Page 36 of Fall Back
“I’m almost there,” I promise her. “Thirty seconds.”
In reality, it’s about twenty. I notice Walker turning off his lights as he pulls up in front of her house which has me doing the same as I pull up right behind him.
“I’m not hanging up,” I murmur, “but I am going to put my phone in my pocket so I can pull my gun and get into the houseto find out what is going on. I’m coming for you, Carson,” my voice is fierce.
She doesn’t speak, but her breathing becomes heavier. As much as I hate to do it, I slide my phone into my pocket as I meet up with Walker at the end of the front walkway. We nod as we pull our guns and move in tandem toward the front door.
I hate not being able to put Carsons mind at ease or hear her, but I need both hands. She sounded so fucking scared. Just as my heart starts to pound in my chest, Walker’s hand lands on my shoulder and helps to ground me.
With a glance toward him, I reach for the doorknob and cringe when I find it unlocked.
I know Carson, she would never have left her front door unlocked, even knowing I was going to come over after my shift. She’s aware I have my own key, which wasn’t difficult to have made without her knowing or realizing it.
If she didn’t want me to have a key, all she had to do was say so and I would have given it back. Reluctantly, but I still would have done it.
We step inside the house together just as we hear something coming from the hallway. I motion in that direction knowing full well that Walker is going to be in step with me. It’s not the first house we’ve entered together, but it’s never mattered more than it does right now.
As the hallway comes into view, I can see a shadowy figure standing in front of the bedroom door. When I flip a switch, light illuminates the space and Dave whips around in our direction.
Walker and I raise our guns, and I shout out, “Freeze. Hands! Show us your hands.”
When Dave lifts his hands, something clatters to the ground, but I don’t take my eyes off the man in front of us. I’m sure that Carson is scared out of her mind, but I’m so close to her.
Walker steps forward and mutters out of the side of his mouth, “I’ll slap cuffs on him and then I’ll take him outside until someone gets here with a cruiser. I called it in right as we pulled up, they’ll be here any second, but I knew you wouldn’t wait.”
I don’t look toward Walker as I grit out, “Would you?”
“Fuck no,” he spits out as he holsters his gun and steps closer to Dave.
Walker instructs Dave on what to do and he’s in cuffs quickly, but my mind is no longer in the hallway with me. It’s in the bathroom where Carson is huddled and scared.
Once the cuffs are secured, I slide my gun back into place and rush toward the door. If I shoulder check Dave as I pass him, it doesn’t need to be recognized or talked about.
He’s fucking lucky that Walker was with me when I got the call. If I would have been alone and didn’t have someone to witness my actions, I don’t know how it all would have gone down. Not with the man who has terrorized my woman breaking into her home.
Her fucking home.
As it is, Dave will face charges, and he won’t be able to weasel his way out of them now. Not with Walker as a witness. The judges in our county don’t play with stalkers, especially with proof. He’s going to be held accountable, but part of me wishes I could have taken justice into my own hands.
It wouldn’t have been the first time blood stained my hands, but it would have mattered the most.
But it’s not how it went down because I wasn’t given that chance.
When I knock on the bathroom door, I try to keep the panic out of my voice, “Little criminal, it’s me. It’s all good. You’re safe.”
It takes a moment, but when the door swings open, I’m met with the tear-stained face of Carson, the love of my life, the woman I would happily sacrifice everything for. She flings her body at me, and I catch her in my arms, needing the connection just as much as she does.
She buries her face in the crook of my neck and gasps, “Was he here?”
“Yeah,” I grunt, my anger tempting me to go outside and take care of the problem permanently.
I hate that she’s crying. I hate that she was so scared.
He did that to her without a care about her feelings or her fear. I could kill him with my own hands and not think twice about it.
“Walker and I were headed out of the station together when I got your call. He came with me and cuffed him after we made entry, and after he called for backup. Walker will hand him off to whoever responds to the call,” I tell her honestly, not willing to keep anything from her.
She might be scared, but she’s also strong. I’m not going to hide things from her, not when it has to do with her life and the man she’s been running from. Hopefully, the truth will help her sleep better at night.
