Rowdy(89)

We fell asleep wrapped around one another, spent and satiated. Her hair was stuck to my chest and her taste was all in my mouth and it was perfect. Her soft weight on top of me was kind of like the anchor that I had tattooed on my neck. It held me in place, kept me grounded, reminded me she was my home port when we had both been adrift for so long.

I JERKED AWAKE AND SWORE in aggravation when Salem’s elbow landed in my gut as she scrambled up and out of bed. At first I couldn’t figure out what she was doing, but then I heard Poppy frantically knocking on the bedroom door and the dog barking his fool head off. I groaned and reached for the jeans I had left on the side of the bed the night before. Salem had commandeered my shirt, so I was only half dressed as I made my way out into the living room to see what all the commotion was about.

I told Jimbo to hush and fetched him a tennis ball to distract him as Poppy shrieked incoherently at Salem. I was about to whistle and tell everyone to chill the fuck out when the buzzer from the security door at the front of the building went off on the wall unit. It buzzed and buzzed like someone was leaning on it. It was only four o’clock in the morning and this obviously wasn’t a locked-out neighbor.

“What in the hell is going on?” I scrubbed my hands over my hair and made my way over to the girls.

Salem looked at me over her shoulder, her dark eyes worried and fathomless. Even with her tawny complexion I could tell she was pale.

“Poppy thinks it’s Oliver, her husband.”

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. The buzzer went off again and I looked at it balefully. “How on earth would he even know how to find you?”

Poppy was shaking her head back and forth and crying big fat tears. “I don’t know. Oh my God, he’s going to kill me.”

I felt my eyebrows dip low over my nose as I made my way to the intercom. “It’s probably just some drunk that can’t get in and keeps leaning on the same button.” I hit the response key and barked, “Move it, dude. Not one is letting you in. It’s four in the morning, don’t make me call the cops.”

There was no response, but as soon as I let up off the call button it started buzzing again. Salem was watching me like I should know what to do, so I just shrugged and said, “Fine, I’m gonna go out there and help them get their damn finger off the buzzer. Whoever it is.” Poppy started crying harder and Salem frowned at me.

“You saw her when she got here. This guy is unpredictable and unhinged. I don’t want you to get hurt. Maybe we should just call the police.”

The buzzer started trilling once again and Jimbo growled at it low in his throat. I reached down to scratch him between his ears.

“Let me handle it first. This guy doesn’t get to harass my girls and maybe he needs to pick on someone his own size.”

Poppy hiccuped. “He’s insane, Rowdy. He nearly beat me to death because I wouldn’t agree to have kids with him. What if he has a knife or a gun? I don’t want you getting hurt because of me.”

I gave both of them a lopsided smile and pulled the door open. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good at taking care of you, remember?”

They both called my name as Jimbo darted past me and bolted to the end of the hallway where the security door was located. I grabbed his collar just in case and pulled the first door open and made my way to the second where the intercom was located. There was a man standing in front of the console pressing the button with Salem’s apartment number on it and not letting up on it.

He was pretty unremarkable-looking. He was shorter than me by quite a bit, and he was wearing nondescript khakis and an untucked polo shirt. His hair looked like it had been raked through with aggravated hands, and when his dark eyes landed on me I could see fury blazing out of them.

“Hey, man. Knock it off. I don’t know who you are but you have the wrong apartment.” Jimbo growled low in his throat and tugged at my hold on his collar. He was a good dog and never aggressive, so it made me frown at the guy. “Move along, buddy.”

The guy stepped away from the console and looked me up and down. Granted I looked like I has just been loved hard and woken up grumpy, which I had, but I still towered over him and there was no missing the apprehension that crossed his puckered face. His gaze landed somewhere on the pirate ship inked on my chest and he asked me with a sneer, “Who in the hell are you?”

I was so taken aback all I could do was blink. The dog barked a loud, high-pitched yelp and the guy gave him a dirty look.

“The guy on the outside of the security door doesn’t get to ask the questions. Like I said, get lost or I’m calling the cops.”