Читать книгу Daddy Defender - Janie Crouch - Страница 13

Chapter Five

Summer felt like she had set women’s lib back a hundred years. What sort of grown female called a man over to her house just because the electricity went out?

She walked into Chloe’s room to check on her again. Found her daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib just like she had been the last two dozen times Summer had checked.

And that face at the window had just been a figment of her imagination. Nobody was standing outside her condo.

Right?

Summer was willing to cut herself a little slack. The last time the power had gone out, a psychopath had drugged and kidnapped her and Chloe and trapped them in a burning building.

So she had reason to be wary of her power being out. Of course, Ashton didn’t know any of this. He was just going to think she was a coward.

Or maybe he was going to think she wanted to see him. Seduce him or something.

She wasn’t sure which was worse. At least if he showed up here and she was waiting in some kind of negligee, he wouldn’t think she was terrified of being alone in the dark.

But would he be interested?

She pushed the thought away. That was not why Ashton was on his way over.

But she promised herself this was the last time she would allow herself to call. She was taking advantage of him. Of his politeness.

The knock on the door startled her out of her thoughts.

“Summer? It’s Ashton.”

She opened the door. “Thank you again for coming over. I’m sorry. It was totally unfair for me to ask you to come back again today. Especially so late at night.”

He completely surprised her by putting a finger up to her lips. “It’s okay. Don’t apologize.”

He dropped his hand back to his side almost immediately, but Summer still felt shocked. She didn’t think Ashton had ever touched her except to shake her hand or in passing Chloe between them.

And more than that. He looked different.

She opened the door farther to allow him entrance, shaking her head. How could he possibly look different when she’d seen him just over twelve hours ago?

But he did. Just in how he carried himself. How he was looking her in the eyes without looking away.

How he’d just touched her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I know you must think I’m a hot mess, but the last time the power went out something...” She swallowed. She really didn’t want to get into the details. “Something bad happened.”

Ashton cocked his head sideways, studying her for a long minute, but he didn’t ask her what she meant. “It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Let me double-check the fuse box, then I’ll go to the main breaker near the street.”

She stood at the top of the stairs as he made his way down into the basement/laundry room of her condo. He was back up in just a few minutes.

“You were right. There weren’t any fuses tripped in the box,” he said softly, making her appreciate his awareness of Chloe’s sleeping state.

She smiled at him. “I’m glad. If you had been able to come over here and fix the power in under ten seconds, I would’ve never been able to show my face in this town again.”

He smiled. “It looks like you’re free to show that beautiful face whenever you want to because there’s nothing you could’ve done about the power.”

Summer just stood staring at him. Not only did he just speak an entire sentence to her without stuttering, but did he just flirt with her?

“Oh. Oh, okay. Good.” Now who was stuttering?

“Let me go check the larger fuse box out by the street.”

Summer watched him walk back outside, trying to get herself under control. Maybe Ashton was just more confident and talkative at night.

If she thought she was attracted to him before, now she felt like she was smoldering inside.

Maybe she should’ve met him at the door in a negligee.

She needed some water to cool herself down. She turned away from the window—because staring at him probably looked a little desperate—and walked into the kitchen.

And found the same hooded face pressed up against her kitchen window.

This time she knew it wasn’t any figment of her imagination.

She ran to the front door, then stopped. She couldn’t leave Chloe alone in the house.

“Ashton!” she yelled.

He looked up from where he crouched at the fuse box by the street. He got one look at her face and began immediately running toward her.

He grabbed her arms. “What? What happened?”

“The face in the ski mask. It was back. At my kitchen window.” She could hardly get the words out around her own breaths.

“Go inside and lock the door, okay? Don’t open it for anyone but me. Call the police and tell them what happened.”

“But—”

“Summer, just do it, okay? I’ll be alright. I promise.”

She nodded and did what he said, locking and dead-bolting the door. She grabbed her phone and called 911.

* * *

ASHTON PUSHED AWAY all physical discomfort from his injuries as he bolted around the building and into the woods behind Summer’s unit, Glock in hand. He knew how much she loved the privacy these trees provided. He hoped this incident wouldn’t change her opinion.

The electrical box near the street had definitely been tampered with. The lock on the outside was broken, wires inside had been hacked. Someone wanted the power out in Summer’s home, maybe the entire condo unit.

Ashton didn’t know if it was some punk kid playing pranks or someone with much more sinister intent. If he was still around here, Ashton would catch him.

He wished he had his sniper rifle with him. Not because he planned to shoot the guy outright, but because looking through the scope for an enemy target was Ashton’s forte. Hiding from Ashton when he was in a secure location with his riflescope to his eye was damn near impossible.

But instead, Ashton got to the cover of the trees and stopped. He held himself still, looking for any sign of movement in the darkness. One thing Ashton had learned as a sniper was patience.

But nothing moved. After long minutes of holding himself completely still, he felt sure he was alone in the trees. Whoever had peeked through Summer’s window evidently had taken off as soon as he’d realized Summer had seen him. Which was good. That probably meant it was some sort of sick Peeping Tom or burglar, not someone who meant true harm.

Although who would mean true harm to Summer? Bailey Heath, the woman who had kidnapped Summer and Chloe, had died that day on scene.

Stupid punk teenagers out to cause trouble and damage buildings was a much more likely scenario than someone intending to hurt Summer or her daughter.

Ashton made it back to Summer’s door and knocked, letting her know it was him.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright? I was worried about you.” She threw open the door, grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside. “Did you see anything? Are you okay? The police should be here in a minute.”

She ran her hand from his shirt to his arm, but didn’t let him go. He didn’t wince even as her fingers hit some of his sore spots.

“I’m fine. I searched the woods but didn’t see anyone.”

“You could’ve gotten hurt!” Now she had both of her hands on his arms.

This was the perfect time to tell her, he realized. It would only take ten seconds and he could get it out, at least letting her know that he was law enforcement. He didn’t have to provide details.

“Summer, there’s something I should tell you.”

Her big gray eyes looked up at him expectantly. “What? Do you think it was someone with a gun? Someone trying to break in to the house?”

“No. I mean about—”

A knock on the door stopped him. It was too loud and it woke up Chloe. She started crying as the police identified themselves outside the door.

The moment was lost.

“You answer the door,” he told her. “I’ll get Chloe.”

Ashton made his way into little Chloe’s room. He didn’t turn on the light, hoping he’d be able to soothe her into going back to sleep. But as soon as she saw it was him and not Summer in the dim glow from the night light, she scooted herself around onto her little bottom and pulled herself into a standing position on her crib.

“Ah-ta! Ah-ta. Ah-ta.” Glee tainted her tone. She held her arms out to him.

He couldn’t resist her, didn’t even try. “Hey there, sweetheart.” He swung her up in his arms. “I’m sorry all the racket woke you up.”

“Ah-ta. Mama.”

“Yes, your mama’s right out in the living room. Let’s go see her, since I’m sure you’ll scream bloody murder if I put you back in that crib right now.”

Summer was telling the two police officers what she saw at the window. A man in a ski mask.

“As soon as I looked over there, he disappeared. I called for Ashton who was out at the power box at the street and he went to look out back.”

Ashton nodded at the two men. “Here, you take this wiggle worm,” he said, handing Chloe to Summer, “and I’ll take the officers outside and show them what I saw.”

He didn’t want to talk shop in front of Summer. It wouldn’t take much of a slip before she realized he knew way more about crime scenes and pursuit tactics than a condo handyman should.

When the door closed behind him, he immediately identified himself, pulling his credentials from his pocket. “I’m Ashton Fitzgerald, with Omega Sector.” The two officers introduced themselves as Jackson and McMeen.

He showed the men where the wires had been cut in the main fuse box and they went around to where the perp had been looking through Summer’s window. Sure enough, a footprint was clearly evident in the soil beneath Summer’s window.

The two men looked at each other. “This matches a couple other calls we’ve gotten the last few days. Mostly apartments and condos, but a couple of houses,” McMeen said.

“Dangerous?”

Jackson shook his head. “No. Power cut, some graffiti. General building damage. Nobody has actually seen them before Ms. Worrall.”

“Whoever it was took off immediately as soon I headed their way.”

McMeen wrote something down in his notebook. “That would be consistent with our theory that it’s some teenagers just looking for a little trouble.”

That made Ashton feel better. He knew it would Summer, too.

The officers left and Ashton made a call to the power company. They assured him they’d have someone out there first thing in the morning to look at it. By the time he made it back inside Summer’s house, she was laying Chloe back in her crib.

“Did they find anything?” she whispered as she came back out, closing Chloe’s door behind her.

“There was definitely a footprint under your kitchen window and some of the wiring to all the units had been tampered with down at the box by the street.”

“Why? Do the police have any idea who it is?”

“It looks like it’s probably some high-school kids trying to make trouble. They’ve had other similar calls around town this week.”

Some of the tension eased from Summer’s shoulders. Stupid kids were just stupid kids.

Now that the immediate danger was past, Ashton could feel every bruise and burn on his body from the electrical shocks earlier today. God, he was tired.

Evidently it showed.

She touched him gently on his arm. “Thank you for coming over here tonight. I was a mess.”

“No, you were fine. Anyone would be a little frightened in these circumstances. Kids didn’t mean any harm, but that doesn’t mean it’s not scary.” He remembered carrying Summer and Chloe out of that burning warehouse a few months ago. If anyone had logical reason to worry about a masked face in a window, it was her.

She turned away. “I guess so.”

“The power company said they’ll be out here first thing in the morning, so that’s good.”

“Yeah. I’m glad it’s not too cold out yet. We should be able to sleep comfortably.” But her eyes darting around the room said otherwise.

“Summer, are you going to be okay? Do you want me to stay? Camp out here on the couch?”

Or so much more. He wanted to do so much more.

She studied him for a minute but then swallowed whatever it was she’d considered saying. She wrapped her arms around herself. “No. You’re tired, I can tell. We’ll be fine. Like you said, just kids, no danger.”

Disappointment hit Ashton in the gut. He hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted her to ask him to stay. Even if it had just been on the couch.

In any other situation, he’d just tell her that was what he was doing regardless. He’d wink at her and offer to be her own personal SWAT security.

And tell her she was welcome to join him on the couch if she got scared at any time. Or he’d be happy to bring the security detail into her bedroom.

But he couldn’t laugh and wink and make jokes and charm his way into staying.

There were too many secrets between them. Too many lies.

He walked over to the door. “I’ll call you tomorrow to make sure the power got turned back on. If not, I can call the power company again.”

“I’m sure it will be.” She opened the door and looked at him again like she wanted to say something, but then her gaze slid to the ground. “Thanks again, Ashton.”

He touched her arm, wanting to do so much more than that.

“Good night.”

He heard the door shut and lock behind him and he walked down to his truck. He eased his sore body into it then, staring back at her condo, started the ignition.

Then promptly turned it back off.

He wasn’t leaving her.

Yeah, it was probably just kids trying to scare people, but Ashton didn’t care. On the off chance it was someone with a more sinister intent directed at Summer, he wasn’t leaving her alone.

He slid his seat back in an effort to get more comfortable inside his truck.

It was going to be a long night.