“Only my family has keys to my place and they wouldn’t do this. Besides, the window was open in my other room. Obviously if someone had keys, why would they do that?”
“People do stupid shit all the time, Roxy. Shit that makes no sense,” Hank explained.
Nick leaned forward. “Tell Hank what you told me was also happening.”
When Hank’s hazel eyes settled on me, I suddenly felt wary of what I was saying. It was like he was looking at me with suspicion, but doubt clouded his gaze. I started to tell him, but a knock at the door caused me to jump.
“Expecting anyone?” Hank asked.
Nick stood, but when I shook my head, the officer motioned for him to stay back. I was surprised when Nick listened, and even more shocked when he moved to sit next to me.
“You hanging in there?” he asked in a low voice.
I nodded. “Yeah. Thank you.” My gaze flicked to where Hank was. From where I sat, I could see who it was when the door opened.
It was James and what’s his name—Kip. My upstairs neighbors. “We saw the police lights,” James said as he strained to see over Hank. “We wanted to make sure Roxy was okay.”
The fact they got up at this time in the morning to check on me made me want to hug both of them.
“Everything’s fine,” Hank advised. “But I need both of you to go back to your residences. If we need anything, we know where to find you.”
James didn’t budge. “Roxy’s okay, right?”
“Yes. I’m okay.” I raised my voice to make sure both guys could hear me, and I hated the way my voice shook. I hated being afraid like this. “Everything’s okay.”
Hank managed to usher them out of the doorway, but he didn’t close the door as I expected. Instead, he stepped aside and said, “I got the call handled, bud.”
My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as another police officer strode into my apartment. Except it wasn’t just any officer.
It was Reece.
Maybe I was hallucinating, and all of this was a nightmare.
Reece stalked into my apartment like he belonged here. Without responding to Hank, he gave Nick a cursory glance as he entered the living room. “What in the hell is going on?”
Beyond the ability of forming a response, I stared up at him.
Hank sighed as he closed the front door. “We got a call—”
“I heard the call go through,” Reece cut him off. His eyes were the darkest shade of blue. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard the address for a possible breakin, because all I could think was if it really was your house, you wouldn’t just call the police.” He thumped his hand off his chest, above the badge. “You’d call me.”
My jaw unhinged. Okay. I was seriously hallucinating this.
“Thought you had Fridays off?” Nick commented dryly.
“I’m covering a shift tonight.” Those midnight-blue eyes cut to him. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
Nick leaned back, tossing an arm over the back of the couch. “She called me.”
Reece narrowed his gaze on said arm behind me. “Did she?”
Hank cleared his throat. “The window was open in the extra bedroom, and she says there’s a picture of her taken while she was sleeping.”
The way he said it, with a touch of derision, snapped me out of my stupor. “That is what happened.”
Reece cocked his head to the side as his broad shoulders stiffened. “What?”
“Someone took a picture of her with her phone while she was sleeping,” Nick repeated, and it became obvious that Reece hadn’t heard that part of the call.
Had Reece just heard my address called out and rushed over here? I didn’t even know what to think of that.
He extended his hand to Hank. “Let me see it.” The phone was handed over and then Reece cursed under his breath. “The window in the room was open?”
Hank nodded. “If it was locked, I have no idea how it would’ve gotten open. Glass wasn’t broken.” He looked at me. “I’m assuming you normally lock your windows. If not, you might want to start doing that.”
“I lock my windows.” My fingers tightened on the edge of the blanket. “I always lock my windows.”
Everyone in the room exchanged doubtful looks, which I understood given the current situation. “Wait,” I said, scooting forward so that my feet touched the floor. “What are you doing here, Reece?”
A muscle popped in his jaw. “I cannot even believe you’d even ask that question. Well, you know what, I’m not that surprised.”
“Excuse me?” I said.
His eyes glittered as he stared down at me. “You’re seriously going to ask why I’m here?”
I came off the couch, dropping the blanket and going toe to toe with him, which meant I was at eye level with his chest, but whatever. “Yeah, I’m going to ask that question and if you’re surprised by that question then you’re an idiot!”
“An idiot?” The large hand wrapped around my phone rose, and he pointed toward my bedroom. “You left your bedroom window unlocked knowing that there is someone in these counties—”
“I didn’t leave my windows unlocked! Just like I didn’t call you to come over!”
He lowered his chin, his eyes never leaving mine. “We’ll talk about this later, Roxy.”
Every emotion inside me boiled up and spilled over. “This is crazy,” I said, my hands clenching into fists. “You’ve been ignoring me for days. And you—you lied to me.”
Reece drew back, flinching.
Heedless of the fact we had an audience, I didn’t stop and I knew I should’ve. This was no one’s business and my voice was cracking on every other word, but how dare he stand here and act like he had a right to be here. “You lied too, Reece. You told me everything would be okay and that you’d call me. Yeah, well, call me an idiot, but the last I checked, you didn’t do that and things aren’t okay. ‘Oh, let’s do lunch.’ Blah! You didn’t even text me back, you rat bastard.”
“Oh, wow, this is going in a direction I so did not expect,” murmured Nick.
“Didn’t text you back?” Reece’s eyes widened. “I texted you back on Thursday. I told you in that text—” He cut himself off. “I texted you.”
Stunned that he would tell such a bald-faced lie, I laughed harshly. “No, you didn’t.”
Hank glanced between the two of us as he shuffled his weight from one foot to the next. “Uh, guys, I think we need to get back—”
“Bullshit, Roxy,” Reece snapped. “I did text you back.”
I folded my arms. “Then your text just magically disappeared. Whatever. Don’t you have another call to head to? I think Hank has this handled. Isn’t that right, Hank?”
Hank raised his hands as if he was saying he wanted no part in this. A lot of help there.
“I can’t believe this.” Reece reached into his back pocket with his other hand and pulled out his phone. After tapping the screen, he flipped his phone around. “Look at it,” he said, and when I started to look away, he stepped closer. “Look at my phone, Roxy.”
Blowing out a rough breath, I reluctantly did as he asked—well, commanded. I gave his phone a quick glance and opened my mouth, ready to fire off something smartass, when I smacked my mouth shut.
What the . . . ?
I snatched the phone out of his hand, holding it close to my face so I could make out the words and time.
Hey, let’s reschedule lunch for Sunday. We can talk then.
The text was time-marked. It showed delivered; probably no longer than ten minutes after I’d sent the text, while I had to have been in the shower. I stared at the text, half expecting it to vanish as a figment of my imagination.
“I swear,” I whispered, looking up at him. “I never saw that text. I know it says delivered, but I never saw it.”
Reece held my gaze for a long moment. “I thought you were pissed that I was rescheduling.” He gently pried his phone loose from my grip. “And that’s why you didn’t text back. And just so you know, I was planning on showing up here on Sunday, text or no text.”
“Could someone have deleted the text before you saw it?” Nick suggested.
Cold air whirled down my spine and the tiny hairs along the back of my neck stood. This . . . this was crazy creepy.