“Oh no.” I try not to sound disappointed. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, there’s flooding in someone’s basement, so we have to head over there and drain it,” he explains. “Not sure how long I’ll be.”
“Why don’t you do what you need to do and then go home, and we’ll see each other tomorrow?”
He groans, “I don’t want to, but I also don’t want you waiting up for me.” I smile. “I’ll come by tomorrow morning bright and early.”
“Oh goodie,” I joke with him, “I can’t wait.” I hang up the phone and decide to make a frozen pizza and get into bed.
I drift off to sleep around ten, maybe even earlier. I don’t even know how long I’ve been asleep before the sound of a window breaking wakes me up, and then the sound of a thud on the floor. I throw the covers off me as I get up and slip my pink slippers on, grabbing my phone and rushing to the stairs. The front window has a huge hole in it, and when I look into the empty room, I see a brown object in the middle of it. My legs move before my head can stop them, shaking as I make my way to the object, seeing it’s a rock when I get closer. My hand comes out and picks it up, seeing the words “LEAVE” spray-painted in red. The rock falls out of my hand and lands with a thud in the middle of the floor where I just picked it up from.
My hands shake as I pull up his number and call him right away. He answers after half a ring. “Sierra,” he says my name, with worry in his voice.
“They threw—” My voice hitches. “Someone threw a rock through my window.”
Chapter 24
Caleb
My phone ringing in the middle of the night has me springing up in my bed. Nothing good comes from the-middle-of-the-night phone calls. My heart speeds up with a million different scenarios running through my head. My parents are number one. When I see it’s Sierra, I’m already out of bed when I press the green button. “Sierra,” I say her name with worry in my voice.
“They threw—” Her voice hitches and I feel like my body has turned to stone. “Someone threw a rock through my window.” Nope, I was wrong. That sentence makes my body turn to stone and fill with rage at the same time.
“I’m coming.” I tuck the phone between my shoulder and my ear. Rushing around to my chest of drawers and pulling out a pair of jeans. “You are going to hang up the phone with me and call the police.” I can hear the whimper coming from her side of the phone. “I’m on my way. I want you to call me back after you get off the phone with the police.”
“Okay.” Her voice is shaky. “Okay.”
“I’ll be there in ten,” I tell her as she disconnects, and I call Theo as I slide on a T-shirt.
“What?” he answers with a grumble.
“Someone threw a rock through Sierra’s window,” I inform him as I put on my socks and then my boots.
“Ugh,” he says, and I can hear him moving on his side. “Meet you there. Try not to kill anyone until I get there, please.” I grab my keys and a baseball hat before rushing out the door.
She calls me right back at the same time that I’m pulling away from the driveway. “Baby,” I say and all she can do is cry.
“I’m okay,” she says, clearing her throat. “I’m just.”
“I know, baby,” I tell her. “Where are you?”
“I’m in my bedroom.”
“Is the door locked?” I ask her and she gives me a hmm. “Okay, I’m around the corner,” I tell her. “The police are right in front of me. I’m going to let you go,” I say when I pull up to her curb and see her looking out the window.
I turn my car off right in back of the police cruiser. Opening my door and getting out at the same time that Theo arrives, he doesn’t even turn off his truck before he’s walking beside me. “This is going to go way easier if you aren’t breathing fire from your nose like a bull.” He looks over at one of the officers getting out of his car.
“That’s a dragon,” I retort as the front door opens, and she stands there in her robe with tears running down her face. “Baby.” I wrap her in my arms as she tries to remain strong, but I can feel her shaking.
“I’m fine,” she declares, dislodging herself from my arms. “Theo, what are you doing here?”
“Making sure this one”—he points at me with his thumb toward me—“doesn’t end up in the back of that.” He then points over to the police cruiser. “And to help with the window.”
“Hello,” the deputy says, breaking it up, “I’m Deputy Sheriff Lincoln Burke.” He looks at me, then at Sierra. “This is Deputy Phillips.” He motions to the man standing next to him. “We got a call about a window.”
“Yes,” Sierra says, “I was sleeping, and someone threw this through my window.” She walks into the house, and I follow her as I look at all the pieces of glass in the living room. Theo follows me in, taking a sweep of the room before walking to the back of the house and then to the garage.
The deputy puts on his gloves before he touches the rock, then I see the red paint across it with the word Leave. “The fuck is that?” I roar at the same time Theo is coming back into the room.
