Page 88 of Contentious

Julian surprised her with a quick hug. “You’ve got my number if there’s anything I can do.”

“Thanks again.”

“Sure thing. I’ll text you when you can see him.”

“Okay.” She walked them to the door and gave Isla another hug.

“Get some rest,” Isla said.

“I’ll try.” Cresley waved them off and then turned the dead bolt to lock the front door. She went through the house and checked every door and window to make sure they were locked and then made sure Ty was still asleep. It put her on edge that the house had no security system, but Marlon would have no way to know they were there. She left the door to Ty’s room open, so she’d hear him when she went to stretch out on the sofa. Every muscle in her body ached, and her eyes stung from crying.

For the first time in hours, she checked her phone and saw a message from her manager, Teagan, asking about what’d happened at her home.

TMZ is reporting that someone was stabbed at your place. D&G is asking questions. Let me know what’s going on.

Fuck…

A friend was stabbed in the yard when he confronted an intruder. Thankfully, he’s going to survive. The LAPD is looking for the guy who did it. You can assure D&G there’s nothing to worry about.

What did it say about her current frame of mind that she couldn’t care less if she lost a twenty-million-dollar contract? As long as Carson was alive and stayed that way, everything else seemed trivial. If D&G invoked the morals clause, or whatever other thing they might use to get rid of her, well, she’d figure out something else. She always did.

She’d never been so exhausted, but she couldn’t calm herself enough to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Carson lying in the yard, covered in blood, and wondered again how anyone could survive losing that much blood. She’d barely begun to know him, to care for him, to want him like she’d never wanted any other man… That he could’ve been taken from her before they ever got the chance to see what might be possible was terrifying and devastating.

She’d offered him a way out of what’d been developing between them right before disaster struck.

He hadn’t taken it.

That meant something, didn’t it?

Her heart ached as if she’d been the one stabbed, which made her feel dramatic, but it was true.

Ty appeared a short time later, startling her out of a light sleep when he asked, “Where are we?”

“A friend loaned us a place to stay until it’s safe to go home.” She held out her arms to him, and he crawled into her embrace. He smelled of sweet little boy and was warm from sleeping.

“It’s not safe because of my dad. He hurt Carson.”

“Yes.”

“Why would he do that?”

“I want to tell you the truth, but it hurts me to do that because I know it’ll hurt you to hear it.”

“It’s okay. I can handle it.”

“Your dad wants me to give him money, and I’ve refused to do that, so he’s done things to try to make me scared enough to pay him.”

“Why doesn’t he have his own money?”

“I’m not really sure what he’s been doing for work, but from what I’ve heard, things have gone badly for him, and he’s obviously gotten desperate enough to do terrible things to try to get what he wants.”

“Did he crash into Carson’s car?”

“Yeah.”

“He could’ve killed you guys.”

“We were lucky that no one was hurt.”