My stomach clenched. “From what I could tell, the only thing taken was a portfolio of designs I had in my room.”
Bristol gasped and Jason glanced at us questioningly. “What kind of designs?”
I put my arm around Bristol and held her close. “Drawings of cars and motorcycles. I started them when I was in college.”
“Do you know why anyone would want to steal them?” he asked.
“No,” I said in all honesty. “It’s the last thing I’d suspect someone would want.”
Brows furrowed, Jason wrote down a few notes in his notepad. “Is there someone you’ve pissed off recently?”
The only people who came to mind were Ryan and maybe Blaine, but when I looked down at Bristol she shook her head. “No,” I lied. “I can’t think of anyone.” If either of them did it, I wanted to handle them myself.
Jason sighed and started toward the house. “If you think of anyone, just let me know. For now, I suggest you stay somewhere else while we investigate. We can handle it from here.”
As soon as he was out of earshot, I glared down at Bristol. “If your brother had anything to do with this, he’s dead.”
Eyes wild, she grabbed my shirt. “How could he? He’s on his way to Texas.”
“How do you know for sure?”
She let me go and ran a hand through her hair. “I don’t, but I know it’s not him. You have to trust me on this.”
Ryan didn’t seem the type to do something like that, but there was somebody out there who was. “What the hell am I going to do? All I want to do is kill someone right now.”
Taking my hand, she pulled me away from Jason’s car over to mine. “We need to get away from here. Why don’t you stay at my place while they investigate?”
I’d practically been doing that anyway for the past week, but now it was different. I literally had been driven out of my home. I hoped Jason found the culprit and when he did, I wanted to get to the guy first.
—
Five days had passed and there was no goddamn progress in the investigation. Jason couldn’t find a single shred of evidence and basically said the house was clean. What a crock of shit; there had to be something. The police had been working nonstop to find answers, but whoever committed the crime was smart. Obviously, not smart enough, because anyone who knew me would know better than to come after me.
Practice was about to start and I waited for Blaine to show up. If that fucker had anything to do with my house I was going to kill him. However, as time dragged on, he never walked through the doors.
“Sorry about the investigation,” Derek called out.
My hands were numb from clenching them so hard. “Me too.” I leaned my head against my locker and faced him.
Aaron sat down beside me and laced up his cleats. “The police can’t find anything?”
“Nope. They say the house is clean. I had people come in and take everything that wasn’t salvageable away. Bristol’s been busy finding new furniture. It’s being delivered today. She said it’ll all be done by the time we get finished with practice.”
“You gave her full rein of your money?” Derek asked in awe.
I shrugged. “Why not? I trust her.”
Aaron slapped me on the back. “You’ve fallen hard, brother. Good luck with that.”
“Got that right.” Derek chuckled. “Next thing you know, you’ll be married with three kids.”
The last thing on my mind was marriage, but it wasn’t a long shot. If there was any girl I’d consider marrying, it would be Bristol.
“That’s not going to happen anytime soon,” Ryan growled, appearing around the corner.
Derek and Aaron stepped back and walked out of the locker room, along with everyone else on the team except Ryan.
“And how would you stop us?” I asked. “You’re not Bristol’s keeper.”
I finished tying my shoes and stood, facing him head on. We were about the same height and build, and even if he was Bristol’s brother, it wasn’t going to stop me from kicking his ass again if I had to.
“No, I’m not,” he said, “but she’s my sister and I care about her. The last thing I want is for her to be in the crossfire of some cocksucker you pissed off.”
Teeth clenched, I was all prepared to fight back, but he had a point. “I’m not going to let her get hurt.”
“That’s a wise decision, Reed. Because if she does, nothing’s going to stop me from ripping off your fucking head. I don’t know why she wants to be with you, but I’ve respected her decision and backed off. If this shit keeps happening, though, I will step in. Make no mistake about that.”
Turning on his heel, he stormed out, leaving me to the scary thoughts running rampant through my brain. The police hadn’t caught whoever it was who destroyed my house. What if that same person came after me again, or worse, after Bristol? No matter what, I would protect her. That was for damn certain.
Chapter 22
Bristol
“This is the last piece,” Marco said happily.
He was one of the movers I’d hired on plenty of occasions when I worked in my clients’ homes. Both he and his partner had been working nonstop to get everything moved in. Marco and James carried the mattress upstairs to Jaxon’s bedroom. Once that was done, the rest of the house was up to me.
The whole weekend while Jaxon talked to the police, I was busy finding him new furniture. He’d given me his credit card to buy whatever I wanted. I was pretty good at finding beautiful things for reasonable prices, unless I had a customer who was adamant on getting strictly name-brand pieces.
Marco and James came back downstairs, wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate you working so hard for me today.”
Marco held out his hand and I shook it. “Anytime, Ms. Thomas. Please make sure to tell Mr. Reed we said thanks.”