Violated (25 page)

Derek pulled out his cell phone and dialed Russ. The second Russ answered, he said, “Somebody broke into my cabin.”

“What? What happened?”

“When I got back from the gym, I noticed a bunch of broken window panes in my side door, near the path. I don’t know if they actually came inside, but there’s glass all over the floor.”

“What about Gracie?”

“She’s fine. Just scared.”

“Did they take anything?”

“Hold on.” Derek took a quick look around the bedroom, then went back into the main part of the cabin. “I don’t see anything missing. My laptop’s still on the coffee table. The door to the deck isn’t damaged.”

“Wait a sec.” Russ’s phone went mute.

Derek was holding his phone in his right hand, and he noticed for the first time that his left hand was shaking.
I need a fucking cup of coffee
. He put his phone on speaker and laid it on the counter so he could set up the coffeemaker. Gracie was hovering so close by him, he almost tripped over her, but it was preferable to her walking around in the broken glass by the door. He stroked the long fur on her head a moment, then filled the carafe with water.

“Are you there?” Russ asked.

Derek flicked the coffeemaker on and picked up the phone. “Yeah.”

“All right. Chavez and I are heading over. I want you and Gracie to go to my cabin—”

“I’m not goin’ down to your cabin, Russ,” Derek cut him off. Russ had given him a key so he could check on Max if there was an emergency. But he wasn’t going to go there to hide like a child. Truthfully, he was nervous. But if Victor really had been there, he was long gone now. “Gracie and I are fine right here. I’ll take her out on the deck to keep her away from the glass.”

Russ made an inarticulate sound that sounded almost like a growl. “Fine, He-Man. Just don’t touch anything until we get there.”

He disconnected, and Derek smirked at the phone. “Fuck you too.”

Still, as he poured himself a cup of coffee and led Gracie out onto the back deck, he didn’t feel nearly as confident as he was trying to act. His hands were still shaking.

R
USS
LET
his partner talk to Derek while he photographed and documented the scene. He was too furious to conduct an interview. Not at Derek, but at Victor and the whole fucked-up situation. There was no proof it had been Victor, but Russ was sure of it. The bullying gorilla was pissed Derek had stood up to him, so he was terrorizing him now. Russ had seen it before—abusive ex-husbands or ex-boyfriends lashing out at women for obtaining protective orders against them. Smashing a few windowpanes was mild. Russ had seen women beaten so severely they had to be hospitalized, and a couple of years ago, one young woman came home to find her ex-boyfriend hiding in her apartment. He’d killed her, then turned the gun on himself.

When he’d finished inside, he went out to the back deck. Derek was leaning his butt against the railing. His empty coffee cup sat on the railing beside him. He was wearing a sweat-stained T-shirt and shorts, and Russ recalled him saying he’d been at the gym. Under other circumstances, the sight of those bare, muscular thighs would have driven him wild. He’d seen Derek shirtless often enough, and that was a beautiful thing, but he had absolutely amazing legs.

Officer Chavez had already put away her notepad, and she appeared to be chatting casually now. It was the way she often handled civilians—take the report, make sure that was all squared away, and then spend a little time chatting about nothing in particular, talking to them in a smooth, friendly tone in order to help them come down from the panicked state of alert they’d been forced into by the incident. She was a natural-born therapist, empathic in a way, but always levelheaded. Russ envied her for it. Too often, he found himself upset over what some asshole had done to an innocent person, or even infuriated by it. Not that he’d ever gone “rogue cop” on someone’s ass, but… the temptation was strong.

Chavez glanced at him, smiling congenially, and said, “I think we’re done out here. How about you?”

“Everything’s documented. It doesn’t look like anything more than the window was damaged.”

“All right,” Chavez said. She offered a hand to Derek. “The report will be on file by the end of the day, Mr. Sawyer, so it will be available to your insurance company. I recommend you call them as soon as possible to report the incident.”

“Thanks.”

“Incidentally… the Tampa PD reported that they’ve contacted you by phone.”

“Yeah.” Derek picked up his coffee cup, cradling it in both hands.

“They need you to fly down there for an interview, if you want them to look into your report.”

Derek’s right pinky finger was tapping out an agitated rhythm against the bottom of his cup. “I know. I told them I’d try to arrange it.”

Chavez had told Russ about the report from Tampa this morning. Supposedly they’d called Derek yesterday, but Russ hadn’t heard one word from him about it or any plans he might be making to fly down there.

Fortunately Chavez didn’t press the matter. She just smiled and nodded. “Have a nice day.”

When she walked by Russ, he told her, “I’ll meet you back at the station. I just need a minute.”

She glanced at him, then back over her shoulder at Derek. “All right.” She didn’t sound pleased, but she left them alone.

Russ took a deep breath to calm himself. He didn’t need to flip out and make it seem he was pissed at Derek. It wasn’t his fault Victor was a psycho. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Russ took a step closer. “I wish I could stay, but I’ve got a couple hours left to my shift, plus I have to help write up the report on this.”

Derek gave him a smile, even though he still looked shaken. “I’m okay. Really. Nobody hurt me; nobody hurt Gracie. It’s just a little broken glass.”

And an asshole who might not be done trying to intimidate you
. “What worries me is he didn’t know you’d be gone when he showed up. He was coming to talk to you or… something. He got frustrated and broke the windows when he figured out you weren’t home.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Derek said. But his expression turned grim. He knew Russ could be right.

“I’ll have my phone with me for the rest of the day. Call me if he shows up.”

“We don’t know it was him.”

Russ cocked his head and quirked an eyebrow at him.

“All right. Fine. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

“Thank you. And one more thing—I want you to stay at my cabin tonight. Or I’ll stay here. I’ll sleep on the couch. You can lock your bedroom door if you want.”

He could tell Derek wanted to tell him to fuck off. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, still clutching his mug on one hand, and scowled. But after a tense silence, he smiled wryly. “There’s that alpha male cop I’ve been waiting for.”

Russ didn’t have a response to that. Maybe he was being a dick. But didn’t Derek understand how volatile things were right now? He’d stirred the hornet’s nest—not that he hadn’t been right to file the report and ask for a protective order—but now the hornet was pissed.

Maybe he did, because he sighed and relaxed his stance a bit. “I understand where you’re coming from, Russ, but you can’t watch over me forever. He could come back tonight or he could come back tomorrow or next week. Are you gonna camp out on my couch for the next year?”

“Just….” Russ knew Derek was right, but he couldn’t do
nothing
. “Just let me stay tonight, okay? One night.”

“All right. We’ll stay at my place.” Derek glanced at the door leading from the deck into the living room. “We’ll figure out sleeping arrangements then.”

D
EREK
HAD
to admit he was looking forward to having Russ stay with him. The broken window had really shaken him, even if he hadn’t wanted to admit it to Russ and Officer Chavez. What would have happened if he’d been home when Victor came by? Derek was a decent-sized guy, and getting back into his workout routine had restored some of his confidence, but he’d never be as large and muscular as Victor. He had no doubt Victor could wipe the floor with him in a fight. Even if Derek managed to call the police, it had taken half an hour for them to get there. Victor could break his neck in that time.

After he swept up the broken glass, he went down the path to let Max out of Russ’s cabin for a bathroom break. Then he decided to bring the dog back with him, since Russ would be coming there later. Gracie and Max loved hanging out together now. Despite the difference in their ages and energy levels, they got along well. And once Max wound down a bit, they liked to curl up near each other. Once in a while, Derek and Russ even caught them snuggling. Fortunately both dogs were fixed, so that wouldn’t lead to a surprise package of puppies at any point.

Russ called him as he was about to leave work and asked, “Have you eaten already?”

“No. I was waiting for you.”

“How do you feel about pizza for dinner? If you don’t mind frozen.”

“That depends on if you get the right
kind
of pizza.”

It turned out Russ already had one large pepperoni and another large buffalo chicken in his freezer. And he knew a convenience store where he could pick up Jamaican ginger beer to wash it down. Derek made a mental note to check the bathroom cabinet for Alka-Seltzer.

It was disturbingly comfortable, as if they’d been doing this for years—Russ calling to see if Derek wanted him to pick up something on the way home. It had been that comfortable with Tim the first couple of years. Derek felt as if he should miss it, but there had been so much tension and…
crap
… for the past three years, he barely remembered when things had been good between them. He’d hung on for far longer than he should have, hoping things would get better. But they hadn’t spoken in over two weeks now, and Tim had barely even crossed his mind. The only thing Derek felt truly sad about was the fact that he should have felt more grief after the end of a five-year relationship… but he didn’t.

D
INNER
WAS
terrific even if it was after 1:00 a.m. by the time the pizzas were done, and Derek was half-convinced he’d be up for the rest of the night with indigestion. Russ glared at the cardboard Derek had used to fill in the missing panes on the door but didn’t say anything. It was an odd feeling, knowing someone was so gung-ho about protecting him. Derek had always been the one looking out for the guys he’d dated, even the ones who’d been a bit more rugged than Tim. He’d always been the strong one, the one earning the money, or at least the lion’s share of it.

If he and Russ started seeing each other—
really
seeing each other, instead of pussyfooting around about it—that could be a problem. Derek didn’t want a man to take care of him, and he sure as hell didn’t want a man supporting him. It was sweet that Russ felt protective of him, but that just made Derek more determined to pull himself back together.

They sat out on the deck, since it had warmed up again, both wearing nothing but sweats. Derek liked the mild eroticism of it. Hanging out with one of the most handsome men he’d ever met, shirtless and barefoot, but not naked. He wasn’t ready for that. The sweats gave him a tantalizing glimpse of Russ’s package, enough to fantasize about during his recent masturbation sessions. But the situation wasn’t overtly sexual, and Russ hadn’t been pressuring him to take it there.

When it got late enough for their eyes to start drooping, Russ said, “Maybe we should call it a night.”

“Yeah,” Derek said, feeling the nervousness bubbling to the surface again. He tried to disguise it by standing and stretching.

“Do you have a sleeping bag I can borrow?”

Derek wasn’t exactly sure where it had been stowed, but he found it in the coat closet near the side door. Then, while Russ double-checked the doors to make sure everything was locked up for the night—not that the cardboard on the door couldn’t be easily defeated—Derek fetched a spare pillow from the bedroom. Russ took them and set up a bed for himself on the living room couch.

Derek watched him, feeling guilty. “Are you sure you’ll be comfortable?” he asked.

“Sure, I’ll be fine.”

Derek wanted to tell him this was stupid. There was no reason Russ couldn’t share the bed with him. They were adult men. It was no big deal.

Except that it
was
a big deal. He couldn’t bring himself to invite Russ into the bedroom, because the thought of sleeping beside another man made his limbs quake and his stomach queasy. He’d managed it with Tim, but Tim had been familiar and, well… safe. Even though his brain knew Russ wouldn’t attack him or try to force anything, he couldn’t convince his body of that. Russ was a much bigger man than Tim.

I fucking hate this!

“Sleep well,” he said. Then he went to turn out the lights before retreating to his bedroom with Gracie.

T
HE
COUCH
wasn’t bad. The cushions were new, and it was clean. Russ had definitely slept on worse. Combine that with Max curled up on the floor beside him and a gorgeous man sleeping in the next room, and it was pretty cozy. Not as cozy as it would have been to be sharing the bed with said gorgeous man, but not bad. Once Derek shut off the lights and said good night, Russ settled into his sleeping bag and quickly dozed off.

He awoke to a scream. Russ scrambled out of his sleeping bag faster than he’d ever gotten out of bed in his life. The cabin was dark, but enough moonlight was coming in through the windows for him to find his way across the room to Derek’s bedroom, Max rushing alongside him. “Derek!”

His hand was on the doorknob when Derek cried out, “Don’t come in!”

Russ froze. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Don’t come in!”

If Derek had cried out from a nightmare—one about Victor or even, God forbid,
him
, bursting into the room wasn’t going to help matters. Russ took his hand off the doorknob. Max was whining and clawing at the door, so he grabbed the dog’s collar and pulled him away. “It’s okay,” he told Derek. “I won’t. I’ll be out here if you need me.”