Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125248 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 501(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Was he still hidden, or even conscious?
Silence.
“I think the police are here,” Xander said shakily.
“Okay. Wait until they call for you.”
A pause.
“Where are you?” Xander whispered.
Cassidy was shocked at the emotion sitting like a boulder on his chest.
“I’m coming up your driveway.”
Red and blue lights were painting the modest property in violent flashes by the time he swung into the circular drive.
A black SUV also sat near the entrance.
The Enforcers.
Cassidy threw the Mustang into park without caring about killing the engine and bolted toward the house.
The front door stood partially open.
Officers were moving through the lower level with weapons drawn.
“Clear!”
“Kitchen clear!”
“Moving upstairs!”
Cassidy ignored them as he took the staircase three steps at a time, pulse slamming against his ribs.
Multiple doors stretched down the upper hallway, but instinct had him racing through a pair of double doors, Bluetooth still pressed tight into his ear.
“Xander. I’m in your bedroom, where are—”
A side door flew open, and Xander barreled into him so hard it nearly knocked the breath from him.
Xander wrapped his arms around his waist and buried his face against his throat.
Without hesitation he embraced him back. He cupped the back of Xander’s head with one hand, locking the other around his back.
Cassidy closed his eyes, realizing for the first time in a long time he’d been afraid.
Not professionally concerned or alarmed, but terrified.
Xander was shaking against him, falling apart.
“Why is this happening?” Xander choked out. “What did I do that was so wrong?”
“Shhh.” He stroked his hand through Xander’s damp hair. “You’re okay now, I’ve got you.”
Xander pressed closer.
“I’m so tired of being scared.”
Cassidy eased his palm over bare, warm, supple skin, now realizing Xander was damn near naked in his arms. The towel wrapped low around his hips was just holding on, leaving so much of him exposed beneath his hands.
The more he caressed and the tighter Xander squeezed him, the more his trembling eased.
The lights surged back on, making him blink until his eyes adjusted.
He cupped Xander’s cheek and edged him back far enough to look at him.
Fuck me.
Those usually sparkling eyes were red-rimmed and full of tears. His wet lashes clumped together in dark spikes, fear still lingering on his beautiful face.
But something else was there too.
Something tender, open, desperate…wanting.
It’d been so long since anyone had gazed at him in that way, all Cassidy could do was stare.
He couldn’t be seeing what he thought was in Xander’s gaze.
This young, talented, gorgeous fucking superstar couldn’t possibly want his old, gruff ass.
No.
Xander was just scared, emotional, and clinging to the first safe thing he saw.
That had to be it.
Until he saw those soft, pale blue eyes drop briefly to his mouth.
Cassidy noticed it, and God help him…he almost leaned down, until a sharp knock interrupted them.
Two officers stepped into the room.
Instead of pulling away, Xander buried his face back into Cassidy’s throat and stayed wrapped around him as if he trusted Cassidy more than the actual police.
“The house and exterior are clear,” one officer reported. “No signs of theft or major vandalism. Just a broken rear window and a few things knocked over downstairs.”
The other officer frowned at the doorknob that’d been blown apart.
“Dispatch said there was security personnel on-site, but we didn’t locate any.”
Cassidy’s jaw clenched until pain shot through it.
“They were supposed to be,” he said flatly. “Apparently they received texts saying they were relieved.”
I’m gonna kill those dumb motherfuckers with my bare fuckin’ hands.
The officers exchanged confused glances, but he waved them off
“I’ll handle it.”
Ruxs, Green, and Steele stood at the entrance of the double doors.
“The main breaker was shut off,” Green said.
Steele nodded. “We swept the perimeter but there was nothing.”
“Free tapped into the neighbor’s security cams and caught a man running across the property,” Green added. “Male, about six feet. Dark clothes. Hood up and head down. Smart enough not to give cameras a clean angle.”
Xander exhaled shakily against his neck.
Steele continued. “Free noted the security detail left the property at zero-one-forty-five. Power was cut at zero-two-ten. So they didn’t hesitate long after the guards abandoned post.”
Cassidy’s blood boiled.
“Free and Tech are coming here tomorrow to do a full security system overhaul of Xander’s system,” Steele said. “Cameras, sensors, network reinforcement, internal failovers, perimeter redesign, you name it.”
Green folded his arms. “In the meantime, God says principal needs to be relocated.”
Xander shook his head fast.
“Cassie, please don’t just send me somewhere.”
Cassidy nearly stopped breathing.
Cassie.
Nobody called him that. Not his coworkers, parents—even his little sister called him by his full name.
Somehow hearing Xander’s nickname for him in his shaky voice did something foreign in his damn chest.
His hand stayed closed around the back of Xander’s neck while he brushed his thumb across his cheekbone.
Ruxs, Green, and Steele had to notice the intimate way he was holding the superstar, but none of them blinked.
Green turned slightly as if he was speaking to someone beside him.