Page 38 of Painting Together a Family
“I’m so sorry about the tacos…” Dev murmured.
He shook his head. That was the least of their worries, although the kids still needed to eat.
She was a great friend.
One of the officers approached him. “We need your statement, sir.”
He nodded. He couldn’t go anywhere until Jennie showed up anyway, so he led the man over to the couch in the living room. “What do you need to know?”
“Mr. Marx assured us that you are a guest of his and not involved in the attack against him.”
Jesus, if Dev hadn’t said anything, would he have been a suspect? Both Dev and Grant had been on the ground by the time the guard had shown up.
“What happened? Do you know this man?” The officer nodded toward Grant, who was being examined by a different paramedic than the ones who’d helped Dev.
“I do. His name is Grant Hubbard. He’s Dev’s—the owner of this apartment—and my ex-husband. We weren’t married at the same time. Dev has a restraining order against him. As you can see—with good reason. He just showed up and started beating on Dev.” Bryan shuddered. It had been awful, and he’d felt helpless, worried, until he’d finally waded in with the chair.
“So… he’s both yours and the victim’s ex-husband? Seriously?”
“Yes. It’s a long and sordid story.” Which he could tell the guy if he had to, but it was embarrassing to admit to having been taken so badly.
“All right.” The cop made some notes.
“You fucker!” Grant hissed. “I’m going to kill both of you!”
Bryan stood, his hands balling into fists—not on his watch. Then he looked at the officer. “Did you hear that? I want it added to the charges.” If they were lucky, Grant was going to be in jail for a long time. If he couldn’t get his money back, he’d could live with that as a consolation prize.
“I did. Please, sir. Wait here and let me get him downstairs and away from the children.”
Bryan nodded, furious. “Once their sitter is here, I’ll be at the hospital. That man better still be in jail.”
“Yes, sir. Absolutely.” The police officer hurried away, shaking his head.
Bryan was fuming and worried and feeling like he was going crazy. He waited until the paramedic and the police officer walked Grant out, and then he immediately closed and lockedthe door before going back to see how the kids were doing. He knocked first, not wanting to worry them by just walking in.
“It’s Daddy—Bryan,” he called loudly. “I’m coming in now.”
The music was turned down, and Marley cracked the door, obviously ready to defend the little ones. “Are you alone?”
“I am. Everyone is gone and the front door is locked. I just need to come see that you’re all okay in here.” And to tell them it was all over and it was going to be okay. They didn’t need to be worrying about this; they needed to be kids.
“Okay. Thank you.” Marley stepped back and opened the door the rest of the way.
“Daddy!” His boys came over to him.
“Daddy, who was that?”
“Daddy, are you okay?”
“Where’s my dad?!?” Juniper demanded.
“I’ll answer all your questions, but first.” He wrapped his boys in his arms and then opened them again for the girls. “If you need a hug…”
Juni ran right to him, and it took Marley a second to join them. He held all four of them tight, the hug giving him what he needed as well, the comfort and knowledge they were safe.
“I’m fine. And your daddy is okay, too. They just took him to the hospital to make sure of that. The police have arrested the man who hurt him, and security is not going to let anyone else up here. Jennie is coming to look after you guys—and she’s bringing tacos with her. When she gets here, I’m going to go to the hospital and check on Dev. Okay?”
