much. It was admirable and sweet. He got it. But also, it had to be scary for her being in this neighborhood on her own.
