AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not knowing what else to do, I put the call on speakerphone and then rammed the gearshift into drive. I drove my ass off and cleared at least six or seven streets before I was confident I was safe.
He wouldn’t come after me. I was an attorney and well, Karl would’ve made Detective months ago if he hadn’t crashed his car with his nineteen-year-old mistress sitting in the passenger seat. She died at the scene. Once the details came out, I was devastated, and of course, filed for divorce. We’d been separated for over six months, and he was gravely pissed because the judge ruled in my favor and let me keep the house. Compared to Karl’s income, I was the only one who could actually afford the mortgage payments.
“Karl pulled me over just a minute ago. I wasn’t speeding, I don’t have any headlights or taillights out, and I sure as fuck didn’t run a red light or refuse to yield or stop when I was supposed to.”
“Are you just now leaving work?” he asked, sounding more alert.
I banged my head against the headrest again. “I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on. I’m a little over halfway home now. I… Uh… I kinda fled the scene.”
“YOU WHAT?”
“He was pounding on my fucking window like he was trying to shatter it. I didn’t know what else to do. It’s not like I carry.”
“Restraining order,” Peter angrily prompted. “I’m not even joking.”
“And what good will that do?” I chided, smacking a palm down against the steering wheel in frustration. “He won’t honor it. The asshole never even honored our marriage!”
“Just calm down, Charlotte. Everything will be fine. Let me make some phone calls and I’ll come see you at the office tomorrow. Sound good?”
“Yeah, Peter, that’s fine.”
“And you’re sure he won’t follow you home?”
I snorted. “He doesn’t have the balls. I changed all the locks and had a brand new security system installed weeks ago. You can’t crack open a window without the alarms going off.”
“Cameras?”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me do it. “Yep. Already done.”
“Good. That’s good.” He paused a moment, sighing. “Just try to get some rest, Charlotte. If anything happens, call me back. I mean it. I’ll come straight there.”
“Thanks, Peter. I’ll see you later.” I hung up the phone, shaking my head as I pulled into my driveaway and shut off the car.
No sooner than I walked inside, the alarms began wailing. I had fifteen seconds to punch in the code or else over half of the SPD would be lining up outside my driveway.
Relief blanketed over me, easing away the tension in my neck and shoulders as the alarms ceased, filling the house with perfect, peaceful silence. Sighing to myself, I ascended the staircase and walked inside my bedroom. In seconds my clothes were gone, and I was stepping inside the shower, desperate to wash the sweat and smell of hot sex off of my body. When I was done, I wrapped myself like a burrito in my towel and then took my sweet time finding something comfortable to sleep in.
Beside the bed was my nightstand, and resting on it was a frame with mine and Karl’s wedding photo inside. I sighed again as I grabbed it and sat down on the bed, unsure why I was still holding onto it. I was a good wife. Faithful. I’d never done Karl wrong throughout our ten years of matrimony, and I just didn’t understand what went wrong or why I wasn’t good enough. We didn’t have any kids. We both worked nonstop, so we never really had time to actually be around each other enough to try—which was fine by me if I was being fully honest. I wanted kids, yes, but I loved my job, and having kids meant I’d have to put my career on hold, and I just wasn’t ready to do that yet. I worked hard to get where I am today and after everything that’s happened, I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
Fuck it.
I slammed the frame face down against the nightstand and shook my head. I pulled my blankets down, lay back in bed, and closed my eyes. Tomorrow. Things will be better tomorrow. I repeated it over and over in my bed until my body relaxed and I fell into a deep slumber.
two
Phoenix
“Detective,” one of the younger officers shouted just as soon as I stepped through the elevator doors with a coffee cup in both hands.
I inwardly groaned and stood straighter, giving her a fake smile as she approached. “Yes, Officer Peach?”
She froze in her tracks and offered me a nasty scowl. “That’s not my fucking name, Phoenix.”
I grinned at her. I knew it wasn’t, but I chose to call her Peach because her long blonde waves and bright blue eyes reminded me of Princess Peach from the Super Mario Brothers. The woman absolutely hated the nickname, but I had to admit it sure tickled the fuck out of me, especially when her face scrunched up into an explosive pit of unattractive wrinkles.
“Forgive me, Officer Brown. What can I do for you?”
“You got a case,” she murmured, handing over the details which were scribbled down on a yellow sticky note. “Captain told me to find you.”
